Covert Mission (Fortress Security: Artemis #1)

Chapter Four

CHAPTER FOUR

TEAGAN’S LIPS CURVED . She wasn’t surprised Seth zeroed in on the phone. “You said we’re dating.”

“We are dating, Teagan. You’re not kicking me to the curb for Murphy.”

She laughed. “You don’t have to worry about that happening. Claire, his wife, would kill me before she let me have her husband.”

He blinked. “He’s married?”

“Very. Zane and Claire have a little boy. I don’t have a chance of winning Z’s heart away from his wife and son.”

“Good. I don’t share.”

“Fair warning. Neither do I.”

He gave a curt nod. “We’re a matched pair, then. Phone?”

Of course he’d circle back to that. “Since we’re dating, the only way we can communicate when I’m deployed with my team is with an encrypted satellite phone. Zane is sending a phone to your house.”

“Will I endanger you if I call?”

“It’s possible. Text me. I’ll contact you when I’m safe.”

Another nod. “How often do you deploy?”

“Our teams rotate. One month on, one month off. During the month when we’re on call, we may be gone for the entire month or only a few days at a time. If Maddox is in a bind, he may activate my team for a short mission during the months we’re off rotation. We’re shorthanded.”

Seth was silent for a moment. “Can you tell me where you’re going and what your mission is?”

She shook her head. Make or break time. Would he be able to handle her job? “Many of our missions are classified, especially those we take from the government.”

More silence, then, “Your teams operate like Special Forces teams.”

Well, well. Would you look at that? He might make the cut after all. “That’s right.”

“Are you former military?”

Very good. Teagan inclined her head.

“Are all your teammates military?”

“No.” She held up her hand. “No more question about my teammates. Ask them when you meet them. If you’re lucky, they’ll fill you in on their backgrounds.”

A knock sounded on the door, then Dr. Kowalski entered the room.

“What’s the word, Doc?” Seth asked.

“Congratulations, Detective Dixon. You have a concussion and two options. You can stay here for observation until tomorrow morning.”

“Or?”

“You can go home as long as you have someone with you for 24 hours. I’ll give you a list of symptoms to watch for.”

“I’ll choose door number two, Doc.”

Kowalski rolled her eyes. “Why doesn’t that surprise me, Detective? We have a fine facility.”

“It’s not you.” Seth grinned. “I hate to say so, but it’s the food.”

“Right. I’m sure your partner would sneak food in for you. Look, I know you think you’re as tough as old shoe leather, but I’m serious about you needing someone with you for the next 24 hours, Seth. Do I have your word you’ll do as I instruct?”

“I’ll be with him,” Teagan said. “He’ll follow your instructions to the letter.”

Kowalski relaxed. “Good. Seth, don’t give your girlfriend any trouble. Hear me?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Teagan, if he gives you grief, bring him back to me. We’ll set our best nurses loose on him.”

“I’ll do that.”

“Good.” The doctor headed for the door. “Your discharge papers will be here soon. The nurse will also bring antibiotics and pain medicine for you to take home. Take your meds, Seth. I don’t want to see you back here for a long time.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Teagan sent her team leader a message and received a response in seconds. Excellent.

“What is it?”

“Our medic is here. She’ll be watching over you and helping with security.”

“You’re staying as well, right?”

“Of course. I promised your doctor I would.” Seeing his expression go blank, Teagan took pity on him. “I wouldn’t leave your safety in the hands of anyone except me and my team, Seth. You matter to me.” She leaned down and brushed his mouth with hers. “I take care of those who matter to me,” she murmured.

“So do I.” His hand curved around her nape again to hold her in place. “I want a proper kiss, Teagan. No,” he corrected. “I’m desperate for a genuine kiss from you.”

“Soon. Let’s make sure your headache is gone first.”

He scowled. “That could take days.”

“You’ve waited for months. What are a few more hours, Detective?”

“The wait might kill me,” he muttered.

His sulkiness made her laugh. Who knew the handsome detective could make her laugh?

Soon, a nurse came in with the discharge papers and the prescriptions the doctor had ordered for Seth. “You’re all set, Detective.”

“Thanks, Daisy.”

The perky nurse smiled and left the exam room.

Teagan picked up Seth’s shirt from a nearby table and grimaced. “You can’t put this back on. It’s covered in blood.” In fact, she suspected the shirt was a lost cause. “Do you want me to find something at the gift shop?”

Seth shook his head. “It’s not cold outside. I’ll be fine until we get home.”

Home. Teagan blinked. She didn’t know what that was aside from the house she’d bought in Ardmore. She’d been a street rat before she joined the Army. No one would mistake an army barracks for home.

Another knock sounded on the door. Violet Trevelyan, her teammate and Artemis medic, walked into the room. “Ready to go, Detective Dixon?”

Seth stared at her. “I guess.”

“I’m Violet, Artemis’ team medic.”

“Artemis?”

“Our unit name.” Teagan glanced at Violet. “He has a concussion. We have to watch him for 24 hours.”

“No problem. Detective, let’s get you upright and see how you do. Teagan, he might puke when we sit him up. Be ready.”

Teagan glanced around the room until she spotted a plastic container. She snatched the small bin. “Let’s do this. I want Seth out of here. Too many entrances and exits for my taste.”

“Ready, Detective?” Violet asked.

“It’s Seth.”

“All right. You ready, Seth?”

He nodded.

“Slow and easy, my friend. If you go too fast, you’ll barf for sure. You still might.”

Seth grunted.

“All right, Teagan. Get on his right side and keep that container handy.”

Between the two of them, they slowly raised Seth to a sitting position. His face lost all color.

Teagan quickly moved the plastic bin under his chin. Just in time, too. Seconds later, Seth threw up.

When he finished, Seth groaned. “Get me out of here. Please.”

“One minute.” Violet took the bin and shoved it into the large garbage can in the room's corner. “Let’s go. If they find out he’s barfing, they’ll keep him.”

“Take me home,” Seth murmured. “I can barf there without nurses poking and prodding me.”

Violet and Teagan helped Seth to his feet. When he swayed, Teagan draped his arm around her shoulders and took as much of his weight as she could without making it obvious. “All right, handsome. Let’s get out of here.”

While Violet picked up the discharge papers and prescriptions, Teagan steered Seth out the door and from the hospital. She guided him to her SUV and nudged him to the passenger seat. After buckling his seatbelt, she grabbed a spare pair of sunglasses and perched them on his nose.

Violet set her mike bag on the ground beside the passenger door and dug into the depths. She brought out a chemically activated cold pack and shook it. The medic slid the cold pack behind his neck. “The cold pack will help with nausea,” she murmured and grabbed a bag, which she handed to Seth. “Barf bag. Teagan won’t be happy if you puke in her SUV.”

“Thanks, Violet.”

“Yep. I’ll follow you, Teagan.”

Teagan waited long enough for her teammate to climb into her own SUV before driving from the parking lot of Ardmore Hospital. She checked on Seth frequently. Although pale, he was holding his own.

She pushed the speed limit as she drove to Seth’s home on Mulholland Drive. Teagan parked in front of a two-story colonial home and turned to Seth. “We’re here.”

He opened his eyes and stared out the windshield. “You know where I live.”

Teagan’s lips curved as she circled the hood to the passenger side of her SUV. “I know a lot of things, Seth.”

He stared at her outstretched hand. “Did you just make a joke?”

That made her laugh. “I don’t do it often enough if the joke was that bad. Come on. Let’s go inside so you can rest.”

“My truck.”

“If you’ll give me your keys, one of my teammates will drive your truck here. You can’t drive for a couple of days.”

He grimaced and accepted the hand she offered as leverage. Seconds later, Seth swayed on his feet and leaned heavily against the door.

She waited in silence while his equilibrium steadied.

Slowly, he straightened and gave a slight nod.

Violet strode toward them, her mike bag on her shoulder. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah.” Teagan draped Seth’s arm across her shoulders and wrapped her arm around his waist. “Just getting his bearings.”

“Keys?” Violet held out her hand. “I’ll check the house to be sure no one set a trap.”

Seth dropped his keys on Violet’s palm. “Thanks.”

“Pets?”

“None.”

“Security code?”

He murmured the numbers, his gaze shifting to Teagan.

Her breath caught. His code was the first day they’d met at the running trail.

“Best day of my life,” he whispered.

“Same.”

After an impressive eye roll, Teagan’s teammate walked the path to the porch. She stood to the side of the door, unlocked it, and pushed it open. Weapon in hand, Violet entered the home.

“Come on.” Teagan nudged Seth forward. “By the time we get to the porch, Violet will have completed a preliminary sweep of your home.”

“You didn’t have to do this.”

“You would have done the same if I was injured on the job.”

“I’d prefer neither one of us was injured on the job,” he grumbled.

Teagan tightened her grip on his waist as she urged him forward. For the most part, Seth could walk on his own. His navigation skills, however, were abysmal. If anyone saw Seth, they’d assume he’d been drinking.

Just as she’d figured, Violet met them at the door. “House is empty. I’m going back for a closer check. How’s the nausea, Seth?”

“Don’t ask.”

She chuckled. “That good, huh? Teagan, my mike bag is by the door. Put a patch behind his ear. We’ll get him to bed when I return.”

Teagan guided Seth to his large, brown leather sofa and helped him get situated. “I’ll be right back.”

His hand shackled her wrist. “Where are you going?”

“To get an ice pack and something to help with your nausea. I’ll be back in one minute, tops.”

Seth’s thumb brushed over her wrist, and he released her.

Teagan found her way to Seth’s kitchen and poked through his freezer. She grabbed a cold pack and a soft drink from his refrigerator and returned to the living room. Seth hadn’t moved.

She set the cold pack on the coffee table and handed him the soft drink. “Take a few sips.” After he downed part of the cold drink, she said, “Seth, you need to lie down. Do you want to stay here or go to your bedroom?”

Without opening his eyes, he murmured, “Depends.”

“On what?”

“Will you leave if I want to lie on my bed?”

She froze as disappointment assaulted her. Was all his talk of her being his girlfriend just that, talk? “Do you want me to go?” She wouldn’t, no matter what he wanted. Seth was too out of it to protect himself.

“No way, beautiful Teagan. I want you to stay with me.” His eyes opened. “Please.”

A curious melting sensation formed near her heart. “I’ll stay no matter where you sleep.”

He studied her a moment, then gave a slight nod. “Bedroom. More comfortable for sleeping.”

She grabbed Violet’s mike bag and rummaged until she found the medic’s stash of nausea patches. Teagan selected one and ripped open the package. After peeling off the paper protecting the adhesive, she pressed the patch behind Seth’s ear.

“What’s that?”

“A patch to reduce nausea.”

Violet walked in. “All clear. Think you’re mobile enough to make it to your bedroom, Seth?”

“Doubt it. I’m going anyway.”

“Come on, then. Let’s move you before you decide the couch is good enough.”

Between them, Teagan and Violet helped Seth to his feet. His face lost all color. Violet grabbed one of the cold packs and pressed it to Seth’s nape. “Stay with us, buddy. Slow deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth.”

Teagan draped Seth’s arm across her shoulders and wrapped her arms around his waist in case he went down. No need for the handsome detective to sustain yet another head injury.

After a moment, Violet grabbed the second cold pack and said, “Good job. Let’s get you in bed, Seth.”

Following the trip to the second floor main bedroom, Seth sank onto his bed with a groan and slumped onto his side.

Violet and Teagan slipped off his running shoes, lifted his legs to the bed, and rolled him onto his back. After repositioning the cold pack behind his neck and draping the second one over his forehead, Violet headed for the door. “I’ll report in while you help Seth get situated.”

Teagan unfolded a quilt at the foot of Seth’s bed and spread it over his still form. Knowing how poorly she handled a concussion herself, she found a lined trashcan in his bathroom and brought it to his side of the bed in case the patch didn’t work fast enough.

With that done, she turned to leave and once again Seth shackled her wrist with his hand.

“Stay,” he murmured. One eye opened. “Unless you have to work. Don’t want to interfere.”

Teagan wiggled her wrist until Seth released her. She circled to the other side of the bed and sat beside him with her back against the headboard. “Sleep, Seth. I’ll watch over you.”

He kissed her palm and settled deeper into the pillow. “Hope I don’t barf again. Not the best way to impress my woman.”

She laughed. “Don’t worry. You can hold my hair out of the way the next time I’m puking from a concussion.”

“Deal.” Between one breath and the next, Seth dropped into sleep.

Two hours later, Seth stirred and opened his eyes. He turned his head toward Teagan. His lips curved. “You’re still here.”

“You asked me to stay.”

“What about your job?”

“I’m on leave for a few days.” And perhaps longer, depending on what happened with Seth’s case. Teagan’s gut said something more was going on than Seth being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and until he could adequately fend for himself, she was staying with him.

“What a coincidence. So am I.” He smiled. “You’re watching over me, aren’t you?”

“Got a problem with that?”

“Not as long as I have the same right the next time you’re injured.”

“I’m cranky when recovering from an injury, Seth. You might want to run for the hills until I’m more myself again.”

“Not a chance, sweetheart. You’re mine, and I take care of what’s mine. I can handle the cranks.”

Violet walked into the room with two chemically activated cold packs. “You’re awake. How do you feel now, Seth?”

“Better except for the headache. I’m not puking, so I’ll consider that a big win.”

She switched the cold packs. “Try not to move around much. Look, Seth, I’m Artemis team’s medic, so I carry more medical supplies that regular EMTs. I have a mild pain killer that will help with your headache but not knock you out. My teammates take it when we’re on missions and we can’t stop to do more than patch up an injury. Do you want to take that or should I get some over-the-counter medicine and hope it does the trick?”

Seth hesitated, then sighed. “Your pain killer, not the one prescribed by the doctor. The headache is making it hard for me to think, but I don’t want to be knocked out.”

Violet left and returned less than a minute later with a capsule and a small bottle of water. “Try this. If your pain doesn’t ease up, we may have to try something else.”

“Just keep me from puking and looking like a wuss in front of my woman, please.”

Violet’s eyebrows rose. “I’ll do my best.” She arranged pillows behind Seth’s back and neck before turning to Teagan. “Something you want to share, T?”

“He says we’re dating.”

“We are,” the detective insisted. “No take backs, lady. You claimed me, and I’m holding you to it. No throwing me to the wolves.”

Amusement had her lips curving. “You’re safe, Seth. No wolves in sight.”

He scowled. “I’m yours. You’re mine. End of discussion.”

Violet chuckled. “Well, since that’s settled, Maddox wants a report from you as soon as possible. Same goes for Iona.”

“Copy that.” This would be an interesting few minutes.

“Need anything before I go back on watch?”

“I don’t think so. Seth?”

“Need nothing except you, beautiful,” he murmured.

Oh, man. What a sweet talker Detective Dixon was. “Who’s on watch next?”

“Iona.”

“Might be a good idea to have her pick up whatever you think Seth needs to prevent more barfing episodes.”

“I’ll give her a list. I’ll check on Seth in a few minutes.” The medic left the room.

“Call your boss.” Seth rolled to his side and wrapped his arm around Teagan’s hips.

Well, okay then. Guess these calls would happen within Seth’s hearing. Might as well put them on speaker. Seth would hear every word, anyway.

Teagan grabbed her phone and made the call to her boss, Brent Maddox.

His deep voice answered on the first ring. “Talk to me, Teagan.”

“You’re on speaker with Seth Dixon.”

“Understood.”

She reported everything that had happened. “Look, I don’t know which law enforcement agency might be compromised, but I’m concerned about Seth’s safety.”

The detective in question tightened his hold on her. “And I’m concerned about yours.”

“Detective Dixon, I’m Brent Maddox. What should I know to better protect my operatives and you?”

“I can take care of myself.”

“You need someone to watch your back and that of your partner. Like it or not, someone seems to be on the take. We can help if you let us.”

“We work with law enforcement agencies around the globe,” Teagan added. “We know how to work within the confines of the law when necessary.” They just preferred to work outside those constraints.

He was silent a moment. “All right.”

Brent chuckled. “How much did that hurt?”

“Felt like a mule kick to the gut.”

“I bet. Teagan, Fortress resources are at your disposal. If we can help, we will. Report in every six hours, and watch your back.” He ended the call.

Seth slid his hand under her shirt at her waist and stroked her skin. Goosebumps surged across her body. Whoa. Seth Dixon was dangerous.

“Second call, babe,” Seth murmured, sounding as though he was nearly asleep.

Right. Teagan called her team leader, Iona Byrne.

“Talk to me,” Iona said.

“You’re on speaker with Seth.” To Artemis’ leader, Teagan gave an abbreviated report. “Seth and his partner have a meeting at 9:00 tomorrow morning. We’ll make a plan after that meeting.”

“Opinion on the meeting?”

Teagan frowned. “I don’t like that it’s in Seth’s precinct. If one cop in his house is dirty, he and Noah will be targets, as will whoever meets with them.”

“Seth?”

“My opinion matches Teagan’s. I don’t like it.”

“Can you and Noah have this meeting somewhere else, somewhere neutral?”

“Maybe. You have a suggestion?”

“Fortress Security. No way will anyone get to you or Noah at our headquarters. It’s neutral territory which should make whatever agency is compromised a lot happier. Until today, you haven’t been associated with Fortress. No one would expect you to be on the Fortress campus. What do you think?”

“It’s a good idea. Give me a few minutes to contact Noah and our LT. Teagan can let you know as soon as we have an answer from the lieutenant.”

“Sounds good. I’ll expect to hear from you soon. Teagan, I’ll be at Seth’s in an hour with supplies. Stay alert.” Iona ended the call.

Seth pushed the hem of Teagan’s shirt up just enough to press a kiss to her waist. “I need my phone.”

She scooped his phone from the nightstand and handed it to him.

After a quick conversation with his partner, Seth said, “Noah will contact the LT and get his approval for the change in the meeting place. If we get it, my partner will text.”

“Good.” Teagan squeezed his forearm. “Rest, Seth. The most important thing you can do for yourself is rest.”

“I should hunt down Pico’s killer.”

“Realistically, you’re in no shape to go hunting. Sleep. When you’re ready, I’ll help you.”

Seth inched closer and tightened his grip on Teagan. “I’ll sleep for a couple of hours. No longer.”

She’d take that for now. Hopefully, she and Violet could convince Seth to take the night to recharge. “Rest,” she murmured. “I’ve got you, Seth.”

“Best thing I’ve heard in years.”