Lawe's Justice by Lora Leigh
One of the two Breeds guarding the inside of the room opened the doors for him, then closed and locked them as he left.
Looking past Lawe, Diane met her sister’s worried gaze across the room, and understood completely why Rachel hadn’t, and most likely wouldn’t, say much to her for the time being. Not until she knew exactly what Diane was planning. Or more to the point, not until Jonas and Lawe figured it out.
It hurt. She felt as though her baby sister had deserted her. As though the one person she had always depended upon was suddenly more loyal to others instead.
She didn’t bother to hide her feelings as Rachel met her gaze. Diane let the hurt, as well as the disbelief, fill her eyes before deliberately turning her head.
To meet Lawe’s gaze. She almost sighed. That look was brooding and intense as though if he looked hard enough, deep enough, then he could read her plans in her eyes.
There was no way she would allow that.
Breed senses were much too primal. The least hint of a lie or subterfuge and Diane would have so many Breed guards on her ass that it would be impossible to peel them off. The only way to hide it was with anger. She had a damned good reason for being angry too. One of her men was betraying her to the point that she suspected her past accidents had not been accidents at all. Someone was trying to put a highly fatal hole in her head—and her sister was deserting her.
“Ignoring your sister isn’t a move guaranteed to please Jonas,” Lawe told her as she stared back at him silently.
Diane shrugged. “Did she know you had Breeds on my ass?”
No doubt she did. Diane knew her sister, and she knew how Rachel worried. She wouldn’t blame her, but she could definitely use it to her advantage. Just as Rachel would expect her to.
“The team was my decision,” he growled as his gaze flashed with something akin to regret. “You were nearly killed in Syria, Diane.”
“Oh, no doubt,” she said, mockery filling her voice. “I rather doubt either Rachel or Jonas sicced them on me, Lawe. For some reason, both of them seem to believe I’m perfectly capable of leading my team on my own and saving my own ass whenever needed.”
“Neither of them saw you the way I did in that Middle Eastern dungeon either,” he snapped.
Diane came out of the chair, anger pushing her to her feet at the chastising tone of his voice.
“You are not my fucking keeper,” she informed him furiously as one finger poked firmly into his chest before her hands went to her hips. “Get that in your head, Lawe Justice. I haven’t had a keeper since I was twenty-one years old, and I refuse to accept one now. Especially one as high-handed, arrogant and completely superior as you appear to be.”
His gaze narrowed. “We’re definitely going to have this fight,” he informed her. “But Jonas wants your report first.”
“There is no report.” Crossing her arms over her breasts, she was confident that the scent he was searching for when his nostrils flared wasn’t there.
There really was no report. She wasn’t about to tell them a damned thing. Not in this lifetime. Not as long as she risked losing control of the mission she considered still active. The one she considered her personal responsibility.
“You told Jonas you weren’t comfortable sending information electronically,” he reminded her, his tone become cold, hard. “If there was nothing to report, why bother?”
She sneered back in his face. “Because I was being watched. For some reason, dumb little ole me thought it was an enemy or one of those pesky little groups that thought they could get to the prize before I did. Do you think I wanted them to know I couldn’t find a damned thing? I do have a reputation to consider, Lawe. And I’m also sick of the confidence displayed by the Council when it comes to finding subjects they don’t want us to find.”
She’d learned while the two Breeds were with her team exactly how to lie to a Breed. Hell, they had even helped her learn how to do it.
A fierce frown furrowed Lawe’s brow as a snarl lifted the sides of his lips. “That’s why the rogue they call the Executioner was shooting at you. Because he thought you knew something, Diane.” He bit out his words, the ice in his tone barely covering the anger. “Why the hell are you risking yourself and your men that way?”
“Let him keep thinking it then.” A toss of her head and a wave of her hand should be enough to convince him she really didn’t give a damn. “I hope the bastard has nightmares about me getting there first. Wherever the hell ‘there’ is.”
He raked his fingers through his hair as he turned from her, took two steps then turned back suspiciously. “You were gone three months,” he reminded her. “You found nothing?”
“Oh, I found plenty,” she informed him. “The files are in my bag.” She flicked her fingers to the leather bag she’d carried downstairs earlier. “Brandenmore and his scientists were some coldhearted monsters, but you already knew that. They were determined to make the Genetics Council’s scientists look like cuddly teddy bears. But none of them knew where the Roberts girl or the other two earlier subjects were. As far as they knew, the Bengal and the remaining girl had been terminated. If they knew any differently, they weren’t telling.”
She hadn’t expected them to know differently. She’d hoped one of the techs who had befriended the girl, or perhaps one of the scientists’ assistants, would have come forward, but none had.
“Son of a bitch,” he growled, the exclamation an animalistic rasp pushed between his teeth.
“None of the information I found applies to her,” she informed him. “And you know what, Lawe, I’m tired of looking. Especially considering the fact you’ve had a team just waiting to push me out and take over.”
The look on his face assured her he would have done just that.
“I didn’t know you were on that mission,” he finally told her, his voice harsh. “I had the team covering you, nothing more, in case your uncle’s enemies found you again. They hadn’t even notified me that Jonas had sent you out. As far as I knew, you were still on that security detail in California.”
The expression of self-disgust on his face had her suspecting he just might be telling the truth, but it didn’t really matter. Once he had learned what she was doing, he would have still pulled her out of it.
She snorted at the excuse. “Whatever helps you sleep at night, asshole. And that security detail? I’m not a friggin’ moron. I knew it for what it was while I was there. A damned pat on the head and a safe little corner to stand the weak little female in.” She flipped her hand carelessly as she stared back at him in disgust. “Now, I have reports in triplicate to write for your boss and a few vacations to arrange for my men. I have paychecks to write and bills to pay. Deposit my damned fee in my account so I can get that done.” Her voice rose in anger. “And leave me the hell alone.”
While he was speechless, or at least not speaking, she pushed past him and stomped across the room to the door. She threw a very human, more than furious snarl at the guard standing inside.
There were two more outside and two more at each end of the hall. The mated wife of the director of the Bureau of Breed Affairs was in attendance, so the security required was no less impressive than that of the alpha’s mated wives on the next level.
That didn’t mean there was a single damned Breed in the place that she wanted anything to do with at the moment.
Jerking her key card from the back of her jeans Diane swiped it through the electronic lock and pushed her way into the room.
As she knew they would be, her men were waiting, still and silent, their gazes narrowed as she came inside.
“Boss, I don’t like these fucking Breeds tellin’ us what to do,” Brick bitched immediately as she closed the door behind her, his dark face creased in a scowl. “This ain’t no fun for me at all. And I sure as hell don’t enjoy getting my leg trashed by some bastard out to keep secrets from them. I say we ditch this hellhole and go back to our real jobs.”
Their real jobs. Military an
Malcolm and Aaron mumbled in agreement as Thor stepped forward and laid several electronic listening devices on the long narrow table beside her.
Diane stared down at them.
“Hell,” she said, sighing. “When did you find these?”
“When we came back in,” he said softly. “Someone slipped in here while we were out, boss.”
“You’re not safe here,” Aaron said with quiet anger. “And these damned Breeds ain’t doin’ a damned thing to protect you.”
She turned and glanced at the door. “There are Breed guards up the hall,” she stated. “How could someone have slipped in?”
“If they were dressed as hotel staff even a Breed could have gotten in here,” Thor pointed out. “The Enforcers are far enough up the hall that no scent would have reached them.”
“What about the ones at the elevator?” She shook her head in confusion. “They’re not Breed devices.”
She knew every design they used, even the covert ones. Jonas had made certain she didn’t risk removing one the Breeds had placed while she was tracking Brandenmore’s scientists.
“Hotel staff,” Malcolm said once again. “All they had to do was look, act and smell the part.”
“Unless they didn’t show you all their listening devices,” Aaron pointed out. “Just in case they decided to watch you closer.” He was glaring at her. Aaron and Thor were the two strongest personalities in the unit and were usually the ones to argue with her or approach her with any disagreements the other two had.
Diane bent closer and stared at the one Thor had taken apart. Taking the magnifying glass Thor offered her, she surveyed the internal components silently.
The electronics didn’t look Breed, but anything was possible when it came to the men and women created to be more cunning, more vicious than any other species on earth.
Diane started to shake her head again, only to have a firm knock on her door interrupt her. She dropped her chin instead and blew out an irritated breath.
She should have known better than to think they would just let her escape.
She knew who it was. Sure as her name was what it was, she knew who it was.
Rather than speaking, she turned, leaned back against the table and waited until Thor reached the door and threw it open.
Lawe and Jonas. She hadn’t expected Jonas.
Thor glared down at Lawe.
Not that he had far to glare. At six-two, Lawe wasn’t much shorter than Thor. At six-five, Jonas was exactly the same height.
“Thor, we’ll talk later,” Diane told him warningly before glancing to the other men. “The four of you get some sleep. Your checks will be ready by morning and we’ll all head home.”
Thor grunted in disapproval as the others rose from their seats. Aaron pushed himself up, grabbed the crutches Thor had somehow managed to find and with the other two limped to the door.
“Later, boss.”
“See ya, boss.”
“Damned busybodies,” Thor muttered before pushing the other half of the double door open and moving through it.
Brick slammed it closed as he and a limping Aaron left the room last, leaving her alone with Jonas and Lawe.
At least they hadn’t suggested they stay and protect her, she thought angrily. No thanks to Lawe. He’d ensured her men had every reason to question her orders as well as her competence.
Bracing herself against the end of the table and crossing one ankle over the other, Diane waited.
The doors closed as both Jonas and Lawe entered the room, stopping at the seating several feet from her.
“I can smell the irritation.” Jonas’s lips curled in amusement as he watched her from those eerie silver eyes.
“I imagine you can see it fairly easy as well,” she drawled, her gaze flicking to Lawe before returning to Jonas. “I’d really prefer not to fight with the two of you at the moment. So leave.”
Jonas’s head inclined in mocking agreement but didn’t comment as he and Lawe watched her silently for several long moments.
“Rachel’s concerned,” Jonas finally admitted. “I’m here to see if I can fix the situation.”
Diane’s lips thinned. She shot Lawe a furious glare before turning to the director.
“So tell me, Jonas, why would the Bureau feel the need to spy on me and my men? When did you decide we couldn’t be trusted?”
“You weren’t being shadowed because you couldn’t be trusted,” Jonas responded sharply, his own irritation creasing his expression. “You should know that.”
“I’m not talking about your Breed goons,” she snapped. “And you should know it.”
If she didn’t know better, she would have sworn he had no idea what she was talking about. He and Lawe glanced at each other before she sensed the tension that suddenly filled the room and stretched between them.
“What’s happened, Diane?” It was Lawe that rasped out the question, not Jonas.
Her brow lifted.
His brows lowered into a brooding frown. “Keep giving me that look, sweetheart, and I promise you’ll have reason to suspect a hell of a lot of things, but my motives won’t be one of them.”
“What about the bugs we just found in the room? Placed here while I was conveniently busy in Jonas’s suite? Tell me, Lawe, do you think, compounded by your Breeds following me, that may have aided my suspicions where your motives are concerned?”
Lawe’s head jerked to the side, his gaze cutting as it sliced to Jonas, almost in accusation.
“Not me.” Jonas lifted his hands in denial as he faced Lawe’s wrath. “Hell, Lawe, you’re the one I give the order to if we bug someone. Did I give you an order?”
Lawe’s lips thinned. “Where are they?”
Silently, she pointed her thumb over her shoulder and watched as each man moved around her to the tiny devices that had been left on the table.
Neither man touched them. They bent close, their gazes trained on the devices as she watched silently. Her eyes locked on Lawe’s bent back and she swore she could feel her mouth watering for him.
Her timing was incredibly bad, to say the least. The very fact that her libido was kicking in now, when she was furious with him, was enough to flat piss her off.
She didn’t need this. She didn’t want this. She didn’t want anything to do with it.