It sure as hell didn't feel right. Just looking at them was enough to make him wish he'd died alongside Mary. The weight of his guilt bore down against his heart, crushing the strength right out of him. If it weren't for his need for revenge and his promise to see Noelle safely through this mess, he didn't think he'd have the will to keep breathing.
As much as he wanted to see the Swarm wiped out, he hated the thought of pulling Noelle into the middle of this dangerous mess. What if he wasn't strong enough to keep her safe?
"How long until we move her, sir? It's scary as hell to have her sitting around in a place as open as this."
Monroe leaned back in the office chair that had been brought in as part of his mobile office. One of the bedrooms in the old house had been converted into a work space, containing a computer, printer/fax machine, communications equipment and a closed-circuit TV screen that monitored the room where Noelle was being held. Nothing matched as it was all cast-off furniture from renovated offices, but it functioned, and that was all that mattered.
"I'm waiting on details regarding her transfer now," said Monroe. "There are three facilities fighting over her. I'm waiting for the pissing contest to run out of ammunition."
David pulled in a deep breath, trying to convince his , body that he was relaxed rather than ready to strangle someone. "I want to be assigned to her protection team."
Monroe nodded his steel gray head. "You can escort her to her final destination, but after that, we're going to need you in the field, Captain."
David hated leaving Noelle alone.
No, not alone, he corrected himself. She'd be guarded 24/7 deep in the bowels of some impenetrable compound.
She'd be safe.
Safer than she would be with him around. He couldn't let himself get involved. He couldn't forget what happened the last time he cared about a woman.
David cursed and slugged back the hot coffee fast enough it didn't have time to spill. The black liquid burned all the way down, making him feel more alert already.
"I don't like it" David admitted, though he wasn' t specific about exactly which part he didn't like. Let the colonel figure it out.
"She'll be fine. And when it's all over, we can even let you come for a visit, if you like."
He did like, and that was the problem. "I just want to get this over with."
Monroe gave a whatever-you-want shrug but said nothing about David's choice. "I'll call in and see if there's any news on where she's moving. Why don't you go sit with her and bring her something to eat? It looks like you both could use a decent meal."
David glanced at the screen, which showed Noelle curled into a ball on the chair with her legs tucked up under her.
She was covered completely by his jacket but still shaking visibly.
After she'd been sick, they let her clean herself up while someone got rid of the trash can and the photos.
He thought her color had been better when he left the room and that she might actually sleep a little, but it was obvious now that she was a long way from sleeping anytime soon.
David knew the feeling and felt that selfish need to comfort her again, as if he could make himself feel better by making her feel better.
Too little, too late.
"Okay, sure," said David, and went to the farmhouse kitchen in search of some food.
The lock on the door grated, making Noelle jump. She was beginning to dread that door opening. Every time it did, things got worse.
David came in, carrying a cupboard shelf like a tray. "You hungry?" he asked, his eyes roaming over her, covering every inch as if looking for something. She had no idea why he did that every time he came around, but she was a long way from being used to his scrutiny.
"I really just want to get out of here. If I never see this room again, it will be too soon."
"I can arrange that. Come on."
He spoke quietly to the guards outside the door and led her to a smaller room that must have been a child's bedroom at one point, judging by the faded Mickey Mouse wallpaper. The floors were bare wood and there was a smaller table set up in here—the old-fashioned drop-leaf style just big enough for two. Even though it was still a prison of sorts, it was much better than the last room, with its stagnant air and recent, but horrible, memories.
David set down the shelf, revealing several sandwiches, a couple of cans of Coke and a bowl of canned chicken noodle soup.
He ignored her statement and popped the top on a Coke. 'This should help settle your stomach if it's still bothering you."
Noelle took the drink and sipped. Her stomach did settle some, but she thought it was more due to David being here than the soda. As unnerving as this whole mess was, he was a constant for her. Something in his steady strength and unwavering honesty gave her a slim thread of comfort, which was more than she found from anyone else. "When can I leave?"
David bit into a sandwich and chewed. "Soon. You'll be taken somewhere safe where you can work."
"Where?"
"I don't know yet, but we'll find out soon."
"Soon? Soon as in minutes, hours, days?"
His blue eyes slid to the soup. "You should eat something. There's no telling how long it may be until you get another hot meal."
"I don't want food. What I want is to get out of here right now. Barring that, I'd like some more aspirin since I puked up the last ones."
"I can do the aspirin, at least—if you promise to eat something so they don't make you sick again. The rest is out of my hands." He sounded truly sorry about that last part, which didn't do anything to make Noelle feel better about what was going to happen next.
Noelle took a sip of the soup just to get him moving toward those pills. Her headache was really getting bad.
"You took off your vest," he said, his tone casual, as if he hadn't just told her she was going to die a few minutes ago.
"It was bothering me."
"I'll get you a smaller one. I want you wearing it at all times. Just in case." He pinned her with a laser stare that would have made her cower if her circumstances had been different. She'd faced death today—both hers and that of countless others—she could certainly face his glower.
He left and came back shortly with aspirin and a smaller vest. Again, he watched her swallow the pills as if he was making sure she didn't hide them in her cheek or something.
What kind of a life did he have not even to trust someone to take medicine that she'd asked for in the first place?
She wasn't sure she wanted to know.
Noelle made quick work of donning the vest. This one fit her just right, and she had to take off all but the innermost T-shirt she wore to get the straps fastened.
David watched her the whole time, chewing and swallowing mechanically as he did. He'd already plowed through two sandwiches and was starting on the third. From the looks of it, she doubted he'd tasted any of them.
The hard edges of the vest bit into her skin, but she welcomed the protection that the vest brought, limited though it was.
"Come finish your soup," he said when she was done dressing. "I promise it will make you feel better."
Noelle wasn't sure a bit of chicken broth and noodles was going to do much toward making her feel better, but it could hardly make things worse.
From outside the door came a loud boom, followed by rattling walls and the frantic shouting of orders. David was on his feet with his gun drawn before Noelle's heart had time to pump adrenaline through her system.
His face turned into something feral, predatory. She thought she'd just imagined that he'd looked like that the night she'd been attacked, but now she knew she'd been wrong.
This was the other side of David—the warrior. The killer.
He put the gun in her hands, clicking the safety off. "Stay here. If anyone you haven't seen today comes through that door, point and pull the trigger."
"I can't," she started to say, but David was already out the door with his second weapon in his hand.
The gun burned her fingers with the weight of cold violence. She'd never even held a weapon in her hands before all this happened, but she knew about how the safety switch worked and that there'd be one heck of a kick if she pulled the trigger.
She also knew that yesterday, there would have been no situation in which she would have considered using such a weapon. But a lot had happened since yesterday.
Noelle turned the small table on its side, spilling soup and Coke everywhere. She slid behind the barrier, propping the heavy gun up on the edge.
If the Swarm was here, she wasn't going to let them take her alive.
David ordered the guards to stand at Noelle's door and went to find the colonel. He found Monroe at a window, a sniper's rifle in his capable hands.
"You're alive!" shouted Monroe, as David neared, keeping his head down.
"Yeah. What'd you expect?"
"I expected to find you'd been blown to hell by that RPG that just blasted a hole in the back wall of the house. It went right into the interrogation room. Someone knew where we were holding Noelle."
Shit. That wasn't good news. If it hadn't been for her request for a relocation and his uncommon softness toward her comfort, they'd both be dead right now.
"Is it the Swarm?" asked David as he moved in to take the colonel's place.
"We don't know, but that's where my money is. Get the girl out of here. Now!" Monroe had to shout to be heard over the last volley of gunfire.
The Swarm, or whoever was out there, had obviously found someone on the inside who would leak information about Noelle's whereabouts, or they wouldn't be here. Her location was top secret. "I'm not taking her to any of the official facilities. It's not safe."
"I trust your judgment. Just go! Take my Bronco, it's bulletproofed." Monroe slid keys and a satellite phone off his belt and pushed them across the floor to David, then he took the envelope containing the sample of text, crumpled it to make it more aerodynamic and threw that at David as well. "I'll contact you later."
"Don't," said David. "I'll contact you."
"Now's not the time to argue, son."
"An attack on this site means that one of your team has been compromised."
"Damn. You're right." Monroe's face was grim and pissed. Someone's head was going to roll for this. "Where are you going to take her?"
Already his mind was flying, trying to decide where to take her. Any official location he took her to would be an obvious target. Even if the secure facilities were safe, getting there wouldn't be. If he was running the Swarm, he'd have teams stationed on all routes leading into those locations. That way, they could get to Noelle before she was locked away safe and sound.
He had to get her someplace defensible. Chances were they wouldn't get out of here without a tail. He needed it to be remote so that when the bullets started flying, no innocents would get hurt.
He knew just where to go.
"I'll figure something out."
"You've got a plan, don't you?"
"Always."
"Fine. Just make sure it's a good one. We need her alive, Wolfe."
"Yes, sir," said David.
"I'll order the men to cover your exit. You've got ninety seconds to get moving."
David nodded and ran in a low crouch back toward Noelle. He detoured by Monroe's office to grab her laptop, still in its case, knowing that she was going to need it.