Agent T3: d'Artagnan (Superhero Romance) (The D.I.R.E. Agency) (2 page)

Dar said, “I mean, hell, I’ve done my share of two-timing clients, but I knew I could always depend on my fa-”

He caught himself mid-sentence. He
couldn’t
depend on his family. His father had proven that.

However, Cass would always be there for him - as long as he lived a straight life. She’d committed herself to Aidan Monroe now, and Monroe was a good guy. Dar could never ask her to go against that or he’d lose her, too.

“You can depend on us, Naylor.” Tristan’s voice intruded in his thoughts. “Rachel and I. There isn’t much to believe in out there but when I found her, I found hope. I found a reason to do what I do.” He released a breath. “You’re our brother, just like Aidan and Cass. We’re a family. And, I’ll be damned if I’ll let our history destroy what we’ve found. I’m tired of the backstabbing bullshit and I refuse to live that way.”

There was no doubt in his mind he could depend on Jacobs and Rachel - he just had to walk the line. He wanted to live it, but he also knew some things were just part of his DNA
.

Hell, he hadn’t been a successful criminal for no reason
.

He carried the same genes as his father, for cripes sake. How could he just dismiss the part of himself that had sustained his lifestyle for the last twenty-six years?

Mitchell walked back in the room. “That was Dr. Brentwood from Creekmore General. Looks like we found our shooter from last night.”

The time machine incident in Creekmore had almost cost Dar his sister, Cass. However, the two World War II spies that had time traveled to the present to take back Aidan, hadn’t counted on his sister’s devotion to Monroe, or Tristan and Rachel’s determination to keep their family intact. They also hadn’t counted on an undisclosed shooter that had distracted them enough to give Cass and Rachel a chance to get away.

Tristan straightened from the desk. “Who is it?”

“Jocelyn Chalmers. She was found on the side of the road, unconscious. We need to get down there right away.”

“I thought I’d seen the last of this damned hospital.”

Dar walked beside Tristan in the third floor corridor of Creekmore General. Mitchell had stopped at the nurse’s station to ask of Brentwood’s whereabouts while they went to find Jocelyn Chalmers
.

“If Rachel and I have kids down the road, we’ll expect you to be here for the deliveries. Get used to the place.”

“Kids? You mean we’ll have mini-teleporters running around? Babysitting could get interesting if the kids turn invisible at will.”

Laughing, they came up on Jocelyn’s room. Kids. Damn. He couldn’t imagine having children. He’d never met a woman-

Someone blindsided him in the doorway, knocking him into Tristan.

“Help me,
please
. They’re coming.”

A tiny, petite woman shook him. Her dark, nearly black eyes were wide with fright, her hands shaking where they clutched his biceps. Dark bruises covered the left side of her face and circled her eye, with a mishmash of scratches marring her forehead and nose. She had a split upper lip and a chin scraped and dotted with blood
.

The injuries disgusted Dar, anger pumping through his veins like a hydrant. Yet, even disfigured, her beauty stunned him. The woman was freaking
hot
.

Shoving her behind him, he looked inside the room
.

Empty
.

Holding his arm in a vice grip, she peeked around him, her breath coming in short spurts. “Are they here?”

Looking over his shoulder, he met her fearful gaze. “No, you’re safe.”

She shook her head vigorously. “No. I’m not.
They’re coming
.”

“Who? Who’s after you?”

Stilling, her eyes searched his face with frantic movements – before she passed out.

“
Shit
.”

Catching her, Dar lifted her into his arms. The woman weighed no more than a pillow. He carried her to the hospital bed
.

“Jocelyn Chalmers, I assume?”

Tristan followed him inside. “Yes. Damn, that car really did some damage.” He went to the opposite side of the bed.

Dar pulled up the covers to her chin. “She’s terrified of
someone
, isn’t she?”

“Hell Naylor, we saw them hold a gun to her head that night in the electronics store. When Monroe time traveled to the past, she asked him to bring her back.”

“She rode in that time machine with those bastards?”

Tristan nodded with a cocked brow. “Yeah. Ballsy, huh?”

A fierce, protective streak filled Dar. He wanted Tristan to teleport him back to D.I.R.E. so he could help Mitchell interrogate the spy they’d captured last night. He’d show the guy some freaking fear.

Mitchell strode into the room and motioned for them to step away from the bed
.

He lowered his voice. “Brentwood said she has hysterical amnesia. She has no memories before the hospital. She doesn’t even know her own name.”

“Her subconscious remembers,” Dar said. “A minute ago, she tore out of the room, terrified.”

Mitchell stared at her still form. “Other than her concussion, she’s got a boatload of cuts and bruises, and a sprained elbow. She’s a tough cookie.”

Jocelyn didn’t look so tough to him. Right now, she looked completely vulnerable, like a little girl lying in a bed too big for her.

“So, are you transferring her to D.I.R.E?” Dar really didn’t want her near that spy
.

“No, I’ll leave her here for now and send down a couple of agents to guard the room.”

Dar crossed his arms in front of him. “I’ll stay.”

Tristan’s gaze shot to him. “You just said you hated this place.”

He frowned at his brother. “I’m not leaving her alone.”

“She wouldn’t be alone, Naylor,” Mitchell said. “Did you miss the part about the two agents?”

“No.
I’m
not leaving her alone.”

Tristan smothered a grin
.

Mitchell shook his head. “Don’t even go there, Naylor.”

He flipped out a hand, palm up. “Where?”

Mitchell pointed at Jocelyn. “
There
. Way too many complications.”

Jocelyn sat bolt upright, gasping for breath. Her dark, wild gaze searched the room before zeroing in on Dar. Twin tears trailed down her flush cheeks. “
Help me
.”

Dar rushed to the bed, his gut clenched in a tight knot. Dammit, the woman was petrified
.

He helped her lay back. “I’m here. You’re safe. Go back to sleep.” He pulled up the covers again and sat beside her.

Teardrops hung on her long lashes. “You won’t leave?”

His heart constricted like a stress ball. “No. Now sleep. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

She fell fast asleep, snoring lightly.

Why had she fixated on him? Why, in her nightmarish state, had she turned to
him
, the only criminal in the room, for safety?

Did it matter? If he could help this beautiful, confused woman from the past, he’d do it. The idea that she needed him appealed to Dar on a level he’d never traversed before
.

He looked back at Mitchell. “I’m already
there
, Mitchell, and have nowhere else to go. Unless you don’t trust me to stick around.”

“You tell me, Naylor. Can I trust you to stay here?”

Dar harrumphed. Where the hell would he go? He had no home, and his family lived at D.I.R.E.

He watched Jocelyn sleep. In truth, she was the only person that needed him. The only person that gave him purpose right now
.

There isn’t much to believe in out there but when I found her, I found hope. I found a reason to do what I do
.

Tristan’s words came back to him. Not that his situation was even close to Tristan and Rachel’s relationship. But, he understood where Jacobs was coming from
.

If Mitchell told him he was free to leave, what would he do? He had no money, no home, no friends. How would he live? As a fugitive, running from the enemies he’d made, knowing he didn’t have the money or backing of Naylor Interests to keep him safe?

Hell no.

At least with his new family, he had a base, and Cass wanted him to join her on this new life of… doing the right thing. An opportunity to do that stared him in the face
.

He hoped he could pull it off.

Rising from the bed, Dar made his way across the room. “Yes, you can trust me, but that trust has to go both ways. How did Angela end up in the past?”

Mitchell let out a frustrated growl. “Not now.”

“In case you lost your place,” Tristan said, “you stopped after she had the twins in the hospital.”

Mitchell glared at his son. “I know where I stopped, Tristan.”

Jacobs stood hands on hips. “You’re not getting out of it.”

Mitchell said, “As soon as we’re some place private.”

Dar pointed at Jocelyn. “I can’t leave her, so it looks like it’s happening here.”

Mitchell narrowed his eyes
.

“Even if Jocelyn woke up, she’s not coherent right now,” Tristan added.

Mitchell’s voice lowered in resignation. “Hell...” Turning to stare out the window, his complexion paled. He looked like he’d shrunk five inches.

“About ten months after you were born, Dar, I returned from a sneak and peek to find a message from Angela on my office phone, saying she wanted to talk. She’d left it two days earlier so I went over to Bobby’s place right away.”

“What did my father do?” Dar said.

“He shipped out the day before so I knew I had the all clear. When I got there, I knocked, but no one answered. I could hear a baby crying inside.”

His eyes squeezed shut beneath a deep scowl.“I walked in and found a suicide note and a bottle of anti-depressants on the end table in the living room. She had gone into your room to console you. When she walked out, I had the note in my hand and I was crying like you had moments before.”

Mitchell pressed his thumb and forefinger to his eyes. “I just kept thinking that if she went, I’d go, too. I couldn’t live with myself if I let her die.”

He braced a hand on the window frame. “She apologized for what she’d done to our marriage, and for leaving Tristan.” His voice caught. “It was too late for us, and she hated Bobby. She loved the babies but staring at them every day reminded her of the grave mistakes she’d made. She couldn’t do it anymore.”

Dar gritted his teeth. Dammit, he didn’t want to feel for her. He wanted to hold onto the anger because it justified why he’d always felt alone.

“I begged her not to do it. I tried everything. I even offered to quit The Teams. But, she said there was too much baggage. We’d never get past it. She knew Bobby would make our lives miserable.”

Taking a deep breath, his voice grew stronger. “That’s when I talked to her about Nathan Chalmers and his time travel machine. The possibility brought new life to her eyes. I called him from her house and set up a meeting.”

“Chalmers agreed to do it on one condition – she could never come back. The trip had to be one way.” He gave a dejected sigh. “She took it.”

He rubbed his forehead. “I made arrangements to pick her up the next day and take her to Chalmers’ lab. That night, his lab caught fire. Neither the time machine, nor Chalmers and Angela, were found in the remains. I suspect he set it to cover up any evidence.”

Turning to stare at them, he took a deep breath. “She left the suicide note for Bobby. I agreed to the same story for Tristan. I had the base records forged to report her death as a suicide.” He ran a hand through his hair. “It killed me to let her go.”

Dar could do nothing but stare at him. Hell. How did he stay mad at Mitchell? If he’d had time travel at his disposal, he probably would’ve done the same thing
.

But, it didn’t excuse Angela’s behavior.

“So, it was all about her,” Dar said. “Screw the kids, huh?”

If he hadn’t been raised by Robert Naylor, the violent look in Mitchell’s eyes would’ve terrified him
.

“Sounds like it,” Tristan chimed in.

Mitchell’s words cut like shards of glass. “Either way, you would’ve been without a mother.”

“Stop defending her, Mitchell,” Tristan said. “She made mistakes like everyone else. But, rather than acting like a mature adult and dealing with them, she took the easy way out.”

Shaking his head, Mitchell looked out the window again. “No, if you’re going to blame anyone, blame me. I thought I was doing the right thing.” His voice dropped. “Now, my actions have come back to bite not only me, but all of us.”

Dar’s gut warned him trouble hovered. “What do you mean by that?”