moan for uncle 5 (7 page)

Satisfied with the compromise of postponing the discussion until later, Nikki went back to finishing her breakfast. However, she knew that the matter was far from settled in his mind.

Chapter 7

Pulling up to the storage unit, Grant glanced over at Nikki in the passenger seat. For the life of him he couldn't figure out why she would want to put herself and the baby in harm’s way to go running after the people that had captured them. It made no sense. He was doing it because it was his job, because if he didn't, she'd never be safe. There was no reason why she needed to be with him. He'd been in worse situations before and he was certain he would be again before his career with the CIA was finally over.

The one thing that this whole ordeal did make him see was that he needed to spend more time at home, and less in the field. She and the baby needed to be his main priority from here on in. He may have a duty to his country, but he had an even more important one now and it was to the woman sitting next to him and his unborn child.

As he shifted the truck into park he reached across the seat, took her hand and gave it a light squeeze. "Come on, I have some things to show you."

Her brow furrowed as she looked at the large storage container they were parked in front of. "In there?"

"Yup."
Turning off the truck, he insured his gun was holstered under his black leather jacket, opened the door and hopped out, rushing to Nikki's side to assist her out.

"You'd be surprised at what people store in these things." Grant said, walking over to the combination lock and quickly undoing the first lock and then the second. With the locks open he pulled open one of the doors and ushered her inside. Sunlight poured into the twenty foot long container lighting it for them.

Nikki gasped.
"Oh-my-god Grant."
She brushed past him and walked further into the container.

"Aside from wanting me dead this is part of what
Sahr
wants from me. There are over a dozen more like it ready to be sent to Sierra Leone. You can understand why I can't let that happen."

The container was filled with various guns and ammunition. Everything from pistols to submachine guns to grenades – there were enough firearms and ammunition to supply a military unit.
Enough to kill thousands upon thousands of people.

"Why do you have this
...
What..." She shook her head as she ran her fingers along the cool steel of one of the UZIs.

"Well, considering you're in the middle of this now, I suppose I can tell you." Crossing his arms over his chest, he leaned against the wall of the container and watched her. "As you may know the illegal arms trade is big business. I don't mean supplying hustlers on the street, I'm talking supplying armies. Well, the man that kidnapped you,
Sahr
, his brother was the leader of a military group set to overthrow the current government in Sierra Leone."

"Alright."
She proceeded deeper into the container, awestricken. The amount of death the contents of the container could bring about made her shutter.

"Well, we don't want that. We're happy with the current president and so I was sent in to intercept the shipment and remove
Sahr's
brother as leader of the group."

"So when you say 'we're' you mean our government?"

Grant paused.
"Yeah."

"I see."

"Well,
Sahr's
brother had never met the man who was trafficking these arms so I took his place. It was their first business
transaction,
I suppose you could call it."

She turned to face him. "What happened to the original dealer?"

Grant shrugged. "He's no longer with us..."

"He's no longer..." Nikki's voice trailed off and her eyes widened in surprise. "Oh."

"So I took his place, but something went wrong."

"Wrong?" Nikki echoed as she went back to her examination of the contents of the container.

"Right.
He found out who I was and I was captured, which is how I received the scars on my back originally, they were trying to obtain information from me."

Nikki turned back around to face him. "Was it Diana? Did
she
actually..."

Grant huffed.
"Appears that way."

Something - a shadow - rushed past the container catching his attention. "Get to the back of the container Nikki, now!" he whispered, drawing his pistol from the holster.

"Grant, what's..."

Grant placed his index finger to his mouth and jerked his head in the direction of the back of the container as he crept closer to the entrance, cursing himself for bringing her there and not putting her into protective custody as soon as he had gotten a hold of the agency.

He was just three feet from the container door when another shadow rushed by the opening and something was tossed in at him. The canister made a clang as it hit the floor and a soft hiss sounded. Seconds later, the door to the container was closed with them inside, leaving only the beams of sunlight peeking through the cracks in the roof for him to see by. Grant couldn't tell for sure what it was that had been thrown in with them, but knew it wasn't something either of them should be inhaling.

If they made a run for it, and attempted to get out of the container they'd be easy targets for whoever was out there; but if they stayed, they would either be killed or, best case scenario, put into a state of unconsciousness. Again, he cursed himself for taking Nikki there and knew if anything happened to her he'd never forgive himself.

"Stay down," he ordered as he ushered her to the very back of the container. As his mind raced for a solution, his eye caught sight of a crate he'd forgotten about.

Gas masks.

Taking Nikki's hand in his, he led her to the crate and pried it open. Grabbing a couple of the masks, he thrust one at Nikki, showing her how to put it on, before pulling one over his own head. Motioning for her to stay crouched down in the back, he began to stack a number of the largest crates he could find trying to build a barricade so when whoever was outside entered, he and Nikki wouldn't be sitting ducks waiting to be plucked.

Once the barricade was set up with Nikki and
himself
safely behind it they waited. Twenty minutes passed before the door slowly opened and the man who had abducted Nikki slowly and cautiously entered, scanning the container with each step.
Sahr
entered moments later and Grant positioned himself, aiming for
Sahr
first.

As he lined the man in his sights, his enemy spotted him. He pulled the trigger just a split second before his opponent sending
Sahr
falling backwards. He quickly aimed for Nikki's abductor just as he felt a bullet whiz by his face and
embed
itself in a crate behind him. Grant fired, and caught the man in the stomach sending him flying backwards and into a stack of crates.

Rushing out from behind the crates, Grant checked first on
Sahr
, who was already dead. He had managed a hit to the heart, killing him almost instantly. Nikki's abductor on the other was still breathing, screaming out in pain, curled up in a ball, holding his abdomen. Leaning down, Grant grabbed his gun and shoved it into the back of his jeans, then grabbed the man by the lapel of his jacket and landed several hard, sharp jabs to the jaw. The man slumped over, unconscious as Grant released him.

He then pulled his cellular phone from his jacket pocket and quickly dialled the number to the agency, requesting agents to their location to pick up the men. While on the phone he received some of the best news he'd heard in a while - Diana was in custody!

"Grant," Nikki's soft, timid voice sounded from behind him and he
sighed
a breath of relief as he ended the call.

"They have her in custody." He turned to her and pulled her into a tight embrace, ignoring the renewed throbbing of his back.

"They have her? Diana?"

He stroked her long, dark locks as he placed a kiss on the top of her head. "Yes, Diana. They found her staking out your apartment of all places." It sounded strange to him. She should have known there was no way in hell he would go anywhere near the apartment, but he wasn't going to second guess it. He'd have lots of time to question her tomorrow and get all of the details behind her arrest.

"Isn't that strange? Wouldn't she know you wouldn't go back there?" Nikki asked, pulling back and gazing into his grey eyes, echoing his concerns.

"Don't know, Nikki, I'll find out later. Once the agents get here to pick up these two," he nodded towards the two men, one dead lying in an ever-growing pool of his own blood and one unconscious. "Now that this is all over I have one more place to take you."

****

"What are we doing here?" Nikki whispered over to Grant as they entered the America National Bank several hours after the incident at the container. The men had been picked up and as far as the CIA was concerned the case now closed with Grant being given credit for a job well done.

"Getting into our safety deposit box," he informed her, giving her arm, which was linked through his, a light squeeze.

Still wearing her 'I Love Boston' t-shirt, shorts and flip flops Nikki found herself feeling grossly underdressed as they approached the reception and were then carted off to the vault containing the boxes.

"What's in the box, Grant?" Nikki leaned over and whispered as they followed the middle aged woman escorting them to the vault containing the boxes, after signing the register and having his identity, Victor
Ackles
, verified.

Chuckling, Grant gave her a wink. "You'll see."

Several minutes later, she found herself sitting next to Grant in a private sitting room watching Grant in anxious anticipation as he unlocked the small metal box.

The lock sounded as it released and Grant flipped open the cover to reveal the contents - a small black velvet pouch.

"Take it and open it up," he urged with an excited gleam in his eyes.

She gave him one more hesitant look and then glanced back at the bag, gingerly picking it up. It was fairly light and the contents rattled slightly within. Slowly she undid the tie and opened the pouch, shaking the contents onto her outstretched palm.

As she shook out the contents she gasped and her heart stopped beating for a second or two.
"My God, Grant!
Where did they come from! They’re yours?" The overhead light caught the couple of dozen or so large gleaming diamonds as she rolled them around in her hand. She glanced down at her necklace, the diamond necklace that he had given her for her birthday and made the connection.

"That was the other thing
Sahr
wanted. Those were payment for a shipment of weapons. While escaping, I managed to grab them on my way out and brought them back home with me."

"Does the agency know?" She asked, still mesmerized by the way the light caught the stunning gems. She wondered how much they were worth, but couldn't even hazard a guess. The stones were
huge
. Easily the largest gems she'd ever seen. They didn't have the polish or finished look of gems she'd seen in stores, but they were stunning nonetheless.

Grant took a deep breath in and released it in a loud huff. "The
people
who need to know, know. When you do what I do, a lot of things are done off the record. I guess they could be considered an off-the-books, pain and suffering bonus."

"Well, what are you going to do with them?" She couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from them, hypnotized by the way they caught the light and shimmered in her palm.

Grant shrugged, "Sell them. Buy the house of your dreams..." He grabbed one of the diamonds and brought it to her eye level. "These are still rough. They need to be refined," he nodded to her necklace, "like the one in your pendant."

"How do we do that?"

"
We
don't. I know someone-"

"-who knows someone." she teased.

Laughing he nodded his confirmation.
"Exactly.
And that person is interested in purchasing the diamonds, and also making a pair of earrings to match your necklace." He plopped the diamond he was holding back into her hand. "You just have to pick out a couple of the stones."

Leaning an elbow on the table, he watched her expression as her mouth fell open and she continued to stare at the gems. After a moment she snapped her jaw shut and gazed over at him in awe. "Are you serious?"

Giving her a quick kiss on the forehead he nodded. "You deserve it. You should never have had to suffer because of me. A pair of earrings pales in comparison. Besides, they'll look good with your wedding dress. Well, when you find a new one, that is."

Gripping the gems tightly in her hand she threw her arms around his neck, kissing him soundly. Sitting back in her chair she opened her hand once more and carefully selected the two stones and, with equal care, placed the remaining ones back in the pouch which he then took from her and tucked into the left side pocket of his jacket.

Reaching into the inside right pocket of his jacket he removed another pouch, similar to the one that she had just closed and opened it for her to deposit her selected gems inside. Once they were both safely in the bag, he knotted it back up and placed it back into the inside pocket of his black leather jacket.

He stood, locked the safety deposit box back up and picked it up, tucking it under his arm. "Come on," he placed a hand at the small of her back as she stood with him. "Let's go home. I think you have some work ahead of you in order to nurse me back to full health."

"Really?"
Nikki cocked a curious brow up as she turned to face him. "What did you have in mind?" She took a step towards him, closing the distance between them, slipped her arms around his neck and pressed her body against the length of his gazing up into his eyes. Her arousal flared as she felt his cock twitch against her stomach and being its rapid ascent.