Page 13 of Flash and Bang
“I see,” Jarrett gritted, “Could have probably said that to begin with.” He shot Thayne an angry glance. “Was that in the file you were reading?” His partner looked like he wanted to spit.
“No it wasn’t.”
“What?” Ada said. Her voice rose. “I thoughtyou knew we had a note.”
Thayne and Jarrett both shook their heads, incredulous. “We had no idea, Ada.”
“Well no wonder you look like you want to take my head off,” she said, looking almost relieved as she shook her head. “Now I feel very foolish.”
“We need to see that note.” Jarrett spoke through gritted teeth. “Might have saved us a hell of a lot of time.”
“Now see here…” Captain Carrillo began.
“Captain, perhaps you can show us that note,” Thayne interrupted him, doing his best to diffuse the tension. The last thing he wanted to see was Jarrett’s foul mood be the cause of bloodshed between Jarrett and Carrillo, especially when Ada was so apologetic. Something had set Jarrett off, that was for sure. Now was not the time or place to try to get to the bottom of it however.
Carrillo looked over at him. “No problem, Special Agent Wolfe. It seems we’ve wasted precious time here.”
Thayne watched the man turn on his heel and stomp off as Ada walked after him. He glanced over at Jarrett. “Good going, jerk.”
Jarrett glared at Thayne. “Fucked up day,Wolfe.” Without another word, he turned and stalked after Ada and her husband. Thayne was stuck bringing up the rear, feeling a hell of a lot out of sorts as the day just turned to shit.
Chapter Three
August 2014 Gaza City, Israel
“Get up, Jarrett. It’s nearly time to go.”
Jarrett opened his eyes and looked up at Adael who was sitting on the edge of the bed. His lover’s dark eyes glittered in the darkness but he’d obviously been up for some time because his mahogany curls were damp and tamed from a recent shower. Jarrett sat up and swung his long legs over the edge of the bed, scrubbing one hand over his face. He glanced at the clock on the motel’s small nightstand. It read one am.
“You could have let me sleep a little longer. We don’t have to be in place for another hour and a half,” Jarrett grumbled, glancing up at Adael under lowered brows.
Adael brought his hand up to cup Jarrett’s cheek as he smiled. “Then we wouldn’t have had time for this.” Adael leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on Jarrett’s lips and Jarrett sighed into it, reaching around his lover’s back to pull him closer. He and Adael Dayan, Jarrett’s Israeli counterpart, had been thrown together for the last two weeks, waiting until Mossad and the CIA were absolutely certain they’d located their target, but they’d made use of the downtime to indulge in some very hot sex.
Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, betterknown as the terrorist Mohammed Deif, had been located in Gaza, hiding from the Israeli Defense Forces whose most recent focus had been closing in on the Hamas leader they’d been chasing for well over a decade. They’d tried to kill him four times to this point, coming close with airstrikes each and every time, but the terrorist had remained elusive, immune to their attacks thus far. When the airstrikes failed, they’d sent Jarrett and Adael in to wait, feeling that a targeted assassination would somehow finally kill the man who’d been responsible for orchestrating attacks throughout Israel, resulting in an unknown number of allied deaths and injuries. Jarrett and Adael had returned from dinner this evening only to be informed that their target’s position had been confirmed and they’d been given the green light.
Jarrett moaned into the kiss, allowing himself to be pushed back onto the bed as Adael climbed over him. He was not generally so submissive, but something about the sexy Israeli and the adrenaline-fueled prelude to a mission got Jarrett going every single time. Adael’s hard, muscled physique drove Jarrett’s excitement and he felt his body respond, stiffening below his lover.
“As much as you like it slow, we need to make this fast, Adael,” Jarrett growled before kissing him harder. He ran his hands up Adael’s sides, loving how smooth and warm his bare skin was. Jarrett wondered if he could take some time off and stay with him a littlelonger once they’d completed the mission. It had been a long time since he’d really enjoyed someone so much. The only problem with that in Jarrett’s mind was the possibility that Jarrett would actually fall for someone if he stayed around long enough… but perhaps Adael was worth sticking around for.
Adael kissed him harder, pushing his tongue into Jarrett’s mouth as he moaned into it. Jarrett ground his cock against Adael’s groin, needing the friction and getting off on their now frenzied kisses. “I need you,” Jarrett gasped, tearing his mouth away and reaching for the lube and condoms they’d tossed aside earlier that evening. As he picked up the bottle, his goddamned cell phone went off, chiming low in the darkly-lit room. He glanced over to it as he heard Adael swear and reached out when his lover rolled off him.
“Evans,” he growled into the speaker. “This better be important.”
“Evans, it’s Ridley. There’s movement at the compound. Get over here. The brass ain’t gonna give you but ten minutes. The IDF’s calling in another airstrike.”
“God dammit!” Jarrett swore, rolling off the bed as he grabbed his jeans. “We’ll be there.” He slammed the flip phone closed on his CIA contact and looked over at Adael who was already in his khakis and pulling on amuscle shirt. “Intel has picked up movement at the compound. They’ve given us ten minutes.”
“Deif must have gotten wind of something,” Adael said, looking just as pissed off as Jarrett was. “It’s the middle of the fucking night.” They were out the door and racing to Deif’s compound two minutes later. It was a five-minute drive.
“We’re barely gonna have time to set up,” Adael bitched as he raced through the streets of Gaza, headed for the hilltop they’d scoped out after receiving Deif’s location earlier that day.
“Just get us there, Adael.” Jarrett was already assembling his sniper rifle as his lover stepped on the gas. By the time they got to the top of the ridge, eight minutes had elapsed. Jarrett’s phone rang as he jumped out of the car.
“You in place?” Ridley asked. “We just spotted you coming up the hill.”
“Tell them we need two minutes, dammit!” Jarrett yelled but he could already hear the sound of the Israeli bombers approaching. He slammed the phone closed and glanced over at Adael who was already on his belly, gazing through a pair of night vision binoculars.
“Come on, Jarrett. There’s no time. They’re loading up the vehicles.”