Dark highlanders, p.24
SECOND CHANCES: A REAPER Security Novel - RCAC, page 24
SECOND CHANCES
A REAPER Security Novel – RCAC
Book 14
Mary Kennedy
Cast of Characters
Joe “Nine” Dougall – CEO of REAPER – former NAVY Seal
Erin Richards Dougall – wife of Nine – mother to Joy and Cameron
Dan “Wilson” Anderson – former Navy SEAL
Sara MacMillan Anderson – wife of Wilson – owner of Café 22 – mother to Paige
Will “Code” Erickson – former Marine
Hannah Jordan Erickson – wife of Code
Peter “Miller” Robicheaux – Army – SWAT – Interrogator
Kari LeBlanc Robicheaux – wife of Miller and attorney for REAPER
Joseph “Trak” Redhawk – Delta – fluent in four languages – French, Spanish, Farsi, and Navajo
Lauren Owens Redhawk – wife of Trak and mother to their two sets of twins – Sophia and Suzette and, Nathan and Joseph
Senator Michael Bodwick – former Navy SEAL – double amputee
Senator Alan Haley – father of late-fiancée to Wilson
Billy-Joe “Tailor” Bongard – former firefighter, chemical and weapons expert
Cholena “Lena” Blackwood Bongard – wife of Tailor and RN – mother of Eric
Luke “Angel” Jordan – former Navy SEAL
Mary Fitzhugh Jordan – wife to Luke – former FBI profiler – mother to their triplets – Luke, Georgianna, and Wesley
Thomas “Tommy” Brantley – former Army Ranger
Charlotte Jordan Brantley – wife to Tommy – mother of Angel
William “Bull” Stone – former Army Ranger – singer extraordinaire
Tory Gibson Stone – wife of Bull
John Wayne “Grip” Porter – former Army Ranger - deceased
Sylvester “Sly” DiMarco – computer wizard
Wesley “Pigsty” O’Neal – hacked the CIA – known for his computer abilities
Alex “Sniff” Mullins – former Army K-9 Officer – dog Daisy
Ajei Blackwood – sister to Lena
Frank “Mac” MacMillan – former Marine – brother to Sara
Rachelle Robicheaux MacMillan – married to Mac
Woody “Doc” Fine – US Army doctor retired – left arm amputee
Matthew & Irene Robicheaux – parents to the Robicheaux family
Gaspar Robicheaux – former Army Ranger – CEO of REAPER South
Alexandra Minsky Robicheaux – former Navy – wife to Gaspar – and mother to their adopted children Lucy, Violet, Adam, Ben, Carl, and Luke
Antoine Robicheaux – former Army Ranger and twin to Luc
Ella Stanton Robicheaux – married to Antoine
Ryan Holden – nephew of Ella
Luc Robicheaux – former Army Ranger and twin to Antoine
Montana Divide Robicheaux – Weapons Designer for G.R.I.P. and wife of Luc
Jasper “Jazz” Divide – former Navy SEAL – brother to Montana, husband of Gray
Dr. Gray VanZantt Divide – wife of Jazz – mother of Virginia
Jean Robicheaux – brother
Gabriel Robicheaux – former Army Ranger
Tory Gibson Robicheaux – wife of Gabriel – sister to Gibbie
John “Gibbie” Gibson – former Navy SEAL
Dhara ‘no last name’ – wife to Gibbie
Rafael Robicheaux – former Army Ranger and twin to Baptiste
Baptiste Robicheaux – former Army Ranger and twin to Rafael
Savannah O’Reilly – former Air Force pilot – wife to Rafael, mother to twins – Jasper & Kate
Alec Robicheaux – ex-medical student – ex-CIA – contract assassin
Camille Robicheaux – sister
Marie Robicheaux – sister
Adele Robicheaux Duffy – sister and married to Clay Duffy
Claudette Robicheaux - sister
Chapter ONE
“Lissa! Point your toes, point!” Madame Paulina screamed at her again, hitting her calf with her walking stick. She pointed her toe more directly, her leg extended behind her, perpendicular to her body, up in the air, the curve of her foot at an unnatural angle.
Everything about ballet was unnatural. The fact that a woman could balance her entire body on the tips of her toes, with the help of shoes of course, seemed absurd. Yet Lissa Duncan had been doing it, dancing the discipline known as ballet now since she was three years old.
Her parents had both been ballroom dancers, but knew all too well that it wouldn’t pay the bills for their daughter. So as soon as Lissa was old enough to enter a class, they enrolled her and walked away, leaving her to be raised by an elderly aunt and uncle. Their dancing competitions took them to South America, Portugal, Italy, France, anywhere that paid the bills. Niles and Caroline Duncan were definitely not in contention for the parents of the year competition.
The problem was, they wanted to be anywhere except where Lissa was. She was an unhappy accident. The product of a night where condoms and birth control pills were forgotten about. One mistake and she had nearly ruined her mothers’ body…or so she had been told her entire life.
At the tender age of five she was placed in an all-girls’ boarding school. At eight, she was told she had considerable talent. And at eleven, the school informed her that her parents hadn’t paid her tuition in almost three months. When Lissa finally tracked them down, they were somewhere in Asia and assured her they would send the funds as soon as possible.
It would be five more years of phone calls and late payments, until Lissa took it upon herself to offer a deal to the school. She would teach ballet to the ten and under group, for the chance to stay at the school. When the board argued that she was too young, she argued that her tuition was less than the salary of a full-time dance teacher. The board jumped at the opportunity.
“Lissa! Your toes! Your toes!”
Lissa straightened again, bending her leg, swinging it out and around, her toes pointed perfectly toward the ceiling.
“Better, much better, we might actually make a ballerina out of you yet.”
She bit her tongue, cursing the older woman under her breath. Classes at the academy were brutal and she knew she was lucky to be here, especially considering her circumstances. The wait list to be taught my Madame Paulina was nearly three hundred long, and that was just for her age group. She despised the woman most days, but she also knew that if she could get her seal of approval, she would be a principal by the age of twenty-one.
“Alright everyone, enough for today.” Paulina moved toward her chair, her long flowing cape behind her. She sat on the sturdy wooden bench and tapped her walking stick to the floor. “Lissa, I’d like to see you please.”
“Yes Madame Paulina?” She scurried toward the older woman, her toe shoes slapping on the wooden floor.
“Lissa, I know that you must think I’m very cruel to you some days, but you are talented my child and I am trying to force that talent to the surface, to make it rise to the top!”
“Yes Madame Paulina, I understand.” She nodded at the older woman, but also knew that her methods at times were beyond cruel. She often hit students with her cane harder than necessary or yelled so violently, they would crumble in tears and she would physically kick them from her studio.
“Lissa, how old are you now dear?” Lissa eyed the older woman, wondering why she would ask such a question.
“I’m almost twenty.”
“Excellent. And your parents?”
“I’m an adult Madame Paulina, I don’t need my parents to support me or make decisions for me. I’ve basically been on my own since I was sixteen.”
“I’m not judging Lissa. But you’ve answered my question. A friend of mine has just taken the position of director at the New Orleans Ballet Theater. He has an opening for a dancer, and I’ve recommended you.”
Lissa could not have been more surprised if Madame Paulina had told her that she was coming to her apartment to cook her dinner and clean her toilets. Her mouth was open, her stomach suddenly turning in circles.
“I-I don’t know what to say…New Orleans? Louisiana?” Madame Paulina laughed, and Lissa thought it was the strangest sound she’d ever heard.
“Yes, darling. Louisiana. It’s really quite lovely. Great food, great music, culture, history, everything a young woman should be exposed to. What do you think? He needs an answer…”
“Yes!” Lissa bit her lower lip and blushed furiously. “I’m sorry, yes of course Madame Paulina. Thank you for recommending me for this opportunity.”
“You’ve earned it Lissa. Now, pack your things.” She handed Lissa an envelope and when she opened it, she was shocked to find an airline ticket and five hundred dollars in cash. “No arguments Lissa, I remember how difficult it was starting out. This will get you there and help you get a small apartment.”
“I don’t know what to say.” Tears formed in the corners of her eyes and she looked away, embarrassed by her display of emotions. “Thank you. I promise I won’t disappoint you.”
“Lissa, you are the most talented dancer I have had in my studio for many years. You will not disappoint me. No matter Lissa, no matter where your life takes you or what you do in this life…just don’t disappoint yourself.”
Lissa hugged the older woman, the smell of lavender and baby powder filling her nose. She would not forget the kindness of Madame Paulina and she wouldn’t fail.
Pulling on her sweat pants, she zipped up her jacket, and headed to her apartment that she shared with another dancer. With her bags packed, her courage meter at full, she hugged her roommate and headed to New Orleans.
Principal dancer…here I come!
Chapter TWO
Five years later…
“Lissa, I’m sorry…you just can’t hold the positions any longer. I know you’ve tried since the surgery, but most dancers never make it back as far as you have. I’m sorry darling, truly.” The older man hugged her tightly as she let the tears fall from her eyes.
“Lissa, take some time and think about what you want to do. There’s always a place for you here as a teacher or as artistic or creative assistant.” She nodded and taking her bag, walked backstage.
“I’m so sorry Lis,” said the young man.
“It’s okay Dave, it was an accident. I’ll be fine, don’t worry.” She smiled at the younger man and patted his arm. He kissed her cheek and she said her goodbyes to the other dancers, at least for now.
The injury had been one of those odd events that probably couldn’t be repeated even it was staged. While performing an arabesque during rehearsals for Giselle a male dancer from the chorus stumbled, causing her foot to bend at an odd angle. There were tears and fractures and pain she never thought she would get rid of. But physical therapy could only do so much.
Lissa made her way out of the ballet theater and toward her appointment with Dr. Winters. Today she would find out how extensive her endometriosis was and if she would require invasive surgery. As if her life weren’t complicated enough, now she had this to deal with.
She spotted the big man once again sitting in his truck and smiled to herself. If she hadn’t met him once already she would find him scary, but there was something incredibly comforting about seeing him watching her. He wasn’t creepy, he wasn’t aggressive with her, he was just there.
Her month was not going as planned. Her near disastrous experience with the completely asinine and disgusting Jack Winters had started it all off. He had seemed older and wiser and certainly knew all the right things to say to a young woman, but when she told him she thought she was pregnant he acted like a complete asshole.
Luckily for Lissa, she wasn’t pregnant, instead having, what Dr. Gray would hopefully tell her, were some normal female issues which had resulted in a false positive pregnancy test. Now her world was literally crumbling around her. While leaving Dr. Gray Winters office after her appointment last week, two men had tried to kidnap her.
But the even stranger part of her day, if getting nearly kidnapped wasn’t strange enough, was meeting the enormous, giant of a man in the parking lot who sent her blood racing. He told her she was in danger and he wanted her to come with him to stay safe. Not falling for that line, Lissa had taken off and not looked back.
Fortunately, or at least she thought it was fortunate, Mr. big, bad, and sexy was following her, watching every move she made. Although it was kind of creepy, it also made her feel exceptionally safe. When he had fallen asleep in his car, in front of her building the night before, she ordered Chinese food and took it down to him. He had seemed shocked and grateful at the same time.
“Hi Lissa,” said Dr. Gray VanZantt Winters, soon to be Dr. Gray Robicheaux.
“Hi Gray, so what’s the verdict? I could use some good news today.”
“Oh honey, no go on the dancing?”
“Nope,” she said, her eyes watering. “But it’s okay, really.”
“Well, then this should be good news. I think we’ve gotten most of the endometriosis and the fibroids were small enough that the laser handled them. You’ll be sore for a few days, but healthy. You’re good to go.”
“That is good news! Thank you Gray. Do you see any issues with me having children one day?”
“None at all. You don’t have any permanent damage and your ovaries look good.”
“Thank you Gray, really. That’s the good news I needed today. Now I can go outside and see my bodyguard.”
Gray tried to look shocked and surprised, but the truth was she knew that Alec Robicheaux was sitting in his truck right now waiting on the woman to come out.
“See you next time Lissa.” The young woman waved and made her way to the elevators and then out toward her vehicle. A smile lit up her face, feeling relieved at the news of her good health, when she looked up to see six-foot-eight of grizzly bear walking toward her.
“Are you okay?” he asked, still three car spaces away from her.
She watched the big man walking toward her and couldn’t help but let a grin slip from her lips. He had been following her around for days and slept outside her building at night. She wasn’t sure when he slept, but she knew that in her entire life, she had never felt safer.
“I’m good, thank you. Thanks to Dr. Winters I’m going to be perfectly fine. A little sore for a few days, but fine.” His face screwed into a painful expression and she smiled. “It’s okay. A girl problem, but I’m not pregnant and I have no life threatening issues.”
“That’s good. I’m glad.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. He wanted to reach out and touch her, but he didn’t dare. He knew he was one scary looking son-of-a-bitch and this woman deserved more than a man with his scars, inside and out.
“Listen, I know you’ve been following me, watching me. I’ve seen you.”
“I’ve let you see me,” he said with a cocky grin.
“Really?” She folded her arms staring at him in disbelief. “Fine, whatever, I was just going to say I appreciate it. Why don’t you let me buy you lunch? A real lunch, where we actually sit down across a table from one another and talk. Like adults.”
He looked at the woman and smiled. She was the cutest damn thing he had ever seen and she was offering to buy him lunch.
“Alright, lunch on you.”
“Good, how about the café right across the road? We can walk together. They have great burgers and you look like a man who likes a good burger.” He stared at her feigning a look of shock and hurt.
“Me? Red meat? No way, that stuff will kill you.” She laughed a deep sexy laugh and his dick twitched.
“Can you tell me your name or is it something like secret spy 174?”
“That’s 007 actually. Yes, I can tell you my name…its Alec.”
“Alec,” she said. The sound of it rolling off her tongue with a French accent. He liked that. She knew that his name had French history and he liked that she put the accent on his name. “It’s nice to meet you Alec. I’m Lissa, but I’m guessing you already knew that.”
He nodded as they waited for the traffic to cross the street. When the road was clear, he put a hand on the center of her back and led her across the busy intersection.
His hand covered half her back and she couldn’t help but shiver. She was in a long navy blue pencil skirt and sky-high black pumps. Her white blouse hugged her tiny curves, but the fabric was so thin, she could feel the scalding heat of his hand against her back.
“Are you cold?” he said looking at her.
“No, sorry, no it was just for a moment there.” He nodded at her and opened the door. They took a booth in the corner and Alec insisted on sitting so he could see the front doors.
Their conversation was light and easy. She talked pretty much non-stop about dancing and he thought it was the cutest fucking thing he’d ever seen. Her big brown eyes seemed too large for her face, the long blonde hair over-powering her. But he couldn’t help but think about how that hair would feel draped over his body.
“I saw you go into the ballet company twice this week. Are you going to go back to dancing?” he asked. She looked down at her menu and bit her bottom lip. “Hey, I’m sorry. You don’t have to answer that.” His big paw covered hers and she watched as her hand disappeared beneath his own. His callused palm was rough on the back of her hand, but the heat that generated from this man was unbelievable.
“It’s okay, really. I tried…I had to try out again and I tried, but my foot…it just doesn’t allow for me to hold the positions as long as I need to any longer. Plus they said I had put on too much weight.” His eyes went wide with shock and she giggled. “It’s okay. I’m used to it. Ballerina’s have a strict weight they have to maintain, sickly actually. I’ve always been taller than the average dancer at five foot eight, but my weight is a challenge.”
