The Omega Team_Knight & Day Read online

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  Knight & Day: Black Knight Security Book 1

  Omega Team Kindle World

  Stephanie Queen

  Contents

  Introduction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  About Stephanie Queen

  The Omega Team

  Grey Holden was raised to believe in honor and duty and the dedication of men to fighting evil. Both his father and grandfather taught him the tradition of the Omega Male, men who carry a resourcefulness, cunning and strength to get a job done with their own skill. They take great pride in what they do without it manifesting as "ego." They differ from the typical Alpha Male who MUST absolutely be perceived by his peers as the toughest, most popular, and smartest. An Omega Male cares little for this recognition...but knows that he is all those things and more. It’s what made him a good soldier and what makes him a good security and covert agent. Athena Madero fits perfectly into his world. They meet when separately they are trying to prove that a wealthy and high profile political figure is actually The Snake, a shadowy arms dealer whose weapons armed the insurgents that Grey was fighting in Afghanistan.

  They form The Omega Team, an agency that takes on even the most dangerous cases. They draw as members of the team former military such as Delta Force, SEALs, Force Recon Marines, Coast Guard, Night Stalkers and others, law enforcement and private security who have the same code of conduct and dedication they do. They will also work with similar agencies on some joint ventures. Headquartered in Tampa, Florida, they accept assignments all over the world, no matter how dangerous.

  Black Knight Security was his life—his wife and his baby…

  Joe Knight couldn’t be more ready to step in and protect one of the most powerful and beloved world leaders in recent history. The high profile Omega Team assignment carried the extra weight of a level one, real and verified threat to the man’s life.

  But the real test for Joe has nothing to do with protecting Black Knight Security’s most tense high profile risk yet, and everything to do with him protecting his heart from utter destruction…

  1

  Joe knew he was lucky, but he preferred to be prepared. That’s how he’d managed to be the last passenger aboard the Alitalia flight leaving Rome before dawn that morning. Preparedness. He was a regular Boy Scout. The jet scorched the runway once as it landed at Boston’s Logan International Airport at exactly 11:10 a.m. Before the second hand of his watch slipped past another digit, Joe slipped his phone from his pocket, powered it on, and opened his emails. He remained cool, keeping the urge to jump prematurely into adrenaline-fueled action mode at bay. Something was up. He could feel it. There were seventeen messages.

  He felt the flight attendant’s eyes on him from little more than an arm’s length away. He sat in the first row of first class. He looked up. She smiled. He didn’t. Something told him there wouldn’t time for a pretty flight attendant. At that moment he realized he hadn’t the inclination either so he refocused on his phone. His awareness heightened, like a wave of electricity had jolted him alive, grabbing the ends of every hair, pulling and straining each follicle to the maximum tension.

  Running his eyes down the small screen with new urgency, he triaged the list of emails, digesting the import of each one, until he stopped dead at number eleven.

  Without question, this would be the most important message no matter what the rest of them were about. It was the message that had created the urgency in him before he even knew why, his infamous sixth sense at work. No need to look further.

  There was nothing in the subject line of the email. The “from” was a random sequence of letters and numbers. It was from Omega Team.

  He opened the message and read it.

  Greetings friend,

  You have just won an all-expense paid vacation to your favorite destination. Please contact us by noon today or your prize will be forfeited.

  Congratulations, OT

  He shut his phone down and slipped it back into his pocket, his mind working.

  The Omega Team had just given him an assignment. There was no indication what the mission would be, but as the plane came to a stop at its bay at the international terminal building, Joe’s mind settled on one likely possibility. They knew he’d just arrived from Rome. They knew his business there.

  “Shit.”

  The flight attendant met his eyes. He had no smile.

  He didn’t feel so damn lucky now. Though he was trained to be cool under pressure, to be prepared for any eventuality, to meet any challenge, his heart rate went into double time.

  He knew what the mission was.

  And he knew without a doubt he’d be paired, once again, with the one woman he’d wished he’d never laid eyes on. Ariana Day.

  2

  The flight attendant slipped him a piece of paper as he stepped past her on his way off the plane. Her dimple showed, but her eyes told him it was her phone number. His regret dissipated with each step like a pebble disintegrating into a cloud of dust as it bounced across the rough surface of his heart and soul.

  In its place, a flash of remembrance reverberated through him, unwanted, of the first time he’d met Ariana. Walking through the airport, he gritted his teeth against the memory. But as he shoved into the back seat of a taxi and put his head back, closing his eyes, the sweet smell of her sex and the trembling of her thighs in his arms took hold as if she was there with him.

  Damn. He needed to get past this. Past her.

  He had to get control. Of the situation and of himself.

  When he reached his hotel room, he placed the call to the OT. He wasn’t at all concerned that it was 12:05. The man in charge at OT knew him well enough to know he was reliable. Knew him better than most anyone else on the planet.

  Joe didn’t mind since the knowing was mutual, but generally he was about keeping things close to the vest. Joseph Knight worked alone as a team of one. OT knew this. Joe knew this had to be a special assignment, taking that fact into consideration. He also knew he’d never be allowed to work on this assignment without her.

  Once the commander of OT had told Joe what he thought of him. He still remembered the words.

  I’ve never known anyone with the perfect combination of fierce commitment to protecting humanity and, at the same time, to be so without human attachment. Except you, Joe.

  Whether the commander meant it as praise was an open question, but one Joe didn’t worry about. It was who he was. It was how he was. And all the men—and not a few women—since then who’d accused him of being a passionless fuck were right. Except one. His one mistake. He knew they hadn’t meant their assessment as praise, and he didn’t give a fuck. Naturally.

  In the end, they’d counted on him and he’d delivered. Except for the women—he’d delivered only half of what they’d wanted. He could give them all the physical attention they could handle, but not the rest of it. Except that one time. That one big fat fucking regret.

  He tried to be more careful now. Not only because he cared about their feelings, somewhat. But because it was a hassle he could avoid, like all the hassles he avo
ided by controlling his emotions, by taming his passion. And by always behaving in a rational way.

  He’d learned his lesson well.

  He’d stayed true to himself and had done what he did best: protecting those who needed it, most of whom paid him well. His one caveat was that he would only protect those whom he thought deserved it.

  He’d turned down more assignments than he’d accepted over the years.

  OT connected the line on their end. There was a pause and a faint buzz and then the voice he’d been waiting for.

  “Go to room 2136.” The buzzing stopped and the call ended.

  Joe picked up his key card, slipped it into his pocket along with some other necessary items, and went. He wondered if she’d be there, ahead of him, ready to go. Wondered if she’d been the reason he was on the assignment, but told himself to slam the door on that line of thinking. OT had called him in for good reason. No one was doing him any favors.

  The last time he’d worked with Day, five years ago, the assignment had been one of the most important high-stakes missions of his life. This one would be protecting the same man from the same harm. He knew it without a doubt.

  And without a doubt, His Holiness wouldn’t let anyone else near him without Ariana Day’s blessing.

  Stepping off the elevator and walking the few feet down the hall to 2136, he slowed his breathing, told himself she was a professional partner. Nothing else. Told himself this was just another job. Nothing more.

  He told himself lies.

  Joe stopped in front of the door and stood for a beat, let his heart slow its pounding, cooled the emotions and let them settle. Then he slid the keycard into the slot and pushed the door open.

  * * *

  The Pope was in Boston on a visit and Ariana Day was his special and permanent security detail. Joe had been in Rome doing a check of the security systems at the Vatican. He knew the Pope was on tour with his contingent. That’s why they’d planned his visit now. That’s why he’d agreed to it. A complete check required a five-minute shut-down of the security systems. Joe had refused to chance it with the Pope there.

  He’d refused to chance it with Ariana Day there.

  While he’d been in Rome, a call had come in from Interpol alerting the Swiss Guard security at Vatican City of a possible threat to the Pope.

  He’d asked where the Pope was and they told him Boston. He changed his flight to leave Rome early. Black Knight Security was headquartered in Boston. It was comprised of exactly one employee. Him. Bishop Calivari told him they had a company handling the Pope’s security in Boston and would alert them. Joe wanted to get back just in case. Maybe he’d lend a hand and keep an eye out whether he was paid to or not.

  Although not religious by any means, Joe admired the Pope. He stopped his thoughts there, not wanting to go back to the assignment at Vatican City that had brought him together with the Pope and Ariana Day.

  Now he knew he was being called in to help. Knew the Bishop had called the Omega Team to take care of the Pope’s security in Boston. Joe was the OT’s security in Boston. The Bishop hadn’t known this. No one knew. No one had to spell it out.

  Joe pushed the door open all the way and stepped inside. He heard the click of the trigger on her raised gun before he saw her. He raised his hands and looked up to see her silhouette in the bright room where she stood in front of the large window. She made a perfect target of herself for a sniper, but she wasn’t the one someone was out to kill.

  Ariana lowered her weapon, saying nothing as Joe walked into the room, tearing his eyes from her to see the smallish man sitting in the chair to her right with his feet up. He was dressed in a tan suit and wore an old-school hat with a crease in the top, a small brim, and a dark band around it. Joe smiled at the kind-eyed man.

  “Joe.” The Pope’s radiant smile felt like a force field of well-being warming him. He began to rise from his chair where his feet had been resting on an ottoman, but Ariana stopped him with a gentle hand on his shoulder.

  Joe went to him instead, bending and kissing his hand. This was not something Joe would consider doing if he hadn’t felt the esteem, no matter what the protocol.

  “I’m glad you’re here. My bishops will rest easier now.”

  “Your holiness, you look different today.”

  The Pope laughed and gestured to Ariana.

  “This one insisted on this very unusual measure in the name of safety. I wear these clothes to keep her happy.”

  Joe stood and looked at her, meeting her eyes now, steeling himself, controlling everything save the slight elevation of his heart rate and the slight warming of his body temperature.

  When her eyes met his, he took a deep breath and began to feel the unraveling of his futile attempts to keep his distance, to pretend he wasn’t human. To pretend he hadn’t lost his heart and soul to this woman for life.

  She spoke and he resisted the urge to gravitate toward her.

  “His Holiness’s double rode in the cavalcade and handled the official public welcome. We’re going to make the switch at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in twenty-three minutes.”

  Joe was impressed that she hadn’t looked at her watch. Her accurate internal clock had always impressed him. He’d joked with her that it had been the Swiss in her.

  “What’s the threat? Direct?”

  She shook her head. He noticed her hand on the Pope’s shoulder and it struck Joe that she looked more like a loving protective daughter to this man than a lethally protective personal security detail to the Pope. But that’s what she was. What she had been since the last enclave voted the man in. That was only the first uproar this unconventional Pope had caused.

  Joe smiled on the inside. Pope Luke Paul had insisted on Ariana on the grounds that since he’d known her as a child, the daughter of one of the Swiss Guard who’d been around the Vatican all her life, he could trust her like no other. And she’d been trained as if she were a Swiss Guard, by her father and then in military school in the States. She’d worked for an international security company for several years since the Swiss Guard had rejected her for being a woman.

  The Swiss Guard had a number of requirements to qualify beyond the recruit’s capabilities. Applicants had to be Catholic, Swiss, unmarried, under thirty years of age and male. She’d qualified in every way and exceeded many of the men in education and close combat skills, but they refused to budge on the requirement that she be a male in spite of her father’s intervention. The pope at the time had been the opposite of progressive.

  Now with Pope Luke Paul, although she wasn’t officially a member of the Swiss Guard protection detail for the Pope, she was above them. She was the personal protector of Pope Luke Paul. Joe knew she had given up her life to protect him and knew she would gladly lay down her life to protect him. The pain struck him as if it had happened only a moment ago. As if she had told him again that they could never be together, not for more than one night. Afterward, she’d told him it had been a mistake to have let him in her life and her bed.

  Now he agreed and he wished to hell he could read what was on her mind as their eyes attempted to read each other’s souls.

  “I wish the threat was direct. It wouldn’t be as serious as I’m afraid this one is.” She paused, glancing at the Pope. His Holiness put his hand over hers on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. The man whose life was threatened was comforting his protector. But that was the way of Pope Luke Paul, to comfort those around him, unfailingly.

  “What is it?” Joe prompted. He felt his professional cool slipping and tried shoring it up. He stood straighter.

  “Interpol, and now NSA, has confirmed that there is a cell, it’s been activated, and it’s here in Boston. Their mission is an attack on the Pope. An assassination. He’s seen as a direct religious threat to the jihad, according to experts decoding the messages.” Ariana’s face changed from grim to determined, showing that burning passion he’d seen before.

  At the time, it had been aimed at h
im. But now she reserved all her passion, her very life, for the purpose of protecting Pope Luke Paul for the rest of his life. She’d made a vow and Joe knew it was no less serious, no less committed than any priest or nun to their religious vows.

  She may as well be a nun—the most devoted nun on the planet. The fact that she wasn’t all that religious in the strict Catholic sense, that she didn’t follow all the rules—in particular the celibacy rule—didn’t help Joe. In fact, it had hurt him.

  “We’re trying to use his double for all public appearances.”

  “But I won’t have it,” Pope Luke Paul said with a sad smile.

  Joe understood. He was a man of the people.

  Ariana took a breath, her hand still on the Pope’s shoulder, and continued.

  “After his meeting with Daniel Patrick Cardinal O’Mara of the Boston Archdiocese and several local dignitaries at the cathedral, Pope Luke Paul is scheduled to speak at City Hall Plaza at 4p.m. He wanted to give all the people a chance to attend after work.”

  Joe took that in. He knew the place.

  “City Hall Plaza is a security nightmare. It’s like a canyon in the city, surrounded by countless sniper points and accessible on three sides for entry.” Joe stated the obvious.

  Ariana closed her eyes for a few blinks. He wanted to take the few steps toward her and wrap his arms around her, let her share her burden of anxiety. He didn’t. But he could share the burden of security. He was a sharpshooter even without a sniper rifle.

  She opened her eyes and nodded, sharing her concern, reaching out across space and time and acknowledging their bond. In that moment, he felt the tug that pushed him over the precipice and caused him to tumble helplessly back to that place where his feelings were open and raw and in control. He would be protecting Ariana Day as much as the Pope from whatever harm might come—that included harm from himself.