Alpha, Delta Page 6

  Briefly Finn embraced Niall but they couldn’t stop.

  “Tango main is down, Erik.”

  “Copy that, Delta Seven,” Erik replied. “Helideck clear, tango four down.”

  “Exfil in ten,” Cap responded. “Let’s get these hostages off Forseti.”

  “Why did he…?” Niall pointed at the dead Svein on the floor.

  Finn didn’t have time to talk about this. He had to get to the helideck and get the hostages off the platform, including Niall. Finn checked Svein’s pulse one last time, there was nothing. Then he considered direction and with Niall right behind him they headed upward.

  “I was going to the others,” Niall said as they climbed. “He was just there. I tried to…”

  Niall stopped walking, leaning on the metal banister and bowing his head. This was inevitable; he’d been running on adrenalin and abruptly that had left.

  “Keep going,” Finn encouraged.

  “Why did he…”

  “I have a bad feeling about this,” Finn said hurriedly. “I need you topside.”

  Niall nodded, visibly pulling himself together and straightening. “Let’s go.”

  About two flights from open air Niall was pulled short by shouting, Erik’s voice loud over the headset. “Abort. Abort. Helipad is wired.”

  Finn heard cursing from Cap and held his breath. When an explosion didn’t happen he assumed they had managed to abort the Puma landing.

  “Jesus Christ Finn, you need to get your ass up here and see this.”

  Finn considered everything. Svein hadn’t given them a way off of Forseti. “Is there a timer?”

  “I can’t fucking see shit up here past explosives,” Erik snapped.

  Finn made a decision. “Get down here, Erik. We have to move the crew to the boat to get off this thing.” Glancing at Niall he considered whether his lover would be able to get down to the boat deck and passed to where he and Erik had left the boat. He was frighteningly pale and his face was red with the burn of sleet and bruises.

  I will keep you alive.

  “Erik, get the remaining hostages to the boat deck. I’ll get Niall down there.”

  “I can’t,” Niall said softly. So soft that Finn almost missed it. “I think…” He slumped against the railing and only Finn grabbing tight stopped him from falling.

  “We have to get lower,” Finn said. “They rigged the helideck to stop the Puma from landing. Our only way off is with the boat.”

  Niall looked up at him, focusing in on him, his eyes wide, then he coughed. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it just as quickly. “Let’s move,” he finally said.

  Together, with more of a stumble than a walk they began descending back the way they’d come. Every step was exertion and Niall was becoming heavier with each one. Finn could feel the blood on his hands, the sticky wetness an indication something was seriously fucking wrong.

  “I love you,” Niall murmured. “I know you don’t want to hear it but if we die—”

  “We’re not dying.” Finn hoisted more of Niall’s weight and refused to think that there was a world where Niall wasn’t in it.

  “I love you,” Niall repeated. His voice held a hint of question. Finn had spent so much of their time together calling it an easy relationship for sex that he’d held back how he felt, but could he still do that with Niall literally dying in front of him?

  They stopped for a second and Finn couldn’t even think about how much further they had to go down. Nor how long they had left. Who knew what kind of timing was on the damn explosives. Fuck.

  “Delta Seven, we’re at the boat.” Erik confirmed the facts.

  Niall cradled Finn’s face, looked deep into his eyes even as he spoke to Erik. “Get the boat away.”

  “Waiting for you,” Erik said stubborn and focused.

  If the platform was rigged, then they’d all die.

  “Five, you see anything, you go…”

  “Copy.”

  Finn pressed a kiss to Niall’s cold lips, then pulled back, “I love you,” he said. “Now let’s move.”

  And with that declaration of love they began to move again, Finn aware that the whole platform could collapse around them, or that Erik would move the boat, or that hell, he was going to die here with Niall.

  They stumble-walked down to the boat deck, the burning from the knife wound in his chest getting worse then numbing in the icy cold as they moved outside.

  “Not far now,” he reassured a near-comatose Niall. He could see the boat, the tethering holding, they were six feet, five feet… He could imagine the step to take to get Niall onto the boat. Two feet, Erik was there, grabbing Niall and dragging him into the boat, Finn right behind him, the boat wheeling away, the faces of scared hostages burned onto his retinas. They were away, twenty feet, thirty, fifty, when a huge explosion parted the storm and the heaving seas. Instinctively, Finn covered Niall.

  “Down,” he shouted, the frightened crew doing as they were told. Finn looked back at the extent of the explosion, at the fire, the hell that rained down on them, and prayed to hell they made it out. Something smacked into the boat, then another, hitting Finn on the back and forcing him lower in the boat.

  A hundred feet, two hundred…

  Then the terrifying noise of the platform in self-destruct was swallowed by the storm and they were far enough away for Finn to sit upright. They couldn’t see Forseti now, and he had to think.

  “Cap? We need exfil…” He yanked at an unconscious Niall’s clothes, revealing bone cutting through skin in his arm, and so much blood, some congealed and some free flowing. Niall’s pulse was thready, thin, barely there.

  “Five,” Cap answered immediately.

  Finn gripped his fear and refused to let it show to anyone. Five may not be enough time to save Niall.

  Chapter Eight

  Niall woke slowly, step by step, each a little more painful than the last. He was aware of noise around him, of pain, and the startling white of the lights in his face. People asked him questions, his name, his age, and he was sure he’d heard Ewan’s voice on more than one occasion telling him he was an uncle now and uncles didn’t do things like die on oil platforms.

  Although Ewan’s voice was welcome he still craved Finn’s lower, huskier tones but there had been no sign of him.

  The doctor told him he’d been hypothermic, that his radius had snapped out through his skin, that he’d lost blood and was actually lucky that they’d got him back to land and to a hospital before he died from shock. That had been at least an hour ago and since then no one had even come into his room, let alone talked to him. Right now he’d even give a smile to a nurse if it meant he wasn’t stuck here with drips in the back of his hand and his head buzzing with pain.

  They’d suspected a concussion from the boat deck explosion he’d rigged with the water at high pressure. They’d worried he’d been hit by pieces of Forseti self-destructing but at the end of the day seemed like his brain had come out of this fairly much intact. Go figure.

  And talking of Forseti? Niall groaned at the thought of what had happened. The platform was a hazard now. The destruction hadn’t been systematic and project managed. It had been rent in two from the helideck down to the lower production deck. Apparently, according to Ewan, there had been so much explosive wired up that there was no chance of anyone getting off alive. Fires had raged in the accommodation block, the comms room, and the small room where he had hidden, and there was nothing left recognisable as an oil platform part from twisted metal rising out of the sea.

  Forseti had died dramatically and horribly and its death throes had very nearly taken him and others with it.

  A nurse came in to check his vitals and he grabbed the chance of talking. He asked the same question that he’d done every single God-damned time he’d spoken to anyone.

  “The team that got us off of the platform, are they here?”

  The nurse, still smiling, shook her head. “Sorry, this is my first sh
ift this week, I don’t know of another team in the hospital.”

  “ERU,” Niall persisted. “The Deltas.”

  The Nurse frowned briefly, then resumed her smiling, this time with raised eyebrows. “Oh, I think I’d notice a Delta in the place,” she joked. “And no, there aren’t any. But you do have a friend who is waiting to visit.”

  Ewan was back again. This time Niall hoped he’d bought his son with him so Niall could at least see the new baby.

  The nurse leaned over to add details to his chart then adjust the drip into his non-splinted arm. They’d had to operate on the bones, knitting them and holding them in place with a metal plate and it fucking hurt today.

  “Although,” she added thoughtfully, “the guy out there is very rugged and sexy, could easily be a Delta.” She left and all of a sudden Niall had hope inside him. Ewan was a good-looking guy, as brothers go, but no one had ever described him as sexy or rugged. To be fair though, not that anyone would to Niall. Was it possible that Finn was here?

  The moment they’d shared on the stairs, just before Niall lost his last connection to consciousness had been intense. But that had been three days ago now. Three. And Finn had said he loved him, but where was he now? If Finn really loved Niall then shouldn’t he be here or something?

  The door opened a little, then more fully and Niall’s breath hitched in his chest. Finn. His lover looked tired. No, beyond tired—exhausted. He wasn’t shaved, his hair a mess of spikes, and he looked uncertain, wary to step in the room.

  “Finn,” Niall said with more than a little excitement in his voice.

  “Hey,” was all Finn said.

  Niall wriggled a little to sit more upright, sickness washing over him at the pain in his arm. Finn immediately crossed to him, placing a hand on his chest. “Don’t move,” he said, concerned.

  Niall couldn’t concentrate on not moving. “Where have you been?”

  Finn shrugged then glanced behind him at the closed door. “Tidying up loose ends with Svein,” he explained. Niall imagined that was all he was going to get out of Finn, secrets and all that mess associated with hijackings and hostage situations. Then to Niall’s amazement Finn continued. “Svein had been tracking you,” he admitted. “Had a whole wall of crazy in this place outside of Oslo. Saw a connection between the two of us.”

  Niall considered the words. He could sense what Finn was doing. All that heroic shit where he kept himself out of Niall’s life in order to keep Niall safe.

  “Don’t do that,” Niall snapped the conclusion of his internal thought process.

  “What?” Finn looked confused.

  “Start all that shit about how we’re better apart.”

  Finn looked down at Niall. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “You’re going to give that whole speech about how we’re better apart just so I don’t get targeted by a mad man intent on killing a Delta.”

  Niall watched as realisation passed over Finn’s face. Then Finn chuckled. “I wasn’t going to say that at all. Hell, he wasn’t after you, he was using you to get to me, different scenario.”

  “So what do you want to say?” Niall couldn’t help the suspicion in his voice. He was used to the fact that this whole relationship was a temporary thing, had even come to terms with it in his head.

  Finn moved to sit on the bed next to Niall, and somehow in that curiously graceful way he had about him for such a big guy, he was in a position to cradle Finn in his arms. Finn sunk into the strong hold and attempted to relax.

  “My place has two rooms,” he said. “You could move in with me and have the second bedroom as an office. I’d move in with you but I need to be near HQ in Oslo.”

  Niall said nothing, the words sinking in slowly. “What?” he finally asked.

  “Will you move in with me?”

  “In with you?”

  “Yes, in with me,” Finn chuckled as he repeated the words. “I love you, Niall Faulkner, and I’m done with this self-sacrificing bullshit that has me fucking and leaving. I want forever with you. You up for it? I’m not much, my time is up with ERU in ten months or so and I’m back in London, and you’ll just be dating a cop again. And i—”

  “Shut up and kiss me,” Niall ordered.

  So he did. And Niall enjoyed it so much that he even forgot he was in pain.

  Well…very nearly anyway.

  Epilogue

  Forsetti was a mess.

  Three weeks on the platform and Niall was a mess as well. Not only was it one of the hardest things he had to do, going back to where he’d nearly died, but he missed Finn. And that was just ridiculous. The very nature of who they were would mean they’d spend time apart, weeks, months even, but this was all so new, and there was no way Finn would be missing him. He’d be busy, focused on the important work he did.

  “You okay?” Ewan had asked that a lot over the last three weeks, and was still asking it now as the Puma landed back at base. So far Niall had managed to gloss over how he was feeling, but with his feet on solid ground he felt like maybe now was a good time to clear the air and get his worries out there. His brother was a good listener and maybe all he needed was for Ewan to tell him everything was going to be okay, and that relationships like the kind he and Finn had could work.

  “I miss Finn.”

  “Yeah, I know. I miss my family as well.”

  Finn wasn’t family. Not officially, but the way Ewan casually implied Finn was family to Niall was a nice thing. They entered the station and Niall offloaded his case and laptop onto the first table they came to.

  “How do you do it? How do you deal with time apart?” Niall immediately asked.

  Ewan crossed to the coffee maker and poured two mugs, exchanging insults with the security team who had shadowed them on Forsetti. Real security guys this time, not gun toting terrorists with hidden agendas. Seemed like Niall would have to wait for his answer until caffeine was consumed. Ewan began talking as soon as he was back at the table.

  “It’s exciting, you know, I get home and I see Mel and it’s like we’re newlyweds again. Although she’s had Adam on her own and probably needs more of the baby care help than the hot monkey sex.”

  Niall frowned. “I don’t want to hear details about what you do with Mel.”

  Ewan poked him. “Well I’m not a virgin, you know, I’m a married man.”

  “I just… I’m not sure Finn will be missing me as much as I miss him, okay? He’s probably out there saving the world and not giving one ounce of thought to the idiot who nearly died on his watch.”

  “I thought he said he loved you.” Ewan looked puzzled, then his expression brightened. “I think you need to go now.”

  Niall picked up his coffee and sipped at it tentatively. “After debrief and coffee,” he answered.

  “No, I’ll cover debrief. I promise you really need to go.” He nodded to indicate something behind Niall and it made him turn. To see Finn standing just inside the door in his heavy coat. Something inside Niall snapped into place and in seconds he crossed to where Finn stood and pulled him into a hug.

  “Glad you made it back okay,” Finn said into his ear.

  Niall made a split second decision and returned to scoop up his laptop and case. “Tell them I’ll debrief tomorrow,” he said to Ewan. “We’ll do it together. Go home to Mel.” Then he turned on his heel and followed Finn outside. He wanted to kiss his lover, to hold him so close and never let him go, but he didn’t, because if he started he wouldn’t stop.

  “Where to?” Finn asked cautiously. He looked uncertain, his eyes wary.

  “Anywhere warm.” As if to underscore that the wind blustered around them, and with it came the hint of icy rain. Finn tugged Niall towards a car and they drove in silence away from the station. They turned off the main road and pulled up outside the cluster of apartment buildings where Finn had a room. Niall had been here before once and it was a nice room right in the middle of a group of them used by the rest of the Deltas when they
were on site. Finn killed the engine before turning to face Niall, seemed like he wanted to talk but didn’t quite know what to say.

  “Did it go okay? On Forsetti?” he finally asked.

  Niall nodded. “We managed to get a workable plan to salvage.” He didn’t want to be talking about work. He wanted to talk about him and Finn and the future. “Look, before we… go inside and do… whatever…”

  “Are you okay?” Finn asked with a cautious tone.

  “No.” Niall didn’t mean that to come out quite so forcefully and wished he could take it back when his big-bad-Delta flinched.

  “Niall—“

  “I have to say something, and what I say may make you run for the hills, but I’ll understand, okay? I mean, I get you’re this super cop who lives for the danger and keeping us all safe, and I know we connected, but when I tell you this you might not want to do that… in there.” Niall failed miserably at explaining one single thing in any form of coherent fashion.

  “Niall, what’s wrong?”

  “I missed you, okay? I thought about you every minute of the freaking day, and I need to know whether you did too.”

  “Whether I did what? Missed you?”

  “Yeah.”

  “It’s important to you?”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Jeez, don’t be. Because I thought about you every minute I could. When I was on downtime, when we were in Oslo, when I wasn’t busy fake killing everyone on training.” Finn reached out and cupped Niall’s chin. “I love you. You’re the other half of me and I hope to hell that is what you need to hear, because I don’t have the words like you do.”

  “And we can make this work.” Niall wasn’t questioning, he was making a statement of fact.

  “I thought it was working already. Let’s finish this inside.”

  They made it halfway up the stairs before Finn stole a kiss, which led to more kissing, which led to them fumbling for the key when they got to the small apartment, so much so that Finn couldn’t get the door open and Niall had to help him. With the door open they finally stumbled into the room, Finn pushing the door shut and pressing Niall up against the wood.