Mission: Her Freedom: Team 52 #6

by Hackett, Anna

  “Team 52, let’s go,” Lachlan ordered.

  As the team rushed out of the room, Brooks grabbed Callie’s arm. “Be careful.”

  She nodded. “Don’t worry, I always am.”

  In the locker room, they all geared up, slipping on light body armor, and grabbing their CXM rifles. Callie slipped her high-tech earpiece in her ear.

  They headed outside and loaded into the team’s two black SUVs. As soon as they peeled out of the airport, Brooks’ voice came from the dash.

  “Okay, the Windvale Church is west of the city.” He rattled off directions.

  Callie leaned back in her seat, a small smile on her lips. It was comforting to know that he was there, backing them up, as always.

  As they approached the church’s location, she glanced up at the dark clouds hovering in the sky. Damn, it looked weird. Lightning struck the ground outside the church.

  “If it’s the wind jewel, you need to disable it,” Brooks said. “Get it off whoever activated it.”

  They screeched to a halt. They exited the vehicles, watching as people ran in fear down the street. Callie saw one man get struck by lightning. His body shuddered and dropped to the ground.

  Oh, shit. Several people raced to help him.

  The quickest way to help everyone was to get inside the church. Moving in formation, they jogged toward the structure.

  “This is a church?” Axel said.

  “It’s one of those mega churches,” Seth said.

  The place was huge, the massive building more like a warehouse than a place of worship. When Callie thought of churches, she thought of Sunday mornings with her family in the intimate, cozy building near their home. Not this.

  Smith busted in a side door, and they moved inside. A carpeted hall led them to a lobby. Several people were running for the front doors.

  They followed Lachlan into the heart of the church.

  “Fuck me,” Axel muttered.

  The main auditorium looked like a sports stadium or concert arena. Several people were running in the aisles between the rows and rows of seating. Above, a hole had been torn in the roof.

  Callie saw a single person standing on the large stage in the center. His body was lit up and glowing.

  They whipped their weapons up and moved down one aisle. Suddenly, lightning struck through the hole in the roof.

  Crack.

  Callie dived to the floor. The air was charged with energy, her hair standing on end. Next to her, Lachlan came up on one knee. He fired several shots at the person on stage.

  The man threw his arms out and more lightning rained down, hitting all around them. Screams filled the air.

  Callie spotted a woman with two children, all three of them sobbing as the woman tried to get her kids out.

  Crouching, Callie rushed over to them. “Come on.”

  She grabbed the toddler and the woman held the hand of the older child. Together, they ran up the steps toward an exit.

  “Go.” Callie shoved the toddler at the mother. “Get out.”

  Lightning crackled along the roof. She watched it swirl, forming a huge blue-white ball of electricity.

  Then it started striking.

  She threw an arm up, wincing at the bright light. It hit chairs, the floor, the stage. Then the strikes started moving far too close to her team.

  “Down!” Lachlan roared.

  They all dove under chairs. Callie dropped to her belly, hearing a loud crack rattle the building. She lifted her head and peered between two chairs.

  The man on stage threw his arms up in the air. More lightning crashed down. The young man had his jaw clenched, his eyes closed, and his skin glowed like he was lit by a neon light. The fingers of his right hand were clenched tight. He was holding something.

  Callie frowned and touched her ear. “The guy on stage. There’s something clenched in his right hand.”

  “Drop the weapon,” Blair yelled.

  The man didn’t respond.

  More lightning struck right in front of them. Chairs exploded, and a shard of metal hit Callie’s cheek.

  “Screw this.” Axel jumped up and ran toward the stage. Lightning strikes hit all around him, but he pumped his arms, moving fast.

  He was almost there.

  Boom.

  The strike hit right at Axel’s boots, tossing him into the air.

  No. Callie’s heart stopped.

  Fire broke out in one row of seats, flames licking along the chairs. But Callie’s focus was on Axel. He was hurt, and she had to get to him.

  Smith rose and raised his CXM. Completely oblivious to the lightning tearing the place apart, the former SEAL aimed at the man on stage.

  A single crack of a shot, and the man fell. Callie watched him drop to the stage.

  The lightning stopped.

  As Team 52 rushed forward, Callie sprinted to Axel. He was lying on his back, his body shuddering.

  She dropped to her knees and checked his vitals. “His heart’s stopped.”

  “Fuck,” Blair bit out.

  Callie started compressions. “Come on, Axel.”

  She fell into the familiar rhythm of CPR. Breathe, compressions. She sensed the team around her, felt their concern.

  For a split second, she was back at that crash with Bec—helpless and afraid.

  No. She gave her head a quick, sharp shake. She wasn’t helpless anymore.

  “Come on, Axel. Breathe.”

  Suddenly, his strong arms shifted, his hands moving up to grip her cheeks. He pulled her closer and his lips moved against hers.

  Callie jerked her head up.

  His eyes were closed, but his mouth was smiling. “Damn, chica, you have lovely lips.”

  She was tempted to smack him, but she was too happy he was alive. Instead, she stroked his thick hair. “Luckily, I like you, or I’d have to hurt you.”

  She looked up and saw Seth, Smith, and Lachlan shaking their heads. Blair just rolled her eyes.

  “He’s fine,” Callie announced.

  Seth snorted. “Quit lazing around, Diaz.”

  * * *

  Callie sat beside Axel, monitoring him, while Lachlan and the others used fire extinguishers to put the blazes out.

  “Lachlan.” Brooks’ voice sounded in their earpieces. “LVMPD incoming.”

  “Thanks, Brooks,” Lachlan replied.

  Brooks’ voice held an edge. For the first time, she thought about how hard it must be for him to sit in the computer room, listening to them in danger. It would drive her crazy.

  A door slammed open, and a tall, long-legged man strode into the auditorium. He was followed by another man in a rumpled suit and several police officers.

  The tall man reached them, surveying the chaos. He had a badge clipped to his belt. He shook his head. “I should have known.”

  Blair grinned. “Hey, snookums.”

  Detective Luke MacKade glared at the destruction, but then his gaze ran over Blair, checking that she was okay.

  Love. It practically throbbed off them. Callie swallowed uneasily. She was thrilled that Blair was happy. And for the other guys who’d also paired up recently with women who’d captured their hearts—Lachlan, Seth, Smith, Ty.

  But Callie knew love could be yanked away in an instant. It could leave you broken like her mom, and alter the course of your life forever. She wasn’t sure how her friends could live with the uncertainty of losing what they loved.

  “We need to contain whatever he was holding.” Lachlan pointed to the body on stage. “Smith, get a containment box from the SUV.”

  “On it.” The big man headed out.

  The team and MacKade approached the stage.

  “Brooks, you picking anything up?” Lachlan asked.

  “Nothing.”

  The deep, sexy tone shivered through Callie. Not now, hormones.

  They reached the stage. Blair pulled out a high-tech camera, snapping pictures of the dead man. He was young—probably late twenties, clean-cut. His body
was steaming.

  “His name is Brandon Mayfield,” MacKade said. “He’s a minister at this church.”

  “You mean cult.” Blair’s nose wrinkled.

  MacKade shrugged. “I don’t have a problem with religion. To each their own. A lot of people get a sense of community from their churches.”

  “I don’t need anyone to tell me how to live my life,” Blair said.

  MacKade grabbed her ponytail and tugged it. “You’d punch them in the face if they did.” He glanced back at the others. “Windvale is big. They have churches all over the southern states. Their headquarters is in Arizona.”

  Callie’s head jerked up, and she looked over to meet Lachlan’s gaze. Arizona.

  Lachlan’s face was inscrutable. He crouched by the man and nudged his hand.

  Mayfield’s fingers unfurled and a small item tumbled out onto the stage.

  MacKade frowned. “That a piece of rock?”

  Callie stared at the white item. “I think it’s a shard of shell.” It looked like a small, white curve.

  Moments later, Smith was back, holding a small, black containment box.

  Lachlan used his gloved, prosthetic hand to carefully pick up the piece of shell. He set it inside the box.

  “Should I be worried?” MacKade asked. “Should I expect Las Vegas to burn to the ground, or rivers of blood to flow in the streets?”

  Lachlan shrugged. “I don’t think so.” The Team 52 leader looked like he was fighting a smile. “But I don’t have enough intel yet to offer you any guarantees.”

  MacKade sighed.

  “Luke.” An older detective in a rumpled shirt and suit came toward them. He was herding a frightened, young woman with him. Her fine, blonde hair was askew and she was deathly pale.

  The woman saw the body of Mayfield and she made a choked noise. Lachlan shifted to block her view and the blonde’s eyes filled with tears.

  “Brandon’s dead?” she whispered.

  “I’m sorry, he is,” MacKade responded. “You work here?”

  The woman nodded. “I’m Cindi. I work in the office.” She pulled in a shuddering breath. “Oh, my God, Brandon.” The tears spilled over.

  Clearly, Cindi had been harboring a little crush.

  “Can you tell us what happened, Cindi?” MacKade asked in a quiet voice.

  “There was a package on his desk today. A small box.” She swiped at her tears. “He seemed excited about it.”

  “He knew what it was?”

  She nodded. “I think so.”

  “It arrived in the mail?”

  “No. I didn’t see any stamps or post marks on it. He was being secretive about it and I went to finish some filing I was working on. The next thing I knew, lighting was hitting the church. I raced in and saw Brandon on the stage.” She bit her lip and fought back a sob. “He was scared, told me to run because it was out of control.”

  “Did he say what ‘it’ was?” MacKade pushed.

  Cindi shook her head. “No. But he was glowing. I ran.”

  MacKade touched the young woman’s shoulder. “It’s going to be okay. Thanks for your help.” As the older detective led Cindi over to a chair, MacKade’s gaze flicked up to Lachlan. “You’ll keep me posted?”

  Lachlan nodded.

  “See you at home.” Blair kissed the detective. “Bye, Baxter.”

  “Later, Blair,” the older detective called out.

  “Stay out of trouble,” MacKade growled.

  Blair smiled. “Never.”

  That got another sigh. “Don’t kill anyone.”

  Now Blair winked. “No promises.”

  Team 52 moved back to the SUVs. Callie stayed beside Axel. He was still pale, and moving slowly.

  “I need to give you a full check back at the Bunker,” she told him.

  He flashed her a smile, but it wasn’t up to its usual wattage. “Yes, doctor.”

  “Behave, or no lollipops for you.”

  “I’ll be on my best behavior.” He dragged a finger over his chest in the shape of an X.

  Seth snorted. “You wouldn’t know good behavior if it threw itself at your feet.”

  “I’m a good boy,” Axel protested. “Just ask my mama.”

  Once they were back in the SUVs, they headed for the Bunker.

  “So, do we have the wind jewel?” Callie asked.

  “I think we have a shard of it,” Lachlan said from the front seat. “Let’s wait until we can take a closer look at it.”

  “How the hell did it end up here?” Callie said.

  “A very good question and one we need to find the answer to.”

  It didn’t take long for them to get back to the Bunker. Callie helped Axel out of the vehicle.

  Brooks met them at the door, concern on his face. “You all right, Axel?”

  “I’m good, mi hermano.”

  Then Brooks met Callie’s gaze and she nodded.

  She wanted to touch him, wipe some of that worry off his handsome face.

  Chapter Nine

  Brooks released a long breath. The team was back safely. Callie was safe, and Axel would be okay.

  He watched Callie help Axel, an arm around his lean waist. The man looked disheveled and pale, despite his assurances that he was okay.

  “Into the med room, Diaz,” Callie ordered. “I want that shirt off.”

  “You want me naked, chiquita, you just have to ask.”

  Brooks gritted his teeth.

  Callie rolled her eyes. “What I want is to do an ECG so I can check on your heart.”

  As the door closed behind them, Brooks just stared at it. Axel had kissed her. He’d heard that over the comm line. His fingers curled into his palm.

  Jeez, the guy—your friend—just got fried by lightning, Jameson.

  Brooks forced himself to take a breath, but he couldn’t stop the prickly feeling on the back of his neck. Axel was exactly the kind of guy he could picture with Callie—handsome, confident, badass.

  The others came through the door, pulling off their armor and weapons.

  They were safe, and they’d recovered the dangerous artifact. That’s what he needed to focus on.

  It was damn hard to listen to the team under fire. They were all trained and deadly, but it still wasn’t easy worrying about them.

  And when Callie had been running through the lightning…

  Brooks gripped the edge of the desk. He had to remind himself that she could look after herself.

  “We have the artifact in a containment box.” Lachlan nodded his head at the box resting on the table. “It looks like a small piece of shell.”

  “My guess is that it’s just part of the wind jewel,” Brooks said. “Ties in with the Smithsonian data. About the shard that was discovered in Mexico.”

  “If a tiny bit of it can do this much damage…” Lachlan trailed off.

  Yeah, then the full thing was a hell of a weapon.

  “We’ll keep this locked up in the safe until we can transport it out to base tomorrow,” Lachlan added. “Then Ty can do his thing.”

  Brooks nodded. Ty would run every test he could, and hopefully figure out how the ancient technology worked and if it could be stopped.

  “So how the hell did the shard end up here in Las Vegas?” Seth mused.

  “And why the Windvale Church?” Blair added.

  They needed answers. When Brooks’ tablet pinged with an urgent call from their base at Area 52, he dropped into the desk chair, and lifted the device.

  Dr. Natalie Blackwell’s beautiful face flashed up on the screen. Team 52’s resident archeologist’s long, black hair wasn’t in one of its usual neat, stylish styles. Her face looked pale.

  “I just heard. Axel?”

  “He’s fine,” Brooks assured her. “Callie’s checking him over.”

  Nat released a long breath. “Okay. Okay. And they got the artifact?”

  “Yeah, they’ll bring it to base tomorrow. Looks like it’s a shard of the wind jewel.”

>   “Right. I’ve been scouring our records for any other information on the wind jewel. I don’t have anything new yet.” Nat shoved her thick hair back. “You’re sure he’s okay?”

  “Walked in here on his own. Axel isn’t going to let getting hit by lightning slow him down.”

  Nat managed a smile. “Thanks, Brooks.”

  “You want to talk to him—?”

  “No.” She cleared her throat. “No. See you tomorrow.”

  Soon, Smith and Kinsey headed off to their cabin just outside Vegas. Blair and Seth left next, both of them eager to get back to their other halves.

  The med room door opened. Axel sauntered out, buttoning up a fresh shirt. “Well, mis amigos, you’ll be happy to know my ticker is just fine.”

  Callie followed behind him.

  “I’ll drop you home, Lightning Man,” Lachlan said.

  Axel grinned. “If you’re gonna call me that, then I need a superhero suit.”

  “Superheroes wear their underpants on the outside of their pants,” Brooks noted.

  Axel snorted. “Not me.”

  “Brooks, do you need a ride home?” Callie asked casually.

  His chest tightened. “Sure.”

  “Brooks, you get any updates on how the hell this shard got to Vegas, you call me,” Lachlan ordered. “I don’t care what time it is.”

  Brooks tossed the man a small salute. “You got it.”

  Once they’d locked up the Bunker and set the alarm system, Brooks found himself in the passenger seat of Callie’s sweet little Nissan. The faint scent of coconuts filled the car. Damn, he loved her scent.

  He shifted in his seat, his cock lengthening. The damn thing wouldn’t go down. It was turning into a problem any time Callie was around.

  Before he knew it, she pulled up in front of his condo building. “I’ll walk you up.”

  He nodded. “Sure.”

  They walked up to his front door and the silence felt awkward. Think of something to say. He tried, but nothing brilliant popped into his head. He let them into the building.

  “I’m curious to see what this artifact is.” God. He mentally slapped himself. He didn’t want to talk about work.

  “Me too. We need to stop whoever wants the wind jewel. If one tiny piece can cause so much destruction…”

  “Yeah.”