Shadow of the Moon: Shadow SEALs

by J. M. Madden

Her pale eyes flickered, and she nodded. She didn’t reach for his hand, though. Turning her back on him, she continued toward the elevated train. It shouldn’t have stung, but it did.

  Then Dev grinned. Yes, her pale gray eyes were as hard and calculating as he remembered. But that haircut… it was damn sexy. He’d never seen her in short hair like that, with one long wing hanging down across her face. Edgy. Made her look badass. And sexy.

  They slid through the doors just in time, and Dev followed her as she headed toward the back of the car, guarding her hurt arm. The elevated cars were mostly glass, so there were no real hiding places. And they were moderately crowded, so they had to make do with what was left. The two of them garnered a few looks, but most of the watchers knew better than to dig into anyone else’s business.

  When Amberly chose a seat, he squeezed in beside her. “Are you okay?”

  She glanced at him from beneath her lashes. “I’m fine,” she snapped. “What the fuck are you doing here, Devlin?”

  Scanning the car, he leaned into her shoulder. “I got a call to come to save you.”

  She looked at him incredulously, her eyes narrowed with pain. “Right. No one knows I’m here.”

  Dev looked at her askance. “Really?”

  The meaning was clear. He was here, so someone knew she was here…

  The train car rattled along the tracks, lights flashing. They were slowing for a stop, and several people were gathering their belongings.

  Dev watched the people move, on high alert and ready for another attack. When he glanced over, Amberly had her weapon in her hand. Yeah, the woman could be dying and she would have a gun in her hand. Despite what was going on, he grinned at her. “I see you’re just as sharp as ever.”

  “I see you’re just as much of an asshole.”

  He chuckled, genuinely glad to see her. It had been a hard three years without her. He wanted to pull her into his arms and lay a huge kiss on her, but he was positive she’d shoot him if he tried. “Well, I’m a competent medic, so turn my way and I’ll wrap that arm.”

  Amberly stared at him, hard, then swiveled in the seat as the train began to pull away from the station. “Who sent you?”

  The black leather jacket she wore was trash, a bullet hole through the sleeve. But when he reached to rip it down, she pulled away and shimmied out of it, a hard grimace of pain contorting her face.

  Dev couldn’t help but stare. Amberly had been a strong woman before, tall and a little curvy. But at almost forty now, she was leaner, the lines of her body more sculpted. Her arms were clearly defined by muscle and it was obvious she’d honed her body to fighting readiness. Not that she hadn’t been before. He allowed his gaze to drift down her chest. Man, she’d always had the nicest…

  “You’re such a pervert,” she snapped. “Arm.”

  Dev chuckled, not surprised she’d caught him. “It’s been a long time, what can I say? You look really good to me, Amberly. You always have.”

  She scowled, looking out the window, and held her arm out expectantly. Dev swung his pack around, rooting around for the first aid kit he’d packed. The wound was just a flesh wound, but it definitely needed stitches. Not something he could do on a rattling, swaying train. As soon as they got to a stopping place, he could look at it again and evaluate. For now, he would just have to try to rinse the debris out and bandage it tight to control the bleeding. Amberly gasped a couple of times, but didn’t say anything or try to pull away. She’d always been a hardass like that.

  When he finished, he gathered up the bloody trash he could and bundled it into a plastic bag. They were pulling into another station, and he knew they would have to get off soon. “Do you have a car?”

  “Yes.”

  He could hear the worry in her tight voice. She knew as well as he did that the car could now be a trap. If the CIA tracked her to Chicago using either her phone or vehicle, she needed to get rid of those things. They could get replacements.

  Amberly shifted in her seat and pulled a cell-phone from her pocket. Dev could see the shattered screen. He doubted it would even power on. She pressed a couple of buttons and nothing happened. It was probably for the best. They needed to remove the sim card and toss the whole lot anyway. If the CIA was tracking her, that was the easiest way to do it.

  “Let’s leave the car. I have my truck to get out of the city.”

  “No. I need to get my bag.”

  Dev blinked, looking at her incredulously. “You need your bag?”

  She didn’t even shift under his scrutiny. “Yes.”

  What on earth was worth her life to retrieve? They were literally running for their lives, and she wanted to stop for clothes. Whatever. He would back her play.

  “Who knows you’re here?” he asked instead.

  Amberly pulled in a breath. “My boss, of course.”

  “Old Hatchett?”

  She shook her head. “No, Brown. I wish it was Hatchett, but he retired. This punk ass thinks he knows the best use of my time, which is investigating cold cases.”

  Devlin made a face. They were pulling into another station and they were going to have to move soon. “Seriously? You’re one of the best investigators the CIA has.”

  Amberly sighed. “It’d be nice if someone told Brown that. Apparently, he thinks three years is enough time to have passed for me to regain my objectivity and start over at the beginning to find out who sold us out.”

  Devlin lifted his brows at that. “And is it enough time? Have you gotten over us, Amberly?”

  Her hard eyes narrowed on him. “Completely.”

  Then she got up and moved toward the opening car doors, not waiting for him.

  Devlin grinned for the first time in a long time and got up to follow her.

  4

  Her arm was a dull throb, but Amberly refused to stop. She had to get to the car, then find alternate means of transportation out of the city. At least it was her weak arm. If it had been her gun arm, that would have been harder to deal with.

  Glancing at Devlin out of the corner of her eye, she wondered yet again what the hell was going on. Why had he turned up just in time to save her? More importantly, who had sent him? She had so many questions, but it wasn’t a good time to talk about it. They needed to be on the lookout for whoever had tried to take her out. Because that was what that had been. An organized hit. Necco had been the main target, but she had a feeling she was to be the bonus. Necco was dead. He’d died to give her the photos tucked against her chest, and now she had to figure out where a madman was hiding while trying to keep herself alive from her own agency.

  Piece of cake.

  And did she really know that Devlin was here to rescue her? Considering their history, maybe he was running the op and took out his companions so that they would no longer be witnesses. No, he wouldn’t work with the CIA. Wasn’t his style.

  Her mind was spinning, and it wasn’t because of the blood loss.

  Devlin could still be on the take. Three years ago, he’d been more than happy to toss their entire marriage and his career out the window for a little money. Was he still driven by cash? She had no idea what to think.

  And she wasn’t going to fall for the flirty vibe he had going. If he wanted to walk in here and pretend to save her, that was fine, but she was keeping her wits about her.

  Man, he looked scrumptious, though.

  Devlin had always been a good-looking man, and the past few years had put a fine finish on him. His hair was grayer now, but still looked thick and full, swept back from his strong forehead. It was longer than the standard SEAL cut, but it suited him. His eyes were clear and direct, a pale whiskey brown slitted against the sun. Maybe there were a few more lines at the corners, but they all had those. Even as she thought it, he retrieved a pair of sunglasses from his breast pocket and slid them on.

  The man walked beside her with the loose-hipped grace he’d always had, and from what she’d seen, there wasn’t a spare ounce of flesh on him. She hadn’t
expected him to go to pot over the past three years, but she also hadn’t expected him to be in such exceptional shape. Nothing seemed to have changed. He wore black BDUs cinched low around his hips and a gray T-shirt, and the ubiquitous boots. For as long as she’d known him, Devlin Kreed had worn a single type of boot- what was currently on his feet.

  It was obvious from the bullet holes in her attackers that his shooting sense was still intact, as well. What had he been doing for the past three years? Mercenary work? Black ops? He had been too good of a sniper not to use his skills after he was washed out of the Navy.

  Devlin had specialized in weapons. There wasn’t a gun made in the world that he didn’t know about. She had a feeling she could ask him even now who was on the cutting edge of deadly weapons, and he would be able to tell her. But it had gone beyond book knowledge. His physical prowess with anything put into his hands was legendary. She knew because she’d been talking to one of his former teammates not too long ago, and he’d still been amazed at some of the shots Moon Devil had taken to protect their team, or forward the mission. He’d been such a phenomenal weapon himself.

  Amberly refocused on her surroundings. There were a lot of people on the streets, but then, this was Chicago. No one paid attention to them, though. Since this L platform was on the outskirts of the city, there were a lot of people heading in one direction, toward parking. They merged into the light traffic, Devlin on her wounded side.

  “This had better be worth it,” he warned her, glancing around surreptitiously.

  They circled the parking lot twice to make sure no one was around her vehicle. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. “You go high and I’ll get my shit,” Amberly told him, and Devlin nodded, separating from her. He walked casually toward an elevated parking garage next door, and she gave him a minute to get into position before she moved toward the car. Out of an abundance of caution, she reclined on the concrete to scan the undercarriage. Nothing looked out of place or abnormal. No pipe bombs or obvious tracker boxes. They might be leaving the car for no good reason.

  For the slightest, barest second, she allowed her head to rest on the concrete and closed her eyes. Tiredness made her bones ache, and she couldn’t wait to get somewhere relatively safe. Then she could think and plan and decide what to do.

  Levering to her feet, she looked through the windows. Nothing appeared wired, so she hit the key fob unlock and waited to blow up. When nothing happened, she scrambled to open the door. It wasn’t until she dragged in a breath that she realized she’d been holding it. Nothing had happened. Leaning in, she retrieved her computer bag, then popped the trunk to retrieve her backpack. Then, shoving stuff aside, she got down into the spare tire well and retrieved a small, beaded bag. It had an elephant on the front and was worn with use, she’d had it so long. Tucking the bag into the backpack, as well as the envelope of pictures, she dropped her shattered phone into the wheel well. Then she locked the car and walked away, dropping the keys into a trash receptacle.

  Devlin met her at the exit ramp to the parking garage, driving an older model Chevy truck. It was obvious it had been lovingly cared for, in spite of its age, and she felt bad for the owner. They had to get out of the city, though. Her safety trumped random-guy’s possession.

  “So, where are we going?” Devlin asked eventually. “I’m happy to drive and hope we find something, but I figure you have a destination in mind.”

  She sighed, wondering how much she should share with him. They needed to talk before she exposed all her secrets. “Head toward Peoria. We’ll get a motel there and get some sleep.”

  “Will do.”

  Within ten minutes, they were cruising through corn fields, occasionally broken up by soy bean fields or solar panel fields. Amberly was not the type of person who would enjoy this area for any length of time. Give her a nice cabin in the woods…

  “How did you know where I was,” she asked eventually.

  Devlin snorted, propping one hand on the steering wheel. “Well, I had this random woman call me and offer me a large amount of money to come rescue you.”

  “Because we know money is your main motivation in life…” she couldn’t help but murmur.

  Devlin tossed her a look. “Right…”

  “So, who was she with?”

  “I have no idea,” he sighed.

  She turned her head to look at him. “So, you traveled how many miles to a place you thought I might be? To rescue me?”

  Nodding once, Devlin glanced in the rear-view mirror before merging left to get around a semi. “And I’m glad she called, because you might have been dead if I hadn’t gotten there when I did.”

  Amberly swiped a hand through her hair, tucking it behind her ear. “What else did she tell you?”

  “That Regent was free again and about to wreak havoc. And that I, we, needed to take him out.”

  Amberly blinked, wondering if that was actually what he’d been told. “What did she promise you?”

  Devlin glanced at her, but she couldn’t see his eyes. “That my record would be cleared.”

  Empathy clogged her throat because she knew how important the Navy had been to him, and it made her angry. She had no business worrying about his emotions. Not after he’d ruined their entire life. She’d been interrogated for weeks after his defection, and people still, to this day, looked at her like she had betrayed the team. She had done no such thing, but she’d been painted with Devlin’s guilt. It had made going to work hell on earth, feeling the stares and the hearing the snide comments as she walked by. It made her work that much harder to clear her name, and her record for solving cases and completing assignments had improved. She’d taken the chance to get out of the country as often as she could.

  In the end, it had strengthened her, emotionally and professionally. Not that she wanted to live through it again. Fuck, if people knew she was with Devlin right now, she’d be under investigation again. The thought hollowed out her stomach.

  “Do you really think it will? You do not know who this woman is, so you might be doing all this for free.”

  Devlin’s jaw clenched and his skin flushed. “You may be right. But even if it falls through, I was there when you needed me.”

  Amberly shook her head, wishing she could be anywhere but here. This entire situation was fucked, and she didn’t dare believe him that saving her was the most important thing. He didn’t care anything for her. And she didn’t understand why he was saying otherwise.

  And had that actually been a CIA badge? She didn’t recognize the man’s name, Thomas Folazzo, but that didn’t mean anything. The CIA was a huge agency, and they had a huge turnover throughout the departments.

  What the fuck was the CIA doing trying to take her out? She was trying to find Regent. Didn’t they all want to get the man dead before he killed innocent civilians?

  Pulling her bag to her lap, she dug inside, finding a pill bottle. She shook out several Advil, then found the bottle of water in the side pocket. Cracking the seal, she washed the pills down, then drank down most of the bottle, her mind racing.

  Maybe she should just go along with what Devlin wanted for now, because if he was going to take out Regent she needed to be there. And he needed backup.

  How the hell did she get herself into these situations?

  “Do you have any idea where Regent is?” she asked him, watching his face.

  “Charley said upper Midwest. Montana, probably.”

  “Charley is the woman,” she said to clarify.

  “Yes,” he confirmed.

  Amberly thought about what he’d told her. Montana lined up with the intel they had, as well.

  Supposedly.

  Now she was looking at everyone as if they had betrayal in their heart. But then, there was a corrupt faction in the CIA. In her division specifically. The fact that she’d been targeted attested to that. And the fact that Regent was still alive attested to that. Who had hidden that he was alive?

  It could just be incompeten
t management, trying to advance their careers at the cost of public safety.

  Maybe her investigation was making someone worry and they’d lashed out.

  She hadn’t really done anything yet, though.

  Her mind went in circles as she thought about the details she knew, and the holes she was aware of. Devlin drove like he could go for hours. And he probably could. The man had the determination of an ox. It was one of his greatest attributes.

  Shit! Why was she thinking about his fucking attributes? The man had betrayed her. Period. He’d betrayed the country. Most importantly he’d betrayed his SEAL team. Those men had meant everything to him, because he hadn’t had a big family growing up. She remembered more than a few times, Devlin coming home tired and beat up, but shining in a way she couldn’t explain because his team had done well. And because he’d been able to protect his team. She’d asked him once if it was hard to kill random people. He’d looked at her for a long moment before shaking his head. “When it comes down to it,” he’d told her softly, “it’s my responsibility to make sure those kids make it home. It doesn’t matter what I have to do. I’ll make sure it gets done.”

  Moon Devil. That’s what his call sign had been, because he preferred to hunt in the shadow of the moon. He was a damn legend in military circles.

  That had been almost ten years ago now, back when they’d first gotten together. His answer had told her the kind of man he was. Which was why his later betrayal had shocked her to the core. Devlin loved his country and his team, and there was no way he would have betrayed them.

  Her mind raced, trying to ferret out an answer that had been nagging at her. Before she could grab it, Devlin put the blinker on to exit the interstate. Damn. That was a quick trip.

  Devlin pulled up in front of a chain motel, not too expensive and not too cheap, and parked the truck. “I’ll be back.”

  She didn’t say anything, just watched him walk into the lobby of the motel. He was limping just a little on his left leg and she wondered what he’d done to hurt it.

  “It’s no fucking business of yours,” she snapped at herself, falling yet again into the worried-wife role. She was not that person anymore!