Assassin Games (Tarnished Heroes)

by Bristol, Sidney

“How did you know where we were?” Irene reached out and grabbed Mom’s arm.

  “I’m here for my daughter.” Mom pulled away from Irene, tipping her nose up in that haughty way that had always made Carol uncomfortable.

  She took the drive, staring at the silver surface.

  If she believed even part of what her mother was saying, she was a traitor and a murderer. Carol didn’t even know her.

  She lifted her gaze, skipping her mother, and stared at the brother with the face of their father.

  “What do you think?” she asked.

  “I think she had me burned to protect herself, and she might want to do something to ease her conscience by saving you, but in the end, all she cares about is herself.” Kevin smiled a tight, unfriendly smile. “But I’m biased, so…”

  “Why? Why now? Why help? Why?” Carol stared at her mother now.

  “Because… When everything else is gone, you are all I have left.” Jennifer Sark sat back in her chair.

  Carol had butted heads with her mother often. Was this why? Was this the cold something she’d always felt between them?

  How could Carol trust her mother? How could she believe a word this woman said?

  She had a brother she never knew about.

  It didn’t change the fact that Andy wasn’t there.

  …

  “Tate’s vitals have flatlined, but his tracker is still active.” Georgia stared at the blip on the map and waited to feel…something. Death had lost its meaning to her years ago. She’d wondered if she’d have some quiver of sensation when Tate died.

  At most, she was annoyed she didn’t get to kill the ass.

  “Is the plainclothes team assembled?” Kristina’s voice had that nails on a chalkboard quality. The tension was ratcheting up, and the woman did not perform well under pressure.

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Wait for my signal. The asset is inside.”

  The call ended—thank goodness.

  Georgia glanced around the park. A dozen loyal men had assembled to move on the building where Tate’s body was being held. They’d wondered if that was where Carol was—until the other woman arrived.

  Jennifer Sark.

  Georgia had never known her name, only her face. Jennifer was the woman who handed off orders, equipment, anything that couldn’t be done through the office. Georgia had always wondered who she was, how she was connected, and now she knew.

  No one would bat an eyelash at someone visiting the widow of a celebrated CIA agent. There was probably a rotating calendar of people who went to check on her, and that would make for a convenient handoff opportunity.

  It was rather ingenious.

  Georgia’s phone buzzed.

  She pulled it out and looked at the text.

  Go.

  She stood and glanced to her right, at the only face she recognized. He met her gaze and she nodded.

  He, too, then rose and nodded at someone else, but Georgia didn’t look to see who. She began walking the block toward the building.

  The silent activation wound its way around the park behind her, and the men fell in line.

  This was how they operated, in secret, with identities masked as much as possible.

  Georgia hadn’t been recruited to the CIA first. SICA had approached her about her services before that. She’d been angry, and they’d offered her an opportunity to harness that emotion. Becoming a double agent happened later.

  Some people needed a cause to get behind. Georgia had believed in a cause once, and it’d bit her in the ass. Now all she believed in was herself.

  She reached the parking lot of the building and stopped.

  The man wearing a long coat carrying a briefcase paused next to her as well, by all appearances checking his phone.

  Under the trench coat he would be covered in body armor. They’d learned their lesson the last time.

  The case was both a body shield and contained what breaching explosives they might need should the occasion arise. Considering how hard it’d been to get at Carol, and now this new player on the scene, Georgia was prepared for hard.

  “Go. Scout the door. Be careful.”

  She would hold back, assess what happened, and call the shots. Unlike Tate, Georgia intended on walking out of here alive.

  …

  Carol stared at the wall, acutely aware of her mother’s disproving gaze. It felt as though someone had scooped out her insides. She should feel pain, betrayal, something, but all she had was numbness and loss. Everything she’d thought she’d known about her family was a lie.

  No wonder she’d never made Mom happy. Her aversion to all things Dad made sense now. Of course Mom wouldn’t want Carol wearing her father’s training-day’s shirt if she killed him.

  She covered her mouth with her hand and sucked down a breath. Her eyes prickled and her limbs shook.

  Dad died because of Mom. She’d killed Carol’s idol. The man she wanted to be like.

  Carol’s gaze slid along the wall until she saw Kevin staring back at her.

  God, he looked just like Dad. It was as though Dad had materialized from her memories to come to her rescue. Except he couldn’t. He was dead. He’d never rescue her or anyone else again.

  This couldn’t be real. She didn’t want it to be real.

  “We have an unidentified male at the front door,” Jesse announced, staring at his phone.

  “You pulled the security door shut?” Kevin asked.

  “I did, but that’s only going to keep out— Fuck!” Jesse turned and gestured at the rear wall…right where Noah had deposited the body. “Everyone in the panic room. Now.”

  Noah moved first, hauling the body back and pulling the near seamless door open.

  “Everyone in,” he yelled.

  A hard thump from the door to the suite punctuated the command.

  Irene got up as did Mom, but Carol couldn’t seem to make herself move. She was in shock. Her whole world was spinning the wrong way.

  “They have explosives,” Jesse called out. He all but shoved Lillian and Camilla through the door, across the floor, and into the panic room.

  “Carol? Carol, come on.” Kevin hooked his arm around her waist and guided her toward the room.

  Mom stood at the end of the table, hands clasped in front of her.

  That was wrong. Something was wrong.

  Carol’s stomach clenched.

  Mom had never taken her coat off. The room was warm. There were too many bodies in it. Carol was practically sweating.

  What was under that coat?

  “Wait!” Carol skidded to a stop, practically elbowing Kevin in the stomach.

  Everyone else piled in the panic room.

  The banging from outside grew louder.

  “Mom?” Carol swallowed. Her mother was a traitor and a secret spy. But she was still Carol’s mom. That had to count for something.

  “Come on. They’ve almost got the door rigged to blow,” Jesse yelled.

  “We all have our parts to play.” Jennifer parted her coat. Two grenades were tucked into underarm holsters. “I can buy you time. It’s not going to make up for what I’ve done, but I can at least do this.”

  Carol stared in horror, her body unable to move as her mind refused to process those words.

  “I’m closing this door now,” Jesse yelled.

  “What—Mom—no!” Carol reached for her, but Kevin snatched her back.

  “We have to get in the room now.” Kevin wrapped his arms around Carol’s waist and lifted her in the air.

  “No! Mom! No!” Carol thrashed, the desperation to get to her mother, to stop this mad plan giving her energy she hadn’t had before. Kevin’s grip was too strong.

  He carried her through the door of the panic room.

  Jesse slammed it shut behind them while Camilla activated the security sequence at the keypad.

  “Put me down. Mom!” Carol’s voice reverberated off the walls. She swung her arm, ramming her elbow into Kevin’s r
ibs, but it did no good.

  “Carol? Carol, listen to me.” Irene batted Carol’s arm away and cupped her face.

  “What’s going on out there?” Camilla yelled over them.

  “I don’t know. The signal’s not strong enough,” Jesse replied.

  Carol listened to all of them without hearing them.

  She had no idea where Andy was, if he was even alive, and now she might lose her mom, too? She’d lost too much. Her life, her truth, and now her mother? She couldn’t take it. What else was left for her?

  “Open the door,” Carol pleaded.

  “We can’t do that.” Irene’s face creased in pain, as though she could feel the anguish inside of Carol.

  “Please, just—grab her. There’s time.” The tears poured down Carol’s cheeks.

  The walls of the panic room vibrated.

  “No, there’s not,” Jesse said. “They’re in the office.”

  One thing Carol knew about her mother, she always did what she said she’d do. She didn’t make promises lightly. If she said she was going to stop those people with her life, she’d do it. Which meant Carol had just seen her mother for the last time.

  Carol’s knees gave way. Kevin clutched her, keeping her upright, and held her as she cried. She had nothing left. These people, fighting them, had taken everything Carol had and she’d lost.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Georgia held her phone in one hand, the stopwatch ticking away the seconds. They had a very slim window of opportunity now that they’d set off the explosives. The cops would respond fast in this part of town. Her team had to get in, do the job, and get out.

  So why hadn’t she heard a single shot fired?

  The smoke from the breaching rolled away and the men were all inside.

  At the very least someone should have been killed already.

  The man who’d carried the explosives appeared at the door and waved her in.

  Shit.

  What the hell was going on now?

  Georgia jogged for the door, acutely aware of how quickly time was running out.

  “They’re locked in the panic room and she won’t budge,” the man said.

  “What the fuck?” Georgia stalked down a hall lined with her team and into a conference room.

  Jennifer Sark stood between the table and the wall, every inch of her the conservative university professor. Except for the two grenades she held in her hands.

  “They believe the woman, Kristina, is behind it all. I laid it out for them,” she said.

  “We were sent here to kill them. If you were following orders you’d have allowed that to happen.” Georgia drew her weapon now that she was out of plain view.

  “Sacrificing my daughter was never part of the agreement. I’m still loyal. I’ve still held up my end of the bargain. But I won’t give her up.” Jennifer flicked her thumbs at the same time.

  The grenade pins dropped to the floor.

  Georgia whirled toward the door.

  “I’ve done my part,” Jennifer called out to the fleeing woman. “Tell them I was loyal.”

  …

  Irene stared at the door.

  Everyone was silent, save for Carol’s sobs. They were the sound of a soul breaking, a heart shattering. Irene remembered making those sounds the day she’d lost her unborn child. She empathized with Carol, but they had bigger things to worry about, sadly.

  Irene wished they had eyes on the other side of the door, but if she had to pick eyes over protection, she’d take the blast-proof panic room walls.

  “What’s going on out there?” Noah whispered to her.

  Irene didn’t answer.

  She tugged at the necklace around her neck.

  What did they know? What might they have given away?

  If people had seen her go in, they’d know the ankle monitor wasn’t on her anymore. At least the director had moved her sister. Anna would be safe while Irene stuck her neck out to try to make some magic happen.

  Which was how she got trapped in a kill box.

  The whole panic room vibrated and a deep rumble followed by thumps filled the box. Someone cried out. The lights flickered.

  “Oh my God. Oh my God!” Camilla’s voice rose.

  The whole structure shuddered.

  And then—silence.

  They all stared around.

  Irene was more than a little shocked they were unharmed.

  “The blast must not have taken out the supports.” Jesse pressed his ear to the door. “Otherwise we’d hear the building come down on top of us.”

  “Wouldn’t that crush this thing?” Noah frowned at the walls.

  “No, there were steel beams placed around it.” Jesse gestured at the ceiling. “The whole building could come down on top of this place and we’d be fine.”

  “Except now we’ve just trapped ourselves in a coffin.” Irene swallowed down her own panic. Only one of them could fall apart at once, and Carol had all the right in the world to lose her cool. Besides, the more worked up they got the more oxygen they used. If they were trapped, they’d need every bit of it. “They’re going to bring another team in to pry this box open. We’ve just told them where we all are.”

  Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

  They should have fought their way out. At least then one or two of them might have survived.

  “There is a secondary exit,” Jesse said.

  “What? Where?” Noah peered at the walls, squinting.

  “We need a plan,” Jesse said. “We can’t just open that door and walk out of here. There is no figuring it out as we go. We need to know what it is we’re going to do when we leave.”

  “Whoever did this, I want them to pay,” Camilla snarled. She wasn’t known for her tenacity for nothing.

  Irene turned toward Carol.

  She was the only one of them who knew what was going on. Irene knew the history, she had a big-picture view, but Carol was the only one who’d been in the thick of it.

  “Carol? Honey?” Irene knelt next to Kevin cradling his newfound sister. “I know this is hard but we need you now. Andy needs you.”

  …

  Carol stared into Irene’s dark eyes and wished the earth would swallow her up. But she couldn’t lose herself in the misery.

  Her mother was a traitor—and dead.

  Andy might still be alive—and waiting for her.

  Carol couldn’t give up. Not when Andy could be counting on her. She couldn’t do that to him. Not after all he’d done for her.

  “Help me up,” she asked Kevin.

  He took her hands and hoisted her to her feet, offering a steadying hold while the room swam around her for a moment.

  She took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut. The world might be going to shit, things were literally coming down on top of their heads, but she didn’t have the luxury of losing her mind. She had to think, prioritize, evaluate, and assess. It was her job, what she was good at, and that required the ability to compartmentalize her brain. She’d been doing it for years, but it’d never been personal. Until now. Either she could give up, or she could bring her full weight of experience and skill to the table to make these people pay.

  “What do we know?” Carol swallowed. The question was for herself, not the others. “Kristina Butler is one of the people behind this. As much as I’d like to believe that my…my mother was trying to protect me, we have to suspect her motives. Mom. Shit.”

  “It’s okay,” Kevin murmured.

  Carol swiped at her eyes.

  “Jennifer—I have to call her Jennifer.” She shook her head and swallowed down her swirling emotions. “Jennifer worked for them for a long time. She might be aiming us at Kristina for a reason, but it also gives us a starting point. Kristina Butler has been working with others to kill or capture me. Andy is being held at a facility outside DC, or he’s been moved already—if not killed. We have an exit strategy. We have connections. We have information.”

  “We need to split up. Move.”
Noah stepped forward.

  “Quiet,” Irene snapped. “Let her think.”

  “We need to go back to the facility.” Carol stared at Irene. “Not just for Andy, but because there has to be more going on there than we are aware of. If we can catch them in the act, if we can find more information—evidence—we’ll have something to use against them.”

  “Your mother said this organization is bigger than we realize. There’s proof of their interference going back almost ten years.” Irene took a step closer.

  “I’m proof this has been going on for longer.” Carol smiled bitterly. “She was a double agent. I am living evidence of what she says is true.”

  “She’s right.” Kevin grimaced. “Mom always said Jennifer… It doesn’t matter right now. Never mind.”

  “All right, if we’re going back there, then we need to trim the noncombatants.” Irene turned toward the Matthews sisters. “Do you three have somewhere you can go?”

  “For how long?” Lillian asked.

  “A few days, a week.” Carol shrugged. “We have no idea how long this is going to last.”

  “Yes, we have somewhere to go.” Lillian nodded at her sister.

  “I’m coming with you,” Jesse announced.

  “No,” Camilla yelped.

  “These people attacked our home.” Jesse stared at Camilla and then Lillian. “I’m going with them to make sure they pay.”

  “Kevin?” Carol turned to face her half brother. “Can we trust you’re telling us the whole truth? That you won’t betray us as well?”

  “I never believed them when they told us how Dad died,” Kevin said slowly.

  “You—knew him?” Carol could feel her world tipping once more.

  “Yes, he knew about me,” Kevin said softly.

  “Oh.” She rocked back on her heels. Dad had never told her.

  “Like you, I have personal reasons for seeing this through,” he said.

  “All right then.” Carol turned back toward Irene and Noah.

  “You know, before Andy dragged me into this nightmare, they had no idea I was involved?” Noah crossed his arms over his chest. “This isn’t what I signed up for.”

  “Then leave. No one is asking you to stay.” Irene dismissed Noah without another glance.

  Noah gaped at her back, his expression priceless under any other circumstances.