by April Hunt
But she’d never been able to tell him about the night she decided to leave—the night Todd Winston, her only true friend in the Order, came within minutes of taking another life. To be more accurate, his father’s.
Rhett’s.
Sometimes the mind blocks out traumatic life events. It was a coping mechanism to help a person put one step in front of the other. But Grace couldn’t forget any part of that night. Until a few short years ago, it had been cemented into her memory vault and opened every time she closed her eyes.
The hatred that had poured from Todd still left her cold. Her once mild-mannered friend had had every intention of ending his father’s life—but not before putting him through physical hell first. She’d begged Todd to reconsider. She’d used their friendship as a bargaining chip.
None of it had worked—and she’d seen in Todd’s eyes that nothing would.
If she wanted him to stop, she had to be the one to make him. And she did, which was no small feat considering he’d been double her size. Todd hadn’t seen her betrayal, or the broken chair leg, coming until she’d knocked him to the ground, unconscious—and then she did everything she could to right his wrong.
Rossbach’s once second-in-command had begged her to leave with him, but she couldn’t…not until after she’d told the Council what Todd had nearly done. Imagine her shock when they announced that they already knew—and that by aiding Rhett’s escape, she’d violated Rossbach’s most cardinal rule: Never deny someone their New Dawn.
Twenty-four hours later, Rhett Winston had snuck back onto the Order compound and broken her out of the Reconditioning Center. She’d saved his life and he’d returned the favor—and she hadn’t looked back since.
Outside, the wind howled, slamming into Cade’s truck and jolting Grace from the past.
Cade brought the vehicle to a stop and frowned at the virtual nothingness outside the window. “This guy couldn’t hole up on a beach somewhere near the equator?”
“Rhett was a loner even before he got involved with New Dawn. I can’t really see him sitting back and sipping mai tais at some tourist resort.” Grace pulled Magdalena out from her holster and checked the clip before stuffing it back under her side. At Cade’s curious look, she shrugged. “A girl can never be too careful. And speaking of careful, you can’t go charging up that mountain like a bulldozer. Stay behind me so I can get us past Winston’s alarm system.”
“He has Safe-house all the way out here?”
“No. He has punji pits and explosions that could create an avalanche and bury us alive if they don’t blow us to bits first. Do you have any other smart comments? Get them out of the way now because when we get to Rhett’s place, you’re going to want to curb your asshattedness.”
Cade snorted on a chuckle. “Now you’re making words up.”
“Excuse me? Who was trained on personal traits? Asshattedness is totally a word and you don’t need to look it up. Just look in the mirror. The definition will literally stare you in the face.”
Cade laughed, signaling, more than likely, a very temporary truce. But she’d take it. At least long enough to get them up and down that mountain in one piece.
It wasn’t an easy hike during daylight hours, much less at night with the threat of snow about to fall down on their heads. Brandt’s worry about his daughter fueled Grace’s motivation to get her cousins the inside edge they needed to bring her home. Unfortunately that meant every minute counted—and every available recourse mattered.
Their boots crunched through the already fallen snow as they squeezed through foliage and stepped over rocky outcroppings. Grace’s breath swirled around her head as she panted, working up a sweat only fifteen minutes into the hike.
“Do you want to tell me again how this guy fits in to Rossbach’s little world?” Cade asked from behind her. “Or is that not your story to tell either?”
She let the comment slide. “He was his second-in-command. He gave instructions from time to time, doled out punishments if Rossbach wasn’t available to pass judgment.”
“And he woke up one morning and suddenly said, ‘To hell with all this, I’m going rogue’?”
“More like Rossbach woke up one morning and said, ‘I don’t need a second.’”
Cade grabbed her hand and gently tugged her to a stop. “Explain.”
“I’ve told you about the concept of New Dawn.”
“It’s basically everyone’s individual little heaven on earth, right?”
She nodded. “But to get there, you need to let go of the past, dole out forgiveness so you can move forward.”
“Sounds simple enough. A lot of faiths teach the same thing.”
“It wasn’t forgiveness that Rossbach was encouraging the night I left…the night Rhett and I both Defected.”
“What did he want?”
Grace’s throat dried as she remembered her once best friend moments away from becoming a killer, and the pure disappointment in Rossbach’s face at hearing she’d stopped it from happening. “Revenge. But I don’t know if it was Rossbach trying to punish Rhett or if it was a—”
“Permanent detour in his peace, love, and harmony shtick.”
“Exactly. And considering Sarah Brandt’s views about her father before she left, I’m afraid it’s the latter. Which makes getting on the inside a little trickier.”
A branch cracked less than six feet away. Grace and Cade turned at the same time, their guns pointed toward the direction it came from.
Moonlight glinted off the rifle barrel Rhett Winston pointed in their direction. The older man stepped out of the shadows, his face hard as stone. “Tell me who the fuck you are before I blow holes in both your heads.”
Grace re-sheathed her gun and whipped her knit hat off her head. “Put that damn thing away. It’s me.”
“What the hell are you doing here, girl? I thought I told you that I didn’t want to see you back on this damn mountain ever again.”
“And I told you I wouldn’t be unless it was a matter of life and death—or unless I just wanted to see your happy, smiling face.” Grace nudged her chin toward his still aimed rifle. “Now can you put away the gun?”
* * *
“I’ll put mine down if your friend there puts his down.” Rhett Winston glared past Grace and straight at Cade.
Cade didn’t budge. He aimed his Glock at the man in front of him and eased in front of Grace, keeping himself solidly between her and Winston. She may trust him, but he sure as hell didn’t. Defected New Dawner or not, he’d still been Rossbach’s right hand.
“Oh, for God’s sake.” Grace stepped around him and simultaneously shoved both guns toward the ground. “Keep the testosterone and the guns tucked away or I’ll be forced to shoot you both in the ass myself.”
Rhett Winston growled, his gaze flickering toward Grace. “You’re still a pain in the ass.”
“Life would be boring if I wasn’t.” She cocked a dark eyebrow and waited for them to put their weapons away. When they reluctantly complied, she nodded. “There. That’s better. Now can we get out of the freezing cold?”
“You and I can…” Winston shot Cade a distrustful look.
“Seriously, Rhett. I really don’t have time for your Oscar the Grouch routine. This is Cade. Cade, this is Rhett.”
“Cade?” Winston shot a curious glance to Grace, and the two exchanged a look.
“Yes, Cade.” Grace sighed. “Now…heat? Please?”
The former New Dawn councilman didn’t look any less thrilled, but he nodded. “This better be important.”
“I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t.”
“Keep up and don’t go wandering off unless you want an unpleasant surprise.” He grunted and stomped away through the six inches of snow, expecting them to keep up.
Cade shook his head. “You failed to tell me how charming he was.”
“Like you’re Mr. Charisma.” Grace stuffed her hat back on her head and quickly hustled after Winston. “Rhett’s he
art’s in the right place. He just likes doing things his own way. Alone.”
“And with explosives.”
Grace shrugged, and they quietly followed the older man off the beaten path. Cade wasn’t sure how they would’ve found the place if Winston hadn’t found them first.
Tucked beneath a thick tree canopy of trees sat a small hunting cabin. If it weren’t for the faint plume of smoke rising from the stone chimney, anyone passing would have thought the place abandoned.
Winston notably skipped the third step leading up to the porch and gestured for them to do the same. “Unless you’re feeling lucky today.”
Cade didn’t even want to know.
He and Grace followed Rhett into the cabin. The inside looked as worn as the outside, except for six computers lined up along the kitchen table. Their screens displayed surveillance footage from the surrounding woods.
“Interesting setup you got here.” Cade’s gaze slid back to the wall nearly entirely filled with handguns and assault weapons. “A lot of firepower for one man.”
“Don’t like surprises.” He gave Grace a pointed look and bent down to drop a few logs into the fireplace.
“I need your help.” Grace sat on the threadbare couch, looking totally at ease.
“Figured as much. With what?”
“I need to get inside New Dawn.”
“Are you asking for trouble, kid?” Winston let out a curse even more inventive than Roman’s and shot Cade an accusing glare. “This your stupid idea? Because I sure as hell know she wouldn’t have come up with it on her own.”
“I’m working a case,” Grace intervened on Cade’s behalf. “I need to get two members of Cade’s team into the Order.”
“It’s suicide.” The older man was shaking his head.
“It’s important. We need to get someone out.”
“Who?” At her silence, he added, “You want help. I want details.”
Cade scoffed. “And how do we know you can actually help us? Grace seems to think you can, but I’m not sure how a man who doesn’t leave this mountain is going to tell us something about New Dawn that we don’t already know. You’ve both been out seventeen years, right?”
“You came trespassing up my mountain and now you’re going to insult me?” He glanced at Grace. “Way to pick a winner, kiddo. I thought you learned your lesson after the Army Asshole left you high and dry.”
Cade blinked, digesting the fact that this guy even knew about their past. “I am the Army Asshole.”
“I know.”
Getting to her feet, Grace shot annoyed daggers at them both. “Enough. None of this gets us any closer to what we need. We need to get the vice president’s daughter away from New Dawn, and the sooner we do it, the better.”
Winston turned his back and tossed another log onto the fire.
“You know.” Grace’s mouth fell open, and she skirted around him tugging his arm so he looked her in the eye. “You know she’s there. How?”
“Maybe my son told me when he called for our weekly check-in.”
“Not funny.”
“It kind of was.” Winston glanced at Cade, immediately noting his confusion. “She didn’t tell you about how I came to live on this mountain, did she?”
Cade cleared his throat. “Said it wasn’t her story.”
Appreciation flickered in the older man’s eyes as he glanced toward Grace.
Not having his own dad around, Cade had never really experienced fatherly affection, but he saw it now as Winston nodded for Grace to take a seat. “My story’s going to directly affect what you guys have to do, so take a load off.”
Grace snuck Cade a glance and nervously shifted toward the couch. “You don’t have to go through this again, Rhett. You can just give us the highlights that’ll help us do our job.”
“Giving highlights screws up a mission just as much as they fuck up relationships. Sit and listen before I change my mind about helping you.”
Cade wasn’t sure if that was a dig on him and Grace or not. He was too preoccupied with the realization that after years of wishing he’d known about the night Grace left New Dawn, he was finally about to hear what happened.
He wasn’t sure he was ready, but he knew he’d rather it be her decision.
He sat next to Grace and felt her go stiff. “If you don’t want me to be around for this, I can go outside while you get the information we need.”
She folded her hands in her lap and refused to meet his gaze.
“Gracie?”
“I’m fine. It’s fine.”
It wasn’t fine. Cade could tell not only by the way she avoided looking his way, but in the tightness in her voice.
He stood to leave, but her hand snaked out and grabbed his. Her golden-brown eyes peered up at him through her dark lashes, the nervousness in them nearly bringing him to his knees as much as the truth. “I’m okay with you staying. Sit. Please.”
It was damn hard not reading into her words, or that look. He’d spent the better part of the last nine years wishing that he could earn her trust back, that she’d let him inside that gorgeous head of hers, even a little bit.
Hearing her ask him to stay, and meaning it, mattered more to him than he could ever put into words. “If you’re sure…”
She nodded, but worried her bottom lip between her teeth. “Just…don’t think bad of me.”
“That would never happen, sweetheart.” He squeezed her fingers to emphasize his point, and at the clearing of Winston’s throat, the spell was broken.
“We ready now?” the old man asked without holding back any snark.
“We’re ready.” Grace nodded for her friend to continue.
“First thing you should know is that I didn’t join New Dawn as a fluke, or stumble into it like Grace’s mother. I was sent in to get close to Rossbach.”
“By who?” Cade asked.
“The CIA.”
Cade did a double take. Okay, so maybe there were a few things out there that could still surprise him. “You’re saying that you’re CIA?”
“Former. Now. But twenty years ago, there’d been chatter about the self-help therapist from Georgia. My superiors wanted to make sure he was as harmless as they’d been told, and at first, he was. He was a weird little shit, but he brought people inside who had issues to work through. And hell, a lot of the stuff he talked about made sense. Who didn’t want to live peacefully without the shadows of the past following your every move?”
“You agreed with him,” Cade realized.
“I had a job that took me away from home and left my ex-wife and kid alone more often than I was with them. So, yeah, I wanted to feel as guilt-free as possible. I stayed about four months and was prepping to leave and report back to my superiors when Seekers brought a van of new members. My teenage son was one of them.”
Cade’s brows lifted. “He followed you to the Order?”
Winston shook his head. “While I’d been on assignment, my ex was killed by a drunk driver on her way to pick him up from soccer practice. It wasn’t long after her death that Seekers recruited him.”
“On purpose? Because I have a hard time believing that it was a coincidence.”
Grace leaned heavily on her knees and answered, “We’re not one hundred percent sure, but if I was forced to make a guess, I’d say that it was all planned out.”
Winston agreed with a nod. “We don’t know whether Rossbach did it because he knew I was CIA and he wanted leverage over me, or if it was done in some misguided attempt to bring my family together. Whichever reason he had, I had no choice but to stay with Todd.”
The more he heard about Teague Rossbach, the more Cade wished for a little time alone with him in a locked room. “And I’m guessing your employer didn’t like it much.”
Winston scoffed. “Not in the least. They wrote me off, but at the time, I didn’t care. I had my son, and Todd made friends with Grace”—he sent her a small smile—“and so I worried a little less about him—unt
il Rossbach’s teachings shifted from peace, love, and harmony to retribution and retaliation. Rossbach preyed on my son’s anger at me for leaving him and his mother.”
Leaning back into the couch, Cade saw exactly where this was going. “He painted you as your son’s Obstacle. Is that the right term?”
“Yep,” Grace confirmed softly. “Anything that Rossbach believed kept you from reaching your New Dawn was called your Obstacle. Getting rid of it was the only way you could find your true path in life.”
Winston nodded. “Between Rossbach’s ever-growing nonsense and my son’s inherited ability to run a good con, I didn’t even see it coming. Before I knew what happened, I was knocked unconscious and tied up like a Thanksgiving Day turkey in some off-the-beaten-path cabin. The only reason my son didn’t put that bullet in my head is the brave girl sitting next to you.”
Grace was already shaking her head, and her voice wavered. “It never should’ve gotten that far, Rhett. I’m sorry.”
“The blame isn’t on you, girl. You hear me?”
Grace didn’t look convinced, refusing to meet Cade’s eyes. “I’d considered Todd a friend, and I knew he had a problem with Rhett. I thought he just wanted to get him alone so he could vent his issues, tell him how much it had hurt that he’d abandoned him and his mother. Todd never told me about the gun or what he planned to do with it. But that doesn’t excuse my part in it.”
Winston scoffed. “It sure as hell does. You’d been subjected to Rossbach’s teachings for how many years at that point? Nine? And you still knew the difference between right and wrong.”
“You got him out?” Cade asked Grace gently.
Winston snortled and answered for her, “Swung a chair at Todd’s head and knocked him out cold.”
She’d risked her friend’s wrath to help an innocent man escape. It wasn’t the brave act that surprised Cade. It was his need to hear the answer to his next question: “Why didn’t you go with him when he left?”
Grace hesitantly met his curious gaze. “Because in my naïve mind, I didn’t think there was any way Rossbach would’ve approved of what Todd had planned. I went back to report it, and not only found out it had been given his golden seal of approval, but I got sentenced to the Reconditioning Center for ‘withholding someone from their New Dawn.’”