Survive By The Team (Team Fear Book 3)

by Cindy Skaggs

  Apparently she didn’t look convinced because he turned to Dean. “Maybe it would be best if you...”

  “He’s one of the good guys,” Dean said.

  She sniffed. “Like you?”

  “That’s right.”

  Mandi lost it. Dean wasn’t a good guy, much as he’d warned her. She’d heard what he had said. The cruel words—nothing happened—may as well have come from Maurice’s mouth, but Dean had also stood between her and Echo when it mattered. Naked, unarmed, and outnumbered, he’d still kicked ass.

  Given her job, she’d seen more than her share of dead bodies, but she’d never seen anyone killed. It was brutal and bloody and all she wanted was someone to hold her and say everything was okay, the way Dean had in the shower. Not even pride could stop her from going to him. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his waist. Hitting his chest was like walking into a brick wall, but he was warm and solid and so like Danny she couldn’t stop the tears from flowing.

  The shock of the attack finally caught up to her and came out in sobs. She cried for herself, and then for Danny. She cried the way she hadn’t at Danny’s funeral surrounded by townspeople who came for food and drinks and gossip. She couldn’t cry in front of them because they didn’t know Danny, not the way his team did.

  Ryder’s words resonated with her. Danny’s team loved Danny like a brother. Like she did. And the shared grief freed her broken heart.

  Those thoughts sent her into another fit where she cried like life was over, because the life she had known was over. She wasn’t a twin anymore. Danny wouldn’t be there to see Ellie grow. She dripped her fears and grief all down the front of Stills’ bare chest until he finally gave in and wrapped his big arms around her shoulders. Just knowing she wasn’t alone made her cry harder.

  Dean took her sobs without question. He held her up when she would have fallen. He gave her strength when she thought she had none left. He gave her compassion. Even after his rejection, she’d take this, because it was more than she’d had since Danny died.

  When she swiped her wet face over Dean’s drool-worthy chest, he took a step back, but she moved with him, unwilling to lose the connection. He’d lightened her burden, just by being there when she needed someone.

  “Sugar, you’re shaking. You need to get warm.”

  She shook her head, but he persisted until she was tucked in her parents’ bed with the weight of a dozen blankets surrounding her in muffled cocoon. Her mind drifted. Her eyes closed. She was in-between sleep and wake, her thoughts fuzzy. Scuffles and noises from the other room warned her the others came back—without the dead man’s body. Rose’s deep tones vibrated through the cabin like a lullaby. Dean’s voice settled her nerves like a comfortable blanket and she drifted the rest of the way to sleep.

  When she woke, the light came into the room at a different angle showing the progression of the sun through the winter sky. Given the dimness, it was likely late afternoon and she still didn’t feel rested. Or at peace. Dean had come into her life and shone light on the situation, and she’d been grateful for his answers. Happy to have someone else in the fight for truth.

  So she’d had a one-night stand with him. They’d both gotten something out of the deal, and she’d be damned if she’d hang her head in shame because some loser chose to deny her in front of his friends. Fine. They had sex. End of story. Screw Dean and his near-perfect body.

  “His fucking loss,” she muttered, feeling the instant burn of heat at the curse word. She didn’t curse around Ellie and doing so felt foreign. And also liberating.

  “Pardon?”

  Mandi turned to see another big man next to her bed. “Rose, right?”

  He nodded. “Sweetheart, I’m worried about you.”

  “Thank you.” Seemed like forever since anyone knew or cared what she did.

  “That’s not exactly the answer I was looking for.”

  She turned on her pillow to face him where he kneeled beside the bed. Even squatting down beside her, he was taller. She had to look up to meet his gaze. He might have been built like a house, but he had an equally big heart. She could see it in his fathomless eyes and the concern shining there. Concern for a near stranger.

  Her entire body hurt from the accident. Probably the fight, too. Even her eyelashes ached, but she felt a million times better than she had the day she’d driven to Tucson to find answers. “I thought I was alone.” She swallowed before another round of tears could interrupt her words. “When I went to find answers, I thought I was alone, and here you all are, Danny’s team, and you went to get Ellie and you took care of the dead body and—”

  “Cleaned up the blood, too,” he said, his voice teasing.

  She choked out a laugh. “So thank you. For being there. For trying to figure out why Danny died.”

  “It’s not even a thing,” he said with a wink.

  Her heart flipped in her chest. “Your girlfriend’s a lucky woman.”

  “You know about Debi?”

  “Dean told me. A lot of time to talk in the car,” she quickly added when she saw the surprise on his face. “I was choked today.”

  “I saw that. Nice set of fingerprints across your throat.”

  “I stabbed him in the knee.”

  “Good job.” He gave her a fist bump. “But just so you know, that’s not the wound that killed him.”

  He was trying to keep her from blaming herself when all she felt was extreme relief that the man was dead and buried. At least she thought he was buried. “I’m aware.”

  “The other man is going to live. I’m a medic and I patched him up. Even if he is the bad guy.”

  “You’re going to interrogate him, aren’t you?”

  “It’s our job to get intel.”

  “And you’re good at your job,” Mandi said, mimicking what Dean had told her earlier. “Is it going to be you who gets the information?”

  “It doesn’t matter which one of us. It’s a mission, not revenge.”

  “Well, could you get in a good whack from me?”

  He laughed. “I’ll see what I can do. Are you going to be okay to travel in a little bit?”

  “Where?” He throat hurt from crying, so it came out a squeak.

  “A safe house owned by a friend of ours. Ellie’s already there. You’ll both be safe, I promise.”

  “How long until we leave? How long of a drive?” She didn’t think she could sit in a car with Dean for very long. Not yet anyway.

  “We roll out when you’re ready, but no rush. The drive is about eight hours, give or take, but we’ll travel through the night so you can sleep. You up for it?”

  “Do you have throat lozenges?”

  “Stills has some honey-lemon ones in his newly acquired SUV.”

  She sat up and leaned against the headboard. “I don’t want to drive in that car. It’s stolen, you know. Can I have lozenges anyway?”

  “Sure. Any other requests?”

  “If you could get all of Danny’s things from up in the attic.”

  “Already done. They’re in a vehicle and ready to go. Just doing a last bit of cleaning and we’ll be ready to go.”

  “You’re wiping your fingerprints. Everybody’s fingerprints.”

  “You watch too much television.”

  She stared at him with the look she gave Ellie when she knew the girl was lying.

  Rose laughed. “Yes, we’re wiping our fingerprints. Happy?”

  “Not really, but are any of us really happy.” She shrugged like it didn’t matter. “I have one more request.”

  “Name it.”

  “The doctor back in Tucson prescribed me some pain meds. From the accident. They’re on the table, or they were last night. I’d like to take one before we go.”

  “You hurt?”

  “Only everywhere.”

  “Is that the only reason you need the pain pill?” An understanding look that managed not to be condescending crossed his features.

  She picked a
t the threads of the quilt that was at the top of the stack. “Can we take these blankets, too? It will give Ellie and me something familiar.”

  “Sure we can do that. We already packed up most of your clothes, the ones we found in the dresser. As for pain meds, I have one right here.” He handed her an innocuous white pill and a glass of water and waited for her to swallow it before he spoke. “If you don’t want him in the car with you, sweetheart, I won’t let him.”

  “He wouldn’t ride with me anyway.” Neither one of them were talking about the prisoner from Team Echo. Mandi was certain Dean wouldn’t ride with her. Wouldn’t hold her, and she felt the rejection to the bone. Her heart shouldn’t be involved, but she felt an attachment to him that she didn’t feel to any of the other men on Danny’s team. “That’s not why I want the pain meds. I hurt.” Wounded pride mixed with a little mortification.

  “I bet you do, but I’m not so sure the medicine will help that kind of pain.”

  “Just until we meet up with Ellie. I’ll be okay once I get to her.”

  Rose stared down at her with concern. “Amanda—”

  “Mandi,” she corrected.

  “Mandi, retreat is nearly always a tactical error.”

  “Tactics aren’t my thing,” she admitted. “I just want to get by, be a good parent to Ellie, and somehow make Danny proud.”

  “Oh, sweetheart, don’t you ever doubt it. He was proud of you every damn day.”

  She sniffed. “Stop. You’ll make me cry again.”

  “Tears don’t scare me.” He wiped a tear that had gotten away. “I have six sisters.”

  “God help them,” Mandi blurted.

  Rose laughed as he headed for the door. “You’ve got that all wrong. I’m the one who needs help. What’s a guy like me going to do with six sisters?”

  “Smother them,” she guessed.

  “I’ve been tempted a time or two.” He left the room, giving her time to get ready and fold up the blankets. Maybe avoiding Dean was a tactical error, but her insides were raw. He made it clear they were one and done. Nothing happened. Fine, she could pretend. Her entire life was one big pile of pretense.

  Mandi woke with a start as the car hit a pothole and bounced with a groan. Daylight stole over the horizon giving her a picture of the most desolate landscape she had ever had the displeasure to see. It was like the pictures from the surface of Mars. Red and dead with no sign of water. The canyon ridges were lined with mesquite. The valleys were dirt so dead not even weeds grew.

  Rose smiled over at her when he noticed she was awake. “Almost there.” He drove a vehicle she didn’t recognize and she sat in the passenger seat. No one else rode with them. They probably needed all hands for the prisoner.

  “Where, exactly?” she croaked. She grabbed a lemon drop from the console between them and sucked it to soothe her sore throat.

  “Just this side of the Mexico border. As safe houses go, The Manor is the best I’ve seen.”

  “You seen many safe houses?” Because the barren land looked like the anteroom to hell.

  “A few.” He grinned. “It’s good. You’ll see once we get inside. I called ahead. Everyone’s waiting to meet you. Ellie is still asleep. From what I understand, she’s curled up on Janet’s bed.”

  “Everyone?” She looked like hell and felt like death, so meeting people was the last thing on her to-do list. “Who is Janet?”

  Respect resonated off him when he spoke about the mystery woman. “She built this place, with her father. Runs it on her own for the most part. She’s the best. You’ll see.”

  The only thing Mandi wanted to see was the inside of her eyelids. She wanted to sleep until the past few days ceased to exist. Until she forgot... Everything. She glanced back to see their little convoy, but they were alone on the dusty road.

  “They moved ahead,” Rose explained. “Wanted to get the prisoner situated before the sunrise.”

  “Why?”

  “You like that question.”

  Mandi nearly choked on her lemon drop. She couldn’t force the words out, because they were so much like her earlier conversations with Dean. Why was her favorite question because it was Ellie’s favorite question. When the world was full of bad news for the sweet little girl, the only thing she ever asked the doctors was why. Not why she was sick, but why they were doing the surgery. Knowing the why seemed to soothe her, and Mandi had embraced that same mentality. No matter how bad the day, it helped to understand why. “That’s not an answer.”

  “They want the prisoner underground before daylight in case there are satellites in the area.”

  “Are satellites a possibility?”

  “Anything’s possible, and we plan for eventualities. That’s why we brief and debrief so often. To protect against every potential.”

  “Are we safe here?”

  Rose swiped a hand over his jaw. “The company wants us dead. Team Echo members are the psychopaths willing to do the deed. While The Manor is as off the grid as you can get within the confines of U.S. borders, it doesn’t change those facts. The only way to end this is to take them out or expose them.”

  “Wow, I think I’d rather you gave me the Disney version of the story.”

  “Why? Every Disney movie starts with someone dead and someone orphaned.”

  She laughed. She thought she would stump him with the Disney reference. “I forgot. Six sisters.”

  They pulled up a hill and around a bend to see the stark outline of a building complete with stone towers and a parapet across the top. It was huge and had a dilapidated barn nearby. The setting was so macabre it should have its own horror movie music and thorny vines blocking the path, but the car continued down the dusty road unhindered.

  “One of my sisters is here. She’s pushy and annoying as hell. Baby of the family. Walked right into the middle of things because she doesn’t follow orders. And she’s...” he muttered under his breath. “Waiting out front, ignoring all security protocols.”

  Mandi focused on the lone woman standing on the steps waiting for them to arrive. The stone building dwarfed her, but as they drew close, Mandi saw she wore shorts and a tank top despite the cool morning temperatures. She also wore cowboy boots. Cowboy boots and shorts. Now she’d seen everything. The woman’s hair was cut into a cute pixie and she had the look of a saucy Tinker Bell, which made Mandi wonder if she were still a little loopy from the pain meds. The moment the car stopped, the woman flew down the stairs and launched herself at Rose.

  The words coming out of her mouth flew together so Mandi didn’t understand a word she said, but it was obvious she loved her brother and had worried while he was gone. Mandi appreciated her concern because she’d worried about Danny and she understood what how hard waiting could be. As she disembarked the car, two more women stepped from the mouth of the building, looking at the road behind Mandi.

  She turned to see three men walking toward the main house. They were large men, imposing not just in size but demeanor. They marched, moving in tandem, in a tight formation with their attention constantly moving, seeking trouble. Well-trained. Mandi watched them with her breath held. She picked out Stills first, walking slightly behind on the right. Just like him to stray from a straight line. In the pre-dawn light, his hair looked dirty blond, but she knew the morning light would show highlights of red. He walked with fierce determination despite what Rose said was at least one broken rib. A bandage on his temple covered several stitches, the latest Echo-induced injuries.

  Dean was as tall as the man on the far side, the one called Fowler. She hadn’t had much chance to interact with Fowler, much to her pleasure. He scared her. Not that he seemed angry or especially dangerous—well, they all seemed dangerous—but he was much too pretty for her comfort. The spiky hairstyle reminded her of a model or something, despite the serious expression on his face. He matched the others in extreme physical conditioning, and his t-shirt showed off incredible arms. Serious biceps looked like they could squeeze the life from a
man.

  Ryder was in the center, ever tall, ever in command. When a blonde at the top of the stairs saw him, she squealed and raced to wrap around him. He didn’t even slow as he carried her to the stairs and straight up.

  The brunette at the entrance moved slower. She waited until Rose and his sister finished. Rose looked up, made eye contact. Then, with a saucy little smile, she stepped down the stairs in four-inch heels that had no business in this godforsaken land. Rose released his sister to make room for the beautiful brunette.

  Stills met Mandi’s gaze across the distance, but his expression was unreadable, hidden by a scowl and several days’ worth of scruff. Mandi’s breath caught, but before she could react, Rose’s sister squealed and raced for him.

  “Dean.” She screamed the words and then flung her whole body at him. “What were you thinking, leaving like that?”

  Dean set her down but didn’t answer.

  The pixie didn’t seem to notice. She continued with her questioning. “What happened here?” She touched the bandage.

  “Echo.” Dean’s monosyllabic answer was a snarl of frustration.

  “Bastards,” she replied. “Want me to kiss it and make it better?”

  “Knock it off.” Dean glanced in Mandi’s direction.

  She stumbled but didn’t fall thanks to her grip on the car door. All these happy welcome homes were like a knife to the chest—you’re alone, you’re alone, you’re alone—but the pixie launching at Dean was a near fatal blow. And the scene suddenly clicked. In fact, the whole day finally made sense.

  Dean and Rose’s sister were a couple. Mandi’s head started to ache. She was the other woman, the thing she swore she would never become.

  Momentarily forgotten, she trudged up the stone steps to the imposing door. The effort nearly dropped her as the last two days caught up to her. Stepping through the entry, she was confronted with a woman about her same height, wearing a camo uniform and combat boots. A shock of gray hair twined through the dark hair of her French braid. An aura of quiet authority surrounded her.