by Cindy Skaggs
“So were you,” Stills reminded him.
“True, but I didn’t sit on my ass waiting for answers. I’ve been tracking her.”
“You put a tracker on her?”
“That too. I’m monitoring her house, office, and mobile phones, her computers, texts, emails, Twitter feed—”
“She’s on Twitter?” Stills couldn’t imagine the shy lab assistant on social media. “And?”
“She didn’t rat us out. No calls to the cops, no emails to her superiors, and no mention of the events that led up to her brother’s death. She hasn’t even watched a single conspiracy video on YouTube.”
“Hell, even I watch those damn things.” Stills shrugged when they stopped to stare. “What? I don’t sleep much.”
“Me either,” Craft answered the same time Fowler said, “Same here.”
Ryder plopped back into his seat. “The university lab burned to the ground. The USB drive we took that night is dead—”
“I’m working on it,” Craft answered. “The files were damaged because you pulled it out while it was still copying files. We’re going through what wasn’t damaged and I’ll soon access the rest.”
Ryder ignored Craft’s interruption. “Any computer records were demolished with the lab, so how does any of this help us with the who?”
“Researchers are notoriously good at keeping notes and backups. Remember, Debi kept an extra set of notes after she got fired from the lab.” Rose twisted a pen between his fingers. “The dickhead from the lab had backups. Debi is convinced of it.”
Craft held his hand up to stop the interruptions. “This woman, Allyson, she’ll have a better chance of accessing any backups than we will. It was her brother.”
“What kind of crazy plan do you have knocking around your brain?” Ryder asked.
“Let me follow her for a few days, make sure she hasn’t made face-to-face contact with anyone.”
“And then?”
Craft grinned for the first time that day. “Bring her over to the dark side.”
“Fuck.” Stills dropped his head back. He wanted to go find Mandi and make sure she was okay. He wanted to meet Gault’s little girl. He wanted to—hell, it didn’t matter what he wanted. “Death by briefing, here we come.”
Chapter Seventeen
Mandi fought the good fight. Janet let her hide for three days, two hours, and twenty-seven minutes before she demanded that Mandi join the living. She let Mandi skip breakfast—which was really a form of punishment—before yanking her into the gym for daily hand-to-hand training. Danny had given her more than her fair share of defense training, so she knew the pain that was coming. She’d much rather sleep in, but Janet wasn’t cutting her any more slack.
As her official guide for the day, Ellie walked her to the gym through the dim corridors of the old sanitarium. “Aunt Manny,” said in a whisper. She rarely spoke above a whisper, because she didn’t talk as well as other six-year-olds. “They have a boy named Rose. That’s not a boy’s name.”
“No, but he’s nice, isn’t he?”
Ellie nodded but peered around to make sure they were alone before speaking. “I like Traft best.”
“Craft,” Mandi automatically corrected.
“Cccrrraaaafffftttttt.” She said it slowly, sounding each letter the way she’d been taught. “I like Craft, but I like S... S...” She tried several times to make the ess sound before moving on. “I like Dean too. He reminds me of Daddy.”
Mandi couldn’t say the same. There was nothing brotherly about Dean. Also, she was surprised by Ellie’s estimation. The little girl didn’t like many people since they were either poking and prodding her at the hospital or making fun of her in school. “How so?”
“Stories. He tells stories. And his laugh.” She prolonged the ef sound. “But he’s kinda scary.”
No lie. “They’re all a bit scary,” Mandi admitted. “But I think they seem scary because they’re soldiers.” Who was she kidding? She had never been around anyone—soldier or otherwise—who wore menace the way others wore clothes, but she’d seen under Dean’s exterior. He was protective, and sometimes that made him an asshole. But she couldn’t very well tell that to a six year old. “Remember when your daddy would put on his fierce face.”
“Papa Bear and the Lost Cub.” Ellie named the book where Danny had used his fierce face. “Dean has that face all the time.”
The girl’s description was spot on, but Mandi didn’t respond because she was winded from climbing down untold sets of stairs. It was like she was descending into hell. “You sure you know where you’re going?”
“Uh-huh.” Ellie nodded emphatically. They’d reached the bottom of the stairs that opened into a tiled room that looked like an old subway station. The way forward was shadowed and seemed to go on forever. “This way.”
Mandi followed to the left and what she hoped was a gym and not a torture chamber. This place was seriously creepy. She had to talk or she’d start to wig herself out. “Sergeant Craft is a nice guy. You know he’s going away for a few days.”
Ellie’s eyes welled with tears. Going away had become a euphemism for what happened to Ellie’s father.
Mandi cursed her poor choice of words. “Only for a few days, and he’s not leaving yet. They’re still planning. He’ll be back once he’s finished with his mission.”
“Promise?”
“That’s not the kind of promise I can make.” They’d had this conversation before. Life was too volatile for promises. “But he’s just going to the college for a few days.”
“He’s not going to Af-stan?”
“No, baby, he’s not going to Afghanistan. But he was there once. With your daddy.”
“I know.” She said the last word loudly, the word echoing against the tile walls. They stopped under a dome of light and Ellie pulled a picture out of her pocket. “He gave me this.”
The picture showed Craft and Danny in a desert tent surrounded by computers. Danny had his head thrown back mid-laugh. Mandi cleared her throat. “That’s a pretty great picture of your dad.”
“And Traft.”
“And Craft,” Mandi confirmed. The winding maze through the basement dumped them into a mirror-lined gym. There were blue mats on the floor and weight benches around the edge. “God, this looks like a torture chamber.”
“Girl, you have no idea.” The brunette stepped forward to introduce herself. “I’m Debi.”
“The chemist.”
“Used to be.”
“I’m sure you didn’t forget the science overnight,” Mandi insisted.
Debi laughed. “I guess you’re right. Anyway, we’ve been curious about you since you arrived in the middle of the night.”
“It was morning,” Mandi corrected out of habit.
“Oh, you know what I mean.” Debi pulled her across the room. “This is my best friend in the entire world, Lauren Ryder.”
“Ryder’s wife.”
The blonde smiled in response. “Guilty as charged. Welcome to our club.”
“There’s a club?”
“Sure. We cook, we clean, we let Janet beat the crap out of us on the mats, and then we go to the command post to read files and briefings all day.”
“I’ll pass,” Mandi said.
“We’re just not selling it,” Debi insisted. “Sounds so much more fun if we call it a club.”
“Like Mickey Mouse Club,” Mandi offered.
“Or a dance club,” Lauren said with a cute smile. She actually had dimples to go with that all-American blond hair.
Ellie tugged Mandi’s hand until she leaned down. Ellie put her mouth against Mandi’s ear, cupped her hand to keep the conversation private, and whispered. It was the only way she’d talk around people she didn’t know. “Can I join?”
“You want to be a part of the club?” Mandi repeated out loud.
Ellie nodded emphatically.
Mandi glanced at the other ladies, but it was Camy who breezed into the room to answer
Ellie’s question. Mandi stiffened at Camy’s presence, but she didn’t seem to notice as she swung Ellie around the room. “Welcome, my little friend. You want to join our club? It’s pretty exclusive.”
Ellie nodded her whole body, literally shaking with excitement.
“You know the first rule of our kickass club?” When Ellie didn’t respond, Camy continued. “The first rule is we don’t talk about kickass club.”
“I don’t talk.” Ellie giggled. “About nothin’.”
“Excellent. You’re already a great prospect. Absolute secrecy guaranteed. Want to know the next rule of our club?”
“Whaaaaatttttt?” Ellie elongated the question.
“The second rule is to do everything Janet says.” Janet stepped into the room and took Ellie by the hand. “Why don’t you sit up front with me?”
And just like that, Ellie was absorbed into the group of women. When they did sit-ups, Ellie made sure they kept their feet on the floor and didn’t cheat. When they did pushups, Ellie counted. “Five. Ten. Twenty-five. Thirty-seven.”
“Counting isn’t her strong point,” Mandi huffed out between reps.
“Girl, I much prefer the way she counts,” Debi insisted. “Maybe Janet won’t kill me today.”
But Debi’s hopes were dashed when Janet’s training had them falling to the ground in complete exhaustion. They didn’t make it the full hour. Ellie skipped out with Janet and neither was even short of breath. The minute Janet left the room, Mandi dropped to her back on the blue mat, which was a comfortable place to die. “Why didn’t you tell me she was Satan?”
“So much more fun this way,” Lauren huffed. “We let her wear you down so we can go in with the soft interrogation.”
“Interrogation?”
“Sure,” Debi added. “We’re dying to know what happened and why you’re here.”
Panic welled in Mandi’s chest. It was like high school all over again. Why would the cute guy be talking to Morticia?
Camy leaned over her legs until she was folded in half. “Dean’s been a cranky ass ever since you arrived, which tells me something’s up.”
“Nothing’s up.” God, they’d find out she was the other woman. “I know you guys are together. I would never—”
“Flirt,” Debi said.
“Sleep with,” Lauren added with a cute southern smile.
“Steal,” Camy suggested. Her smile wasn’t nearly as sweet.
“Someone else’s boyfriend,” Mandi finished lamely. Maybe she’d protested too much, and they’d turn on her.
Camy laughed and pulled herself up to a seated position. “Dean and I aren’t together.”
“You’re not?” The shock nearly knocked her back on the mat.
“Oh, not a chance. We met when he hitchhiked to El Paso.”
“You picked up a hitchhiker?” Mandi’s voice squeaked.
“Relax, I’ve already been read the riot act by my brother the buzz-kill.”
Debi muttered something about Rose never killing her buzz, but Camy waved her off. “Not with you. I’m pretty sure you can do no wrong.”
“In all fairness, I did get him off your back.” Debi turned to Mandi. “Rose wants to know why Camy has these mad hacking skills. To be honest, so do I.”
“Not a chance.” Camy shook her head emphatically. “As for Dean, once I picked him up hitching, he was in the no-fly zone. That’s how girls end up dead. Now he’s like an annoying brother. I’m sorry if you thought different.”
Tears of relief stung Mandi’s eyes. It wasn’t about Dean, she tried to convince herself of it, but the relief was too strong of an emotion to deny. Mandi laughed to push back the tears. “Camy?”
Camy opened her legs in a vee and stretched, looking more like a dancer than a college coed. “Yeah?”
“I really hate to say this, but I have a confession. I think I hate you.”
Camy sat up as if she’d never heard those words. “What? Why?”
“Well, you’re so... bendy.”
A laugh bubbled up from Debi. “Oh yeah, definitely. I hate you too.”
Lauren crawled to her hands and knees. “Ditto. I’m not sure I can be friends with someone so flexible.”
Camy giggled in response. “I could teach you a few things.”
“Why?” Mandi said automatically.
“Because being flexible has advantages. In the pleasure department.” Camy stood and offered a hand to Mandi. “We good?”
“More than.” Mandi felt like an idiot for jumping to conclusions. She’d assumed Dean’s rejection was because of another woman, but if it wasn’t another woman, why did Dean make it clear they could never be an item? Mandi let Camy pull her to her feet. She felt like she was drifting, but the women didn’t let her drift far.
“Come on.” Lauren wrapped an arm around her. “I’ll buy you a smoothie.”
“Janet makes the best smoothies,” Debi agreed.
“Almost makes up for her being Satan.” Camy laughed at her own joke.
As they walked upstairs, Lauren told them of her plans for the night. “Ryder and I are hosting a barbeque. A real, true, all-American, grilling outside barbeque.”
“You forget,” Debi said. “I know you can’t cook.”
Lauren laughed. “Maybe, but if it’s a barbeque, the men cook.”
“Ah, wise woman.” Debi and Camy walked beside Mandi as all four fit the width of the hall. “Will they even let us? I mean, they’re pretty tight on security and not going out in the open.”
Lauren nodded. “Supposedly there’s a covered patio for this express purpose.”
“Will there be beer?” Camy asked. “If it’s really a cookout, we should have beer.”
“Including beer. It’s supposed to be all set.” Lauren sighed. “When Ryder and I first got together, I was jealous of the team. They’re such a solid unit, so—”
“Formidable,” Mandi said without thinking.
“Ha. True,” Lauren said before continuing her original thought. “But I was wrong. We never even tried to socialize, and when the townhouse blew up—”
“Your townhouse blew up?” Mandi asked, stunned.
“That’s technically why Ryder and I are wanted for questioning, but we can’t really go in without attracting trouble from Echo.”
“So who blew up your townhouse?”
“Rose did,” Debi said. “We had to cover up the dead bodies and we didn’t have much time.”
“I’m seriously rethinking my decision-making process. This is way outside my normal.”
“It’s outside everyone’s view of normal, except maybe Echo. As Ryder and the rest of the guys were arguing over how to do their job while preserving the house, I realized that the house wasn’t home. Ryder was and is my home. And his team members are our family. I promised them a barbeque.”
“And then they blew up the townhouse,” Debi said. She wrapped an arm over her friend’s shoulder.
Lauren lifted her hands and shrugged. “Tonight we feast.”
They finished their climb into the kitchen where the real interrogation began. The whole bonding thing on the way up the stairs was just to soften her, Mandi decided.
What was your brother like? Did he get bigger after joining the team? Dean had asked the same thing, but when Mandi asked why, Camy shook her head. “You’ll get acclimated to our weird little questions,” she promised. The smoothies were gone before the interrogation ended. Janet sat down in the chair across the table and leaned back.
“Anything you want to add?” Mandi asked. She was sore from the accident and from an extreme lack of activity followed by the workout from hell. And she was feeling a little put out by the third degree.
Janet eyed her as she finished peeling an orange, her movements slow and deliberate. The other women waited, breath held as if waiting for a verdict. Janet pulled a section of fruit from the orange before even acknowledging Mandi’s question. “Stills is a little chaotic. We never know exactly what he’s going to do
.”
“Definitely. He told Ryder and the rest of the guys to fuck off when they tried to pull everyone together,” Lauren said.
“Showed up with a shotgun to my bar,” Debi added.
“Took us to the university lab rather than stop us.” Camy smiled. “But that was kinda cool on his part.”
Janet chewed on the orange until they finished talking. “Which makes me wonder. What’s he like in bed?”
Mandi dropped her head onto the table. “You guys are going to kill me.”
The answer to their question was going to destroy her.
“Does that mean you’re not going to answer?” Camy asked.
Mandi glanced up from the table. “You’re sure you’re not together? Not interested?”
“Not even a little.”
He was, in fact, fantastic in bed. She’d never been with a man so attentive, so in tune, so with her in the moment. She sat all the way up before making sure Ellie was still happily playing grocery store in the pantry. “Do you really want to know?”
“Duh?” Camy answered.
Janet sucked on another slice of orange.
Mandi turned her gaze to the other women. “Did you ever wonder with all the meds they had taken, that maybe made them bigger and stronger, if it didn’t also...”
They raised their eyebrows, waiting for an answer.
“Well, maybe it gave them extra stamina.”
“That good?” Debi asked.
Mandi nodded even as her face burned. “Oh, yeah.”
The laughed and teased her about it all the way to the command post, but all their good-natured ribbing aside, their question had brought up a very valid concern. As long as she was around Dean, her heart would hurt. It was too early to fall in love. They hadn’t known each other that long and blah, blah, blah.
Even she didn’t believe her lies. Despite her best-laid plans, despite the warnings he’d given her, she’d fallen for Dean, proving him right and pissing her off. She could grumble about it or walk about The Manor trailing chains and moaning like a ghost. Or, and this was the hard one, she could walk away.