The coordinated three-pronged assault had been timed to attack simultaneously. Four of the tangos had been killed, two in the helicopter and two when they attempted to scale the electronic fence. Two more were suffering from dog bites that would be treated. Probably. Three others were still unconscious. They’d run the plates on the SUV, but it’d been reported stolen yesterday from a nearby town and was a dead end—except for the tag attached to the windshield with a piece of clear duct tape.
The door opened to Quinn Billings, who escorted Riley Santos inside. Her worried gaze bounced around the room. “You wanted to see me?”
Luke wasted no time getting to the point. “Your electronic pass was used by the perps to gain access to the compound today.”
She took an involuntary step back, a hand covering her heart. “What?” She shook her head. “That’s not possible?”
Peter Dennis aimed a remote at a monitor. A magnified image of the stolen SUV’s windshield appeared. “We recovered the device from the vehicle.” He punched a button and the screen split to show a copy of a file with the same pass and Riley’s name and signature. Then both images disappeared to be replaced with one of Riley’s tag-less car.
“I have no idea how they got it. I didn’t do it, I swear.”
“It’s the same number,” Logan pointed out.
“I haven’t driven my car in weeks.” She sent a beseeching look at Quinn. “I’ve been training hard to pass the tests. Between working out, practicing firearms, hand-to-hand combat and training the canines, I haven’t had time. I barely have the energy to fall into bed at night.” She glanced nervously around the room, her eyes landing on her friend. “You can ask Morgana. Our apartments are next door to each other.”
Morgana walked forward. “She’s telling the truth. The only time she’s left the compound lately, I’ve been with her and we used a company vehicle.”
“She has been training intently,” Dante agreed.
“And I believe her,” Quinn stated firmly.
“Me, too,” Morgana concurred. “I’ve gotten to know her well during our time here. There’s no way she would do something like this.”
Tyler Redmond piped up. “I have photos of the five men who were captured, along with the two who are deceased. I don’t have headshots of the duo from the helicopter, well, you know, for obvious reasons.” Seven faces popped up on the screen. “I’m running prints now.”
“Do you recognize any of these men?” Luke asked Riley. “Could they have accessed your vehicle?”
Kellan pushed away from the wall, his gaze locked on one of the photos. No, it couldn’t be. “I know him,” both he and Ethan said at the same time.
Logan’s gaze was sharp. “Which one?”
“Number three,” he said
“How do you know him?”
Kellan would’ve answered but blood roared through his ears like a runaway locomotive.
“We ran into him in California. His name’s Thompkins,” Ethan informed them.
“That’s Thompkins?” Luke asked. “We should get a hit—”
“I got a hit and yep, Thompkins,” Tyler cut in. “And get this—he used to be a cop.”
A bad feeling washed over Kellan. The staged attacks, the bombings…was all this an attempt to grab Annabelle? Had they decided to make her pay for her stepbrother’s crimes since he’d disappeared off the face of the earth? Thank God she was safe in the bunker. Kellan headed for the door, Ethan on his heels.
“Where are you two going?” Logan called out.
“To talk to Thompkins.”
“He’s still out,” Peter said.
“I’ll wake him up,” Kellan promised.
It turned out he didn’t need to. Thompkins was slowly coming around when Kellan burst into the room where he was being held. Ethan was right behind him, followed by Luke, Logan, Dante and Dan.
“Let us take the lead,” Logan said. “You two stand out of sight for the time being.”
Kellan wanted to argue, but he trusted his bosses. He and Ethan moved behind Thompkins, who was lying on his side on the concrete floor, his hands and feet bound. The other four men stood in front of him with their arms crossed. A very formidable wall.
Groggily, Thompkins lifted his head and when he realized he was restrained, he jerked against his bonds.
“Won’t do any good,” Logan drawled.
Thompkins grunted when Luke and Dante picked the man up by his bound arms and dropped him into a chair, none too gingerly.
“This will go easier on you if you answer the questions,” Luke instructed.
Thompkins was belligerent. “Go to hell.”
“You’ve got quite an attitude for someone in a whole world of hurt,” Dan taunted. “Four of your comrades are dead, dude. Not one, not two, not three. Four. That’s half your team. The rest of you are in some serious do-do.”
Thompkins narrowed his eyes and glared.
Dante flicked a raised-brow glance at Dan. “Do-do? Really? What are you, twelve?”
Dan grinned self-deprecatingly. “Kait’s bitching at me to quit using so many bad words.” No one pointed out that bitch wasn’t exactly flattering. Then he faced Thompkins again. “Unless you start answering questions, you, my compadre, will conveniently disappear off the face of the earth.”
“You won’t kill me,” Thompkins asserted.
Dante moved close until he invaded the man’s personal space, his massive arms crossed over his chest. “Try me.” The words uttered lowly and lethally made Thompkins jerk back.
Luke indicated Dante and Logan. “These two were Navy SEALs. They know how to kill you about four hundred different ways.”
“All painful,” Logan added helpfully. “Start talking, Thompkins.”
“How do you know my name?”
“From us.” Kellan and Ethan moved into view. He didn’t look surprised to see them.
Kellan grabbed him by the shirt and hauled him upright. “You lied to me. You said you wouldn’t go after Annabelle.”
Thompkins ground his teeth. “I didn’t lie. It wasn’t my decision.”
“Are you saying the mysterious Viper ordered you to what, grab her?”
Reluctantly, Thompkins nodded.
“You failed,” Dante pointed out.
“No shit, Sherlock,” Thompkins spat.
“Let me guess,” Ethan said, “You still don’t know who this Viper person is?”
Thompkins shook his head. “Not a clue.”
#
Annabelle wished she’d been able to get a message to Kellan. By the time he realized she was gone, she might be dead. She’d never get the chance to tell him that she loved him. Why hadn’t she said the words the last few weeks? She certainly felt them, had from the moment they met.
There was still time. She wasn’t dead yet. “Why are you doing this, Gabe? I thought we were friends.”
“We are,” he insisted. “This is a business transaction. Nothing personal.”
Annabelle scoffed. “How can it not be personal? I trusted you and you betrayed me.”
“I haven’t betrayed you. Look, Annabelle, they offered me a shit-ton of money. I couldn’t pass it up.”
“So our friendship has a price. Good to know.”
“If you’d dated me instead of that meathead Polizzi, things might’ve worked out differently.”
She turned to gape at him. “You sold me out me because I chose Kellan over you?”
He shrugged. “Just saying.”
She faced forward, fuming. She’d been nice to him, had counted him as a friend. A true friend would never forsake another for money. “You’ve totally screwed yourself, you know.”
“I’ll be filthy rich. I don’t need to screw myself. I’ll be screwing anything with two legs and ginormous knockers. Chicks dig rich guys.”
She felt like gagging. He was disgusting. It’d be worth it to watch his downfall. “You burned your bridges with COBRA Securities, so you can never go back. You’ve been there
a couple of months, right?” She didn’t wait for his acknowledgment. “You know how good they are. There’s no place in the world you can hide. They will find you.” Of that, she had absolutely no doubt.
For the first time, his cocky façade started to crack and he shifted nervously on the seat. “They won’t come after me.”
“You’re right.”
He jerked his gaze to her and he nodded vigorously. “Yeah, I mean, come on, why would they?”
“They won’t have to come after you because my stepbrother will kill you.”
“Your stepbrother,” he scoffed. “Please. He’ll have to find me first.”
“You do realize he’s the one who hired you, right?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know who writes the checks—or in this case, sends the wire transfer—nor do I care.”
“Let me ask you this, genius. Have you been paid yet?”
More fractures appeared in his mask. He frowned. “I get paid after I deliver you to them.”
“Oh my God,” she laughed. “I can’t believe you could be so naïve.”
Pain exploded in her face and her head snapped to the side. She wasn’t prepared for the blow as he backhanded her with the gun. She lost control and the car swerved violently.
Gabe grabbed the wheel. “Watch where you’re going, bitch!”
She pulled off the road and slammed on the brakes. He could hit her again, but she couldn’t see a damn thing with tears filling her eyes. It was the opposite side from the one that Bixby injured weeks ago.
“Look, I’m sorry Annabelle. I shouldn’t have hit you. I’ve never battered a woman before. I don’t know what came over me.”
She didn’t accept his apology. She gingerly prodded her cheek. It was sore, but she didn’t think the zygomatic bone was broken. Cracked, maybe, judging from the throbbing pain. She opened her mouth wide, and moved her jaw from side to side, testing the pain level. Tolerable.
He sighed. “Okay, now you’re just wasting time. Drive, for hell’s sake. I’ve got places to go, boobs to fondle, asses to slap and tickle.”
Gag. How could she have ever considered this vulgar Neanderthal a friend? She contemplated aiming a swift chop to his trachea to collapse it or jabbing her fingers at his orbital sockets, but his gun was trained on her. It could easily go off in the struggle and she didn’t stand a chance at point-blank range.
Easing back onto the two-lane road, she focused with her good eye. She might provoke him to hit her again, but if she was driving to her execution, she wanted answers first. “You think Robbie will let you live after you’ve seen his face?”
“Who’s Robbie?”
She rolled her good eye. This again? “The man paying you to betray me.” She’d drive that point home as often as possible, even if it didn’t faze him.
“I haven’t seen anyone’s face, except your beautiful one.”
Oh no, he did not get to say things like that now. “Shut up, asshat.” She almost smiled when Kellan’s insult left her mouth. “And you will see him when you hand me over to him.” Was he seriously this stupid?
“Hey, are you kidding? I’ll be his hero,” he boasted. “He hired a freaking hit squad and they failed, whereas, I did not.”
They might’ve failed in grabbing her, but they’d certainly done damage to the compound. Nausea settled in her gut when pieces started to fall into place. “It was you who gave them the information and means to infiltrate.”
“It was me.” He sounded genuinely proud of himself.
“But your plans were thwarted when you were ordered to the bunker, weren’t they?”
“That bastard Billings never told me about that damn dungeon,” he groused.
A light dawned. “That’s why you wanted me to come by this morning. It wasn’t to show me a trick Echo learned. It was so they could easily grab me.”
“Yep.”
“Let me guess…your father was never ill.”
He chuckled. “He’s been dead for fifteen years.”
And he’d be rolling around in his grave to know what his son had become. “What about the people that might’ve been killed today? Did you consider that? Did you even care? Or the property that was destroyed?”
He shrugged. “Eh, collateral damage.”
Gabe Kline was a psychopath. “How could I have been so wrong about you,” she muttered under her breath.
#
“If you don’t know who The Viper is, how are you getting paid?” Kellan challenged Thompkins. “I know you’re not doing this out of the goodness of your black heart.”
Thompkins narrowed his eyes. “Money wired to an account.”
Dan opened the door. “I’ll get Tyler to follow the money.”
“Won’t do any good,” Thompkins called out after him. “I’ve already tried.”
“You don’t know Tyler,” Ethan smirked.
A sharp rap sounded on the door and then Peter Dennis stuck his head inside. “Guys, I need you to see this.” Thompkins cleared his throat as they filed outside. “I need something to drink.” They ignored him and followed Peter to the war room.
“I ran a scan on the gate pass, and I found a rogue fingerprint.” He hit a button and Gabe Kline’s unsmiling picture popped up on the screen.
Warning bells started clanging in Kellan’s head. Annabelle was good friends with Kline.
“Oh my gosh, I just remembered—he borrowed my car last week,” Riley spoke up. “I completely forgot.”
Now the bells transformed into crashing cymbals.
“What’s your take on him?” Logan asked Quinn.
“I trust him with the dogs. He’s a hell of a handler. I hired him based on solid recommendations from his commanding officers. But once he stepped away from the military, he’s become lazy. I spoke with Dante earlier in the week about his work ethic and he agreed with me.”
“He’s a slacker trying to get by on his dubious charm,” Dante confirmed.
“Not to pile on or anything, but he passes off most of his duties to Riley,” Morgana told them.
Quinn pinned her with a frown. “How come I don’t know about this? You should’ve come to me immediately.”
She shrugged. “I’ve spoken with him about it and he promised to change. I didn’t want to bother you unless it became an issue. My priority is the dogs. We do what needs to be done for them.”
Quinn gritted his teeth. “I’ll call him up from the bunker.”
Riley stopped him before he could place the call. “He’s not there. His father had a heart attack. He left to be with him at the hospital.”
“His father is dead.”
The bells and cymbals erupted into a whole freaking marching band in Kellan’s head. He hit Annabelle’s number on speed dial. It rang four times and then clicked to voice mail.
Logan dialed a number on the phone in the middle of the table and put it on speaker. As soon as BeBe answered, he asked, “Are Gabe Kline or Annabelle St. John with you?”
“They were both here earlier, but I don’t see them now. Hold on, let me ask Karen.” There was a pause and then BeBe said, “Karen saw them disappear down the corridor leading to the apartments about ten minutes ago, but they haven’t returned.”
Kellan’s heart was racing. “Tyler, can you track—”
“Already on it. Annabelle’s phone is on site, close to the front gate but stationary. Gabe’s phone is…same place.”
“He ditched them,” Luke surmised.
“He doesn’t have a GPS-enabled watch since he isn’t an agent,” Dan said.
“Wait—I’ve got him,” Tyler announced. “I pinged his truck.”
“Send it to my phone,” Kellan tossed over his shoulder as he headed for the door. He stopped abruptly when Ethan blocked the exit. “Get out of my way.”
“You can’t go charging out there without a plan.”
Yes, he could, and he was about to show them how it was done.
“Ethan’s right, Kellan,” Logan said. “You�
�re not a lone wolf. We do this together.”
Kellan swallowed hard. Every second Annabelle was gone meant she was that much closer to The Viper.
“He won’t kill her,” Ethan said gently. “If he wants her to pay for her stepbrother’s crimes, he’ll need her alive to access the money.”
Kellan took a shuddering breath. Ethan was right. They needed her alive to access her accounts. And he trusted his coworkers with his life—Annabelle’s, too. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
#
Since Gabe ditched his phone along with Annabelle’s, the one he was currently using had to be a burner. His gaze ping-ponged from the screen to their surroundings and back again. “Turn here,” he instructed her.
They were in the middle of nowhere, careening down a dirt path that cut through a swath of trees. There were no houses around or any other signs of life. She had no idea how Kellan would ever find her. She had to believe he would or she’d have absolutely no hope.
A dilapidated structure with dingy white siding came into view. Gabe told her to park the truck and get out. Feeling like she was walking the green mile, she made one last attempt to reach the part of Gabe that had been her friend the last few weeks. If she entered this remote, ramshackle house, she wouldn’t be leaving alive.
“Don’t do this, Gabe. We can turn around right now, get back in the car and get out of here. I’ll double whatever they’re paying you. You can take the money and go anywhere you want.”
He staggered to a stop, no doubt calculating the numbers in his head, but it was too late. Two large men appeared with guns in hand, putting the kibosh on her plans. Before she could process what was happening, one of them put a gun to Gabe’s head and pulled the trigger. She screamed as half his face exploded into a fine red mist. She dropped to her knees, her stomach revolting. She was still retching when she was jerked roughly to her feet and towed inside the house. The wooden steps leading to the door were concave with age and creaked ominously with her weight. Rusty nails protruded from the handrail. The interior wasn’t much better. Portions of drywall were missing, as was most of the ceiling, exposing water-stained rafters and cobwebs so huge, Spiderman himself could swing from them. Dust motes danced in shafts of light slipping between pieces of plywood nailed over the windows. The room was empty, save for a wood desk with a black leather chair facing away from her.
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