He stepped around and pulled on something that had Ellery gasping again. Frederick stood up again and shook his head. “She cut herself, but it’s fine.”
Benton doubted that. He eyed Ellery again. “You’re lucky I like you or I’d strap a bomb to you.”
“I feel lucky.”
“That’s how you should see it.” Benton flexed his arm to fight the coming numbness. “From the test runs and Josiah’s uncle I would say that’s a pretty vicious death.”
Her eyes narrowed. “This is all about money.”
“No, I have plenty of that.” Benton glanced around at the room. Bare walls and nothing to give away its location. “This is about leveling the playing field.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Of course you don’t.” Benton nodded to Frederick. “Cover her mouth and make the call.”
Josiah stood across from Mike at the farmhouse’s dining room table and stared at the laptop on the seat in front of him. Ellery usually handled this part. He ran his hand over the keyboard but she didn’t come running, warning him not to mess with the equipment as she usually did. The possessiveness usually bugged him but he’d pay to have her there now.
He glanced around the small room. They were all congregated in there, squished with each one taking a side of the square table. Ignoring protocol and clearance issues, Sutton paged through the file they’d collected tracking Benton’s whereabouts after adding in her intel. Tasha and Harlan went on and off the phones, talking to team members and intelligence officials as they moved satellites and scanned the area. Mike studied surveillance photos and maps.
Josiah took in the energy in the room. Watched Sutton as her gaze scanned each page. He looked at her and his mind flashed back to the bedroom. To her expressive face and the way she begged him to enter her. For a man who spent his adult life closed off and on the run, she had the impact of welcoming sunshine. Determined strength wrapped up in this beautiful package that stole his breath.
His hands tightened on the back of the chair as the memories rolled through him. Touching her had been so good, so right. He’d had sex with other women, sometimes required by the job and sometimes not. Lots of sex. Some great and some drawn out in hotel rooms for days while he celebrated a successful mission.
But the after, that part when he wanted to confide in Sutton, hold her, feel her hands soothing him, that belonged only to her. He never talked about his mother, had never told another woman. She filled a hollowness inside him he didn’t even know was there.
And the sex had been smoking, leaving him exhausted and wanting more.
His computer screen blinked to life in front of him. “What the hell?”
They all rushed to his side of the table. Harlan took the seat. “It’s a password.”
Sutton leaned into Josiah as her hair fell over her shoulder. “For what?”
He inhaled her scent. Gave in to the urge to touch a hand to her back. “Dark Web.”
She kept staring at the screen. “What’s that exactly?”
“A system of unsearchable, unreachable network hosts on the Internet.” Mike grabbed another computer and started typing. Lines of what looked like gibberish that really amounted to encrypted messages to the team members. “Sites can only be accessed by invitation and with specific passwords that rotate and change at timed intervals.”
Sutton grabbed Josiah’s arm. “I’ve heard rumors but had never seen it in action.”
How did he explain that some of the worst horrors of humanity played out on the Dark Web? The new screen kept Josiah from having to answer. “There’s the invitation.”
“This can only be Benton, right?” She put her hand on the back of Mike’s chair and leaned in further.
She shot back when Benton’s face popped up on the screen. Josiah caught her before she stumbled. Not that he could see anything except a red haze of fury. That smug face haunted his nightmares. The only consolation was the burn scars. Next time Josiah would set the guy on fire and watch him burn.
“We meet again.” Benton’s voice, deeper and more gravely now. The ends of his sentences dragged. He still radiated a cocky confidence but the injuries told another story. “Since some of you now know what I look like and won’t be around long as a group anyway, I figured it was fine to fully show my face.”
Tasha moved Harlan out of the seat and sat down, facing off with the Alliance’s nemesis. The world’s nemesis. “Where’s Ellery?”
“Right here.” Benton turned, keeping his body stiff, and nodded to the area behind him. “See? She’s fine.”
Josiah got a quick look but he saw Mike had captured a still and studied it on the computer in front of him. No visible injuries and calm. Good for Ellery.
“Let us talk to her,” Tasha said.
“I’m not stupid.” Benton exhaled as he massaged his scarred hand with the other one. “Hello, Sutton. I hope you’re enjoying your temporary lodgings.”
“You’re a sick fuck.”
Mike grumbled the comment but the mic must have picked it up because Benton’s head turned. “Since your boyfriend is alive, you should thank me.”
Mike’s hand tightened into a fist on the table. “You tried to grab him.”
“Certainly you know by now that would have been a bonus but his capture wasn’t necessary at this juncture. Soon, but not now. I merely wanted your attention while I set your building on fire.” Benton’s gaze zipped back to the center of the screen. “You have to be running out of those by now, Tasha. How many safe houses can one group afford to have?”
Josiah couldn’t stand still any longer. He pulled out a chair and sat down next to Tasha. Let Benton see him and know killing his uncle hadn’t broken him. “What do you want?”
“So serious.” Benton kept opening and closing his hand. The movement barely made it on screen but now and then he’d lift the arm higher and they’d catch a peek. “How is your family? Precious things, aren’t they? You should try to make amends with your father.”
No way was he engaging in this conversation. Josiah would sooner walk into Benton’s lair and meet him one-on-one. Then he’d see just how smarmy and confident the guy was.
“Get to it, Benton or whatever the hell your name is.” Josiah knew not to tip their hands on that piece yet. Let Benton wonder if they’d put it all together.
The amusement vanished from Benton’s face, leaving behind a dead expression and dead eyes. “This is a one-time offer. Ellery for Sutton.”
“Forget it. Take me. I’m more valuable,” Tasha said.
“Tempting.” Benton barked out a harsh laugh. “I can only imagine how crazy that would make Ward, which would be a bonus.
Before Josiah could stop her, Tasha nodded. “Good, we’ll—”
“No,” Benton snapped out. “We’re not negotiating. I have other plans for you. Ones that will rip Ward to shreds and since he’s not on this continent, you will need to wait. This round belongs to Sutton as a punishment for her meddling.”
The words screeched across Josiah’s brain. He had to fight not to shout. “No.”
Benton tried to shrug but only one shoulder lifted. “You know what I want. You have twenty-four hours to decide or Ellery dies.”
“What are—” The screen went dark. Tasha slammed the keyboard, pounded on the keys, but nothing brought Benton back. “Damn it.”
“Ellery is alive. She looks unhurt,” Harlan said as he started to pace his side of the table. “That’s something.”
Sutton glanced up at Josiah. “Why does he want me so badly?”
Mike answered. “He’s probably hoping to grab you, figure out what you know, and stop you from leaking too much of it to us.”
The look of confusion in her eyes tore at Josiah. Despite her training and skills with a gun, she didn’t sign up for this. She’d been thrown into this life by a madman and hauled around by the team, Josiah had no idea how she kept it together, but he did know she wasn’t going anywhere. “You’re a loose e
nd.”
She exhaled. “Okay, well, the guy you could see hovering in the background by Ellery was Frederick.”
“We know all about Frederick now. Benton might not pop on checks but Frederick does.” As soon as she provided the name earlier, the team had gone to work. Josiah thought about the material they collected and of Frederick’s obvious lack of a conscience.
A new wave of worry for Ellery swept through him. Frederick would kill her without thinking. And God knew how many of those damn bombs they’d made and had ready to use.
“He’s a sick motherfucker.” Mike called the guy a few other names. “Seems to enjoy his little games, maybe as much as the actual killing.”
Harlan cleared his throat. “About this offer . . .”
There it was. Josiah saw it coming. He knew Harlan would be the one to broach the issue, the by-the-book jackass. “No.”
Sutton slipped her arm under his elbow. “Josiah.”
She sounded . . . “Sutton, fuck no. That’s not even a question. We don’t use innocents to lure targets.”
“I’m in this. I’ve been tracking him.” She sounded so reasonable. So sure. “I touched all of this off by taking the information from his file and tipping you guys off.”
Mike shrugged. “Technically, Benton was aiming for us long before you landed in Paris.”
“We’re not doing this the way Benton wants it.” They all had to see that. Josiah looked around the room for any sign of sanity and came up empty. Anxiety sucker punched him in the gut. He felt the walls closing in and vowed to hold them back.
“Isn’t it my decision?” Sutton asked.
“No.” He turned and blocked her gaze from the rest of the room. She could stay at the farmhouse while they searched. Hell, he’d put her on a private flight and somehow get her back to Ward and Ford and the safety of the U.S. if he had to. “Don’t even think about doing this.”
Tasha stood up. “I need to speak with Josiah.”
“About me?” Sutton pushed around Josiah to face the woman in charge. “If so, I’m staying.”
Something softened in Tasha’s expression and in her tone. “About the job.”
“Sutton.” Mike held out a hand to her. “Come with me.”
She hesitated.
He smiled at her. “Really, it’s okay.”
They all started moving. Sutton walked outside with Mike before Josiah could stop her. He wanted to grab them all and shove them into seats. Lecture Sutton on the insanity of even considering this plan.
“Harlan, you stay, too.” Tasha nodded toward the chair she’d just left.
They could play musical chairs all night. It didn’t matter. The answer would not change. Josiah would say it a thousand times if he had to. “This is not happening.”
Harlan sat down. “You sure you’re thinking with your head here?”
Fury slammed into Josiah out of nowhere. It wrapped around him and launched him straight into fighting mode. “Do you want me to kick yours in?”
“Gentlemen, that’s enough.” Tasha pointed to the chair across from Harlan and didn’t speak again until Josiah sat in it. “Ellery is vital to operations.”
No, no, no. “Tasha, come on.”
“Sutton is not a novice.” Tasha made a clicking sound with her tongue. “She came looking for a fight and I think she’s prepared to take it on. Not at our level, but with enough expertise to assist us.”
“Benton is going to kill her.” A vision of her bound to a chair with a bomb strapped to her chest flashed in his mind and Josiah had to blink it out. Had to concentrate. “This is all a joke to him. He has no intention of giving Ellery back to us.”
Tasha frowned. “I know that.”
Josiah knew better then to let the relief flood in. There was no way these two would give up on an argument or a plan that easily. “Okay, then why are we even talking about this?”
“We can work out a plan to get Ellery and keep Sutton.” Harlan sounded so reasonable, as if this kind of operation didn’t require days of planning and time studying the intel to pull off.
Josiah knew better and he wasn’t the only one. “Tell that to Lucas.”
“Benton can try whatever he wants, but this time we’ll be ready.” Harlan sounded so sure. So positive.
Josiah couldn’t call up a scrap of evidence to support that theory. “You’re insane if you believe that.”
Tasha held up a hand. “Okay, yes. This is dangerous, but it may be our only chance to get Ellery and grab Benton.”
No way was he falling for reason or emotion of whatever Tasha was aiming for here. Josiah shook his head. “No.”
“We’ll leave it to Sutton. She’s a grown woman.”
Something in the tone started a stabbing sensation in his gut. “You can’t feed her to that animal.”
Tasha’s voice rose. “I said she decides.”
“Fine, then I’ll go tell her.” And he meant “tell” because there was no way he was running through a pro/con list with Sutton. There was nothing to debate. He was going to tell her this assignment was not happening.
The idea of her being in danger tightened something inside of him. He barely knew her but all of a sudden he dreaded the idea of losing her, either to getting on a plane and flying to safety or to Benton.
Images bombarded his brain. Seeing her body sprawled out on the ground or bleeding out in the grass. Being so close and not being able to resolve the situation again would kill him. He couldn’t even think about what Benton might do to her, about her being injured in any way.
He got around the table and headed toward the kitchen before Tasha’s voice stopped him. “Josiah, I know you care about her.”
“Understatement.” The word slipped out but he couldn’t call it back or erase the stunned expressions on the faces staring at him. He put his hands on his hips and glanced at the floor. “Shit.”
A second passed before Tasha spoke again. “Maybe you’re not objective enough to be in on this plan.”
“When it comes to her I’m not, but you aren’t locking me out.” He had no idea when or why it happened but he was all in when it came to her. And that meant protecting her even if she insisted she didn’t need him shielding her. “And she’s not going.”
18
SUTTON WAITED until Josiah sat on the bed to join him. She’d run through the particulars with Mike about what would happen tomorrow if she did nothing. He’d been reluctant and kept mentioning Josiah but he finally spilled that Ellery would die. That she was prepared to die on the job. They all were.
Sutton had never heard anything so awful in her life. Here they were, putting their lives on the line every day, and the expectation was one day they wouldn’t return home. The thought made her heart ache. The idea of Josiah in a coffin. Of Ellery . . .
That couldn’t happen without her trying to help. She didn’t claim to be a hero, but she wasn’t someone who sat back and stayed safe while others walked into danger. She’d been raised by a strong woman who put herself through school and made a home out of nothing. Set an example by how she lived her life.
Sutton’s one thought, one target, had been the man she now knew as Benton. A laser-guided focus consumed her. Now she stood on the cusp of making him pay for all he’d done and she couldn’t back down. Now she had to convince Josiah.
Before she could touch him, he fell back against the mattress with his arms covering his face. “The answer is no.”
“What if the question was sex?”
He lifted an arm and stared up at her. “Really?”
The hopeful puppy expression almost did her in. It certainly switched the pain in her side to a fluttering in her stomach. Looking at him tended to do that for her. “Just wondering.”
His hands fell back against the mattress. “Are you trying to change the subject thinking I will forget that you’re talking about becoming a target?”
Sutton put a hand on his thigh. “Ellery is alive and looks okay and I want to celebrate that
.”
Sure, they needed to talk this through, but she did want him. Something about the idea of facing death made her want to experience as much of life as possible; that meant him. He’d come to take up so much of her life and thoughts in such a short period of time. She was sure he’d chalked it up to the adrenaline rush associated with danger. That’s why she didn’t ask. For her it went deeper.
She glanced at him and he scowled back. Any other time it might tick her off but she found it pretty cute right then as he visibly struggled not to lose his temper.
“What’s with the look?” she asked as she smoothed her hand up his leg to rest on the waistband of his jeans.
He rested a hand over hers. “I’m not going to change my mind.”
As if he got to make the decision for her. Men . . .
She slid an arm along the covers and lowered her body until she lay next to him. “How do we get her back?”
“I knew it.” He sat up and moved to the edge of the bed. Then he stood. “You are brave and this fearless thing is hot, but having a PI license doesn’t mean you’re trained to handle someone like Benton. He is the worst of the worst.”
The name now made everything inside her clench with hate. “I was trained enough to help at the school.”
Josiah’s scowl only deepened. “That’s not the same thing.”
She didn’t see the situation that way. “I’ve always been a step behind Benton. Now I know why. I wasn’t just following the guy I thought killed my mom. I was actually tracking a guy no one could track. He’s—”
“—a fucking animal.”
She’d seen the aftermath in that video of Josiah’s uncle. Felt the pain thrum off him as he talked about his mom. “Yes.”
She struggled to find the right words as she sat up. This sort of thing was so far out of her understanding. Her mother had never talked about cases. She’d protected and probably overprotected, but Sutton never heard the specifics. Never ran into someone like this Benton guy in real life.
“What has to happen to create a man like that?” she asked, when Josiah stayed quiet.
Facing Fire Page 18