She tried to breathe and make her legs work. Anything to stall for time and keep his fury in check.
“Okay.” She held her hands up. It took her two more tries to stumble to her knees.
He grabbed her arm and twisted. A cry escaped her lips and then she heard the bang. A loud crack by her ear that had her ducking. When she lifted her head again she saw the bullet hole in the guy’s forehead and the second his body held before it dropped.
She shifted around as West came up over the steering wheel firing. He hit the other armed man in the shoulder but the man didn’t go down. He took a step back and then his arm came up and West stood right in the man’s line of fire. She was about to call out some kind of warning when the guy’s head flew back and his body fell.
Her gaze flipped back to West’s arm and the gun in it. Even with blood running down the side of his face he looked deadly calm.
“You okay?” His voice sounded hoarse as he focused his intense stare at her.
Relief pounded her hard enough to steal her breath. Her shoulders fell and what little energy she had ran from her body. All she could do was nod.
“Lexi?” He barked out her name. “Talk to me.”
She swallowed a few times as she managed to get her legs under her. “You’re bleeding.”
“No big deal. Head wounds bleed when they’re not serious.” West used his chin to gesture toward Javed. “Check him.”
In the next breath, West started moving. He winced as he pulled his legs out from under the crushed dashboard. One then the other. He kept his arm bent at an odd angle as he slid to the ground. Without a word he headed for the truck.
He looked ready to drop. He might think he was invincible but she knew better. She had enough medical training to know he needed attention.
Fresh panic soared through her as she called after him, “Where are you going?”
“To make sure I got them all.”
It was sick and probably really wrong, but she sat there and prayed he did, too.
West made one last round of the truck and the direction from where it came. Nothing. Looked like he stopped the threat. Good, because now he had time to kill Javed.
Forget the thumping in his arm. Forget the blood dripping off his forehead. He was on a mission.
By the time he got back to the Jeep, Javed was leaning against the sidelined vehicle while Lexi checked his head. She had a bag open and her medical kit out. With who she was and what she did for a living, the scene made sense. But seeing her touch Javed sent anger raging like a wildfire through West.
The truck headlights lit their immediate surroundings, but the rest of the area lingered in darkness. Still, he could see her hovering over Javed. That was about to end.
West allowed himself two seconds to block out Javed and drink in the sight of her. She moved around without limping and he hadn’t spied any blood on her. The lack of injury was the only reason he hadn’t killed Javed already.
He switched from walking to stalking and had his hands on Javed’s shirt a few steps later. “Who did you tell?”
West pulled Javed off the truck and shook him as hard as he could. The guy’s head could fall off for all he cared. So long as he gave up the names of the people he told about this mission to the encampment.
Lexi jumped to life. She pulled on West’s arms. Or tried. “West, stop it.”
He ignored her. He had to. Coincidences set off his inner alarms. He didn’t believe for a second a truck just happened to be hidden behind that rock wall. Driving there, waiting.
West’s body slammed Javed’s back against the Jeep. With it turned on its side it was a weird position, probably injured the guy’s spine, and West did not give a shit.
When Javed started squirming, West put a hand around his throat. “I told you not to talk to anyone. I warned you I would kill you and I wasn’t kidding.”
Javed’s eyes were wide and full of fear. He started to shake his head but West held him still, daring him to lie.
“I didn’t,” he choked out.
“Then someone saw you, which I find hard to believe. I’ve seen your tracking skills. You’re a fucking professional.” He lifted Javed just enough to get some air under him and slam him back down. “How does someone get the drop on you?”
Javed kicked out and clawed at West’s hand. He did not cower or give up. “I fly helicopters.”
Then West had to fight off two of them—Javed shifting all around and Lexi slapping at his arm to get him to ease his grip on Javed. Neither of them fazed West. Javed had talked to someone, and that could have gotten Lexi killed. It was the only fact that mattered right now.
“West, stop.” She was screaming in his ear.
“Not yet.” He never stopped looking at Javed. He needed the man to see the hate in his eyes and know just how far this could go if he didn’t start talking. “You’re in the Pakistani army. I know you can be lethal when you need to be.”
“I told you everyone is looking for Alexis.” He looked in her direction.
“So, what, that was just a regular search party?” West butted in before Javed could answer. “No way.”
“I’m serious,” Lexi said, grabbing his arm with both of her hands and yanking. “No more.”
As far as he was concerned, she could draw a gun and it wouldn’t stop him. He wanted answers. This country had fucked him over once, and he’d be damned if he let it happen again. “Your friend here knows more than he’s telling.”
She leaned in until her hair fell between the men’s bodies and her face swam in front of West’s. “Yes, he is my friend. I don’t want him hurt.”
West pretended he hadn’t heard the second sentence. “He’s about to be your sliced-up friend.”
“You don’t scare me.” Javed spat out. He sounded tough but had gone pale, and every line of his body shouted fear.
West recognized the signs. He’d forced information out of more than one man while working for Alliance. Shot, stabbed, blew up, set on fire. He did what had to be done and he would here, too.
“Javed, tell him.” Lexi put her hand against the truck. “Whatever West needs to know, just say it.”
She’d probably be able to get Javed to cough up something, but West didn’t like her that close to the guy. He preferred his intimidation and pain method.
“Who is Raheel working for?” he asked. There it was. The blip. The brief expression that gave Javed away. West went in for the kill. “You’re protecting him. Talk.”
“He has not done anything wrong.” But Javed didn’t sound like he believed it.
That fast West felt the advantage shift to him. “I think you’re missing the word ‘yet’ in that sentence.”
Lexi’s pleading continued but she changed the target. “Javed, please.”
The swing served West. With her on his side, he had a shot of convincing Javed. And he was desperate for this to work because what he would do to Javed—and he’d do it without regret—was not something he wanted Lexi to see.
Right now she saw him as a man. A few seconds of watching him using his fists and a blade to convince Javed, and she’d see him for what he truly was. The machine behind the man.
Javed looked at Lexi with eyes wide and full of panic. “He will kill Raheel.”
“He already had the chance to do that and didn’t,” she said.
West was done negotiating. “You have three seconds.”
“Just say it.” Lexi’s harsh whisper echoed in the darkness.
West had a better way. “One . . .”
Javed kept shaking his head. “There is nothing.”
“Two . . .”
Lexi put her hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Javed, do it.
Time to inflict some pain, to show Javed that when he threatened, he meant it. “Three.”
“Stop.” Javed held up a hand as soon as West’s hand tightened on his throat.
“Talk.” West loosened his grip again. Much tighter and he’d damage Javed’s lary
nx and the guy wouldn’t be talking for weeks.
“Raheel had been working with the general who was killed in the clinic. On a secret assignment.” The words rushed out of Javed now. There was no holding back or chest puffing to show his lack of fear.
Just as West expected. “Which was?”
“Whatever he saw upset him, and he wanted out.” Javed held up both hands. “That’s all I know.”
Not a lot to go on but it made sense. Whatever Lexi had seen concerned the army and was possibly sanctioned. That fact made this assignment a complete fuck-up.
Yes, Alliance needed to know what was happening, but walking into the middle of a sanctioned Pakistani government battle plan promised disaster. Alliance needed more men on the ground to make that kind of operation work, and even they might struggle with odds that sounded like five against a brigade, or whatever they were dealing with here.
Which was why he needed more intel. If this wasn’t sanctioned and Pakistan had a rogue general or two, everyone would want this shut down now.
“Where was Raheel going to take Lexi?” West asked. He heard a sharp inhale and knew that Lexi had just realized how close she’d come to having something truly awful happen to her.
“He wouldn’t hurt her.”
West wasn’t sure he bought that, but he did think Javed did. With some reluctance, he let the other man go and backed away. “I’m not taking that chance.”
Javed reached for his gun. “You cannot kill me.”
Unfortunately the guy was right, but not for the reasons he thought. Even he needed a reason to shoot a man. He didn’t have one here.
West held up Javed’s weapon, the same one he’d lifted when he tackled the guy. “You say Lexi is your friend? Prove it.”
Javed frowned as he smoothed down the front of his uniform. “Meaning?”
“Your job is to go back to your superiors and explain this accident. You tell them I jumped these two, got command of the truck and rammed you.”
“Will they believe him?” Lexi asked.
“The bullets in these two are mine, from my gun.” West held Javed’s weapon out to him. “They won’t trace to Javed.”
Some of the tension left her face. “You did that as cover. You’re protecting him.”
For now, but he would turn in a second if needed. “So he can protect you.”
“You’ll be an even bigger target,” she said.
“That doesn’t bother me.” And it didn’t. To West, if someone wanted you dead, they wanted you dead. Really wanting it didn’t change much.
Lexi half smiled, but the expression looked strained. “Anyone else think we just keep getting deeper into trouble?”
West held his arms out at the destruction around them. “Welcome to my world.”
11
WARD STOOD just outside the cell holding Pearce. They’d landed in Islamabad less than an hour ago and traveled straight to this location. Secret and underground, with cells built into the wall and sealed off with floor-to-ceiling metal doors.
The only way Ward could see Pearce was on the two-way camera or the two-by-two pane of bulletproof glass in the center of the door. Talking was limited on Ward’s side. Pearce had his microphone on. Ward knew because Pearce spent his time humming. Ward shut his side off, effectively cutting off all communication but the staring.
This was the kind of place no one talked about in White House briefing reports. The existence of this facility was on a need-to-know basis, and not knowing gave the higher-ups deniability.
The guard who traveled with them stood in the hall with two Marines and a half-dozen Defense contractor specialists. Only Ward walked into the small room in front of the cell and waited for one of the few other cleared people to walk in. One of his men.
A buzz sounded and the locks opened with a clunk. In stepped Michael Shelby, blondish hair and blue eyes. A midwestern farm-boy type. Which was exactly what he was before he joined the Army, and then Alliance plucked him out to join Delta team under Josiah.
Quiet, and the most private of Alliance members, Mike could sweet-talk and charm. He could also slit your throat while pouring you a beer. You’d hit the ground before he stood up straight again.
He’d stayed behind in Islamabad to run point for those Delta members in the field and work contacts on the ground. Now he got to help babysit Pearce.
Ward turned parallel to the window in the cell door, refusing to step into a corner and hide. Let Pearce watch. Let him see freedom, taste it and not have it.
Mike shook Ward’s outstretched hand. “Have a good trip here?”
Pearce stepped up to the window and his voice crackled through the speakers. “Michael Shelby. A man with so many secrets.”
“Totally enjoyable,” Ward said. “Pearce talked for almost all twenty-one solid hours of it. I almost shot him twice.”
“Should have.” Mike smiled as he crossed his arms in font of him.
Pearce shifted his gaze to Mike and didn’t let up. “Would you like to talk about your new apartment? Or is it a condo? Did you buy a place to bury your secrets?”
There it was again. Pearce would drop one piece of information. Find the thing that tickled a person’s curiosity. Ward knew it came from some training course and that Pearce had honed the skill over time. That didn’t make it any less effective.
“What is he talking about?” Ward asked, knowing even if there was something to tell, Mike would never say it.
“Who the hell knows?” Mike didn’t show an ounce of recognition. No reaction at all.
Talk about excellent training. Ward would put his guys up against anyone in any military or intelligence agency anywhere.
“Get me to Skardu.” Pearce acted as if he gave orders.
Ward added that to the list of reasons to hate the guy.
“Shame we can’t keep him in there all the time.” Mike glanced at Pearce then. Looked and dismissed. “Let him be someone else’s lifetime problem.”
Ward would explain the one-way nature of the trip to Mike later. “You checked in with Harlan?”
They talked half in code. Intercoms malfunctioned. Hell, Pearce could read lips. Ward wasn’t taking any chances. He trusted his people and that was about it.
“Yes, and I’m still working on my project.” Mike stopped for a few beats before speaking again. “Josiah is trying to meet up with West.”
In the span of ten seconds Mike had delivered a full report. Harlan in the field, Josiah couldn’t find West at either of the arranged meet-up points, and their internal comm still malfunctioned. None of that qualified as good news.
Mike nodded. “Josiah and Harlan are going to meet.”
They had to regroup. Pakistan was a big country with a lot of places to hide. Caves and houses. They had assets here but they had way more enemies. And then there was West’s past dealings with the place. So many ways for this mission to go sideways and that didn’t include Pearce’s presence, which was a total wild card.
“In the meantime, we get him.” Ward nodded in Pearce’s general direction.
“Why is he here?” Mike smiled. “Which is really my way of asking why we haven’t killed him yet.”
Ward liked where Mike’s mind was on this. “He insists he can help.”
Pearce stood right in front of the camera wagging his finger back and forth. “Tick tock.”
Mike watched on the monitor. “That’s annoying.”
“I seriously considered throwing him out of the plane.” Ward was only half kidding.
“No loss.”
“West is running out of time. So is the pretty woman with him.” Pearce’s voice sounded muffled through the speakers, but the singsongy warnings were clear.
Mike didn’t even spare Alliance’s nemesis a glance. “Shut up.”
“He can’t hear you,” Ward pointed out.
“Can he see me?” Mike held up his middle finger first to the window in the door then to the camera on this side of the glass.
Ward laughed for the first time in days. “Feel better?”
“Not really.”
Pearce shook his head. “West survived an avalanche, so I bet he thinks he can survive his search for the weapons.”
This time Mike angled his body when he spoke. He no longer faced the camera or door head on. “How does he know this shit? It’s fucking spooky.”
Sometimes they forgot the men they hunted had the same training. In Pearce’s case, being career CIA in a life undercover, he knew all the tricks. Right now, Alliance was mobilized to find Pearce’s old partner, Benton. He’d proven to be even more tricky and elusive than Pearce ever was. It made Benton’s true identity even more of a question mark.
But the immediate problem was Pearce and his intel and his ability to move and acquire information from a lockdown facility with no visitors. None of that should have happened. “I had a lot of time to think about that on the way here.”
“And?”
Ward hated this part. “Tasha and Bravo team are tearing apart the lockdown facility back in Virginia now. We’ll find the guard who’s working for Pearce.”
Mike closed his eyes. “Jesus.”
“There’s no other explanation.” Ward hated the idea of a traitor, but it was the explanation that fit. Despite all the security checks, some rotten ones slipped through. Even the good ones, when offered enough cash or the right promises, could turn. “He has someone on the inside.”
“So what is he talking about now with West?” Mike actually lowered his voice as if someone could listen in. “How does he know where he is and what’s happening?”
Sounded to Ward that Pearce had them all paranoid and chasing their tails. There was a reason the CIA asked him to help set up Alliance way back when it started, and Pearce still acted like a legitimate covert asset. Everyone fell for the act and relied on his record. They’d ushered the enemy in and shown him the plans to everything. It made sense that he’d pick and remember stray bits of personal information. Just enough to have them doubting.
Until he knew if there was a leak, Ward decided, he would downplay it all. “He’s guessing. Trying to get us worried about West and trick us into making a dumb move.”
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