“And that’s how you met Sabrina?”
“Yeah.” He still remembered that first day when she’d barged in on a meeting he’d been having with Albert. She had been in training for about eight months but had yet to advance to Declan’s courses. Instead of apologizing for interrupting, she’d complained to Albert about the treatment of a new recruit by one of the instructors. After several minutes of grousing, she’d stopped and looked directly at Declan as if expecting him to agree with her. Oddly enough, he had. The instructor she’d complained about was an asshole who had a tendency to treat new recruits as if they were the lowest form of humanity.
Declan had always thought it interesting that his first meeting with Sabrina had involved her sticking up for someone. She would fight tooth and nail to defend the underdog. What had made her change?
“I’ve only worked a few ops with her,” Mathison was saying, “but I’ve been impressed each time with her professionalism and heart.”
Interesting observation, Declan thought. Insightful. Sabrina had the courage of a warrior and the heart of a lioness. She could be cold and methodical. Deadly when pitting herself against an opponent. And with her most difficult ops, she decompressed by letting all emotions come to the surface. It was her way, and though sometimes seeing her so raw and hurting had been difficult, he had felt grateful to be the man to soothe her. As far as he knew, he was the only one who knew that about her. He had counted himself fortunate that she allowed him the privilege of being the one to calm and comfort her.
His eyes darted to the closed door where Sabrina and Thorne had disappeared. Was that something her new partner did? Did he hold her, soothe her? Make love to her until she quieted and knew peace?
Apparently reading his thoughts, Mathison directed his gaze at the door, too. “Aidan and Sabrina have a unique relationship.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
Though his eyes remained impassive, Mathison’s mouth twitched as if he was struggling not to smile. Instead of a direct answer, he gave another enigmatic reply. “You’ve been gone a long time.”
So did that mean their relationship was physical as he had suspected? Is that why they’d gone behind closed doors? They’d wanted privacy for their little tryst? When her husband was sitting on the other side of that door like some kind of a clueless pansy-assed wimp?
Like hell!
“Look, tell me to mind my own business if you like. Just remember, you are my partner, which makes it my business. And you’re also my friend.”
For the past five minutes, Sabrina had listened to Aidan express his concerns about Declan’s involvement. She couldn’t exactly argue with him, as she’d had similar thoughts. And he was right—they were partners, which meant they watched each other’s backs and didn’t pull punches on expressing their opinions.
“He deserves the opportunity to find these savages.”
“I agree. I just don’t want it to be to your detriment, the team’s, or the guy’s we’re going to rescue. Our goal, like always, is to bring everybody back alive—that includes your husband.”
“If it comes down to choosing, I’ll go against Declan. And if necessary, I’ll take him out myself.”
Aidan jerked back as if shocked at the statement. “Hell, I would never ask you to do that.”
Even though the thought of having to do such a thing sliced through her insides like a scythe, she almost felt amusement at Aidan’s protectiveness. He trusted her to be able to handle any situation with deadly force if necessary, but her partner had a protective streak a mile long, especially toward women. Someday he was going to make some very fortunate woman a wonderful husband.
“No one else should have to handle Declan. He’s my responsibility. Here at my request. I should be the one to handle the situation if it goes sour.”
“Let’s just hope it doesn’t. I’ve seen that look in men’s eyes before. Right now he only has one thing on his mind. He’s damaged. Caring about others is way down on his priority list.”
“After what he’s suffered, can you blame him?”
“Hell no, but that doesn’t make him a great team player.”
She couldn’t deny that, either. All she could do was play the hand she’d been dealt. And pray with all her might that she never had to make a decision of that magnitude.
With barely half a rap in warning, the door pushed open, and the subject of their discussion stuck his head in the room. “Is this a private party or can anyone join?”
“Since the door was closed,” Aidan drawled, “I’d say that was obvious.”
Ignoring Aidan’s less-than-friendly answer, Declan turned to Sabrina. “Should I leave?”
For the first time since seeing him again, there was something in Declan’s expression other than pain and bitterness. She saw jealousy, temper, possessiveness. She saw life! Call her silly, stupid, or juvenile, but her foolish heart leaped with optimism.
“We were just discussing the mission,” Sabrina said.
Declan arched a black brow, and once again her foolish heart pounded at that familiar and lovable trait. “Odd. Seems like the entire team would be in on that kind of discussion.”
“We’re partners,” Aidan growled, “which means we have a lot to say to each other. You got a problem with that, Steele?”
“You and my wife having a work partnership doesn’t bother me in the least, Thorne.”
“Good.” Aidan looked pointedly at the door. “Now if you don’t mind, we’ll continue our discussion…alone.”
His expression going glacial, Declan stepped into the room and headed toward Aidan.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Sabrina snapped, “would both of you stop acting like thirteen-year-old boys?”
Even though the spark of jealousy in Declan’s eyes delighted her, having two grown men snarling over her like two dogs after the same pork chop was infuriating.
Noah appeared at the door, his look taking in all three of them. “Something going on in here I need to know about?” The abrupt question cut into the tense silence.
Instead of backing away, Declan kept a cold, dark stare locked on Aidan. Seconds passed and finally, Aidan said, “No, boss, we were just chatting about the fine weather in Dolisie.”
“Then I suggest everyone take their seats and buckle up, because we’re about to land and experience that fine weather firsthand.”
Chapter Fourteen
Republic of Congo
Their home base wasn’t much. A three-room house with a dirt floor and thin, ragged cloths to cover the open windows. Most everyone had stayed in worse and took it all in stride. They weren’t here to enjoy themselves.
They had chosen this location because of its proximity to the prison Steele had been held in. Noah’s intel had discovered two other possible locations as well. The plan was to search each one with the hope of finding Tyndall.
Noah stood at the door, eyeing his operatives, as well as Steele. They’d dropped off their heaviest supplies here. Operatives Angela Delvecchio and Jake Mallory would handle communications. The prison was a hard day’s trek. If they found Tyndall, they’d hightail it back here and get the hell out, ASAP. If he wasn’t located, they’d move on to the next location. If still no Tyndall, the team would make the trek back to the house, restock their supplies, sleep, and then head out again the next day.
The first two locations weren’t far apart but were at least twelve miles from the home base. If nothing popped at any of the locations, they’d have no choice but to accept Tyndall wasn’t in the area and return home. Noah felt in his gut that the man was close by.
“Okay, team, we know our mission, we know what’s at stake. Watch your back, watch each other’s. Let’s find our target and bring him home.”
He turned to Jake and Angela, who stood on the other side of the room. “We’ll keep our communication to a minimum unless there’s a problem.”
With her thick, black hair braided, fatigues covering her long, lithe body, Ange
la looked nothing like the over-pierced and tattooed receptionist and research assistant she’d once been. Now a full-fledged operative, she had proved herself more than once. Her dark, velvet-brown eyes showed none of the anxiousness he knew she was probably feeling as she said, “Godspeed.”
The tall, muscular man standing at her side was Jake Mallory, her fiancé and partner. A former Chicago cop, Jake was fiercely protective of Angela and would fight hell itself to keep her safe.
Noah had a certain fondness for many of his operatives, but Angela was special. She’d been with LCR almost from the beginning and was like a little sister to him. On her very first op, she’d survived a brutal attack and had taken down a serial killer in the process. She was as capable as any operative, but knowing Jake had her back eased Noah’s mind.
“Good luck,” Jake said. “We’ll keep the home fires burning.”
They traveled as far as they could in an old, beat-up, canvas-covered truck. Five of them sat in the back. Mathison drove, while McCall navigated. Once they reached the base of the mountain, they’d have to park the truck and head out on foot.
Talk was kept to a minimum. The expression on each person’s face was one of determination and resolve. From time to time, Declan caught glances or smiles passing between Sabrina and Thorne, but for the most part they seemed content to stay silent.
He tried to keep his own focus straight ahead. He had only one reason for being here. A distraction like whether or not Sabrina and Thorne had something going wasn’t something he planned to contemplate again.
Okay, yes, maybe he’d experienced some jealousy earlier. Actually, he wouldn’t even call it that. He just hadn’t liked that she’d gone off alone with a man while she was still legally bound to him. What man wouldn’t get pissed about that?
A human trait when he no longer felt human was probably some kind of a breakthrough. But the jealousy had passed. Sabrina was free to pursue other relationships, romantic or otherwise. It was none of his concern.
The truck slowed and then came to a loud, squeaking halt. Gathering their gear, they jumped from the back onto a pathway that had been created by their vehicle. The jungle surrounded them. Sounds he hadn’t heard since his rescue pounded incessantly in his ears. Declan swallowed back the bile gathering at the base of his throat. He was no longer a prisoner. This was just another step in taking back his life.
While Mathison moved the truck deeper into the wilderness, McCall joined them. “Let’s get to cutting.”
With the exception of Declan, all operatives pulled knives from sheaths strapped to their thighs and went about cutting branches to hide the truck from the view of anyone who might pass by. Though it was hard, Declan squelched his resentment. They had given him no weapons. His gun had never been returned. Maybe their distrust was understandable, but it still infuriated him. Reminding himself that he didn’t need a weapon to kill did no good. Dammit, he felt naked.
“Here.”
Declan looked down at the soft, delicate hand holding a wicked-looking fixed-blade metal knife. Raising his gaze to her face, he looked into fathomless emerald-green eyes. “You trust me with this?”
A soft twist to her mouth and then, “If you wanted any of us dead, we both know you don’t require a weapon.”
Declan took the knife and joined the men cutting the branches. Though Thorne gave him a hard look, neither he nor anyone else objected to his help. For the first time in a very long while, he felt like he was actually doing something productive.
“Okay. That should be enough,” McCall said. “Let’s get it hidden and get going.”
With the branches they’d cut, it took barely ten minutes to completely hide the vehicle. Unless someone walked right into it, it should be here when they returned.
“Let’s move,” Mathison called out.
Without conscious thought, Declan slid the knife into his belt. It wasn’t until Thorne made a move toward him that he realized he’d done it. Before he could consider his options of either telling the asshole to back off or returning the knife to Sabrina, she grabbed Thorne’s arm and said, “It’s fine.”
Thorne gave him a hard look of warning but backed away. Good thing, that, but Declan knew at some point there would be a reckoning between the two of them. He looked forward to that day.
In silence and an odd but telling formation, they moved forward. Declan had McCall on one side of him, Mathison on the other. The young, solemn-faced Riley Ingram walked behind him, along with her partner, Justin Kelly. Both Ingram and Kelly had been eyeing him with equal parts distrust and hostility. Sabrina and Thorne walked in front. The positioning of each operative was deliberate. If he’d had any illusions that he was a trusted member of the team, they dissolved the moment they’d started their trek.
He told himself they were right to be wary. They’d allowed him to come along to help locate the prison, but he’d made no secret that he had his own agenda. If the two didn’t mesh, he wouldn’t hesitate to walk away and go off on his own.
Sabrina was the only oddity in their seeming unanimous distrust. Something had happened over the last couple of days, because she’d been treating him as if he was a member of the team. The knife had been a deliberate move to show him that trust. Not that she was playing the wife, but she seemed to have lost that edge of resentment she’d been carrying with her. She actually was acting as if life was almost normal.
If she believed that, she was delusional on top of being a traitor.
Aidan could feel Steele’s hostile eyes burrowing into his back. The man didn’t trust him, but since the feeling was mutual, he had no issues with that. What did concern Aidan was Steele’s purpose in the group. He’d made it clear he was only here for himself. Even if Aidan could identify and understand his need for retribution, it didn’t belong on an LCR op. But McCall had made the decision to bring him on. Aidan disagreed with a lot of things in life, but he rarely disagreed with his boss. The man had his priorities straight. If he felt Steele should be on the team, he wasn’t going to argue with him. Didn’t mean he wouldn’t watch his back, though—or the backs of his fellow operatives. A man who’d had his humanity beaten out of him could be damn dangerous.
To be fair, he knew some of his ire was directed toward Sabrina. Why the hell hadn’t she told him she was married…and thought she was a widow? He figured the couple of months she’d taken off and then returned looking like a shadow of her former self must’ve been when she’d thought Steele had been killed. Dammit, he had even teased her about having a hot and heavy love affair. She’d just smiled. And now he felt like an ass.
“I know you’re angry at me.”
Sabrina’s words broke into the silence. She had kept her voice low so only he heard.
“You should’ve told me.”
“You’re right, I should have. I actually planned to tell you about him right before we got tapped for the Elite team. But then—”
“That’s when you thought he was killed?”
“Yeah.” Her voice went even softer. “I couldn’t talk about him then. Hurt too much.”
“I don’t understand why you kept it a secret in the first place. Hell, LCR has a lot of married operatives.”
“True.” Her shoulders lifted in a defensive shrug. “I just don’t like to talk about myself.”
He snorted. “You got that right.”
Instead of apologizing again, she shot him a hard look. “And you’re an open book? You’ve told me all there is to know about Aidan Thorne, right?”
“I’ve told you—”
She cut him off with a wave of her hand. “Cut the crap, Aidan. You’ve told me what you could, just like I told you what I could. Noah doesn’t hire people whose lives have been full of sunshine. So either quit giving me your bullshit line of an uncomplicated and happy past or spill all those secrets you hide behind that Prince Charming demeanor.”
Aidan slammed his mouth shut. Hell, she was right. He had no right to expect her to reveal her secrets whe
n he had so many dark ones of his own. Acknowledging the well-aimed arrow with a slight nod, he said, “I still trust you more than anyone I know.”
Showing him once again that grudges weren’t her thing, she shot him a smile. “Right back at you, partner.”
Declan heard the soft whispers of the two people in front of him. Their voices were too low to make out their words, but he could tell from their tones that there had been irritation and then an almost amused affection before they’d gone silent. That reinforced his belief that Sabrina and Thorne had more than just a working relationship going on. Why that bothered him, he had no idea. He told himself because it was just damn rude and tried like hell to make that opinion stick.
The sun was high in the sky, and though the foliage above blocked much of the direct heat, it was still hotter than blazes. The only sounds besides their trudging, determined strides were the normal jungle sounds. All-too-familiar noises to Declan. How many nights had he lain awake listening to the roar of predators and the squeal of victims? Life, whether in the wild or in urban cities, was much the same. The strong devoured the weak.
The sounds opened up more memories. The pounding of fists into his gut, the slash of a whip slicing into his skin, the awful, insidious voices telling him things he couldn’t bear to hear. She’s responsible. She betrayed you. Hate her, hate her, hate her.
“You okay?”
He was jerked out of the darkness. Sabrina. How could she pull him away from the horror when she was the one who’d put him there? Her concerned, searching expression was one he bitterly resented. “I—”
“Let’s take ten, everyone.” McCall’s voice cut off what would have been Declan’s snarl.
Unwilling to admit his weariness, Declan glared at the LCR leader. “You don’t need to stop on my account.”
Not one to pull punches, McCall snapped back, “Carrying your ass for the next six miles isn’t my idea of a good time. It won’t hurt any of us to take a break.”
Running On Empty: An LCR Elite Novel Page 14