Deadly Target [IAD Agency 3] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Roma, Laurie

  Julian slapped a hand on Gage’s shoulder after she had disappeared into the kitchen. “This might be a good time for us to talk.”

  “Yeah? Sure. About what?”

  “Brother, I’m gonna do you a huge favor and save you a whole lot of trouble.”

  “How’re you going to do that?”

  “I’m gonna tell you how to be a good house husband.”

  Gage’s eyes narrowed. “What the—”

  Julian laughed. “Okay, so the name was a joke, but the sentiment is the same. No matter how bad-ass you think you are, the truth is you’re nothing compared to the woman you love. You’ve just officially become a sidekick.”

  “I’ve…what?” Gage sighed. “Shit…”

  “Yeah, buddy. Welcome to the world of loving a spy.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  The waiting was always the hardest part of a mission.

  When working an op, sometimes the action was only a small part of the whole. The legwork was what took the majority of the time. It could be slow and frustrating. Essentially, putting together an operation was a pain in the ass.

  The IAD team had approximately two days to figure out who was in charge of the lust dust and kidnapping operation before whoever it was discovered that one of their locations had been taken out. The team had pulled out the stops, working the case as if it were a ticking bomb just waiting to go off.

  Adrian and Lucian had taken off to do surveillance on Arvan Kelner. They would track him while digging into his life to find the evidence they needed to take him down. They ended up taking Sebastian with them since he knew the Denver area better than they did. Tara had posted on the secured message board, hoping that whoever Phoenix the hacker was he would respond.

  Under the watchful eye of Sin, Robert was able to treat Trinity with a small dose of cryo-fix to help heal her wounds. The doctor had been worried as it had never been used on such extensive internal injuries, but the small doses around the stab wounds she had suffered had already begun to heal. They had put her into a deep sleep to ensure she wouldn’t react to the painful healing and now it was just a matter of time before she would be back on her feet.

  The other agents had put countless hours into tracking down leads, with almost nothing new to show for it. They had been in contact with the Chicago and LA divisions of IAD, pooling their resources, but they still had no evidence as to who was running the lust-dust ring.

  The only good news had come when FBI agents were able to track almost all of the girls David Henley and his men had sold based on the information they provided. The day Mikayla and Katie had been taken the men had sold five girls who had been on the lust dust for weeks. The men who had bought them were now in custody and the girls were safe, although a few of them were still suffering from the effects of the extensive and continued use of the lust dust.

  Mikayla was still feeling the effects of the drugs so she had sympathy for what those girls were going through. She couldn’t even imagine how much worse it would have been for her if she hadn’t had Gage to help her through it or if she had been given more of the insidious concoction. Dr. Ellis was working hard on figuring out an antidote to combat the effects of the lust dust, but he still hadn’t found anything that could reverse the effects.

  Frustrated they still didn’t have the answers they needed, Gage suggested they make use of the Starks’ gym to take the edge off. The Starks had cancelled all of their clients at the ranch for the rest of the week, wanting to be completely focused on helping the agents wherever they could. Brett and Sal agreed to stay back at the cabin with Sin and Dr. Ellis to continue working and to watch over Katie and Trinity.

  The rest of them made the short trip over to the Stark ranch where they took an arsenal into the shooting range to shoot the shit out of some targets. Once they were there, Mikayla took the time to work with Dylan, showing him some pointers to improve his accuracy. As Gage watched them, he noted that she seemed to have a natural ability to draw out the best from the people she worked with. She was the perfect choice to head the new IAD training facility and rehab center that would be run at the cabin.

  After their urge to shoot at things was satisfied the group moved into the gym. Slade and Nick took to the center of the boxing ring and put on an impressive performance. Tara, Julian, Rock, Dylan, Gage and Mikayla stood outside of the ring, watching the two men square off. The deputy held his own against Slade, not knowing that the IAD agent was pacing him.

  Mikayla knew that Slade was using the technique he often did when teaching the new recruits. He was using a mixed style of fighting, alternating between letting Nick attack to putting him on the defensive simply to feeling out his strengths and weaknesses as they fought. She knew that Slade wasn’t trying to offend the other man. Actually, he was helping Nick, even if he didn’t know it.

  “They look pretty well matched. I mean, besides the fact that Slade is as big as a mountain. I’m surprised Nick is holding his own in there,” Gage said as he put his arms around Mikayla from behind.

  Rock snorted from where he was standing beside them. “No, he isn’t.”

  Dylan turned to him. “What do you mean?”

  “Slade is pacing him,” Tara explained. “He’s feeling out Nick’s moves to see what he’s got.”

  “You mean he’s playing with Nick?” Gage asked with a frown.

  Mikayla shook her head, turning so she could face him. “Nick is a good fighter, but Slade’s a weapon. All of us are. It’s how we stay alive being agents. That’s why proper training is so important.”

  “Damn right it is,” Tara agreed. “You’re gonna be awesome at running the training site, Lynx. I don’t have the patience for it.”

  Rock folded his arms over his chest. “Neither do I.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Mikayla chuckled. “So does the last guy you tried to train.”

  “That’s not fair,” Rock argued. “That guy was a total prick and he really pissed me off.”

  “What happened?” Dylan asked.

  Mikayla smiled. “We had this guy come over from MI6. He was a cocky son of a bitch and thought joining IAD meant he didn’t have to listen to anyone. Rock was put in charge of him when the guy was made an agent-in-transition.”

  “I can already guess that that was a bad idea,” Gage asked. “What’s an agent-in-transition?”

  “Any time a new IAD agent is activated, they go through three months of training on anything and everything that might be useful in the field. That’s what Mikayla will be teaching them at the cabin,” Tara explained.

  “We’ll have other agents come in to help since the training will cover everything from bomb making to electronics and hand-to-hand combat, but as IAD grows we have more agents that need to be trained. Sin and Brett thought it would be a good idea to have all the training in one place so we could bring the experts of each field to them instead of just having them work with the agents at their division,” Mikayla said. “That MI6 agent started mouthing off about how he didn’t need any training and that he could take any of us in a fight. Rock proved him wrong.”

  “So what, I broke his arm. That asshat deserved it. You know he did.”

  Mikayla nodded as she laughed. “He really did.”

  Tara grinned. “I can still remember him screaming like a little girl. Ah, fond memories.”

  Julian playfully pulled on a strand of his fiancée’s hair. “That’s kind of harsh, even for you.”

  “Hey, that fucker said female agents were better off in the bedroom than in a fight.”

  Julian pressed a kiss to Tara’s forehead. “Then I’m surprised you didn’t break his arm yourself, sweetheart.”

  “More like I should’ve broken his face.” Tara grinned at him and shrugged. “But I wasn’t there when he made the comment. He did slap my ass before the fight, though.”

  “Hence the broken arm,” Rock said.

  Julian raised his fist and tapped it against Rock’s in a gesture of male gratitude and congratul
ations, causing Tara to roll her eyes.

  “Hey, Mikayla? Can I ask you something?” Gage’s little brother asked. “Why are we being allowed to know about all of this stuff? I mean, Gage I understand. You’re gonna marry him. But me? Nick? I would’ve assumed that Sin would have drop-kicked us out of there the moment you guys started planning.”

  Mikayla thought for a moment before she spoke. “I’m guessing that Sin wanted all of you read in because he’s planning to commandeer your ranch for IAD training so we don’t have to build our own facilities.”

  “Anything you need. Anytime,” Gage said immediately.

  Mikayla turned to him, smiled and kissed him lightly. “Thank you.”

  “Stop now before I gag,” Rock muttered. “Remember, I still haven’t gotten to hit him yet. I think Gage and I should go into the ring next.”

  “There is no way in hell I’m going in there with you until I’m sure you won’t break me in half,” Gage said with feeling. That got a laugh from the rest of the group.

  “It’s true though,” Tara said when the laughter stopped. “Sin is basically giving you guys an inside look at what we do because you’re gonna be tied to IAD through Mikayla. He’s also allowing you to see exactly who and what you’re dealing with so if you ever betray us you know exactly what’s coming.”

  Gage laughed. “Betray you? That would be like a death wish, wouldn’t it?”

  “No wish about it,” Rock said with a grin. “It’d be like picking out your new home in hell. Sin would make sure of it.”

  “That is one scary dude.” Dylan shivered.

  “You have no idea…”

  Mikayla’s cell phone went off and she pulled it out of her back pocket and answered when she saw it was Brett.

  “Lynx, we’ve got something. I need you guys back here. We’ll be waiting in the security center.”

  “Got it. Back in ten.” Mikayla hung up the phone then raised her voice. “Slade, finish it. We have to go.”

  Slade looked over at her, their eyes meeting briefly. He nodded. Five seconds later, Nick was on the mat groaning in pain. “What…the…fuck…?”

  With a chuckle, Slade reached a hand down to help Nick back onto his feet. “You’re good, Nick,” Slade said, slapping the other man on his back so Nick almost toppled over. “But you could be better if you mixed up your fighting styles.”

  “Clearly,” Nick groaned. “Where in the hell did you learn to fight like that, from Satan?”

  Slade snorted in amusement as he helped the other man out of the boxing ring. “What’s going on?”

  “Bishop has something.”

  “Then let’s get going. We have some assholes to catch.”

  * * * *

  “Phoenix made contact.”

  Brett spoke as soon as they stepped into the security center. Knowing his team, he had a large steaming pot of coffee waiting on the buffet up against the back wall. Mikayla, Gage, Rock and Dylan headed straight for the coffee while Tara opted for a can of Diet Coke instead. Julian and Slade grabbed a bottle of water before sitting down at the conference room table where Sin and Brett waited.

  “Where is the doc?” Mikayla asked as she settled into her chair.

  “He’s working in the medical center next door. Sal is with him,” Sin said. “The doctor thinks he might have something and he needs Sal’s help with running the video phones so he can conference in with our scientists. While they’re working on that we can focus on this.”

  Sin jerked his head toward the monitors on the wall. The team looked at the information on the screens at the message they had received from the hacker Phoenix.

  Primary target is still unknown. Additional information requested about the sale of the drug known as lust dust cannot be confirmed at this time. I have tracked rumors of six different buyers so far…

  Shit. Mikayla looked at the list of the six sources and her stomach dropped. Included in that list were people with ties to drug cartels, human trafficking rings, and the Russian mob. “This is bad. This means it’s out there. There’s no way we can stop the spread of the drug if people are already using it.”

  “Fuck.”

  “Shit.”

  “Yeah, it’s bad. If these six sources bought the drug we will have to take the groups out and hope for minimal damage,” Brett said.

  “But first we need to focus on the sales. Phoenix came up short on that information.” Sin smirked. “I’ve contacted some of my sources and found three names that could be brokers for the lust dust. If we can find anything on these individuals, we can track them back to the source.”

  “How the hell did you get these names?” Gage asked, amazed.

  Sin leaned back in his chair and pinned Gage with eyes that looked like they belonged to the devil himself. “If I told you I’d have to kill you.”

  Usually when someone said that they were joking. With Sin, it might have been true. He had connections everywhere, which was why he was so pissed off that he hadn’t been able to find Phoenix yet. Sin wanted someone with the Phoenix’s hacking skill working for IAD. And when Sin found him, he’d give the computer expert an offer that he couldn’t refuse.

  Literally.

  Gage looked at the second screen as Sin uploaded three names onto the monitor. Josiah Zingano, Michael D. Kennedy and Alan R. Vekner. Something bothered him as he studied the names, but he couldn’t place what it was. “So what you’re saying is that if we can find the broker then we can find the seller?” he asked.

  “That’s the idea.” Mikayla smiled at him. “Sometimes you have to work your way back to move forward.”

  Slade stroked his chin with his hand. “I have a contact that’s worked with Kennedy before. He mostly runs weapons, not drugs. Let me give my guy a call and I’ll see what I can find out.” He got up from the tables and left the room.

  “Okay, while Slade checks on that let’s focus on the other two.”

  “I’ve never heard of these guys,” Tara said.

  “Me either.” Rock got up to study the data closer, pacing in front of the screens.

  Brett ran a hand over his head, scrubbing at his hair like he was irritated it was there. “I did a search on Josiah Zingano and Alan Vekner and came up with zip so far. Either they’re new players or they’re better at hiding their activities. Sal is working with Tony to do a deep search for financials to see if we can hit on anything. I have the local FBI team on standby since time is a factor. I didn’t tell them much because I don’t want them fucking anything up.”

  “Good call,” Sin commended. “The feebs will fuck this up if we let them.”

  Sal rushed into the room followed closely by Robert and Slade. “We got it! Tony found something!” he said, speaking of his computer-savvy brother Anthony Moretti who was working out of the Chicago headquarters. “We found a payment from one of the buyers for two million dollars to one Alan R. Vekner, who brokered the deal. Two million for both the liquid and pill form of this shit.”

  “Bring it up onscreen,” Sin demanded.

  “Coming up now,” Sal said as he typed furiously on the computer. The center screen changed and they all saw the information outlining the payment made from Anatoli Khruschev, a man with known ties to the Russian mob, to Alan R. Vekner.

  “What do we have on this Vekner?” Brett asked as he started his own search on the tablet in his hand.

  “Nothing. That’s what’s fucked,” Sal said. “Tony is still working on it, but we haven’t come up with anything besides this payment and we only got it because the New York office has had the buyer’s group under surveillance. He’s trying to track the other sales, but Vekner’s account is in the Caymans so that’s making things difficult.”

  “I just got off the phone with my contact,” Slade added. “Whoever this Vekner is, the word is out that he is the only broker that is handling this new drug. We need to shut this down ASAP. The black market is buzzing with requests for this shit.”

  Brett cursed. “I want everything t
here is to know about this asshole, from who his associates are to his goddamn shoe size.”

  Sal huffed out an aggrieved breath. “That’s gonna be a problem, boss. This guy’s a ghost. It’s like he doesn’t exist.”

  Gage had been only half listening to the conversation going on around him. Something was still nagging him that had his attention straying from the others. When Sal mentioned a ghost it finally hit him. Struggling to think back to one of the first movies he ever made, Gage tried to remember the storyline of the film. He had been playing a young cop, working with a veteran detective trying to track down a serial killer who was murdering guilty individuals that had escaped being punished by the legal system. They’d discovered the killer had planted evidence that had them chasing a ghost. In the end, Gage’s character had discovered the real killer was none other than his own partner.

  Thinking back to the twists and turns of the story, Gage finally realized what had caught his attention. “Shit! That’s it! You’re right, he is a ghost!”

  The conversation halted as everyone turned to give Gage their full attention.

  “Would you like to explain what the hell that means?” Sin asked. “And why the fuck that makes you so fucking happy?”

  Uh oh, Mikayla thought. When Sin’s verbal skill began to falter it was time to get to the point. And fast. She turned to her lover, noting that his green eyes were bright with excitement. Christ, even in the middle of a briefing he could set her pulse racing and heat her blood. She knew he was on to something. She needed to focus on that before she jumped him right there in front of everyone, but suddenly she couldn’t seem to make herself care.

  It had been too long since she had him and they were still suffering from the residual effects of the drugs. When her natural arousal sparked to life the lust dust kicked it into high gear, making her body burn with need. She got lost staring into Gage’s eyes and saw that he was right there with her. He needed her just as much as she needed him. They continued staring at each other until Brett slammed his hand down on the table.