by CJ Lyons
What would she do? Let them capture her? Flashes of pain blurred her vision. Memories from five years ago. A lifetime ago, yet always a mere heartbeat away. No. She’d fight. It was KC’s best hope of escape.
Better to die than live at Grigor’s mercy.
Because this time he’d make sure he finished the job he’d started five years ago—and he’d take his time, enjoying every second of her slow and agonizing death. Worse, he’d use her capture to torture the people she loved. Force them to make choices no one should ever have to make. She couldn’t let that happen.
She raced through the door, weapons raised and at the ready, when an explosion rocked through the bowels of the building behind her.
Chapter 15
Chase had sent Jay to bring the Jeep when his cell rang. He stopped inside the ER’s waiting room and answered.
“Chase, is Billy okay? What happened?” Teresa’s voice was rushed, but he could tell she was holding back even more than the questions she was asking.
“He’s fine, just a few cuts, knock on the head, bruised ribs. How’d you know to call me?”
“The ER called me—the office is the in-case-of-emergency contact.”
“Right. Of course.” Wait. That didn’t answer his question. “But—”
“Is this another one of those ‘things’ I’m not supposed to know about? Where you guys were going? Aren’t you supposed to be home resting?” With each accusation, her voice rose in pitch, strung tight with emotion. Not at all like Teresa—usually she was the nurturing, calm voice of reason, the welcome voice in their comms that guided them out of danger during operations. “Is Billy okay to leave? You guys need to come back here. Now. As soon as you can.”
“What’s going on, T?”
“Just get Billy back here. Then I’ll give him my resignation, and you guys can let someone you trust run comms. But until then—oh, Chase…” Her voice broke with a sob. “I’m so sorry. Please, just hurry.”
“Teresa—” Chase pivoted on his crutch until his gaze landed on an overhead TV designed to keep the waiting patients entertained. It was tuned to a news channel. The screen was filled with a roaring blaze, the ticker beneath it read: Explosion in Savannah, GA…bodies found.
“No. KC.” He lunged toward the TV as the story changed to something involving a chicken and a beagle. His weight landed on his bad foot, but the pain barely registered over the roaring that engulfed him. “Teresa, tell me she’s okay. Patch me through to her. I need to talk to KC.”
“I’m sorry, Chase. I can’t.”
“Just do it, damn it. Get her on the line. Now. That’s an order!” His shout drew the attention of the others in the waiting room, and the security guard at the far corner stood up from his desk, glaring at Chase.
“We don’t have all the details yet. As soon as I get any, I’ll let you know—”
“We’re on our way. You hear anything—any damn thing—you call me.”
“Yes. Of course.”
<><><>
The trip to the STR offices from the ER was a blur. Chase and Billy took turns nagging Jay about his slow-as-molasses driving and nagging Teresa for more details. There were none.
Jay hunched over the steering wheel, obviously worried about more than just navigating unfamiliar roads. Kid was half in love with KC himself. Chase tried to calm his brother’s fears, hoping that his words weren’t a lie. “She’ll be okay, Jay.”
He was surprised that Jay actually, physically flinched at his words. “You don’t know that. Not for sure. I don’t like all this stuff. What you do.” Jay’s gaze flicked to Billy in the rear seat. “What any of you do. It’s all lies. You lie to the world, you lie to the people you love. Secrets and lies. And now KC might pay the price.”
Billy leaned forward, resting a hand on Jay’s shoulder. “You’re right, kid. But it’s the only way to keep everyone safe.” He pointed out the window at the houses they passed, a few squares of yellow lights allowing glimpses of their occupants. “All those folks locked safe and sound in their homes, loved ones by their side, think they care how we do what we do? They just need to know that someone is out there keeping them safe.”
Jay shrugged Billy’s hand away, shaking his head, anger mixed with fear and worry on his face. “But if you can lie to the rest of the world, what’s to say you can’t lie to each other? KC said you were worried about a traitor. If you can’t trust each other, who can you trust?”
Chase blew his breath out. Kid might be young and naïve, but he had a damn good point. “We’re looking into that, Jay. But no one knew about Rose and KC’s mission except people we trust.”
“Rose.” Jay practically spit out the name. “She knew. She’s the one who dragged KC into all this in the first place.”
“What about Rose?” Billy asked, his tone sharp.
“I saw her,” Jay said. “Earlier today.” He glanced at Chase. “I stopped at Georgetown to grab my stuff.”
Of course he did. Anger surged through Chase. Kid never could follow orders, not even when his life was in danger. “We told you not to—”
“And I’m not a baby. I can take care of myself and make my own decisions.”
Billy raised a hand, silencing both brothers. “You saw Rose at Georgetown?”
Then Chase got it. His face flooded with cold, and he pivoted to stare at Billy. “What the hell was Rose doing at Georgetown?”
Jay answered. “I don’t know. She was meeting someone, a woman. I couldn’t really see. They ducked into the chapel, and then when they came out, Rose gave the woman something, something small enough to fit in the palm of her hand. Then they both vanished.”
Billy leaned back, his face hidden by shadows.
“Answer my question, Price,” Chase said. He trusted Rose. She’d saved him—saved them all—too many times to count. But if there was something more going on, a shadow op being played out with KC at risk, then the Team and friendship be damned. “What the hell was Rose doing there? Who was she meeting?”
It was a few moments before Billy answered. His tone was devoid of emotion. “I have no idea.”
<><><>
Despite his bad leg, Chase was the first into the STR comms room, leaving Jay to park the Jeep and Billy to usher Jay through security.
He banged through the door to Teresa’s inner sanctum without knocking, sending a can of Red Bull crashing to the floor, fizzing in all directions, spraying the white linoleum. He stuttered on his crutches, lunging after the wayward can, then gave up in frustration.
“Damn it, Teresa. Where is she?”
Teresa said nothing—at least not to him. She was juggling several lines, trying to get the latest update on the explosion.
Chase couldn’t just stand there doing nothing. He didn’t give a damn what the damn surgeons said, he was damn tired of feeling like a beached whale on stilts, wobbling around. He threw the righthand crutch against the wall, ricocheting it off the metal file cabinet that he would have preferred kicking if he wasn’t afraid a bunch of surgical pins and plates would come flying out of his busted ankle.
From Teresa’s glare and hunched posture, it was clear she would have preferred it if Chase waited outside, in his office, in Billy’s, anywhere but her tiny space crammed with delicate equipment.
Too damn bad.
Chase spun, using only the one crutch, trying it on for size. Why did they call the rigmarole a walking cast when it wasn’t even a cast but more like a plastic-metal-Velcro prison that you weren’t allowed to walk on anyway? Damn thing itched just as bad as the real casts had (before he tore them off with a pair of vice grips and his Ka-Bar) and was supernova hot when he was inside and cold and wet and clammy when he was outside in the slush and sleet.
Where the hell was KC? What the fuck had Rose gotten her into?
He still couldn’t accept the idea of Rose betraying her own team, but the blizzard of questions blinding the truth was overwhelming. He raised the remaining crutch, aiming for the can of Red Bu
ll, its contents now bubbling merrily all over the floor, and crushed it with a satisfying crunch. The can stuck to the bottom of the crutch, but he didn’t care.
Damn hard to pace in a cluttered, cramped office the size of a janitor’s closet. He couldn’t build up the momentum he needed to vent his anger and anxiety, couldn’t go long enough in a straight line to get a soothing rhythm, couldn’t break into a run and race out into the night, commandeer a plane, fly to Savannah, and find his almost-wife.
Shifting his weight to turn in the tiny space, his crutch spun out from under him, the impaled can finally skidding free, and all of his weight landed on his broken ankle. Pain ricocheted up his nerve endings. It was the merest blip on the radar of apprehension that had hijacked his brain. Why hadn’t they heard anything? If KC had to send up a freakin’ weather balloon, she would have gotten word to him.
Hobbling back to the desk, ignoring the liquid caffeine soaking the bottom of the boot that swathed his ankle, he leaned down, his face beside Teresa’s. “Where are they?”
Teresa still didn’t look up. “I’m working on it, Chase.” Her tone was calm. Soothing.
Which meant things were even worse than he’d imagined.
And there was not one goddamn thing he could do about it. He was a former Marine, a grunt and proud of it. Give him an objective and he’d achieve it despite any detours through hell and back.
Make him wait? Helpless while the woman he loved went missing?
Worse than hell.
KC’s image, her short dark curls, wicked smile full of promise, and her laugh filled his vision. Rose had promised to bring her back, safe and sound.
Fury twisted with his worry. It was the traitor. That’s who was behind this.
Could that be Rose? Had he trusted KC’s life to a traitor?
Billy rushed the door to the comms office, nearly knocking Chase over. The man looked as haggard as Chase had ever seen him, close to losing it. If he’d spent the two minutes it had taken him to get up here composing himself, it hadn’t worked.
“Status,” Billy demanded.
“Nothing new.” Chase felt ready to use his crutch as a WMD.
“Wait.” Teresa jerked up, excitement crossing her face. “Yes,” she said into her headset. “Go ahead.” She punched a few buttons on her computer, and KC’s face appeared.
“Control, are you there?” KC was saying. She was looking away as if waiting for confirmation from someone. The image bounced, and the sounds of a motor clattered through the speaker.
“We’re here, KC,” Chase shouted over Teresa’s shoulder, totally breaching communication etiquette. He didn’t care. She was alive. KC was alive!
KC whipped her head around, facing the camera, a smile flitting across her dirt-smeared face. “Nice to see you, Control.”
There were no sign of Rose. All Chase saw behind KC was a whirl of motion and the froth of churning water. She was on a boat.
“Report,” Billy ordered KC.
She opened her mouth then closed it. Her nostrils flared as she dragged in a breath, looking up as if fighting something beyond his vision. “We approached the building to perform our reconnaissance at 0043 local time. I secured the perimeter while Rose made entrance. I lost contact with her until her order to abort the mission came at 0056.”
“Abort?” Billy frowned.
“Yes, sir. She repeated it several times, sounded as if she were moving fast. The transmission was garbled. I couldn’t make out anything else, and she didn’t respond to my replies.” KC’s voice broke, but her eyes stayed fixed on Billy’s. She blinked twice before continuing. “I retreated to the rendezvous point but then, then…”
Chase was watching Billy and saw something crack inside the man. Not shatter, nothing that dramatic. More like the crack of an ice floe breaking away from a glacier, heading into oblivion. Billy’s face went paler than it had when they’d fished him out of the icy river earlier.
“That’s when the building went up,” Billy finished for her, his voice steady.
She nodded, unable to speak for a moment. “Rose saved my life. If she hadn’t told me to abort—” She looked away then back again. “It was engulfed within seconds—fire too hot for me to attempt a rescue.” She stared down at her hands, her Nomex gloves shredded. “I tried, but I couldn’t get close. The backup you sent arrived just as the locals—”
“Wait. Backup? What backup?” The tone in Billy’s voice made Chase jerk up, ready to reach for a weapon.
KC looked confused. For the first time, Chase realized it wasn’t just dirt and soot smeared on her face, but she also had a few cuts. “The Coast Guard. I’m on their boat now.”
Billy jerked his chin at Chase, indicating that he should cover the door. Then he leaned forward over Teresa. “You knew Chase was with me when I was at the hospital, Teresa. How?”
Chase cursed himself—he’d wondered that as well, but at the time had been too overwhelmed by the news of the explosion and worry for KC. They were all so used to Teresa’s all-seeing, all-knowing ways of anticipating their needs, he’d taken it for granted.
“Who are you working for, Teresa? You sent that boat to pick up KC from a mission you didn’t even know about,” Billy continued. “Who told you to send it?”
Chapter 16
A woman’s heels clacked against the linoleum outside the door. Billy whirled as Chase moved aside.
“I told Teresa to arrange for backup.” Susan Payne had exchanged her jeans and sweatshirt for a dark gray suit, transforming herself back into Senator Payne, at home striding through the halls of power. She ignored Chase and Teresa, her gaze resting solely on Billy. “Teresa now reports to me.” Her tone made it clear that, in her mind, so did Billy and the entire team.
“But she didn’t know about Rose and KC’s op,” Chase said from behind her.
Susan waved a dismissive hand in his direction. “Did you really think you could schedule a flight from Andrews without it coming to my attention? Given the leaks in the FBI and Justice Department as well as Homeland Security, I knew there was only one place to go to provide backup for your woefully undermanned team.”
“The Coast Guard,” Billy said. Had to admit, it was a good call. It would be the last outfit the Preacher’s group would think to infiltrate, and given the location of the bio lab, the perfect agency to get there before the locals.
“Everything okay, Control?” KC asked from Teresa’s monitor.
“Fine,” Billy reassured her, hiding his real emotions behind the word. KC couldn't do anything for Rose—no one could until they had more information. “We’ll send someone to pick you up when you arrive back at Andrews.”
“Cancel that,” Susan said, speaking directly to KC. “You’ll be debriefed by the NSD and FBI on your arrival. Then we’ll decide if you can resume your regular duties.”
KC opened her mouth to protest. Billy jumped in, trying to salvage the situation and KC’s career. Bad enough Susan had him in her sights; he didn’t want to take the rest of the Team down with him. “Do as she says, KC,” he told her. “I’ll get word to you about where we need you after your debrief.”
KC clamped her lips shut and nodded. The screen went dead.
Chase stepped forward. “Wait, I need to—”
Susan spun on him. “You need to learn to follow orders. As does everyone around here. Do you have any idea what a nightmare your op has become? If you’d come to me, we could've worked together, gotten you more manpower—”
“How can we trust anyone, Susan, when every time you assure us the leak is plugged, we end up with more of our operatives under attack? First, Lucky this morning, then Rose and EZ this afternoon—”
Teresa sucked in her breath. “Is EZ okay? What happened?”
“Then Billy almost bought it while driving home from your place,” Chase added. “Senator.” He made the title sound like a pejorative.
“Teresa told me after she picked it up on the police scanner. I’m sorry, Billy.” Her
tone softened. “I’m glad you’re okay. But that explosion in Georgia—well, that blew the cover off everything. There’s no going back into the shadows, not after tonight.”
“What about Rose?” Billy said, knowing he should be asking about the future of his team first, but he couldn’t help himself. He needed to know that someone would be searching for Rose, that she wouldn’t be abandoned like he’d been forced to abandon her in Razgravia.
“No news,” Teresa said. She looked back at her instruments, fiddling needlessly with buttons and knobs.
Susan placed her hand on Billy’s arm and squeezed. “There are reports of bodies inside the building. It will be a few hours before they can get in to retrieve them.”
He swallowed hard. Once. Twice. Pulled away from her touch. “Bodies?”
“Initial count is over a dozen.”
“That’s way too many for a legit business that time of night. There should have been a few security guys, max.”
“The owner told the locals that he had a new shipment to process, were running behind, so they had a shift working overtime.” She hesitated, and he knew there was more bad news.
“What?”
“Billy. Understand this is all unconfirmed, based on initial interviews, it might be all wrong—”
“Susan, tell me. What else happened?”
“One of the workers stepped outside for a cigarette, saw everything through a window. He survived—with severe burns. But as they were taking him to the hospital, he made a statement. Said a woman who matched Rose’s description took the other workers hostage, demanded to see their records and equipment. When they showed her they were a legitimate waste disposal business, she went crazy. Shot a few, locked the rest in a storeroom then planted the explosives.”
He stared at her, his face ice cold, body numb. It took a moment for him to remember how to work the muscles around his mouth. “No. That’s not true.” He shook his head. “Rose would never…”