by Kelly Moore
“I looked you up too. You were with your platoon and had just come back from a mission in Afghanistan. You looked happy in the picture online.”
I stand.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to check on Eden and make sure she gets home to her husband and children. I’ll send a medic up to see you.” I walk to the door. “This thing between us is far from over.” I close the door behind me and take the stairs down to the war room. Eden is sitting in a chair, and the medic is dressing her shoulder.
“Is the patient well enough to travel?” I ask him. “She needs to go home to her family.”
“Yes. I’ll send her with some antibiotics and pain meds.”
I pick up the phone on the table. “Honor, get a flight for Eden to go home and get her family on the horn.” I hang up.
“Would you give us a minute,” Eden asks the medic.
“Apartment 4. Dr. Ruth is waiting,” I tell him.
I pull out a chair and sit when the room is clear.
“Thank you for saving me.” Eden’s lip quivers.
“I’m afraid you knowing me is what put you in danger in the first place.”
“That woman…Nina, she’s pure evil.”
“Yes, she is.”
“Does she really sell women?”
“Yes, she does.”
“You’re going to stop her?”
“Our team is going to stop her.”
“I see it now.” She trails her fingers down my face.
“See what?” My brows draw together.
“Why this job is so important and why a man like you can’t resist it. You were right to choose it over me. You save people.”
“I was wrong to bring you into a life you didn’t want, and for that, I’m sorry.” She blinks her eyes, chasing away tears. “Are you happy?” I ask after a long moment of looking into her eyes.
“Yes. I’m married to a man that adores me, and we have two beautiful little girls.”
“Then I guess it all worked out for you.” I give her a half smile.
“What about you? You still love her, don’t you?”
“Lauryn? I do feel something for her, but we both love our careers more.”
“I ruined that for you, didn’t I?”
“I’m sure things would’ve worked out differently, but I still wouldn’t have given up my life. I’m a selfish bastard.” I chuckle.
Honor opens the door. “Eden, I have your husband on the phone.”
She stands. “I saw the way you looked at her. You may think yourself a bastard, but do yourself a favor and trust what you feel for her.” She squeezes my shoulder as she walks by me.
For the first time, all my anger at her is gone. I get up. “Eden.”
She turns around.
“If you ever need anything, you know where to find me.”
She walks back over and kisses me on the cheek. “You’re not as much of a bastard as you think. In fact, I think you’re a good man under all the bravado.”
“I wouldn’t go that far.” I laugh, and follow her out. Honor tucks her into Rebel’s office to talk to her husband.
“Anything on Rebel?”
“The last connection I received from him was that he was making his way on foot to this location.” She points to her computer screen. “Nina has a yacht in the water.”
“He’s going to need backup. Get me a chopper.”
“I’m going with you.” Theo walks into the room and chimes into the conversation.
“Like hell you are! It’s my turn to get into the action. You stay here and babysit the women.” Mad Dog bursts into the conversation.
“Babysit?” Honor’s voice rises.
“I didn’t mean you. I can’t sit here and standby anymore.” He rakes his hand over his short stubble of hair.
“I’ll stay behind.” Theo tucks Fiona into his side.
“I’m with Honor. I’m pissed off about the babysitting comment. I want to help too.” Fiona pulls away from him. “I’m a lot tougher than I look, and I’ve survived way worse.” She places her hands on her hips.
“For Pete’s sake, would you apologize to the women before we have a mutiny on our hands,” I tell Mad Dog.
“I’m sorry, ladies. I only wanted to keep all of you safe.”
Tate runs into the room. “You won’t believe what I found in Nina’s journal.”
“Did you find anything that will lead us to where she is headed?”
“No, but…”
“Then it can wait,” I cut her off. “Mad Dog and I are headed to the airfield. Honor, keep glued to your monitor. Theo, see to it that Eden is escorted to her plane and all the way back home.”
“I’ll get ahold of Commander Lukas to assign a patrol to her,” he responds.
“Perfect.” I turn to Lawson. “Dr. Ruth is in my apartment upstairs being seen by a medic. Under no circumstances is she to leave headquarters. If you have to lock her in my room, you have my permission.”
“In your room, huh?” He winks at Honor, and she purses her lips at him.
“Is there something going on between the two of you?” Part of me hopes he answers yes because it would take the heat off me and Lauryn for Lawson to be messing around with Rebel’s assistant.
“No,” he answers, but I don’t believe him.
“Tate, you keep digging into that journal and let me know the minute you find anything that will lead us to her.”
“Yes, sir.” She hands an envelope to Honor. “Maybe you’ll find this interesting,” she mumbles and leaves the room.
“Did you see that explosion?” Mad Dog points out into the dark water.
“That’s the location that Honor pinpointed Nina’s yacht,” I respond.
“If anyone was on that boat, they’re dead.” He pulls out a pair of binoculars, trying to see through the darkness.
I increase the speed of the chopper toward the bright orange inferno burning in the ocean. “Let’s hope Rebel and Remington weren’t on it.”
Chapter 10
Rebel
“There she is.” I point out into the darkness as a slow-moving yacht making its way out into the ocean.
The chopper pilot angles the nose toward the boat. “I’m flying in dark,” he says, turning off the lights on the outside. “We don’t want to give her any warning.”
“The wind should drown out the sound of this bird.” Remington is gearing up to jump out.
“Drop us a thousand feet out. I’m not risking her hearing us coming for her. We’ll swim in and find a way to get onto the yacht.
“Water’s freezing, sir,” the pilot adds.
“I’m sure we’ve been in worse conditions.” I recall a mission that we jumped into the icy arctic waters. It took me days to not be chilled to the bone.
“I’ve been in waters so cold my balls completely disappeared.” Remington chuckles.
“We’re in position, sir.” The chopper hovers over the dark waters of the Pacific Ocean. I unstrap and pick up my gear. Remington salutes me and plunges into the water. I leap right behind him.
Cold water chases over my body, nearly taking my breath away as I make it to the surface. The radio buzzes in my ear as I begin swimming. I grab Remington’s foot to stop his forward motion.
“Honor, can you hear me?”
Static… “Fallon”… static… “letter”…
“I can’t hear you, Honor. Whatever it is, take care of it. We’re boarding Nina’s yacht.”
I motion for Remington to move. It’s a hard swim in the choppy ocean water to catch the slow-moving yacht. Waves are still heavy from the storm that’s moved further inland. As we make it to the platform on the back, I hear the sound of a chopper coming from the other direction. Two men guarding the stern of the boat take off to the bow, leaving one heavily armed man in place. He’s dressed in all black, wearing a bulletproof vest, carrying a high-powered weapon.
I point two fingers at my eyes, then at Remington fo
r him to keep watch. I silently climb on the lower deck and wait for the guard to walk to the port side of the boat. Remington moves to the deck, and the knife on his fatigues clanks against the metal ladder. I adjust my position, gazing over the edge of the boat to see the guard level his weapon and head toward the noise he heard.
Remington slides back into the water and under the boat. The man peers over the side. I slink onto the deck, coming up behind him. He turns his head when he hears me. I ball my hand, punching him in the lower back. It only slows him for a second. We wrestle for control of his weapon, both of our fists gripping onto it. I drive my knee into his crotch, forcing him to move backward against the wall of the boat. Remington jumps out of the water and wraps his arm around the guy's neck. Before I can pry the weapon out of his hand, it goes off next to my ear, forcing me to let go, grasping my head from the sharp, ringing pain.
His combat boots fly in the air as Remington drags him off the boat with him. Remington manages to latch onto the side, and the man is dragged deep into the water with his vest weighing him down. I reach my hand out and pull my man up onto the deck.
“The chopper has landed on the front bow of the yacht. We need to stop it from taking off. You make your way to the bow. I’ll go inside.” We part ways, and I move to the door on the back of the boat. I step inside with my weapon drawn. Water drips off my clothing onto the polished floor. The large room is empty other than furniture and pictures on the wall. There’s an envelope on the bar with my name on it. I shove it into my pocket and walk down the hall, opening each door, looking inside. I make my way down to the next level. The first room I come to has blood on the sheets, and Fallon’s scent lingers in the air.
“Fallon,” I whisper. “I’ll fucking kill you, Nina.” I rein in my emotions and continue searching until I’m sure Fallon and Sean are not on board.
Shots ring out, and I run up the stairs to the top deck. The door is locked from the outside. I can only hear the sound of the blades swirling and feel the shift of the yacht as the chopper lifts off the deck. I fire a shot at the locked door and rush through it. I run toward the leg of the chopper, but it’s already too far off the deck to reach it. I look up to see Nina waving down at me. I can’t see past her to tell if anyone else is in there with her. She blows me a kiss then drags a lifeless body toward her for me to see. It’s Sean. I don’t want to take out the pilot and risk killing him. I aim at the part where the blades meet the chopper, but the bullet ricochets and the pilot yanks the chopper higher in the air. I look around the deck of the boat and see Remington getting to his feet. He’s holding his head, and blood is dripping down his hand.
“They knew we were here. One of her men jumped me from behind,” he says, as he reaches my side.
I cover my ear. “Honor!”
“I can hear you,” she responds. “Turn our chopper around. Tell him to pick us up on the yacht.”
“Thorn is in a chopper headed your way, but I need…”
“Now, Honor!” I shout
“Do you hear that?” Remington asks as the chopper gets further away.
My ear still aches from the sound of the weapon going off next to my face. “Hear what?”
“Something is ticking, sir. Get off the boat. Now!” he yells, and we both take off running. I dive off the starboard side; Remington off the port side. Before I’m submerged in the cold water, I hear the explosion. I dive deep to avoid the flying debris. Orange and yellow flames fill the water above me. I hold my breath, swimming out further to clear it and come up gasping for air. Black smoke hangs on the water, making it hard to see anything in the darkness other than what’s left of the boat on fire.
I swim back under the flames, closer to the sinking yacht. A captain’s hat is floating in the water. Not far from it, I see a body facedown.I swim over and roll the captain's body over. Half his face is missing, and he gasps, spilling blood into the water.
“Help me,” he gurgles before the light leaves his eyes.
“Remington!” I yell in the darkness. A hand lands on my shoulder, and I turn to find the face of the guard that was thrown off the back of the boat. He lands a hard punch to my jaw, sinking me backward. Then he’s on top of me, holding me under with his hands around my throat. I keep one hand on his, and with the other, I feel for my knife tucked into the side of my pants. I rip it out and thrust it into his side. He instantly releases me. I come up for air, and he drifts off into the bloody water.
I blink back the smoke and the darkness to see someone swimming in my direction.
“You okay, sir?” Remington treads water a few feet from me.
“No! I’m fucking pissed off that we were that close to Nina, and she got away again.” I look up and see the chopper circling back in our direction, taunting me. It makes a few rounds and then hovers over us for a few moments then takes off toward the north. Out of the east, I see a light angled down into the water, headed in our direction.
“We need to get on the other side of those flames,” I tell Remington. We both dive under and swim out toward the chopper. I can only hope it’s Thorn.
When it gets closer, I know it’s a military chopper. A rope is tossed out, and I can see Mad Dog on the other end of it.
“You go first,” I order Remington. He starts the climb, and I hear another set of blades spinning. Nina’s chopper has turned around and is coming straight for ours. I grab onto the rope and hold on for dear life when Thorn swerves out of the way, jerking the chopper up at the same time. I hear artillery going off, but I can’t tell which direction it’s coming from. Thorn levels the bird out, and Remington continues to climb. I inch up a few feet, and the chopper dips, dragging me into the water, trailing close to the flames. I don’t let go, knowing he’ll pull me back up. When he does, the wind and cold air rip through me. Remington has made it in the chopper, and I feel the rope being wrenched upward. Weapons ring out again, and Nina’s chopper takes off north into the dark sky.
I climb as the rope tugs closer to the chopper. Mad Dog’s large hand reaches down and drags me inside. I lay flat on my back, trying to catch my breath. “Go after her,” I say between gasps.
Thorn makes a hard, sharp right turn.
“Fuck!” I hear Thorn curse.
I get to my knees. “What is it?”
“The GPS system just went down. I can only assume that Nina is blocking it. I can’t track her in the dark.”
“Honor, are you hearing this?”
“Yes. Our systems are down, too, sir.”
“What the hell kind of connections does she have that she can block a satellite feed?”
“An expensive one or someone that owes her a big favor,” Mad Dog answers.
“Honor, have Tate go over her list of people that received organs from geNetics. Look for someone that works in aerospace engineering.”
“She’s pulling it up now, sir.”
“We’re going to head in the same direction she did and hope they didn’t change their course.”
“Sir, I need to tell you about a letter…”
“Found him.” I hear Tate over the radio. “David Spencer. He received a double lung transplant from geNetics. He’s the head of three satellite stations. One covering the Pacific Northwestern region of the United States.”
“Find him and shut him down. Bring him in for questioning.”
“Sir, I…” The radio goes dead.
Honor mentioning a letter reminds me of the one I shoved in my pocket. I pull it out soaking wet. I carefully open it and unfold the fragile paper. The ink has bled through it, making it hard to read. I can make out the words cat and mouse and something about Sean.
“Give me your phone!” I snap at Mad Dog, and he hands it to me. I take a snapshot of the letter and send it to Honor. She’ll know by the looks of it that it needs deciphering.
I get off the metal floor and buckle into the copilot seat.
“Sorry about the rough climb, sir.” Thorn looks over at me.
“You di
d fine. You’ve got some amazing skills in that she didn’t kill us all with that move.”
“We thought you both were dead when we saw the yacht explode.”
“We were lucky that Remington heard the ticking when he did.” I glance over my shoulder at him, and he smiles.
“Saved both our asses,” he admits.
“Dr. Ruth and Eden are safe. We’ll get Fallon and your brother back, too, sir,” Thorn says, flatly.
“The women are okay?”
“Our medic treated Eden, and she’s on her way back home with a military escort, thanks to Commander Lukas.”
“And Lauryn?”
“They’re keeping her at headquarters, giving her fluids, but she’ll recover.” I see a deep line crease in his forehead.
“Anything you want to tell me?”
“No, sir.” His jaw flexes a few times.
“When this is all over with, you and I will talk.” I point at him.
“Yes, sir.”
Chapter 11
Nina
“You need to vacate your position. It won’t take them long to find out who cut the satellite feed, and they’ll come after you. And you know what will happen to you if you implicate me.” I hang up. Spencer owes me his life, he’ll never talk. I look behind me to see Sean stirring next to Fallon.