Destruction: The Dogs of War, a Lost and Found Series

by J. M. Madden

  Two hours wasn’t enough time to really wind down, but it was enough time to get a bite to eat in the mess and for Jordyn to get cleaned up in one of the DV staterooms O’Connell led them to after the mess. Fontana laughed to himself, they were visitors, all right but he wasn’t sure they were Distinguished Visitors after all that time in the jungle. She still had her pack with her, so she went in and took a shower while he waited outside, trying not to imagine her in the nude just on the other side of the door. When she returned she smelled of Irish Spring and loveliness, and he couldn’t resist bending down to kiss her.

  “We can’t do that here,” she hissed, dodging his mouth.

  “Sure, we can,” he argued. “Technically, we’re civilians.”

  She allowed him to catch her for a kiss, then lifted her brows at him as pulled back. O’Connell stood down the hallway, trying not to watch. “Not if you get reinstated,” she chuckled.

  “I’ll worry about that later,” he said, pulling her hips to his with fingers in her belt loops.

  He was just sinking into her mouth when their shadow cleared his throat. “Sorry, sir, ma’am. That chopper will be in the air in twenty minutes and I have to make sure you’re on it.”

  They pulled apart reluctantly, nodding at O’Connell. “No worries, buddy. We’ll be on it.”

  The chopper lifted off the deck of the USS America exactly twenty-two minutes later. Jordyn and Fontana were on it, as well as Dr. Giraldi and a few medics who were heading back into the jungle.

  Fontana had been issued weapons and combat gear to go with his borrowed clothes, and he prayed they worked as well as the gunnery officer had promised. Right now they didn’t sit on his hip as well as his regular gear but it would have to do.

  Rose was staying on board the America to talk to the powers that be about Fontana’s proposal. Officer Maxwell was handling the rest of the cleanup duties on the ground. As Fontana was getting on the Chinook, he’d glanced back at Officer Rose. “I haven’t even told you about the senator and the congressmen involved, or the other names we’ve collected.”

  Rose’s mouth had dropped open, and Fontana had a feeling that they’d have some kind of written promise in hand by the time they got back.

  Before they’d lifted off he’d called Aiden to warn him about what he’d proposed to Rose, and Aiden had laughed. “I think that’s perfect. Good thinking.”

  He also told him about the loose cannon he was going back into the jungle for.

  “I don’t think I even recognize Truckle’s name,” Aiden admitted. “I’ll search the information we have to see if we have any kind of background on him. And I’ll call Wulfe. Maybe his informant can give us something.”

  “Do you have any idea who it is?” Fontana asked.

  “Nope. Not a clue. We’ve been apart for two years, so we don’t know everything about each other’s lives right now.”

  That was very true. “Let me know if you hear anything. And of not, I guess I’ll talk at you when I can.”

  “Stay safe, Fontana. I can’t take another death of a friend.”

  Yeah, neither could he. “I’ll stay as safe as I possibly can, Will. I have a great team with me.”

  Jordyn sat strapped into one of the seats, her mouth tight with tension. She didn’t balk at getting on the chopper, but she did give the pilot a good hard look. Sitting in the chair next to her, he took her hand in his.

  You’ve got this.

  She jerked her head around to look at him. “How do you even do that?” she called over the sound of the engines.

  Fontana shrugged. “I can feel the weight of your worry. I don’t shield against your emotions like I do most people. I’m not sure I can.”

  She shook her head and rested it back against the head rest, not saying anything. “Is it only one way?”

  He shrugged. Try it.

  Frowning, she stared at him for a long minute.

  I want to lick straight down your abs.

  The thought came through so strong his breath sped up with excitement, and his cock immediately hardened. And where will you stop licking?

  Her mouth dropped open and she paled. “You heard me?” she mouthed.

  Nodding, he reached out to brush a finger over her lips. I would love to feel your lips on me.

  Her eyes took on a glitter of laughter. “Well, now that I know your first name…”

  Grinning, he quirked a brow at her. “Let’s get through this and we’ll find a place where we can do anything we want.” Because I’ve dreamt of gripping your ass as you ride me.

  She gave a long, slow blink, and looked away, flustered, then saw the rest of the people in the hold with them. None of them were actually looking their way, but he saw her retreat just a bit.

  Jordyn held his hand as they flew over the ocean and back into Guyana, to the camp. Her anxiety had eased, until they went in for the landing. Then she tightened up, her hand gripping his like he was her life preserver. “Hey,” he said. “Look at me.”

  Her big eyes met his and he could feel the screaming anxiety in her. He could also feel how much she appreciated his hold on her. If he could take some of the fear from her, he totally would, because that was one thing he’d dealt with a lot himself. Not that he’d mastered it, but he’d definitely learned to not let it control him.

  Fontana picked up her hand, with its pretty nails. “How do you do this?”

  “I go to a nail salon and tell them what color I want,” she laughed. “I need some outward expression of my femininity. I could lose myself if I’m not careful. But this is a special kind of varnish that’s super strong.”

  “I like that you do it. What color is your underwear today?”

  “What?” She stared at him.

  “What color is your underwear?”

  Frowning, she looked out the window as they hit a little turbulence, her grip tightening on his hand.

  “Jordyn, what color is your underwear?”

  Her attention came back to him and she shook her head in exasperation, her eyes a little dazed. “Um, flowered, I think, mostly black… with a red bow on the front.”

  He grinned at her lasciviously. “Maybe I’ll have a chance to take those off of you later.”

  The look that crossed her face almost made him laugh. She thought he was crazy. Just then they thumped to the ground and she looked out the window in shock. Then she looked back at him. Her face relaxing, she leaned into him for a kiss. “Thank you, Drake. That was very sweet of you to distract me.”

  He made a face at her. “That wasn’t a distraction. I totally want to get you out of your underwear,” he laughed.

  Laughing, she leaned into his shoulder for a moment. When she climbed to her feet, her eyes promised him that that time would be soon.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Zero spotted them as soon as they disembarked. He jogged up, weapon held low ready.

  “Glad you came back, guys. We have an issue.”

  Fontana could feel the anxiety rolling off the former SEAL, which was a little shocking in itself. He was normally so self-contained. “What’s wrong?”

  “One of the mercs here managed to grab a weapon and take off. He was moving… well, he was a blur. I can say that much. He shot several spooks and Payne took a bullet in his good arm when we went after him. I just got him back here for medical.”

  “Fuck,” Fontana breathed. “How long ago was this?”

  “It was just after you guys took off, maybe zero five thirty? Sky was just getting light.”

  “Did he have a beard?”

  Zero nodded. “Do you know who it was?”

  “Yeah.” Fontana cursed himself, because he should have dispatched Truckle when he’d had the chance.

  The satellite phone rang in his pocket and he answered it.

  “Yeah, Will.”

  Aiden sighed on the other end of the line, and his voice broke up into static. “I can’t make this shit up.”

  “What?”

  “Th
e only Truckle we found was an Army serviceman who took part in the program three years ago.” Static cut in, obscuring the rest of what he said.

  Fontana cursed and looked at the phone. There were five reception bars. Their connection should be good. “Say again, Will.”

  “He was in our camp, Fontana.”

  That part came through crystal clear, and he rocked on his heels in shock. “No fucking way,” he breathed.

  “Did you recognize him?”

  Fontana shook his head, then realized Aiden couldn’t see that. “No, he has a beard. He is definitely enhanced, though.”

  “Did he talk to you? Does he know who you are?”

  “I talked to him,” he admitted, “and he did say something about old home week or something. But I didn’t make the connection.”

  “Well, you need to be careful. If he was in our program, receiving the original serum, he won’t have the drawbacks that the later subjects did.”

  Priscilla Mattingly had taken part in a later program, and she’d suffered adverse effects when she used her power to stop them in the train depot. “Noted. I’ll call you when we get back.”

  Pressing the disconnect button he looked at Zero. “Where’s the rest of Team Alpha?”

  “Guarding mercs.”

  “Tell them we’re moving out.”

  Zero took off, heavy-duty K-Bar knife flashing in its sheath at his lower back.

  Dr. Giraldi was heading toward the triage tent the CIA had set up outside the med center. There they could see prisoners to document their condition before they were shipped to the USS America. They’d already gone through the group once to choose the most seriously ill. Those prisoners had flown out on the same flight with Fontana.

  Now they were wading through another group. Fontana wanted to go up to one of them and demand answers, because this didn’t seem to be enough men. And he didn’t think they’d discovered any mass graves or anything either. Aksel had said he thought this camp was just a stopping off point.

  “Do you think he recognized you from the camp? Or just knew that you were one of the ones that left?”

  He looked down into Jordyn’s concerned face, thoughtful. “I’m not sure. When we left there couldn’t have been more than one or two guys left. And they were in really bad shape. If they couldn’t talk to us mentally like the rest of the team, I think we assumed they weren’t strong enough to make it out with us. And we certainly didn’t have the power between us to carry anyone out.”

  She nodded, looking just as thoughtful. “Well, then there’s the chance he did recognize you and has a hell of grudge to settle with you.”

  Fontana frowned. “If he did, I kind of don’t blame him.”

  One of the men in the triage tent moved, leaning forward in his chair and drawing Fontana’s eye. He thought it might be the prisoner that had spotted him before he’d gotten caught. Curiosity piqued, he walked forward.

  The man was emaciated, one of the worst in the group. Sallow skinned, it looked like he’d been soaking in a pool for the past three days, his skin sloughing off in places in large sheets. Fontana had no idea what could have made it do that, because he’d certainly never heard of a disease with the same symptoms. Hair had fallen out in clumps as well, and the man’s gray-blue eyes were dull.

  The skin was the number one defense against diseases and other illnesses. Even as a non-medical person he knew that. He wondered how many other issues this guy was going to have to battle before he recovered.

  As soon as Fontana stopped in front of him, the man pushed to his feet, a little unsteadily. His emotions reeked of guilt and anxiety, like he’d been caught by the principal smoking in the bathroom. The spooks had given them hospital gowns to wear, and his billowed around him like it was three sizes too big. But he made direct eye contact and even held out a hand.

  Fontana didn’t look at what the man’s palm looked like, just shook it, then planted his hands on his utility belt.

  “My name is Wheeler. I have to apologize to you,” the man said, speaking perfect well-enunciated British English. “By turning you in, I thought I would get some acknowledgement for a job well done. But I didn’t.”

  Fontana shrugged. “If I were in a similar position I might have done the same thing.”

  Not really. There was no way he would have turned in a possible rescuer.

  The man seemed defeated. Swaying on his feet, he looked Fontana in the eye, and something about the look had Fontana slamming every mental shield he’d ever created into place. The man blinked, and nodded his head, dropping to the seat of the chair. He looked even more tired and drawn, if that were possible. “The man you’re looking for headed southwest,” he told them, voice no more than a rasp. “He crossed beneath the bridge less than an hour ago. He’s in pain but mobile, and he’ll take the path of least resistance through the jungle to find escape.”

  Fontana looked at Jordyn. “If he made it over the bridge and finds our trail, we cut him a path right to the chopper.”

  Her jaw clamped with anger and her hands tightened on her MP5.

  “Are you telling us the truth? Or covering your own ass again?”

  Fontana cracked his shields enough to feel the man’s regret at what he’d done, and the determination to make it right. He thought what he was reading was true. The man was so depleted he didn’t have the same kind of shielding Fontana did. Or was that what he was projecting?

  The man beside Wheeler leaned into him, holding his arm. “He’s telling the truth.”

  Fontana looked between the two of them and decided to go with his gut, which said the man was speaking truth. Turning away, he looked at the other four members of Team Alpha, brow raised in question.

  “I say we go for it,” Zero said. “We’ve scoured the area and he’s nowhere within about three square miles. But we didn’t go over the bridge. Payne got shot circling the village. Maybe we were just too close.”

  Jordyn nodded. “Agreed.”

  Shane and Big Kenny tipped their chins in agreement.

  “Okay, let’s move out. This fucker is determined to survive, so be aware.”

  They took off at a slow jog, back through the holes they’d made in the fence. The team was immediately back on their own trail. It was light enough, and the trail was clear enough, that they were bound to make up time.

  They reached the bridge less than thirty minutes later. The CIA had taken over this guard post and waved them through. Fontana paused at one side, though. “Did Wheeler say he went under the bridge?”

  They all leaned over to look. The river was a torrent beneath them. “There’s no way he crossed that,” Shane breathed.

  “Maybe he climbed through it,” Kenny murmured, waving at the beams that stretched beneath.

  “Is the man suicidal or what?”

  “Determined,” Fontana corrected, and took off into a lope.

  They ran for a solid hour looking for some sign of Truckle. During a pause for Kenny to adjust his prosthetic, Fontana told them about his altercation with Truckle in the med center. “When I left him on the ground it sounded like bones were breaking or joints were dislocating under the strength of his own muscle contractions.”

  Shane cursed. “That’s fucked up.”

  “I agree,” Fontana told him. “That’s what they were going to inject me with. I feel no guilt for leaving him there like that. I do, however, feel like I need my ass kicked for not suspecting that he could pull out of it enough to wreak havoc.”

  Jordyn reached out and punched him lightly in the arm. “I’ll kick your ass later.”

  “Ew,” Shane said. “Are you guys hooking up?”

  Fontana blinked, then glanced at Jordyn, which was exactly what he shouldn’t have done. Her skin had mottled with color.

  “You are,” Shane cried. “Oh, that’s so wrong!”

  Fontana shook his head, sighing. If they denied it the ribbing would be worse.

  “Whatever,” he said. “Big Kenny, you ready?”
<
br />   Kenny strode forward. “Yes, sir.”

  “Okay, let’s get this bastard. Madeira, if there’s some kind of altercation I want you to move ahead and secure the machine.”

  “Roger!”

  They took off again, this time with Zero on point. He found the path they’d hacked in on, and started following it. Every once in a while he would pause next to a depression in the earth. “It looks like he’s struggling here. Like he’s wallowing on the ground trying to get away from the pain or something. I may be reading too much into it, but he definitely paused and laid down. Not for very long, but maybe long enough to catch his breath.”

  They took off again, scanning the path from side to side. Fontana knew they were getting close to the chopper; he recognized the terrain. It was mostly downhill now.

  Lifting a fist at a break in the trail, he called a halt. “Catch your breath,” he said, “then we’re splitting up. Shane and Zero, I want you to swing west and come in from the side of the old airport if you can. We’ll give you a few minutes head start. If he makes it there before us we have to assume he’ll be waiting to ambush. It’s extremely unlikely he has his helicopter license. Which makes Madeira here, valuable as fuck.”

  Jordyn rolled her eyes. “Great…”

  “I don’t know what kind of weapon he has, but we’re going to assume the same thing that we’re carrying. Probably limited ammunition though. If you have contact, shout out, either on coms or out loud,” Fontana told them firmly, meeting everyone’s gaze. “Don’t try to take care of this yourself.”

  There was a round of agreement, then Shane and Zero took off. A light rain began to fall, just enough to minimize visibility. Fontana sat where he was, very conscious of Jordyn right beside him. In a short amount of time she’d become very important to him, and he wouldn’t risk her for anything.

  They gave Shane and Zero a ten minute lead time, then began moving in. They followed the trail they’d cut into the bush, but Fontana opened his senses as wide as he could, searching for something. He recognized the feel of Jordyn, and even to an extent Big Kenny, moving off to the left. So when the feeling of danger began to crowd him from the right, he acknowledged it.