Seek and Destroy (TREX, #5)

by Allie K. Adams

  But it would sure as hell make him feel better.

  “I’m watching your back, like you said. Were you hit?” Chris replaced his pistol in the holster. David shook his head. “I’ll explain everything as soon as we get you and my sister out of here.”

  “What happened to Allen and his team?”

  “Still on their way.”

  That made no sense. TREX never took this long getting a team into the field. David had a sneaking suspicion Weber dragged his heels on this one. “Then how did you get here so fast and decked out ready for the field?”

  Chris glanced at the large man to his left. “We were all at my place for our Saturday night poker game when Charis called, telling me you were under fire. I only live up the road. Until the rest of my team arrives, we stay.”

  David was perfectly okay with that.

  “I’m Mitch McKoy.” The man shook David’s hand. Hard. “I’m not TREX, but I’ll do anything to protect my family.”

  No hidden meaning in that statement. He gave David’s hand a final squeeze before releasing it. He had the same dark features and blazing blue eyes as the other McKoys. Another man, this one with longer, shaggy hair, stepped out of the darkness from the other side and stood next to Chris. Again, the same striking features David now understood to be telltale McKoy. And equally as big as the other two. All dressed in head-to-toe TREX-issued Kevspa.

  “Seth McKoy,” he said, not bothering to offer a hand. “I’m TREX and I’ll also do anything to protect my family. The only reason I don’t knock you on your ass for putting her in danger is because you’re my superior.”

  David darted a quick look to Chris. “See? It’s not that hard to figure out.”

  “Fuck you,” Chris snapped. When David set his jaw, Chris followed it up with, “Sir.”

  He’d give him that one. “I never thought I’d say this, but I sure am glad to see you all, pissed at me or not. Where’s Logan?”

  “With the shooter.” Chris pushed at his ear, listening. He motioned for Seth with a nod. “Go help Logan with clean up. Apparently, the guy isn’t dead.”

  “Knowing Logan, he will be by the time I get up there,” Seth replied sharply and jogged off toward the direction the shots came from.

  “Keep him breathing,” David called after him. “I want some answers.”

  “You got it,” Seth shouted back and disappeared in the dark.

  “All clear,” Chris spoke into his mic. He nodded toward the house. “You’ve got ten minutes, Snyder.”

  “We don’t move until I get some answers,” David countered. “Tell them to bring our mystery guest inside.”

  TWENTY

  “Are you sure you need to do that in here?” Charis paced behind David as he worked to get information out of the stranger Logan and Seth dragged inside. The blood dripping from the gunshot wound on his shoulder created a bright red puddle under the man’s left side, staining her otherwise stainless carpet.

  David turned and glared at her. She snapped her mouth shut. Fighting for control over her impatience, she went back to pacing behind them. He told her to wait in another room, but she refused. No, she wanted to be here for this.

  “Who sent you?” David ordered. The man looked up at him and sneered. His mud-colored eyes narrowed. Tied to a chair, it was all the movement he could do.

  “I tell you nothing, you American pig!” He spat at David.

  He lowered himself to the man’s eye level, not even bothering to wipe the scum’s saliva off his face. Full of blood, the spit ran down his cheek and dripped down onto the man’s lap. Charis’s stomach turned.

  “You will tell me, my friend.”

  The man glared at David. “I am no friend of yours.”

  “How about I cut out your tongue?” As he spoke, evenly and precariously low, she stopped pacing. She’d never seen this side of him before. Sure, he’d had a lethal tone, but he’d never carried it out like this. She had no doubt he would cut out this man’s tongue if he didn’t tell him what he knew. The thought made her swallow several times to hold the contents of her stomach in check.

  “Who sent you?”

  “I say nothing.”

  David brought out a knife and, with a quick flick of the wrist, extended the blade with a resounding snap. The reflection of the shiny metal caught in the man’s eyes. She saw the fear in them. Hell, she was scared.

  Grabbing the man’s jaw, David forced his mouth open. He reached in and yanked out the man’s tongue. Oh God. He was really going to do it. She turned away and caught Chris’s eyes. He wasn’t looking at her. No, he watched David without blinking, his arms crossed in front of him. Logan and Seth had disappeared in her office with the rifle they pulled off the shooter while Mitch kept watch outside.

  “No!”

  Charis cringed and slammed her eyes shut.

  “Too late, asshole. Any last words before you lose the ability to speak?”

  “Go to hell!”

  “Wrong answer.”

  The man screamed. Despite not wanting to watch, she whipped around. David had the knife against the man’s tongue, the blade ever so slightly slicing into his flesh. Blood spilled from his mouth.

  Oh dear God. He was actually cutting out that man’s tongue. And she watched, paralyzed by the sight. She slapped a hand over her mouth.

  The shooter coughed and gagged on his own blood. “No! No, please! I talk. I tell you!”

  David removed the knife and stepped back, smiling. Oh Jesus. How could he smile? He was slicing out a man’s tongue. She breathed erratically. Maybe she should have stayed with Seth and Logan, like David said. But this was her house, damn it. She had every right to be here.

  And now she wanted to be anywhere but standing here, watching this.

  “That’s more like it. Now, who sent you?”

  “My name is Ameer Khalil.”

  “I don’t give a shit if you’re Santa Claus. Who. Sent. You?”

  “You killed my brother.”

  “I’m sure he was an upstanding guy like you. Last time, Ameer. Who the fuck sent you?”

  “I cannot say.”

  In a flash, David had the knife slicing into Ameer’s tongue. He screamed. Charis stopped breathing.

  “Thop!” Ameer cried.

  “Tell me what I want to know, asshole.” David sank the knife in more.

  “I oo not know hith name!”

  David withdrew the knife and held it up, twirling it in his hands. The man’s blood dripped down the blade, onto David’s hands and ran down his arm. Charis swallowed thickly and winced. “How did he contact you? And when?”

  “Yesterday. I get contact from him. He tell me to fly to Montana. He give me this address, say to watch house. If man from picture in sight, shoot him. He offered me money, but I refused. I want to kill the American who murdered my brother, Abu.”

  “You were the one who shot me in Sri Lanka.” It wasn’t a question.

  The man nodded.

  David grit his teeth, clenched his jaw. He labored his breathing as he walked back and forth in front of the man. “Show me the picture.”

  The man motioned at his front shirt pocket. David reached in and yanked out a folded up black and white surveillance photo. As he unfolded it, she peeked around him. It was a photo of him at the baggage claim carousel at SeaTac Airport.

  Only one man could have gotten a hold of that photo. Surreal, and he’d sent out a hitter. David screamed out his favorite cuss word. She jumped, as did the man tied to the chair.

  He faced Chris. “Do another perimeter check. He can’t be the only hitter.”

  “Yes, sir.” Chris didn’t even hesitate as he gave him a nod and left the room.

  “Hey guys?” Seth came running into the room. She couldn’t draw her eyes away from the man in the chair. He locked his gaze on her and gave her a bloody smile.

  “Oh God,” she muttered.

  David turned, saw the man staring at her, and kicked him. Hard. The man cried out in pain and
darted his eyes away from her. “You don’t look at her. If you so much as breathe in her direction, it will be your last breath.”

  “You will not kill me,” he goaded.

  He’d already returned his attention Seth, but when the man spoke, he glanced over his shoulder. “Do you honestly want to test that theory?”

  The man kept his head down.

  Seth spoke up. “Take a look at this. Hollow point. Something in the center, but I don’t know what. I’ve sealed it in a biohazard bag, just in case. There are two more still in the rifle.”

  He set a plastic bag down on the kitchen counter. The bag had a red seal across the top, and a single bullet sealed inside. It had an inverted cone-shaped hole in the tip. Inside the tip, not bigger than the head of a pin, was white powder. Charis grabbed the bag and looked closer, her heart rate speeding up every passing second.

  “Oh, shit.”

  All the men in the room stared at her. It couldn’t be. David said this was the man from Sri Lanka. It was his MO. Ricin. Even if the shot didn’t kill him, the Ricin would have.

  “Charis?” Logan came out of the room and took a step toward her. “What is it?”

  “It’s Ricin,” she stated, full of so much heavy dread it hurt to breathe. Was David hit? She’d heard several shots. His face had cuts all over it. What if the bullet grazed him? Would it be enough to kill him? How much longer did he have before his organs started to shut down? “Oh God, David. It’s Ricin.”

  “You mother fucker!” He jumped the man still tied to the chair. “I’ll make you eat the goddamn thing.” He threw punch after punch and had the man beaten unconscious before Logan and Seth could pull him off.

  Oh no. Oh Jesus no. She swallowed and stepped back, covering her mouth. A fear unlike anything she’d ever felt gripped its icy fingers around her heart. Panting in horror, she took another step back. “Seth, get all of the bullets into biohazard bags. Now! The gun, too. Get them out of here.”

  “No problem.”

  She swung her attention to David. He stood a fair distance away from the counter, his breath coming in gasps. She took a step toward him, panic rioting inside her. “David? Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine.” He brought a hand up to stop her from approaching him. “I didn’t get hit. I just need to catch my breath. That half a lung comes in handy when you’re beating a captive unconscious.”

  “Would you please tell me why you reacted like that, Snyder? That was more along what Allen would have done, not you.” Logan had his mouth open as he stared at David.

  “Snyder almost died from Ricin poisoning,” Seth explained, grabbing the bag.

  “Any contact with Ricin, any contact, will kill him,” Charis added, wanting to go to him, to bury her face in the hardness of his chest, just to feel his heart still beating soundly.

  Logan brought his finger up to his ear, listened. “Received.” He looked over at his sister. “Back to work.”

  Her heart slowed. “Is there another shooter?”

  “Nope. I just need to secure the perimeter before we move out. You got this, Seth?”

  Seth nodded. “Go perch somewhere and keep us safe, bro.”

  Logan saluted his brother, grabbed the rifle sitting by the front door, and ran outside. He left the door open and Chris and Mitch walked in.

  “It’s time to move,” Chris said and nodded at Mitch. He nodded back and they both disappeared into Charis’s office. Soon the sounds of chaos erupted from her office. Banging. Crunching. Crashing. What in the hell were they doing in there? She didn’t want to watch them deconstruct her entire life. She’d spent years building her system. Now they had it in boxes lining the halls within minutes.

  This was all too much for her. Emotionally, she just couldn’t take this. Fresh tears sprang to her eyes. Tears of fear, of anger, of horror. Not only did they need to hide from Surreal as they tracked him, they now had a new threat.

  Surreal was hiring hitters to kill David. How many others were out there? Did they all know about the Ricin?

  Seth grabbed the bag. “I’ll take care of the rest. Uh, Snyder? Don’t go into the bedroom. I took the gun apart in there.”

  “Did you breathe any of the dust?” Charis asked.

  “I always wear a mask when I’m tearing apart a terrorist’s gun. That’s my MO now. You can thank your boyfriend for that.”

  With a curse, David closed his eyes and shook his head. His breathing was back to normal, although he still looked seven shades of white.

  Oh, David.

  A man she didn’t recognize poked his head through the open front door. He had on head-to-toe Kevspa and addressed David. “We’ve already scanned the area, sir. No other shooters. Let’s move before that changes.” He dropped his gaze to the shooter slumped over in the chair before regarding David. “Sir?”

  “Get him to HQ. Weber would like to have a word with him.”

  “Yes, sir.” The man spoke into his mic as he moved away from the house.

  “Meeeeeooooow.” A deep and very pissed off growl followed. Mitch had a pet carrier in his hand, Peepers tucked inside.

  “This cat is a pain in the ass,” he commented. “Clawed the shit out of me as I tried to put him in this thing.” Holding up his hand to show her, he then brought it up to his mouth to suck on one of the scratches.

  A man with smoky gray eyes and shaggy brown hair stepped into the house. Charis’s mouth fell open. He was huge. Seriously good-looking and huge.

  He rested his gaze on David. “Good to see you again, Snyder.”

  “It’s about time, Allen.”

  Allen? As in Special Agent Spencer Allen? This was who Weber sent as David’s replacement? What the hell were they feeding these spec ops agents? It was like they all had fairy gorgeous mothers with magic wands to make the men into gods. Holy wow.

  “I refused SAC on this op. You’re just going to have to finish it out.” He flicked a glance Charis’s way. “Both of you.”

  “Then what are you doing here?” David asked.

  “Running point on your extraction.” He brought up a hand when David took a breath. “Take it up with Weber if you don’t like it. The target can’t run point. You know that. Besides, I haven’t seen you since you transferred out of TREX Team Two. Not that I took it personally or anything.”

  “It wasn’t by choice,” David explained. “Donovan reassigned me to Colombia. You know how that turned out.”

  Spencer chuckled and shook his head. “You sure know how to stir up a shit storm. Who’d you piss off this time?”

  “Hell if I know.”

  Spencer darted his gaze to her. “You must be Charis McKoy. I’m Special Agent Spencer Allen. I’m here to help you.” She took a step toward David. He grabbed her hand and held it tight. Spencer gave one look at their linked fingers and nodded. “These two stay together no matter what. Let’s go, people. McKoy and a few of our sharp-shooting buddies have secured the perimeter, confirmed no other shooters present.” He stepped outside and looked both ways as if crossing the street.

  “We’ll be back. As soon as this is over. I promise.” David took her by the small of her back and urged her out the door.

  “You two may want to get some sleep,” Spencer said after they were all tucked safely inside an SUV. “Something tells me you won’t get much from here on out. Best catch your zees now. It’s a long car ride, but it’s the only way we could secure your travel without your shadow picking up on it.”

  Sleep? How did he expect her to sleep after what just happened? She couldn’t even catch her breath. She turned to David, sure he’d have the same thought. Instead, he’d already closed his eyes, his head resting on the back of the seat.

  Or was he sleeping? Her hand shaking, her heart in her throat, she reached over to check for a pulse.

  “What are you doing?” he asked, his eyes still closed.

  “I just... Nothing.” She placed her hands in her lap.

  “I’m fine,” he reminded her, his
voice raspy.

  No. He wasn’t fine. And, until they found Surreal and stopped him, none of them were.

  * * * *

  The server’s hard drive grinded to a sudden, and permanent, halt. Surreal watched the screen as the woman sitting at the desk hit the enter key over and over. As if that would make the hard drive suddenly come back from the dead.

  After those assholes at Riverside screwed up his original plan, and still not knowing how they discovered the bomb, he wasn’t going to take any chances. He’d hacked into Image Techno-Gadgets—what the hell kind of name was that, anyway—two days ago to monitor all activity. He confirmed they had audio on all camera feeds. If they were on to him, he’d know. This time.

  It bugged the shit out of him not knowing how they figured it out. His gaze rested on the picture. Charis smiled back at him and it clicked. Of course! Pride filled his heart and warmed him. “It was you, wasn’t it?”

  Of course it was. She was so amazing. He’d never met anyone who stimulated him the way she did, both mentally and physically. Did she figure out the other buildings? Based on the communication traffic, Image Techo-Gadgets had no idea. If she had contacted them, he would have recognized her voice right away.

  How often did two lovers get a chance to work together? The excitement raced to his groin, hardening his cock. He sent another trace on all of her known IP addresses. He flicked a glance at another monitor, noted how the dumb bitch sitting at the monitor still hadn’t put two and two together. He shook his head. “What the hell is the matter with people? Fucking idiots.”

  His trace came up empty. Again. He couldn’t just sit around and wait for those idiots at Image Techno-Gadgets to call in for a new server. The fact he’d been tracked down to Riverside still needed investigation.

  Hacking back into Riverside’s system, he confirmed all lines remained down. Good. Still, without their system up, he couldn’t find where he’d made his mistake. He decided to pull up the phone call. Maybe he’d find something there.