Blake: An Eidolon Black Ops Novel: Book 2

by Wade, Maddie

  “Fuck, this is so twisted. I really hoped we were wrong.”

  “Me too,” Jack added quietly.

  “When are we telling the others?”

  “Day after you get back. That gives us time to make sure we’ve not made a horrible mistake.”

  “Do you think that’s possible?” Blake asked still hopeful.

  “No, I don’t.” Jack said tiredly.

  Blake knew this would be taking a huge toll on his boss as it would them all. Blake hung up after a few more seconds and shook his head trying to make sense of it. He couldn’t and he knew he never would.

  * * *

  He watched Blake and Pax leave the hospital with a heavy weight on his chest. He had killed Eddie when he’d seen him lift the gun to Pax. Whether Blake would ever know or believe it now or not, he considered him a friend and he would never allow her to be taken from him if he could help it. The attack he had orchestrated on Pax had been the single lowest point of his life. He didn’t believe women were the weaker sex but two against one, and one who had no skill to fight was despicable. He was vile. He thought about the woman who had been on his mind since the Christmas Eve wedding of a good friend.

  She had been beautiful and resilient and so fucking proud. He had been bowled over by her. But much as she had shown an interest, he would not touch her. He would not drag a woman like her into the underbelly of society where he now resided. He had betrayed his friends and teammates and it didn’t matter that his reasons for doing so were pure.

  He was a traitor and he knew it was only a matter of time before Jack and the others identified him. He was done with Eidolon and the knowledge made him want to vomit on his shoes. It had been the greatest honour of his life serving with those men, but his life was leading him on a different path now.

  He could no longer protect his friends from inside their missions, he would just have to try and do so from afar. Turning, he walked away and prayed that when this job was done, and the man he was protecting was exonerated, he would be left alone. Maybe they would put a bullet in him and end his sorry ass. It was no more than he deserved and quite honestly, his life meant nothing to him now.

  Yet the image of Lacey filled his vision and he wished things had been different. That he could be the man to help her heal from the trauma she had gone through. A man worthy of a woman like her. One that was filled with light when his own world was now filled with nothing but darkness and death.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  They had been back in the UK for three days now and Blake was on his way to a meeting at Eidolon. He knew Jack would be telling the other men about the traitor and his identity. He felt bile fill his stomach at the thought that his friend could do this to them. Mitch had been told to keep quiet until Jack could break to news and had reluctantly agreed.

  Clark Baker had admitted ordering the deaths of Sally and Marvin Nixon and the lab tech. He had also admitted his involvement with the illegal drug trial years ago and the plan for the one involving the Princess and was being charged with conspiracy to commit murder, kidnap, and a whole host of other charges relating to fraud. He had not named the British operative he’d first talked about saying he had no name and they had not met.

  Baker was a classic example of a broken heart that had festered into a poisonous disease and caused him to do stupid things to prove himself worthy of a woman that would never love him. Blake’s thoughts moved to Princess Louisa. He had made some inquiries and heard that she was now involved in a perfectly legal trial in Switzerland. With luck it would be a success and she would recover. Blake knew that the road for her parents would be long and gruelling, with no guarantees. He wished he could do something but there was nothing to be done except pray it worked and put their trust in the doctors.

  Stepping into the conference room he took the last seat as Jack nodded at him. It was time for the rest of the team to know the truth.

  “Thank you for coming in on a Sunday,” Jack began as Will sat beside him, his face stony and angrier than Blake had ever seen. Blake could feel the tension coming from the men around him—they knew something was up. “I called you here because earlier this year we discovered there was a traitor sabotaging missions inside the team.” A hushed whisper moved through the men as they looked at the others and around the room. One seat was obviously empty. The atmosphere could be cut with a knife as the tension went sky high.

  “We have now identified and confirmed the traitor.”

  Blake flexed his jaw the fury at finding out Pax had been hurt because of his teammate was still a bitter pill to swallow.

  Jack gave a tight nod to Will who brought an image on the screen with a few clicks of his fingers. An audible gasp of disbelief filled the room as they saw the picture of a man they had considered a friend, but who had now turned against them.

  “Gunner Ramberg is now considered an enemy of Eidolon. I know this is a hard thing to acknowledge but nevertheless, it’s the case. We don’t know why or who he’s working with, but it seems the objective is to bring this team down.” He nodded at Blake and Alex. “Blake and Alex have been working on some theories but if anyone has any information, no matter how small, we need to know. This is our primary focus now. I want Gunner found and brought to justice. Nobody betrays my team and gets away with it.”

  “So that’s why we were all on lockdown?” Mitch asked.

  His jaw was tight, and Blake could see the anger radiating through the usually calm man as he held Jack’s eyes.

  “Yes, my only priority was, and is, to protect the team. Sometimes that means pissing off an individual.” Jack held up his hand to calm the immediate angry response from the team. “I understand it’s not nice to be kept out of the loop or come under a microscope. However, there were no obvious weaknesses in this team. Each one of you was chosen by me for your individual skill set and integrity, so to have to worm out a traitor was not an easy task.”

  Lopez looked at Blake and then Jack. “How come Blake was brought in on it? Why not Decker as he’s the profiler?”

  Jack was a fair and formidable leader, but he would not take kindly to being questioned in this way, so Blake, braced.

  “I am not going to give you an answer to that, Lopez. What I will say is I had my reasons and you either accept that or you don’t. If any of you feel you can no longer trust my judgement or leadership then you are free to walk away. Make no mistake, I will be sorry to see you go, but I cannot run this team without full trust in my abilities and I will not be questioned over my decisions.”

  Blake glanced around the room waiting to see if anyone walked. He would be shocked if they did but people reacted in different ways to betrayal.

  “Anyone?” Jack waited a full minute, and no one moved. “Good. Now, let’s get down to the business of tracking this target.”

  The rest of the meeting was loud and angry as the others tried to make sense of the situation they now found themselves in. Gunner had been a good man, an excellent operator, and friend to them all. None of them could understand what had caused him to turn on them. Blake had no doubt they would find him, and they would get answers one way or another.

  Whether Gunner lived through that was not definite. Eidolon did not take something as serious as this lightly and as the men around him fizzed with fury. He knew it depended on which team member found him first whether Gunner kept his life or not.

  When the meeting wound up two hours later there was still no set plan in place. They had agreed to meet Monday morning and review the last eight missions to see where Gunner may have been involved.

  Now he just wanted to get home, pick up Grace, and take her for lunch. The last week with her parents had been emotional for her. Henrietta had been true to her word and admitted to Grace what she’d told him, doing so in front of her husband. There would be a long road ahead of them to get back to a place where they were a real family again, but they had made a start and despite his initial thoughts he knew they would make it.

 
Grace had so much love in her and she would be the glue that fixed that family.

  He pulled into her drive and jogged to the door using his key to get in. He found the living room empty and called out to her. “Grace?”

  “Out here,” she called, and he felt the smile tip his lips up. He moved through the kitchen to the back garden of her house and found her doing stretches with Evelyn.

  “What you girls up to?” he asked as he sat in the rattan chair. He was enjoying the sight of Grace in the skin-tight athletic shorts and bra top as she bent over to stretch her thigh muscles.

  She laughed catching sight of him watching. “Stop perving, Cal.”

  He threw his hands up. “What? I can’t help it. I’m only human.”

  “Well, go be human someplace else until I’ve finished this training session with Siren.”

  True to her word Roz had every member of the Zenobi team working with Pax to get her up to speed with hand to hand and firearms. This was her second training session and from what he’d seen from her first, she was picking things up without any problems.

  “How about I finish moving my stuff in here and then we go for a late lunch?”

  Pax stood up and faced him giving him her full attention. “I say it’s a good plan.” She smiled before going up on tiptoes for a sweet kiss that made his dick twitch.

  His hand on her hip he growled. “Minx.”

  “What? I’m only human.” She laughed as he swatted her ass and chuckled.

  “You are so gonna pay for that,” he replied with a stern look which only made her worse.

  “Promises, promises.”

  “Okay, enough you two. Let’s get the training done so I can go feel up my own man,” Evelyn said.

  Blake drove back to his place and finished packing his shit in record time before going home to Pax so he could take his woman out for lunch then spend the night making love to her.

  Epilogue

  Five Years Later

  “We need to go get the kids.”

  Blake rolled over pinning his wife to the bed with his body. “Or we could stay here and let your parents have them for a bit longer.” He nudged her thigh with his heavy cock. The husky whimper that came from her throat made him throb.

  “That sounds like a plan. They do love having the girls and we do only have four more days here in L.A,” she agreed as he kissed his way down her neck before sucking the hard nub of her perfect nipples into his mouth swirling his tongue and nipping the tender skin. Her back arched into him and he slid his hands around her back cupping her ass in his hands.

  He missed his Grace sleeping naked, but since the girls had been born, she liked to have something on when she got up in the night.

  Ariella and Matilda were three and one respectively. Both girls had their mother’s red hair, but Ariella had his blue eyes and Matilda had inherited her mother’s hazel ones. Ariella was sweet with a gentle nature always wanting to please people and toe the line. Matilda was the complete opposite—she was full of life and always looking for mischief.

  He adored them both with every bone in his body. He had never known a feeling like it until he held Ariella in his arms. It had only made what he felt for Grace so much stronger and he hadn’t been sure that was possible.

  Moving so he was entirely on top of her he felt the slick moisture of her desire as he moved his cock through the wetness teasing her clit.

  “Oh, God. That feels so good.”

  He smiled against her lips before he kissed her. Grace was always so responsive to him, so ready for his touch even with two young kids and lives that were busier than ever.

  She grabbed his ass and tried to guide him where she wanted him most and he chuckled as he pulled away from her kiss. “So impatient.”

  “Just fuck me, Cal.”

  The heat in her eyes her rosy cheeks plump soft lips and the nipples rubbing against him were more than he could take. He slid into her slowly, relishing every second of the tight heat. Her legs came around his waist as he rocked into her slowly building their climax as his pelvis grazed her clit on the upward stroke.

  “I love you, Mrs Blake.”

  “I love you too, honey.”

  He felt her tense as her climax washed through her tightening her pussy around him like a vice, her legs shaking as she moaned his name. He stepped up the pace not letting her come down and felt her body begin to milk his cock again as the second climax hit and he came hard, his cock pulsing his release into her.

  He groaned as he sagged his weight onto her, and she wrapped him up in her beauty. “Fuck, Grace, you are so beautiful.”

  “Thank you for giving me a beautiful life, Cal. Without you I wouldn’t have my parents back or our girls.”

  Every time he thought he couldn’t love her more she proved him wrong with a look or word or even her secret smile. The song they had danced to at their wedding played in his head. ‘Secret Smile’ by Semisonic. He had known when he met her, he wanted that smile for himself and now it was—forever.

  “Baby, I didn’t do that, you did. But I do know this. Every single thing we have, we built together, and it’s the honour of my life to always call you mine, baby.”

  “Always, Cal.”

  Sneak Peek: Reid

  An Eidolon Black Ops Novel: Book 3

  “Move to secure the hostages, I’m going back for the girl.”

  “That’s a negative, Alpha One. Secure the HVT and move to the exfil now.”

  Reid could hear his commander loud and clear but as he looked at the burning building, he couldn’t just walk away and let a young girl, with her entire life ahead of her, die of smoke asphyxiation. He turned to his teammate, Holler, who was looking at him and waiting for the order.

  As team leader it was his job to secure his men’s safety and the safest option was to secure the HVT and get out of there. But with the image of his sisters Nessa and Tori in his mind, he couldn’t walk away and let a child die.

  “Secure the HVT and head for the exfil.” He turned to Skinner. “You’re with me. I’m not leaving that girl to die.”

  His teammates nodded and they took off towards the burning building, their bodies low as the sound of gunfire from down the street hit their ears.

  This should have been an easy mission, but the intelligence they had was off. The terrorists had hit the building before they could get Senator Reece and his family out. The objective had been to secure the Senator first. His bill to introduce new legislation regarding the unification of gun control throughout the States was high profile and receiving mixed responses.

  He personally didn’t give a fuck. He just wanted to do his job, and although technically the first objective was to secure the Senator and his family, when the building had blown his orders were changed to secure Reece and exfil.

  He’d thought the girl had been off-site—had been assured she was off-site—but the Senator had been screaming for his daughter as they’d dragged him out the building. The soul-deep desperation as he begged them to save her had been something he couldn’t and wouldn’t walk away from.

  Now as they entered the building and made their way over the burning beam that hung down from the floor above, he knew that it was very likely not all of them would walk out of the building alive. He turned to Skinner who was wearing the same expression. “You can—” Reid started.

  “Shut your Southern trap. I ain’t going nowhere.”

  Skinner was a damn good agent. Loyal and a brilliant tactician. Reid nodded and moved forward, ascending the stairs. Smoke was billowing around him, making visibility poor as he rounded the first set of stairs in the grand old building. With eight bedrooms, the place was like a maze in the daylight but at night with smoke and fire—not to mention the added threat that they had two armed terrorists still at large—it was a fucking quagmire of shit.

  With his Heckler and Koch HK416 at his shoulder, Reid advanced down the second-floor landing towards the bedrooms. A wall of fire blocked his path as smoke bur
ned his throat. “We need to find another way.”

  Skinner nodded and they backtracked into one of the first rooms at the top of the stairs to see if they could move through the rooms. He knew from the plans that the office to their left had a balcony. If they could get past that, he had a chance of getting in through the window.

  “Alpha One, this is Tack. Please be advised that the HVT is secure. We have more heat headed our way and our window for exfil is closing.”

  “Good copy. We are closing in on the target now.”

  “Good copy. Tack out.”

  Reid knew his boss was pissed but he also knew he was a good man. As he’d expected, the balcony gave them access to the daughter’s bedroom window. He and Skinner made their way over the ledge as another explosion rocked them, causing him to lose his footing on the ledge and have to grab for the windowsill. Using all his strength, he hauled himself up and used the butt of his gun to smash through the glass.

  Pulling himself up and through, he hit the ground and came up to see one of the men they had been searching for standing over the form of the half-naked teen, his pants around his knees as he attempted to rape her.

  Time stood still as he took in the scene, and watched the man grab for his gun. Reid reacted and fired, unflinching as the man fell dead on top of the girl he had been about to rape. On his feet again, he heard Skinner curse behind him as he came through the window.

  He ignored his teammate as he approached the girl and dragged the dead man off her prone body. Relief hit him as he saw the man had not accomplished his heinous and depraved mission. He caught the terrified look in her eyes and held his hand up as if he was calming a skittish animal. Her wild eyes went between him and Skinner.

  “Rachel, my name is Special Agent Reid. We’re with the FBI. I need to know if you can walk?” He watched as she nodded. “Good, we’re going to have to go out the window and descend using ropes. I’m going to need to secure you to a harness. Okay?”