by Kaylea Cross
“What kind of proof do you want when it’s done?”
“The usual.” Photos and a tissue or blood sample he could use to verify the body was hers. “I’ll send you the file now. Keep me updated if you find anything.”
“You got it.”
“Again, this is between you and me.”
“Understood.”
Glenn disconnected and continued down the country road, driving away from the inn he’d stayed at last night. Still no word about Eden or the others. The female handler was dead and so was the hitter Glenn had sent after them, but now Eden was missing. Until he found definitive proof otherwise, he had to assume she was still alive.
He’d checked the hospitals and morgues in the area near the hits but hadn’t found anything on Eden, and hadn’t been able to find any travel information on her either. She’d disappeared, vanished like the ghost she’d been trained to be, and he didn’t know how the hell he was going to find her now.
The only thing scarier than having a Valkyrie gunning for you was when she disappeared off the grid. His network of resources was limited now that he was officially off the Agency payroll. Anything he needed had to be paid for on his own dime, so he’d planned all this out carefully.
Hopefully Penny Green would be the key to unraveling the mystery of where the other Valkyries were hiding. For now, he had pent-up energy to unleash.
His personal cell rang, his wife’s number appearing on screen. For a moment he thought about ignoring it, but he didn’t need any more suspicion on her end. “Hello.”
“Where were you last night?” she demanded.
Glenn shoved back the sudden surge of anger at her tone. He was on edge and in no mood for female bullshit. “I told you, I had a late meeting.” Not completely a lie. The best liars knew to always stick as close to the truth as possible, and he was an expert.
“Well, are you coming home today?”
“No, not for a few days.”
She made a frustrated sound. “You’ve been promising for weeks that you’d fix the guest bathroom shower before my sister came. I was going to hire someone and you told me not to, that you’d handle it, and she’s coming in tomorrow.”
What the fuck did he care about a shower or anything else right now? His instincts were jangling, on high alert for the threat he knew was out there but couldn’t find.
That’s because you won’t see it. You won’t know it’s there until it’s too late.
“Glenn?” she pressed.
“Just call the plumber. I don’t know when I’ll be home.”
A few seconds of taut silence passed. “When you retired you promised things would be different, but here you are still having secret meetings and not coming home, not telling me what’s going on.” She paused. “Are you having an affair?”
That offended him. “No.”
“I swear to God, if you’re cheating on me…”
“I’m not. Christ, Annie.” That’s what she thought was going on here? Yeah, he’d been a shitty husband in a lot of other ways over the years because of his work. Yeah, he’d cheated on her once, and look where it had landed him.
He’d been thinking with his dick instead of his brain, had even thought he might be falling in love with the woman, who was a master manipulator. She’d played him like a violin and he hadn’t even realized it until it was too late. He was still paying for that mistake, and would never do it again.
“You’ve been acting weird for weeks now,” she continued, sounding dejected.
“I’m not having a fucking affair,” he growled. Jesus. Dangerous people were closing in on him, and he was trying to figure out a way to get to them first.
“Then what are you doing?”
“I’m dealing with something. Something important.”
“But you’re still not going to tell me.”
“I can’t.”
She gave a bitter laugh. “Wow. The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
He ran a hand over his face, exhaustion hitting him all of a sudden. He’d barely slept the last few nights. In his twenties and thirties, he could run on almost no sleep. Not anymore. “Look, I’m still in the area, but it’s…” Not safe for me to come home. “I think you should take Kimmie and your sister up to the lake for a few days.”
Another tense pause filled the line. “Why, what’s going on?”
“I can’t tell you.” For her own safety, and their daughter’s. “I think it might be a good time for you to be at the cabin with your parents.” Her parents had owned it for decades, and that way she and their daughter would be surrounded by people, making them a less vulnerable target.
“Jesus, Glenn, what the hell’s going on?” Fear was evident in her voice.
His past sins were catching up with him. And when they did, he didn’t want his family to wind up collateral damage. “It’s going to be fine. I’m taking care of it.” He didn’t want to cause her more alarm than he had to. And he sure as fuck didn’t want her to know what he’d done.
“When are you coming home?”
“As soon as I can. But I can’t give you a timeframe on this.” Not until he ended this potential threat.
“Are you safe?”
“Yes.” For now. “I love you.”
She sighed. “I love you too. You’ll update me when you can?”
“Yes. Kiss Kimmie for me.”
An uncomfortable tension spread through his gut as he ended the call. How fucking ironic that with all the things he’d done on ops for the Agency, he’d never been worried for his family’s safety before, and now that he was retired, he was. This whole thing was haunting him, never giving him a moment’s peace. It had been a long time since his days as a field officer, and even longer since he’d been in the military. He’d worked damn hard to stay in shape and maintain his skills. He could still hold his own with the best of them.
If the Valkyries came for him, he would be ready.
He headed for the highway, watching closely to make sure he didn’t have a tail following him. At the gun range he took his weapons out of the trunk in their cases. Shooting was a perishable skill, it degraded without consistent practice. He’d made sure not to let that happen.
The range officer broke into a grin when Glenn walked in. “Bennett. Back for more already?”
“What can I say, I’m addicted.”
“I know the feeling.”
He took Glenn through to the range out back, watched as Glenn set up his rifle. “Want me to spot you?”
“Sure.” He’d start with the long gun, then move to close quarters-style shooting with his pistol after.
Lying prone on his belly with his cheek pressed to the stock of the rifle, the butt of it tight to his shoulder, a sense of calm overtook him. Everything else faded away as he stared through the scope at the target in the distance and adjusted the focus.
Finger on the trigger, he cleared his mind of everything but the center of the target, letting muscle memory and training take over. Exhaling, he waited until all the air had left his lungs, then fired. A metallic ping sounded a second later.
“Hit, right center,” the range master said, then grinned at him. “Man, I love watching you work.”
Glenn ignored him, focused on the target. He’d missed the center by several inches, when he needed to be hitting dead center on the first shot every time. He adjusted his scope again, readied for the next shot.
He didn’t care what the Architect thought or said. If the remaining Valkyries were working together, it was only a matter of time before they uncovered the truth. His gut said that time was now. He had to stop them, keep sending hitters out every time he had a lock on one of them, and be ready for anything.
Glenn was done waiting, so he’d taken control. It was a race against time now, a case of kill or be killed. He was not going to be brought down by the same operatives he had helped create.
****
Eden pulled the hood of her coat down lower over he
r forehead as she climbed the steep, narrow stairs up Advocate’s Close in Edinburgh’s Old Town. She paused at the top, taking in the sound of the people walking past and the rain hitting the stone pavers beyond the archway.
The imposing structure of St. Giles’ Cathedral stood directly across from her, looming over the street. She stepped out onto High Street and turned right toward the castle, making her way up the incline toward the next location she had to check.
The old city center was still busy for a rainy fall evening. Groups of tourists hugged the front walls of shops on the sidewalk as she passed them, trying to stay dry. A lone piper stood near the top of Castle Hill, the mournful skirl of his pipes drifting through the air as the incredible silhouette of torch-lit Edinburgh Castle rose above the gloom behind him.
She scanned the street constantly, alert for any sign of a threat or someone following her as she made her way to the flat she needed to check out. The unit was half a block up on the third floor of a tall stone building built in the mid-seventeen-hundreds.
Ducking into the alcove, she took the spiral stone staircase to the fifth story, her blade strapped to her calf beneath her jeans and her pistol securely tucked into its holster in the back of her waistband.
According to Amber this flat had no security camera outside it. Eden checked anyway to verify that before approaching the bright cobalt blue door and peering through the window beside it. The Roman blind was drawn but there was enough room in the small gap at the bottom for her to see inside. The window looked directly into a small living room and kitchen, lit by the lantern hanging overhead in the entryway.
Inside, the place was immaculate, no shoes or other items in the foyer to the left, no dishes in the sink or anything on the counter. It was a rental unit in a prime location, and booked constantly. The cleaners had come in after the most recent guests had checked out that morning, but as far as she could tell, no one else had arrived yet, least of all Penny. A Valkyrie would never have left a gap at the bottom of the blind for someone to see inside.
Eden stepped back to glance around, having already decided this place was a dud. She doubted Penny would stay here. It was too close to the Royal Mile, too many people around who might see her.
She pulled out her phone and sent a text to Trinity and Zack.
Location delta clear. Heading back now.
At the bottom of the stairs she stepped back out into the cold rain and made her way across the wide street, the sound of the pipes following her. Edinburgh had atmosphere in spades but she didn’t have time to stop and appreciate it.
They had to find Penny before she got to her target and put herself at serious risk of getting killed. Her cover was likely blown. Popovich had his own private security detail, and so did a lot of other men he was here to meet with. The likelihood of Penny walking away after killing him was almost zero.
On the other side of the Royal Mile, Eden turned down Victoria Street, passing the brightly-colored shops and restaurants on her way down to Grassmarket at the bottom of the hill. She passed more cafés and restaurants, then took King’s Stable’s Road past St. Cuthbert’s, crossed Princes Street and finally made her way up Charlotte Street.
Her jeans were soaked from the lower thigh down as she let herself into the flat their team had rented for the night. She pulled off her wet coat as Trinity emerged from one of the bedrooms, phone in hand. “I struck out too. Zack just texted that he’s on his way back now. Hope he had better luck than we did.”
Eden didn’t like that he’d been sent out on his own tonight. Amber was monitoring his phone and movements, but he could buy a burner or have face-to-face meetings with someone and they would never know. Zack was invested in finding out who had sent John to kill her and Chris, then had him killed, not necessarily anything else. “Yeah, let’s hope.”
Time was ticking, and their best hope of finding Penny was probably locating her target and then lying in wait for her to show up. Much as she didn’t like it, with his connections and social skills, Zack had the best chance of determining Popovich’s whereabouts.
Another mistake was in thinking that with the initial tension broken between them, things would get easier. She’d been wrong. It was increasingly difficult to be around him with every minute they spent in each other’s company. He was so much like he was when they’d been together. He seemed sincere about his commitment to the team, but she was still skeptical about his motives.
“Any of the locations you checked seem likely for her to rent?” Trinity asked.
“No, none.” According to the most recent intel Amber and Zack had analyzed, Penny had been in hiding for months and had a long list of enemies, including the war criminal Popovich. He was due at a meeting in Edinburgh in the morning, so logic dictated he was probably in the city already.
If they were going to save Penny, it had to be tonight.
Two rapid knocks on the door signaled Zack had arrived. Eden steeled herself but the moment he stepped inside and their eyes met, it was suddenly hard to breathe.
Since seeing him in London she’d been trying not to think about them together, and failing miserably. Everything reminded her of him, and the memories were so damn vivid. His smile, the deep sound of his laugh. The way he’d looked at her, like she was the most beautiful, incredible woman in the world. His touch. Lighting up her whole body with only the graze of his fingertips. The feel of him on top of her. Inside her.
Now every time she saw him it was like a punch to the gut. She ached for him still, and part of her desperately wanted to find out how much of what they’d shared was real, and how much was lies. She’d told herself it was mostly lies, to make it easier. But not knowing for sure was eating away at her insides.
“Find him?” Trinity asked, standing.
Zack nodded, wiping rain from his face. It glinted on his dark hair and few days’ worth of growth on his face. “He’s at The Balmoral with a security team. My contact there said things have been calm there all night. When I fished a little, he didn’t seem to know anything about Penny, but there’s a dinner Popovich is scheduled to be at in two hours.”
“And you’re sure your source is reliable?” Eden asked.
He turned those piercing gray eyes on her, and something tightened in her chest. “Yes.”
The conviction in his voice and the sincerity in his expression looked so damn real. “And your handler? Did you call him back yet?” Amber had alerted them that Zack had been contacted two hours ago.
Zack nodded, not seeming surprised that she knew about it. “He offered me another contract, which I turned down. He knows I’m in Edinburgh, but not why, or with who.”
“Did he fish for any information about us?” Trinity asked.
“No. And even if he had, I wouldn’t have given it to him.” His gaze swung back to Eden. “I ditched the burner outside the Balmoral.”
She relaxed a little more, though she’d feel even better once Amber had confirmed what the conversation had entailed. And if there had been a problem, Amber would have alerted them already. “We’ve only got one location left to search for Penny. If she’s not there, we’re gonna have to start all over from scratch.” And in a hurry, too. If Penny planned to target Popovich at the dinner tonight, that didn’t give them much time to intercept her.
“Let’s get going, then,” Trinity said, pulling on her coat and tucking her weapon away. This time they all wore earpieces to communicate with one another. “You two go together and approach from the east. I’ll go in from the west.”
Eden turned for the door without looking at Zack, shoving aside the tumult inside her and locking into op mode. He was trained. If shit went down, he could handle himself.
The rain had eased up slightly, now falling in a steady rhythm instead of a chaotic downpour. Streetlamps and headlights glistened off the wet cobbles as they walked up the street together, heading for Stockbridge, just north of Edinburgh’s New Town.
It started out comfortable enough. But with e
ach passing minute, everything left unsaid between them weighed heavier and heavier, until she was struggling to maintain her vigilance through sheer determination alone.
“Think she’ll be there?” Zack finally asked a few minutes later, halfway to their destination.
“Hope so.” The sooner they intercepted her and got her out of here, the sooner they could switch gears and start focusing on finding the masterminds behind all this death and destruction.
“And none of you know her?”
“No. But there used to be more of us, so I’m sure someone did.”
A man stepped out of the shadows as they reached the opposite sidewalk. Zack instantly shot out a hand to grasp Eden’s waist and stepped in front of her, but the man merely hunched deeper into his hoodie and kept walking.
The protective move was so foreign to her, she didn’t know how to react. Then she shrugged out of Zack’s hold and continued up the street, annoyed at how easily he threw her body and mind into chaos. One simple touch even with the barrier of clothes in the way, and her whole system was humming with awareness and need. If he ever touched her with intent, she wasn’t sure she’d have the strength to stop him.
Thankfully he maintained a bit of space between them for the rest of the journey. Less than ten minutes later they’d reached the row of flats that followed the curving line of the road that bordered a small oval-shaped park across the street. Eden headed around back to the alley behind the long building, just as a lone female figure emerged from the shadows at the far end.
Trinity.
With Zack right behind Eden, she headed for the rear steps of number nineteen. At the bottom she turned to signal for him to stay put, then two faint pops suddenly broke the quiet.
She and Zack both spun around to face the rear of the flat.
Eden tapped her earpiece. “Suppressed gunshots,” she whispered to Trinity, scanning for signs of movement.