by Kaylea Cross
Zack aimed a scowl at her but she didn’t see it, focused on something else up ahead. “Who’s that with Trinity?” she asked.
Zack lifted his head to see Trinity embracing a big guy dressed in ACUs.
“Her fiancé, Brody,” Chloe answered, as if it should be obvious.
“She’s engaged?” Eden said in surprise.
“Yep, he’s the HRT sniper team leader. They’re based here in Quantico,” Ty said.
“Oh, wow, would you look at that,” Chloe breathed. “The legend himself must be seeing to this part personally.”
Zack craned his neck to follow her gaze. A tall man stood waiting for them at the foot of another jet’s stairs. Graying hair. Pissed off expression. “Who is it?”
“Rycroft,” Ty answered.
A few seconds later, Zack found himself staring up into a pair of intense silver eyes. “Maguire. Good to meet you at last,” Rycroft said.
“Yeah, you too,” Zack said, feeling lame as he took the hand offered him.
“You gonna make it?”
“Think so.”
“Good.” He looked at the others. “If you guys have had enough excitement for one day, maybe you could manage not to get any bullet holes in this one.” He nodded at the jet.
Chloe’s snicker floated after them as Heath and Ty carried him past Rycroft and into the jet. Eden followed them into the back. This rear cabin didn’t have a bed, just a long, padded bench built into the wall. They set him down on it.
Eden placed a firm hand on his chest. “Don’t even think about sitting up.” She lifted the syringe in her hand. “I got another full dose here, and I’m not afraid to use it.”
“What the hell did you give me, anyway?”
“Ketamine.”
Holy fuck. “That’s a horse tranquilizer!”
“It’s a commonly used anesthetic for both people and animals,” she corrected.
Jesus. “I’ll stay put this time, because this time we’re not fucking on fire,” he growled back, fighting to stay awake. The drug was powerful, trying to suck him back under.
To his surprise, she laughed. A low, husky laugh that did something funny to his heart. “You seriously gotta do something about those trust issues, babe.”
The teasing comment and babe part made his black mood do a one-eighty. If she was teasing him that he was the one with trust issues, then did that mean she’d finally gotten over hers?
Chapter Twenty
This time the takeoff was without any issues. Eden stayed with Zack in the back, making sure he was as comfortable as possible. When he finally slipped back under soon after they’d leveled off, she left him to sleep and went to join the others. Everyone was crowded around Amber’s seat, where she was bent over her laptop.
Megan looked up at her as Eden came up the aisle. “How’s he doing?”
“Sleeping.” She nodded toward Amber. “What’ve we got?”
“She’s compiling all the data we’ve got so far, and working on the burner I gave her. You still have yours?”
Eden stepped into the row in front of Amber, took the second phone from her pocket and handed it over. “I want to tear apart this guy’s whole life,” Eden said to her. “Find out everything we can, so we can nail the bastard who sent him after us.”
“Oh, we will,” Amber promised, focused on her laptop screen.
Jesse knelt on the seat beside Eden and stacked his forearms across the top of it, watching Amber. “She hasn’t slept in twenty-eight hours.”
“I’ll sleep when this is done,” she argued without looking up.
Now that Eden looked closer, there were deep shadows beneath Amber’s eyes. She looked drawn, exhausted. They were overworking her.
“Here.” Chloe thrust a can of something at Amber. “Drink this.”
Amber eyed the energy drink warily, then shrugged. “What the hell,” she said, then popped it open and downed a large swallow. She groaned and made a face. “Gross. How the hell can you drink these things?”
“Because they’re the bomb,” Chloe said. “Just drink it. It’ll help.”
“You get four hours, and not a minute more,” Jesse said to Amber, his tone making it clear he meant business. Either Amber did as he said, or he would make her. “After that, you’re sleeping the rest of the way back to the UK.”
“Fine,” Amber said, but this time there was no annoyance or heat in her tone. “Now everybody get to work and help me out. Eden, you take this and search that second burner with Meg.” She handed Eden a palm-sized electronic device from the backpack next to her, and the phone. “Plug the phone into this, and then into the laptop.”
Megan already had another laptop open across the aisle. Eden plugged the burner phone into it along with the device. “Now what?” she asked Amber.
“Double click on the icon that pops up on screen. It’ll download a list of calls to and from the phone. Then enter the numbers into the program Meg has open, and you’ll get a location for each.”
It worked. As soon as Megan opened the program, a list of numbers started showing up. “There’s a list of about twenty calls or so,” Megan told her sister. “Starting a couple days ago, and last one was this morning.”
“Great. Send me the info when you’ve got a list of locations for them.”
Eden and Megan worked together to find out where the calls had come from. Most from around the D.C. area, but the one from this morning had gone to an unlisted number. They sent the info to Amber’s computer, then traded spots with Jesse so they could sit next to her and go over everything.
Amber looked over at Eden. “He called Zack’s old number twice last night.”
“I saw that.” Her gaze strayed to the closed cabin door at the end of the aisle. She’d been suspicious of Zack from the start, part of her refusing to accept that he wasn’t somehow involved on some level. But the man had since taken a bullet for her and killed his own handler to protect her. She felt horrible for ever doubting him now. “Trying to get a location on us.”
Amber went back to referencing the numbers, toggling between several screens she had open on her laptop. A couple minutes later she frowned, clicked back and forth between two screens. “Well, isn’t that interesting,” she murmured.
Eden craned her neck to see better. “What is?” Megan crowded close too. A second later Chloe popped over the back of the seat in front of them, draining the last of an energy drink, her eyes shooting to Amber’s screen.
“After trying Zack the second time, he placed a call to a phone in the same vicinity as the final call from Bennett’s phone,” Amber said.
“Where?” Eden asked, looking at the map Amber pulled up.
“Here.” She touched a finger to the screen.
Atlanta? “You think they’re connected?”
“Can’t be coincidence. Bennett’s last call was to a burner there. It lasted thirty-four seconds, and he winds up dead ten hours later with his tongue cut out. Then Zack’s handler makes a call to the same area and ends up shooting at you guys in that alley four hours later.”
“Can you get a better lock on the location?” Megan asked.
“No, the signal was scrambled. But—”
A sharp ding sounded, and an alert came up on screen. Eden looked at Amber. “What’s it mean?”
The hacker’s face was somber. “It means I need to talk to Kiyomi, asap.”
****
Seated on a sofa in the library at Laidlaw Hall, Kiyomi was in the middle of compiling data on the list of remaining suspects they needed to look into when her cell rang. Seeing the number on the display, relief hit her. “Hi, Amber. You guys on your way here now?” The team had had one hell of a scare. Well, several of them, but thank God everyone was okay.
“Just landed at the Cotswold Airport.”
“How’s Zack?”
“He’s hanging in there. Just wanted to let you know we’re all still alive. See you in a bit.”
“You bet.”
“
They’re back?”
Kiyomi’s heart skipped a beat when she looked up to find Marcus standing in the doorway. His powerful frame all but filled the opening. “Yes, and coming straight back here with Zack. He’s apparently doing okay.”
“I’ll get his room ready.”
“I’ll help.” She followed him up the stairs, turned the covers down on Zack’s bed and started gathering towels and other things they might need for him. Marcus came in a minute later carrying an Army-issue med kit and set out various instruments and dressings.
When the others arrived fifteen minutes later, Eden and Heath immediately brought Zack up to check his wound while everyone else gathered in the library to talk with her and Marcus about what had happened.
As soon as they finished the debrief, Amber pulled her aside. “I need to talk to you about something.”
A thread of unease wound its way up Kiyomi’s spine at the other Valkyrie’s somber expression. “All right.” She followed Amber over to the teal velvet sofa and sank down on it. “What is it?”
“We can talk alone if you prefer.”
The unease intensified. Everyone was watching her, as if they knew something she didn’t. “No, if everyone else already knows, they can stay.”
Amber nodded and opened her laptop. The guys began to file out of the room, leaving the women behind. Marcus turned to leave with them but she shot a hand out to grab his forearm on the way past.
He stopped instantly, his gaze darting to hers.
“Please stay,” she said quietly. Whatever Amber was about to say, Kiyomi wanted him here. He was part of this and deserved to know what was happening.
He nodded once and walked to the other side of the room, moving toward the fireplace. The fire he’d lit just before everyone arrived snapped in the grate behind him as he sat on the upholstered leather fender bench bracketing the hearth.
Unable to take the suspense any longer, Kiyomi sat next to Amber on the tufted, teal velvet couch. “What did you need to talk to me about?”
“I’ll show you.” Amber turned Lady Ada around so Kiyomi could see the screen. “I found something on the flight back,” she said, opening several files.
Kiyomi scanned everything. A list of names, phone numbers and geographical coordinates. “What does it mean?”
“Both Bennett and Zack’s handler placed a call to a number in the Atlanta area prior to dying. And I found someone else who’s been calling that area periodically as well.” The gravity in her gaze made Kiyomi’s heart beat faster, then Amber hit a button and brought up another screen.
More numbers and coordinates. Some painfully familiar to her. “Damascus?”
“Yes.” Amber hit another button, and a picture popped up on screen.
Kiyomi’s stomach clenched, all her blood vessels constricting as she looked at the man’s face.
Fayez Rahman. The man from her nightmares.
Her skin prickled, a chill washing over her. “You’re sure it’s Rahman?”
Amber nodded. “I told you I’ve been keeping tabs on him. He’s hard to track, but every now and again I get a lock on him. And I’ve been able to record bits of calls over the past few weeks.”
The other Valkyries moved closer. Almost like they were closing ranks around her to protect her.
Pushing aside her visceral reaction to Rahman, Kiyomi focused on the words on screen. Transcribed phone conversations between him and others. A few emails.
“Is there anything you can think of, anything at all that will help me figure out what his connection to the others might be?” Amber asked.
Kiyomi started to shake her head, then froze as her eyes caught on a particular line of an email. A title.
The Architect.
“What? Do you recognize something?” Amber asked.
Kiyomi sensed Marcus watching her from across the room as the others waited for her to answer.
She took a steadying breath, struggled to sift through her hazy memories. The pain and drugs had dulled her mind, but she was sure what she’d heard. “That name. The Architect. I heard him talking to someone about it once. I…”
A chilling laugh. Black eyes filled with hatred and lust as he stood over her, bullwhip in hand.
Then that evil, cold voice saying something that hadn’t made sense until right this minute.
Ice speared her gut, the blood draining from her face.
“Kiyomi? Hey.” Eden was beside her. Her hand was on Kiyomi’s shoulder, the touch pulling her out of the dark memory.
“No, I’m fine.”
But who was the Architect?
Instinctively she sought Marcus’s gaze across the room. He maintained eye contact with her, concern written in every line of his scarred face. And in that moment, more than anything she wished she could feel those strong arms around her. To feel, just for a moment, that she was safe. Even though she knew it was an illusion.
“The Architect,” she said, her voice slightly unsteady.
“What about it?” Amber asked.
“I think I might be able draw him out.”
The room went deathly silent, and her insides twisted as she thought of what might have to happen for this to end. She was convinced that Rahman knew who the Architect was, had intended to sell Kiyomi to him. That made her the perfect bait, the only person who could make the Architect materialize—through Rahman.
“What?” Trinity said. “How?”
“The Architect might be the key to all of this. Rahman knows who it is.” She explained what she’d heard, what Rahman had told her moments before unleashing the bullwhip on her bare back. “He’s obsessed with me, so much that he’s got a three-million-dollar bounty for my capture. If we can’t find the Architect on our own, we can find him from Rahman. He’d do anything to get me back—”
“No.”
Startled by the deep voice across the room, she and the others looked over at Marcus. He’d shot to his feet, his expression dark as a thundercloud as he glared at them all. “That’s not happening.” His gaze bored into Kiyomi’s, almost daring her to argue.
“Kiyomi, how do you know this?” Trinity pressed, bringing her attention back to the others.
She licked her lips. “He told me he had a buyer lined up. A top-end buyer he was saving me for. And he said… He said ‘I know what you are. I’m going to send you back to your maker.’” She paused, glancing at the others. “All this time I thought it meant he was going to kill me, send me to face my maker. But now I think he meant something else entirely.”
Resounding silence greeted her words as everyone connected the dots.
Her skin crawled at the memory of being that helpless. Unable to defend herself or go on the offensive. Caged like an animal, beaten and starved, too weak to move. “Their deal was, he had to keep me alive and unharmed until the sale happened. But he lost control and broke his end of the bargain. And he was afraid he would die because of it. Afraid of the buyer. My creator.”
The Architect. That had to be it. It was the only thing that made sense, even if she didn’t understand why he wanted her specifically.
She met Amber’s gaze, fighting to ignore the way her insides twisted at the thought of putting herself at that animal’s mercy again. “What if the Architect is the one behind all of this?”
Chapter Twenty-One
Marcus was ready to explode as Kiyomi’s words faded into silence, looking at the other women as his pounding heart threatened to come through his ribcage. These were her sisters. Her fellow Valkyries, and they should be telling her—
“You’re not doing that,” Trinity announced curtly to Kiyomi, and Marcus released a ragged exhale in relief.
“Yeah, let me add to that,” Chloe said, arms folded and a pissed-off expression on her face. “No way in hell.”
Megan nodded. “Yep, what they said, forget it. Wash the idea of you going to Rahman right out of that pretty head, because it ain’t happening.”
“Only over our dead bodies,” Eden finis
hed, staring hard at Kiyomi.
Marcus eased his death grip on the top of his cane, his heart rate slowing. This was what he’d needed to see. Since voicing his opposition to Kiyomi’s suggestion he might have been another ornament on the fucking mantelpiece for all the attention the women had paid him so far…except Kiyomi had kept glancing over every so often, as if seeking his reassurance.
Hearing her say what she’d been subjected to at Rahman’s hands made it feel like someone was driving nails into the pit of his stomach. He’d seen her when she’d first come here. He’d seen the state she’d been in, bleeding and broken as they’d placed her in bed. Hearing her imply that she was willing to consider offering herself up to the brutal son of a bitch who had abused her so badly, all in an effort to try and draw out this “Architect”?
No. Just fucking no.
“We’ll find another way,” Amber told Kiyomi, reaching out to squeeze her shoulder. “Together. We’ll get him together, just like I promised.”
Marcus didn’t know what promises Amber had made to her, but he didn’t like the look in Kiyomi’s eyes. That quiet determination and resolve that said she hadn’t let her idea go at all.
The meeting broke up, and the women all headed for the door. Jesse walked in, caught Amber two steps from the door and took her laptop away.
She reached for it. “Hey—”
“Hey nothing,” he told her. “Bed. Now.”
She opened her mouth to argue but he merely bent and hoisted her over one shoulder, carrying her out of the room and ignoring the heated string of arguments she unleashed on him.
Too right, Marcus thought in approval. He sought out Megan and stopped her from leaving while everyone else filed out. “What’s wrong?” she asked when she saw his face.
What’s wrong? “I’ll tell you what’s bloody wrong. That.” He thrust a finger at Kiyomi’s retreating back, barely keeping his voice down. “She just told you she’s willing to offer herself up as bait to the man who tortured and violated her. You need to go talk to her, alone, and make sure she drops that whole bloody line of thinking,” he shot back, outraged and heartsick at the thought of Kiyomi offering herself up to that sadistic bastard like a sacrificial lamb. “She’s one of you. You’ve all been through enough, especially her.”