Running the Risk

by Lea Griffith

  “We’ve got the layout now,” King said. “Rook, you’ve got point. Brody, you’ve got Keeper. Ella’s with me.”

  Jude nodded. It was best that Ella stay with King. She messed with Jude’s mind, and he absolutely couldn’t have his thoughts divided when he got a bead on Dresden. “I’m good,” he said easily.

  King inclined his head, accepting that. “It will take about two hours to reach Simferopol. Dresden’s place is on the northern outskirts of the city. It’s walled, but we’re heading in with the cleaning crew.”

  “Fedir, the guy who gave me the plans, is driving the truck,” Jude pointed out. He shrugged his shoulders when Rook threw him a look. “I had no choice. He provided those worthless plans. Says his sister was hired by Dresden and can’t leave. He’s got a scheme to get her out.”

  “And he’s using our attack as cover? Great. Who else are we dragging along?” Brody asked, his tone grumpy.

  “Nobody. Georgia is out. She’s in the Piper’s pocket. Said she was heading in for Loretta Bernstein. The Piper wants Loretta in a bad way apparently.” Jude sighed and ran a hand down his face. His mind was on the planning. His heart was back in that tiny bed with his woman.

  “We don’t need Loretta, but if we get her, it’s a bonus,” King said. “Vivi?” he called out.

  “Your Highness?” she answered via the satellite phone.

  “I need coordinates sent to my GPS by oh six hundred. Will you have satellite coverage for this op?” King asked.

  “You’ll have two hours to get there, but my satellite access should not be in danger on this op. In spite of that, you need to get in and out. Dresden doesn’t have a huge contingent of men on his property, but he does have access to more men, if he needs them. Operational details have been sent to your personal comm units. Full disclosure, guys—my reach in Ukraine is limited. You’ll be pretty much on your own, should the local police or, God forbid, the Ukrainian military get called in.” She hummed a bit to herself, which wasn’t unusual. Vivi was always all over the place. “Oh, one more thing. I received video of the occupants of the plane disembarking in Anchorage. It’s much clearer than the Provo video.”

  Silence held sway as Jude looked at King, confusion swimming through him. King held up his hand.

  “Baby, come on, what’d you find?” Rook prompted.

  “Facial recognition confirms it’s Nina Lassiter,” she told them, her voice hushed.

  “You have got to be kidding me!” Jude exclaimed. “She’s alive?”

  “According to my software, it’s a positive match. I’m running further analysis as we speak. I’ve also asked a friend still with the Agency for help in locating the woman,” Vivi announced.

  “No,” King said emphatically. “Call them off. I don’t want Broemig having this information.”

  “Future father-in-law is a real gem, isn’t he?” Brody teased.

  King threw him a sardonic grin. “Vivi, call your friend off.”

  “Done,” she stated. “I’ll do the legwork.”

  “Wait until we get back stateside, Vivi. You and Allie lock up tight. Black is headed your way. Fill him in on things, and keep an eye out for Chase and Knight to be headed your way too.”

  “Ten-four, Your Highness.” She cleared her throat, and then uttered a tentative “Rook?”

  “Yeah, woman?” Rook was staring out one of the cabin windows. Jude followed his line of sight and noticed the Black Sea, an endless, velvety blackness beyond the glass.

  “Come home to me,” she whispered.

  “Done.”

  “Good night, Vivi,” King singsonged and then disconnected.

  Jude rubbed his chest. Vivi wasn’t cut out for wet work. She sucked in the field. But without her, Rook was only half a man. Much like Jude without Ella. It was the first time he didn’t envy Rook and Vivi. He had Ella here with him, and even though she was soft, she’d proven she more than had the chops for fieldwork. She was a damn fine soldier.

  He’d have to tell her.

  “I’m going to bed down,” he told his teammates. “I’ll take last watch.” He glanced at his tactical watch. “I’ll be up at oh three hundred.”

  He made his way back to Ella. She was quiet, but he could feel her attention. He wondered if she’d eaten over the last couple of days and decided she probably hadn’t. The woman was too thin. When they got home, he was going to keep her fed. And sexed up. Definitely sexed up.

  She curved her body into his as he settled back down on the bed with her. “Hey,” she murmured sleepily.

  “Shh, go to sleep. I’ve got you, El,” he whispered against her hair.

  His hands calmed her back down into sleep, and Jude just held her there against him, feeling waves rock the boat.

  He fell asleep with her scent in his nostrils and her heat against his skin.

  Chapter 22

  Ella breathed in the salty wind and pulled her hair into a tight bun. She was dressed in black, her combat boots chafing because they were so new. Over her black field suit, she wore blue, faded overalls. Cleaning crew, indeed.

  Jude had been up at oh three hundred for watch. She’d taken it with him. They hadn’t talked—that’s not what watch was for. But she’d been eased anyway because they were together.

  She watched him strap on his guns. Keeper. He was every bit his call sign. He wore a double shoulder holster with a 9mm handgun in each pocket. He had cleaned them earlier and loaded ammunition. Rook, King, and Brody had sat at the table with him doing the same.

  Ella had cleaned her guns prior to leaving Port Royal. She’d spent the gut-churning ride in the puddle jumper loading her ammo. As Jude strapped on multiple knives, Ella admired the play of muscle over solid bone. Those arms had held her all night.

  She was going to make sure they continued to do so.

  She pulled on her own holster, loaded herself down with her weaponry, pulled up the coveralls, zipped them, and cleared her throat.

  The men all stopped in the process of pulling on their overalls and glanced at her, questions in their gaze.

  “Anna Beth Caine,” she said by way of explaining her interruption.

  “The Piper’s daughter?” Jude asked. “What about her?”

  “She’s there. Whatever happens today, we don’t leave without her,” Ella explained.

  Everyone nodded.

  Brody ran a hand over his beard. “You mentioned something about her being a fail-safe?”

  Ella nodded. “Yeah, we never talked about that the other day in the war room. Vivi can’t open those last two files on the thumb drive Cameron Caine gave me. I think Anna Beth knows how to crack that code.”

  “Do you think that’s why Dresden has her?” King asked.

  She shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, we need her. Oh, and again, she’s a person in the hands of an evil bastard,” she finished sarcastically.

  “What if she doesn’t want to come?” Brody asked.

  Ella huffed. “Jesus, Brody. Did he break your brain in that cell?”

  “You’d know better than me,” Brody said with a wink.

  “Psshh, you’re an ass.” She glanced at Jude and found him watching her intently.

  “We’ll get her,” Jude said as if it were a foregone conclusion.

  But Ella knew those were few and far between. They hadn’t even begun this op, and he was giving her assurances.

  King’s satellite phone pinged, and he hit a button.

  “Good morning, Endgame. Your op starts now,” Vivi chanted. “Ride’s outside waiting on you.”

  “You got eyes on us?” Rook asked, strapping his rifle to his back and pulling a skullcap over his head.

  “I do. Now get moving. You’ve got limited time to reach Simferopol. Word on the street is that Dresden has a plane being fueled, and he’s pulled maybe fifteen or twenty
men in to his property.”

  “How do you always know everything?” Jude asked.

  “It’s my job,” Vivi said matter-of-factly.

  “Touché,” Jude responded.

  “He knows we’re coming,” King said on a sigh. “He always knows we’re coming. I’m getting sick of this.”

  “He may know you’re coming, but he doesn’t know how. You’ve got the heads-up. You aren’t walking in blind,” Vivi reminded them.

  Jude pulled on his skullcap, covering his hair and donning his soldier persona. This was business now. So Ella pushed everything she felt for him to the back of her mind as she shielded her heart.

  “Safe, Ella,” he said as he put his rifle over his back.

  She held up six fingers.

  He smiled. Her stomach settled.

  King gave a short whistle and they all fell out, hitting the deck and making their way to the waiting truck.

  “Good see you, American,” the man named Fedir said with a grin.

  Jude grunted.

  Ella nodded and loaded up. King sat beside her in the back. Rook, Brody, and Jude sat across from them. Georgia was in the front seat with Fedir.

  Jude’s jaw hardened when he saw the woman. “Told you to head home, G.”

  “Told you I have a mission, Jude. Looks like I’m going with,” the woman said, her gaze roving over Jude and then moving to meet Ella’s.

  Ella raised a brow and then purposefully looked away. The woman was no threat to her, regardless of what she was trying to intimate. Brody chuckled. “Fish in a goddamn barrel, Keeper. How do you get such pretty women to fall for that ugly mug?”

  Jude looked at Ella and only Ella. “I just got it like that, Madoc.” He slid his gaze to Brody. “You need lessons?”

  “From your mama maybe,” Brody snapped back.

  Jude winced. “Leave my mama out of it.”

  Brody made a kissing sound, and for a second Ella was thrown back to the morning she’d been called up for the Beirut op. By the end of that day, she’d been shot and Micah Samson and Nina Lassiter had both been dead.

  But maybe not Nina. Maybe, somehow, improbably, Nina was still alive.

  Ella remembered the feeling of doom she’d had setting out on that Beirut op. She shivered and glanced at Jude, seeing concern drawing his face into harsh lines. She shook her head and gave him a small smile.

  She refused to let that doom back in. She would make sure this op went exactly the way they wanted. Ella rested her head against the wall of the truck and went over the op again.

  It took them every last minute of the two hours Vivi had given them for arrival in Simferopol. It took them another thirty minutes to skirt the city and hit the road to Dresden’s house.

  “Target is still on-site, Endgame,” Vivi said into their earpieces. “You’ll be there in five minutes. Go to the second gate and let Fedir do the talking. King? I just got word from Knight that he’s on the ground in Simferopol.”

  “What the hell?” Jude exclaimed. “I thought he was with Chase and that Moeller chick heading back stateside.”

  “They’ve sent Dr. Moeller my way. She should arrive in the States in about nine hours. They are heading your way,” Vivi explained. “It’s an Endgame party, guys. Get ready.”

  “Fedir?” King called out.

  The man turned. “Yes?”

  “Stop the truck,” King ordered.

  Fedir put on the brake and turned around.

  “We’ll wait for them,” King told his analyst. “We’ll need all hands on deck for this not to go completely FUBAR.”

  “Ten-four.” Thirty seconds later, Vivi was back. “They’re two minutes from you. Can you hold?”

  King raised an eyebrow at Fedir. “Get out, and act like you’re working on the truck.”

  A few cars passed them, but Dresden had eyes everywhere and the repairs needed to look genuine. Knight and Chase arrived, jumping out of their Volvo and into the back of the truck. Chase looked like hell—like he’d been up for days without rest and he was barely holding on. Knight didn’t look much better.

  “Let’s move, Fedir,” King demanded as he tossed each new man a pair of coveralls. To Chase and Knight, he simply said, “Sit rep.”

  Chase ran a hand down his face. “We were able to catch Black before he left. We got him and Dr. Moeller on a plane, and they’re headed to DC, then Port Royal. Nadege was relentless, Dr. Moeller is a pain in the ass, and I’m ready to kill Dresden.”

  “Hooyah,” Jude replied with a grunt.

  “Nadege just let her go?” King asked in disbelief.

  “Not quite,” Knight said with a grimace. “He lost a lot of people, and finally the bastard ran. It gave us time to get her out and on a plane.”

  “She won’t give us any information. She’ll be a tough nut to crack.” Chase’s voice was hard. He finally noticed Ella, and his jaw dropped. “Ella-Bella?”

  She hadn’t seen Chase in over a year. He might have known she was alive, but he hadn’t seen her so it was probably shocking.

  “Chase Reynolds, as I live and breathe,” she said in a very fake southern accent. Chase would appreciate her effort, being the Alabama boy he was. Ella wanted something to replace that look of frustration on his face.

  He laughed, but it was forced. “Damn, girl, I’m happy to see you.”

  “No offense, but you don’t look all that happy.”

  “Well, I’ve had a rough week,” he said, and it seemed a huge understatement.

  Knight snorted. “Good to see you, Ella,” he said with a nod. He punched Jude in the arm, probably bro code for You got her back, Ella thought.

  “Chase, Knight, I’ve loaded the op onto your comm units. You’ve got five minutes to read through it,” Vivi stated calmly.

  They got busy. Jude and Rook shared a weapon each and some ammo with Chase and Knight.

  “Knight, you’re with Rook. Search the house for any intel we can take with us. Keeper, Brody, you’ll hit Dresden. Chase, you’re with me and Ella. We’ll hit the cellar,” King stated.

  “No—” Jude began.

  Ella silenced him with a look. She knew he wanted to protect her from her memories—from what had happened to her there—but she knew that cellar like the back of her hand. She needed to be the one who went. Her look quelled his instant, protective response.

  Then he nodded, as did the rest of the men. Rook and Knight had worked together for so long that they moved as one sometimes. Jude was badass no matter who he was grouped with.

  “We’re here, Americans,” Fedir called out, pulling into the gate.

  “Chase, Knight, get behind us,” King ordered. They did, and when the guards opened the back door to check them, they saw nothing but men and women dressed for cleaning.

  Ella breathed out heavily and thanked God. That could have started everything off poorly.

  “Dresden’s pilot has arrived at the airfield. If you’re going to move, do it now, Endgame. You will have a welcoming committee once they realize you’re on-site.” Vivi told them, no urgency in her voice. She was always the calm in their storms. Ella gave thanks for Vivi too.

  Then again, they did this for a living. They lived and breathed FUBAR situations. Dresden getting ready to leave could definitely throw a kink in the works.

  “He wants her for something big,” Chase said, staring hard at the side of the truck.

  “Who?” Jude asked.

  “Gabby,” Chase informed them. “Dresden’s been after her for a few years now.”

  “Let’s chat later, ladies,” King said quickly. “It’s time to move.”

  The truck stopped and they all got out, including Georgia and Fedir. They spread out, grouped loosely but very coordinated. There were no guards posted, which set Ella on alert.

  It made no sense. Normally,
Dresden was surrounded by guards, and Vivi had told them he’d amassed a lot of men. If he suspected they were coming, had even a hint, she would have guessed he’d meet them with guns blazing. Something was up. Something bigger than they’d guessed. She glanced across the courtyard to Brody, and he nodded as their gazes met, his mind obviously traveling where hers had.

  They entered the house and split up. She got one last look at Jude.

  “Safe,” he mouthed.

  “Six,” she mouthed back, and then he was gone around a corner, out of her sight.

  “Let’s move, Banning, Work to do,” King urged. “Where are the men, Vivi?”

  “I’m searching my feed. Satellite is getting grainy,” Vivi answered.

  King glanced at Ella. “Where are the cells?”

  “Follow me,” Ella said, taking the lead. King and Chase followed her.

  The house was eerily silent. They met no staff and still no guards.

  “Vivi, any intel on guard locations?” Chase questioned the analyst.

  “Negative,” Vivi responded. “House appears to be empty.”

  “We need to find Anna Beth Caine. She could be in the cellars. Keeper, Brody, we’re headed that way now. You might want to hit the western wing of the house. He’s got rooms there. Dresden also has an exit from the lower level in that wing,” Ella said calmly.

  “Ten-four,” Jude responded, his voice very dark and very deep. Soldier.

  A shot rang out as Ella peered around a corner of the hallway that led to the stairs to the cell. She dropped to a knee, put the barrel of her rifle around the corner, and fired. The sound of a short scream indicated she’d made a hit. “One down,” she reported.

  She quickly glanced around the corner, didn’t receive fire, and felt King move around her, taking point. “Down the hall, last door on the right,” she said over the ear mic.

  With King in front and Chase behind her facing the opposite direction, they moved toward the cells.

  “Tango,” Chase murmured. The suppressed sound of his rifle thudded behind her, and she kept moving. “Two down,” Chase reported.