by Kaylea Cross
“It could be their base,” she finished, intrigued by the idea. “What’s the name of the town?”
“Stow-on-the-Wold. Heart of the Cotswolds, thirty minute drive from Cheltenham.”
Where members of the missing Valkyrie team had last been spotted nine days earlier. Her pulse picked up. The timing and location fit. This could be it. “Start doing some recon.”
“Already working on it. Got a team ready to pose as city workers fixing a water line in the area.”
“Good. Keep me informed.” She ended the call and read the article, the scientific part of her fascinated by the prospect of Valkyries teaming up and living in a secluded location.
Looked like she would be flying across the pond any day now to put the final phase into action. Right after she laid the groundwork for the invitation she would be sending.
Glancing around her facility one last time, Janelle took in every delicious detail and envisioning what would happen here soon. Seeing her design brought to life was almost as thrilling as what she was on the verge of accomplishing.
After more than two decades, she was closer than ever to finding her remaining targets, who were now all in their early to late thirties. How convenient for her if they’d decided to stay together in one place.
Once she found them, it was just a matter of separating the wheat from the chaff.
The blueprints were in place. Her soldiers were ready to be deployed. Planning and design were her specialties—she just used them in non-traditional applications.
She smiled to herself as she walked to her vehicle, the physical form of her dream nearing completion behind her.
And to think her parents had said she wouldn’t amount to anything as an architect.
Chapter Eight
Kiyomi mentally prepared herself before entering Amber’s room the next morning after breakfast. As usual Marcus had been up and gone by the time she’d arrived in the breakfast room.
Things had finally shifted between them last night. She wanted him more than ever, and time was running out. She was torn between wanting to leave to spare him more pain and danger, and wanting to stay.
Trinity was peering over Amber’s shoulder as Kiyomi approached them. Three computer screens were set up on the wide desk beneath the picture window overlooking the west lawn. Kiyomi pretended her heart and head weren’t at war. “Well, roomie? What do you think of my final contenders?”
She had been in charge of finding places for everyone to rent in the Coventry area once they moved out of Laidlaw Hall. While everyone else moved in with their significant other, she and Trinity would be roommates.
“I’m leaning toward the cottage,” Trinity replied, her eyes on screen as she draped an arm across Kiyomi’s shoulders. “Only because it’s more private.”
“Works for me. Moving date still set for the end of the week?”
Trinity nodded, studying the map on screen where Amber had put a series of red dots to mark everyone’s rental accommodations. They were grouped within a few miles of each other, making logistics easier. “Maybe sooner, depending on how this shakes out.”
A wave of sadness hit her. She loved it here and wanted more time with Marcus. Though it was for the best if they left soon. He’d done more than enough for them, and he’d put himself at risk by having them here in the first place. Sure he was former SAS and could handle himself, but she didn’t want to endanger him any further. They all had targets on their backs. The bounty made her a high-risk houseguest. “Anything new on Rahman from those possible sightings I sent you?”
“Yep.” Amber switched keyboards and began typing something. “Last sighting of him was when he left Latakia the other night.”
A coastal town almost a four-hour drive from Damascus, the capital city being his usual base of operations. “Visiting his mother, I presume.” He went there so infrequently it was impossible to target him there. It was also hard to believe a monster like that even had a mother, but for some reason he doted on her. That made his cruel treatment of women all the worse.
“Must have been. The last security cam footage I have of his vehicle is leaving the city at twenty-one-hundred-hours two nights ago. I couldn’t find it entering Damascus after that.”
“He’d have changed vehicles again. Probably won’t go back to Damascus for a few days now anyway.” That was his pattern, never going straight back to the capital after he’d been away. Always trying to throw off anyone who might be trying to track him.
She straightened, didn’t resist when Trinity pulled her closer and gave her a squeeze. “A lot of smart people are looking for him. Only a matter of time before he makes a mistake, and then we’ve got him,” Trin said.
Kiyomi nodded, tamping down her frustration. Finding Rahman couldn’t happen fast enough for her liking. She needed them to be the ones to get a bead on him, not leave his capture up to another organization or government.
Amber turned slightly to aim a smile at her, green eyes sparkling. “In happier news, I found your DNA results listed in your old Program files.”
“Oh.” She hadn’t even known Amber was looking for that. “Anything in there about who my father was?”
“Nope. But I did find something else you might find interesting.” A few keystrokes later, another map popped up on screen. “You’ve still got relatives living in Japan.”
Kiyomi held her breath as she studied the dots on the map and names on screen. “Who are they?”
“Most are distant, from what I can tell. But there’s one lady who I’m pretty sure was your mom’s half-sibling living in Kiyoto.”
Kiyomi had never known her mother had any siblings. A smile spread across her face, awe and excitement temporarily banishing all thoughts of Rahman. “My aunt.”
“Yes.” Amber smiled at her. “You’ve definitely got family out there.”
But none of them wanted me. Kiyomi blocked the thought and wrapped her arm around Trinity and set her other hand on Amber’s shoulder to squeeze it. “I’ve already found my family.” They might come from completely different backgrounds and had only known each other for a short time, but these women were like blood to her.
“If we’re having a group hug, I want in,” a voice said from behind them.
Chloe sauntered in wearing a long-sleeve T-shirt that read I love a good bang, her blond hair plaited in a long braid. Kiyomi lifted an arm to invite her in and they all chuckled as they did a group hug. “What did we find today?” Chloe asked, the scent of her mint gum wafting in the air.
“Some of Kiyomi’s relatives in Japan. I’ve been looking into everyone’s families, trying to find anyone who might be a surviving relative.”
“Yeah? Cool.” She chewed her gum as she studied the screens in front of them. “What about you and Megan?” she asked Amber. “Any luck finding your relatives?”
“Still trying to track down our long lost aunt. I’m down to eleven possible leads. It’s tricky to ask the women on my list what I need to know without giving away anything sensitive about our backgrounds.”
“If anyone can do it, it’s you,” Chloe said.
“In theory, yes.” Amber swiveled in her chair to face them, an annoyed expression on her face. “A second cousin I’d contacted took it upon herself to reach out to one of the women on my shortlist of suspects.”
“Why?” Kiyomi asked, immediately suspicious. “Just being nosy?”
“Not sure, but I’m keeping close tabs on her. She doesn’t even know me, has no way of verifying anything I say, yet she drops everything to help track a possible distant relative down?”
“Maybe she’s a busybody with nothing else to do,” Chloe said, jaw working as she chewed her gum. “Or maybe she’s just really nice and actually wants to help.”
Amber’s expression said she didn’t believe that last part one iota. “I’m watching her, just in case.”
Chloe nodded. “What are you gonna do if you find your aunt?”
“Get closure.”
Kiyomi didn’t blame her. The rest of them hadn’t had any immediate family to take them in after their parent or parents had died. For Amber and Megan’s aunt to give them up to avoid inconvenience to her own life was beyond shitty, even if she hadn’t realized what would become of them.
“And what about Rahman and the Architect. Anything new there?” Chloe asked.
“Rahman’s in the wind again,” Kiyomi said, unable to stem a surge of frustration. “Still no solid leads on the connection between him and the Architect. I’ve racked my brain and I can’t think of anyone who it could be.”
Chloe nodded, then her expression brightened as she turned her attention to the first screen. “Now this is more like it.” Her eyes gleamed as she studied the figures. “How much money’ve we got now?”
Amber laughed. She’d been secretly funneling funds away from human traffickers, terrorists and other criminals they’d tangled with, hiding it all away in various accounts in the Caymans, Bahamas and Switzerland. “More than enough for each of us to walk away from this and live in luxury for the rest of our lives.”
Since Kiyomi was good with numbers, she and Trinity had been helping Amber manage the finances. While she didn’t know the exact total at the moment, it broke down to over twenty million US per Valkyrie so far—and counting.
The catch was, when this was finally all over, for security reasons they would all likely have to split up and go their separate ways under new identities.
An ache started up beneath Kiyomi’s sternum at the thought of never seeing her fellow Valkyries again. But if the only way to ensure their safety was to go ahead with the WITSEC-style program they’d been working on, then that was just how it had to be.
And there was someone else who deserved a share of the pot too. “What about Marcus?” Kiyomi asked.
Trinity blinked at her. “What about him?”
“We’re going to compensate him for everything, for having us all here, right?”
He deserved at least that. She’d seen him poring over his spreadsheets, juggling his finances and paying endless bills for repairs and the staff required to keep Laidlaw Hall from falling apart. Running a place like this cost a fortune and he’d already had to sell off over half the property when he’d first inherited it in order to pay off debts accrued against it.
“Yeah, of course,” Amber answered. “The six of us will talk about that when the time comes and come up with a number we can all agree on.”
Kiyomi nodded, satisfied. She would give him a share of her cut if she didn’t think the number was high enough. He was a private man, but she knew he’d come to like having them all here. She hated to think of him holing up here all by himself, shutting out the rest of the world and just going through the motions of living once they all left. After what he’d endured, he deserved to truly live again and find happiness.
Even if it wasn’t with her.
They all turned at a knock on the door. Kiyomi’s heart leapt when she saw Marcus in the doorway, cane in hand and Karas beside him. His gaze locked with hers, and her welcoming smile faded at the seriousness of his expression. “Something wrong?” she asked.
“We’ve been called to MI6 HQ in London,” he said, looking between her and Trinity.
“Why?”
The sharp chime of a ringtone went off. Trinity removed her arm from Kiyomi’s waist and fished her cell out of her pocket. “That’ll be Rycroft,” Marcus said.
Alex Rycroft, former NSA legend. Trinity had done contract work for him over the past few years, and he was close with another Valkyrie named Briar.
As soon as Rycroft had heard about the threat against them all, he’d stepped up and offered to help spearhead their mission. He had enough contacts and pull with intelligence agencies all over the world that he continued to be a valuable asset for them, acting as their liaison without compromising their location or identities.
Trinity answered the phone, watching Marcus. “Hey, good timing. I hear some of us are going to London?” She paused, listening, then nodded. “Understood. We’ll meet you there.”
“What’s going on?” Kiyomi said to Marcus as Trinity ended the call.
His eyes were grave. “The SAS is conducting an op to raid a militant camp in the Syrian Desert tonight. Rahman’s suspected to be there.”
She stopped breathing, her heart beating faster. “Capture or kill order?”
“Capture. It’s my former squadron. One of my former troopers is the assault team leader. They want us in the ops room when it happens so you can help ID Rahman and his inner circle. And also because they feel you could offer real-time insights on what he might do.”
Because of her…intimate association with him.
A protest rushed into her throat but she swallowed it down. Wanting to bring Rahman down personally was secondary to nailing his oily ass to the wall. If the SAS captured him, then she could come up with a plan to kill him once he was in custody.
Kiyomi straightened. “When are we leaving?”
****
It had been more than two years since Marcus had stepped foot in this place, and yet it felt like yesterday as they cleared initial security and drove beneath the SIS building at Vauxhall Cross on the south bank of the Thames.
Alex Rycroft was waiting for them next to the secure elevator in the underground car park beneath the building. A tall, fit man in his mid-fifties, he’d been a vital part of the current Valkyrie mission from its inception.
Upstairs, Marcus’s former commander was waiting outside the ops room. “Laidlaw. Good to see you.”
“Ken.” Marcus shook his hand.
Ken turned to Kiyomi, an intrigued smile on his face. “And you must be Ms. Tanaka.”
She shook his hand. “Hello.”
After exchanging pleasantries with Rycroft and Trinity, Ken gestured for Kiyomi and Marcus to follow him into the secure ops room. “We’ve got a headset for you,” he told Kiyomi, gesturing for her to approach the bank of monitors mounted on the far wall, and the team of analysts monitoring them from desks below.
Marcus followed and hung back with Ken as another aide spoke to Kiyomi and explained what was going on. The first two screens showed views of the target camp; one via satellite and the other via thermal-imaging drone. “What are the odds that Rahman’s there?” he asked Ken.
“Upwards of ninety-percent.”
Marcus watched Kiyomi as she stood in front of the monitor showing the drone footage. Her posture was relaxed, her expression calm, but he knew what this op meant to her.
She would have mixed feelings about not being there, but at least if they captured Rahman tonight, they would be able to interrogate and pump him for intel. He wished he could be leading the op and capture Rahman for her. Kill him even, once they had what they needed.
Someone handed Ken a sat phone. He answered, spoke to whoever it was for a moment, then passed it to Marcus. “It’s Rory.”
A sudden, suffocating pressure closed around his lungs as a picture of his mate’s face flashed in his mind, bringing with it other images he wished he could forget.
He forced in a deep breath and took the phone, blocking the rush of memories. “Rory.”
“So you are still alive. I wasn’t convinced until just now,” Rory said dryly in his Geordie accent. “How are you, mate?”
“Fair t’ middlin’. How are things there? The lads ready?”
“Always. I hear you’ll be watching it live?”
“Looks that way.”
“Well, take notes. I’m gonna show you how it’s supposed to be done.”
Marcus cracked a grin. “That’s some bloody cheek.”
“Learned it from the best. Anyway, just wanted to say hello before the curtain goes up on this thing. And next time I’m back in the UK, we’re meeting for a pint.”
Marcus could do better than that. “You can come stay with me for a while.”
“An invitation to your fancy big house? I’m flattered.”
�
��Don’t let it go to your head.”
“Too late.” Someone said something in the background. “Gotta go, we’re wheels up in five minutes. Enjoy the show.”
Marcus handed the sat phone back to Ken. “Can’t believe how much I’ve missed that tosser.”
“He grows on you over time, though, doesn’t he?” Ken said with a fond smile.
Marcus stood a ways back from Kiyomi as the four teams took off from their base, loaded onto two helos. The room went silent and the audio feed began on the headsets.
Marcus recognized Rory’s voice as he issued commands. The third screen on the wall switched to a view from Rory’s helmet cam, the landscape lit up in green by the night vision optics.
Minutes later the lead helo touched down. Rory’s team jumped out, breaking into two assault elements as they rushed up the back side of the hill toward the camp perimeter. An overhead view from the drones showed the heat signatures of the troopers as they got into position.
Marcus’s muscles tightened, his pulse picking up as he waited for the order. Watching from this side of the camera was difficult, highlighting just how useless he’d become.
A few minutes later, Rory’s voice came through the headset. “Execute.”
The men burst from behind cover and converged on the camp. Taken by surprise, the sentries scrambled to fire but were cut down. Seconds later Rory’s team was at the main structure door. The screen went neon with the bursts of light as they breached the doors and rushed in.
An echo of adrenaline coursed through Marcus. Part of him felt like he was there making the assault. If he hadn’t been wounded and medically retired, it would have been him leading the op and giving orders. He knew their every move, anticipated every action and reaction as the team cleared the building.
I should be there.
It killed him to be out of the action, to stand here holding his fucking cane and be forced to watch his former teammates carry out the op without him. Unable to go after the man who had hurt Kiyomi so badly. Although if he hadn’t been wounded, he never would have met her.