Resurrection River: Men of Mercy, Book 2

by Cross, Lindsay

  “Come on, tell me how you really feel.” Hunter appeared in the kitchen, his stance relaxed.

  “I’ll fucking tell you. Shane Carter. Is. Alive.”

  Hunter’s relaxed pose disappeared. “What?”

  “I can’t fucking believe it. I just can’t believe it.” Ranger paced to the refrigerator, grabbed a beer and downed the whole thing. He silently prayed the day would rewind, and he would wake up, surrounded by Amy’s soft scent.

  “You wanna run that one by me again? ‘Cause I swear you said Shane was alive.”

  “You heard me. I woke up this morning in his bed. Naked with his fucking wife.” Ranger threw the empty beer bottle, watching with no satisfaction as the glass shattered against the kitchen wall.

  Hunter got in his face and grabbed his arms. “Have you lost it? Shane Carter is dead. D.E.A.D. Dead. You saw the DNA evidence.”

  Ranger snorted and jerked away, immediately going for another beer. Maybe the alcohol could numb some of the pain. Ranger popped the top. Maybe if he drank enough he could pass out. “Apparently, our intelligent CIA isn’t so intelligent. They checked the fingers alright. And they were his. Want to know how I know? Cause the fist the fucker punched me in the face with was missing two fingers.”

  “Jesus Christ.” Hunter reached past him and grabbed a beer.

  “Exactly. Amy is at home with Shane. Alone.” Ranger suddenly realized how quiet the house was. “Where’s Chloe and Arturo?”

  “Evie took ‘em over to Hank’s to play. Maxine was there and wanted to see the kids.”

  “Good. I don’t want Chloe going near Shane until I know he’s okay.”

  “How the hell did he get here? And after all this time?” Hunter asked.

  “I don’t know, but something isn’t right.” Ranger shook his head, trying to clear the all-consuming rage from his mind so he could think straight.

  “You bet your sweet ass it isn’t. Why the hell aren’t you at headquarters having Hoyt pull surveillance?”

  Shit. Because he’d been so wrapped up in jealousy he’d forgotten about the danger.

  “I’m going now. I’ll clean the glass up later.”

  “Forget the glass. Get in the truck, I’m going with you.”

  A few minutes later, Ranger and Hunter parked in front of the pole barn that housed their current headquarters.

  “No one answered their phone, I’ll try again once we’re inside.” Hunter slapped a palm over the hand scanner and unlocked the steel entry door.

  “Don’t bother.” Ranger stepped inside and nodded to their team.

  “Dude, glad you two are here. I’ve been getting all kinds of traffic on Al Seriq’s network. Something big is up.” Hoyt spun around in his chair, putting his back to the computer screens.

  “We think he’s made contact somehow with Brown and has sent someone to pick up the weapons.” Merc straightened from his bent over perch at the table. Multiple maps and profiles lay scattered all over its surface.

  “Right. Grey is on the way from Ft. Greneda. ETA is about ten minutes,” Hoyt said.

  Riser, Aaron and Jared strode out of the weapons locker in the back, big black duffle bags in each of their hands. Jared said, “Just in time for the gun show, boys. Looks like Brown’s gonna have to move the weapons and when he does…”

  “I’ll be there with my M32,” Riser finished.

  “You’re gonna bring a grenade launcher?” Aaron asked.

  “Shit yeah, bro. Been waiting over a year to use this baby.” Riser lifted the M32 grenade launcher from the duffle bag, and held it in the upright position, nozzle pointed at the ceiling.

  “Put it up. That thing has a kill radius of ten yards.” Jared backed up a step, putting himself behind Riser and the huge weapon.

  “Don’t worry, I’m saving the rounds for my favorite sheriff.”

  “Wait, Hoyt, show me what video you’ve got of the movement at Al Seriq’s camp.” Ranger strode up to Hoyt’s computer center. It looked like a miniaturized version of NASA.

  “How far back?”

  “Give me footage from eight months ago.”

  Hoyt cast him a quizzical look but did as Ranger asked. “Hunter, come here.”

  Ranger leaned over Hoyt’s shoulder, studying the images. Most were taken from a distance. A few of Al Seriq talking to different men already known to be in his command. Hoyt started scrolling forward. “There wasn’t much from this time frame.”

  “Stop,” Ranger commanded. “Right there.” He pointed at the last monitor. A grainy photo of Al Seriq, standing on a concrete balcony overlooking his court yard. Multiple combatants trained below, but it was the man standing next to Seriq that held Ranger’s interest. “Who is that?”

  Hoyt clicked and zoomed in. “Can’t tell, he’s covered too much for our facial recognition to get a good read.”

  Dammit. “Okay, keep going.”

  There were too many coincidences to discount. Ranger fully expected to see something, anything.

  “Wanna tell me who exactly you’re looking for? If it’s Mr. J, don’t waste your time. I’ve already ran every possible image against his and come up empty. If he is still alive, and that is a big fucking if, he ain’t showing up near Seriq or his followers.”

  “Not Mr. J.”

  Hoyt crossed his arms and turned to Ranger. “I’m not budging til you tell me who.”

  Ranger squeezed the table, crushing it under the force of his grip. The man threatening my woman.

  “Shane.”

  All eyes turned to Hunter.

  Ranger stood, shoved a hand through his hair and sighed. “He’s alive. He showed up this morning.”

  “What?”

  “Where? How?”

  “At his house,” Ranger said.

  “Were you there?” Aaron asked.

  “I was in bed with Amy.” Ranger dropped the info and waited for the atomic bomb to explode.

  “Holy shit, dude,” Hoyt said.

  “Are you sure it was him?” Merc stepped forward and the rest fell silent, all eyes turning on Ranger.

  “Yes, I’m as certain as the black eye he gave me.”

  Jared let our whistle. “Talk about a cluster fuck.”

  Ranger resisted the urge to scream and instead said, “We had been together, the night before, when I woke up he was just sitting at the foot of the bed. Staring at me.”

  The moment replayed over and over in Ranger’s mind, the worst movie he’d ever had the misfortune to see. That sinking sensation that the world he’d come to know with Amy was over.

  “What did you do?” Hoyt asked.

  “I tried to keep it together. For her. But I kept getting this bad vibe from Shane. Something was way off.”

  The door slid open and the whole group turned to see Grey stride in. A call sound trilled from Hoyt’s computer. Gray kept striding forward and said, “Answer it.”

  Hoyt spun around, clicked some keys and took the video call on the back wall of monitors for the whole team to see. Grey strode to the meeting table in the middle of the room and hit the speaker in the center. “Go ahead.”

  Mr. K, Team Scorpion’s new handler appeared on the screens. His normally expressionless face was haggard. “Hoyt, I just had my man send you the intel. Pull it up so you can all see it.”

  “What is going on?” Grey demanded and crossed his arms.

  “You won’t believe me until I show you the picture. Hell, I didn’t believe it myself until our cyber forensics team confirmed it.”

  A huge ball of dread formed in the pit of Ranger’s stomach. Somehow, he knew. He knew before the picture even appeared on the screen. Too many coincidences. Too many surprises. “Fucking hell.”

  No one paid him any attention. All gazes were riveted on the blown up black and white surveillance image of a man in an airport. The image was grainy and way less than high definition, but the man was as clear as a cloudless sky.

  “No way,” Riser said.

  “Meet Seriq’s ne
west right hand man. Abdullah Asad Nassar, otherwise known as, Shane Carter.” Mr. K’s voice came over the comm and the room fell silent. “We lost track of him after that, but I know he’s in the U.S. I need your team to find him.”

  “Already done. I know exactly where he is.” Ranger felt ever single nerve fire. He’d been so wrong to leave Amy alone with him. With her husband. A terrorist.

  “How?” Mr. K asked.

  “I saw him this morning.”

  “When the hell were you going to inform me?” Grey turned stunned eyes on Ranger.

  “Now. That is why I’m here. He came to his house. I knew something was off, so I came here, looking for answers.”

  “Well you’ve damn well got them. You need to move. Now. He’s more than likely been tortured and turned. And if that is true, anyone close to him is in danger,” Mr. K said.

  “Amy,” Ranger breathed her name out.

  His pulse skyrocketed. He’d fucking left her with a psycho.

  “Easy, bro. We know where he is. We know exactly who is with him. How much easier can it get?” Hunter pulled Ranger’s attention from his self-recrimination.

  “If anything happens to her.” Ranger couldn’t finish the sentence. The thought was too painful.

  “I know. That’s why we go in together, and we go in prepared. He won’t be expecting an assault this early.”

  “My team here has been tracking all footage from your area. Heat signals. Nuclear. Anything we can find. If our estimates are correct, you better find Shane soon, cause if Brown has what we think he has, this isn’t just a shipment of automatic rifles,” Mr. K said. Another image replaced that of Shane, Abdullah, walking into the airport. This image was taken from a satellite. There were five very large, very obvious heat signatures.

  “We randomly stumbled on this around the time Marcus Carvant was killed. He’d kept it at your local papermill, hidden in with the barges.”

  Ranger stepped closer to the screens. “What is it?”

  “Long range missiles, capable of taking out an entire city. And capable of reaching the U.S. from another country.”

  “Son of a bitch.” Ranger couldn’t believe it. No way. This whole time, they’d been under the inclination that Marcus and Brown had guns. But not bombs.

  “I don’t need to tell you what will happen if Seriq gets his hands on these,” Mr. K said.

  “No, sir. We will recover the weapons, and we will recover Shane Carter.” Grey turned to face the team. Each man there nodded his agreement.

  “Do whatever it takes to keep these bombs out of their hands.” Mr. K signed off. The bank of screens on the back wall flashed, the bomb signatures seemed to glow.

  “You heard him. Gear up, get the fuck out of here and get me those damn weapons.” Grey walked over to the table and rifled through the papers.

  “Right, I think Ranger should take lead,” Hunter said.

  “I agree, he knows the lay out of the house better than any of us. He knows Shane the best. And Amy.” Merc pulled a black duffle over his shoulder.

  “Okay, me and Ranger in the lead. We can take my truck. It’s quiet. Ya’ll follow in the SUV.”

  “Roger.”

  Hunter made to stride past him, but Ranger threw out an arm, stopping his brother in his tracks. “Amy.”

  Hunter placed a hand over Ranger’s. “Don’t worry. We’ll all do our best to keep her safe. The traitor is who we are after.”

  The traitor, Ranger’s best friend.

  And the bombs.

  43

  Chapter 43

  Cold. The floor was cold and hard and digging into her back. Her body felt like a hollow shell of throbbing agony. Amy cracked open one eye, holding as still as possible in case he was still in the room. The lamp cast a glow over her body, but offered no warmth in the otherwise empty room.

  Amy tilted her head back, and saw the night sky through her window. A scraping sound from her closet drew her attention. Shane. Where was he? She stiffened and the small movement sent burning pain through her ribs.

  She forced herself to still and take stock. She gingerly moved her feet and legs first. She moved her arms and felt a twinge of pain in her right shoulder. The shoulder that had taken the brunt of her fall. Careful to keep that side still, she lifted her left hand to her face and cringed. Her eye was swollen shut and dried blood was on her chin. Those were pains she could recover from. But the constant grueling pain in her side was the worst. Every breath, every movement sent a fresh wave of agony shooting through her.

  Shane had always had a quick temper. She’d watched him go into a full blown rampage over things she would have considered inconsequential. But he’d never gotten violent. Ever. That first blow had shocked her to her core.

  Some innocent part of her had honestly believed he would never hurt her. But she hadn’t realized who she’d been facing. Not Shane. He’d called himself Abdullah.

  He might have been held captive at first, but it was glaringly obvious the man went to the other side. What side that was she didn’t know, but his mind was as warped and twisted as his hand.

  If he really thought of himself as Abdullah, why come home? Why not start a new life in his new country?

  Why ruin hers?

  She closed her eyes again, the effort to keep her lids raised drained too much energy. The air conditioner kicked on. Everything around her looked and felt normal. Everything but Shane.

  She heard him curse, and then a loud crash, and realized he was in the master closet through the bathroom. A scraping sound followed the crash, and then another and another after that. He was going through her drawers.

  This was her chance. If she could get up from the floor she could make a run for it. Amy planted one hand on the polished hardwood and wrapped the other around her ribs. Inch by inch, she rose from the floor. A wave of dizziness assailed her and she grabbed the bed post for support

  She had to fight through the haze. She had to call Ranger. Warn him. Make sure Evie kept the kids safe. Amy focused on putting one foot in front of the other. After a few seconds, she chanced a look over her shoulder. Shane was still in the closet.

  Her phone was in her purse, she remembered that much, but where had she left it? The answer came in a flash. She’d left it on top of the dryer in the laundry room. All she had to do was cross through the living room and kitchen to get to it. A feat that she’d done a million times before, only now she had to do it without her husband killing her.

  Focus, Amy. Think of the kids. Of Ranger.

  Amy took a small steadying breath and began her journey. She had to stop halfway and hold onto the doorframe. Her side screamed with every step, every breath. Her mind fogged. Nausea rolled in her stomach. Keep going.

  Amy made it through the living room. She got to the kitchen table and held there, mapping out the rest of the way. If she could get to the island, she could use it to help along. She took another step forward, blacked out a second, and then grabbed the counter with her free hand. She twisted and barely kept herself from falling. Agony exploded from her ribs, wrapping around her torso. Lights flickered around her periphery and the room grew fuzzy.

  She fought through the pull of unconsciousness. The laundry. Just get to the laundry. The next few steps felt like miles.

  Amy kept moving. Kept going forward. Then she was standing in the laundry room and her purse was laying right where she’d left it. She stumbled forward, dug in her purse and came up with her cell. She hit the first number that popped up.

  “Evie, is that you?”

  “Amy? What’s wrong?” Evie answered.

  Relief hit her so hard she almost crumbled. “No time. Shane’s alive. He came back. He-He’s not right. You have to keep the kids there. Keep them safe.”

  “What are you talking about? Shane’s been gone for a long time, honey. Where is Ranger? I thought he was with you?”

  The sound of Ranger’s name brought a wave of tears to her, but Amy forced it back. “No. Shane came hom
e. He’s here right now. But he’s crazy. Mental. Keeps calling himself Abdullah something.”

  “Oh, my God, you’re serious.”

  “Listen, you have to keep my kids safe, okay? Do not let him near Chloe. No matter what. He wants to take me back overseas. If he finds out about her, he will take her too.” Her voice broke on a sob she couldn’t hold in, and Amy slapped a hand over her mouth.

  “Is he with you now? Did he hurt you?” Evie’s voice took on a frantic edge.

  “Yes. Yes. Please, find Ranger. Tell him he needs to be careful. Shane will kill him.” Amy kept her voice as quiet as possible and glanced over her shoulder.

  “I will. What about you?”

  “I’ll figure something out. Just keep Chloe safe.”

  “Who is Chloe?”

  Amy gasped and spun around. Shane stood in the doorway, blocking her only exit. She wouldn’t survive him alone. She needed help. She needed Ranger.

  “I have to go now. Just do what I said.” She forced her voice to stay calm.

  “Give me the phone.” Shane held out his hand.

  “Amy, hold on. Don’t hang up.” Evie’s voice was frantic, but Amy was focused on the stranger in her house.

  “I’ll talk to you later.”

  Amy hung up. Shane walked forward, shirtless now, his hand held out. Amy bit her lip, knowing she would be handing over her only communication with the outside.

  “Now.” Shane commanded, whiplashing her back to reality.

  She could try to fight him, caged in this tiny room and barely able to breath from the pain, or she could cooperate. Maybe lull him into believing he had her beat. Amy ducked her head and held out the phone.

  He swiped it from her palm and she peeked up to see him slide it into his pocket. Without his shirt, she could see every single sinew of muscle. He was lean, but she knew from experience, incredibly strong.

  “What are you going to do?” She held her breath, waiting on his answer. Or the next blow.

  “You mean, we. What are we going to do.” Shane backed her into the dryer, her side hit the corner and she cried out. Shane’s gaze dropped to where she clutched her side. He reached out and moved her hand away. Amy sucked in a breath. Shane lifted her shirt and tsked. “You’ll have to learn to listen to your husband. I do not like seeing you in such pain.”