Endings and Beginnings (Death and Destruction Book 8)

by Patricia Logan

  As Jarrett climbed, the smoke got thicker. Adael had really done a number on the armory, assuming that something else hadn’t caught on fire after he’d blown the thing up with the grenades he’d stolen. Jarrett started to really choke as he rounded the staircase at the third-floor landing. The smoke had gone from light gray to a thicker, more noxious brown. Whatever the building was made of was beginning to burn. Insulation, drywall, carpet, all kinds of shit. He wondered why he’d made the decision to go in and get the Israeli rather than wait for a fireman to perform the rescue, other than he literally couldn’t form the words to order an unarmed man into a building filled with hostiles. He turned to look at Parker, holding up a fist and coughing.

  “Be careful. Armed hostiles,” was all he was able to choke out. The man’s grim face told him he was looking out and he hefted the AR-15 in a silent gesture to let Jarrett know he was definitely ready. By the time they reached the fourth-floor stairwell, Jarrett was coughing with nearly every breath. He could feel his eyes burning and sweat poured down his filthy body, making rivulets through the grime he already knew was settling on his skin. He didn’t care. He wasn’t going to leave this man behind, regardless of the fact that Adael Dayan seemed to be his nemesis at every turn. The man was infuriating but at times, when Jarrett thought back to the two weeks they’d spent together, he remembered the way Adael had made him laugh and how much he loved the twinkling mischief in his mahogany eyes. It wasn’t all bad. It was the times and the outcome of Gaza City that tainted it all, Jarrett. Don’t forget who he was to you… and who he would have been if you’d let him.

  “There, sir!” Parker called out from beside Jarrett, snapping him out of his painful walk down memory lane.

  Jarrett saw the blood-spattered wall before spotting Adael’s crumpled form lying on the fifth-floor landing. He was in a seated position, propped against the wall with a smear of blood clearly visible staining the white wall at his side. He was holding an automatic rifle, but it lay sideways across his lap. His head rested back on the drywall and the eyes in the soot-stained face were closed. He’s dead. But some time after he’d fallen in the stairwell, Adael had at least managed to push himself up, staining the wall with a streak of blood.

  “Cover me,” Jarrett said.

  Parker replied something unintelligible followed by a round of coughing but when Jarrett turned aside to look, Parker’s stern face and the sharp nod told him he’d do as he was instructed. He lifted the rifle and looked through the sights as they slowly made their way up the stairs. They were within four feet of Adael when there was a shuffling above them. They both looked up as the form of a man materialized out of the smoke like some great demon from the underworld. He held an AK-47 pointed at the ground and the polished wood finish on the gun reflected off the single light remaining in the stairwell.

  Jarrett could make out slight streaks of blood on his torn fatigues in several places. He’d been hurt but he there wasn’t enough blood to account for a gunshot wound. His clothes were tattered, shredded, and burnt in places. Jarrett remembered Mac telling him that the fire had started when Adael blew up the armory with a grenade. In their haste, they must have gotten Nico out just as Drake Archer came around and crawled out of the room just as the grenades went off. Had he been inside, Jarrett couldn’t imagine him surviving. They’d left him for dead in the armory but they’d made a mistake because here he was. Jarrett and Parker both turned toward him, pointing their guns.

  “Drop the weapon, Archer,” Jarrett said.

  “Do you know what you’ve done to my company?” the man growled, his voice graveled from smoke. “To our country?”

  “No, but I’m sure you’re about to enlighten me,” Jarrett said, coughing once more. The smoke was growing thicker.

  “Do you know what I’ve given up for this country? My brother was shot down over Bagdad. I worked for a presidential administration who reviled our military and when we finally elected a president who started spending money on equipment, technology, and troops, I was relieved.” He stopped and coughed, his voice wheezing. “Then, another guy came into office and Congress gutted it all. They started selling weapons to all our enemies, giving aid to dictators around the world who tried to kill us. Did I get upset by that? Not at all. You want to know how I felt about it?”

  “No, but I’m sure you’re gonna tell me anyway,” Jarrett replied. His eyes were running and the smoke was getting thicker but they couldn’t pick Adael up and leave if the guy was going to shoot them in the back. He had no choice but to hear the fucker out. Jarrett could see Archer was now struggling to suck in air.

  “I felt more rage at my own country than I could have believed was possible. I started working for Stryker-Dunn and began to change the world. I hired the best of the best, military professionals who built an army to rival the US military. I felt proud when my country believed in me enough to hire Stryker-Dunn to support them overseas. Then, another administration came into power. That president cut the legs out from under us and gutted us once more. Fuck that.”

  “That’s why you started dealin’ with a rogue faction within the Chinese government? The fuckin’ Chinese?” Jarrett asked. He coughed again and spit. “Yeah, real patriotic.”

  “They were a means to an end. When I realized our government was going to cut back on the military once again, I threw up my hands and embraced the enemy. My own country didn’t want me. Besides, Chinese whores have an ancient way of milking you of your sorrow, your loneliness, and that awful feeling of being forsaken. Why not?”

  Jarrett had to end this bullshit. His head was beginning to spin from lack of oxygen and he knew they had to get Adael downstairs, if his friend was still alive.

  “Why not? Oh, I don’t know. I guess that would leave you with no emotions at all, ya dumb fuck. On top of bein’ a filthy traitor that is!”

  Rage crossed Drake Archer’s face as he raised the barrel of the gun. Parker opened fire before he even got it level and bullets slammed into Archer’s body. He jerked back and dropped the rifle. His body tumbled down the stair he was standing on and landed on the ground, facedown in front of them. He was no longer a threat.

  Jarrett ran to Adael and squatted. He lifted his face and touched his carotid. There was a slow but steady pulse but he was bleeding. When Adael’s eyes fluttered open, Jarrett could see him trying to focus. When he did, his beautiful smile spread across his wide lips.

  “You look like hell, Evans.”

  “You’re hurt, darlin’. We gotta get ya out of here.”

  Adael raised a shaky hand and cupped Jarrett’s cheek, staring into his eyes. “I loved you, baby… in my way, I loved you.”

  Inexplicably, Jarrett felt tears well up in his eyes. He wanted to blame them on the smoke but he couldn’t. He covered the hand on his cheek and nodded.

  “I know. Me too, honey.”

  Adael’s gaze softened but Jarrett broke it as he launched into a fit of coughing. When he’d finally recovered, he let his hand drop.

  “We’ll talk more about this later, Adael. We gotta get outta here.” Adael nodded and Jarrett stood up, turning to look at Parker as part of a burning ceiling tile rained down, crashing to the landing on the stairs. Too close. Shit. “Gotta go.”

  Parker stepped forward and bent to lift Adael. He moved the gun out of his lap and grabbed both of his arms, pulling him up with two massive paws, then lifted him gently until he was firmly draped over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry.

  “Okay,” he said, nodding at Jarrett. “Ready.”

  Jarrett nodded and led the way down the stairs, feeling emotions roil and rise up that he hadn’t felt in four years. Yeah, he might have loved the Israeli once but now, there was another man in his life, and that man was waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs.

  ****

  Thayne and his TAC teams were waiting at the entrance of the Stryker-Dunn building when Jarrett came out of the building. He’d practically charged up the stairs with his teams where
helicopters were waiting to evacuate them from the roof after he got the word that Nico and Mac were safe. He was anxious as hell to hear what had happened to Jarrett after his com cut minutes after they took off. The helicopters landed in the middle of the wide boulevard in front of the building and almost ten minutes passed as he watched Jarrett’s teams file out without him. He caught sight of Mac carrying a now unconscious Nico out of the building but there still wasn’t any sign of Jarrett. As Stryker-Dunn employees exited the building, there were plenty of ATF and FBI personnel waiting to take them into custody to be sorted out and detained until they could determine whether they should be immediately freed or not.

  He hadn’t been able to raise Jarrett on the com since before lifting off the roof of the building so when he finally came out of the building following a massive TAC team member dressed in an FBI vest and carrying an unconscious Adael Dayan, Thayne almost wept. He flew into Jarrett’s outstretched arms and felt his husband’s arms close around him in a tight hug. He stank of smoke and burnt plastic but Thayne couldn’t have cared less. He was safe. A second later, Jarrett’s helmet was on the ground and he was kissing him in front of their teams and the tight-knit group of friends who swarmed in and around them to offer their congratulations and swat Jarrett on the back. His face was smudged black like the coal miners’ they’d met after the mining accident in West Virginia. But the truth was, Thayne had never felt so relieved in his entire life.

  After Jarrett made sure Adael got into an ambulance and he let the paramedics look at him and Parker, Thayne convinced Jarrett to get into their Mustang and follow the others to Good Samaritan Hospital, the closest hospital to their location, where Adael and Nico had been taken by ambulance. By the time they got there, SAC Stanger and SAC Diaz informed both of them that Nico was awake and speaking. Mac was by his side.

  “But Mac is in with him now, right?” Thayne asked as he and Jarrett found chairs to wait in the large waiting area that had been set aside for them by the hospital.

  “Yeah, Nico wouldn’t allow anyone to touch him until he was certain Mac was all right,” Sarah said. She was grinning hard and her eyes were twinkling.

  “But Mac wasn’t hurt, was he?” Jarrett asked.

  “No. He came out of it fine,” Dev said. “But apparently, if you listen to gossip, Mac nearly broke Drake Archer’s jaw when he threatened Nico.” She said. “They left him behind in the armory before it blew up.”

  “He was alive when I went up there to get Adael. I’m pretty sure Archer was the one who shot Adael when he was covering our escape,” Jarrett said.

  “What? He’s alive?” Thayne asked, shocked. “Where…?”

  “Dead. He’s dead. He speechified for a while and then tried to kill me so Parker shot him. Saved my damned life. I swear if I don’t quit this business, I’m gonna spend all my damned days payin’ folks back for savin’ my fuckin’ life,” Jarrett drawled.

  “Holy shit,” Thayne said, smiling. He couldn’t believe that they’d escaped intact yet again. He was quiet for a minute as he processed all this and then glanced at his boss again. “So, Adael’s in surgery?”

  “Yeah, that’s what the nurse told us,” SAC Stanger said.

  “Yeah, he was shot several times,” Jarrett said. “By the time we got there, he was unconscious and bleeding profusely. He came to just as we got ready to come down the stairs. All I can say is thank God I had a tank with me.”

  “I’m sorry he was shot, Jarrett,” Thayne said, looking closely at his lover’s expression. He looked relieved.

  “I have to thank the Israeli. As pissed off as I was earlier, I gotta hand it to the man, he really came through for us once again,” Jarrett said.

  “He likes to stir up drama,” Thayne said. “That said, I feel sorry for him. He’s really brave when you think about it. He doesn’t have the partners we do and he seems to drift around alone in this world.”

  Jarrett nodded, lifting Thayne’s hand and planting light kisses on his knuckles. “Yeah, though we might not agree with his methods, he got the job done.”

  “Well, no one else would have probably blown up half a building instead of laying down covering fire,” SAC Diaz said with a laugh. “I’m glad he doesn’t work for me, that’s for sure.”

  Stanger snorted a laugh. “Hear! Hear!”

  They all chuckled.

  ****

  Jarrett’s head lay against Thayne’s shoulder when a hand on his own shoulder roused him out of a fitful doze. He blinked open stinging eyes to see Sarah’s smiling face as she bent over them. She looked slightly battered and very tired but she was still very beautiful.

  “Sarah,” Jarrett said, clearing his throat as the word came out gravelly. Thayne straightened beside him as Sarah’s hand dropped from his shoulder. He looked around and realized that they’d fallen asleep sprawled out in hospital waiting room chairs. The florescent lights burned his red eyes.

  “Nico and Adael are out of surgery,” Sarah said. She smiled encouragingly. “They’re both going to be okay.”

  “Thank God,” Thayne said from beside him.

  Jarrett made an effort to stand up from the waiting room chair and was forced to sit back down when his head spun with the effort. All his strength seemed to have leeched out of his body.

  “Sit down, baby. Rest,” Thayne said.

  Jarrett turned and stared at his husband’s concerned face. He nodded as he began coughing again. When he was finished, both of them were staring at him.

  “They gonna be all right?” Jarrett asked.

  Sarah smiled, setting her hands on her hips. She nodded and Jarrett saw the rest of his friends walking over.

  “They’ll both be just fine, guys,” Sarah replied. “Nico is in recovery and Mac is at his side.” She grinned wider. “Who saw that coming, huh?”

  Thayne chuckled. “Could have knocked me over with a feather.”

  “And Dayan?” Jarrett asked. “He’s gonna live?”

  “He’s going to be fine,” SAC Stanger said. “His boss at Mossad is pretty pissed at the moment but Dayan will live long enough to get an earful. I suspect he’ll wish he did die when he gets through getting his ass chewed.”

  Jarrett snorted. “Yeah, just like Adael.”

  “How about our operatives in South Africa?” Thayne asked, sitting up. “Any word?”

  “The CIA is back in touch with them. They’d gone dark because they knew someone was on to them. Fortunately, they’re safe now that this is all over. “Titus Kerr has been arrested and the Stryker-Dunn employees at the mine surrendered as soon as they got pictures of Drake Archer’s body which was recovered by the LAFD. The employees will be shipped back to the US for interrogation. I expect some of them will end up in Guantanamo Bay.”

  “Wow, that’s a lot to take in all at once,” Thayne said.

  “Not only that, the shipment to China was intercepted on the ground,” Sarah said. “It seems the initials from the emails we couldn’t make heads or tails of make sense now.”

  Jarrett had to think hard before he remembered what she was talking about. His head was still fuzzy. “They arrested someone with the initials TL and FR?” Jarrett asked.

  Stanger grinned. “You were the one who figured it out, Evans. TL is team leader and FR…”

  “Force Recon,” Jarrett finished for him, shaking his head. “Now I remember.” He tapped the side of his head. “Smoke inhalation.” He coughed for a few seconds before speaking again. “They weren’t people, just designations.”

  “Right. The US military loves acronyms, don’t they?” Dev said.

  “I wouldn’t have put it together,” Thayne said, offering Jarrett a sympathetic look. “Who knew Stryker-Dunn would have their own team of Force Recon boys?”

  Jarrett looked at Diaz. “So, they’re in custody too?”

  “Yes. They were on the ground in China waiting for the raw palladium ore to arrive so that they could turn it over to Xi Leji when they got there,” Diaz said. “He’s been t
aken into custody by the Chinese and the Mossad operatives inside Bohai Trading, have shut down the company and arrested Xi Leji’s employees. The last thing the CIA knows was that he was being airlifted to an undisclosed location, courtesy of the Chinese government. They denied seeing the shipment of palladium ore which had just landed at their port and told the ship’s captain he could stay only long enough to refuel his wayward vessel before they escorted the cargo ship back out of Chinese waters. The palladium ore is on its way back to South Africa.”

  “So, they denied the whole thing just as we expected they would.” Thayne stated.

  “Yes, and captured a man they called a traitor and criminal—Xi Leji,” Stanger said. “It’s a win-win for the Chinese and for us. We finally have enough proof that Stryker-Dunn was crooked from the very core of the company.”

  “I expect heads will roll in DC,” Diaz said. “Someone’s going to have a hell of a lot of shit to explain to Congress and I suspect they’ll hold hearings on themselves and how this all was allowed to happen with a US military contractor.”

  “They do like to eat their young,” Jarrett said, chuckling.

  They all laughed and Jarrett glanced around the waiting room before returning his gaze to Sarah.

  “You said Mac’s in with Devecchio? How is he?”

  “He’s good and so is his beautiful brain,” Sarah replied. “When he’s recovered enough, he’s going to sit for a long debriefing. Not only that, to back him up, the firefighters were able to recover the Minnow disks from a case they found beside Drake Archer’s body. Most of them are in good shape so Devecchio won’t be solely responsible for what he recalls. The disks will back him up.”