Into the Mist fmg-1

by Maya Banks

  “Yeah, I’d say so,” Mad Dog said in a near growl as he stood. “Where the fuck have you been, Ty? And who the hell was here with you last night?” He waved a hand at the bed that still looked like it had hosted a wrestling match, and in fact, it had. With his other hand, he held up the torn condom wrapper. Oh hell.

  Freaking maids would have to pick today to be lax on the job. Any other time, they would have been knocking on her door at an obscenely early hour in their haste to clean the damn room.

  She closed her eyes and flopped on the bed, letting her bag fall to the floor. Of the two things she could tell Mad Dog, her meeting with Esteban was not one of them. Which only left telling him about Eli. Not much of an improvement, but he wasn’t going to buy that no one had been in her bed and that she’d just happened off on a stroll through the streets of Paris on some sightseeing tour.

  “I’m waiting,” he bit out.

  “Eli Chance was here,” she said dully.

  Mad Dog swore then swore again. Anger vibrated from him, and Tyana glanced worriedly up at him. He gathered his hair into a ponytail in one hand and stood there, gripping the mane at his neck. His features were a study in trying to maintain control. He wanted to rage at her, and what prevented him, she wasn’t sure.

  Guilt pricked her conscience. She’d never kept things from her team. Until now. They were her family. Her only family.

  “How did he find you, Ty?”

  His nostrils flared with each breath, and his jaw was set in stone.

  Uncertainty gripped her. She wasn’t sure how he’d found her. But then how had Esteban?

  “Son of a bitch,” Mad Dog muttered. “You’re going to get us all killed.”

  She stared down at her hands.

  “Get into the bathroom and strip,” he ordered. “Go over every inch of your body. He must have planted a tracking device in Singapore. Do it, or I’ll do it for you.”

  She stumbled to her feet and hurried into the bathroom. Dread pumped through her veins. Her stomach swelled and rocked with nausea. Jonah would kill her. And she’d deserve it. She’d put them all at risk.

  She shed her clothes and began at her feet, feeling every inch of her skin. As she moved up her body, she tried to remember the night she’d spent with Eli in Singapore. Heat raced up her spine. He’d not left a single inch of her skin untouched. The damn thing could be anywhere. But where wouldn’t she easily find it? Accidentally knock it off?

  Standing to her full height, she stared back at herself in the mirror. The most logical place would be on her back or another such place she couldn’t easily reach and wouldn’t pay much attention to. She sighed. She’d have to get Mad Dog to help.

  She grabbed a towel to cover her front then went to the bathroom door and called softly for him. He was there in a second.

  “Did you find it?” he demanded.

  “Not yet. I need your help. It has to be somewhere on my back. Someplace I wouldn’t easily find it or accidentally knock it off.”

  “Turn around.”

  She complied, holding the towel tightly to her. His hands skimmed over her skin, and then he pushed her further into the bathroom where the light was better.

  “Lean against the counter,” he said as he felt along her spine.

  She glanced into the mirror and saw him frown.

  “Hold your hair up.”

  She reached back with one hand and gathered the strands. Mad Dog’s fingers slid up her neck into her hairline and felt around. He paused in the slight hollow at the base of her neck. His lips came together, and she felt a slight twinge.

  She whirled around to see him holding a tiny needle-like device, much thinner than a toothpick and only about a quarter inch long.

  Mad Dog stared grimly back at her as he held the tracking device between his thumb and forefinger. “He must have planted it when you were otherwise occupied.”

  Tyana closed her eyes and leaned against the counter. “I’m so stupid,” she whispered. “I can’t believe…” She didn’t even finish the thought, because she knew full well how she’d allowed it to happen.

  “I’m sorry, Mad Dog.”

  He sighed and cupped her chin in his hand. “Let me go take care of this little piece of technology, and then I’m taking you back to the island. Jonah’s going to have to know, you realize that, don’t you?”

  She nodded miserably. Jonah would flip out, and he’d lock their island down tighter than Fort Knox.

  “Is there anything else you want to tell me, Ty?” He stared at her with piercing blue eyes, his expression thoughtful. “Like about what happened last night?”

  “You can imagine what happened,” she muttered.

  Mad Dog raised one brow. “That was all? He followed you all the way to Paris for a quick fuck?”

  Her cheeks tightened, and she glared at him. “He wanted to know why I went after him in Singapore. We didn’t get into details. We might have if you hadn’t interrupted us this morning.”

  His eyes narrowed and his lips pursed. “I’m only going to say this once, baby girl, so you listen, and you listen good. Stay away from Eli Chance. Comprende? If you see him, if he comes near you, if he so much as breathes in your direction, you get your ass to me or Jonah and let us handle it.”

  Her teeth dug into her top lip as anger lit fire to her cheeks. “I can take care of myself. I don’t need you or Jonah acting like goddamn babysitters.”

  “Normally I’d agree with you, Ty. But this time you’re in way over your head. You’ve lost perspective. You lost it a long time ago when it comes to D. Now get dressed and get your stuff packed. We’re out of here just as soon as I get rid of this.” He held up the device.

  Tyana watched him go, helpless fury swarming her. The last thing she wanted to do was go home and face Jonah. But she wasn’t a coward, and she deserved what was coming to her. She’d stand up and take it like a big girl and hope Jonah didn’t hold a grudge forever.

  * * *

  Eli wasn’t fooled by the GPS coordinates. He knew Tyana wasn’t heading into Germany. She’d obviously found the tracking device, and he’d lay odds that her big friend had snatched her back to whatever island they hung out on.

  Tyana Berezovsky. “Sister” to Damiano Ruiz, or so Damiano had claimed. Only female member of Falcon Mercenary Group. Specialties were hand-to-hand combat and languages. She was proficient with knives and knew her way around explosives. She could also pick off a fly with a rifle at four hundred yards.

  Eli leaned back into the soft leather seat of his private jet as the pilot began taxiing down the runway. Next stop: Argentina. Despite Gabe’s assurances that Ian and Braden were okay, Eli wanted to see them for himself. He owed them that much. He owed them more than he could ever repay. And so far he’d come up with nothing in the search for a possible cure.

  Everywhere he turned, he encountered a door shut in his face. In a way it was his own damn fault. He’d put too much trust in the U.S. government and their extensive web. All of his contacts were in some way connected to the military. When he was part of the fold, things had run smoothly. If things went to shit, he could pick up the phone and call in back-up. Now that he was no longer a recognized entity by Uncle Sam, it was as if Covert Hostage Recovery had never existed. It was damn eerie.

  Now he faced rebuilding his network from the ground up, but his first priority had to be finding a way to help Ian and Braden.

  He closed his eyes and allowed sleep to come. He hadn’t rested in more nights than he could count. Even as he floated away, the tantalizing image of Tyana Berezovsky whispered at the edges of his mind.

  What did she want? What game was she playing?

  He could have followed her back to the island, but no doubt it would be an impenetrable fortress now that she’d found his tracking device. And besides, it was her move. She’d come to him. He was as sure of that as he was anything.

  He didn’t yet know what she wanted with him, but she’d find him again. And when she did, he’d be r
eady.

  Chapter Seven

  Jonah was pissed. Oh yeah, he was hanging on to his temper by a thread. He hadn’t even said anything to her. He just stared at her with that tick in his jaw, his dark eyes furious.

  And as predicted, he picked up the radio. “I want the entire island in lockdown,” he ground out to his security team. “No one gets on or off unless it comes directly, and I do mean directly, from me.”

  He dropped the radio and folded his arms across his chest. He continued to stare her down, but she didn’t flinch. She stared back at him as Mad Dog stood to the side, no doubt trying to figure out if he’d have to jump in and separate them.

  “You’ve compromised every single one of us with your actions.”

  Still, she didn’t say anything. An apology wouldn’t cut it at this point, and he wasn’t done with his lecture.

  “You can’t keep this up, Ty. Your attempts to help D are only going to bring trouble to our front door.”

  She looked down, no longer able to meet his gaze.

  “You’re out of commission until I can figure out what the hell to do about Eli Chance.”

  She yanked her head back up. “You can’t do that.”

  Fire blazed in his eyes. “I just did. You aren’t leaving this island. You’ll stay where I can see you at all times. Are we clear?”

  She glared at him, her teeth and lips so tight together her jaw ached.

  “I said, are we clear?”

  She nodded.

  “I want to hear it, Ty.”

  “We’re clear.”

  “I suggest you go find D. He’s not that happy with you either at the moment. If I can’t talk some sense into you, maybe he can.”

  She turned away, guilt and worry nagging at her. Why had he told D?

  “He’s not stupid, Ty,” Mad Dog said in a low voice. “You tend to think if you don’t talk about it, it doesn’t exist. Jonah didn’t have to tell D anything. He knew.”

  She walked out of the room, avoiding Jonah’s gaze. She went to find D. She’d missed him. Lately they hadn’t spent much time together. Between her search for Eli, and more recently her jaunt to Paris, she hadn’t had time to do much else.

  She found him on the deck, staring out over the ocean. She walked past the open sliding glass doors. He looked up when he heard her approach.

  “Hi,” she said in a soft voice.

  He opened his arms, and she walked into his embrace. She wrapped her arms around him and held on tight. Just like so many times before.

  His lips brushed across the top of her head. She turned her face up so she could see him. “How are you?”

  “I don’t want to talk about me.”

  She closed her eyes and buried her face in his chest. Strong fingers slid under her chin and forced her gaze back up to meet his.

  “I want to talk about you, Ty.”

  She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Don’t spoil things, D. Let it go.”

  He tapped her cheek with his finger, causing her to open her eyes again. “I’m not letting it go.”

  “There’s nothing you can say that will change anything. I don’t want to fight with you.”

  He sighed and gripped her a little tighter. “I won’t let you do this. Stay away from him, Ty. I won’t let you kill yourself for me.”

  She pulled away and gripped his shoulders in her hands. “I’m not going to get myself killed. You know I’m better than that. But if you think I’m going to sit back and watch you suffer, then you know nothing about me.”

  Damiano turned his back to her to stare over the ocean again. “What you don’t understand, Ty, is that I’d suffer more if something happened to you. Maybe you should think about that instead of trying to fix things you can’t change.”

  She curled her arms around his middle and laid her cheek to his back. She could feel the tremors rippling through his muscles. The resignation in his voice made her want to scream. Never had she felt so helpless in her life. Not in the orphanage, not when they came for her and Damiano, not when Damiano stood in front of her, determined to take whatever he could for her.

  “He’s stable, D. He has absolute control over his shifts. He has connections we don’t. Someone or something helped him. If it can help him, it can help you. I won’t accept that I can’t make this right for you. I won’t.”

  His hands closed over hers and pulled them up over his heart. “I’m asking you to stand down, Ty. Don’t do this.”

  She closed her eyes and kept her face buried in his back. He never asked her for anything. But this was one promise she couldn’t make him. So she said nothing, because she wouldn’t lie.

  * * *

  Jonah stared down at Damiano and Tyana lying on the couch in the game room. Ty was on the inside of the couch, curled into D’s body. D had a protective arm around her midsection and both were asleep.

  Even in sleep, D was tightly wound, his body tense. His breaths came erratically, seemingly torn from him under duress. Nerves twitched and muscles jumped.

  The two looked vulnerable. Despite their toughness. Despite the fact that Jonah knew they could take on just about any challenge. They wouldn’t be on his team if he had any doubts about their capabilities.

  But right now they reminded him of the two scared, starving kids he and Mad Dog had found on the streets of Prague so many years ago. They were running on empty.

  Jonah turned to look at Mad Dog who stood a few feet away. Helplessness he wasn’t accustomed to flickered uncomfortably in his mind. He was used to being able to meet any challenge no matter how great. But Tyana and Damiano mattered to him. They were his family. For the first time, he was faced with a situation where he wasn’t sure he could provide a solution.

  “How much of a threat is Eli Chance?”

  Mad Dog scowled. “To us? Not great, even if he did manage to locate the island. He’s nothing we can’t handle. To Ty, however…” He shook his head. “I’m afraid this has become more than a simple matter of her searching for answers. He’s gotten to her twice.”

  “Fuck waiting for him to relax his guard,” Jonah said coldly. “I want to know when he eats, sleeps, takes a piss and where he does it. When you have everything compiled, bring it to me. We’re going after him. I won’t take chances with Ty’s safety.”

  Mad Dog nodded. “I’ll get on it.” He paused for a moment then looked over at Jonah. “What are we going to do about Ty when we go after Chance?”

  Jonah fixed Mad Dog with a stony stare. “If I have to tie her up and have the Falcon secondary sit on her, I will. She’s not to leave this island again.”

  * * *

  Damiano’s guttural cry woke Tyana from a deep sleep. He rolled from the couch and hit the floor. She was beside him in an instant, her arms curling around his spasming body.

  “D, stay with me,” she pleaded.

  “Get away from him, Ty,” Mad Dog ordered as he strode into the room.

  “No. I won’t leave him.”

  Damiano arched and jerked. His hand caught her in the face. Pain exploded through her head as she sailed backward several feet. She lay there, stunned at his strength.

  “Jonah! Get the hell in here,” Mad Dog yelled.

  She stared at Damiano in mute horror as his body contorted. When his eyes opened, he stared at her without recognition. The pupils constricted and changed shape. They were no longer human.

  “No,” she whispered.

  Jonah and Mad Dog fell on him in an attempt to subdue the raging beast. Two more of their security personnel ran through the door. One carried a syringe.

  “Stun him,” Jonah barked.

  “No!” Tyana scrambled over to Damiano as he struggled beneath the men. “Don’t hurt him.”

  Mad Dog plucked her from the floor and held her kicking, writhing body away from the others. “Ty, stop. It’s the only way.”

  She twisted and fought, but Mad Dog held her fast. Finally, he pushed her to the floor and put one knee in the middle of her back and
held her arms behind her with his hand.

  “Goddamn you, Mad Dog.”

  With his other hand, he stroked her hair, the action at complete opposition to the force he was using.

  Damiano let out a cry of pain, and Tyana jerked beneath Mad Dog’s body. Then all went quiet.

  “D!” Tyana’s cry split the room.

  “He’s all right, Ty,” Jonah said as he got up from the floor. He looked over at Mad Dog. “Let her go.”

  Mad Dog eased off her body, and she crawled over to where Damiano lay, his breaths coming in quiet spurts. Tears filled her eyes as she gathered him in her arms.

  “I want him confined to quarters,” Jonah said to the security men.

  She shot to her feet. “Why are you doing this? I won’t let you treat him like an animal.”

  “Am I supposed to stand by and let him kill you, Ty?”

  “He won’t hurt me.”

  Jonah reached out and cupped her bruised cheek. “He already has.”

  “It wasn’t his fault,” she said desperately. “It wasn’t him. You know he wouldn’t hurt me.”

  “That’s just it. He’s not himself. I won’t allow him to endanger you just because you’ve lost all objectivity.”

  “We can’t all be the cold-hearted bastard you are,” she spat. She whirled around to see Damiano being carried out of the room. Jonah followed close behind. She started to go after him, but Mad Dog caught her wrist and held tight.

  She stared at him with accusing eyes. “You too?”

  “You’re not being fair to Jonah and you know it,” Mad Dog said quietly.

  Rage simmered underneath her skin, begged to be let loose.

  “Will it make you feel better to hit me?” he asked.

  Her chin sagged, and she looked away. “No, goddamn it, it won’t.”

  “Jonah is doing his best, Ty. Cut him some slack. He wants to help D just as much as you do.”

  She sank onto the couch and held her hands over her face. “I know. Damn it, I know.”

  Mad Dog sat down beside her and for a long moment neither of them spoke. She turned to him, finally breaking the silence.

  “I don’t know what to do, Mad Dog,” she whispered. “I don’t know how to help him, and it’s killing me.”