Men of Mercy: The Complete Story

by Cross, Lindsay

  “Think?” What was she supposed to think? She didn’t know anything about them or what they did. Her entire world had just been turned upside down – she couldn’t think past the next street.

  K shifted from his right foot to his left, ignoring the people passing them by. “Look, they’re good guys who do good work. You’d be working with someone who respected you.”

  She bit her lip. “I don’t know…”

  “It’ll give you some time and cash to figure out what you want to do next. It’s a win – win.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I mean unless you’ve already got something else planned.”

  The only thing she had planned was downing the entire bottle of merlot in her apartment and licking her wounds. Her current cash situation would get her through the next six months if she was frugal and she could probably find a job in another state working for a tech company or something.

  K was offering her an opportunity to serve and maybe keep her in a field similar to her own. She might not have to start completely over. “Any of them chauvinists?”

  K grinned. “Nope. Half of them are happily married. I promise, you’ll like them.”

  She adjusted her bag on her shoulder and blew a strand of black hair out of her face. “Fine. I’ll do it.”

  K rocked up on his toes. “Great, I’ll call Grey and let him know you’re coming to the interview.”

  “Interview? I thought you said they needed me for a job.”

  “They do. Grey’s just gotta clear you first.”

  Chapter 3

  Ethan Slade, Sergeant 1st Class of Task Force Scorpion, an ultra-classified unit of the United States Special Forces, downed a gulp of his cowboy cold beer, silently wishing the dive he'd ended up in had invested in a refrigerator that actually kept drinks cold. As it was, his decision to go out with his buddies tonight was starting to look a lot more like a bad idea than he'd originally thought.

  After the attack last week on TF-S’s headquarters by their old CIA liaison, Mr. J, his team needed a minute to wind down and get some of the leftover adrenaline out of their veins. Aaron, Riser and Ethan had been the trio who'd decided that going out, slamming back a few and finding a woman was the answer.

  “Look, she's still staring at you. Ethan, you need to go talk to her.” Aaron Speirs, TF-S’s medical sergeant and resident jokester, nodded his head toward the bleach blonde a few tables over. To civilians, the trio looked like everyone else. Bearded, regular clothes – they were meant to blend in to any surrounding, but to those who paid closer attention, they might notice the way each man at their table constantly scanned their environment, looking for threats.

  Ethan glanced her way. “Not my type.”

  Riser Malone, assistant medical sergeant, rolled his eyes, a lock of shaggy blond hair fell in his face and he tucked it behind his ear. “You don't have a type other than female.”

  “Yeah, I saw you hook up with two chicks in one night,” Aaron chimed in.

  That had been a long night and one he never wanted to repeat. The years of deployments and random women to fill the spaces between didn't hold the same appeal anymore and he didn’t know why. Not that he wanted to settle down, he just wanted...something. Something he knew the already-buzzed blonde likely couldn’t provide.

  “You still jealous I stole that girl from you? I'm telling you, she climbed in my lap, not the other way around.”

  “Jealous? You're crazy. I practically gave her to you,” Aaron said.

  Ethan might not want to go back to his wild partying days, but he had no intention of missing the opportunity to rib his best friend. “That why you pouted like a girl for the whole week?”

  Riser snorted and said, “More like a wittle baby.”

  “Like you did when Cheri told you she just wanted to be friends?” Aaron said.

  Riser's laughter stopped and he glared across the table. “That was just a minor speed bump. We still talk.”

  Riser's attempt to date the waitress back at The Wharf had hit an abrupt dead end, leaving his buddy scratching his head. Riser normally kept to himself, but Cheri had hurt him, and that wasn't what Ethan wanted Riser stuck on all night. “I thought ya'll said the rest of the team was meeting us here.”

  “Awww, you boys miss me already?” Ranger, assistant team leader, stuck his head over Ethan's shoulder and batted his eyelashes.

  “About time. Where's the rest of the guys?” Aaron said.

  Ranger pulled a couple of extra chairs from a nearby table and took a seat. “Just me and Colonel Grey tonight. The rest of the guys are getting some personal time with their women before our next assignment.”

  Colonel Mack Grey, TF-Scorpion's commander, in his typical navy pullover and khaki shorts slid into the open seat on Ethan's right. “And I'm not here to stay, just to give you an update.”

  “Merc?” Riser leaned forward and placed his forearms on the table, Aaron following suit.

  Merc was the ghost member of TF-S and he’d left immediately after the attack to go overseas and track down Mr. J. The rest of TF-S had to stay stateside and finish cleaning up the mess before they could go. Ethan’s entire being itched to be in Afghanistan right now, but he’d have to wait, just like the rest of them, until they got new intel.

  Grey nodded. “He may have a lead on Mr. J. He's tracking him to a village in the Indus Valley and thinks J is possibly holed up in a fortress supplied by the Islamic State of Afghanistan, ISA. He’ll be expecting us to counter after we took out the whole mercenary team he sent to attack us.”

  Ethan’s hands fisted in his lap. TF-S was his family. His only family, and J had nearly succeeded in taking them out. “I want to go now.”

  Death was the only solution to the traitor and Ethan had every intention of being the one to take the bastard out, even if it meant spending the rest of his life hunting him down. He had nothing to lose, not like most of the others. They had families who needed them and he had no one – just the way he liked it.

  He didn’t want or need anyone in his life to take care of other than himself and his team. The Special Forces didn’t exactly lend itself to the family life anyway. “I need to grab a few supplies. My boots and Camelbak ate it in the explosion at headquarters. Ranger, think your dad will let me store my bike in his barn?”

  Ranger signaled for a beer and tipped back in his chair, running a hand through his rangy blonde hair with a grin. “You know Hank’s all about it man. You don’t even need to ask.”

  “You're not going anywhere. I got a call from Joint Special Operations Command, JSOC, today. You've already gone over the number of sequential days on duty overseas.” Grey turned to Aaron. “You too.”

  “What?” Aaron pushed back in his chair.

  “I'm volunteering,” Ethan said.

  “Right after you take two weeks of leave. Sorry boys, but we’re all stateside. Only reason Merc got out is because he hopped a flight before they logged him at the base.”

  “Fuck that.” The last thing Ethan wanted or needed right now was two weeks of nothing to do and nowhere to go while his brothers risked their lives going after a monster.

  Until last week when Mr. J tried to have TF-S and their families murdered, everyone thought J had died in the same ambush that had resulted in TF-S’s sniper, Shane Carter’s capture and ultimately his death.

  Grey sat up straight, his spine stiff as a damn metal pole. “Watch it, Slade. You’ve been walking the edge of my patience and it’s about to run out.”

  “We can’t stay over here now, not when we’re so close.” Ethan slammed his fist on the table. “Don’t you want to get the man who betrayed you?”

  “What the hell do you think? He tried to kill my team. I’m responsible for each of you.” Grey’s voice came out so quiet Ethan had to lean in to catch his words. “We don’t have a choice.”

  Ethan grabbed his beer and downed it in one gulp, attempting to quench his thirst for revenge. Ethan knew Grey wouldn’t risk losing J if there was any chance of his
capture, but he wasn’t thinking with his brain now.

  His last trip to Afghanistan had morphed from a recon mission to the damn American Horror Story. A few months in, Ethan had unintentionally stumbled over a big ass rock of information and discovered that Mr. J, who had been long thought dead, was actually alive and kicking. And the fucker had not only betrayed his country, but he'd been hired by the very terrorist TF-S had been tracking for the past few years. Even worse, Mr. J had put out a hit on TF-S and their families, sending assassins out to have them all murdered.

  Grey carefully placed his arms on the table and threaded his fingers together. His lips pulled tight, forming little lines at the corners. “That’s not all.”

  Ranger let his chair tip back down to the floor with a thud, a look passing to Grey.

  Ethan tensed. “What?”

  “We won’t be doing any R&R. We’ve got to do a detail for Senator Cotter.”

  “As in the Senator over JSOC?”

  Grey nodded. “Yep.”

  Aaron sat back in his chair, surveying the bar. “Why’s he need us? He’s got his own security detail.”

  “His daughter is marrying General Rainier.”

  “As in our commander?” The four-star general in charge of the entire Joint Special Operations Command at the Pentagon.

  “Yep,” Grey said.

  Ethan grunted and flagged the waitress for a refill. “Isn’t he in his fifties?”

  Ranger nodded and then lifted his hand and rubbed his fingers together. “It ain’t a love match, bro. It’s a business merger. Those two run JSOC and Cotter’s got enough money to run a small country. They’re just keepin’ the power up top.”

  “How old is she?” Aaron asked.

  “Caroline Cotter is twenty-six,” Grey said.

  Ethan’s stomach turned. Fucking rich people and politicians, they were all the same. Cotter was serving up his only daughter on a silver platter to a man old enough to be her grandfather just to maintain his seat. “So Cotter’s making sure he keeps his position anyway he can.”

  Grey’s steely eyes narrowed, but he didn’t shift his posture. “The reason behind the union isn’t any of our damn business. We have our orders and we will follow them, your opinion doesn’t matter.” Grey got to his feet, locking his gaze. “You leave tomorrow. I’ll follow in two days after I’ve finished building the team for the security detail.”

  “A team?” Ethan asked quietly. They had a full-team of highly-trained operatives.

  “Cotter doesn’t want his daughter to feel uncomfortable. He’s ordered we use two females as her personal bodyguards during the ceremony.”

  “Where?” Aaron asked.

  “A couple hours south of here. He's rented out a plantation a few miles out of Natchez.”

  “Hell yeah, my grandma lives down there,” Aaron said. “I haven’t gotten to visit her in months.”

  Ethan held back his grimace. “You really want to bring in two strangers we’ve never worked with before? You would trust them?”

  “It’s not a choice.” Grey turned to leave. “You head out tomorrow at 0500.”

  Ranger stood and clapped Aaron on the shoulder. “Well boys, the wife is waiting. I’ve wasted enough time with you two ugly mugs.”

  After Ranger left, Ethan turned to Aaron, who’d taken on a thoughtful look. “What?”

  Aaron downed his beer and stood, slapping a ten on the table. “I just remembered I needed to do something.” Aaron glanced over Ethan’s shoulder and grinned. “Looks like you’ve got something to do, too.”

  Ethan followed his teammate’s gaze to the bleach blonde weaving her way over, pausing to give her a closer look. He’d lied when he said she wasn’t his type. She was exactly the kind of woman he preferred. A one night stand might be enough to get rid of some of his pent up frustration and get him through the next couple of weeks. “Ah, hell.”

  Aaron gave him a wink. “Don’t stay up all night, you’re driving tomorrow.”

  Ethan glared at Aaron’s back as he left the bar, but he didn’t fight the blonde when she slid onto his lap and said, “you look like you could use a friend.”

  “Got a place nearby?”

  She slipped her arm around his neck and leaned in close to his ear. “About a mile from here. Wanna give me a ride?”

  Chapter 4

  Kate Richards shifted in the sleek chrome and black leather seat, plucking at an invisible piece of fuzz on her black pant suit and trying not to squirm under the intense stares of Colonel Mack Grey and Ranger James.

  Grey sat tall in his chair, his intense gray eyes seeming to peel back layer after layer of all of Kate's thoughts and memories even though no one said a word. Ranger, with his sandy blond hair and light blue eyes, leaned forward and steepled his fingers together, placing his elbows on the desk separating Kate from her potential new bosses. "So tell me Miss Richards, why did you quit the CIA?"

  Kate hid a grimace and bit back her initial response, that her boss was a sexist asshole. Instead she offered them a tight smile, and the carefully blank expression which she'd honed over the years as an analyst for the CIA. "I had reached a plateau in my career, unable to advance further in my field, I decided my services would better serve my country elsewhere."

  Kate’s giant F-you to her ex-boss, Agent Lamar Franks, when he’d told her he’d never allow her to be promoted, no matter how many extra hours she put in had been the first time she’d lost control since she’d flipped her car going down I-30 as a teenager. What she’d said had done as much damage to her career as she’d done to her little Malibu.

  Grey spoke, drawing her back to his office. "I spoke with your previous employer. He stated that he consistently had an issue with your work ethic and with you having inappropriate relations with coworkers."

  Kate’s heart ski sloped down into her belly, hit the bottom and bounced back up, sending a rush of hot blood to her cheeks. Frank's intent was to leave a permanent scar on her career. "I'm sure Franks told you all kinds of stories, except how he tried to force me to have sex with him to keep my job."

  Grey’s eyes flared and Kate bit her lip, soundly cursing herself and her big fat mouth. It was like quitting her job had ripped off the tight lid of control she kept on every aspect of her life.

  Kate opened her mouth to apologize, but Grey held up his hand. “You know, I kind of got that vibe, that's why I went ahead and spoke with some of my other contacts at the CIA, none of which had anything good to say about him.”

  Surprise filtered through her. She’d been the only female in her unit, working quietly among a group of men who’d stood by in silence as Franks constantly harassed her. “They did?”

  “After more digging, I found out there were three separate sexual harassment suits filed against him that had been quietly swept under the rug.”

  “Those were sealed documents. How did you get them?” They were also highly classified. The CIA had witnessed the media’s field day with the military when the law suits accusing superior officers of sexual harassment and assault hit the courts and they’d done everything in their power to sweep their own little problem under the rug.

  Grey offered his own tight smile, “That is what I do, Agent Richards.”

  Kate sat back in her chair, her thumb immediately going to the simple silver ring she wore on her right hand and spinning it around her ring finger. She’d have to reprise her original assessment that Grey’s team was a group of mercenaries for hire.

  For the first time in the interview Ranger cracked a smile. "Is it true you kneed him in the nuts when you quit?"

  Kate spun the ring faster as she frantically reached for the appropriate response. If she glossed over that very true fact, they might take her as dishonest. If she agreed and told the truth, they might think she was some sort of rogue agent unable to work with others. Neither of those options were shining letters of recommendation.

  Then again, she wasn’t a liar, and she couldn’t start being one now, even if it me
ant losing this opportunity. Kate uncrossed her ankles and sat straight. “Yes, I did, after he tried to feel me up.”

  Ranger turned to Grey. “I like her.”

  Grey didn’t answer his soldier, instead he continued to pin Kate to the spot. “You’ve been a CIA analyst for nearly seven years. How much experience have you had in the field?"

  “I've had minimal field experience, sir. However, I am trained in hand to hand combat, evasion and weapons qualified. I’m also the best code breaker within the whole CIA.”

  Grey frowned and Ranger gave him a slight head shake. A trickle of worry formed between Kate’s shoulders. “If you need references for my certification and qualifications in field training, I can provide them."

  "I'm sure you can, it's not your qualifications that I'm worried about, it's the fact that you haven't actually been in the field since you first started with the CIA," Grey said.

  "I train daily and hit the range at least once a week. I promise you, I can handle any physical task you assign me, and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to meet your standards."

  "Of that I have no doubt, Ms. Richards. It's your gut instincts, your immediate reactions to threats – that's what is the unknown here. And I'm looking for a specific type of person, a female, for the next mission we've accepted. I have no doubt your brain capacity functions at a much higher level than mine – but do your reactions happen as quickly?"

  As if his last word was some signal, Ranger bolted from his chair and rounded the desk in three strides, ripping a pistol from behind him as he came at Kate full force.

  Kate’s lungs locked down and she rolled from the chair. She hit the ground and scissored her legs, tossing him to the ground. His pistol flew over his head and scraped across the floor, banging into the back wall of the office. Kate was on her hands and knees, heart thundering as she scrambled after the weapon, Ranger clawing his way right behind her.

  What the hell was going on? Was this some kind of set up by Franks? She shouldn’t have threatened to expose the recording she had of Franks making a deal with Mr. J.