Firethorn (Discarded Heroes)

by Kendig, Ronie

  Pulse ricocheting through his temples, he groaned when he realized he couldn’t remember coming back. Not even the flight back. He remembered the heinous firefight, and him wishing like nobody’s business Griffin had been there to assist with Cowboy’s sniper skills, since they’d plugged Marshall into the middle of the chaos, but…

  Why couldn’t he remember coming back? What happened? Why did his legs feel like anvils?

  “Augh!” Marshall fisted his hands—about the only thing his hands would do.

  This was wrong. Everything was wrong. In the back of his mind, something pinged and reverberated through his soul. A soul that would never get the Saint of the Year nomination, with his tendency to rebel against his father and established institutions, but he wasn’t rebellious. There was a difference. He’d seen it in other kids growing up. But his dad couldn’t. All Senator Vaughn saw was that his son wasn’t following in his footsteps.

  Not in a million years. Okay, yeah—he found a raucous pleasure in defying his dad in that area. If that made him a rebel, then cool. He wasn’t a James Dean or even a Max Jacobs.

  As if an arrow had been shot through his temple, pain spiked through his skull. Marshall jerked and slammed his eyes shut as a million different images and a horrendous sense of doom swallowed him. Wracked with guilt and intense pain, he squirmed in the bed, the sheet stretched taut over his body, tucked in on the sides. Foul and wicked, black formless beings chased him into the darkness.

  His heart rate soared. They weren’t real. Couldn’t be. But he could feel them. He ran toward the Shack. Safety. Home.

  BoooOOOOmmm!

  “No!”

  “Here,” a stern voice broke through the adrenaline-laden dream.

  Marshall squinted around the haze of sleep. When had he fallen asleep?

  A woman stood beside the bed. She was older, laugh lines cutting into her mouth and blue eyes, which matched the scrubs she wore. She injected something into an IV, and only then did he notice the line planted in his arm.

  “What is that?”

  Without answering, she turned and left.

  Wow, some bedside manner. But even as she disappeared through the door, Marshall felt a chill rush through his veins, relaxing his body. Yeah, this is nice…No cares. No pain. Just…

  CHAPTER 14

  Over the Greek Isles

  Hang on. This is going to hurt!”

  Griffin tucked his head between his knees, and somewhere in the wicked silence of no engines and yet the roar of the wind pushing the aircraft, he heard Madyar crying out, “Oh Lawd, protect us. Send those angels, Jesus!”

  Amazing peace rushed through him. And he knew—knew it was going to be okay.

  He peeked through the two cockpit seats and saw the terror etched into Kacie’s face. Her white-knuckled grip. “Kacie.”

  She didn’t flinch from her rapt attention on trying to make them survive.

  “It’s okay, Baby Girl. God’s got our backs.”

  In the second he spoke, a sea of blue rushed up at them. His breath backed into his throat. Mercy, Lord. Don’t make a liar out of me.

  Head down again, he folded his arms around his head.

  Bam! Whoosh!

  Inertia threw him forward. He jerked back. Groaning and creaking erupted throughout the cabin. A gurgling noise drew his gaze up.

  Kacie launched over the front seat, landing practically in his lap. “Grab the seat, it’s a flotation.” Something dark covered her temple and part of her hair.

  “What’s on your—?” Blood. She must’ve hit her head on impact.

  “Flotation,” she snapped, pulling out of his reach. “Unless you have gills hidden in those mountains of muscles.” Kacie pushed around him.

  Plunk! A drop landed on his face. Water. Sea.

  Drowning. He might be able to take down Hercules, but facing Poseidon was another thing. Griffin swung around and ripped the bottom seat free. He grabbed the other for Aladdin as Kacie shoved open the door.

  Like a demonic presence, water rushed into the cabin, and she leapt into the seat. Aladdin grunted at the cold water swirling around him and peeled himself off the floor.

  “Nice of you to join the living again.” Griffin helped him to the door. He tossed the first seat out, then the second.

  Holding his breath, he jumped into the water, submerged, then pushed himself upward. When he broke the surface, he saw Aladdin leaning against the portal where the door flopped. His knees buckled and swayed before he caught himself.

  “Come on, assassin! I’ll catch you.” Griffin grinned. Taunting the man would push him to man up. He shoved a cushion toward the assassin. “Here’s your life preserver. Sorry, all the pink sea horses were taken.”

  Aladdin groaned and slumped into the icy liquid.

  Griffin dove and ringed an arm around the man’s chest and pulled him up, coughing. He swam to the cushion and waited till Aladdin had himself stretched over it.

  “I…kill…you.”

  Treading water, he patted the man’s back. “Whenever you think you’re man enough.”

  “Why do you antagonize him? He’s injured.”

  Griffin blinked away the water that splashed in his face and reached for the other flotation device. He wouldn’t answer that. He didn’t expect her to understand. So it shouldn’t bother him that she thought he was mean. “Where do we head?”

  Grooooannn.

  Griffin pushed away, dragging Aladdin as the plane dropped below the surface, leaving a wake of bubbles and hissing.

  “Beautiful.” Griffin clenched his teeth, thinking of all the equipment plummeting to the ocean floor. Good thing none of it was marked.

  “Yeah. It is. Our trail is gone.”

  Thanks to the moonlight dumping over the water, he saw a hard, angry edge locked into her face. “Then what’s wrong?”

  She snapped a look at him but didn’t answer.

  Again with the not trusting. If he wanted her trust, he’d have to show a little, wouldn’t he? Swallowing his pride and a mouthful of seawater, he let go. “Okay, Baby Girl, lead on.”

  Her eyes widened for a split second. And in that expression he saw not only the obvious surprise, but appreciation. “We…we need to get out of the water.”

  “Astounding.”

  Another glare as her gaze raked their surroundings. He might not be trained in facial expressions like some spooks, but her face was as easy to read as Dante’s kindergarten primers.

  “Are we lost?”

  He wasn’t sure, but it sounded like she cursed.

  “Did that help?”

  “Look,” she snapped. “Get off…” She bit down and treaded water. “Let’s get to shore.”

  “Com…ny,” Aladdin mumbled.

  Griffin frowned. “Say what?”

  “Boat,” Kacie hissed from behind. “Dive!”

  “We can’t. He can’t go under. He’ll die.”

  “That’s the authorities.”

  Griffin hesitated, then an idea seized him. He nodded. “Dive.”

  As the boat roared closer, a spotlight blinked on and stabbed the waters.

  Nose pinched, Griffin let himself drift downward. As he kept his movements small to stay below but enough not to sink all the way down, he felt a flutter at his side. Kacie remained nearby as the wake of the boat churned the waters into a furious foam.

  Engine rumble slowed.

  From his spot, he watched the bottom of the boat. Aladdin’s legs dangling below. Then his right leg drew up…out. Gone. Completely gone.

  They’d taken Aladdin.

  “Are you out of your mind?” Kazi shouted as she spit water from her face. “They just took your man!”

  “To a hospital.” Legend swam away without another word.

  Kazi pinched her lips together and threw her anger into swimming. How could anyone abandon a friend like that? What was wrong with this man? One minute he was cracking jokes at the expense of someone whose hands he’d put his life in, then he was sav
ing him, then he let the authorities pick him up without batting an eye.

  Just goes to show she couldn’t trust anyone. Especially men. She had a slew of them as proof—Roman, Boucher, Carrick to start—so why it surprised and angered her that Legend joined that crowd, she didn’t know.

  When she finally dragged herself onto the pristine beach of Cyprus, she plopped down, breathing hard. She pounded the sand. Why. Couldn’t. Anything. Go. Right? The workout from the exertion made her lungs burn. Her head throbbed as if someone were using it for batting practice. A knot had already formed above her right eye.

  Legend stood propped against an overturned boat, holding his knees. His black shirt rippled with each breath thanks to the caress of the moon against his wet shirt.

  Kazi shook her head. This mission couldn’t be over soon enough. She punched to her feet and stalked away up the sandy stretch.

  Legend caught her arm.

  She jerked free. “Let’s get this straight—don’t touch me.”

  “I get it—you have trust issues.”

  “Yeah, I do. Starting with you.”

  He cocked his head and furrowed his brow.

  “How could you abandon him? He was one of your own, but you were so ready to dive. I’ve seen you treat him with contempt, talk to him with utter disregard for his feelings. At the first chance, you ditch him.” She should calm down. But the more she talked, the more fire raged within. “I thought you were a team. I thought you stuck with your boys?” She batted the hair stuck to her face. “But the first chance you get, you sell him out. That boat came, and you could’ve saved him. We could’ve done it together—protected him, taken them. But you knew they’d grab him. And what is it with you people? Are you cursed? How can so many things go wrong?”

  His expression remained unchanged.

  “You don’t care. You honestly don’t care.” Unbelievable. Did the man even have a heart?

  “Are you done?” Something simmered just under the surface of that question.

  “Oh yes. I’m done. Completely.”

  “Good.” His lips were tight. Stretched taut over his stubbled face. “Let’s move.”

  “Where? Where exactly are you planning to go? In case you haven’t noticed, we’re not in Greece. My contact? No good.” She stabbed a finger over the Mediterranean. “He’s over there. We’re here. Not much help. So tell me, mighty Legend, where are we going?”

  He shifted, his shoulder muscles swelling and cording around his neck like a blood pressure cuff. “Out. Of. Sight.” A terse breath escaped through his nose. “Somewhere we can make a plan.”

  Kazi stilled, reeling. What caused her to go mental on him? She’d lost focus. Lost control. Not good. Wrap it up, tuck it away, Kaz.

  An awkward stalemate stretched around them like the darkened waters that lapped at the shore. Only as she stood there did she feel the tremors in her arms. Too subtle for him to see, but with the way he stared her down, Kazi had no doubt Legend recognized the panic that burned through her veins like wildfire.

  “We should get some cover.” His tone had changed.

  But the anger that gripped her hadn’t. It clenched her by the throat and refused to let go. Strange, almost sinister, the thoughts screaming through her mind, demanding Legend admit what he’d done. That he had given up his own man, abandoned him.

  What’s with this? Who cared what he did? Completing this operation was all that mattered. Quietly, they hiked up toward a cluster of tight-knit buildings that bled into the darkness to the left and toward the sea to her right. In an alley, he dropped onto a set of stairs.

  Swiping his face, he heaved a sigh. “Do you have a contact or safe house here?”

  “I have…” She licked her lips. “We can make it.” She would figure something out. She always had.

  “No.” He slowly came off the steps. “No good.” But then he paused. “Hold up.” Turned a quick circle, hustled back to the beach, and looked up and down its length. The moon reflected off his shaved head as he looked around. “We’re in Cyprus?”

  Where’s he going with this? Kazi gave a slow acknowledgment.

  A subtle shift, like gears grinding into motion, overtook Legend’s expression, which became determined, confident. “Okay, let’s keep to the shadows. We’ll hoof it along the coast.”

  Oh nice. He was taking over her mission. Kazi folded her arms. “And just where are we headed?”

  Legend rounded on her. The intensity had returned. He opened his mouth, then stilled, and his gaze dropped to the sand. Finally, he looked at her. “I won’t ask you to trust me—I know better. Just give me one hour.”

  Kazi resisted the urges pinging through her system. Panic. Fear. Vulnerability. She didn’t have any better plans, so an hour of walking might just net her some ideas on where they could hide out. Being flexible kept her alive and her options open. Teeth clamped, she nodded. “One hour.”

  He returned the nod and started walking.

  With his six-foot-plus stature, he had a long, quick gait. For someone not used to a lot of walking, it might be a problem. For Kazi, keeping pace felt like a comfortable, confident stride that gave her the overall sense of getting somewhere. As if they knew where they were going.

  Twenty minutes into the hike, Legend scaled a stone wall and stood atop it, turning and checking around them.

  “You do know where we’re going, right?” The teasing died on her lips as she saw the consternation take over his face. “Legend?”

  He stepped off the wall and dropped in front of her as if he’d stepped off a curb. Angling toward her, he held up his left arm. Pointed to his wrist. “One hour.” And started walking again.

  Brushing the hair from her face, Kazi cradled her head and closed her eyes. Why did she agree? Sixty minutes would have been better spent scouting out somewhere to lay low until they could find out where Aladdin had been admitted—because Griffin might just walk away from friends, but the general had paid her too well to leave a man behind. She needed that money to buy her freedom from Carrick. To buy a new life. She wasn’t going to let some thick-skulled antisocial Marine ruin her best-laid plans.

  “Keeping up?”

  Warmth spread across her shoulders and down her spine at the taunt. Unconsciously, she skipped a step. Don’t let him get to you. Yielding to the rebellious streak she’d inherited from her mother, Kazi slowed, watching him as they continued on.

  A few minutes later, he looked to the side—no doubt to check on her—and made a tss sound before shaking his head but never breaking his stride.

  “You know—“

  “Fifteen minutes still.”

  And it struck her. When he’d pointed to his wrist earlier, there was no watch, no imprint of any timekeeping device. “How do you know that if you’re not wearing a watch?”

  He chuckled.

  He’s playing you! Stupid, foolish girl. Would she never learn? Putting her life in a man’s hands only got her—

  She barreled into Legend, who had stopped and pointed through a small huddling of white and terra-cotta buildings. “There.”

  Secret Facility, Virginia

  “It’s time for you to leave.”

  Sydney Jacobs stared at the black suit and his two minions, disbelief choking off her brain. “Excuse me?” She glanced down at her sons playing on the thick, plush circular carpet that spanned the quarters they’d shared for going on three weeks now. “Leave? But General Lambert—“

  “Is missing.”

  Sydney blinked, stupefied.

  “What do you mean General Lambert is missing?” Dani stalked toward the three men. “How exactly does a member of the Joint Chiefs go missing? What are you doing to find him?”

  A metallic taste glanced across her tongue as she watched the distress coat Dani’s face.

  “Find him?” The suit laughed. “Miss Roark—“

  “Mrs. Metcalfe. That man is my father, and he’s missing. Considering someone’s trying to blow us off the face of the ear
th, I’d think you’d be searching high and low for a key member of this country’s military system.”

  The man sighed. “General Lambert has vanished—as in he packed his bags and walked into the sunset. There is nothing in his home or office to indicate foul play.”

  “Are you insane? You think he just left?” The shriek in Dani’s voice bounced off the cement walls and ceilings. “My father wouldn’t leave his grandchildren! Or his wife—“

  “Yes,” Sydney said, gathering her wits and stepping forward. “What about Mrs. Lambert? Where is she?”

  The man held his arms wide, as if answering them was as ridiculous as the question. “She’s right where he left her.”

  Sydney and Dani shared a look. A look that said something was really wrong here.

  “Now, if you’ll please get your bags and your brood, it’s time for you to stop sucking up taxpayer dollars.”

  Again, Sydney blinked. “Excuse me?”

  “Why are we being chased out of here?” With elegance and grace that Sydney had always secretly admired, the taller Piper came forward. “Regardless of General Lambert’s actions, we were attacked. Nearly killed when someone fired an RPG from a helicopter at us.”

  “I’m sorry. I really don’t have the authorization to discuss any of this with you ladies. So, please”—he waved a hand over the room—“gather your things, and let’s be quick. I have a meeting in ten.”

  “What if we don’t?” Dani’s stubborn streak reared its head.

  Sydney touched her arm, mind already pinging through their options, formulating a plan to get them to safety, to somewhere they could figure out what was happening and what to do. How to find Max. She could only hope Lambert would take care of Rel since the girl wasn’t here. As she gathered up the boys’ clothes and toys, she fought back tears. She felt lost without Max, confused with the insane twisted-up events.

  “Mommy, what’s wrong?” Dillon threw his arms around her neck as she tucked Dakota into his carrier.