Hostile Ground

by Cara Carnes

  “So are you.” She traced beneath his eyes. “Let’s go back to bed. I’ll tuck you in.”

  Arousal quickened her pulse when he smiled. Warmth spread through her. “That’s something I could get used to.”

  “Me too,” she admitted. She took his hand and guided him to his room.

  Anticipation pounded her pulse. She could almost ignore the bone-deep exhaustion plaguing her. Pleasure coursed through her when he kissed her. Guiding her to the bed, he positioned her beneath him, then severed the kiss and spread out beside her.

  “I’d love nothing more than to make love to you right now, but you’re exhausted. We both are.” He rested her head on his shoulder. “Sleep.”

  “You don’t want to have sex? Seriously?”

  “I do, but your health matters more. You’ve gone too long without a full night’s rest.”

  Wow. Her heart swelled with the realization he was more worried about her than fucking. When was the last time that had happened? Never.

  Because you’ve never been in a serious relationship with anyone.

  Damn.

  Addy chewed on the thought for a few minutes and relaxed in his arms. The rightness of the moment cocooned her in a warm, hazy glow.

  Comfort.

  Addy startled awake as a crash echoed near the doorway. She sat up in the bed. Kristof’s bed. The nightstand clock indicated it was early morning. 6:32 a.m. to be precise.

  She shoved the rightness of waking up beside him aside as Olaf darted into the room and stood in front of her. Eyes wide and pale, he signed. The frantic, rapid-fore movements forced her mind to alertness.

  Help her. I can’t stop it. Help her.

  Addy sprang from the bed, more than thankful she’d dragged Kristof’s T-shirt on rather than sleep naked beside him. She reached over and shook him awake. “Kristof. Something’s wrong.”

  He jolted awake and sprang from the bed. Lean, powerful grace reflected in every inch of his bared skin. She took a second to appreciate the view as awareness arced through her.

  Olaf yanked on her arm.

  Right. Someone needed help.

  Kristof darted toward the dresser, likely to find clothes. Addy halted in the living room and dragged on her pants, then shoved her bare feet into her boots.

  Weapon.

  Shit. She hadn’t had one with her when she’d come over.

  No matter. If there was real trouble, she could signal one of the HERA drones.

  “Show me,” Addy ordered.

  Olaf darted out of the cottage and down the steps as though the hounds of hell were chasing his ass. Addy stifled a curse as she darted out after him. Early morning dawn barely cracked the sky. A rooster crowed somewhere near the barn.

  When the hell had The Arsenal gotten chickens? Oh, wait. Zoey had mentioned Kamren had brought some over because Momma Mason wanted fresh eggs.

  Fear coiled through her when Olaf darted into the cottage next door to the one he and Kristof shared. The cottage she shared with Bree.

  Help her.

  Olaf’s plea from moments ago fed Addy’s fear. Bree. Son of a bitch. She sprinted into the living room, took a second to visually sweep the area, then darted down the hall where Olaf pointed. Her pulse quickened when she entered Bree’s bedroom. Ropes, chains, and other paraphernalia were strewn about the floor.

  Sounds echoed from the bathroom. Tension coiled Addy’s insides as she turned the corner. Ice water filled the bathtub to the rim. Bree crouched beside the tub and gripped its side as she held her head submerged beneath the icy contents.

  “What the fuck?” Addy grabbed her friend about the waist and hauled her back.

  Shock resonated within the woman’s gaze as she coughed and spat water from her mouth. Footsteps echoed behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and noted Kristof’s worried expression as he assessed the situation.

  “Get some towels from the closet beside you,” Addy said. She grabbed ahold of Bree when she struggled to sit up. She rolled her to her side. “Don’t move. Breathe deep. In and out. You’re okay.”

  What the hell was going on?

  Addy’s gaze swept to the icy water. Waterboarding.

  “I’m okay. Let me up,” Bree said, her voice reedy thin. She trembled. Her pale skin had taken on a slight blue tinge. Water soaked her bra and panties and beaded along her legs and back.

  She’d submerged herself in the water at some point while clad only in her underwear. Anger mottled Addy’s thoughts a moment. Kristof crouched beside her and gently settled towels on Bree.

  “Go and find a robe or something warm for Bree to wear,” Kristof said.

  Olaf exited the room.

  “Bree.” Addy touched the woman’s head. “What were you doing?”

  “Nothing. I’m fine.”

  “We aren’t doing this bullshit dance,” Addy growled. “You know better than try with me. What the hell were you doing?”

  “I-I…I’m training.”

  “Training?” Kristof’s shocked inquiry thundered within the small space as his gaze cut to the water. “Waterboarding?”

  Son of a bitch. Addy sat back on her heels and sighed heavily. She, Rhea, and the other women had all expressed some concerns about Bree’s behavior, which had spiraled since Zoey’s kidnapping.

  “Don’t be mad.” Bree sniffled as she peered up at Addy. The fear and guilt rolling across her face cracked Addy’s anger.

  She drew her friend into a hug and kissed her forehead. She should’ve confronted Bree about everyone’s worries before she went to Russia.

  “Thank you,” Kristof said as he took the clothes Olaf held out. “How did you find her?”

  Bree tightened within Addy’s arms. Addy looked up as Olaf signed.

  “I came over to thank her for the new games she put on my tablet. The door was cracked open, so I came in. I heard a scream and ran toward it. I thought she’d fallen down. She was dipping her head into the water over and over and I tried to pull her away, but it was like she didn’t know I was here.” Worry creased Olaf’s brow as he looked down at Bree. “Is she okay?”

  No, but she would be. Addy sighed heavily and strengthened the hug. Bree wasn’t a trained operative. She and Rhea had been dragged into The Arsenal’s world when Peter had tried to torture and rape Mary to gain access to HERA. But he’d also been after the geniuses behind the weaponry and chemical compounds used in the system’s drones.

  Bree was the mastermind behind not only the weaponry, but also the power source. The brilliant, self-contained, regenerating power Bree had created would be wanted by every country, dictator, terrorist, and drug lord in the world if they knew it existed. They could power entire facilities and remain entirely off grid.

  “I’m sorry, sweetie,” Addy whispered. “I’m sorry.”

  Bree tensed. “Why are you apologizing?”

  “I should’ve known.” All her friend’s demands to be trained on weapons and martial arts made sense now. Beneath the tough, determined exterior Bree exhibited, a terrified and introverted scientist lurked.

  Addy sat on her ass and shifted her legs so that Bree was drawn closer. “It wasn’t easy coming here, having your world turned upside down. You went from a scientist no one knew to an Arsenal back office asset. One of the most important ones.”

  “It was harder on you,” Bree argued. “You and Mary and Vi. Y’all brought Rhea and I here to keep us safe. And you have. But…”

  “But it wasn’t always an easy road to get there,” Addy said. “We’ve had a lot of scares along the way.”

  Bree nodded. “I-I just want to be ready for when it happens to me.”

  Addy tightened. “That shit isn’t ever happening to you, Bree.”

  “Don’t say that. You know it could. Look at Z-Zoey.”

  Addy ran her hands down Bree’s short hair. She’s shaved the blonde mass completely off when Zoey’s kidnappers had shaved her head. She hadn’t wanted her new friend to be the only “cue ball” at the compound.
>
  Bree needed help—more help than Addy could provide. She’d have to talk with Mary. No, Jesse.

  Zoey.

  Or she could put her big girl britches on and chat with Doctor Sinclair herself. Yeah, that’d be the best decision for Bree and the others. Their troubles had likely fed Bree’s compulsion or anxiety or whatever the fuck this was.

  “We’re going to get you sorted,” Addy promised. “Why don’t we get you dressed, then we’ll head over to the mess hall and eat. Then we’ll go visit Sinclair.”

  Bree tightened. “I don’t need her.”

  “Maybe not,” Addy said. “But I do. It’d help to have a friend going through the process with me.”

  “You’re going to see her?” Bree’s eyes widened.

  “A good operative knows when to ask for help, or when to tap someone else in. I learned that from Jesse. Mary. Everyone at Warrior’s Path.”

  “I guess you’re right. She’s just so busy all the time. I hate bothering her.” Marshall was well aware of Sinclair’s need for help, but therapists of her caliber were few and far between—especially if you added the imperative veteran component to the mix. Whoever they found had to be able to handle the operatives and the vets they helped through Warriors Path. That was a tall order to place. But Marshall would find someone.

  “Now you sound like Ellie,” Addy teased. “She’s got a couple new people starting in a few days. One conversation today to get the ball rolling. You chat today, I’ll chat tomorrow. How’s that sound?”

  Heat rose in Bree’s cheeks. “I’m guessing you aren’t keeping this between us.”

  “I will today since you’re chatting with her, but you know Mary and them will want to know.” Addy ran her hands down Bree’s hair. “You were there for them. They’d want to be here for you. I learned that the hard way. Don’t follow me down that road.”

  “Mary wasn’t too happy, you know. None of them were. They were all so worried,” Bree whispered. “I was too. Why didn’t you ever tell us about…” Her gaze slid over to where Kristof sat near the entryway. “Oops. I didn’t know he was here. Sorry.”

  “Don’t be,” Kristof said.

  “Thank you for helping me, Olaf. I’m sorry if I scared you,” Bree said. She glanced back at Kristof. “Can you translate for me?”

  Kristof smiled and signed the words for Bree. Then he added, “Let’s give them a moment alone so she can change. We’ll eat, then Addy’s taking her to Doctor Sinclair.”

  Olaf nodded and headed into the bedroom.

  “Thank you.” Addy mouthed the words as Kristof rose.

  “We’ll see you in a minute, Bree.”

  Silence loomed a couple minutes. Bree pulled away slightly. Her eyes sparkled when she smiled. “Isn’t that the shirt Kristof was wearing yesterday?”

  Damn. Addy looked away. She wasn’t the type to get embarrassed, but this having a personal life thing was so new. A part of her didn’t want to share the experience with anyone, not even her closest friends.

  “I like him,” Bree whispered. “He’s good for you. He’s good to you. More importantly, I love how you are with him.”

  So did she. Addy smiled. “It’s weird…having someone in my life that’s not…”

  “I’m happy for you.” Bree took her hand. “I’m sorry I scared you today. I promise I’m okay. I just…I’ve always processed things different than everyone else. I’m a fixer and a prepper. When I see a problem or a hole, I have to plug it up or create a work around.”

  “We’ve all been worried,” Addy admitted. “I know Rhea and Ellie and Zoey have all spoken with you. You should’ve talked with someone about this.”

  “I-it started off simple enough. I wanted to be better with hand-to-hand after Riley…” Bree’s voice broke.

  Yeah, watching their new friend get her throat cut by her best friend hadn’t been easy. Kamren’s little sister had almost killed Riley. “It wasn’t easy seeing Kamren hurt her own sister to save Riley.”

  “She’s so strong and wickedly good at shooting and stuff. That’s when I started wanting to learn about weapons, but I’d kind of already developed a reputation.”

  She’d blown enough holes in the compound with her new weapons that none of the Masons had been on board with training Bree. “You should’ve explained why. I’m thinking they would’ve understood and trained you.”

  “Yeah, but then Zoey’s stuff went down and we were overwhelmed with a whole crazy network and then Z got hurt and…” Bree looked down. “Everything started snowballing. I wanted to learn what Mary and Vi had taught her. I wanted to watch the tapes she had. I’m not brave like them.”

  “You are.”

  “I’m not.” Bree shook her head. “No way.”

  “You helped Jud defend this compound when it was attacked, when we were all overseas saving his brother.” Addy squeezed Bree’s hand. “We can’t measure ourselves against others. We all have our own strengths and weaknesses. That’s why we all work well together. We help one another.”

  “I don’t want to have weaknesses. You don’t.”

  “I do.” Addy looked down. “We all have them. Come on, let’s get you dressed so we can eat breakfast. We’ll figure everything out, okay?”

  “Okay.” Bree bit her lip. “Can we keep this between us for now?”

  “You know that can’t happen for long.” Addy smiled. “Tell you what. We’ll eat, then I’ll take you over to Doctor Sinclair. Then we’ll go from there. Okay?”

  “That’s fair.” Bree sighed heavily. “This isn’t going to go over well.”

  “Everyone loves you. If they get up in arms, it’s because they care. I’ll be honest. I’m worried. You shouldn’t be doing this stuff. It’s dangerous.” And so, so not okay. Addy kept the thought to herself. Bree needed help more than she needed a lecture.

  28

  “Addy.”

  Guilt crept into Addy when she glanced over at Mary. “Sorry, I must’ve spaced out for a moment.”

  “Is everything okay?” Mary asked, her voice low with concern.

  Zoey clacked away on the laptop from her seat beside Mary. Jesse’s eyebrows lifted as he crossed his arms. Amusement glimmered within his expression, but he offered no comment.

  Truth told, things were far from fine. She’d found her friend waterboarding herself.

  No. Olaf had found her.

  Talk about a clusterfuck.

  Fortunately, Sinclair had taken Bree in without pause when they’d shown up at her office. Addy had given them privacy to chat, but now she was wondering if she should’ve hung around and made sure Bree told the doctor everything.

  What if she didn’t disclose everything?

  Okay, breathe. You can chat with Sinclair later and make sure she knows about the waterboarding.

  “You’re distracted. Something’s definitely wrong,” Mary said.

  “She’s got a hunky badass in her life,” Zoey muttered. “That’s reason enough to be distracted.”

  Oh, boy. Conversational landmines were in play. Was she ready to talk to her friends about Kristof? Not really. Time for a topic shift. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but something happened with Bree.”

  “Bree? What?” Zoey’s eyes widened. She shut her laptop. “Is she okay?”

  “She will be. I took her over to Sinclair to talk.”

  “You aren’t going to tell us what it was,” Jesse said.

  “It’s not mine to share.” Addy took a breath. “Sorry I’m distracted. Why am I here?”

  “Zoey’s scheduled a meeting with Stacia. She’s agreed to meet with Kristof,” Mary said. “We’re thinking you should go with him.”

  “Of course. When?”

  “Day after tomorrow,” Zoey said.

  Addy nodded. A thought crept into her mind. “That works. I’d like to take the rest of today and tomorrow off. I’ll be back before we leave to go to Stacia’s.”

  “Okay,” Jesse said. “You sure you’re okay?”

  �
��Of course.” She was worried about Bree but hadn’t been this happy in forever.

  She’d enjoyed her time alone with Kristof in Russia so much. But now that she was home, she’d grown more worried that the compound would overwhelm him. With so many people constantly underfoot and mission after mission, the entire world Addy lived in was chaotic at the best of times—and those rarely happened.

  “I just want to take a day and show Kristof something,” Addy said.

  “Mmhmm.” Zoey pursed her lips. “I can imagine exactly what you’re going to show him.”

  Mary and Jesse both chuckled. Embarrassed, Addy glanced down to avoid eye contact. Would she ever get used to having a private life outside the team?

  “Go. Enjoy your time off,” Mary said as she stood. “Speaking of time off, I need to go get baby Jessie from Momma Mason before Dylan and Jud try and exfil her and Destiny again. That little stunt did not go over well, by the way. She’s still grumbling about it.”

  Addy chuckled. “Call if you need me for anything.”

  She headed out of the room but paused when she heard Jesse call her name. “Did you need something, Jesse?”

  “No.” He smiled. “Adjusting to a life outside this compound is hard.”

  Addy looked down. “Yeah, well, I’m not sure my life outside the compound equates to what you and Ellie have, but thanks.”

  “We’ll all adjust to having him in your life. They’ll see he’s a good man,” Jesse said. “More importantly, they’ll see he’s good for you.”

  Surprise filled her as she lifted her head. “You’re Team Kristof?”

  “I didn’t realize there was a team.” He smirked. “But, I suppose I am. Gage talked me around.”

  Seemed like Sanderson was working overtime having her back. Addy chuckled and headed toward the exit.

  “Hey, Addy,” Jesse called.

  She turned. “Yeah?”

  “I’ll watch out for Olaf. Beast or one of your guys can crash with him at the cottage. He feels safest around one of them,” Jesse said. “Have a good time.”

  “Thanks.” Emotion surged through her. He hadn’t asked where she was going. He’d simply helped coordinate a situation she hadn’t even thought about.