by Cara Carnes
Ram laughed. He took a sip of the beer and relaxed into the beautiful woman pressed to his side. Spending time alone with her would be perfect, but they weren’t at that level yet. Having her here, in their private sanctuary, was perfect—exactly what he’d wanted. Needed.
“Thank you,” he whispered against her hair.
She set her hand across his stomach and watched as Doug made his way into the game. The man glared over at her. Bree squinted her eyes and blasted him with her sass. “Don’t give me that look. Show me what you’ve got. Everybody and their mother plays this, and most shouldn’t bother because they suck.”
Pierce howled his amusement from the kitchen. He wandered out a few moments later with plates of sandwiches and a second bag of chips. Setting it all down on the trunk, he fell back into the chair. “I’ve gotta see what you’ve got going in this game, Bree. He’s been looking for someone to play this with him.”
“He didn’t look very hard then. I know three solid players here.” She grinned at Doug. “If you’re decent, I’ll tell you who. None are higher than me, though.”
“Big words,” Doug said. He motioned toward the screen. “Is that big enough for you?”
“Meh, I’ve seen better.” She sat up fully and grabbed his controller. “Hmm…okay. I’ve got something on this server. Not my best, but it’ll do.” She looked over at Doug. “You have a second console I can use?”
“Yeah.” Doug’s gaze narrowed as he stood and headed toward the cabinet beneath the television. He returned a couple minutes later and held out a controller. “You’re talking a big game. I hope you can back it up.”
“You have no idea.” She worked her way through the screens. “Lars got me into this. It became our thing. So, there’s your first person while he’s here. He’s almost as good as me. Almost.”
Doug whistled as he leaned forward and peered at the second half of the now split screen. “Damn, woman. You’ve been holding out on me. How did I not know you were a gamer?”
“I’m not. This is something I do when I’m bored. It reminds me of Lars.” Her voice lowered. “When I miss him, I play.”
“A buddy of ours was into this game,” Doug said. “He taught me.” Mentions of John were few and far between. None of them wanted to remember the loss they’d been dealt when he’d been KIA. “I play to remember him.”
“You’ll have to tell me about him,” Bree whispered.
“Next time.” Doug smiled as they entered the game. Ram drank his beer and watched the screen even though he had no idea what was happening. From his friend’s excited banter and cheers, he suspected Bree was better than good. He doubted there was anything the woman couldn’t do if she put her mind to it.
They devoured their sandwiches and chips. Pierce cleared the clutter and dragged the trunk closer. Bree’s gaze narrowed, but she didn’t offer comment as he pulled out his supplies and got to work on whatever cross-stitch pattern he’d been working on.
“You sew,” Bree said, her voice a breathy whisper. “That’s freaking awesome. You’ve gotta tell Grams.” Her gaze flew to the quilt. “Wait. You did this!”
“I did.” Pierce’s mouth was tight, his voice firm. “No one knows.”
“You’ve gotta tell Grams,” she repeated. “The woman is a fiend. Though, I should warn you she does sew-offs like they’re the Olympics. If she knows, you’ll get challenged.”
Pierce grinned. “That sounds like fun.”
Silence descended as Doug and Bree focused on their game and Pierce sewed. Ram smiled, too happy to move. Bree paused the game and looked over at him. She licked her full lips. “So, what do you do?”
Pierce chuckled. “Yeah, Ram. Tell Bree what you do.”
“Nothing like these two. A lot of times, I sit here and watch.”
“Bullshit,” Doug coughed. He stood and ran toward the table. Ram cursed and gave chase, but the man was quick. He swatted Ram’s hand away. “Don’t, man. She asked. I’m gonna answer. It’s show and tell time.”
Asshole. Ram grumbled as he sat back down on the sofa. Doug plopped a thick pile of papers on Bree’s lap. She picked them up. Her eyes widened.
“Our man’s a novelist. A damned good one, but the fucker won’t show anyone or do anything with it,” Pierce said.
“Pot meet kettle,” Ram commented.
“This is so cool.” Bree stroked the manuscript. “Can I read it? Please? I won’t tell anyone. I swear.”
The idea of Bree reading his writing warmed his insides. This was a part of him he could share, even though he’d never told anyone outside Doug and Pierce. “Yeah, sweetheart. I’d love to hear what you think.” And he’d hang on to every word. Her insight into his work would give him a peek into who she was, the woman buried beneath the scientist facade.
Bree shuffled into the whiteboard room and collapsed in her chair. She’d had a lot of fun with Ram, Doug, and Pierce last night. Getting to know them during their “downtime” had been an experience she’d gladly give sleep up for, but she really wanted another couple hours to snooze.
Anger spiked in her when her gaze landed on Gavin, who sat where Dallas usually did. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m part of the crew while I’m here.” He flashed a big grin. “And good morning to you, too.”
Asshole. She took another sip of her coffee and glowered at her friends at the end of the table. Why had they let him in here? He tainted the room with his oily presence. Revulsion shuddered through her.
“He’s only in here for the first portion of the meeting,” Vi said. “And get up. That’s Dallas’s chair. You can sit by Doug, or stand against the wall.”
“I didn’t realize there was assigned seating. How…elementary.” The man stood and moved to a leaning position along the wall facing Bree.
“Both of Bob’s teenage children fell off social media seven months ago,” Mary said. “We think they’ve been taken by whomever was funding Carlisle Industries. The man we’ve seen with Bob is a high-level merc, most recently working for Vagabond, a group affiliated with the rogue Mandrake group we took down.”
“We took the leaders of Vagabond in, and they were arrested by the FBI for their involvement. But some of the lower-level operatives either escaped detainment or weren’t charged due to a lack of evidence,” Vi said.
“We think our target, Alex Roush, has taken over leadership and is continuing his work with the asshole we’re hunting. We’re unsure why he’s circling Bob, but it can’t be good,” Zoey said. “HERA’s been spitting out a lot of info from last night’s operation.”
“And what was that operation? Why wasn’t I informed? I should have been a part of it,” Gavin said.
“Press pause on the attitude,” Zoey said. “We’re low on caffeine and short on patience. This won’t end well for you.”
“You’re a part of what you need to be. If your organization or its assets in the field help, you’ll be included. Otherwise, this is strictly need to know and you do not,” Mary said.
Bree couldn’t help but smirk. Gavin wouldn’t do well against her friends. Nothing and no one intimidated them. “How large is Alex’s group? What’s the plan?”
“The initial plan would have been to surveil while HERA worked its way through his contacts, emails, and data,” Jesse said. His expression turned grim. “We’re abbreviating that plan.”
“Why? That’s a smart plan,” Gavin said.
“Need to know,” Zoey sing-songed. “And you don’t.”
But Bree did. They were abbreviating the plan because of the woman in Bob’s house. Dark circles were beneath Mary’s, Vi’s, Zoey’s, and Jesse’s eyes. She doubted any of them had rested last night. How could they?
“We’ve located their base of operations, a two-story structure twenty miles from Bob’s house,” Mary said. “We won’t know the full breadth of their group until we have drones in position, but from HERA’s initial delve, we anticipate somewhere around twelve.”
“Levi’s
team will make entry into Bob’s house, along with Gavin, and secure Alex, while three teams strike their base of operations and two other target locations we’ve identified,” Jesse said. “That’ll be Nolan’s, Gage’s, and Dallas’ teams, with Addy’s on standby.”
“One of the sites is large enough to potentially need Addy’s team as well,” Mary said. “Headquarters has a lot of operatives, but we’re limiting the strike to one team to prevent being detected too soon. We’ll get creative on the entry to prevent any problems.”
“We’re hoping Bob’s kids are in one of these locations,” Zoey added. “If not…well, that could be a very big problem.”
“Then perhaps we wait and scope them all out awhile,” Gavin suggested.
“The longer we wait, the higher the likelihood of discovery,” Jesse argued. “We’ll handle whatever the fallout is like we always do.”
“I thought mine was up for the next strike,” Fallon said.
“We’ll talk about that later,” Jesse said. Fallon nodded.
Bree’s gut tightened. She felt terrible for Fallon. None of what was happening was his fault, but he’d take the blow because he was their leader. But she focused on the current plan and how she could help. “What’s the strike plan? Are we going for shock and awe or a quiet takedown?”
“There won’t be anything quiet about it,” Dallas said. “They’re mercs. They’ll shoot first and ask questions never.”
Her tablet pinged. She glanced down and read through what Mary had sent. She nodded her head. They needed boom and some way to take out any countermeasures they might have in place, aka drones or computerized weaponry. She could help with that. She made a few notes, recommending the new EMF drones and some of her newer grenade-style weapons. She’d have to take a look at her inventory to make sure there were enough, but she was like a squirrel and tended to have more on hand than a huge army would require.
Another ping sounded from Mary’s side of the table. The woman glanced at the screen, then grinned.
“Something to share with the class?” Gavin asked.
“Nope,” Bree replied. “Get back to your coloring. The adults are talking.”
Levi snickered. “We’ll need a secondary team for…”
“For what?” Gavin asked. “You aren’t reading me in on everything. I have to know.”
“Why?” Marshall asked. “You aren’t part of this because we don’t need your intel or your assets. You are here as a courtesy, one I’m about to rip out when I toss you off my compound. But since you’re talkative, let’s chat about your assets.”
“Very well.” He folded his hands in front of his body. “I’ve spoken with them and they are aware of the new parameters.”
“Great,” Zoey said. “We have three assets we’ll be deploying into position within offices around Bob’s. They all have regular contact with him.”
“My assets are already in position.”
“Yes, but they can’t do what ours do,” Mary said. “Yours will make their transition easy, provide them with insights into the daily routines they may not be aware of. Favorite hangouts of our targets, that sort of thing.”
“What positions? What offices?”
“We’ll give you the info when HERA’s finished,” Zoey said. “There are more than a few office positions hired out through a temp service. We’ve gotten that service’s databases fixed so our assets will be deployed once the positions we want open up. And that will happen in a few hours, once Vi and I do our thing.”
“Which is?”
“Make those in them offers they won’t refuse. One’s getting a full-time job she’s seriously qualified for, the other two will get higher-paying gigs.” Zoey shrugged. “Details don’t matter. The effect does. The only issue is which female operative to use for the office job. It’ll be mission critical, but Addy’s team is on standby, so she’s technically out.”
“And we’ll need Mia in the field,” Mary said.
Bree’s gut tightened again. For Facility Six. The unspoken why hung in the air, but Gavin was either oblivious or too frightened by Marshall’s threat to speak. “Brooklyn?”
“No,” Levi said quickly, along with Addy.
“Something we should know?” Jesse asked.
“We’ll talk later, but she’s field. Not cover, even in a short-term assignment,” Levi said.
“Good point,” Jesse said. “We need more female operatives.”
“We hire them when they apply, if they’re qualified,” Addy said. “What about the new office manager? I’m still pissed you signed her on for that role instead of as an operative.”
Wait, what? Who was the new manager? Bree knew they were hiring someone to replace Ellie, but she didn’t realize it’d happened. She made a mental note to wander over and introduce herself.
“She was pretty adamant about not having an operative role,” Nolan said. He thrummed his fingers on the table. “I’ll speak with her, though. She was a damned good Marine and has the skillset for the role.”
“Let us know what she says,” Jesse said. “If that doesn’t pan out, we’ll either put Addy or Mia in.”
“My team can run without me, especially since this is a few days tops,” Addy said. “Mia would be damned good as well.”
“All mentioned teams are on standby. We should have a firm timeline in the next few hours,” Jesse said. “Team leads and seconds, keep your schedule clear for later today. We’ll need to spend some time discussing what you’ll need in the field.” His gaze settled on Bree. “I know you have plans, but we’ll need a bit of your time for this.”
Bree nodded. “Of course. Whatever I can do.”
“I’ll have her back here at five,” Ram said. “Then we’re leaving at seven for dinner.” His tone didn’t allow for argument. Gage chuckled and thumped him on the back.
Bree’s pulse quickened. She’d been so exhausted she’d completely forgotten about her dinner date with Ram. Ack! What would she wear? Where were they going?
She’d ask Zoey. No. Rhea. Yep, Rhea would help her figure out what to wear. How long had it been since Bree went on a date? Too long.
Everyone continued discussing the upcoming missions, but Bree’s mind kept wandering. Addy tapped her on the shoulder.
“You good?” Addy asked.
“Yeah. Golden. You?”
“Better now that you’re back. We’ll continue your training tomorrow. Mia spoke with me earlier, told me she wants to help train you.”
Relief filled Bree. She’d been worried about chatting with Addy alone. She wasn’t ready to talk about what’d happened before she left. Not yet. Fortunately, the woman was savvy enough to know that.
“Do you mind?” Bree hoped she didn’t because she really wanted to learn those moves Mia mentioned.
“No, it’s a smart plan. She’s got training I wouldn’t mind learning. So this’ll be fun.” Addy grinned.
Oh boy. Her and two lethal badasses training together. What could possibly go wrong?
“Okay, that wraps up this portion of the meeting.” Mary’s gaze cut to Gavin. “You’ll need to go have breakfast or touch base with your assets. The rest of our discussion doesn’t pertain to this mission.”
“Very well.” Gavin departed without argument, which surprised Bree. She narrowed her gaze at the door as it clicked shut.
“You’re thinking pretty hard over there,” Ram commented.
“He’s up to something. He gave in too easily.” She opened up her tablet and activated HERA. She’d watch him, just to make sure.
Zoey laughed and clicked some buttons on her laptop. Images of Gavin as he walked through the corridors filled one side of the screens. “Already ahead of you.”
“You’re awesome.” Bree grinned. “So what else do we need to chat about?”
“We were gonna do this as a sidebar, but there’s value to everyone else being aware in case it happens with any other teams,” Jesse said. He glanced over to Fallon. “Your team’s fracturing.�
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“Shit.” Fallon ran a hand down his face. “I was hoping it wouldn’t. I knew there was a chance.”
“Talk to us,” Gage said. “I took Spade on my team for now. He needs a solid, active crew.”
“Thanks. You’re right. I feel like I failed them,” Fallon admitted. “Donovan was right when we started. I should’ve forced them into being more of a team, but it worked well for us. I thought that’s what we needed.”
“Things change when one of the team gets hurt or goes through something,” Nolan commented. “That’s not on you. It happens from time to time. This won’t be the only incident. It’s just the first. What’s going on?”
“Spade told me some of them are angry at him for not sharing his plan,” Bree said. “He must’ve told Gage or Ram, too.”
“I walked in on Donovan in his face.” Ram’s expression turned grim. “Spade attempted to follow the chain of command and bring his trouble to your second, but he’s not in a good place. He said it wasn’t his shit to carry.”
“Fuck,” Dallas muttered. “What’s up with Donovan? I thought he was field ready.”
“Physically, yes. Mentally? Unsure.” Ram rested his fist on the table. “Not my business, but I’m making it mine. I told him to either sort whatever shit he has simmering, or I’d do it for him by alerting all of you.”
“You think you can handle him?” Jesse asked. “We’re alerted and can step in, but operative to operative is sometimes the better approach.”
“We’re operatives, too, but no one remembers that when we have a word,” Marshall said. “We’re commanders first in their eyes.”
“Thanks for having Spade’s back with this,” Nolan said to Gage.
“I had Ram’s. He had Spade’s.”
“Let me know what you need. It burns me that I didn’t see either of them struggling,” Fallon said.
“They probably hid it from you,” Bree whispered. “They wouldn’t want you to see them as weak or incapable. I’ve learned a few hard truths myself about that the past few weeks. They don’t see that there’s strength in asking for help when you need it. Wars aren’t fought alone.”