Brooks (Special Forces: Operation Alpha) (Gold Team Book 1)

by Riley Edwards

  “Always do,” I answered, as I finished strapping my tac vest on.

  “No. I mean, watch your back. Z was polite enough not to run through one more option in front of Tatiana, but there’s a chance—”

  “I got it,” I snapped, unwilling to listen to Max tell me there was a possibility Tatiana was in on whatever play Leon was making.

  “All right,” Max muttered and walked away.

  His acquiesces couldn’t have happened at a better time. Tatiana entered the room kitted out in her gear. I looked her over and still had a hard time reconciling the dichotomy. Soft, beautiful, sexy female to the cold, tough, assassin with twenty verified kills and zero misses. Yeah, that was something I would’ve never guessed.

  Chapter 25

  “You okay?” Brooks asked after we’d been driving for about ten minutes.

  “Peachy.”

  “You don’t sound peachy.”

  That was because I wasn’t. But I didn’t want to talk to Brooks about my stupid life choices. How could I have been so fucking dumb taking a job I knew nothing about? After Zane had said there was no paper trail, which in this day and age meant electronic transmissions, it hit me I’d never received any mission briefs via email or text. I’d scrolled through my phone to confirm what I already knew. I had text messages with addresses but no instructions. I had emails with new job listings and HR contacts but nothing that wouldn’t look like a recruiter trying to help me get a new job. I had emails asking how I was doing, updates on my whereabouts, but those looked like they’d come from a concerned friend, not my fucking CIA handler.

  The worst part, I’d known. Deep in my gut I knew The Company had ties to the CIA. How could they not? I was running the same types of operations. The only thing that had changed were the rules of engagement. Or should I say the lack thereof. Leon had given me orders and I’d followed them to the letter. Zane was right, I was rogue. The CIA had practically invented the meaning of disavow. But this was a whole new level. They wouldn’t have to deny I was working a job if it went sideways and I was caught somewhere I shouldn’t have been. Because I legitimately no longer worked for the government. I was a goddamned contract killer, minus the outrageous pay they received for their kills. In my mind, there was a huge difference carrying out assignments my government deemed valuable, and this. This was shit. However, I had no one to blame but myself. Maybe James was right, I was too stupid to work for the CIA.

  Dammit to hell. Fuck Leon Brown. Screw The Company. I was the dumbest woman on the planet.

  “Well, I am peachy,” I told Brooks. “The house is a few blocks up. Park anywhere. I’ll walk the rest of the way.”

  “Not gonna happen.”

  “What part of shadow did you not understand? You can’t park out front. Someone will see you,” I reminded him.

  Brooks drove a little way more and pulled over. Before I could get out of the car, he grabbed my bicep and stopped me. “Watch your back.”

  His words stung. They were the same ones Max had told him when I’d left the room and he thought I couldn’t hear. Max didn’t trust me and Brooks hadn’t said anything. Not that I actually blamed him. I had contemplated carrying out my assignment without telling them. But I wasn’t in on whatever Leon was planning. That was the part that hurt. Max had thought I would hurt one of them. Forgetting everything that had happened between me and Brooks privately, I’d never betray him, or any of them. Not like that. And the fact that Max thought I was capable of it, bothered me.

  “I got it.” I tried to yank my arm away but Brooks held fast.

  “I’m serious, Doll. We don’t know what Leon’s playing at. This could be an ambush. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s not. Shoot first, and we’ll sort it out later.”

  Brooks’ look of concern gave me pause. And that irked me, too. “What about you? Are you watching your six?”

  I don’t know why I asked him that. I wasn’t going to bring up what I’d overheard but the words slipped out.

  “That’s your job. We’re partners, remember?”

  “And if it’s me who’s been sent to sink the knife in your back?”

  “Not concerned. I trust you.” I hadn’t realized how much I needed to hear him say that. “Don’t worry about Max. He has trust issues.”

  I was happy he hadn’t played dumb and pretended not to know what I was referring to. It didn’t help knowing Max didn’t trust easily. The bottom line remained, it was me he didn’t have faith in.

  “I’ll be careful,” I told him, getting back to the original topic of conversation.

  Brooks wordlessly let go of me and I exited the car. I had less than a block to walk before the house came into view. It was dark and there were plenty of places for someone to hide. Unease crept in and I just wanted to hurry and pick up whatever Leon had sent me to retrieve.

  When I approached the house, an older man was waiting outside. He immediately handed me a black rifle case.

  “Everything is there,” he told me.

  “Thanks.”

  I slowly turned my back on the man and hoped like hell he wasn’t planning on shooting me as I walked away. Though I knew Brooks was out there somewhere, I couldn’t see him, but I could feel him. The thought made me smile. There was no way Brooks would let me walk into an unknown situation and not have his scope trained on the man I was meeting.

  Maybe it should’ve annoyed me. I’d been going at this alone for a long time. I was more than capable of handling myself. Though I didn’t have eyes in the back of my head and wouldn’t know if I was getting ready to take two to the skull.

  That was a lovely thought. Great job I had. Most people went to work and the only thing they had to worry about was a paper cut or maybe at worst a slip and fall. Me? Bullets, blood, and mayhem were only the tip of my worries.

  I slipped into the back seat of the car at the same time as Brooks got behind the wheel. Just as I’d thought, he followed me.

  “See anything?” I asked, unzipping the soft, padded rifle case.

  “He had a spotter. Top-floor window.”

  “He’s an arms’ dealer. I suppose that is normal,” I reminded him. “Hey, you got a pen light up there?”

  Brooks handed me back a small LED flashlight. I clicked it on and inspected the contents of the case.

  “What’d they give you?” Brooks asked.

  “A .338 Lapua. Ziess optics,” I told him.

  “Sweet rig.”

  He wasn’t wrong. The .338 bolt action was a pretty rifle, my favorite as a matter of fact. Though if I had my choice, I would’ve switched out the optics for a NightForce scope. Beggars can’t be choosers and I wasn’t the one who’d purchased the set-up. Which got me thinking.

  “Who do you think funds The Company?” I asked Brooks, as I continued to inspect the rifle.

  “My guess would be it comes out of the congressional fund, earmarked for something else. You know the bullshit games our government plays with our tax dollars.”

  “What the fuck?” I muttered, shining the flashlight down the bolt carrier group of the rifle.

  “What?”

  “There’s no fucking firing pin,” I told him.

  “Come again?”

  “Those motherfuckers. They removed the firing pin.”

  Son of a bitch. You can’t shoot a weapon with no firing pin. And it doesn’t just fall out on its own. Someone would’ve had to purposefully disassemble the bolt carrier group, unscrew the firing pin assembly, and taken the long pin out. It wasn’t like you wouldn’t notice a four-inch piece of metal that looked like a paperclip unfolded and straightened out lying around when you reassembled the weapon.

  “Don’t suppose you have a gunsmith kit with extra parts lying around, do you?” I tried to joke off my supreme anger.

  Leon Brown was sending me into a trap. Who was meant to get caught remained to be seen.

  “Brooks?” I called when he didn’t answer.

  “What?”

  “Never mind
.”

  All righty then. Someone was pissed off. I wasn’t sure why he was so mad, it was me that Leon had potentially gotten killed. You only sabotaged someone’s weapon when you didn’t want them to be able to shoot back when you came shooting at them.

  “Sorry. I’m thinking.”

  “About what?”

  “Trying to figure out if there’s a way I can convince you to keep your ass in the car when we get to Nazari’s.”

  “Not a chance.”

  With a heavy sigh he answered, “Didn’t think so.”

  I put the useless rifle back into the case, placed it on the back seat, and climbed over the center console and settled into the passenger seat.

  “You think he sent someone to take me out?” I asked.

  “Yes.”

  “I have to admit this is getting old.”

  “What is?”

  “People trying to kill me. And now, Leon. What. The. Fuck.”

  We were approaching Nazari’s house. I didn’t have time to think about all the new information that had come to light in the last hour, especially the fact that the US government now wanted me dead, too.

  “When we get out, you stay at my back,” Brooks told me as he found a place to park.

  “No way. Nothing’s changed. I’ll take the back, you walk the perimeter. It will be faster.”

  “Everything has changed,” he argued.

  Brooks pulled his phone out of his cargos, cutting off any further rebuttal.

  “Yeah.” There was a pause, then his eyes widened and he replied, “No shit.” Another pause. “Never had to worry about Tatiana taking a shot, anyway. Brown gave her nonop. The firing pin was removed. We’re going to walk the perimeter and we’ll be back.” He looked over at me and said, “Copy that.”

  “What’d he say?” I asked as soon as Brooks hung up.

  “You’re never gonna believe this shit. Sefa Nazari is CIA. Her name is Ashaki Maloof. American born. Her parents are both naturalized US citizens.”

  “I’m not seeing Leon’s play. Is she supposed to kill me? And why the hell did Nazari go through the trouble of making people believe she is his daughter?”

  “Hell if I know. Declan wants one look around and for us to get our asses back to the condo.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll take the left and meet you around the back.”

  “Fine.”

  “Are you pouting?” I laughed.

  Even in the dim moonlight, I couldn’t deny how good-looking he was. I had to admit, I was a little disappointed that his promise of helping me forget seeing Sefa – or Ashaki as it were – making out with whom I thought were her father and brother, had been interrupted.

  “Men don’t pout, Doll.”

  “It sure looks like you are.”

  “Why don’t you just announce to the entire neighborhood we’re here?”

  I pinched my lips together in an effort not to laugh at his obvious attempt to deflect. He was totally pouting because he wasn’t getting his way and I wasn’t going to stay by his side like he wanted.

  He walked a few steps ahead of me and my mind went straight into the gutter. He had a great ass. It was firm, and I remembered how his muscles had flexed under my hands as I held on while he was on top of me thrusting deep. I had to have been the craziest woman alive. There I was, walking down a dark street with the possibility of death looming over my head, and all I could think about was how I hoped I’d get to have more sex with Brooks.

  It’s good to know I had my priorities in order.

  Not.

  Chapter 26

  I watched as Tatiana disappeared into the shadows and wondered if there would ever be a time she’d do as I asked. My step faltered mid-stride as a very uncomfortable question hit me, would there even be a next time? Would she continue to work for Z Corps after this mission or would she… be on her way? Surely she wouldn’t go back to working for Leon Brown. The douchebag was up to something.

  Who gave the order to have the firing pin removed from her weapon, making it completely inoperable, remained to be seen. Maybe the whole kill order was bogus and he was testing her loyalty to him. It was a plausible scenario; tell her there was a mission shift, it was top secret, and send her out with the intention of actually having her kill Sefa. It was dangerous and stupid but not beyond the realm of possibility for an asshole like him. Or was he trying to get her killed?

  All the fine hairs on my neck stood on end and dread coated my gut. Fuck.

  Before I could turn, the barrel of a gun was pointed to the back of my head.

  “I would’ve thought the stupid bitch learned her lesson,” a thick Middle-Eastern accent spoke from behind me. “The prince doesn’t like people—”

  The sound of suppressed gunfire took me by surprise. A millisecond after I realized I hadn’t been the one hit, I swung toward the sound and saw Tatiana still had her weapon aimed at the dead man on the ground.

  I yanked my phone out and took a photo of what was left of the man’s face. It was debatable if Garrett or Tex would be able to run a facial recognition trace, but I’d rather I had something to give them. I patted the man down, took his phone, and as I was straightening, I noticed a tattoo.

  “Fuck.”

  “What?”

  “He’s Omni,” I said, pointing at the peacock feather tattoo.

  “How do you know?”

  Not having the time for a lengthy explanation, I gave her the basics. “We had trouble back in the states. All the men who worked Omni had the same peacock feather tattoo. Let’s roll before we have company.” I picked up the gun with two fingers, trying to preserve any fingerprints we could pull.

  Without a word she followed me back to the car down the street. Even with a silencer on her sidearm, I’m sure we’d woken a Nazari or at least a few of their neighbors. Contrary to what most people thought, a suppressor did not silence the sound of gunfire. It merely stifled it—barely.

  “What the hell was that?” she asked once we’d gotten into the car. “How the hell did he know where we were?”

  “Good fucking question. Call Declan, would’ya?”

  She pulled her phone out, and after dialing, lifted it to her face. A few seconds ticked by before she ended the call. “No answer.”

  “Dammit.”

  I slammed the gas pedal to the floor. We made it back to the area the condo was in half the time it should’ve taken.

  “That van’s new,” Tatiana said.

  “New how?”

  “It wasn’t there when we left.”

  “Was that gunfire?” she asked and rolled down the window.

  It didn’t take long for another volley of shots to ring out.

  I slammed on the brakes, the vehicle going from fifty to zero in seconds. We came to a sliding stop and before I could tell her not to move, Tatiana was out of the car running toward the condo.

  Christ Almighty, she was going to be the death of me. No plan. No discussion. She just bolted. Not bothering to turn off the car, I jogged in the direction she’d gone. There’d been no gunfire in at least two minutes but that didn’t mean jack shit. Luckily, I found Tatiana crouched behind a cement wall, gun drawn, watching.

  “I don’t see anyone,” she whispered.

  Hyper-aware of our surroundings, I listened and watched. Not seeing any movement, I pointed forward and she nodded. Fortunately, she let me take the lead. I could feel her close, matching me stride for stride. We slowly approached the condo; no shots fired, no movement.

  I heard three sharp whistles and turned to Tatiana. “We’re all clear.”

  “How do you know?”

  “We don’t always have the luxury of radio communication. Three fast, consecutive whistles is our code,” I explained. “Keep your eyes open.”

  We continued to make our way to the front of the condo. Max turned his gun and pointed directly at Tatiana. In the dim light I could see his face was hard and he was pissed.

  “What the fuck?” I muttered. “Lowe
r your weapon.”

  “You,” he spit out.

  I glanced over at Tatiana and shockingly she was lowering her gun and holstering it even though Max had not done the same. I wouldn’t have blamed her if she’d continued to take aim.

  “What. The. Fuck,” I repeated.

  “You in on this bullshit?” he asked, nodding to his right. My gaze followed where he was gesturing and I saw two men covered in blood crumpled on the ground. Both very dead.

  She hadn’t taken her eyes off Max. Hadn’t moved.

  “I suggest you lower your gun.” There was no mistaking the anger in her voice.

  “I suggest we all go inside before we get sniped.” I tried to calm the situation.

  “And what happens if I don’t? You gonna send in another hit squad to try and take us all out?”

  Her body jerked back like he’d physically struck her. “Is anyone injured?” she asked, before I could question Max.

  “Lucky for you, no. It’s the only reason you’re still breathin’.”

  “What the—”

  “You think I did this? I sent them?” she cut me off.

  Max continued, “Funny thing is, before today I was starting to trust you. But I don’t believe in coincidences. Before you showed up, no one was shooting at us. Before you, we had a clear-cut mission. Before you, it was a quick in and out. Now everywhere we go, we’re fucked and the only thing that has changed is you.”

  “Are you fucking crazy?” She stepped toward Max. At that moment in time, I’d say they both were. He was making wild accusations and she was stepping closer to a very pissed off, deadly man pointing a gun at her. “I’m gonna ask you one more time to stop pointing your gun at me. I see you’re upset. But I’m unclear how you’ve drawn the conclusion I want any of you dead.”

  “Upset? You haven’t seen upset, woman.”

  I’d had enough. I moved between Max and Tatiana and held my friend’s stare. “She saved my life tonight. One of Al Issa’s men got the drop on me. Pointblank to the back of the head. If Tatiana had been one second later, I’d be dead. Tell me, does that play into whatever fucked-up scenario you have swirling around in your head? If she’d set this whole thing up, why’d she save me?”