Man Hunt

by Misty Evans

  He seemed unfazed by the threat. “Before I put my life, and the kid’s, in your hands, I need to know who tried to kill me that night. Was it the Agency?”

  Mia sat back. “Why would they want to kill you?”

  “Been asking myself the same thing the past nine months. They thought I went off the reservation, that I was in love with Petra and had blown my cover with her. I became a liability.”

  Mia scanned her memory. “I don't remember anything being said about that.” She eyed him more closely. “Were you? Did she know you were CIA?”

  “No and no. Her husband was the worst of the lowlifes, still is, and she wanted out, but there was no way he’d let her walk away, especially with the kid. He beat her on a regular basis, threatened to kill her if she even thought of cheating or leaving him. The kid was caught in the middle and Petra wanted to escape, but more than that, she wanted to save Jaeger and get him away from his father. I was trying to make that happen—save them both. Petra was an asset to the CIA—she had oodles of intelligence on Karl. My handler agreed to cut a deal for her, get them out in exchange for the intelligence she had on Kaiser's organization and network. People, shell companies, his black market dealings—she knew about all of it. Can you imagine what a coup it would be to not only wipe him out, but all of his business partners?”

  One of those was Senator Hinch. Not on paper, of course, but under the table the two helped each other on a regular basis. Mia had gone digging on Hinch after that night with Chloe. It hadn't been all that hard to find the trail that led to Karl. Hinch made sure the Department of Defense gave Kaiser contracts for arms in two out of three bidding wars, while Kaiser donated money to the senator’s campaigns through various legal organizations every four years.

  “Are you suggesting the CIA didn't want Karl and his cronies wiped out? That they would kill one of their own to keep that from happening?”

  Ryker looked at her as if she were dense. “You have to admit things are fishy when it comes to that mission. My handler turns up dead, the exfil for Petra is denied, and the next thing I know, the explosion and fire happen that night at the party. If I’d arrived on time, I would've been dead. In the confusion, I was able to rescue Jaeger and get him out of there.”

  The final report had listed the cause as a gas leak. A note had been made that perhaps one of Kaiser's enemies had orchestrated it, but no evidence pointing to that had turned up.

  From what she'd learned coming in late to the mission, it was not out of the question Kaiser had created the explosion himself. At that time, Ryker’s previous handler noted multiple times the man was unstable and controlling with his wife. If Kaiser had any hint she was leaving him, and he wanted to eliminate that chance, it was possible he'd stop her by any means necessary.

  Kind of stupid if you asked her. Mia had wondered why a man would destroy his home. If he wanted to kill his wife, surely there were easier ways. This new theory by Ryker warranted consideration. “So, you think in order to keep damaging information about, say, a US senator from surfacing, the CIA not only refused to pull Petra and Jaeger out of Berlin, but they actually staged the explosion and subsequent fire that killed her and might have you as well?”

  “A senator?” He cocked his head. “You do know more than you’re telling me. Who is he?”

  She’d acted like she was speculating but he’d grabbed that nugget of information like a dog with a bone.

  Before she could figure out a way to answer, he leaned forward. His voice was demanding. “Who is it?”

  She wasn’t ready to share that yet, but pieces of the puzzle were tumbling around in her brain. “I was using that as an example. For all I know, Karl might have damning information about the president or another high-ranking official. My point is, why would the Agency send you undercover to get the goods then pull the plug and try to kill you when you got them?”

  “They didn’t know all of the things I’d find out. I was sent in to befriend the man and get intel on a new buyer out of North Africa unloading black market ammunitions. Some sheik. What I found was a lot more.”

  She knew the directive of the mission. Remembered the buyer Ryker had been looking for. “There could be some truth to your suspicions, but at this point, we can’t prove anything. They may very well be part of the reason Beatrice didn’t hand the information about your whereabouts over to the CIA. What we can do is go after Kaiser again. Raise Gaspard Manafort from his grave and get him back in touch with Karl. Make him believe you had nothing to do with Jaeger’s disappearance and you’re back in the arms market. Advanced weaponry he’ll see the profit in.”

  “Dream on. He thinks I’m dead, that I was there the night of the explosion.”

  “There were multiple bodies that were never identified. All you have to do is convince him you weren’t on site, you never showed up. You only heard about it later. I have the perfect backstop story for you.”

  “Why does Bianca—Beatrice—want Kaiser so bad?”

  “I'm not privileged to that information, but it's not hard to guess. She doesn’t do anything that isn’t for a good reason, and eliminating Kaiser would benefit the world at large, don't you think? Our new boss is in touch with the big picture—one we can’t even imagine, nor do I care to delve into it.”

  He was silent, unmoving for a long moment. Still as a cat about to jump on his prey. Why did Mia feel like she was the prey?

  “What’s in this for you?” he finally asked.

  “Beatrice claims she can get my job back at the Agency.” There was no reason to tell him the specifics, so she didn't. “I need that position.”

  He shook his head but stayed quiet a moment. Then, “I can’t do it. I owe her but…I can’t leave the boy alone or risk either of our lives. If I get caught, end up dead or in prison? There’s no one to raise Jaeger.”

  “We can protect him—Beatrice can, anyway. She has a kid of her own now, and fights pretty damn hard for the underdog from what I can see. She won’t let Jaeger end up with his father.”

  “Papa?” Jaeger’s voice floated down the rough wooden stairs. “I’m all done!”

  Ryker stood, slipping his gun into his waistband. He pointed a finger at her. “Whatever’s in this for you, I’m sorry, I can’t help. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I know you can show yourself to the door.”

  After he left the room, she rolled her eyes, then checked the new phone Rory had given her. No messages, although there was a clock on the screen counting down the minutes.

  Perfect. No pressure there.

  I can’t give up. I have to make this work. She wondered how the three men outside were doing, what orders they had if she couldn’t get Ryker to willingly come along. They all had codenames and looked like some of the meanest, baddest guys she’d ever ran into. Ryker fit right in with them.

  But they all had soft spots—everyone did. Would the SEALs help her kidnap the boy, force Ryker to help her?

  Do not threaten Jaeger, she heard the little voice inside her head say. That’s the one thing that’ll make Ryker kill you instead of help you.

  She smelled the dog before she heard Ryker’s stealthy footsteps behind her. He had a duffel in one hand, a rolled up sleeping bag in the other. Jaeger followed dutifully behind. “You’re still here.”

  Pointing at the duffel, she felt hope rise. “You changed your mind? You’re going to help?”

  “Hell, no, but now we definitely have to move.”

  “But where will you go?”

  “None of your concern.” He motioned to the door. “Out.”

  Her phone, still in her hand, buzzed. Beatrice. Staring Ryker down, she almost ignored it, but she was out of options. The man was as stubborn as a mule. “Yes?” she asked, answering her boss’s call.

  “Get out, now! There’s incoming!”

  Incoming? Mia’s blood froze. Instinct had her pick up the boy. “Move! Get out!” she yelled as she sprinted for the door.

  “What the—?”

  “Ru
n!”

  The afternoon heat hit her like a wall and things went into slow motion. Jaeger yelled for his papa, the dog jetted past her toward the Jeep, barking as if this were a game. SEALs appeared from every direction, and she sensed Ryker coming up fast behind her.

  Strong arms grabbed her and Jaeger at the entrance to the nearby forest, and she was thrown down, air whooshing out of her lungs. Heavy weights landed on top of her, her face smashed into the ground, the laden scents of earth and dry undergrowth filling her nostrils.

  Before she could catch her breath, the world behind her exploded.

  Chapter Three

  Risks versus rewards

  Somewhere over the Indian Ocean

  * * *

  Two hours later, Ryker sat in the plush leather seat of a private jet owned by Shadow Force International, heading toward Monte Carlo. A few seats away, Jaeger’s little boy laughter filtered over the hum of the engines as he played Go Fish with two of the SEALs—codenames, Coldplay and Slash. It was good to hear him laugh, although Ryker felt a twinge of jealousy that he wasn't in on the game.

  His mind spun like the wheel in a hamster cage. The cabin was gone, blown to smithereens by a drone carrying an air-to-surface missile. His ears still rang from the sound of the explosion—if it hadn't been for Mia, he and Jaeger would be dead.

  Or maybe she was the reason they’d been found, he hadn’t decided yet. Someone could've followed her and the SEALs, leading them right to his doorstep.

  The chances of that were slim, not only because the former SEALs were highly trained in covert tracking and evasive maneuvers, but they worked for Bianca—Beatrice—now, and their very lives depended on secrecy and anonymity according to Mia. Every one of them needed to keep a low profile because of certain missions in their pasts. Like him, they had enemies who were looking for them. Which was why they all used codenames.

  Right now, Ryker wasn't sure exactly who was his enemy. After so many months of not being able to trust anyone, he found he wasn't able to put his faith in the people in the plane with him either, not even Mia.

  As they flew high above the ocean, he toyed with the idea of hijacking the plane and getting him and Jaeger to another secluded forest or mountaintop. Subduing four SEALs, a former spy named Parker Jeffries, Mia, the pilot and copilot, whom he guessed were also former military, and the gal a few seats behind them, the lawyer, might be beyond his skill set. He could take out most in hand-to-hand combat without issue, but all of them? Odds were slim. Besides the fact, flying and getting through certain air spaces without attracting attention was close to impossible. Better to let this group take him to a landing site before he made any moves to escape.

  So here he sat, silent and stewing, not liking any of his options. Dozens of curses and arguments tickled his tongue as he half-listened to Parker give him the details of the mission. Mia had filled him in on the former spy’s background, and Jeffries was more than qualified to run the op, but that didn't make him feel any easier.

  The lawyer—Donovan—had also made him sign a contract of all things. Mia had read it over his shoulder, until he’d shooed her away.

  “I signed mine without reading it,” she’d said. “I didn’t sign away my firstborn or anything, did I?”

  Firstborn.

  He'd panicked when he'd seen her pick up Jaeger and charge out the door of the cabin, yelling at him to run. His mind had not computed her words for several seconds, all he’d seen was her stealing his son.

  My son.

  The words rolled around in his brain. He'd promised Petra to take care of Jaeger, but what kind of life had he sentenced the boy to when they’d never be safe, when strangers could blow up their home at any moment?

  Jaeger had a few scratches from being thrown to the ground right before the explosion, but otherwise was unhurt, the two SEALs playing cards with him had thrown themselves over Jaeger and Mia to protect them. In the aftermath, Ryker had held the crying boy, who'd been more upset about Mite than the explosion destroying their home and belongings. Ryker had no doubt the dingo was fine—he'd seen Mite run into the forest before the concussive explosion knocked him out. He'd only been unconscious a couple of moments, but when he came to he couldn't get his bearings at first, probably due to an inner ear imbalance. The Jeep had been tossed on its side, but the four SEALs righted it and the seven of them had driven the two and half miles to the waiting helicopter. The helo had taken them to a private airport on the west coast. Once onboard the plane, Parker fed them intel from Beatrice.

  The self-guided, long-range drone had come from the north west, although they couldn’t pinpoint the exact location. It self-destructed in an even more remote part of the national park.

  “I want to know who sent that drone,” Ryker said as softly as he could to Parker and Mia so Jaeger didn’t hear. He’d already signed and returned the contract to Ms. Donovan, wondering why she didn’t have a codename. “And how they knew I was there.”

  He glared at Mia and she held his gaze, seemingly unaffected. “You can quit giving me the stink eye, as if we weren’t careful enough. We were not followed.”

  Parker interrupted before Ryker could respond. “I’ll work on finding out where it came from.”

  Mia glanced her way. “It could’ve been anybody, including Karl. Maybe he got wind of Ryker’s location the same time Beatrice did.”

  “Kaiser obviously has access to military grade, long-range drones,” Ryker said, “but don't forget to look at the CIA.”

  If he sounded paranoid, Parker didn't show it. Mia, however, did. “You're still convinced the Agency wants you dead? Newsflash, they already believe you are.”

  He shook his head. “That's what they want you and everyone else to think, but they may have realized they failed to kill me in Berlin.” A new thought bubbled to the surface. “Who did Beatrice get the intelligence from about my location?”

  Parker answered. “POTUS.”

  Ryker lifted one brow at Mia. “The president of the United States gave the information to Beatrice? Why wouldn't she give it to the CIA?” He snapped his fingers as if he was suddenly struck with the answer. “Oh wait, maybe she did.”

  “You are one paranoid SOB.” Mia shook her head in disgust.

  She obviously had not worked for the Agency very long before being fired over him. He should’ve felt responsible for that, but didn't have the energy. “And you're naïve.”

  A flush started in her neck and spread to her cheeks, her eyes burning holes through him. “This is never going to work,” she said to Parker. “There's no way I can pretend to be married to him.”

  “Married?” Ryker felt like someone punched him in the gut. He couldn't help the bark of laughter that escaped, earning him a glance from Jaeger. “You've got to be kidding.”

  The way Parker and Mia looked at him suggested they weren’t in any way joking. Mia was to pretend to be his wife?

  He snorted. “Next, you’re going to suggest Jaeger play our son.”

  A patient smile from Parker. “Jaeger will be taken care of while you’re on the mission. I dare say he will find his new accommodations with Beatrice and her family to his liking.”

  Swanky ones, no doubt, if the plane were any indication. “He won’t want to be separated from me. I’m the only person he’s known since he lost both his parents.”

  Parker nodded in an understanding manner. “It is a sacrifice. We understand how difficult this is, but if you want to do what’s best for him, you’ll complete the mission. Once Kaiser is incarcerated, you will have fewer worries and Jaeger can lead a normal life. We can give him a new identity and provide a safe place to grow up.”

  Doubtful. He'd stolen a man's son. Prison bars wouldn’t stop Karl Kaiser from trying to find the kid if he believed Jaeger were still alive, and if he did find him? The kid’s life would be hell, even if his old man was in prison, because Kaiser would find a way to keep him in the family business.

  The only way to stop Kaiser was to kil
l him.

  Ryker had entertained the idea many times. For all the atrocities the man had committed, he deserved it, but Ryker didn't believe in playing God. He wasn't an assassin. Wasn't an executioner. And he wasn't about to take on the guilt of killing the boy’s father.

  He had two options: go along with the plan to trick Kaiser, or pull a fast one on this group—and Beatrice—and go into hiding once more with Jaeger.

  Neither option was ideal. In fact, they both sucked.

  Welcome to my life.

  Parker shuffled a few papers. “You and Mia will pretend to have started a new specialty arms business, focused on the dark web and specializing in 3-D printable plastic weapons. Sixty percent of the weapons on sale there come from the US, and physical weapons will be a large part of your new enterprise, but blueprints for the 3-D printable weapons are what you're trying to sell to Kaiser. Mia’s backstop will show her as JoAn Rimer, a rich, techno-libertarian who has created a business called Ghost Gun. It features these 3-D weapons blueprints that lack serial numbers and are untraceable, making them ideal for convicted criminals, terrorists, and others who have been prohibited from gun ownership to print and use plastic guns. She believes strongly in the second amendment, and her company has been banned from many crowdfunding sites, as well as YouTube, Facebook, etc. The Department of Defense has been trying to shut her down, etc., etc.”