His Devil's Rage

by Linzi Basset

  “Jack asked me to do a separate DNA profile analysis on the sperm of the man who attempted to rape Jordan. He made me promise not to say anything.” She fiddled with her fingers, casting a covert glance at Lance. His jaw was set rigid as he watched her unwaveringly.

  “You’ve known all this time and never said anything? Even after Jack’s death?” Lance’s voice thickened.

  “Jack was so insistent, even told me to destroy all the test results. He was worried I’d be exposed if anyone knew I had knowledge of who it was. After the explosion, I intended to tell you but with your injury and … it slipped my mind until Michael came to see me.” She swallowed as she noticed Lance’s eyes turn glacial. “He told me that Jack had taken him into his confidence to have an insider to get close to The Sixth Order—a person they didn’t know and wouldn’t associate with Precision Secure. He said they were on the verge of unraveling the entire organization.” She looked around the room, noticing the taut expressions of the men watching her. “He said that it was crucial to keep the information quiet.”

  “You trusted a man you didn’t know above all of us … above me?” Lance could no longer hide his anger.

  “It was … I couldn’t forget my promise to Jack.” She took his hand and squeezed it hard. “Michael came to see me at the same time I finalized the DNA results of the blood you found in the bomb shelter under Jack’s house. I knew he was still alive … and I couldn’t … please, Lance, you have to understand,” Lexi implored.

  “What’s the issue with the phone?” Lance snapped.

  “Michael said if I don’t receive a text message from him every day, and I can’t get hold of him, something has happened and I should tell you about the results.”

  “Well?” Lance asked with an arched eyebrow.

  Lexi felt like the world was about to crash down on her. She knew how devastated Lance would be … how they all would be. She blinked as he continued to stare at her with harsh countenance. Her sigh dragged out like a never-ending yarn of wool. She took out her iPad mini and opened a secure folder where she’d stored the results. She couldn’t bring herself to say the name out loud.

  Lexi blinked up at him, her eyes filled with sorrow. “I’m so sorry, honey.”

  Lance took the iPad and read the scanned report. His jaw turned more rigid the further he read. An expletive exploded in the air, followed by his hoarse cry. “It can’t be.” He lifted eyes filled with pain at her. “There has to be a mistake, Lexi.”

  She shook her head. “I did the test three times, using different strains of the DNA I found on the sheet Jack supplied. The result is conclusive.”

  “What the fuck, Lance? Who is it?” Max exploded, sitting on the edge of his seat. Lance just handed him the tablet, unable to voice the name.

  “Jesus Christ,” Max exclaimed. He handed the tablet around the table, and everyone who read the name who was a 99.99% match to the DNA strain, cursed viciously.

  Rhone was the only one who didn’t utter a single sound. His lips flattened into a straight line and his knuckles turned white as he clasped the tablet tighter. He lifted haunted eyes to Lance, and his voice sounded hoarse in the shocked silence that hung heavy in the atmosphere.

  “If he’s Dexter Powell, there’s only one person who can be Mr. Z.”

  Lance nodded, the anger inside him slowly boiling to a silent fury. “Why? Just tell me why, Rhone.”

  Rhone’s eyes dropped to the tablet. The words became blurry as he felt the betrayal all the way into his soul. If he felt like this, he could only guess at what Lance must be feeling.

  “Michael also told me to tell you to start at Jack’s farm if something happened to him,” Lexi interjected quietly.” She clung to Lance’s hand. She had never seen him this highly strung, filled with a quiet rage that was palatable with every breath he took. She had made her own deduction from things she’d overheard and her heart wanted to break for him.

  Lance slowly turned his head and stared at her. For the first time, his eyes were empty of emotion. She willed herself not to bear back at the depth of despair she read in his gaze. She opened her mouth but Bruce preceded her.

  “You can’t blame, Lexi, Lance. You place as much value on a promise as the rest of us. You and Alex held a promise you made to Jack from all of us too. Don’t take out your hurt and anger on her.”

  Lance blinked. He palmed her cheek but his expression didn’t change, his eyes didn’t lighten. His voice, however, held the assurance she’d been seeking. “Jim will take you to work, love. Be sure not to go anywhere without him.”

  He got up and led her to the door. Jim, the senior field operations manager, stood waiting outside. Lance kissed her briefly, his lips twitched. “I love you, Lexi. No matter what happens, always remember that.”

  “Lance, what … please don’t do anything stupid or hasty. I beg you.”

  Lance looked at Jim. “Keep her safe.” He closed the door on Lexi’s further protest. He didn’t move for a moment and then spun around to face his friends. “Let’s get to the farm. I have a suspicion about Jack.”

  “What?” Max asked eagerly.

  Lance shook his head. “Not until we’ve explored the farm. If what I suspect is true, we’ll find confirmation of that there.”

  “Where?” Max flung his hands in the air. “That farm is massive and Jack never used the big house but preferred to stay over in the cottage by the river.” Max’s brow furrowed in thought. “Except … goddamn! You’re right, Lance. We’ll find the rest of our answers there.”

  “What the devil aren’t you two telling us?” Keon bellowed. He got up and leaned his fists on the desk, glaring between them.

  “The property has several underground tornado shelters. Jack converted the one at the back of the barn into his own personal armory where he kept all his weapons and secret technology he’d been using over the years. If he or Michael Flores left us a clue, it will be there,” Max said with rising excitement in his eyes.

  “Jack knew all this time and he kept it to himself. It must have eaten away at his insides like acid,” Alex said quietly.

  He looked at Lance who smiled wryly. “Yeah, all to protect me.”

  Rhone handed Lexi’s iPad to Lance. His eyes swept to the name blazoned at the bottom of the scanned document.

  Jaden Bower.

  “I can’t fucking believe this, Rhone. Why? We grew up together and …” His voice thickened; he swallowed painfully. “If Jaden is Dexter Powell, the only person who can be Mr. Z is …” He faltered as pain slashed through his heart with the sharpness of a rapier. “My cousin, Reece.”

  Chapter Three

  “How are you holding up, mate?” Bruce’s voice was quiet amid the low hum of Rhone’s Sikorsky S-97 Raider chopper, which was kept in a secure steel encased bunker on the roof of the Precision Secure building. The entire team was on their way to Jack’s farm in Upperville, Virginia. He’d been watching Lance intently since the shocking revelation. He’d pushed his own rage aside to focus on Lance, who was devastated. It was obvious that he was struggling to come to term with the news. Bruce had no doubt that he was torn between disbelief and anger, not to mention betrayal’ He always had a deep familial love bond with his cousin, and his best friend.

  Lance didn’t respond immediately, his gaze remained on the horizon in the distance. He felt numb, the cogs in his brain were still struggling to connect all the information that kept swirling through his mind. At first, he’d been angry at Lexi but realized immediately it was unfounded. Lexi would never have broken her word once given in a promise. Now, the anger and disappointment, not to mention disillusionment, was directed at his cousin Reece Talbot and his friend, Jaden Bower.

  “My own cousin, Bruce! He was there when the bomb went off. He watched me walk into that house and he did nothing to stop …” His throat closed off; he swallowed hard. It was the hardest pill to swallow. That his own flesh and blood hadn’t been concerned he might be killed during the explosion. He snorted. “
For all I know, he was the one who detonated the fucking thing.”

  “That’s possible,” Bruce said quietly. With tightly strung situations such as these, it was best to allow him to vent, to get the emotions to the surface, burn them with the heat of the fury that was rising to boiling point inside Lance. Then he’d be able to calm down and think clearly, become the sharp, focused man who’d find the best way to deal with the situation as a team.

  “Jesus! All these years. They’ve fooled all of us.” Lance shook his head. “I can’t wrap my head around it, Bruce. Reece always stood firm against crime and violence, from when we were young. What changed? Fuck … when did he change?” He glanced at Bruce. “It has something to do with you and Rhone, doesn’t it?”

  Bruce’s expression remained impassive as he returned the inquiring look. From his peripheral vision, he noticed Rhone’s shoulders straighten.

  “It has to. Why else would they want the assassins to concentrate on the two of you?” Lance’s gaze swung to Rhone. His eyes narrowed in thought. “Jacklyn Long. You, Bruce, and Reece all had the hots for her. I remember he tried to brush it off every time she agreed on a date with either of you but I knew it grated on him. His eyes turned glacial when he watched her with the two of you.” He looked at Bruce. “And you and she served that final tour in Iraq together. She was part of your Battalion Company.”

  “It’s a bit of a stretch for any man to become a ruthless crime lord because of losing a woman to another man,” Keon said over his shoulder where he sat next to Rhone who was flying the chopper.

  “Not if he believed Bruce and Rhone were responsible for their relationship failing.”

  “Hold on,” Ethan interjected. “That all happened before that tour to Iraq. That’s where she went MIA, wasn’t it? Besides, Rhone wasn’t in Iraq at the time. He was deep undercover for the CIA already.”

  Bruce released a sigh of resignation. In all the years since Rhone and Jack had rescued him, they had kept mum about Jacklyn’s betrayal, allowing their friends to believe that she had gone MIA during that fateful day at the Hussein hospital. He glanced at Rhone and nodded.

  “Rhone and Jack were responsible for my rescue. Jacklyn hadn't been captured with us at the time. She betrayed us, me in particular, all for money. We decided to keep it quiet, knowing how much in love Reece was with her. In retrospect, it was the wrong thing to do. Maybe if he had known the true nature of her heart, he wouldn’t have been so bitter.” Bruce swung his gaze to stare out over the passing landscape below, the screams and cries of children and women still echoing in his ears. He felt the same devastation sweep over him like it did that day after they blew up the reinforced gate in front of the hospital. For that, he’d never be able to forgive Jacklyn.

  “He wanted to come with but I didn’t feel he had field combat experience. I didn’t want to risk his life and the operation with someone who didn’t understand the danger. He was livid and swore that if something happened to her, I would pay,” Rhone said.

  “And when she didn’t return, he blamed you and Bruce because he didn’t keep her safe,” Max said.

  “Yeah, that fucking tour had a severe effect on all of us. We all came back different people,” Bruce said in a tired voice. “I do recall that Reece had a blow up two years later. She contacted him out of the blue, very surprised to hear that we had claimed she’d been MIA. He wouldn’t listen to an explanation, she had him wrapped around her finger. Thinking back, I believe that’s what he used as an excuse to turn dark. She had the audacity to come to me, begging for forgiveness, and wanting me to offer her treatment. I refused but she kept hounding me, arriving at lunches, parties, and even clubs I frequented, all to play the same demented game again, playing me off against Reece. What was abhorring, is that she wasn’t interested in a relationship with Reece and spurned him continuously. She was sick, mentally unstable. She craved attention. Her little game offered her the satisfaction she was after. Power over a man. Reece saw us together numerous times and drew his own conclusions. He acted like an immature idiot and I told him as much.” He sighed heavily. “Reece suffered from a minority complex when he was younger. He always tried to compete with all of us, especially Rhone and me. After that, he did his best to overshadow us in everything we did. We never acted or took part in his one-sided battle for recognition.”

  “Reece resented his parents for manipulating him and using his grandfather’s illness to keep him from joining the military. They pushed him to take over at his company while he was sick. That had been a blow to his ego, when we all left and perfected our combat skills while he had to stay behind and push papers, as he referred to it.” Lance glanced between his friends. “Do you honestly believe that’s where it all began? Was he really as competitive that he turned to crime for some kind of recognition and sense of power?”

  “Reece is a brilliant strategist, Lance, just like you. Why do you think he was so keen to join us when we started Precision Secure? He wanted to be up close and personal. He used the years with us in Los Angeles as training. He soaked up the way we plan, protect, and think,” Rhone responded in a deep voice.

  Keon glanced at him, hearing the suppressed rage quiver in his words. It was the first time he’d ever witnessed Rhone showing his emotions.

  Bruce also stared at Rhone. They had developed a strong bond during that rescue in Iraq. No one fully understood Rhone. He had learned over the years to lock his emotions deep inside him, a safeguard against his enemies. No one had been able to penetrate that iron wall he’d built around him … except Samantha Frazer, and now this situation with Reece. Bruce knew Rhone felt as betrayed as Lance. He’d taken Reece and Jaden under his wing when they’d joined Precision Secure. Taught them how to strategize, how to plan, how to penetrate the mind of their opponents. All to mend the bond that had been broken years before. Reece and Jaden had played their part well. No one had ever suspected deep down, they carried resentment and hatred toward the rest of them.

  “I still find it hard to put it all together,” Lance muttered.

  “Once we find them, we’ll get to the root of their hatred, mate. Now that we know who they are and what they’re capable of, we have the perfect opportunity to finish The Sixth Order,” Alex interjected. “We should use this time to unravel every little bit of information we can about the organization and split it open, piece by piece until there’s only slivers left.”

  “I agree. One can’t hide when you don’t have your soldiers around to protect you.” Max crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the changing scenery below.

  “Except if they have Michael and Jordan, they won’t keep them alive for long. Not since they know who they really are,” Lance said.

  “Yeah, there is that. Now that we have their true identities, it’ll be easier to uncover their shady dealings using the dark web. I’ve already got Richard working on it,” Max said. He leaned forward as he noticed the familiar buildings in the distance. “We’re close. You should land the bird next to the barn behind the main house, Rhone. I’m certain we’ll find what Michael and Jack intended us to in that tornado shelter.”

  Once landed, he led them to the reinforced door leading into the tornado shelter. “If Jack hadn’t changed the access code, we should be inside in a second,” he mumbled as he slid open the steel cover protecting a keypad next to the door. A soft click followed once he’d entered the code. He pushed through the door, found the light switch and quickly made his way down the stairs, the rest of the team close on his heels.

  “Sometimes I forget how many covert ops Jack had been on,” Rhone murmured as he stood in the middle of the brightly lit room, glancing around at the variety of weapons and gadgets neatly stacked on shelves.

  “Does anyone know what we’re looking for?” Ethan asked as he paged through files in a filing cabinet.

  “Jack would store intel somewhere. A hard drive, iPad, or a laptop.” Max stared at Lance who was methodically searching through the steel cabinet where Jack sto
red combat clothing and gear. “What are you hoping to find in there?”

  “Something to confirm my suspicion,” Lance said as he opened a drawer. “Yes! I knew I was right,” he exclaimed as he held up a prosthetic mask with dark blonde hair. “Meet Michael Flores, aka, Jack Blackmore.”

  The men stared agape at the mask.

  “I can’t believe he fooled all of us. How the hell did you know?” Keon gruffed as he took the mask from Lance.

  “Just a hunch. Jack always tells us to keep a backdoor open, no matter the circumstances. He had Alex and me before but as Michael Flores, his hands were tied. The fact that he approached Lexi triggered my suspicion. He knew she would keep her word.”

  “I’m always amazed at how real these fucking masks are,” Bruce said. He took it from Keon and turned it inside out. “Ah, so that’s how he disguised his voice,” he said as he found the microchip on the underside of the chin. He looked around. “Jack wouldn’t have left his intel lying around or kept it in the obvious hiding place. C’mon, mates, think. Where would he hide it?”

  Rhone looked around. “Maybe not in the obvious place but knowing Jack, probably in the most unexpected place.”

  “Meaning it might be right under our noses it’s that obvious?” Alex asked as he joined the methodical search for some form of electronic device with the hope that Jack had left them clues.

  Bruce turned in a circle, scrutinizing every nook and cranny of the room, looking for something that appeared normal but wasn’t. His eyes narrowed on the display of handguns kept in a cabinet with glass doors. He walked closer.

  “I think I found it.” He opened it and pointed at what appeared to be a Glock 9mm. Only this one had a bright red handle with a shining silver muzzle.

  “It’s a toy gun,” Max said and took it from the cabinet. He turned it around in his hands. “Feels like the real thing. Amazing how they make these things nowadays. What I wouldn’t have done for a toy like this as a kid―”