by Trish Loye
“All of them. You could have CIA, FBI, DHS, or military personnel on a team. I pick who I need based on their skill set.”
“That sounds like a clusterfuck waiting to happen.” Joint agency teams never worked. “They’ll all want to be top dog.” His shoulders slumped a little. Damn, he hadn’t realized he’d had such high hopes coming here.
“Yes,” Silas continued. “That’s always the problem with teams like this. They could be the most brilliant combination of people, but no one can control them.” He shrugged and his voice turned a bit sly. “No one except for a Navy SEAL commander.”
That stopped Ryan and his excitement grew, though he tried not to show it. “You want me to run a team?”
Silas nodded and a tiny quirk of a smile crossed his face. The bait had been set and Ryan didn’t care that he’d fallen for it.
“You, like your peers, are used to command in incredibly adverse conditions,” Silas said. “You’ve worked with and integrated special operators from other branches into your teams as well as operators from other countries. You could easily control any team I come up with.”
“I’m not a fucking politician,” Ryan stated. He needed to get that out right now. “I know the kind of people who usually work at DHS. And I’m not one of them.”
“I don’t want or need a politician,” Silas said. “I want you to join my Bone Frog Command. A secret division of the DHS that has no need of political skills and every need of a qualified Navy SEAL commander.” Silas waved a hand. “I don’t care how rough you get or if you swear like the sailor you are. I need your help. Your country needs your help.”
Ryan swallowed the hook willingly and finally let himself smile. “What do you want me to do?”
“I have a team and a mission I’d like you to command. One that’s time sensitive. And after that’s done, I’d like to be able to call on you for special assignments when they come up.”
Ryan didn’t even have to think about it. “I’m in.”
Silas checked his watch. “Why don’t we go to the briefing room and you can meet your team and hear the mission.”
Ryan jerked a little in surprise. “You already have a team assembled?”
“We have a situation that’s turned urgent.” He picked up a file from his desk. “We need to get up and running now.”
“Why me if it’s so urgent?” Ryan was new to all this. Why didn’t Silas just ask someone he already had on board?
Silas pressed his lips together. “Because you’re in DC and your SEAL team had one of the best records for hunting down terrorists. I need the best tracker I can find.”
Already, a sense of purpose thrummed in Ryan. To track down a terrorist would fill the void in him that needed more than teaching.
“Let’s do it.”
Sutton walked along the beach, her hand held in his strong, warm grip. His presence beside her made her feel secure. Content. Loved. Waves washed the shoreline, almost touching her bare feet. She laughed and kicked some water at him.
He grinned, his dark hair tousled by the breeze. “Are you sure you want to do that, Sunshine?”
Happiness welled up inside her at the nickname, at his smile, at her growing love for him. She grinned back, unable to stop herself, and kicked water at him again. She shrieked like a child when he chased her down the sand. He was right behind her. She ran faster.
The image blurred. It was night. Colder. She was running on pavement. She must go faster. Too late. She was too late. The shriek turned to raw screams. Two men dragged Anna into a van. Her hand reached out. Almost there. She couldn’t go faster. The van door closed on Anna’s terrified face.
No!
Sutton bolted upright.
She panted and her heart thundered. The dream that had started so nicely had ended as the same nightmare she’d been having for a month. She took deep breaths, calming her heart. Across from her bed, the picture of the beach hung on her wall. She focused on it, willing the nightmare and all the feelings it conjured away. The beach in the picture, with its rippling sand, white crested waves, and glowing sunset, was from the first part of her dream.
It must have been the last thing she’d seen before she’d fallen asleep. She clung to the emotions evoked by the first dream. She hadn’t really focused on her life from ten years ago in a long time.
It had been a time when an amazing team of special ops warriors had had her back. The days when she’d been attached to a SEAL team had been some of the best in her life. They’d targeted, hunted, and captured high-level insurgents. It had been fulfilling and exciting work.
But best of all, she’d been working with Ryan Marchetti.
It had been{* ten years since she’d seen Ryan. She’d heard rumors he’d retired. Was he living in peace in his beach house? Personally, she expected him to go crazy with boredom within a month, but he’d never listened to her. He had set goals for himself in his career and his life and he never veered from them. It was one of the reasons they’d broken up. He couldn’t accept that her job had been so important to her. That she’d loved it so much she’d chosen it over settling down with him.
But she hadn’t chosen it over Ryan—just over the settling down part. But Ryan had wanted all or nothing. He’d wanted her by his side even though he hadn’t been willing to give up being a SEAL.
She huffed a breath and got up. He hadn’t even tried to understand. She’d still wanted to see him; she just hadn’t wanted to give up her career. Admittedly, he hadn’t wanted her to stop being an agent—he’d just wanted to spend more time together, for her to take on less missions.
But he hadn’t offered to do the same.
None of that mattered now. Sunlight streamed into her bedroom from the south-facing window. She’d wasted time falling asleep, even if her body had obviously needed it. It was early afternoon now.
She changed her shirt and brushed out her hair. She’d go into the office and tell Edworthy to stuff it if he ordered her off Mark’s murder investigation.
Her phone rang and she checked the number. “Hey Tony. I’m on my way in.”
“Shit,” he said. “I think you might want to hold off on that.”
“What do you mean?”
His sigh was extra long and extra deep. “Did you meet with Agent Costa at the cemetery yesterday?”
“Yes,” she said. “He’s a bit of a shit head.”
“He’s dead.”
She blinked. “What the fuck? How?”
He sighed again, and she was getting sick of it.
“He was shot,” he said. “Execution style, in his car. He was found early this morning. Looks like he was killed yesterday afternoon.”
Right around the time she’d seen him. “What’s going on, Tony?”
“That’s what everyone wants to ask you.”
“Then I have to come in. Explain that I had nothing to do with any of this.”
Tony didn’t say anything. “I think you should lie low for a bit.”
“What? No, I—”
“Just for a bit,” he said. “Just until I get a feel for what’s going on. I’m heading into a meeting now. I’ll call you when it’s over.”
Her gut roiled, but she trusted Tony’s instincts. They’d saved the team countless times. “Fine. But call me ASAP.”
“Copy that.” He hung up.
She clenched her fists, and stared at that picture, feeling as if she’d been caught in a large wave and tumbled uncontrollably toward a rocky shore.
4
Ryan stood at ease among the operators chosen by Silas for a mission he still knew nothing about. Even though he wore a suit rather than his uniform, he didn’t feel out of place. Most of the people in the room wore civvies. It seemed an eclectic group of people. Some with the physicality that denoted a career in the military and some who looked as if they’d never been out from behind their computer. Silas had given him a tablet that allowed access to a secure network and all of their files for him to read later.
&nbs
p; Silas stood at the front of the room, just to the side of a group of large monitors. Most of the rest of the people sat at a table in front of him. All of them also had a tablet in front of them. Ryan leaned against a wall. Damn, he’d missed this.
“First of all, I want to introduce you all to your team leader, Commander Ryan Marchetti, former Navy SEAL.”
Ryan nodded as he felt all eyes on him.
Then Silas went around the room, pointing to various people.
“Agent Frank Edworthy. Supervisor of a SOG team.” This was an older gentleman with ruddy cheeks and a pronounced bald spot. He nodded at Ryan.
“Agent Anthony Wallis, also of the CIA.”
This man was in his mid-thirties. He gave a little wave to Ryan. “Call me Tony.”
Silas pointed to a woman. “Agent Alexa Williams. FBI tech specialist.” The woman looked younger than the rest by a number of years. Her curly black hair made an appealing halo around her face, highlighting her brown skin. Her eyes held intelligence and experience that belied her appearance. He approved.
“Agent Mackenzie Taylor. FBI profiler and interrogator.” She had long brown hair braided back and large blue eyes. She looked like a sweeter-than-average-girl-next-door type. He wondered whether she’d be useful on the team and then reminded himself not to judge people by their looks.
The two women sat close enough together that Ryan assumed they were friends and had worked together before. That could be useful.
The last two men were from the DHS. Phil and Stan something or other. Both wore suits, buzz cuts, and barely concealed impatience. He assumed they would be his muscle on the team and he wasn’t a fan. His instincts did not trust them.
“As for the mission,” Silas continued. “It’s high priority and time sensitive.
“For some time, we’ve been aware of a leak in the CIA. Top-secret information has been relayed to our enemies on at least five different occasions. We have the Cyber Intelligence Unit from the CIA tracking down what they can. They discovered a list of CIA operatives and assets working in Russia had been copied without authorization from the main database yesterday morning.”
Ryan stiffened. If the list was given to the Russians, the operatives would be as good as dead. “Has anyone informed the agents?”
Silas nodded. “But they’re all staying in place for now. Some of them have been undercover for years. That’s why this team was formed. We need that list back now.”
He clicked a button and brought up an image of a man in his late thirties. Balding. Thick mustache. “This is CIA agent John Costa. He was murdered yesterday afternoon, execution style, in his car at a local cemetery. He worked for the Cyber Intelligence Unit and we believe he was the one who copied the list.”
“So whoever has the list killed Costa,” Alexa, the tech specialist, said. “Are the local police involved?”
“Yes, but we’re taking over their investigation, Lexi, because there’s more,” Silas said.
“How much more?” Phil asked.
Silas pressed another button. Another image came up on the screen. This time of a man in his late thirties, with a strong jaw and a hooked nose. “This is Agent Mark Rollins. He was found murdered in his apartment this morning. We’re still getting details from the scene.”
“Did he help steal the list?” Stan said.
“We don’t have that information yet,” Silas answered.
“What do we know?” Stan asked. The impatience he wore now tinged his tone.
Silas’s eyes narrowed just slightly and Ryan knew his face mirrored the other man’s.
“What’s their connection besides the CIA?” Mackenzie, the profiler, asked.
“Good question, Mack.” Silas waved a hand at Edworthy, who scraped his chair back and stood.
“As far as I know,” the man said in a gruff voice, “these two didn’t know each other outside of work.”
Mackenzie leaned forward in her seat to study Edworthy. “And at work?”
He shook his head. “They didn’t interact.”
“You’re not telling us everything.” She spun to Silas and Ryan. “He’s not telling us everything.”
Everyone frowned at her and her friend Alexa gently touched her arm. Mackenzie slumped and settled back into her chair. “Just thought you should know.”
Ryan frowned. Was the woman unbalanced? Why had Silas asked her to be on the team? But...was she correct? Was Edworthy not telling them everything?
“We have one last piece of information. Something that connects the two men.” Silas stared hard at Ryan, and Ryan’s muscles tightened with dread in anticipation of whatever Silas was going to show them next.
Another photo appeared on the monitor beside both dead men. A photo of a blonde woman in a business jacket. Her light gray-green eyes and unsmiling face telling them that she hated posing for the camera.
Ryan straightened as shock ripped through him.
Sutton.
Fuck, she was still beautiful. Her eyes radiated calm intelligence, but Ryan had seen them darken to pure green with desire and it had made her irresistible.
Then it struck him. Her photo was beside two dead men. The thought made him go numb. “Is she...” He couldn’t say the word. Ryan barely remembered how to breathe, but he kept it together.
Please tell me she’s not dead.
Silas studied him a moment before continuing. “Sutton McRaven was last seen with both of these men. She was identified as a woman fleeing Rollins’s apartment after he was killed. And Agent Costa had reported seeing her at the cemetery just before he was killed. You need to find her and bring her in, preferably alive. She’s our number-one suspect at this point.”
The relief that ran through him knowing she was still alive shuddered to a stop in shock. Sutton was a suspect? What the actual fuck?
“She’s not the killer,” Tony said. “She’s a good person. She’s—”
“Your friend,” Mack interjected, studying him intently. “Can you be impartial about this?”
Tony didn’t answer, but he looked to Silas and Ryan. “Sutton didn’t do this.”
Ryan tended to agree with the man, but he hadn’t seen his ex in ten years. People did change. But treason? Murder?
“This needs a special team?” Stan muttered.
Ryan resolved to get rid of him ASAP.
“Yes,” Silas answered. “McRaven is a trained CIA field agent and has spent time attached to special operations units, including a SEAL team.” Silas looked at him. “Your SEAL team, correct, Commander?”
“Correct,” he answered through gritted teeth. Irritation ignited in him. Had Silas known about his connection to Sutton, when he’d asked him to lead this team? Of course he had. This was Silas Branson. The man didn’t leave anything to chance.
“Hopefully your knowledge will lead to a quick capture,” Silas said, confirming what Ryan thought.
Everyone in the room looked at him speculatively. He ignored them.
Sutton had been in contact with both dead men. She’d fled the scene of one murder. Damning evidence, but it didn’t prove she’d killed anyone.
“First priority is the list?” Ryan asked.
“Yes,” Silas said. “I don’t have to tell you how many lives hang in the balance if that information gets leaked to the Russians.”
Edworthy cleared his throat. “I think it would be best if I was in charge,” he said. “She’s my agent and she’s killed two of my men so far. If anyone has a vested interest in bringing her in, it’s me.”
Silas just looked at Ryan. Ryan gave a slight nod of acknowledgment that he was now in control. “I don’t believe we ever said Sutton was the traitor, or a murderer.”
Edworthy just shook his head. “You used to know her. Things have happened to her. Those things change a person.” He paused. “I don’t like admitting it, but she’s fully capable of doing this. She’s dangerous. Always has been. We need to act like it.”
Ryan shifted from his spot and walked
to the front of the room, to stand beside Silas. This wasn’t any different than taking control of any other group of operatives, even if the mission was about his ex. “While McRaven and I used to be friends, it won’t interfere with my ability to make decisions with a clear head.”
Edworthy’s ruddy face became ruddier. “Are you saying I won’t be able to do the same?”
“I’m saying I bring a perspective to it that you don’t,” he said calmly. “And I also have years of experience of tracking people.”
Edworthy swung toward Silas, but Si just held up a hand. “I’ll leave you all in the commander’s capable hands.” He looked at Ryan. “You’ve got this room and the one adjacent for use as your HQ. Let me know if you need anything else. All the information we have at the moment is on the tablets.”
Silas left the room and everyone turned to him. “Go through the files. I need to speak with Lieutenant Commander Branson for a moment.”
He followed Silas out of the room and closed the door.
“What the fuck, Si? You couldn’t have warned me?”
Silas studied him. “I needed to see your reaction, to know that you hadn’t seen or contacted her recently.”
“I haven’t.” He shook his head. “But you should have told me.”
“Maybe.”
The anger still simmered in Ryan, but maybe he could use this to his advantage. “I want to replace Stan.”
“With who?”
“Dante Marchetti. He works for EDGE Security.”
“I’ve heard of EDGE.”
Ryan’s eyebrows lifted. Not many people had and even fewer knew that it was a cover company for an international military unit that handled covert operations. “Then I can have him?”
“He’s a relative?”
“Younger cousin. But he’s one of the best and I trust him at my back.”
Silas nodded. “Make the call. Bring him in if he’s available. But we need McRaven and that list found ASAP.”
“Copy that.”
“And Ryan?”
He just lifted his eyebrows.
“Don’t let this mission get personal.”
“Of course not.” He kept his face calm while he watched Silas walk away, even though the whole time his mind kept shouting a question.
