Destruction

by Knightley, Reese

  Jagger stepped through an open door of the house and he followed.

  The scene brought a sick feeling to the pit of his stomach. Jagger stopped near two bodies of young adults, from what Micah could tell, who were burned almost beyond recognition.

  His eyes stung and he swallowed hard, saddened over their deaths, but the relief was overwhelming. The boy’s body was too small to be Caleb.

  Jagger moved through the house to another body. The man pointed to the man. “That’s Gashi.”

  He wasn’t surprised. When Alex told him Gashi was dead, Micah had a pretty good idea that Alex had killed him. Micah studied Alex’s handiwork and then turned when Jagger held out a phone.

  Micah took it and studied the picture of Alex in the fading light, standing in a driveway.

  “Where’d you get the photo?” He glanced up.

  “Gashi sent it to me and Petrov just before your guy killed him.”

  Micah deleted the pictures from the phone before handing it back to the guy.

  “Petrov is also dead,” Micah told the man.

  “Fuck!” Jagger spat, then released a hard breath of air. “With Gashi dead, Petrov was my ticket to getting close to Vladimir,” the man said bitterly.

  “I thought you were already close with them.” Micah frowned.

  “No, after Yakov was arrested, I was only allowed to contact the outer circle, not the inner. Now both of my contacts are dead,” the man said angrily.

  “Why did you bring me here?”

  “It doesn’t matter now, but I thought you could help me get close to Petrov,” Jagger snapped and turned, striding through the house.

  Micah took a look at the body of Gashi and then hurried after the man. Jagger was quick and had already gone out the back door.

  “Wait!” Micah ran after the man. He jumped off the back porch and both Noah and Wild broke from cover. They leaped over a retainer wall, then dodged a few shrubs and trees chasing after Jagger. Breaking through the tree line, they came to a stop just in time to see Jagger tear away on a crotch-rocket type motorcycle.

  “Who was that?” Noah asked, coming to a stop and gazing after the bike.

  “Jagger Miller.”

  Lash

  There was one day to travel home and another day for the unit to contact and see loved ones. A few had families, some had small children that wouldn’t fully understand long absences.

  Roscoe called a meeting the next morning and Micah sat in the back of the room as operatives and other law enforcement agencies filed in for the Colorado debriefing. There were a few US Marshals and FBI, even Logan Cobalt’s team was there, sitting clustered together to one side, near the back.

  “I hope you all have had a good night’s sleep, it might be your last for a while. We need a full report from everyone.

  Lash?” Roscoe looked at him.

  “Unfortunately, Petrov killed himself before he could be apprehended and questioned. We rescued several victims from his yacht,” he said for the benefit of those who hadn’t been in Colorado.

  “We also found more maps and information on the yacht,” Roscoe said and nodded to Reggie.

  Reggie stood and walked to the front of the room where he pulled up a screen. “I scanned the maps into images so we can have easy access on your phones. They’re located in the folder named maps in our cloud-based location. I’ve added a new map.” Reggie pointed a laser light at one map. “Alaska. On the Alaska map, several places are circled in blue and red in addition to highlights. I was able to identify specific areas. Upon closer inspection, the print around one area is very faded.”

  “Faded?” Seth asked.

  “Yes, faded as if someone had repeatedly run a finger over the area and the print came off. Plus, there’s a tiny star drawn with a pen near the name,” Reggie said.

  “What area?” Micah sat forward and could just barely make out the star, it was that small.

  “Juneau, Alaska,” Reggie said, shutting off the pen light. He left the maps displayed and retook his seat.

  “Why the hell did Petrov kill himself?” Allison’s voice took his and everyone’s attention from the map of Alaska.

  “I believe he took the easy way out,” Alex responded into the sudden silence. “Petrov knew he wouldn’t have lasted against our interrogation. I believe his thought of giving up Vladimir outweighed his desire to live.”

  “Do you think this Vladimir guy will be pissed off enough to come here?” Ryder, one of Logan’s men, asked.

  “Let him come,” Alex replied, and Micah found his gaze yanked to the man.

  “That’s right. Let him come here,” Frost agreed. “It’ll be the last fucking thing he ever does.”

  Micah shook his head and stood. “He’s not coming here. You know that. If anything, he’ll send his goons combing the streets again.”

  “Lash is right, what we need to do is find him,” Alex said, bringing his head around. Micah shared a look with Alex and then walked up front toward the maps.

  “Vladimir ran from us in Oregon. He wasn’t in Colorado with Petrov, whom it’s said he had a soft spot for.” He pointed at the Alaska map. “My guess is Reggie may be onto something and that Vladimir could be in Alaska.”

  “Making plans,” Alex said.

  “Yes,” Micah agreed. “Vladimir has one last hand to play and that’s my brother.”

  “We haven’t heard from Vladimir since February,” Reggie pointed out.

  “That’s true, but now with Petrov and Gashi both dead, it might give Vladimir the push he needs to call with the details for the exchange,” Chief Rossi said from where he stood leaning against a wall near the front monitors.

  The room broke out with low and urgent chatter and Micah retook his chair.

  Petrov and Gashi were dead and Alex had a hand in both deaths! The man knew how important it was to take the suspects alive, but had failed doing it! He fisted his hands and then opened them to rub at his jeans.

  “All right, quiet down,” Roscoe said.

  Noah raised a hand.

  Roscoe nodded at Noah. “Go ahead.”

  “You want to tell them or should I?” Noah said to him.

  “You go ahead,” Micah said abruptly and crossed his arms. Noah nodded.

  “Lash was contacted by Jagger Miller. Wild and I backed him up at the meeting place. Unfortunately, the guy got away on a crotch rocket. The house had two burned victims and one dead Gashi.”

  He felt Alex’s eyes burning on him, but he said nothing as the room broke out again in chatter.

  Alex

  “All right, quiet down,” Roscoe said again from the front of the conference room. The room grew quiet beneath his somber gaze.

  “How were you contacted, Lash?”

  “He called my phone.”

  Alex stared a hole in Micah, but the man wouldn’t look his way. How the fuck had Jagger Miller gotten ahold of Micah’s phone number? And why in the hell hadn’t Micah called him before going after Jagger? He thought they were through with this shit of taking off without the other. Even though Noah and Wild were with him, the thought didn’t make him feel any better.

  Grinding his teeth, he crossed his arms and stretched out his legs to cross at the ankles.

  “I suspect the guy is working for an agency, or was, but he wouldn’t tell me.”

  “Okay.” Roscoe turned to Reggie. “Start a reverse search on that phone number.”

  “Will do.” Reggie got up and collected Micah’s phone.

  “What did you and Jagger talk about?” Roscoe asked.

  “He wanted me to get him close to Petrov and ultimately Vladimir.”

  “He plans on killing Vladimir.”

  “I suspect so,” Micah told Roscoe.

  Alex frowned, studying Micah’s profile. The man kept his face turned away.

  “Moving on. Fear, can you tell the team what you reported in Colorado?” the lieutenant asked.

  He nodded and stood.

  “On the evening Sto
rm and Allison met with Petrov, I was contacted by my source about a brothel in the area. The house sat in a remote wooded area. I told Lash I was going to check it out and that I’d be back before the sting was over.” He threw Micah a look, but the guy sat with his arms crossed and eyes on the table.

  “I did surveillance, finding two burned bodies before I was shot at. There was a brief shootout and I killed my assailant. The man turned out to be Gashi, the human trafficker that lived in Beverly Hills. I gave this information to you in Colorado.” Alex resumed his seat.

  “Yes,” Roscoe said. “And Reggie was able to confirm that the house Gashi was killed in was purchased through the dummy company we all know as CCR.”

  “So, did Gashi burn the victims or was that someone else?” Micah asked tightly, his gaze focused up front.

  “I’m not sure.” He turned his head and narrowed his eyes at Micah’s profile. “Gashi wasn’t there when I arrived, not that I could see. He must have seen me driving in and wrapped back around.”

  He swiveled in his chair and rubbed a hand down his face.

  Roscoe picked back up. “The DNA collected by the police from the bodies were identified as missing persons. Both of them were Americans and the American families have been notified.”

  “So neither one is Caleb,” Wild said, throwing him and Micah a glance.

  “That’s correct. Lash and Fear both confirmed that the male body couldn’t be Caleb, the boy in the house was too young.”

  “Fuck, I need coffee,” Storm muttered and stood. A low murmur of agreement went through the room and a few people stood and grabbed coffee along with Storm during the unexpected break.

  Micah sat studying his hands and Alex finally turned away from the man when it proved futile getting Micah to look at him.

  “All right, take your seats, people,” Roscoe said and took back over the meeting.

  “I received news that Gustov Lakhonin died in prison a few days ago under suspicious circumstances,” Roscoe said.

  “What?” Noah barked.

  “What?” Micah echoed, looking stunned at the news.

  “It appears that the man had a visitor. The death happened shortly afterwards. He was tortured and they think he might have been poisoned. The prison is sending me the video feed of that day. I should have an ID of the visitor soon,” Roscoe said.

  “Just one suspect?” Alex frowned.

  “From what the warden said,” the lieutenant replied.

  Stefano stood from his chair and gazed at them all with a flat expression. Up to that point, the commander hadn’t said a word. They all looked over when he stood and walked to the front of the room.

  “I know what each and every one of you is capable of. I know that any one of you could have ended Gustov and not lost a bit of sleep over it.”

  “Damn right. I’m glad that bastard’s dead,” Allison snapped. “But I didn’t kill him.”

  “I’m not going to lose any sleep over it,” Storm echoed, crossing his arms against his chest.

  “I was probably sleeping at the time of death,” Noah, sitting next to Mac, yawned as if bored. “But trust me, if I did kill him? I would have already bragged to Mac about it.”

  “Amen,” Mac growled.

  Alex and a few others snorted with laughter at Noah’s words. Gustov had been the one to pull Noah from beneath the bed after killing his mother. The fucker played a major role in the reign of terror on Noah that lasted for years. He could seriously see Ghost ending that fucker’s life.

  Stefano studied Noah for a long moment and then slanted a look at him.

  Alex shook his head. “We pretty much stuck together.”

  “Except when you slipped out of the hotel that night,” Storm drawled.

  Alex gave the man an irritated glance. “Yeah, and I flew back here to kill Gustov and then was back in Colorado a few minutes later,” he said sarcastically.

  “You could have called someone,” Wild mumbled, apparently sticking up for his lover.

  “The only person Fear contacted the night he slipped out was someone via a cell phone call. And it wasn’t to order a hit,” Rush interjected.

  “And how do you know this?” Stefano frowned.

  “I followed him and I overheard his conversation.”

  “What about during the sting when you killed Gashi?” Micah asked, his eyes swirling with anger, hurt. “Did you called someone to have Gustov killed?”

  “What?” He suddenly felt like he’d stepped into the fucking twilight zone. “No, I didn’t call someone to kill Gustov!” he growled, stunned that Micah had accused him of killing the old man. “I wish I had, but I didn’t.” Alex narrowed his gaze at Micah. The man tipped his chin.

  He turned back to face Roscoe and Stefano. “Trust me, it would have given me pleasure and I wouldn’t have lost a moment of fucking sleep, but I didn’t kill him.” His eyes were cold and hard as he stared at the commander.

  “You paid him a visit,” Stefano pointed out, appearing unruffled beneath his look.

  “Yes, but the timeline is off, my visit was before we even left for Colorado,” Alex returned.

  “What did you talk about?” Stefano asked him. And because the accusatory tone had stopped, Alex chose to answer.

  “I told him Vladimir had hired Mez. Gustov didn’t like that,” he told Stefano.

  The commander frowned. “Why not?”

  “Because Mez killed Viktor’s daughter, Gustov’s only granddaughter. If Mez hadn’t disappeared, Viktor would have killed him. If I could get Gustov to get that message to Vladimir, then Vladimir might just turn on Mez.”

  “You think that Vladimir doesn’t know Mez killed his cousin?” Roscoe asked.

  “I’m positive. If he knew, he wouldn’t have hired Mez. If he knew, Mez would be dead already. One thing you all know by now, family is the most important thing in the world to the Lakhonins.”

  “I agree with Fear,” Micah said surprisingly and quietly. “If Vladimir knew about Mez, he would have killed him already.”

  Alex couldn’t bring himself to look at the man. To have Micah accuse him had fucking stung.

  “Perhaps he did kill him and we don’t know,” Wild said.

  “That we should be so lucky,” he muttered.

  The room grew quiet.

  “You might want to make a note of that, Reggie. It appears that Viktor did have a child,” Stefano said, holding his gaze.

  “How the heck did I miss that?” the techie mumbled, flipping open his laptop.

  “Different last name and he’s not on her birth certificate. Viktor kept her hidden. Supposedly, Mez took a liking to her. She refused and he…” Alex shook his head. They could fill in the blanks. Mez was sick.

  Stefano finally sighed. “All right, look, I’m not questioning any of your word. I just needed to make sure.”

  “I have never lied to you or this team. Trust goes both ways or I’m gone,” Alex snapped, keeping his tone hard, the words fired off quickly.

  He heard Micah suck in a swift breath in the suddenly quiet room.

  “You’re right. My apologies,” Stefano said and then looked from him to the rest of the team. “To all of you.”

  “I don’t always get to play the good guy. Sometimes I have to ask the hard questions. Each and every one of you are more than capable of ending Gustov or Yakov for that matter, no matter what facility they are held at,” Stefano finished, staring directly at him.

  Alex nodded. He understood the man’s position.

  Stefano turned to Roscoe.

  “Micah, any further updates?” Roscoe cleared his throat and stood, holding out the pen light to Micah.

  Alex turned and froze at the expression on Micah’s face.

  Pain, agony, and regret flitted over the man’s face. Alex wasn’t sure if it was aimed at him or the situation, but he was damned sure going to find out. Because a few days ago when they were talking, he thought that maybe they had a chance to start over.

  Micah />
  Micah turned from Alex and gazed blindly at the monitor where Reggie had pulled up the maps, but all he could see was the hurt and anger in Alex’s gray eyes.

  “Micah?” Roscoe frowned.

  “No.” He carefully stood and walked out of the room. A low hum of conversation erupted.

  He headed down the hallway. Quiet steps sounded behind him and he knew without looking that Alex had followed. The soldier kept his distance. Alex was cautious because Micah had put that between them. He’d created the hesitation the man displayed every time they were together. And the sad part of it was that he was still doing it to this day.

  It had been a low blow to accuse Alex of killing Gustov.

  He’d been smarting beneath the deaths of both prime suspects, but that was no excuse.

  Entering the bunker, he walked down the hallway and into the small room he’d claimed as his own. The bed looked welcoming, yet he knew only the darkness waited for him there if he dared to close his eyes. Sitting on the edge of the thin mattress, he curled his hands into the softness next to each of his legs. He stared at the floor as soft footsteps drew closer.

  Micah gave a heavy sigh and scooted back on the bed and against the wall, then closed his eyes. The footsteps grew closer and then stopped in the doorway.

  “We’ve lost every contact to Vladimir. Every. Fucking. One,” he said. Not really the words to bridge the gap between them, but that was what came out of his mouth.

  Alex moved into the room and stopped a few feet from him.

  “I’m so tired,” he whispered, the words thick on his tongue.

  “Why don’t you lie back and try and rest?” The low rumble of the man’s voice made his eyes sting.

  There was a soft snick of the door closing.

  He blinked his eyes open and Alex was a blur. He blinked a second time, wiping at his eyes, and then glanced up.

  Alex stood so strong, a force to be sure. Always taking care of him even when he treated him poorly.

  “I can’t sleep.”

  “Try,” Alex coaxed, moving closer. “Try and close your eyes. I’ll keep watch.”