Rogue (Book 2) (The Omega Group)

by Andrea Domanski

  What is wrong with me?

  Shoving all thoughts of Carter aside, she placed her fingers gently on the man’s neck. His pulse was steady. He’d either been knocked unconscious or drugged. Although neither was going to keep him under for much longer. What began as a low growl in his chest, turned into incoherent mumbling. “Hun,” he said, then, “Jackie.” Perhaps the girlfriend. The closer he got to consciousness the more agitated he became. She reached down to push his hair from his face, hoping to lend some comfort.

  His move was so sudden she gasped. His hand shot out and grabbed her wrist then pulled her over his prone body until she lay inches from his now uncovered face. Her heart leapt into her throat, choking her. “Carter?”

  “Gina?” He sounded as surprised as she felt. “What the hell have you done?” He threw her off as he stood on shaky legs.

  “What have I done?” She could feel her cheeks redden as her anger increased. Five years after he ruined her life, he shows up and attacks her. While she was trying to help him, no less.

  “I should have known you’d be a part of this.” He swung around, looking in all directions. “Where the hell am I?”

  Gina crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a stern stare. “Outside my village, where you are most unwelcome. So, why don’t you just go away?”

  Carter’s gaze turned quizzical before flaring into full-blown anger again. “Seriously? You go through all of this just to tell me to leave? Where are Han and Jackie?”

  Han? Not Hun? Try as she might, Gina couldn’t stop the speck of warmth that invaded her heart as she realized he hadn’t been mumbling some term of endearment earlier. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “They were with me on the trail when you shot us.”

  That warm speck was immediately extinguished. “When I—? Aah! You are the most selfish, self-centered, arrogant man I have ever met. How dare you?” Words couldn’t express her fury as she stomped around in circles. “This is what I get for getting involved in other people’s business. I should have just stayed at home today instead of coming out here and saving your ass.”

  By the time she looked up, Carter’s demeanor had changed. He was now standing with his arms folded over his muscled chest, watching her. One corner of his mouth was upturned in wry grin.

  “What? You think this is funny?” She wanted nothing more at that moment than to wipe that grin off his face. Preferably with her fist.

  ********

  “So, you didn’t shoot me with a tranquilizer gun this morning?” Carter had almost forgotten how feisty Gina was. Almost.

  “Of course not, you bastard. I just chased away the guy that was dragging you through the woods. You’re welcome, by the way.”

  “Oh. Sorry. Did you happen to see who the guy was?”

  Gina rolled her eyes then stared him down. “No, I didn’t. But if I had known it was you lying there, I would’ve left him to it. You undoubtedly deserved whatever he was going to do. You obviously still haven’t learned that your actions have consequences.”

  Carter’s grin faltered. “My actions? After what you did, you have the gall to say that to me? Pot, meet kettle.”

  “Um, Carter? Is everything okay?”

  Han’s unexpected voice came from just over Carter’s shoulder. When he turned around, he found not only Han and Jackie, but also most of the Omega Group standing a few yards away. “I’m fine.” His anger mixed with embarrassment, then confusion. “How’d you guys find me?”

  Myrick looked amused. “We just followed the screaming. It was actually a lot easier than we expected it to be.” He looked over Carter’s shoulder. “And who might this lovely young thing be?”

  Carter glanced behind him at the girl with the white flower above her ear. The girl he’d once loved more than anything in the world. The girl he gave up everything for.

  “She’s nobody. Let’s get out of here.”

  Chapter 14

  On the walk back to their rented vehicles, Myrine filled Carter in on what happened to their jet.

  “And everyone’s okay?” he asked.

  “Yes. Thanks to Steve’s training and Mirissa’s powers. The flight crew is spending the night at the hotel here, but they’re booked on a commercial flight home in the morning. As for us, we’re here for the duration.”

  That was one thing that Carter really loved about his team. When one of them was in trouble, they circled the wagons. His brief kidnapping caused every available agent to drop what they were doing to come to his aid. He was honored, but also a little embarrassed.

  “Here’s what I don’t get,” Carter began.

  “There’s only one thing?” Han joked.

  “Why kidnap me? It doesn’t make any sense.”

  The silence that followed showed just how few answers they really had. Myrine said simply, “You must have hit a nerve somewhere in your investigation. Maybe you were closer than you thought. When we get back to the hotel we’ll go over everything you’ve done since you got here. The answer is in there somewhere.”

  The vehicles were parked in a clearing just off of Highway 64, outside the small town of Cameron. They were two identical black Chevy Tahoes that screamed Government. “Why not hang a sign saying FBI or CIA?” joked Carter.

  “I told you,” Mirissa blurted out.

  Myrine smiled. “I know they aren’t ideal, but we needed something with off road capabilities on short notice. This is what we got.”

  They split into two groups and climbed into the spacious SUVs. Carter and Han sat on either side of Mirissa in the back seat of the first vehicle while Steve and Myrine took the front. The rest loaded into the other.

  “Don’t start the engine!” Mirissa yelled.

  The terror in Mirissa’s eyes told Carter everything he needed to know. Scrambling from the vehicle, he ran to the car behind them, shouting Mirissa’s warning. Myrick, just about to turn his key in the ignition, pulled back his hand like it’d just been burned. Everyone piled out of their vehicles, with more care than they’d had getting in, and waited for Mirissa to explain.

  “I don’t know how I know this, but there’s a bomb under the car.”

  Carter had seen firsthand how accurate that girl’s intuition was. When they were at the safe house a few months ago back in Jacksonville, she’d known someone was watching them even when their state-of-the-art security system hadn’t. He knew better than to question a statement like that from Mirissa. Lowering himself to the pavement, Carter peered under the chassis. “She’s right. Shit, that was close.”

  “Same back here,” called Myrick. “He shimmied himself out from under the rear vehicle. “No timer. Looks like it was rigged to explode on ignition. Hi-tech stuff, too. This thing wasn’t thrown together in someone’s basement.”

  “If everyone moves to a safe distance, I can try to dislodge them and throw them in the woods. Telekinetically, of course.” Mirissa said with a grin.

  Myrine shook her head. “No. It’s too dangerous. We don’t know how big the explosion will be and, besides, anyone could be walking through those woods. We’ll need to disarm them here.”

  The team members looked to one another as if to say, “You do it. No, you do it.” Apparently, no one had any more experience with disarming bombs than Carter did, and he had exactly zero.

  Steve got down on his hands and knees to take a peek. Before he could give any opinion, another SUV pulled in behind him. Leaving the engine running, two young men exited.

  “Is everything all right here?” The driver, a little shorter than Carter but sporting biceps the size of tree trunks, casually strode toward them. His companion, another behemoth of a man, joined him.

  Carter didn’t need Mirissa’s intuition to know these guys hadn’t just happened upon them. Although they were dressed like a couple of hikers, they were anything but. “We’re all good. Just a little car trouble. Nothing to concern yourselves with.”

  The driver let a smile cross his face. “You must b
e Carter Mockta. I’m Sergeant Gale and this is Sergeant Campbell. We were assigned to keep an eye on the Yavapai.”

  “Assigned by whom?” Myrine asked, showing she had the same uneasy feeling that Carter did.

  “General Persaud, ma’am. Since Mr. Mockta’s visit, he felt it prudent to find out if they posed any kind of threat. That’s why we were here. We saw a couple of them hanging around your vehicles. We tried to apprehend them for questioning, but lost them in the woods. We decided to come back and make sure they hadn’t done any tampering.”

  Carter relaxed a little. He should have guessed the General would start his own investigation. His research facility was top secret for a reason. If the wrong people got their hands on his work, bad things would happen. “Either of you have any experience with bombs?”

  Both men raised their eyebrows at the unusual question, but didn’t hesitate to answer. “We both do, sir.”

  While Campbell grabbed the tools they’d need from their truck, Gale called in their situation to the general. Carter couldn’t help but smirk at the man’s obvious discomfort. He was getting a strip torn off him and Persaud’s voice was loud enough to force the poor guy to move the phone away from his ear. Though he couldn’t make out the words, Carter got the meaning loud and clear. They’d royally screwed up.

  When he hung up the phone and unclenched his jaw, he looked over to Carter. “General Persaud will be here shortly.”

  Although meatheads were usually guys that Carter enjoyed seeing raked over the coals, he couldn’t help but feel sorry for the guy. “This wasn’t your fault, you know. There’s no way you could have known those guys put bombs on our cars.”

  The large man let out a breath and gave Carter a weak smile. “Thanks, but the general is right. We shouldn’t have left your vehicles unattended. If you hadn’t seen those explosives when you did, things could’ve been really bad.” A puzzled look came over his face before he continued. “How did you see them, by the way?”

  Carter hesitated a moment, trying to think of an excuse, but was saved by Han’s quick retort. “Believe it or not, I dropped the keys. When I bent down to pick them up, I saw it. Crazy, huh?”

  “You were definitely lucky.” Gale joined Campbell beside the front Tahoe and they both went to work.

  Myrine knelt beside them. “Can you guys do me a favor and keep the bombs as intact as possible? I’d really like to see if we can trace any of the components.”

  “Not a problem, ma’am.”

  When General Persaud arrived a short time later, his sergeants were packing away the last of their tools. Unlike the last time Carter saw him, he was dressed casually in khakis and a button-down shirt. It was then that Carter realized, other than the two men who picked them up at the airport, he hadn’t seen anyone in military uniform outside of the research facility. They take their secrets seriously.

  “General Persaud, it’s good to see you again.” Carter shook his hand and introduced him to Myrine and the rest of the team.

  “Your men have been most helpful. Thank you,” Myrine said.

  “Not helpful enough, ma’am. I apologize for their lack of foresight and will see to it they don’t make a similar mistake again.” Although he was speaking to Myrine, Carter got the impression his message was meant for Gale and Campbell. Judging by their hunched shoulders and downcast eyes, they thought the same thing. “This was the Yavapai’s doing?”

  “Looks that way, General.” Myrine said. “Your men were able to give us detailed descriptions of the two they saw with our vehicles. We shouldn’t have much trouble finding them.”

  General Persaud motioned to the open cargo hold of the rear Tahoe where both disarmed explosives lay. “Would you like me to dispose of those for you?”

  Myrine gave him a lopsided grin. “Actually, General, I was hoping I might ask for a small favor. Do you have people at your facility that can pull fingerprints and serial numbers? Without our jet, I’ll have to use a commercial service to send anything back to my headquarters.”

  General Persaud finished Myrine’s thought for her. “And bombs aren’t something they would easily accept, disarmed or not. I’ll have my people take care of it. It’s the least I can do after my men’s carelessness almost got you killed.” He turned to his men, who seemed to shrink a few sizes under his pointed stare. “Take those to the lab, then wait for me in my office.”

  Sergeants Gale and Campbell gathered the explosives and trudged to their SUV, giving each of the Omega Group members a half smile and nod as they passed. Carter could see the guilt in their eyes as they approached him. They’d made a mistake leaving the vehicles unattended, but, in his mind, they’d more than made up for it. “Thank you, again. You’ve been a really big help.” Carter’s lame effort to make them feel better seemed to fail miserably as the men cast their gazes down and left without another word.

  Chapter 15

  “Did our per diem get raised when I wasn’t looking?” Carter wandered through the lavishly appointed suite, admiring every inch of it. As a boy, he’d dreamt about staying at the El Tovar hotel even though he never truly believed it would happen. Considering the clientele they served, he was lucky they let him into the lobby.

  “Nope. This is all Julian’s doing. He worked his cyber magic and… Poof. Instant reservations, paid in full.” Even someone trying to blow them up didn’t dampen Han’s spirits.

  Tearing himself away from the magnificent view off the balcony, Carter forced himself to join the rest of the group as Myrine began laying out their plan.

  “We’ll head out immediately after sunset. If we can catch them by surprise, this will go a lot easier for everyone.”

  “That might be a problem,” Carter said. “They’ll be expecting an attack in retaliation for their raid on my village.”

  “I’m sure they will, but they’ll be expecting the Havasupai, not us. Han, did you get anything from Ranger Christner?”

  Han grabbed his tablet and nodded. “Yeah. She sent directions to a place we can stash our cars and a rough drawing of their village. She’s been there several times and knows the layout pretty well.” Han placed the tablet on the ornately carved dark wood coffee table so everyone could see.

  “They’re definitely isolated, so that’s a plus,” Myrine said. “But they have easy escape routes in almost every direction. We’re going to have to surround them before we make our presence known.”

  The plan, if it could be called that, was simple. Each member of the Omega Group would come at the Yavapai village from a different direction. If they encountered any resistance, they were to quietly subdue and restrain using non-lethal force. Their sidearms, all they had left after the jet crashed, would be loaded with the rubber bullets Myrick had found at a local army surplus store. Tranquilizer guns, another handy surplus store purchase, would be used should the Yavapai get any ideas about shifting into their bear forms.

  With a quick glance out the window at the setting sun, Myrine addressed the team. “Is everyone ready?”

  Mumbles and nods to the affirmative were the only responses as the members of the Omega Group went through their final weapons check. Their confidence, well earned over the years, was apparent in their casual postures and light small talk.

  Carter, for the first time that he could remember since joining the team five years ago, didn’t share their certainty. Although their target was a simple village, its occupants were anything but. Even without their newfound shape-shifting abilities, they were formidable. Being reviled by all their peers for generations gave them an edge that couldn’t be dismissed.

  Chapter 16

  Without the benefit of their communications gear, Carter had no way of knowing the status of his teammates. He only hoped the silence surrounding him meant their advance had been unimpeded.

  They’d set up their target area like a pie chart split into perfect thirds. Their ten-person team was divided into three groups, each assigned to one piece of the pie. Before leaving their vehicles in th
e area recommended by the ranger, two of the teams were dispatched as close to their designated areas as possible.

  Carter had almost reached the outer perimeter of the Yavapai village. Although he couldn’t see them in the low light created by the crescent moon, he knew Han and Jackie would be in position on either side of him. He could picture the whole team in his mind’s eye tightening the circle around their target. If all went well, they’d have the village secured and all of its occupants rounded up before they had the chance to organize.

  He couldn’t help but think about Gina. She would be in the village, as unsuspecting as the rest of her tribe, and could easily be hurt. His team might be using rubber bullets and tranquilizers, but the Yavapai wouldn’t be. If anything went wrong—and things almost always went wrong—she could be caught in the crossfire.

  The sound of a twig breaking off to his left stopped Carter mid stride. Definitely not Han. It was too close, and Han would never be that careless. Inching his way toward the source, Carter felt his adrenaline level rise. The hairs on the back of his neck stood as more sounds made themselves apparent. Is that music? It was muffled, but as he closed in he could hear the distinctive beat of a rap song.

  He kept the trunk of a large tree between himself and whomever was unlucky enough to choose tonight to wander off alone in the woods. Carter pulled his tranquilizer gun out of its holster and leaned against the tree. He peeked around the side of the tree and raised his weapon.

  You have got to be kidding me.

  Ben, the older, and less intelligent, brother of the boy Carter had pulled off the cliff at Mooney Falls stood four feet away, tapping his foot to the beat of whatever song was playing on his iPod. He zipped up his pants, after relieving himself on an unfortunate sapling, and turned in the one direction he shouldn’t have.