by April Hunt
A few of his buddies learned the hard way that private security firms weren’t one size fits all. There were more bad operations out there than there were good ones, and after working with the best men and women the Army had to offer, Cade hadn’t been about to compromise—not his morals or the lives of others.
So he’d eventually migrated to the idea of the police academy, thinking switching out one uniform for another would make for a smooth transition.
He’d been wrong.
Everything about working for the DCPD was different, the biggest factor being that it was mostly solitary. Only a select few got paired with a partner, and a hell of a lot rode on you following every rule and regulation right down to the dotted I. Winging shit as a detective was frowned upon by the higher-ups.
Winging shit as a Steele Ops operative was expected—and sometimes meant the difference between life and death.
Grace, though she’d only been with the team temporarily, embraced that concept with her stint to get inside the Rec, and her plan must have worked, because he hadn’t seen her since their evaluations that morning.
But fuck it all if he didn’t hate not knowing for sure.
“You realize the Evening Nourishment is the last meal of the day and not your last meal ever, right?” Decked out in the white-and-tan camo of the New Dawn Protectors, James approached from around the corner of the main hall. “I heard about Grace—which I’m assuming is the reason for the woe-is-me look.”
Cade shook the other man’s hand. “News travels fast around here.”
“It practically flies at warp speed when someone takes their New Dawn seriously enough to volunteer to go to the Rec.”
“She’s damned determined to do things right this time around. The only problem is that I suddenly find myself with a lot of free time.”
“That’s why I tracked you down. Father Teague looked over this morning’s evaluation and he’s in agreement that we could use someone like you in Protector Command.”
“Yeah?” Cade feigned a hopeful expression and grinned. “Does that mean I get my very own abominable snowman camo?”
James laughed. “Just wait until we change seasons, man. If you and Grace are around in the spring you get dog-shit brown.”
“Perfect.”
A few people nodded at them as they passed, and James gestured toward the PC quarters. “Walk and talk?”
They headed across the commons, most people giving them a wide berth. James either didn’t care or didn’t notice, but considering he worked on the teams, it was probably the former. He still hadn’t figured out how a guy used to making life-and-death decisions on behalf of others got suckered into a life where no choice was really his own.
Everything was done for the Order. For Rossbach. For the New Dawn.
“I’m not gonna lie,” James began. “Being with the PC isn’t as glamorous as it sounds. It’s a lot of sitting and standing, especially if you’re working the surveillance room. Night shifts get rotated around among the team to keep it fair.”
“And what about surveilling potential recruits on the Outside? Do those get rotated too?”
James paused a beat. “You pegged Quinn and Paul?”
“If one of them has a thing for perfume and the other drives like he’s training for NASCAR, then yeah. We did.”
“Priceless.” James let out a barking laugh. “They were bragging for days that they bested an FBI agent and an Army Ranger. I should’ve known they were talking out their asses. I think Paul’s working the desk right now. What do you say? Want to help me pop an ego?”
Cade smirked. “Got nowhere else to be.”
Grace had told Cade to keep busy, and that’s what he planned on doing. Her job was to get inside Sarah Brandt’s head, and his was to get them all the hell out of here. His new title made slipping off the compound a hell of a lot easier.
“Can I ask you a question? It’s something I’ve been wondering about since we first stepped off that van.” Cade stayed casual, tucking his hands into his jeans.
“Shoot.”
He nodded toward the guards in the perimeter tree stands. “What’s with all the heavy artillery? Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of having all the latest toys. I just didn’t expect to see them here. Hell, how did you get them? Some of those AKs look like military grade shit.”
“That’s because they are.”
Cade failed to wipe off his surprise.
James explained, “The Order has an in with someone in the State Department who works with their delivery system. When he’s got a lot of product flying all over, he shuffles around paperwork and munitions until he’s able to slip shipments out on the side.”
“An in? You mean a member of the Order?”
James grinned. “We’re everywhere, man. You probably already met a few before coming here and didn’t even know it.”
Cade made a mental note to have Liam alert their contact at State and nip that in the damn ass. Military munitions weren’t made available to the public for a reason.
“Smuggling federal weapons is a big risk for such a little payoff. Sanctuary’s remote location is a pretty decent security feature. Do you guys actually need all that firepower?” Cade asked.
“Father Teague wants to make sure Sanctuary’s a safe haven, and that means preparing ourselves for all possibilities.”
Grace had hit the nail on the head when she said that Rossbach’s people would follow blindly, loyal to the Order to their own detriment. James believed what he said. This man who once risked everything, including his life, for his country, now risked it all in the name of one man. And he wasn’t the least bit concerned by it.
Hell, he looked proud.
Cade kept him talking. “So video surveillance, perimeter security, and tailing prospective recruits. Does the PC do anything else? Any kind of hierarchy or chance for advancement?”
James slid him a smirk. “Already gunning for a promotion?”
“I have Ranger in my blood—always gunning for something.”
“Then you’ll be happy to know that there’s always the chance of being selected into the Elite Guard.”
“Elite, huh? That sounds promising.” And a little bit eerie. “How do I sign myself up for that?”
“You don’t.” James led the way up the steps of the white barrack-like PC building. “Father Teague hand selects the members of the Elites because it’s not for the faint of heart. They spend a lot more time on the Outside than they do here.”
“Doing what?”
“Whatever the hell Father Teague needs them to do. If I hadn’t served with some scary-ass people while on the SEAL teams, I’d say that the EG’s were the scariest fuckers I’d ever met. Before you go climbing up the ladder, make sure you think it through. And talk it over with your girl. There’s a reason why those guys don’t have lasting relationships.”
Cade really wanted to know what kind of missions Rossbach sent those men on, but it was clear that James wasn’t about to say. Or he didn’t know.
“Welcome to our nerve center.” James tugged the door open and ushered him inside.
Despite the outside looking like an aged military barrack, the inside of Protector Command headquarters was fairly updated with a small, open foyer. At the lone desk, a camo-clad guard looked up.
“Sir.” Seeing James, he immediately stood. “There was an argument over at the new construction site. I sent Collins to break it up. He just radioed in that it was all taken care of.”
“Good. Paul Novak, this is Cade Wright. I think you guys have already bumped into each other a time or two.” James smirked, giving Cade a small nod.
Novak flashed Cade smug smile. “Yeah, you were a little too stuck in your head—and on your woman’s lips—to notice me the first time around. I won’t hold it against you.”
Cade cocked up an eyebrow. “Well, I do happen to like my woman’s lips, but my head’s just fine. So which one were you? The one who can’t tail for shit or the one
who has a thing for perfume?”
Novak’s mouth opened and closed, looking like a fish yanked out of its water bowl.
James chuckled. “Guess you guys weren’t as stealthy as you thought. Maybe we should send you two back to training.”
“No way in hell were we spotted. Both you and your girl were oblivious.” The kid, no more than nineteen or twenty, shot a glare at Cade.
Cade’s irritation rose, and he glanced at the PC leader. “You said something about popping egos…may I?”
James looked almost eager. “Please. It would be a privilege to watch.”
Cade turned back to the kid and, hardening his glare, summoned every commanding officer he’d had in the Rangers. “First, that girl you mentioned is a fully trained former federal agent. She could drop you to the floor and have you wiping your ass with your nose in a split second. Second, the next time you or your buddy go out on surveillance duty, don’t be the creepy stalker type unless you want to get pegged right away.”
“I—”
“I wasn’t done,” Cade cut Novak off. “Third, when you’re tailing someone by car, keep at least five car lengths between you and them…and it’s probably a good idea not to use your blinkers and announce which direction you’re about to turn. Also, parking directly across the street from an apartment building? Amateur move. Yeah, you can see the entrance, but the person you’re watching can also see you. Would you like me to keep giving you pointers? I’m full of them.”
Novak’s jaw looked like it had been fused with screws.
“How old are you?” Cade demanded.
“Nineteen. Why the hell does that matter?”
“Because before you were wearing big boy underwear, I got my Ranger tab. I’d already jumped out of planes at thirty thousand feet, into hostile-infested areas, with little more than a damn pea-shooter to keep my head from imploding off my shoulders. I’d been a prisoner of war, escaped, and returned with a band of friends for a little payback on the men who thought it funny to hook me up to rusty battery cables. I held people’s lives in my hands, the decisions I made literally a matter of life and death. What were you deciding fifteen years ago? To wear the Superman briefs or the Batman?”
This time, the kid wisely kept his mouth shut.
James cleared his throat, failing to hide his smirk. “Get Wright a badge made while I show him around the building. Make sure he has a level three clearance.”
“Level three? He just got here and you’re making him a three?”
His grin vanishing, James stalked up to the kid and stopped an inch shy of his face. “Make him a level three badge. If you have a problem with it, leave your PC camo on the desk and walk your naked ass right to the Rec. Got it?”
“Yes, sir.”
James slipped past the desk and nodded for Cade to follow. “Good help is hard to find.”
Cade chuckled. “I’ve been known to intimidate a few people, but you practically had the kid pissing his pants.”
“It wasn’t so much me as Novak knowing that he’s on a three-strike system. He already has two. One more stint in the Rec and Father Teague will seriously contemplate booting his ass off Sanctuary. I know it and he knows it.”
“Does that happen often? People leaving the Order completely?”
“Nah. By the time people get to Sanctuary, they’ve already shown the traits needed to be productive members. Novak’s only here because of his parents. They’ve already achieved their New Dawns and moved on…he’s not even close.”
James scanned them through a set of double doors. They stepped into the modern, tech-savvy inner sanctum of PC headquarters. It reminded Cade of an updated version of the detectives’ wing at DCPD.
Faux walls gave the appearance of separated rooms and a few office-like cubicles. A weapons cage tucked against the far-right wall, filled to the brim with AKs and ammo, could have supplied an entire forward operating base overseas and had leftovers to share.
James led the way through the room and at least a half dozen camo’d men—and two women—nodded in respect as they passed.
“Our main purpose here in Sanctuary is to keep the peace. Everyone here has the same ultimate goal of reaching their New Dawn, but that doesn’t mean that their personalities don’t…conflict sometimes,” James said.
“And not to mention that it’s a known fact that people get a little out of sorts knowing they’re pretty far removed from civilization.”
“Exactly.”
“Basically what you’re saying is that I’m a third level rent-a-cop.”
James chuckled. “Pretty much, except we don’t pay you for your services. We patrol the grounds, ensure there aren’t any issues on the Outside that can affect Sanctuary. It doesn’t happen often, but we do get an occasional straggler come through—sometimes a hunter or a nosy reporter. It’s our job to turn them around and send them back on their way.”
“Sounds thrilling.”
The former SEAL clapped him on the back. “There’s a reason why some of the guys climb over each other for a chance at the Elites. While what we do is important, it doesn’t hold a candle to the excitement of the Outside.”
James stopped in front of a room labeled “Surveillance.” A lone guard sat in front of a dozen monitors. Each screen showcased a different part of the compound. There was one with a three-sixty view of the dining hall and two others from the main building. A few more showcased areas he didn’t recognize, and two remained blank. One thing Cade noticed immediately was the notable blind spots from the cameras out on the grounds.
He could work with that.
“Where are those video feeds?” Cade nudged his chin to the screens he couldn’t pinpoint.
“The two dead lines are the evaluation rooms. We don’t have those running when no one’s being tested,” James answered. “And those others are our feeds into the Rec.”
Big brother really was everywhere.
“Makes sense. So…a level three. Does it come with a fancy rank or something? Any perks?”
“Yeah, it means you can tell Novak to scrub the toilets with his own toothbrush if he pisses you off.” James laughed. “I’ll work on a new schedule tonight and fit you into the rotation, but I have to admit something, man. Your talents are wasted inspecting perimeter lines. I know you don’t want to be apart from Grace for long periods, but you’d be doing me a solid if you helped train some of these newbies…or at least taught them how to tail people without throwing up blinking neon signs over their heads.”
“Count me in. I do have a question about the Elites, though. If you run the day-to-day here in Sanctuary, who oversees them when they’re out in the field?”
James’s face twisted into a deep scowl. “Todd Winston. Don’t ask me why Father Teague picked him, because I still haven’t figured it out. The man doesn’t know the difference between an IED and an AED.”
The name burned like acid in Cade’s stomach.
No wonder New Dawn had been eager to get Winston’s legal affairs in order. Rossbach wanted to ensure that his go-to boy was at his disposal for whatever twisted mind games he had on his agenda next.
Chapter
Sixteen
Not knowing what to expect, Grace pushed aside the uneasy twist of her stomach and hesitantly stepped into the Reconditioning Center. The last time she’d been there it had been nothing more than a one-room shanty with a single cot tucked into the far corner and a lingering smell of animal pee.
Now it was a two-story cabin structure with tattered sofas and chairs adorning a modest size living room. A fireplace took up a large portion of the back wall, and a narrow hall led from the front of the building to the small kitchen in the rear. One thing it was notably lacking was electricity.
The Rec isn’t a vacation, Grace’s mother told her the night she’d left New Dawn. It was a place of inner reflection. A place to figure out where you’d gone wrong and how you could do right. A place to solidify your resolve to find your New freakin’ Dawn.
/> For Grace, it had been a place where she’d committed herself to putting everything these people stood for behind her.
Stephanie slid Grace an encouraging smile. “It’s probably odd to be back here.”
“Do you mean back in Sanctuary, or in the Rec? Because I assure you, this is not the Reconditioning Center of my youth.”
The New Dawn escort chuckled. “I wasn’t around when you were, but the Rec has undergone a lot of transformation even in the time I’ve been here. A lot of it has to do with Sarah. She wanted to make sure it was a place conflicted members of the flock felt at ease and were far removed from the distractions happening elsewhere on the grounds. Fewer distractions means more chance to really self-reflect. And, of course, successful integration.”
“And how do you know that someone’s ready to be integrated back into the flock?”
“It’s a joint decision made by the member themselves, Sarah, and Mother Rebecca.”
The Rec had been her mother’s brainchild more than seventeen years ago, so it made sense she still had her hands in it, but…“Father Teague doesn’t weigh in on Rec assignment?”
“He’s the one who gives the initial Rec sentence, but after that, he usually leaves the rest of the decisions up to Mother Rebecca.”
Grace hid her surprise with an understanding nod. Rossbach not having his hands in every aspect of New Dawn life was a new little twist.
Three sets of voices drifted their way from the back of the house. They followed them, and the moment Grace and Stephanie stepped into the kitchen, everyone went quiet. Sarah Brandt glanced up, pausing her conversation with the young woman and older teen at her side. “Stephanie. And Grace.”
Grace offered a purposely sheepish wave. “Bet this is some kind of record for you, right? Someone coming to the Rec after a few short days?”
Sarah chuckled. “From what I heard, you offered to come here. That’s quite different than being sentenced as a reprimand.” She turned to the two at her side. “This is Maria and David.”
“Nice to meet you.”
Stephanie glanced around. “You have two others with you, right?”
