He’d done the one thing he knew would be a permanent solution to the current situation—he’d guaranteed they’d never hurt him again. He’d swallowed his own fears of the pain, the dread, the absolute terror of the unknown as he put himself in harm’s way to protect the ones he loved. Like last night.
Like the night he broke rank and went after that serial killer, sending Jonathan to his grave.
The bedroom door opened, and Jacob jerked upright as the doctor walked out. Their gazes met, and Jacob saw the worry in his eyes.
“What is it?”
“He’s fine,” he said quickly and closed the door behind him before nodding for Jacob to follow him out of the hall. He did, his heart hammering. They were in the kitchen before the doctor turned to him. “What happened last night?”
Jacob set his jaw and sank down on one of the stools surrounding the breakfast island, suddenly so exhausted he could no longer stand under his own strength. “I caught movement outside of Lee’s condo. When I went to secure the scene, I told him to stay. I told him, damn it. But the stubborn ass followed me out.”
He sat as well. “Funny, those were the exact words he used to describe you when you stormed out to avoid answering his question.”
“What question?”
“He didn’t say. He just called you a stubborn ass. Several times. R&R took a tour of his condo after the cleanup. They say the attack really did a number on some doors.”
It wasn’t the attack. It was Lee confronting Jacob, forcing him to admit to his own fears. He shook off the thought.
“Tell me about the men.”
He stared quietly for several moments, wondering where to start. No matter how he explained it, it didn’t put him in a very favorable light. He didn’t know how much to give him. This guy was TREX. From his appearance, he had to be some relation to Chris McKoy. Same cobalt gaze. Same dark hair. All classic McKoy traits. Evan’s eyes were lighter, but still an intense blue. Then again, he was only a cousin. This guy had to be another one of Chris’s brothers.
“How about I start?” he offered, breaking the awkward silence. “These men knew who to go after to deliver you the most pain. Killing you wouldn’t be enough. They went after the one person you cared about more than yourself. Nobody knew about your relationship with the target, yet they did. They knew killing him would destroy you. Am I close?”
No way in hell could he have gotten all of that from R&R analyzing the scene. TREX was good, but the agency wasn’t that good.
“They thought I was dead,” he finally explained. “So, while losing Lee would have fit that scenario, it can’t be why they went after him.”
“Maybe not, but it’s why they went after someone else.” The doctor watched him, his gaze intense, his spine rigid. A flicker of anger hardened his expression, and his shoulders rose and fell with his labored breathing.
Son of a bitch. “Who else got hit?”
“My cousin, Evan. Two nights ago. I’m Seth McKoy.”
No. No! Not Evan. Jacob jumped his feet, ready for battle. He had to protect his brother-in-arms. “Was he hurt?”
“He’s fine. He called it in as soon as it happened. Evan knew they were in trouble and hit the immediate response button on his phone after locking themselves in a room.”
At least he knew about the damn button. Jacob stopped, surprised at the other part of the comment. “Clint has a panic room in his penthouse?”
“It’s a room,” he stated as his cheeks grew red. “I’m sure panic is probably one of the things experienced in there.” He blew out a breath. “It was…uh… Anyway, TREX was there within minutes and neutralized the situation.”
“Good thing Evan reacted so fast.” Jacob would have locked Lee in the room and neutralized the situation himself.
“Most try to avoid the fight, not finish it.”
“It’s not like I had a choice.”
“Hey.” He brought his hands up. “I’m not saying what you did was wrong. Anyone in your position would have done the same thing.” He stood and went to the backdoor. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?” He didn’t want to leave Lee.
“I gave Lamont a sedative to help him sleep. He’ll be out for a while. The kid is in his room, his headphones on, scribbling equations on his whiteboard.” Satisfied, Jacob followed the good doctor outside and immediately spotted the lights on in the barn, the direction they just happened to be headed in. “Did you know that kid is trying to solve time travel?”
“Knowing Kyle, he’ll get it.”
He glanced over his shoulder. “If you hadn’t taken care of those men last night, they would have finished with Lamont and moved on to the next target. I wouldn’t put it past them to go after the kid.”
Jacob frowned. That pissed him off all that much more. They walked through the wet grass, over the hill, and down to the barn. When they reached the large door, Seth paused. “The guy with the room at the end of the hall—what’s his name?”
“Malone. Derek Malone.”
A spark of recognition washed over his expression. Just as fast as it appeared, it disappeared. “He told me he thought he’d been followed the night before Evan was hit. He didn’t think anything of it at the time. Add in Evan’s hit two nights ago, and yours last night…”
“Someone is targeting us.”
“They’re targeting TREX through you,” he clarified and shoved the door open. “That’s why we’re here.”
“Who’s we?” Jacob’s mouth fell open as he followed Seth into the barn. The Neely brothers, Rich and Ron, took up half the space between the two of them. Evan McKoy, along with his husband, Clint Duke. Walsh, the doctor, and now Jacob. “What’s going on?”
“Come in, son.” Walsh nodded for him to join the crowd.
“Is this some sort of intervention?”
“Nothing like that,” Evan said and took Clint’s hand. He drew in a shaky breath. Clint pulled him into his arms. They both looked like they hadn’t slept in days.
“We need to talk.” Walsh slid the door closed. “Some shit is going down, and I don’t like it.”
Join the club.
“R&R here told me some shit about some shit, son. You need to stop bullshitting around and tell me everything. No more shit about shit.”
“Walsh,” Jacob barked, his temper climbing. “Enough with the shit. I have no idea what you just said.”
“We ran the prints on those two you took out last night,” Ron volunteered.
“Got a list of known associates,” Rich added.
Oh, shit. Jacob knew where this was going.
“Son, I’m only going to ask this once.”
“Don’t bother. The answer is yes, I’m on that list. I ran with them back in the day when we all worked for Sergio. Hell, I was their boss.” It pissed him off that no matter what happened it always boiled down to being his fault. “I had nothing to do with last night’s hit. With any of the hits.” The fact Walsh, his makeshift SAC, could think he did broke him. He was the one person in TREX Jacob thought had his back.
“It’s more than a coincidence.”
“You think I brought this on?” He met each and every set of accusing eyes. “Why not kick me in the fucking teeth. You guys are my family. I would rather die than see any of you hurt, so don’t stand there and pin this shit on me.” His voice cracked on the last word, damn it.
“I had to ask.”
“Sure you did,” he growled, venom dripping from his voice. “Just like I’m sure you asked Derek the same question.”
“Malone didn’t come up on a list of known associates of the men trying to take out my team,” Walsh fired back in a tone Jacob had never heard the man use. “You show up at my door, no story, no background. Allen vouched for you, so I took you in. Hell, I was willing to take you in two years ago. Your file is more redacted than informative, just like every conversation I’ve ever had with you. I’ve asked you to talk to me over and over. I’m done asking.”
H
oly shit. He’d never seen Walsh so worked up. Jacob hated to be the cause of it. He hated even being associated with the men targeting his team. The fight gone, exhaustion taking over, he collapsed to the closest bench and hung his head, thrusting his fingers in his hair.
He couldn’t do this anymore. He couldn’t keep putting the people he cared about at risk. How did he always get to this same, exact place?
“Jacob.” Evan broke from Clint’s embrace. Walsh took a breath to protest, but stopped when the smaller man brought up his finger. “Let me talk.”
He joined Jacob on the bench. “I’m not going to discount your feelings by telling you I know how you feel. I can’t begin to imagine what it takes to do what you do. What I can tell you is how I feel.” He drew in a shaky breath. “I’m terrified. Men were in my home. They gave our seventy-six-year-old doorman a concussion.”
Jacob closed his eyes and fought to control his breathing. Another man terrified of shadows because of him. He sank lower.
“They would have killed us if we hadn’t locked ourselves in the room. I’m not ready to die, Jacob. You have to end this.”
“I don’t know how,” he answered in a trembling voice. Damn how he wished he were stronger.
“With our help.” One of the Neelys spoke up. They sounded so much alike he couldn’t tell which one said it.
“Yeah,” Rich said with a nod. “No one goes after our Burns.”
“After Burns? After burn?” Ron snorted. Rich grinned.
Jacob groaned and dropped his head again.
“We volunteered for the assignment,” they said in unison.
“Assignment?” Jacob studied them before regarding Walsh. “What assignment?”
The SAC stepped forward. “The agency knows about the side jobs. They’ve always known. Hell, I think that’s half the reason they put me in charge of this place. They knew I’d never be able to turn away someone in need. You can take the agent out of TREX, but you can’t take TREX out of the agent.”
“What are you saying?” he asked, cautiously optimistic. Was he back in TREX? At least in some capacity?
“I’m saying the agency is giving us a little help to get our house in order. If we don’t completely FUBAR this, they’ll toss the occasional job our way.”
“Officially?”
He grinned and offered a single nod. “Completely sanctioned, which means we’ll have access to all the assets at TREX’s disposal.”
It wasn’t a spot on the frontline, but he’d take it.
“Do you remember what you said when I thought it was over between Clint and me?” Evan asked.
He couldn’t even remember why he and Lee fought last night. “No.”
“You said we were brothers now. You don’t mess with brothers. We’re all brothers. Someone is messing with us. Are you going to stand for that?”
“No,” he answered without thinking. Glancing around at his brothers in the room, he said it again. “No.”
“We can’t do what you can do. We need you.”
“Correction,” Ron said with a lifted finger.
“We can do what he can do,” Rich added.
“Can it, R&R.” Walsh approached. “Evan’s right. The Farm houses what I’m calling secondary agents, now that the cat is out of the bag. Some flunked out of TREX’s boot camp like Derek. Some came from the outside like Evan. Others transferred in like you, though none from spec ops. None with your unique set of skills. You’re special, Jacob. You can protect the Farm. You can protect this family.”
Shit. Jesus and Shit. He had to say the one thing Jacob had failed at so many other times. “I have a pretty bad track record in that department.”
“Son, you gotta quit living in the past. What happened happened. Nothing you do now changes that. It’s time for you to TREX up.”
Jacob looked at him.
“Your family needs you. Lee needs you. TREX up.”
“TREX up,” the Neelys said in unison, nodding at each other.
Evan stood. “TREX up.”
“TREX up,” Seth added.
Clint shrugged as he glanced around. “I don’t really understand what it means, but sure. TREX up.”
As much as he wanted to wallow in self-loathing, he couldn’t. His family needed him. Lee needed him.
It was time to TREX up.
20
Jacob kept a careful watch on his new team, checking for tells. Hesitations. Avoiding eye contact. Stuttering. Anything that told him they were playing him. Why put their trust in a guy with his track record? He could show them a headstone with four simple words that proved his point.
But they did. They trusted him. As long as he still had breath left in him, he wouldn’t let them down. He’d protect them with his life.
They’d regrouped in the kitchen, closer to the coffee. Since most of them hadn’t slept in over twenty-four hours, the closer to the caffeine the better. Clint and Evan had to work and left earlier, but promised to check in frequently. Clint already had arrangements for extra security at the store.
“That guy,” Seth went on once Walsh had everyone’s cups full. “He knows things.”
“Which guy?” Walsh took a seat at the table.
“The one back at HQ. He knows things, things he shouldn’t. It’s old intel, but it’s still intel.”
“How?” Jacob chose to stay at the breakfast counter. It kept him mobile, alert, quicker to respond. It was the same reason he’d never sit with his back to the door in a public place. Ever.
“Have you ever heard of Ron Donovan?”
Jacob sank to the stool before his knees gave out. He hadn’t heard that name in years. Once a director, he’d gotten greedy, partnered with another traitor, and assassinated agents for profit. Weber personally saw to it the man never got the chance to enjoy his spoils. Chris McKoy may not think Dan Weber deserved to be in the top spot. Jacob certainly did. The special director quite possibly saved the entire agency when he brought down Ron Donovan.
“What does he have to do with any of this?” That man’s actions still caused ripples throughout the agency and probably would for years to come.
“The situation is eerily similar. Tangos always being one step ahead. Them knowing more about the mission than we do. It’s like they have someone on the inside. Dan is handling this himself because of it.”
“Dan?”
“Director Weber,” he corrected quickly.
The only one closer to Dan Weber than his right hand, Spencer Allen, was the man’s other right hand, David Snyder—who just happened to be married to the oldest McKoy.
He recalled Chris bragging about his littlest brother passing his final test to get his medical license. “Are you a full-fledged doctor now?”
He nodded. “I am.” When the rest of the room all shared the same bemused frown, he explained. “I’m Seth McKoy.” He returned his attention to Jacob. “You served with my brother, Chris.”
“And Logan.”
“Did you ever serve with David Snyder?”
“Yep. And Weber. Allen was my SAC at the time.”
“Ours, too.” The Neely brothers always had to join in.
“Holy hell.” McKoy grinned wide. “You’re that Burns?”
He didn’t know how to answer that. Why would any of them mention him? He wasn’t anything special. “I guess so.”
“You’re a legend.” He nodded at Jacob. “Your whole team is a legend. The way you and Granger took out that team of mercs closing in on Chris was brilliant.”
“The Neelys were part of that, too.” Every team consisted of six men. TREX Team Two had been made up of their SAC Allen, the rookie Chris McKoy, brothers Rich and Ron, and Granger and Jacob. His time on that team had been some of the best memories of his life. He smiled sadly.
Enough strolling down memory lane. They had asses to kick. “Let’s come up with a plan.”
“Not our job,” Walsh stated. “TREX has teams specializing in tactical planning.”
Yeah. Up
until he was forced to step down, he’d been part of one of those teams. “Swell.”
“Don’t pout, Burns.” Ron tapped at the bench seat next to him. “It’s story time.”
“It’s not story time.” He hated story time.
“Story time,” Rich sang and stood, motioning for Jacob to join them. Knowing he’d already lost the battle, he reluctantly took a seat, accepting defeat when Rich slid back in, trapping him between the gigantic Neely brothers.
They spent the rest of the day in the kitchen, R&R reminiscing with Jacob over the good old days, embellishing the details for Dr. Seth McKoy, who eagerly drank it up. It felt good to laugh with them again. Like old times.
Eventually, the good doctor got called to another scene. The Neelys had started back in on more stories, but as soon as Maria came in and insisted on joining the party, they both bolted, taking posts outside. She’d followed them out. He hadn’t heard anything from any of them since.
Now it was just Walsh and Jacob staring at the table, their tongues tired, the words gone. They sat in awkward silence, what needed to be said still lingering between them.
“I’ve been waiting two years, son.”
Jacob lifted his gaze. “For?”
“You to tell me your side.” He stared him down.
He didn’t want to talk about that day. Never again. “You read the report.”
“Yep, I did. You and I both know TREX won’t let anything into an official report that puts the agency in any sort of liability situation. Didn’t you ever read what they said happened that day?”
“I was there.”
“Damn it, Jacob. You don’t get to do that with me.”
“Do what?”
“This whole dark, tortured soul thing you’ve got going on. You don’t own the rights on a shitty past. Mine wasn’t all that peachy, either. You don’t see me moping around, a permanent scowl on my ugly mug, pushing away everyone that gives a shit about me. I had a life before TREX. I had a wife and kid on the way. Then BAM!” He slapped the table. “9-11 happened. I went from married with children to widower, no kids. Being on the outside looking in no longer worked for me, so I got in with TREX and never looked back.”
Jacob Page 18
