by Clark, T. C.
“Wake up and get dressed!” Frank whispered against Rhea’s ear. She sat up immediately. Thankfully, her years with the military made it possible for her to be dead asleep one minute and completely alert the next.
She shook Yuuto awake and put her hand over his mouth to signify that he needed to stay quiet. Yuuto took one look at Frank standing in the corner and nodded. Before they’d fallen into an exhausted sleep, he’d redressed them both just in case something like this happened.
“I locked that door.” Yuuto frowned as he put on his uniquely made utility belt. It had over a hundred knives on it. It operated on a mechanical wire that pulled a new knife out as soon as he pulled one out.
“Yeah, me and locks have a thing going on. Never met one that wouldn’t let me in.”
“What’s going on, Frank?” Rhea asked as he tossed her a set of guns he’d taken off two crew members.
“I figured out their plan last night. I got a feeling that something was happening because a few of them would disappear for hours at a time. I got the dumbest one drunk and he let somethings slip. So then I tied him up in a utility closet and, ah, with the help of a screwdriver, I got him to tell me more.”
“Do they know who we are?” Yuuto asked. If they knew about the Sanctuary, the mission was off, at least for Rhea. There was no way he was going to let her walk into a trap with him.
“No, half of the crew run with Jorge when the ship isn’t moving. Because this particular ship is one of the only ones that participate in smuggling, Jorge has a long-standing order to bring him anyone that tries to sneak in. They are simply following protocol. But I did have to kill three men to get to you guys, so I would say that whoever is out there is out for blood.”
“Okay, let’s do this.” Rhea checked the magazine. “How many are out there?”
“At least ten on board. The ones that went missing apparently wanted no part of this. Anyone left is going to want my head.”
“Let’s be honest. Most people that meet you want you dead, Frank. Let’s treat this like Naples.”
“You want us to work the plan we used when we killed that general?” Frank double checked his bag. All of them had waterproof backpacks that were about to be tested.
“Exactly like that,” Rhea nodded as she rechecked their bags as well.
“It’s risky.” Frank got behind Rhea and pulled out his gun.
“Life is risky,” Rhea agreed.
“What are you guys talking about?” Yuuto asked as he took a position at the door.
“Frank gets it. Just follow my lead, ninja assassin.” She always made that reference whenever he pulled out his blades. Yuuto hated the comparison.
“I keep telling you that’s racist.”
“Well, Rhea’s always been a little bit racist. If you didn’t know that, then you don’t know her.”
“Focus, guys.” Rhea threw a small package to Frank. Frank’s face cleared, and he nodded. He knew what she wanted him to do. Yuuto moved in front of Rhea as they opened the door.
The first man he saw got a blade through the center of his chest. Frank disappeared down the hall in the opposite direction of where they were heading. Yuuto looked concerned but stayed quiet as they made their way down the deserted hall. They heard gunshots in the distance. When they got to the door, Rhea tried to move in front of Yuuto, but he shook his head against it. He refused to let her lead.
Two men were talking outside the door. Yuuto waited until they pushed it open to strike. He stabbed one and Spartan kicked the other back out onto the deck, and before the man could get back up, Rhea shot him.
Yuuto pulled his knife out of the fallen man’s chest and stepped outside the door. Rhea followed him. Outside, they could hear men running towards them.
“Focus on the men closest to you. I’ll take out the ones in the rear.”
Yuuto inclined his head and they both moved against the ship wall and crept forward.
As soon as they saw the crew, they attacked. The main thing that separated a good assassin from your everyday garden variety killer was their lack of hesitation. Rhea fired at the two men in the back, while Yuuto threw his blades at the two men in the front. They kept walking as they killed them.
“Guys, it’s clear up here,” Frank yelled as he met them at the east entrance.
“That should be all of them,” Rhea said as she looked behind Frank at the men laid out on the deck.
“It is, but we are still going to have to jump,” Frank said, raising his voice over the wind. He was looking over the railing at the turbulent waves. Yuuto pulled out three black life vests and handed one to Rhea.
“Did you get a chance to set up that device I gave you?” Rhea asked as she put hers on.
“I gotta be honest. It feels like I’m doing a lot more work than you guys,” Frank complained.
“Quit your bitching. Did you plant the devices or not?” Rhea pulled a tablet out and looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
“You know I did,” Frank said as he struggled to zip up the life vest. Yuuto shook his head and brushed his hands aside. He fixed it as best he could.
Rhea typed in the code and put away the tablet. “We have twenty minutes to swim as far as we can. After that, the boat is going to blow.” She stretched her back and legs. She slowed her breathing down to get her heart rate low. She would have to swim fast in order to keep up with Yuuto and Frank.
“How do you feel?” Yuuto asked as the wind started to pick up again. He looked down at the chaotic sea and then back at her with an anxious expression.
“Yuuto, think of it as a midnight swim. Plus, now we really don’t have another choice.” She gave him an assuring smile, took a running leap, and dove into the ocean. She knew which direction to head, but it would take a while to get there. They were going to have to swim to land at an angle so they wouldn’t get caught in the current.
Yuuto and Frank quickly caught up to her but modified their strides to stay by her side. She picked up speed as best she could, but she struggled. By the time they made it to land, she was almost too exhausted to walk onto the shore.
She hit the sand and thanked God they made it. She could make out the ship in the distance. The orange flames lit up the night. Yuuto and Frank collapsed beside her. It took her nearly ten minutes to calm down.
She looked over at Frank and Yuuto. At least the swim had wrecked them, too. She sat up and opened her backpack. Everything was still dry inside. She pulled out her tablet and sent a message to Kara. Hopefully, her sister was doing better than they were because they needed her help now.
* * *
Exactly 78 hours later…
Kara Williams, one of the most famous hackers in North America, was nervous. They were putting a great deal of faith in Yuuto’s brother, and, while she was coming to trust Yuuto, his brother was another story.
Kara had found a home for them to use in Cuba and luckily it was close to Jorge’s compound. She’d gathered a lot of information on the infamous drug lord. Obviously, the man didn’t place any value on cybersecurity.
His system had been easy to access. Although, according to what she’d learned, he was a dangerous enemy to make. He’d taken out the other cartels in the area with a viciousness that would make even the most hardened criminal’s stomach turn.
This mission was dangerous, and somewhere out there her pregnant sister waited. She took a moment to really think about that. Rhea was having a fucking baby. Rhea, the lone wolf. The biggest real-life bad-ass she’d ever known was knocked up. How in the fuck was she going to tell their dad?
At eighty, he was still a hard-ass. When news broke about Rhea being in the Sanctuary, he’d told Rhea to come home. He didn’t care about her job or what she’d done. He knew in his heart he’d raised good girls. As tough as their dad was, he loved them over anything else. He would have killed anyone looking to collect a bounty on his baby girl.
Once they got back home, they would deal with that. They had enough obstacles to tackle. All this business w
ith NICON was too big to keep to themselves. Kara had started to compile her own research on the company. After this mission, she would start to release her findings. They were good enough to hide anything that could get them arrested offline.
But a company as big as theirs couldn’t hide everything, and there was nothing more detrimental to a growing business than negative speculation, and she excelled at producing targeted attacks that promoted that kind of stuff. They’d made a terrible enemy in her.
Kara looked down at her watch and cursed. Haruaki was late, and that had her worried. He was supposed to arrive with the doctor two hours ago. She would give him a few more minutes. If he didn’t show by noon, she would head over to the safe house and let his brother know. She wouldn’t hesitate to put him on a terrorist no-fly list.
“Looking for me?” Haruaki whispered into her ear. She jumped and smacked him on the chest. She had to be more aware of her surroundings. How in the hell had he snuck up on her like that?
Haruaki smiled down at her. He looked like Yuuto except for the long hair that he kept tied back. She looked behind him and had to keep her mouth from dropping open.
Two of the finest men she’d ever seen were arguing. One of them looked like a stand-in for the Rock and the other one was built along the lines of an ancient gladiator. He also had gorgeous red hair.
The redhead looked up, and Kara’s breath caught. Their eyes connected, and he stopped talking as well. A wicked smile formed on his mouth, and she immediately looked away. What the fuck was that? Oh, no. She was not here for that.
“Hello, you must be Kara, Rhea’s sister.” The redhead pushed his way between her and Haruaki and presented a hand.
She shook it. A question popped into her head, but she ignored it. “You know Rhea?”
“Not in a biblical sense, of course. But yes, I do,” he said. The intensity of his eyes should have made her nervous, but her body refused to recognize the warning.
“I didn’t ask…”
“Ah, but you will in the future after we start whatever this is,” he interrupted smoothly. His green eyes burned into her, and once again she looked away.
“So, you must be Aidan.” She directed her attention to the sexy man with the caramel skin and the athletic physique.
His earlier anger evaporated from his face, and he gave her a charming smile. He was a man that could easily break a woman’s heart. “I am. It’s nice to meet you.”
Kara grinned at him. “Okay guys, I’ll explain everything you need to know in the car. I heard from Rhea this morning and the timeline has been moved up for the mission.”
“What does that mean?” Haruaki asked once they got to the beat up Jeep she’d purchased this morning.
“It means shit’s about to get real very fast. Welcome to Cuba, gentlemen.”
Six
Chapter 6
* * *
Rhea looked at everyone gathered in the living room and rolled her eyes. If she didn’t know how capable everyone was, she would think she was in a room filled with teenagers. They were all talking over one another in an attempt to get their points across.
Group discussions weren’t helping. Their plan as it was could not work now. Ever since the incident on the ship, Jorge had quit allowing people to come and go from his compound. Their well thought out plan that offered the least amount of risk was done.
They needed to focus on moving forward. So far as they knew, the Linguist was still there. They would have to change their strategy. They weren’t going to get on the base by pretending to be drug dealers. This could only work if they used an old school blitz attack.
A blitz attack focused on getting to the target as quickly as possible. It was messy and much more dangerous than their original one. In order for that to work, they needed more people, and no one seemed to agree with her.
“And how do we get the army, Rhea?” Ghost asked when the room started to calm down. His bright green eyes followed every movement Kara made. Okay, she needed to have a talk with her sister about the Irishman. Ghost was hard to resist when he turned up the charm, but he came with a shit ton of baggage.
“Do you guys remember that guy in Norway the Linguist betrayed?” Rhea asked Yuuto and Ghost. The Sanctuary had struggled to take down that particular organization. The Linguist had decided on taking the role as Slav’s lover to get them close enough to infiltrate his ring. “He survived, and he’s been looking for him.”
“Slav Vandervort, didn’t he run a large terrorist cell in Western Europe?” Ghost asked.
“Yes, he’s the guy,” Rhea confirmed.
“I remember him. He’s as nasty as the Linguist. We can’t trust a man like him not to betray us in the end. The Sanctuary as a whole decided to target him,” Yuuto said through gritted teeth.
“Hatred is a strong motivator. Trust me, the bounty he’s put on the Linguist’s head speaks for itself. We all know the saying, an enemy of my enemy is a friend. Slav never blamed the Sanctuary for his downfall. We would have never gotten to him without the Linguist.”
“You really think that this is a good plan? Calling in a man like him?” Frank asked with a frown.
“Well, good or not, it’s done.” The room erupted again, and she raised a hand to silence them. She ignored the anger in Yuuto’s eyes and continued. “I came here to kill the Linguist, and the longer we wait, the more opportunity he has to get away. I’ve already told all of you how dangerous this weapon is. We can’t fuck around here. If he figures out that people are coming for him, he will disappear. In his heart, he is a coward. He will screw over anyone to keep himself safe. It’s done. Slav will be here tomorrow. He’s bringing a team of ten to fifteen men. I don’t trust him, and I will watch him closely. But we don’t have a choice. Sandy and Lily already took out the Magician, it’s only a matter of time before the Linguist finds out.” Rhea stopped talking to give everyone time to adjust to the news.
“We need to talk,” Yuuto said quietly. She knew he was trying to control his anger. He didn’t like emotional scenes. He would want to rip into her in private. She nodded at him and continued.
“Give me a few minutes, Yuuto. I want to go over the plan for attack. I’m aiming for it to happen tomorrow night. The less time we spend with Slav, the better. This isn’t a mission within a mission. Slav gets the Linguist, and we get the designs, that’s it.”
“How do you know Slav will kill him?” Kara said worriedly. Kara and Aidan were definitely out of their element here.
“I’ve designed a special bullet that will make death inescapable for him. All we have to do is shoot him with it. Once it enters his body it will emit a signal that runs on a self-timer and it detonates within ten hours or so. If someone tries to remove it, the explosive activates immediately. Either way, the Linguist dies.”
“If we survive this mission, I would like twelve of those types of bullets, please,” Ghost said seriously.
“And why would you need those?” Kara asked. Her eyes widened as if she just realized she’d asked the question out loud.
“Well, my beauty, if you must know. I have a very active lifestyle, and a man likes to feel safe,” Ghost said charmingly.
“Breakdown the rest of the plan,” Yuuto snapped. He folded his arms in front of him and sat back against the cushions of the old couch. His eyes were dark with anger. Frank looked angry as well. This was why she hadn’t asked the group what they thought of her plan before she acted.
She’d only told Kara about her changing the plan earlier because she wanted to look into Slav before she brought him into the fold. She needed to be sure he still wanted the Linguist dead. The information Kara gathered on him confirmed all of the rumors she heard.
Yuuto made a motion with his hands for her to continue talking about the plan. He wanted this conversation over and done with. Rhea sighed. It was going to suck talking to him later. She went over the changes she had in mind, and the group ironed out any kinks they could find in it.
Kara
and Ghost were still in charge of communications. Rhea, Yuuto, Haruaki, and Frank would stay with Slav and his team. Only Rhea knew how to fire the gun without the weapon activating in the chamber. Aidan would stay off the compound but close enough to be brought in if anything went wrong. Once everyone understood and accepted their roles, they each walked off to go over their parts in private, leaving Rhea with a very angry Yuuto. It was the first time his anger was directed at her. They had been doing so well over the last few days. She knew he would feel betrayed that she hadn’t included him in her decision.
“Yuuto, I know you’re upset…” she began only to stop when he shook his head.
“Let’s talk outside.” He stood up and walked out. She took another deep breath and followed him outside. The balmy Cuban air immediately had her sweating. He led her away from the house out of earshot of others.
“How could you do this without consulting me? You are acting like my opinion doesn’t matter at all. Do you really feel like you are doing this on your own? That I can’t follow your instructions and do this for us? Why can’t you depend on me to do this? I thought we’d moved past what happened before? You know why I acted like that. I’ve told you everything.”
“Yuuto…”
“No, I’m done with this shit. I told you we belong to each other and that doesn’t mean only in the good times. This isn’t just about you and what you want anymore. You have to trust me to see this through. That’s what’s wrong here. You know we can’t trust a man like Slav not to have an ulterior motive.”
“I know that, Yuuto. It’s not that I don’t trust you,” Rhea denied.
“Then let me protect you and our child. Show me what to do and sit this one out.” Yuuto phrased his words as a request, but she understood the look in his eyes. He wasn’t asking her.
“I was part of the original team that was sent after them. If I had done my job right, we wouldn’t be here right now. Whatever NICON does now is on me. It’s not just about keeping the world safe. I was supposed to have handled them a long time ago. I’m not sure how they got away last time, but I can’t let it happen again. This is my responsibility.”
