Code Name: Fox / Mind Games (Syndicate Series Book 1)

by A. L. Kessler

  Something flickered in Travis’ eyes. Skye never told him the truth about that night. “You had no idea that I caught her that night. Did you?”

  “It doesn’t matter; she’s dead.” Travis motioned to the skylight. “Enjoying your sunlight? We know you won’t crack, we were holding you purely to make Skye talk. We mistook you for lovers.”

  If Zeek had his way, that’s what they would have ended up being. Grief swept through him, but he tried to pushed it away. “Giving up so soon?”

  “Tonight, your real torture will begin. We need you hungry and angry.” He laughed. “I’ll make sure to bring Skye’s corpse.”

  The anger welled in him again. His aura turned freezing, and the ice flecks swirled around him. Travis raised a brow. “An impressive display, but it’s not going to help you.” He turned his back on him. “Enjoy the rest of your day.”

  Zeek snarled as he walked out. He had to be lying about Skye. He could send another message to check on her, but he didn’t want to give away her location if she was alive. No, if Peterson managed to get her out, he didn’t want to risk the Agency bringing her back in and fulfilling their death threat on her.

  He sat against the wall and leaned his head back. He needed to sleep. He needed to feed. He licked his lips thinking about food. His first meal when he got out of here was going to be Travis. Pinned to the wall, screaming, as Zeek drained all his blood. A wicked smile crossed his face at the thought. He would go through with it.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Skye sipped her seventh cup of coffee while she clicked through a few icons on the computer. The Agency had been slacking on their security from outside attackers. It seemed that they had more protection from inside threats than outside, that alone made her question their motives more. She’d managed to get into the systems without triggering an alarm.

  “How goes it?” Remus came in and set another cup of coffee on the table.

  “Easy as pie.” She muttered and typed away on the keyboard, working through different backdoor codes to get into the system. She clicked through folders and pulled up security images. A camera screen flickered to life, and Zeek popped up on the screen.

  His head leaned against the wall; black blisters covered his skin, his lips moved as if answering a question. She didn’t dare move her gaze from the screen. Sunlight shot down from the roof landing right on his leg. He cried out, and his body jerked as a fresh burn appeared where the sun hit him. Her heart dropped and her hand shook as she reached for the keyboard.

  Remus put a hand on hers to stop her. “No. You need to watch this. We need to know who is responsible for his torture. Your naïvety landed him there. He told Peterson to get you out instead of him.”

  Guilt hit her hard, and she moved her hand away from the keyboard. “I need to figure out his location before I can fix this.”

  “Is there audio on the surveillance tape?

  She tapped a few keys looking for it. Her shoulders tensed up with him behind her. She was pretty clear on what would happen if she screwed this up more.

  The speakers clicked as the audio activated.

  “We want the Syndicates’ locations. All of them.” Boomed over the speakers.

  “I know that voice.” Travis. She tried not to look away as Zeek responded with a valiant “Fuck you.”

  The skylight opened again, and his cries echoed through the room. She reached to turn the sound off.

  “No.” Came from behind her and she pulled away. Remus continued, “We need to know what other information they want. Other than the locations of all of my team.”

  She nodded and reached for her coffee instead. Tears sat at the corner of her eyes when she saw the new burn on Zeek’s body. There was nothing she could do from here. She’d have to go back in to get him.

  The screen let out a loud noise and she cursed. “They’re on to us.” It’d taken them over five hours to figure out someone was in their system, but they finally realized it. She typed furiously at the keys trying to keep her connection. Her eyes scanning the code, taking in any information she could. The screen faded away and she cursed.

  “What the hell.” He snarled. “Get it back.”

  “I can’t; they locked us out.” She snapped and stood up, grabbing the coat he’d brought when he delivered clothes .

  “You aren’t going anywhere, Fox. You sit down, and you get that surveillance back up.”

  “You want your vampire back? Then I need to go now before Travis decides to kill him. Zeek isn’t going to give in to the torture, you and I both know that. I know I’m new to this terrifying world, but I know what happens when a captive outlives its usefulness.”

  “They are killed.”

  “Exactly.” She headed out of the room. “I know the IP address they were using; it’s located at the branch I worked at. Near here.”

  “They have two buildings here? That’s news. They kept the two of you apart, different locations. Probably to use against each other.”

  Most likely. Travis knew that she’d be able to smell vampire on him. Maybe he thought Zeek would be able to sense her in some way. “The important thing is, I know the location.”

  “Do they know ours, though?”

  “They’ve always known about this building’s relation to the Syndicate, but no, they won’t track the IP address.”

  “You hid it?”

  She nodded. “I wasn’t able to hide mine the first time I hacked the Agency because I was on their network, or they wouldn’t have located me then either.” She pulled on her coat.

  “How do you plan on getting him out. You’re a shifter. You can’t shift him.”

  She paused. “Was hoping he’d be able to poof us out.”

  “He won’t be able to do that so damaged. You can’t just run in there without a plan, Fox.”

  Why did everyone refuse to use her name here? “Then what do you suggest? If you guys are all oh so powerful why don’t you go in there and get him?” She spun around.

  “Because I can’t let the Agency get their hands on me. They’d kill me the moment they could.” He shook his head. “Besides, I let my people deal with their problems and their mistakes. If he dies, one of his fledglings takes his place.”

  She hadn’t been aware he’d had any fledglings. The two had barely talked much because she kept shutting him down. “What happens to me if he dies?”

  “I’ll have a new little pet fox.”

  She pressed her lips together trying to come up with a plan. “If I can get him out of the cage and fed, can he poof us out of there?”

  “Yes. But how are you going to get in?”

  “By shifting. The same way I got into your building. I can set up a security breach from one of the offices. One of the files I found had a rotation schedule for the building. If I can distract the guards by tripping an alarm, I can get Zeek out and fed. We’d be gone before they knew I was in there.”

  He nodded as if giving her approval. “If you get caught, you know I can’t get you, and Peterson’s not going to be able to get you out twice.”

  “I know.” She was signing her death warrant if this didn’t work. The outcome looked grim no matter which way the cookie crumbled. “I guess I’ll see you when this is all over.”

  He snorted. “Hopefully wearing more than Peterson’s jacket.”

  “That all depends on if I can find clothes after shifting.” She shot back.

  Skye’s feet made little noise over the tiled floor as she left. This had to work. She needed to fix this.

  Zeek closed his eyes and imaged where Skye would go in the afterlife. Heaven of course, if it existed. She was probably running through fields in her fox form. Her mind and cares far from problems of the Agency and Syndicate. What he wouldn’t give to join her there. To make amends for all the threats and the violence she had seen. For the torturous death she must have been dealt because he dragged her into this. She could have lived her life out as a lowly Agency employee never knowing what they really did
.

  “I’ll be back tomorrow, and we’ll go through this again.” Travis’ voice broke his thoughts.

  “You might as well kill me.” Zeek glanced at him, not moving his head. “I’m not going to give you any of the information you want.”

  “We’ll see about that,” Travis smirked. “I have an ace up my sleeve.”

  He wasn’t lying, but Zeek didn’t have the energy to try and coax it out of him. “Then I guess I’ll see you at dawn.”

  “Until then.” Travis walked out, and Zeek heard the click of the door as it shut behind him.

  Zeek looked up at the ceiling. His stomach cramped at the need for blood. It was only a matter of time before his mind gave in to his bloodlust and he did something stupid.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Skye shifted out of the fly form and shook her body. She hated being an insect, but it was the best way to get in somewhere with high security. She walked over to the computer in Travis’ office and logged in. The man had never cared much for strong passwords, and once he’d mentioned they were all the same. One night she asked for his password to Amazon, he’d been stupid enough to give it to her.

  Her fingers moved over the keys and she quickly found a place to trip the security alarms. Her heart pounded as sirens filled the building. She looked right at the security camera and on instinct blew it a kiss. She shifted into a fly and headed towards where they kept Zeek.

  She flew over the heads of the panicked security guards that ran through the halls yelling about how a high-risk prisoner escaped. She found Zeek’s interrogation room and shifted into human form outside the bars.

  “Zeek?”

  His head turned towards her in a lazy way. Not lifting from the wall, almost lolling to one side. “Oh look, the illusions have kicked in.”

  She blinked at him. “What are you talking about? I’m here to get you out.”

  “Skye, they killed you.”

  The grief in his voice and the tears at the corner of his eyes made her heart ache. “No, they didn’t.” She grabbed the keys to the cell off the wall and unlocked the cell door, hissing at the contact on her skin.

  His red gaze met hers. “Travis said that you couldn’t handle the torture.”

  “Travis is a massive asshole.” She put a hand on his cheek. “You need to feed—“

  He didn’t wait for her to finish her sentence. He launched himself toward her and pinned her to the ground. She tried to keep her panic down. She’d never opened a vein for a vampire before, and thanks to his previous threat, she had no idea what to expect.

  Zeek nibbled the skin right over her pulse point. “I haven’t completely lost my mind yet. I want to make sure we have no misunderstandings. You want this.”

  It wasn’t much of a question, but she believed that if she said no, he’d have the self-control to back off, but she found herself relaxing against him and his words. “Yes.”

  He chuckled and his hot breath tickled her skin. “I’ve wanted this. You, naked below me, offering your blood. Sadly, I don’t have the time to do this right.” His fangs pierced her skin.

  She’d expected pain, but the pain he offered was swift and fading. Heat moved through her body, and she wrapped her fingers in his hair and pressed him harder against her neck. Moisture grew between her legs as he wrapped his arms tightly around her, pressing his body harder against her. A moan drifted out of her throat. She wanted him to take her there. In the cell. With the security cameras.

  That thought brought her back to reality. The alarms were silent now. “Zeek.”

  “Hm.” His voice was muffled against her throat.

  “We need to go now.”

  He slowly pulled away from her and licked her blood off his lips. “Don’t want to give them a show?” He cupped her face and kissed her on the lips gently.

  The copper taste of her blood clung to her mouth. She resisted the urge to smack him. “I don’t want to get caught. Can you poof us out of here?”

  “Poof?”

  “Transport? Whatever the word is that you use.” She rolled her eyes.

  He nodded. “Now that you fed me, yeah.” He stood up, pulling her with him. They stepped out of the cell as he wrapped his arm around her waist and then the interrogation room disappeared.

  Zeek took them back to his place and spun Skye away from him. He looked over his fox and touched the burn marks on her neck gently. “You stupid woman, why would you come back in after me? What did they do to you?”

  “A ‘Hey, Skye, thanks for saving me’ would be nice.” She looked around the room and swooped up one of his shirts and put it on.

  He instantly wanted to rip it off and finish what they started in the cell. “What did they do to you?”

  “Travis had a shock collar around my neck and kept asking me questions about you. Shock hits our cells and forces a transformation one way or another.” She shook her head. “I don’t really want to talk about it. Your boss sent me back in to get you out. He made it clear that if you died, your blood was on my hands.”

  Stupid demigod, sending her in. “What was the reward if you succeeded?”

  “Joining the Syndicate.” She wrapped her arms around herself, something he’d started noticing as a nervous habit. His fox was unsure about everything right now. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her to his chest. She jerked back. “We need to take care of your wounds.”

  “They’ll heal in a few minutes since you fed me. Let me call Remus and then we’ll just relax the rest of the night.”

  She nodded and went to walk out of the room. He grabbed her wrist and she gave him a nasty glare.

  “Are you going to cuff me again?”

  He shook his head. “No. Rest in my bed. It’s more comfortable than the couch.”

  Her glare faded and her cheeks flushed at the assumption. “Oh.”

  Her red lips pouted slightly, and he wondered for a moment what was running through her mind. He pulled her close and kissed her again. This time his tongue traced her lips and they parted, inviting him to go further.

  A phone rang and he pulled away with a growl. Skye’s smooth brow creased in a frown. “That’s my phone.”

  He hadn’t been aware that she left it here that first night. But it rang on his living room table. He followed her out and motioned for her to answer it.

  “Hello, Travis.” She answered without missing a beat. “Did you enjoy the little show?”

  “Skye, you little sly fox. Where did you and your lover run off to?”

  Zeek snarled at the voice. He wanted to rip that wolf limb from limb.

  “I hear Zeek in the background.” He chuckled. “This isn’t over yet. I don’t know how you managed to escape Peterson, but your rescue mission for Zeek was sloppy, so I doubt you’ve been with the Syndicates for long.”

  She swallowed. “Why are you calling, Travis?”

  “I want to offer you a deal. Return to the Agency, train with us, and I won’t kill you or the vampire.”

  Like hell that was going to happen. Zeek opened his mouth to say such, but Skye held a hand up. “No. I’ll make sure to send my resignation letter in. I’m no longer interested in working for the Agency.”

  “Skye, you’re throwing everything away and for what? A vampire fuck buddy?”

  Zeek heard the change in her heartbeat before the red hit her cheeks.

  “A chance to help my kind.” She snapped. “Unlike the Agency who’s putting bad drugs out to kill more humans and torturing people.”

  “And do you think they are innocent?” He asked.

  “No, but they aren’t as corrupt.”

  Zeek smirked at her answer and then turned towards his balcony as he heard a noise outside. “Fuck. Hang up the phone.”

  Skye did it without questioning. The glass of his windows shattered as bullets sprayed the room. He jumped towards Skye, taking her to the ground as shards flew over their bodies. Zeek transported her outside. His back hit the ground with her laying on top of him. He sa
t up and looked her over, trying to see if she’d been hit. “Are you alright?”

  She gave a shaky nod. “You?”

  “Yes.” He glanced up on the balcony where four men in black stood. The sound of gunshots still echoed through the night.

  “Agency?” Her gaze was locked on the men.

  “Yes. Travis had a trace on your phone; I was hoping to use it to lure him here.” Which was why he encouraged her to answer it each time the man had called. He took a moment to consider the options. He could take her back to her home and hope it was secure. Or he could go back to the Syndicate headquarters where he knew he wouldn’t fry during the day and where they could figure out how to keep her safe.

  “We’re going back to headquarters. I can keep your safe there.”

  She looked at him. “You can keep me safe there, meaning what?”

  “Meaning if you stay with me, you’ll be safe. I don’t know who’s there right now. If it’s someone other than Remus, they may not understand that you’ll be joining us.”

  “Which means they’ll try to kill me.”

  He heard the panic in her voice. “Yeah, well it seems like we might have that problem no matter where we go.” He wrapped his arm around her waist and they disappeared into the night.

  The world reappeared around them, and Skye looked at the dark walls of the hall and titled her head to the side. She’d expected to see the white walls of the office building. Maybe the server room, maybe the original office where the council had met. Not bleak black walls.

  “Where are we?”

  “The basement of the Syndicate headquarters. Normally we don’t bring new members here, but seeing as it seems Travis is trying to kill you, I thought this was the best option. Each leader has their own room here; it’s almost like our safe house.”

  She nodded and followed him down the dimly lit halls. “I can’t just hide for the rest of my life.”

  “I know, we need to get the Agency off your back. Revenge on Travis would also be nice, but not a priority.” Zeek looked over his shoulder, and she didn’t miss the evil grin on his face. She wouldn’t mind a piece of Travis herself. She owned the asshole a few shocks with a taser.