At Any Cost

by Allie K. Adams

  He brought up his finger to silence her. "NASSD. Bravo-Delta-One-One-Niner. We have a situation."

  He paused, his back to her. His shoulders raised and lowered with his labored breathing. "Daniel Nelson Weber. Send a trace out on Bravo-Charlie-Two-Seven-Two. Charles William Cole. Call this frequency with the hit."

  Slamming his finger down to disconnect the call, he muttered his favorite curse. He then punched another set of numbers in. "Come on. Damn it, Papabear. Pick up the phone." He slammed his finger down to disconnect and tried again. Nothing. After several seconds, he yelled out his favorite curse and slammed down the receiver.

  Hurrying over to the door, he turned back to JT as he opened it. "Stay here. Wait for HQ's call."

  "Where are you going?"

  "I'm going to go see Pedro. We move out when I get back. Just stay here. Please, JT. For God's sake. This time listen to me. Don't leave this room until I come back for you." He closed the door behind him.

  JT swallowed, still in a daze as to what just happened. Her Uncle Charlie was in trouble, that much she could assume. Please, God. Let him be okay. Don't take him from me now that I finally have him back.

  Her Uncle Charlie could take on a dozen men with one hand and still tie his shoe with the other. She shouldn't be worried about him. But she was. And so was Dan.

  Dan mentioned a package to Uncle Charlie. Could that package have something to do with what just happened?

  The epiphany hit JT so hard she fell back in the chair next to the satcom link. He didn't, did he? Donovan told Dan to give LEON to someone he trusted. Who better to trust than someone on the project? Someone who, up until a few hours ago, had everyone convinced he was an invalid.

  Everyone except Dan Weber.

  Damn him. He sent LEON to her uncle! And, by doing so, put his life in danger.

  The satcom buzzed and JT nearly jumped out of her skin. When did she lose her nerve? She drew a deep breath and with a steady hand, brought the receiver to her ear. "Turner."

  "Put Weber on."

  "He's not here."

  "Where the hell is he?"

  "I was hoping you could tell me."

  "Shit." Donovan grumbled something inaudible. "What's this about jumping the gun and trying to hit Mercado last night? Those were not the orders."

  How did he know about that? "Dan thought—"

  "You had orders to report to me if Weber did anything to jeopardize this mission. Last night, he did."

  "I don't think any of this is Dan's fault."

  "You don't think. Period. I think. And what I think is that you disobeyed a direct order."

  JT swallowed. He told her what would happen if she disobeyed HQ's orders. She was out. As if the last twelve hours weren't trying enough. "I couldn't do it."

  Donovan grumbled again. "I should have never put this on the shoulders of a rookie. You aren't ready. I don't know if you'll ever be ready enough for NASSD."

  "I can do it," she insisted.

  "Then prove to me that you can."

  Her heart started to slam in her chest. "What is it you want me to do?"

  "Follow orders."

  "Bring him back to the room, you mean. So you can talk to him?" She felt a dark apprehension mounting.

  A long pause. "He jeopardized the mission, Agent Turner. Your orders were very clear."

  "So did I," she admitted. If he asked her to do what she thought he was alluding to, then she wanted to hear it. So she could tell him to shove his order up his ass. She wasn't about to do anything more to hurt Dan, not emotionally, and definitely not physically. And she'd have issues with anyone else who tried to hurt him.

  "You know what I'm asking you to do."

  JT tensed, clenched her jaw. She couldn't believe it. HQ was ordering a hit on one of their own. And they wanted her to carry it out.

  Well, tough. She wouldn't do it. If NASSD wanted to take out one of their own, they could do it with one less agent. No way would she work for an agency willing to do something like that to the best agent they had.

  "I won't do it."

  "Come again?"

  "I won't. Do. It," JT repeated with conviction.

  "You do realize what this means?"

  "Yes."

  "And you are willing to throw away your career? For him?"

  She swallowed and said nothing.

  Donovan paused as well. Finally, he spoke. "It's too bad. You're one hell of a shot. You would have made a fine assassin."

  JT closed her eyes. Yes, she would have.

  Chapter 16

  Dan drove Snyder's car like the rest of the people in Cartagena . Insanely fast and recklessly dangerous. Just the way he liked it. He screeched the tires as he pulled up to the curb in front of Pedro's Empeñe la Tienda. Someone yelled a Spanish obscenity at him and Dan let him know he was number one. He ran inside.

  "I don't have much time." Dan cocked his head to the side as he studied poor Pedro's face. His patch was torn, and his cheek appeared swollen, as did his lip. Son-of-a-bitch. Did Mercado's men figure the connection with Pedro and NASSD? "What the hell happened to you?"

  "I went to talk to my brother last night, like you told me to do. We drank tequila. Do you drink tequila, señor?"

  "Never touch the stuff." After a fourth of July party at Gessler's place, too much Cuervo, and waking up duct taped to a tree, Dan swore off tequila. Gessler told him duct taping him to the tree was the only way to stop him from jumping up on all the tables and baying at the moon. Dan highly doubted that was the only way, but got the point.

  "I started talking with the mujeres."

  "Let me guess. You talked with the wrong woman?" Thank God Mercado had nothing to do with his injuries.

  He grinned sheepishly. "Sí, señor. One of my brother's friends did not like me coquetear with his woman."

  Dan nodded. Yes, flirting with another man's woman could get you hurt. And if Snyder didn't turn down his charm, he was going to have teeth missing because of it.

  Dan stopped. JT wasn't his woman. Far from it. He didn't know what they were, but she was not his woman. And they weren't involved.

  "Let's go down," Dan ordered Pedro. "Put the closed sign up so we won't be disturbed."

  Pedro jumped up and did as Dan requested. "I have had a breakthrough, señor," Pedro started as he followed Dan down the stairs. "I call it Piérdale."

  "Miss you?"

  Pedro's golden grin widened. He stopped in front of one of the tables and held up the spray. "The opposite of Obtuvole. You like the name?"

  "It's your spray."

  "No, señor." He thrust into Dan's hands. "It is yours."

  "How's it work?" He looked at the spray bottle, smelled it. No scent. So far so good.

  "I did not reverse the technology."

  "The short version, Pedro. I'm in a hurry."

  "Sí. It scrambles trackers so they see nothing. You will look like a tree to it. That is all. Even when moving."

  "Very nice. Thanks." He started back up the stairs, remembered Pedro's brother, and stopped. "Did you get to talk with your brother?"

  "Sí. He is very excited to stand up and fight beside the great Dan Weber. He will gather his best men for you."

  "Good. Have him do that." That helped. No doubt, with Mercado's little scare last night, he'd be watching the airports even closer now. There was no way Donovan would be able to get more agents down to Colombia . Not without Mercado knowing about it. It was Pedro and his brother, or no one.

  "Listen, we have a little change in plans. Mercado's up the stakes. Can your brother find out what's going on?"

  Pedro nodded excitedly. "My brother, he has one ear to the ground. I will contact you when I hear of anything. Should I use Agent Snyder to find you again? I do not think your satcom is working."

  "It's working."

  "I tried this morning, but you did not answer."

  "It's working," Dan repeated, this time keeping his teeth clenched.

  Pedro looked away. "Let me give
you more." He hurried around from table to table, dropping things into a black bag. The bag full, he walked over to Dan and handed it to him.

  "Thanks." Dan shoved the spray into the bag and eyed the satcom. He could make a call and talk frankly without JT listening in. He set the bag down by the stairs. "I need to use the uplink. Privately."

  "Of course." Pedro started up the stairs.

  "Oh, and Pedro?" Dan pulled the phone number out of his pocket, hesitated, and decided he had nothing to lose. Not at this point of the game. "Should things go to Hell, give this number a call. Tell them I'm taking them up on their offer. Put them in touch with your brother."

  He nodded, holding the paper in his hands like a man would hold the winning lottery ticket. "Oh, Sí. On my honor, I shall help you. Night and day, señor." He hurried up the remainder of the stairs and closed the door behind him.

  Dan sat in front of the satcom and dialed Donovan. He had a terrible feeling. A deep, dark apprehension that made his gut twist just thinking about it. Because of his stupid, fucked-up decision to place LEON in Charlie Cole's hands, he'd signed his friend's death warrant. From the shots Dan heard on the other end of the sitcom—all six of them—he knew what that meant.

  That son-of-a-bitch Peck got another agent.

  Donovan answered. "Weber? Is that you?"

  "Yeah. Did you get a hit on Cole?" Please tell me he isn't dead. I already have enough trouble sleeping.

  "What the hell is going on? Where've you been? I get a phone call this morning from Charlie Cole. Charlie Cole! The man's been in a nursing home for two years. He called me at home at five in the goddamn morning. What is it with you agents calling me at the butt crack of dawn?"

  "Are you getting to the point soon?"

  "Cole said he's been faking the whole thing! I've picked up smoking again because of all this."

  He decided not to correct him, even though from what Dan could see Donovan never stopped smoking. "Don't forget drinking."

  "That I never gave up."

  "Can we get to the mission now?"

  Donovan sighed. "I've got bad news, and really shitty news. Which do you want first?"

  Dan's sandwich turned in his stomach. "Is he dead?"

  "I'm sorry, Weber. One shot to the forehead. He was dead before he hit the floor."

  Dan had heard six. "And the other five?"

  "How'd you know about them?"

  "I was on the phone with him when it happened."

  "Jesus," Donovan breathed. "We found him face down. He had a book of Goldilocks and the Three Bears lying on his back. The rest of the shots were fired through the book, straight into his back. What does that mean?"

  "The target was the Papabear," Dan said aloud. The bastard. He was going to pay, and pay dearly. Not only did he mess with the wrong man, he now brought JT into the equation.

  Dan felt a pinch in his chest. JT was going to be devastated when she found out about her uncle. She just got him back, only to lose him again. This time permanently.

  "How did you know that?"

  "Our codenames."

  "From LEON ? You guys haven't used them in years. Hell, they were just between you guys, anyway. No one outside the project even knew about them."

  "It proves Peck is behind all the hits. That's how they're connected. He knows our codenames and is killing the rest of the agents, leaving something about their codename at the scene."

  Dan continued. "I never made the connection until now. They found Fish in his pool. Sandman in his Zen sand garden. Doughboy in the kitchen. Gameboy in front of his game console. Cole's was Papabear. And he had the book with him. And I'm Hollywood , which means Peck is going to want to make it a big deal when he comes after me. Oscar Award winning."

  "Holy hell," Donovan breathed. "How do you always do it?"

  "Do what?"

  "You should have been in intel. You always get it. Intel has been working on this for a month. You figured it out in two days?"

  Dan closed his eyes and pinched the skin above his nose. He'd have to be the one to tell JT about Charlie Cole. It needed to come from him. He'd been the cause. Talk about shitty news. "Give me the bad news."

  "That was the bad news."

  Dan's back went ramrod straight as he clenched his jaw. Oh, shit. No. "Please tell me Peck didn't get his hands on LEON ."

  "He left your Eagles CD in its place, along with a note to tell you thanks, but he already had a copy."

  Dan almost put his fist through the sitcom. "How in the hell did he find out? Who is feeding him information, Donovan! Who's the goddamn mole!"

  "I don't know. It's like we are all wearing a mic or something."

  Or a bug. He growled at the realization, pissed he didn't think of it sooner. "Your phone's been tapped. And probably your home." Dan paused, thought about all the clicking on the satcom links. "The uplinks have been tapped, too. I'm sure of it."

  Dan stood. This op had just gone from bad to worse to beyond fucked. He wasn't going to play into a trap, and he wasn't about to send JT into one, either. "I'm pulling the mission."

  "No way. We spent a year prepping for this."

  "And we'll spend another year cleaning up the mess. We'll get Mercado. But on our terms, not his." Dan listened for the clicks. Ah, there they were. Good. He wanted to make sure whoever tapped the lines listened in on this conversation.

  "That is unless," he paused, making good and sure whoever was listening caught this part.

  "I'm listening."

  You and God only knew who else . "Let me do this my way. No Turner. No interference from HQ or NASSD. The gloves are off, Donovan. Promise me amnesty, and Mercado goes down. Peck goes down. Because as I am standing here breathing, I can guarantee Peck is on his way down to Colombia with LEON ."

  Donovan seemed to pause for a lifetime. Finally, he answered. "You got a deal, man. I'll cover for you. Take both of them out. Make sure you do. No evidence. No way to trace it back to NASSD. Make it clean."

  Dan sighed. Finally. Official permission. NASSD's blessing to take out Peck. Sweet. Now to convince JT the mission has been aborted so she'll go home and leave Dan to do the dirty work.

  Shit. JT. "Hey, Donovan? Don't tell Turner about her uncle. I'll do it."

  "Uh oh."

  "You didn't."

  "Not directly. I called Snyder and told him. He, in turn, told her."

  "And how did he do that? Go back up to the room and jeopardize our cover again?"

  "No. Actually, Turner was in the bar when I called."

  Oh no. Oh hell no. "What was she doing out of the room?"

  "Looking for you."

  "But I told her to stay in the room!"

  "In case you haven't figured it out, she doesn't really follow orders."

  Goddamn her. She was going to follow directions now, because the minute he found her, he was going to scream at her until she went deaf.

  "Snyder said she's there working her cover."

  "She's doing what!" Dan roared, choking on his words. He started breathing deep, in and out, but it did nothing to calm him down.

  "Take it easy on her, Weber. She just lost her uncle. Take out Mercado. Take out Peck. Just don't tell me how you are going to do it. I don't want to know."

  "Plausible deniability?"

  "You got it. Until I can figure some alternate means of communication, this will be our last transmission. No need compromising the mission anymore than it already has been."

  "Agreed." Dan hung up the satcom receiver, his thoughts on JT. He had to get to her before she left with Mercado's men. Taking the stairs three at a time, he hurried out of Pedro's Empeñe la Tienda, ignoring Pedro's protests, and jumped into the car. Driving at speeds more dangerous than the drive over, Dan made it back to the hotel and headed for the bar.

  He ran in and looked around. It wasn't hard to spot her. A beauty queen in the bar usually had quite a crowd, and JT was no different.

  And, damn it, Mercado's men were right there in the middle of it al
l.

  "You are Miss America ." The greaseball Dan had a run in with the day before drooled as he tried to get close to JT.

  "Gracias, Bernardo," she slurred. Dan couldn't believe it. She was drunk.

  Oh, this just kept getting better and better.

  JT looked up and spotted Dan. Hopping off the barstool, she parted the circle around her and staggered up to him. Without warning, she reached up and slapped him across the face.

  It stung and made him flinch, but he never broke their eye contact. He'd be pissed at her for that later. Right now, he just wanted to get her back up to the room and away from Mercado's men. He grabbed her arm and started to lead her out of the bar.

  "Come along, dear."

  Dan shook his head when she tried to pull away. Don't do this. But then she nodded, thinking he was giving her some sort of signal.

  Dan shook his head again. Even mouthed the word, "no." She couldn't go through with it. She had no idea what waited for her beyond the compound's fence. Neither one of them did. He leaned into her, resting his lips above her ear. "Not now, JT." Not Jessica. Maybe she'd get the hint from that. When she continued to play along, he added, "There's been a change in plans."

  She shot him a baffled look. Which quickly turned into a venomous look. "My uncle is dead now because of you. My last words to him were in anger. I'll never be able to apologize to him now. I hope you're satisfied."

  Jesus. Talk about a punch in the gut. "Can we talk about this back in the room?" He looked around, catching how many of Mercado's men were tuning in to their conversation. "Please, dear? I came all this way down here to get you to come home with me."

  She jumped into her role and jerked her arm out of his grasp. Wincing from the pain it must have caused her shoulder, she leveled her glare on him. "I'm not going anywhere with you. I came down here to get away from you."

  "No. Don't do this," Dan warned. She pushed him away.

  "Don't get fresh with me, Bucco."

  Did she just call him Bucco? Dan placed his hands on her shoulders and looked her square in the eye. "Listen to me—"

  "¡Quite las manos de la dama!" The Three Amigos surrounded Dan. He tried to step out of their reach, but the biggest one made the mistake of putting his hand on Dan's shoulder.