by Cara Carnes
What the fuck? Gage didn’t want the man focused on Zoey.
They followed Kristof into a narrow foyer and then a large living room with double bay windows. Windows Jesse’s rifle wouldn’t penetrate. Gage’s gaze swept the area as he inventoried its contents, exits, and potential weapons. A plan formed in his mind, followed by another two for backup.
If shit went sideways, he’d be ready.
“Would you like a drink? Perhaps some cognac to calm the nerves?” His gaze remained on Zoey.
“No thanks,” she clipped in a quiet voice.
“Own your space, Zoey. You aren’t a meek little mouse. Mice get eaten in his world. You know that. You need to be the predator, not the prey,” Vi declared.
Too late. Gage let the thought stream in his mind as Zoey moved to stand beside him fully rather than hide halfway against him. Her hand remained on his back, though.
“Let’s cut the shit, Kristof. You know why we’re here. You commanded it,” Jud said.
“Sit.” The man sat and motioned toward a set of chairs and a loveseat. “This entire situation your little bird is in is rather…complicated.”
Gage angled Zoey toward the loveseat and sat beside her. The location put her nearest Kristof but left Gage at her side and his weapon hand free. Jud sat across from Zoey.
“She got on a radar she shouldn’t be on because she went against Ian Schmidt to protect an Arsenal team. Then she stood up against Congressman Cherling to keep his daughter from being abused,” Gage said.
“Ah, yes. I heard some of this.” The man sat and crossed his legs. Hands folded in his lap, he looked from Jud to Gage. “Let us forget about Congressman Cherling. He is not of consequence. It is the other matter that’s causing problems. Schmidt has been quite busy looking into you, Zoey.”
“Cut the shit,” Jud repeated, his tone now business and not conversational or friendly. “Why are we here?”
“Because Ian Schmidt suspects Zoey is the mysterious enemy who’s been rescuing assets from the dark web,” Kristof said. Gaze on Zoey, he smiled. “I know for fact she is.”
Son of a bitch.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Zoey said, her voice soft and filled with fear.
“I do not know who, but he put an asset into a position for you to assist. He used what information he’s acquired from Congressman Cherling’s housemaid. I believe his daughter made a call?”
Gage reached over and squeezed Zoey’s hand when she paled.
“From what I understand, your network acquired her, but she was never processed.”
“She’s one of the three Jade was helping,” Jesse said. “Get Addy on the com; let her know.”
“On it,” Cord said.
“He recently contacted me to request my assistance securing parties interested in your associate here,” Kristof said. “This is a trap meant to catch you.”
“He knows where I am. Why the elaborate ruse?”
“He remains unseen this way and won’t go directly head-to-head with The Arsenal. No one wise wishes that.” Kristof grimaced. “Unfortunately, that is all I know.”
“And you share this without expecting anything in return. That’s not like you,” Jud said.
“Ah, yes. I’m afraid I must ask you for a favor, one Zoey is in a unique position to assist me with,” Kristof said. “I believe one of the assets you helped is a woman I’ve been searching for. She was a close friend of mine who was taken.”
“I’m sorry. I can’t help you,” Zoey said.
“You do not trust me.”
“I don’t. Even if I did, once someone’s in, they’re gone. There’s nothing I can do to help you find her. I’m sorry.”
“Someone as brilliant and cautious as you would never leave the assets you help unprotected and defenseless,” Kristof said. “Very well. We will table my request until you are safe from Ian.”
“Just like that?” Jud asked.
“The woman means a great deal to me,” Kristof admitted. “I’ve wanted help finding her for a long time. She’s one of the reasons I expanded my presence on the dark web.”
“You wanted to find her,” Zoey whispered.
“I failed.” The man looked down the coffee table. “Then someone with a hummingbird rapid touch entered my network and stole data about assets I would never consider brokering. Imagine my surprise when each one whose data was taken was freed.”
Son of a bitch.
“The life I lead is distasteful most days. Your work has given me the only light I’ve had in a long time, Zoey. For that alone I will assist you. I can only hope you one day choose to help me find my Stacia.”
“Wow,” Vi muttered into the phone. “Didn’t see that coming.”
“Stacia?” Zoey asked.
“Do not engage that line of conversation,” Mary ordered. “Direct him back on Jade. We need a location.”
“Where’s Jade?”
“I agreed to help broker the transaction. I have secured quite a few clients interested in the data Jade might have.”
“Data that leads them to Zoey,” Jud said. “This isn’t cool, man. We can’t allow that transaction to happen.”
“Of course not,” Kristof said. “I will assist your teams to get Jade back. If we coordinate this well enough, we can take Ian down permanently.”
“We want them all. Everyone remaining that was tied to the Collective and Hive,” Gage said.
“That is the plan. With them out of the way, I am in a better position to continue my search without issue,” Kristof said. “It is a win-win.”
Gage didn’t trust a damn thing the man was saying.
“Do we have a deal, Zoey?” Kristof asked. “Will you allow me to help you get your Jade back and take Ian down?”
Zoey had crawled into bed with an asshole who brokered humans, but it would hopefully help them track down Jade. She sat in her chair around the large war room they’d only used once. The bulk of the operatives sat in stadium-style seating while everyone else attending the meeting remained up front.
She listened as Nolan, Jesse, Vi, and Mary took turns debriefing the entirety of The Arsenal. Even Ellie had been brought in. The woman sat in the bottom row of seats with her gaze wide and locked on Jesse as he prowled the narrow standing area.
“Any operatives not assigned to teams are divided into groups of three and dispersed into actionable zones,” Vi said. “It’s our hope you all get to do nothing but watch some bad television while lamenting the fact that you are as bored as hell. But there are a lot of assets out there with no idea how much danger they could possibly be in if anything in our primary mission goes wrong. Your mission is to keep this network secure no matter what.”
The woman looked back at Zoey. Right. It was her time to speak. She rose and ignored the rattling of her pulse and the slight tremble in her legs. Public speaking was definitely not her thing.
“Eyes to me, Little Bit,” Gage said from his perch on a stair a third of the way up. “No one else is here. Just me.”
Okay. She could handle that. “Each orphan team has been given a packet of intel for your zone. It’ll provide access codes into HERA for every asset’s pertinent information within your zone. There will also be a map of usable assets. That could be anything from a cache of cash, clothes, and basic supplies to approved medical facilities and transport vehicles. Instructions for their use are also included. All this will be accessible via an app that’s already been downloaded to your field sets.”
She hoped they knew what the heck field sets were because she’d just made the term up. She didn’t think anyone had ever bothered giving the computerized devices field operatives used a name.
“You are to protect the assets in your charge from anyone not in this room,” Gage said. “No exceptions. Should you need to connect with an asset and secure her, you trust no one. Doctor Sinclair will be briefing you all on how to handle that contact.”
Someone halfway up held up a packet. “This s
ays there are kids? With no parents? How’s that possible?”
“The network is predominantly protecting women and children freed from traffickers. Minors were relocated into new homes as off-grid as possible. If you pull the children, you pull the parents as well.” Zoey’s gut twisted. She really hoped none of this was necessary.
“There’s at least thirty assets in my packet. How many women and kids are we talking about in this network?” The voice came from the far back.
“Five hundred twelve according to HERA,” Mary answered. “Most were freed in batches via raids on auction houses, so the numbers grew large quickly.”
“This isn’t going to be a simple task we’re charging you with, but you’re up to it. You’re Arsenal, and this is a war we will win,” Jesse said.
A loud cacophony of returned war cries of some sort echoed within the large room.
“It’s important to note we’re going up against someone with NSA credentials,” Vi said. “Assume you are under constant surveillance. The moment you leave The Arsenal you are activated until we say otherwise. Riley and Bree are facilitating with the assets. If you run into any trouble within your zone, contact Jud immediately. Then Rhea or Bree will provide you with a new location for the asset.”
“Seems like a waste to keep Jud here,” someone commented.
“He, Riley, and Kamren are securing the compound while we’re all wheels up,” Marshall said from the side. “I think we all remember the cleanup from the last time Jud kept The Arsenal secure.”
Jud smirked from near the doorway where he, Riley, and Kamren stood beside one another, involved but removed.
“Questions?”
One by one the operatives weighed in with questions, concerns, and observations. Three hours had passed by the time the field operatives tasked with maintaining the network were cleared to leave.
Which left the teams themselves.
“My team and I have an alternative plan,” Addy said.
“Don’t blame that idea on us,” someone shouted from the seats.
Red rose in the redhead’s face as she looked at Vi and Mary. “Send me inside with Kristof. He spreads the word I’ve been secured for barter, and anyone remotely connected to the Hive and Collective will crawl out.”
“No,” Mary’s response was quick and filled with emotion. “That’s not happening, Addy.”
“It’s a big risk,” Vi said.
“One worth it for the huge payout,” Addy said.
Zoey couldn’t breathe. The enormity of what the woman proposed sat on Zoey’s chest like an elephant. Addy’s older brother had run Hive and turned dirty somewhere through the years. He’d kidnapped Mary and had her tortured to steal HERA.
Addy had been instrumental in dismantling her brother’s dirty organization—a fact everyone within the paramilitary arena knew. The woman was renowned and feared for many reasons. She’d have to go in as herself—Addison Rugers. She’d be trusting Arsenal teams to keep her safe while Kristof bartered her like a side of beef.
Revulsion shuddered through Zoey. The woman was offering herself up to help find Jade and to take down the assholes wanting Zoey.
This was for her.
“I’m sorry, but you two are too close to this to make the call,” Addy said as she looked at Vi and Mary. “Marshall, you need to weigh in. All of you do.”
“It’s a solid plan, better than going in blind,” Nolan said. “In.”
“This isn’t Hive. We don’t put operatives into situations like that,” Jesse said. “Out.”
One by one the team leaders and Arsenal bigwigs weighed in. Gage was the last to weigh in with an out.
“Divided,” Vi said. She glanced at Zoey. “You’re the tiebreaker.”
“I can’t be the tiebreaker. This entire mess is because of me. I’m the reason this is even a discussion point.”
“You’re not,” Gage growled. “You aren’t trafficking people like commodities. You aren’t running dirty groups while in one of the highest positions of national security. You’re standing between all those assholes and the innocent people you’ve saved.”
Zoey liked the plan, but she didn’t trust Kristof. He was an instrumental part of everything, no matter what. She glanced over at Jud. “Will he keep her safe?”
“Depends on your definition of safe. He’s got a reputation to uphold, so even though he’s promised to help us, he’ll do it by his terms. Not ours.”
“Meaning?” Mary asked, her voice edged with anger. Dylan wrapped an arm around her and splayed his palm on her belly.
“Meaning he’ll play his part. She’ll get roughed up. He’ll skirt the line between safe and dangerous because that’s what’s expected of him,” Jud said.
God. Zoey’s stomach churned.
“I’ve gone into far worse situations than this for less of a reason,” Addy said. “I spent fifteen years doing shit like this daily. I can handle this. From inside I’ll find Jade faster. I can be our eyes and ears.”
“We have enough tech and gizmos to have her broadcasting clear to Mars even if they have blocking tech,” Bree said.
“We’ll have teams nearby to go in at a moment’s notice?” Zoey asked.
Jesse cursed. Mary paled.
“We will,” Gage said, his jaw clenched. “You’re in.”
“Addy’s one of the fiercest operatives and strongest people I know. If she says she has this, then she does,” Zoey said. “In.”
“Let’s get the plan nailed down,” Vi said.
And then Zoey would do a bit of digging. She didn’t trust Kristof, and none of what Jud had just shared left her with warm fuzzies where the man was concerned. Which meant leverage was necessary.
14
By the time Zoey escaped the clutch of people, it was early evening. With Dobby under one arm and her laptop under another, she wrestled with the door to her quaint “home.” It was nothing more than a small bedroom with a decent-sized closet and a bathroom. A small desk sat against the far wall of the thirteen-by-fifteen-foot room.
“We’ve got lots to do, Dobby. Are you going to help?”
The cat caterwauled his anger at being left with veritable strangers. Or for being taken away from his new favorite minions. Cats were weird, complicated creatures. She scratched his chin a few times then got herself situated on the bed.
By the time her computer was up and running, Zoey’s mind had a firm list in place. Time to get to work. With Rhea and Bree running the dots, she was free to do a bit of investigative work into the mysterious Stacia.
Zoey had helped a lot of people over the years. While most landed out in the network, a few didn’t. They’d had strange situations where a tie to anything, even a ghost network only she knew the intricacies of, was a risk they couldn’t take.
Only one woman stood out as fitting Kristof’s parameters for the mysterious Stacia. Except Zoey remembered the name Nadia. A different name wouldn’t surprise Zoey, though. The woman had been rescued during a particularly nasty auction in Mexico City. She’d helped six others escape that day. It was memorable because it was the first rescue attempt Zoey had helped with that was off American soil.
Huh. Zoey wasn’t sure if Mary and Vi knew about the international rescues. Not that it mattered. Those women and children typically landed out in the network, but a rare few didn’t. Nadia had been the first exception.
Seven new identities and money. That had been all the woman asked Zoey for.
Seven. Zoey had found the request odd, especially since the woman never offered pictures for the other six women, nor did Zoey ever see anyone but Nadia.
But what if one of them was Stacia?
But Zoey had insisted they stay in touch. It’d been random and infrequent, but contact had been maintained through burner phone numbers left in a shared email account’s draft box. It was strange and more than a little cliché, but it worked.
Her stomach somersaulted into her chest as she dialed the number, which was answered on the sec
ond ring. “Hello?”
“It’s Zero. We need to chat.”
“Now’s not a good time,” the woman said. A grunt sounded through the com, followed by another. “A moment.”
Silence descended. Zoey gnashed her teeth together. The woman was downright weird.
“I am back. Sorry, had a problem to tend.”
“That’s why I’m calling. The network’s at risk. It’s a long story that ends in the group taking down some very bad people to help save it.”
“How can I help?” the woman asked. “You have more than one marker with me.”
“There’s a man I’m loathe to trust who’s looking for someone. He’s agreed to help, but only because he thinks I know this woman’s whereabouts,” Zoey said cautiously.
The woman drew a deep breath on the other end of the line. “And this man? His name?”
“Kristof. Kristof Lavrov.”
“You think I know this woman.”
“I’m merely calling to ask your advice. A lot of people I care about are going into a dangerous situation to keep me and my network safe. Kristof is the lynchpin to it all.”
“And I would know this man because?”
“Call it a gut instinct,” Zoey said. “It’d go a long way if I could give him a number to call. An olive branch.”
“Some men steal entire orchards if offered a branch, Zero. You should have learned that lesson by now,” the woman admonished. “Very well. I will see what I can do. No promises.”
“Thank you,” Zoey said. “Are you okay? Do you need anything?”
“What you gave us was more than we could have hoped for. We are safe. No one will ever harm us again,” the woman said.
There it was again. We.
A knock sounded on the door. “I’ve gotta go. Stay safe.”
“You, too.” The voice paused. “Zero?”
“Yeah?”
“Some circumstances turn puppies into rabid dogs. Perhaps this Kristof is more rabid than most for a good reason. Keep your distance.” The line went dead as the knock sounded on the door once again.
Zoey’s pulse quickened when she opened the door and found Gage standing there, forearm rested against the frame. The intensity within his gaze loomed between them as he entered the room, closed the door, and reached for her.
