by Cara Carnes
Gage had a team.
And his woman wanted them at her six.
She was folding back one of her protective layers and letting him in to help.
“We can be wheels up in half an hour if that works,” he offered.
“That’s perfect.”
“Are you sure you can’t stay longer?” Mrs. Stewards asked. The woman wrung her hands together as her gaze swept for the millionth time to Zoey.
Specifically, to her head. Zoey hadn’t bothered trying to hide the fact that her head was bald. Her scalp was too sore in a few places to try and wear something over it, and Gage and his crew hadn’t made her feel self-conscious about it at all.
“She got hurt helping someone,” Gwen said, her voice raised.
“Don’t,” Cecilia chided as she grabbed her friend’s hand. “Don’t make them mad. We just got here.”
“It’s not nice to stare. She keeps staring at Z’s head.” Gwen’s eyes teared up. “It’s not nice.”
“Oh, sweetheart.” Mrs. Stewards knelt beside the girl’s chair and took her face. “You’re right. It’s not nice to stare, but I’m not judging. I’m wondering if she’s okay and hoping whatever happened is resolved and that everyone’s okay.”
“We’re fine, Mrs. Stewards,” Cecilia said. “Z made sure we were. Now she’s okay too because Gage is taking care of her.”
The younger girl flashed a big smile across the room at Gage. To say the girl was smitten was an understatement. Gage wrapped an arm around Zoey and kissed her cheek.
“If you need help with anything, you let us know,” Mr. Stewards offered. Hand in his pocket, he glanced down at his wife and the girls. “I’m proud of you for speaking your mind, Gwen. I know it wasn’t easy speaking up, but you did. We believe in honest and open communication around here.”
The two girls looked at one another. Eyes wide, they looked at the Stewards.
“She’s not in trouble?” Cecilia asked.
“No, of course not, dear.” Mrs. Stewards rose. “You two can always speak your mind.”
Zoey squeezed Gage’s hand. They were perfect for the girls, who both had a long, rough road ahead of them. Therapy alone would be difficult. Add in the facts that they were behind in their education and would be starting a new life and Zoey couldn’t imagine how hard it would truly be.
But they weren’t alone.
And neither was she.
Zoey had a big, caring family now. One she intended to protect just as fiercely as they’d protected her. Which meant they had a really long day ahead of them because there was one more mission to undertake before they went back to The Arsenal.
“We’d best get going,” Zoey said. “We have a long trip back home.”
“Oh, of course,” Mrs. Stewards said. “I hope you can come and spend some time with us soon. I’m sure the girls would love to see you again.”
The offer was sweet, but one she never would have entertained before because it would’ve collided her worlds into one another. When the real Zoey interacted with assets under Z’s protection, that wasn’t acceptable.
But now maybe it was.
“We’ll see you both soon. If you need anything, let me know,” Zoey said to the girls, who both nodded.
Mrs. Stewards walked her and Gage to the door. The woman’s voice was low when she spoke. “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable, dear, but I am worried. Is there anything William and I can do?”
“Giving those two girls a loving home is all the help I need,” Zoey said. “Thank you.”
She and Gage made their way down the sidewalk to the van parked at the curb. “I love these moments.”
“The Stewards are wonderful. The girls will be happy here,” Gage said as he settled an arm at her waist.
The side door of the van popped open the second they neared the curb. Zoey chuckled when Doug popped his head out. “Everything okay, Loverboy?”
“That name’s not sticking,” Gage declared.
“Afraid it’s already superglued,” Zoey whispered. “I heard Jesse’s team using it the other day.”
“Fuck.”
Zoey grabbed his face and kissed him. She looked up at him and realized she should have sprung the last of her plan on him earlier, before they’d picked up the girls. Before they’d arrived in Chicago and spent the past hour with the Stewards.
“Uh-oh,” Ramon said. “Z’s got that look.”
“Look?” Zoey asked. “What look?”
“The one where you pulled the pin on the grenade and are about to reenact that scene where the tree runs into the hole,” Gage muttered.
“Did you”—she stared up at Gage, too shocked to not pause—“just reference Guardians of the Galaxy?”
“Yeah, the tree. The second movie, right?” Gage squinted. “Where he had the bomb and—”
Zoey rose onto her tiptoes and kissed him. God, she loved Gage Sanderson so much. “Groot. His name is Groot.”
“Whatever,” Gage muttered. “What was that look for?”
“Look?”
“Uh-oh,” Ramon commented. “There it was again.”
“Okay. Okay. Okay. I admit there’s one more thing I need your help with,” she said. “There’s one more stop we have to make. It’s not exactly a hearts-and-flowers, Hallmark-movie moment. It’s more a blood-and-bullets, Showtime-feature moment.”
“I’ve got the bullets covered,” Pierce replied. “I’m thinking your man has the blood handled, but we’ll all pitch in on that one, too. Knowing you, this’ll get interesting.”
“Knowing me? You make it sound like I’m always getting into trouble,” Zoey said.
The three men raised their eyebrows. Gage chuckled.
“Okay, fine. It’s definitely going to get interesting.”
“What’s the plan, Little Bit?” Gage asked, his voice low. “What are we doing?”
There it was. The full-on we. Gage had no idea what she wanted to do and didn’t care. He was behind her one hundred percent, no matter what. “You’re going to help me send a message. A very loud, painful one that’ll be remembered.”
Doug chuckled. Gage glared over at the man and then sighed as he crossed his arms. A zing of awareness rushed through her because Gage was really sexy when he got intense.
“Maybe we should discuss this at home,” he said.
“Nope. They aren’t involved,” Zoey said. “Everyone’s focused on Momma Mason, as they should be. This is a war I’m declaring because someone’s got to.”
“War?” Pierce asked, amusement in his voice. “Are we talking a skirmish or a full-out war?”
Zoey curled her toes in her new combat boots and chewed on her lip as she looked up at Gage. “Fallon’s going to meet us there.”
Doug guffawed. The man had a seriously loose wire on his amusement circuit board. Zoey glared over at him as he wiped at his eyes. “So just for clarity’s sake, is it Fallon and his entire team?”
“No, just Fallon.”
“So this is off the radar,” Ramon said. “You need to learn to operate on the radar and trust people, Z. Lots of folks are wondering why you didn’t trust us with what you were doing. They hear about whatever this is, and they’ll be even more pissed.”
Zoey’s gut tightened. She owed all the operatives an explanation about the network, but it’d have to wait. For now, her mind was focused on avenging Addy. Kristof would pay for whatever he’d done.
“I owe them an explanation, but I am trusting people. I’m trusting you three and Gage to help me with this. Things are too intense at the compound to drag everyone into what will be a simple but effective bitch slap—one that I’m delivering. Anyone with the last name Mason hears what I want to do, and they won’t let me be the one to send the message. They’ll do it themselves.”
“And you think we’ll let you,” Gage said.
“Yes,” she said. “Because you’ll be there with me.”
“Who?” Pierce asked.
A moment’s hesitation k
nocked her pulse up a couple notches. “Kristof.”
The intensity in Gage’s body eased, but a glimmer appeared in his gaze as he touched her shoulder. “Your heart’s in the right place, Little Bit, but that’s not your message to deliver alone.”
“I know. That’s why you and your team will be there. And Fallon.” She lowered her voice. “He’s gotta pay for whatever he did, Gage. We both know he rattled her. Whatever happened impacted her. He’s gotta pay.”
“He will,” Gage promised. “But her team needs this more than you.”
Zoey noted the nods of agreement from Doug, Ramon, and Pierce. She hadn’t realized it, but Gage was right. Addy’s team deserved to help deliver the message.
“Fine. Make the call. They can head out with Fallon.”
But Gage’s attention was across the street to a black BMW. A tall blonde exited and stood beside the vehicle. Watching.
Waiting.
Nadia.
No, that was her former life. She was Brigitte now. Zoey closed the distance and ignored the echo of bootsteps behind her as Gage and the other men followed. The woman stood her ground, but her blue gaze flitted from one man to another as they formed a makeshift half-circle behind Zoey.
“You are not alone,” the woman admonished.
“Sorry, they’re protective.” Zoey motioned toward her bald head. “Things have been a bit rough the past few days.”
“I have heard. Your teams have been busy teaching us what we need to know.”
Zoey nodded. She wouldn’t expect anything less from Arsenal operatives. The orphans had taken on the mission of training Brigitte and her vagabond team on self-defense, evasion, and everything else they’d need to know.
“I should be free in a couple weeks to start training you on making identifications. It’ll take a while for me to get my contacts onboard with helping you,” she said. “A few of them are pretty skeptical of people they don’t know.”
“I understand. We are the same.” The woman’s cool gaze sliced to Gage. “You were once that way.”
“I’ve learned the value of trust. Teamwork,” Zoey said. “How are the kids?”
“Scared. Some are still quite sick, but your doctor and nurse friend have been by every day.”
“They’re the best around. Once the kids have healed, they’ll need a therapist. I’ll work on finding one who speaks Russian, but whoever I find will likely need you there the first few sessions. It might be a good idea for you to sit in on the sessions as well to show the children there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
The woman visibly bristled. “This is one of your requirements?”
“It is.” Zoey swallowed. “You and your team—everyone—will need to see a therapist before we go any further.”
“Very well. For the children we will agree.”
“And the other matter we discussed?” Zoey asked. As much as she hated to drag an innocent woman into the war she was about to unfold, Stacia was somehow connected to Kristof.
“She is not ready to meet him.”
“Good. It will wait.” Until he’d done his penance for hurting Addy. “Did you bring a picture?”
The woman nodded and withdrew a small red envelope. “She is well and happy. He’d be best served moving on with his life. The Stacia he knew is dead.”
Zoey’s gut tightened. The woman was important to him, and she didn’t want to speculate why. Maybe he wasn’t a monster after all.
No.
He’d stripped Addy and had her beaten.
He was going to pay.
She took the small envelope and put it into one of the many pockets on her pants. She really liked her new field clothes.
“Are you and your team okay? Do you need anything?”
“You have given us enough, Z. We will be in touch soon.” The woman’s gaze bored into Zoey. “Whatever you are doing with Kristof, be careful. He will not let you win.”
Zoey hugged the woman goodbye and waited until she left.
“What’s that?” Gage asked.
“Kristof’s Achilles’ heel.”
24
“You sure about this?” Doug asked.
“No, but she’s right, and Addy’s team needs this,” Gage replied. And so did he because Addy and everyone else at The Arsenal was team. No one hurt his team without paying.
He took a deep breath and focused on the squat, single-story hunting cabin on the edge of the Texas-Mexico border. The structure was near El Paso, which meant several hours from Resino. From a distance it looked like an ordinary building, but surveillance proved otherwise.
They’d counted at least twenty potential targets within, which meant there was an underground structure of some sort in play. The first phase of Zoey’s plan was to get drones inside to assess the interior.
Fallon and Addy’s team had left the compound under the guise of practice drills, which Gage suspected had left lots of folks confused since Fallon wasn’t their leader. Translation—this operation wasn’t off radar any longer.
Mary and Vi were too damn smart to not notice two teams off-grid.
There’d been no calls or communications, which left Gage feeling strangely relieved. The two women might have figured out something was up, but they were giving Zoey the space she needed.
They’d met at a small motel off the highway and taken a few hours to sleep. Gage studied the potential egresses on the printed schematics once more and then passed them over to Doug. Zoey approached with a backpack slung over her shoulder. She’d been cooped up in the car for the past hour in a zone so deep she hadn’t noticed anything around her, as far as Gage could tell.
“I’m ready,” she said.
“Care to let us in on what you just did?” Gage asked as Fallon and Addy’s team approached the huddle. Ramon and Pierce set the weapons they’d been cleaning down.
Zoey looked around and rolled her eyes. A heavy sigh fell from her. “I sort of killed him. Then I reconstructed him.”
“This is almost better than her hacking Israeli Intelligence,” Fallon commented with a smirk. “Dare we ask what the reconstruction was?”
“It’s a work in progress,” she replied.
“And we know he’s here because….” Shep’s eyebrows rose.
Zoey’s lip disappeared into her mouth as she danced from foot to foot. Everyone chuckled. Gage drew her into his arms and kissed her mouth. She was a brilliant little daredevil on a mission.
“What did you do, Little Bit?”
“He’s a toad.”
“We aren’t arguing with you. He’s a grade-A dick,” Johnny said.
“A dead dick if I get my hands on him,” Thunder said.
“I added him to a few databases, made it so he couldn’t be off-grid so easily,” she said. “Registered sex offender, potential threat to national security. You know, a few databases.”
Cracker and Beast laughed. Doug joined in.
“You’re a nut,” Gage muttered against her lips.
“Maybe, but I’m your nut,” she replied with a grin. “Let’s get to work.”
Twenty-three guards.
No one needed that damn many guards. Zoey muttered the thought under her breath as she typed the next line of code into the drones she was repurposing. She looked over at Fallon, who was busily packing them with what he assured her was the “perfect amount of boom.”
“Are you sure?” she asked for the tenth time.
“You want Thunder over here double-checking me?” Fallon asked.
Like Thunder would. The man revered Fallon. Heck, all the ordnance personnel at The Arsenal did. It was why she’d asked Fallon to help out in the first place. She needed a message delivered, and he was pretty danged good at blowing his way into anything.
Pierce and Johnny were in sniper positions. Ramon and Shep had “gotten closer” to “assess the situation.”
The two recon scouts were loco.
Total loons.
Loyal loons who were here because Zoey needed
them.
Her heart warmed at the realization she had two teams of commandos doing her bidding. They’d also been the first to storm the motel and rescue her.
Team.
No. Family.
“She’s doing it again,” Doug commented as he and Gage approached.
“I’m not doing anything,” she lied.
“Yeah. You’re doing that goofy grin thing again,” Doug said.
The bastard was way too observant, almost more so than Gage. Zoey ignored the man’s statement and looked over at Fallon, who was chuckling. “You done yet?”
“Yeah, Z, I’m done.” He set the last drone down. “As requested, six boomers.”
“Excellent.”
“You’ve been around Bree too much,” Fallon said.
“Of course I have. She’s my friend,” Zoey said. “If you’re done dissecting my friendships, let’s do this. We’re going in hard and quick, boys. We aren’t messing around with any slow and sweet on the entry.”
Silence. Zoey blinked. “Ugh. Men. Your minds are always in the gutter.”
“My mind’s always on you,” Gage replied with a smirk as he pulled his headgear into position. “Let’s go kick some ass.”
Zoey sat on the tailgate of the rental truck and watched the two teams move into position. Nervousness crawled within her pulse, but she didn’t allow it entry into her thoughts. They were the most well-trained operatives in existence. And she’d been trained by the best.
Kristof would pay.
“Little Bit.”
She gasped and looked up. “What…you went with them.”
“Circled back,” he muttered as he kissed her lips. “Love you. I know it’s hard to take a back seat for this first phase, but Addy’s team needs this.”
“I know. You’re right.” He’d convinced her to change the plan to a brute force entry that Addy’s team could lead. Then she’d have her chance. “Go. They need you.”
Two teams of trained Arsenal operatives weren’t necessary against Kristof’s goons. That fact presented itself within the first few moments after she’d greenlighted Operation Kick Kristoff’s Ass.
