Silver Fire (Guardians)

by Victoria Paige

  “She wanted to take it slow, I obliged,” Derek explained. “And it damned near killed me with as much blue balls that gave me.”

  “Hell, you didn’t even need Viagra then—”

  “I have no need for Viagra,” Derek cut in. “I can get it up, no problem.”

  Jack chuckled as he scooped some shrimp fried rice into his mouth with chopsticks. For the first time that day, Derek felt ravenous.

  Jack’s phone buzzed and by the way his friend’s face lit up, Derek knew it was Maia calling.

  “Hey, babe,” Jack answered and then he frowned. “Sure.” He pressed the button for speaker phone.

  “Derek?”

  “What’s up, Maia?”

  “I have some bad news. Some hikers found a body in the Shenandoah Valley National Park. It’s Taggart.”

  “What are you saying?” Derek rasped. His heart just sunk to his gut or shot through his throat. Whatever. What he was feeling was as confusing as Maia’s words. What did she mean? Where was Sophie? Who the fuck was with Sophie then?

  “Two shots, one in the head, one in the neck,” Maia said. “We found the AGS car parked at one of the motels near the Blue Ridge Parkway. Left side smashed. It looked like they were forced off the road. Driver side window broken. They must have shot Taggart while he was down.”

  “Sophie. Maia, what about Sophie?” Derek asked hoarsely. “Does anyone know where the fuck she is?”

  “We retrieved their cellphones from the car. Derek, there’s something else.”

  “For god’s sakes, Maia!” His patience was wearing thin. Where the fuck was Sophie? His mind screamed.

  “Derek, you need to calm down—”

  “Fucking tell me!” Derek roared.

  “Sophie received a text message from Christopher Blackstone right before 11:00 p.m. Two pictures of you and Layla in an intimate position.”

  “A set-up?” Derek whispered incredulously, already putting some puzzle pieces together in his head. “Are you telling me this was a set-up?”

  “A very elaborate set-up. Whoever planned this was a master manipulator. I think we need to bring Layla in for questioning.”

  “Do it.”

  “It might be easier if we can charge her with something.”

  “Throw the fucking book at her, I don’t care,” Derek said angrily.

  “You might also consider bringing in Blackstone,” Jack said, speaking up for the first time.

  “Viktor is already working on that,” Maia said.

  His dinner forgotten, Derek strode to the bedroom and threw on some clothes. His spine was coiled with tension: fury and anxiety competing to dictate his actions. Justin Bishop had his woman. The sick bastard had Sophie and Derek had broken his promise to keep her safe. If anything happened to her...No. If Bishop harmed a single hair on her head, there was no place on earth he could hide. Derek would find him and kill him. Slowly.

  ***

  “Layla confessed,” Maia told Derek. Viktor had Derek locked up in his office after he had arrived and ran into Layla Robinson and Christopher Blackstone. It had taken three Guardians to hold him back when all Derek wanted to do was slam Blackstone against the wall. He was hurling invectives at the older man and Layla as the Guardians hauled him away. Layla couldn’t look at him, but she was clearly frightened. Daddy’s little girl couldn’t easily get out of being an accomplice to the murder of an agent and the kidnapping of civilians.

  “A man with Bishop’s build approached her at the terrace. He gave her some sob story that you had stolen Sophie from him.”

  “That delusional little prick,” Derek snarled. The urge to smash something was overwhelming, but he had a sneaking suspicion Viktor liked his office the way it looked.

  “He told her to keep her phone handy and he’d give her instructions on when to go to your condo. Have you gotten the camera feeds from your building?”

  “Tim is processing the footage right now,” Derek said. “How about Blackstone?”

  “He denied having sent those pictures,” Maia replied. “Viktor is still talking to him. But if he’s telling the truth, Bishop hacked into his phone. Oh, and a bartender was found bound, gagged and unconscious in one of the stockrooms. Guess we know how they got the drop on you. And though yet unconfirmed, it seemed Secret Service had detained a couple who claimed to be guests at the fundraiser last night but were not on the attendee roster. I’m pretty sure someone hacked into the fundraiser’s computer and switched the names.”

  “Christ, who exactly are we up against?” Derek muttered. The last memory he had of the Robinson ball was throwing back the scotch he’d ordered after his confrontation with Layla.

  “You can be sure he has Viktor’s attention,” Maia told him. And she did not need to say that Justin Bishop would probably rue the day that he got on Viktor’s radar. There was no one more ruthless than one Viktor Baran.

  A rap on the door revealed Tim waiting with a laptop. Maia gave him a hand signal to come in.

  “What you got?”

  “Two men. One fitting Bishop’s description from the cafe. The other man is huge, around 6’5” and solidly built. I would put him at 275 pounds.”

  “I talked to the guard on duty that night,” Derek said. “He said Justin waved my keycard at him and told him I had too much too drink. The guard thought nothing of it since both men were dressed in tuxes.”

  “So Bishop buzzed Layla in,” Maia added.

  “That fuck has been in my condo,” Derek said through grit teeth. “Touched my stuff. Shit.” He got angrier by the second. “Sophie’s things. I wouldn’t put it past him to...That fucker!”

  “Derek!”

  “What, Maia?” Derek snapped.

  “You are not helping Sophie at all if you go off on blind rages.”

  “Don’t you think I know that?” His voice broke, revealing his anguish. “Sophie is not you, Maia. She can’t defend herself against a sick bastard like Bishop. He’s already killed a woman in the worst perverted way. I can’t, I can’t...”

  Derek broke off. He couldn’t say it. The images in his mind were too vivid. Bishop forcing himself on Sophie at the same time getting off on strangling her—cutting off much life-sustaining air. It was too much.

  “Guys, something just came up,” Tim said. He was fiddling with his laptop and he finally set it on Viktor’s table and pulled up a screen to show them.

  “This just came back.”

  A collage of eight very brutish-looking men popped up on the screen.

  “Who are they?”

  “Ex-Mossad, ex-KGB, South African mercenaries, you name it,” Tim said. “They all came in on separate flights last Friday, all landed in Dulles. All arranged by Opperman. Some of these guys have worked for Damian Stoltz.”

  “They’re shoring up their defenses. Are they expecting an attack?” Derek asked. He looked at Maia. “Is the CIA planning an offensive?”

  “Not that I know of.”

  Just then, Viktor walked into the room. He took one look at them and said, “What?”

  “Eight men landed in Dulles last Friday. Definitely linked to Stoltz. We’re wondering if they caught wind about any action against them and are preparing for war,” Tim answered.

  Viktor shook his head. “I have not heard anything.”

  “Marissa could be playing us. Again.” Derek pointed out.

  “She never did in the first place,” Viktor replied. “It was her handler, Blaine. He’s up for retirement, needed some money, gambling problems. Same old sob story.”

  “Anything from Blackstone?”

  “He’s upset about the kidnapping,” Viktor said. “But I don’t think he’s totally forthcoming. He’s hiding something.”

  “Did you push him hard enough?”

  Viktor eyed him with his ice blue eyes. “Blackstone is not a soldier, Derek. Our regular menu of torture does not apply to him,” he said derisively.

  “Sophie is running out of time,” Derek argued.

&nbs
p; “Tim, any progress on Blackstone or Opperman’s network?” Viktor asked.

  “Both are sealed tight, encryption is highly sophisticated.”

  “We’ll need to bring in a specialist,” Maia said as she looked at Derek.

  “Brett,” both of them concluded at the same time. Brett McCord was Jack’s younger brother. Big time environmentalist, he was also one of the most notorious hackers out there. He was instrumental in bringing Jack and Maia together because they met while planning his protective custody.

  “Is he available?” Derek asked.

  Maia pulled out her phone. “We’ll find out.”

  ***

  Sophie felt better after taking a warm bath even with a crude setup. She put on some clean clothes and realized they were all white. Virginal white. The back of her neck prickled. She realized by observing Justin that she had some emotional control over him. She wasn’t sure yet how to handle that information.

  She wondered what time it was. Though the windows were boarded up, there were cracks through them that allowed sunlight. Right now though it was dark. She could hear a generator cranking nearby and she was certain it was powering this shack right now.

  Derek. He probably didn’t know she was missing. Justin had her call Stephen to make an excuse for her absence. Right now she was confused about her feelings toward Derek. Seeing him with Layla brought back some dark memories of Adam. Adam had never taught her the finer points of pleasuring a man with oral sex. He used it as punishment.

  Her dark thoughts were interrupted when she heard footsteps and then the door opened.

  It was Morgan. “Bishop wants you to join him for dinner.”

  “I want to see Beth.”

  Morgan turned around, expecting her to follow him. Chuffing with annoyance, she followed the big man through the rickety hallway into a farm-style kitchen.

  Beth was sitting on one of the chairs surrounding a folding table.

  “Beth!” Sophie cried in relief as she ran toward her friend.

  “Sophie, thank god,” her friend exclaimed as they both hugged each other.

  “Are you alright? Did they hurt you?” Sophie asked.

  “I’m fine. Did that bastard do something to you?” Beth demanded.

  Sophie felt herself yanked from Beth as her back hit a solid chest. She did not have to turn around to know that it was Justin.

  “I have no desire to harm Sophie, Ms. Turner. You on the other hand, I am not so certain,” Justin said frostily.

  “Bring it on you big pervert,” Beth sneered.

  “Beth, don’t provoke him.”

  “Come along, Sophie,” Justin murmured in her ear as he led her to a chair beside him.

  “We shall eat. Then I will show you the barn,” Justin said.

  “Oh, are you a horse breeder now?” Beth said sarcastically.

  Their captor, for the most part, ignored Beth’s barbs all throughout dinner. Instead, he gave his full attention to Sophie. Cutting her food for her, and sometimes even feeding her with his fork. Beth was eyeing them with morbid fascination and disgust.

  “Ah, my dear Sophie, I will take good care of you,” Justin said contentedly as he cut through a piece of chicken, speared it with a fork and held it out to her lips to take. She played along, not wanting Justin’s ire to fall on Beth. This man was clearly off his rocker and if complying with his wishes at the moment would keep them alive, she would do it.

  After dinner, Justin suggested a visit to the barn. The barn was about sixty feet from the house and lit up like a Christmas tree. Sophie’s heart sank when she realized what was going on in there. She already had a hunch, but when she saw the equipment similar to what she had in the lab, she knew they were building the zefinium bomb. She eyed the suitcase size chassis sitting on the work table.

  “No,” she whispered and turned to Justin. “You can’t do this.”

  Ignoring her, Justin said, “Sophie, I would like you to meet Yuri. He apparently is having trouble with your trigger design.”

  Sophie stared at the man called Yuri who was avoiding her eyes.

  “Look at me,” Sophie said to Yuri. When the man reluctantly met her eyes, she said, “This is wrong. What you men are doing is wrong.”

  “Enough!” Justin shouted.

  The three men in lab coats fidgeted restlessly.

  “Listen to Sophie, guys. This is fucked and you all know it,” Beth added.

  Before Sophie realized what was happening, Beth went flying to the floor. Justin had backhanded her brutally.

  With a growl, Sophie launched herself on Justin and started hitting him blindly, but he quickly subdued her, gathering her hands behind her.

  “You will not defy me, Sophie,” he said furiously. “You will help Yuri fix the trigger and you will do it with no question. You do not want to test my patience. Is that clear?”

  “You’re dreaming!” Sophie shrieked. All intentions of complying flying out the window. “I will never help you build the bomb. Never!”

  Sophie watched his eyes change, turning stone cold and despite the heat in the room, she felt chilled to her bones.

  “Morgan! Hold down Ms. Turner.”

  “What are you going to do?” Sophie asked fearfully.

  “A little incentive,” Justin said as he handed a squirming Sophie to another big burly man. In fact there were two more big, beefy men holding assault weapons and observing the whole scene.

  “What are you going to do?” Sophie shouted.

  Justin unsheathed a sharp knife.

  “No!”

  “Say you’ll do it, Sophie,” Justin said silkily as he tested the sharpness of the knife on a piece of paper.

  “Don’t give in, Sophie, don’t you fucking give in!” Beth cried.

  “Hold still, Ms. Turner, or I might hit something of consequence,” Justin said sadistically. He positioned the knife close to Beth’s left side. Her friend froze, but her face was still defiant. “Don’t—Do—It—Sophie!”

  “One more chance, Sophie.”

  Sophie shook her head as she tearfully looked at Beth before lifting her gaze to Justin. “I’m not helping you. I can’t.”

  Sophie watched in horror as Justin sunk the blade into Beth’s side, her friend screaming in agony.

  “Noooooo!” Sophie screamed as she tried to break free from the man holding her. “Stop it. Please!”

  “Don’t Sophie,” Beth managed to gasp through her pain.

  “She’s going to bleed to death if we don’t swiftly give her medical attention. So what is it going to be?”

  “Beth—”

  “Don’t, baby girl.”

  Justin grinned maniacally before sinking the knife again into Beth, her friend jerking and groaning.

  “Stop! I’ll do it! God help me, I’ll do it!” Beth, by this time, had passed out from the pain. “Help her. Oh god, help her!”

  It was as though acid scraped every pore from her skin, her nerve endings scorched by the possibility that she had just killed her best friend. A keening cry sounded in the barn, and it was a few seconds later when Sophie realized it was hers. Relentless tears blinded her, Sophie couldn’t believe how the situation had deteriorated so quickly. She tried to rush to her friend’s side when the man holding her released her, but she was foiled by Justin who held her back, hugging her in his arms and crooning softly into her hair, “I’ll take care of it.”

  Justin gave orders for Beth to receive medical attention. “I did not hit any vital organs. Consider this a warning, Sophie. Beth will pay the price for your defiance. Remember that.”

  Not trusting herself to say anything else and delay help for her friend, she nodded numbly and watched Morgan lift Beth and carry her out of the barn.

  “Come on, you’ve had enough for today. You can work on the trigger tomorrow,” Justin whispered gently into her ear as he guided her out of the barn. She was shaking violently.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “Did Brett get in yet?” Derek asked a
s he entered the datacenter. He shoved his overnight bag under a table, prompting Tim to raise an eyebrow.

  “I’m sleeping in the bunker until we get Sophie back,” he told the data analyst. “We’re pouring over every damned file you can pull up on Blackstone and Opperman.” It had been more than 48-hours since Sophie was taken. If he did not occupy his time with the objective of finding her, he would lose his mind. Waiting for news was not an option. Thankfully, Derek had been a tactical analyst during his tenure with AGS and had experience in the datacenter.

  “He called five minutes before you came in, he just touched down in Dulles. He’s going to swing by his house for a change of clothes before he heads out here.”

  “Excellent.”

  Derek walked to the break room. He had not slept well since Saturday, not even bothering to shave. He couldn’t look at himself in the mirror. How could he fuck up the best thing that had ever happened to him? Although his instincts were telling him that he had no control over the evil scheme that was set into motion, he wondered if he had stayed with Sophie instead of attending the fundraiser, her abduction could have been prevented. Pouring himself a cup of coffee, he took a sip before he felt him.

  He knew without looking that it was Viktor who stood behind him. That man generated his own brand of lethal frequency.

  “You look like shit,” Viktor said, walking over to the coffee bar to pour himself a cup.

  “Thanks, you’re not looking any better,” Derek muttered. He never knew Viktor to be anywhere except AGS. The man lived and breathed the agency.

  Viktor chuckled. “I’ve been coordinating with the CIA.”

  Derek turned a wary eye at the older man. “To do what?”

  “Don’t worry, Derek, they’re not planning an assault on wherever Bishop is holding Sophie. They’re already working under the assumption that the bombs are built.”

  “Sophie would never—” Derek began angrily.

  “Wouldn’t she?”

  “Beth,” Derek said in resignation.

  “That’s the only reason they would take Ms. Turner. Use her as leverage. We already have Parker on lockdown.”