Running the Risk

by Lea Griffith

  She needed to find out as much as she could about the mysterious group Dresden was a part of. And there was the matter of Anna Beth Caine.

  Ella was her only hope, and she wouldn’t leave the woman with Dresden to suffer. She needed to hit Brody up again and see where he was with that. She didn’t believe Dresden would kill her—Anna Beth would lose her value then—but he could break her, much as he had Ella.

  “Give me the words, Ella. I’ll help you hold to them.”

  It was the same thing he’d said to her last night.

  “I won’t leave you, Jude.”

  “All in?” he asked.

  She nodded, and he kissed her forehead, pulling her tight against his chest and just holding her there.

  “Jude?” she asked after long moments.

  “Yeah?”

  “I need to make some calls,” she answered with a smile in her voice.

  “And I need to hold you,” he responded.

  She laughed, and he pulled away from her. “Make ’em then. You’ve got ten minutes,” he told her gruffly.

  Her mouth dropped opened.

  Jude shrugged. “I don’t know how much longer we’ll be able to stay here. I’m starting to realize how badly Dresden wants you, and we need a head start if he’s headed our way.”

  He handed her the sat phone and walked out of the den. “Hey,” he called. “When you’re finished, come to the door under the stairs.”

  “Code?”

  “5572463.”

  “Give me a few,” she said and sat down on the couch. She dialed Brody first.

  “What do you want, Keeper?” Brody’s broken voice called over the line.

  “Madoc, it’s Ella.”

  “Ella-Bella—you call, give me limited information, and bail. What the hell have you gotten me into?”

  She chuckled. “How are you?”

  “Still alive, same as last time we talked,” he told her.

  She’d take that from Brody. It meant he hadn’t decided to eat a bullet yet, and damn but she’d struggled to pull him out of that hell for a year. She didn’t want to lose him now. “I’m okay with that. You eating? What about the meds?”

  “Did you become my mother over the last month or so?”

  “Nah, but somebody’s got to look after your mean ass. Now, eating? Meds?”

  “Yeah. I’m doing all that shit. Look, I got your information, and I’ve got some for you. That drive you sent me? Damn, Ella, do you have any idea what that holds?” It was hard to gauge Brody’s attitude or demeanor from his voice. He sounded like someone had shoved his vocal cords into rubbing alcohol after using a cheese grater on them. Most times it came across very gruff and very hollow. He’d once told Ella it hurt to talk.

  She believed him.

  “I do. I need confirmation,” Ella said.

  “I had to do a detailed decryption on it, and still it took almost forty-eight hours. The first file is a list of all of Dresden’s holdings. The second file is a list of associates. The third file, Ella, that’s where shit gets real interesting.”

  Ella held her breath.

  “It’s got pictures.”

  “Let me guess—Noah Caine, Anna Beth Caine, and Cameron Markov?”

  He grunted. “There’s some other woman too. I’m running face recognition on her as we speak…no clue who she is. There are pictures and video. Whoever took the videos didn’t do a great job. The audio is horrible. Vivi is working on cleaning it up right now. Most of the meetings are between, wait for it, the Piper and Horace Dresden.”

  It fell in line with what Ella was beginning to suspect was going on, but that wasn’t good news. “What else? You’re holding out on me,” she said, warning in her voice.

  “There’s a file encrypted so tightly I couldn’t break it. Vivi is trying to break it, but even she has doubts about how she’s going to get it done. She says it looks like there was a fail-safe on it. We need to know who has the fail-safe. And Ella, the file is labeled ‘Endgame.’”

  “Anna Beth Caine,” she whispered.

  “The woman I’m busting my ass to get away from Dresden?” Brody asked.

  “Yeah, that one. Anna Beth Caine either is or knows the fail-safe,” she whispered. It’s why Cameron had been so insistent that Ella get to the drive and tell her father to protect Anna Beth.

  “How is she related to the Piper?”

  “Daughter. Where do we stand on getting her out of there, Brody?”

  “I’m working on it…tugging on every resource I have in that area, but you gotta know going in there is suicide without my team.”

  Ella did know. “Yeah…no heroics. My take is he’s not going to kill her. Not until he’s flaunted her for the Piper.”

  Brody went silent for long moments. “It’s what he’ll do to her in the mean-and-between-time. You know that, Ella.”

  She knew that too. “We’ll get her. I don’t know if she’s innocent, but nobody deserves Dresden. We get her out. It’s got to be a priority.”

  Brody grunted, and she took that as agreement.

  “I’m sending you and Vivi everything I have on our secured link. Have Vivi look at it all and put together a board for me. I’ll be in Port Royal as soon as I can. We’ll put it all together then,” she told Brody.

  “Got it,” Brody said. “Later.”

  “Later,” she promised and disconnected.

  She knocked the phone against her forehead. There was still something she was missing. She needed to meet minds with her people like they used to do, and then the picture would be clearer.

  She dialed Vivi’s number.

  “Damn you, Jude. Where’s Ella?” Vivi yelled into the phone.

  Ella laughed. “Good to hear your voice, Viv.”

  “Ella? Damn that man for not putting you on the phone with me immediately! Are you okay? Tell me you’re okay!” Vivi spoke so fast that Ella couldn’t respond.

  She laughed again. “I’m okay, Vivi. Done any riding lately?”

  “Rook took the Hyabusa away from me. Said it was too heavy and I’d kill myself, which would kill him, therefore I couldn’t drive it anymore. Pissed me right off.” She paused long enough to draw a breath. “Enough about me. How’s you? Been a long time. You couldn’t hit a bitch up and chat?”

  “Long time, my arse. You had tabs on me the whole time, and you know it,” Ella said, frustration leaking into her tone.

  She could imagine Vivi rubbing her nails on her chest before blowing on them. “I’m good, but it took me months to find you. I had to sneak into your profile chart at the Agency. I had to research you, Ella, before I could put together a viable code to find your ass. So as good as I am, you’re not too bad your-damn-self.”

  High praise indeed coming from Vivi. “I’m chatting now.”

  “Your man went through hell,” Vivi said, her voice now low and carrying just a tinge of anger.

  “So did I,” she responded.

  “That over now? You all in?” Vivi queried.

  “Jude left me no choice. My heart left me no choice,” Ella responded honestly.

  “Finally,” Vivi said breathlessly. “Listen, I’m working on that drive Brody sent me. There are actually two files, not just one, that are encrypted so tight with a fail-safe that it will destroy them if I dig much deeper.”

  “I think I know who the fail-safe is, or at least who knows what the fail-safe is,” Ella said. “I’m sending everything to Brody via our secure link. He’ll get it to you.”

  “I’m kinda jealous you have a secure link with Brody but not me.” Vivi’s tone indicated her pout.

  Ella snickered. “We’ll correct that once I’m in Port Royal.”

  Vivi chuckled. “Fabulous. I’ll see you when you get home.”

  “Oh, I’m already home,” Ella said bef
ore she could stop herself.

  “Where are you?” Vivi asked, confusion coming down the line.

  “With Jude.”

  Vivi sighed. “I love that for you.”

  “Me too.” Ella smiled. “Okay, I’m logging off. Brody will get you the information. I’ll see you soon.”

  “Soon, Ella,” Vivi said. “Oh! One more thing, I was about to hit Keeper up when you called. According to my sources, Dresden is in the States. I don’t have a location. I’m trying to track him now.”

  Chills ran down Ella’s spine. What had she said to Jude? Nowhere is completely safe. Was Dresden coming for her even now?

  “Ella?”

  “Got it, Viv. I’ll tell Jude.”

  “I’m out,” Vivi said and disconnected.

  Ella got up from the couch, her heart pounding but lighter than it had been in months. How could she have forgotten what team meant?

  She made her way to the door Jude had mentioned under the stairs. She punched the code in and entered. The door closed and locked behind her. She walked down a set of stairs into a cavernous room that had literally been carved out of the bedrock the house sat on. Or maybe it was a naturally occurring cave?

  Jude sat at a large bank of computers, watching a monitor above him intently.

  “Hey,” she said softly.

  He opened his arms and motioned her over. She went eagerly. He wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close. “Whatcha’ lookin’ at?” she asked.

  He pointed at the monitor. “See that tree right there?”

  “Yep.” It was blowing in the tumultuous wind and looked as if it had snapped in half at some point.

  “It wasn’t like that last night,” he said absently.

  “The wind is blowing,” she reminded him, fear creeping up on her like a wraith.

  “Well, Miss I Put on Shoes, I did a perimeter check last night long before you got up and walked around in the snow half dressed to perform your own.”

  She arched a brow at him and made a hurry-it-up motion with her hand.

  He snorted. “The tree wasn’t snapped then. Hell it doesn’t look like it snapped at all. It looks cut. I’ve got motion sensors a half mile out from the house in all directions. Animal, man, wind, they all trip the sensors.”

  She was missing it. “And?”

  “No tripped sensors. That falling tree should have tripped the sensor in that quadrant.”

  “Malfunction?” she asked as she looked more intently at the tree.

  He shrugged. “I guess anything is possible.”

  “Vivi said Dresden is in the States,” Ella told him.

  Jude went so still that she wondered if he’d stopped breathing. His face went blank, and his mouth thinned.

  “Tell me, Jude. Do you think it’s him?” Ella asked, unable to keep a quaver out of her voice. The thought of going back into Dresden’s hell made a mockery of all her brave plans to get more information and save Anna Beth Caine.

  “I’m not saying anything except that I’m about to make another perimeter check,” he told her.

  “I’ll go with,” she said as she started to turn around.

  “No. You’ll stay here,” he told her.

  Frustration gnawed at her. “I’m not helpless.”

  He held up his hands in front of him as if warding off a blow. “I didn’t say you were. But that terrain is deadly, and I can’t check the perimeter and watch out for you at the same time.”

  Her anger evaporated. She was going crazy. “Of course.”

  “You good?” he asked, caution in his tone.

  “I’m good.”

  “I’ll be back in a few. Then you’ll tell me what you talked to Madoc about?”

  She nodded. “Jude?”

  He turned back to her. “Yeah, woman?”

  “I love you.”

  He smiled, and it took her breath away. “Always.”

  Chapter 17

  Jude locked the house and made his way north of the cabin. He was going to start in the quadrant where the tree had fallen and work back from there. It was about a half mile from the house, right at the edge of where he’d placed sensors. He’d just checked the alarms the night before last. His gut told him there was no way that alarm hadn’t been tripped. And with the information that Dresden was in the States, well, it wasn’t looking good.

  If the alarm hadn’t been tripped by nature, he was left with one answer: it had been deliberately tampered with. Losing that tree left a perfect line of sight to the cabin.

  His skin prickled with more than the cold surrounding him. He had no way of knowing how anyone could have found them. But logic never played well with others. He’d have a look himself and determine any potential threats.

  He stayed in the trees, the white of his outer clothing giving him perfect cover in the snow. Jude forced his mind away from thoughts of Ella. This was all about protecting her, but he couldn’t carry her with him right now. He’d promised her she was completely safe, and he’d give his own life to ensure that.

  The wind continued to blow ruthlessly, but the snow had stopped falling. The storm was passing, leaving a blanket more than five feet thick on the ground. To his left, a twig snapped. Jude stilled behind a massive cedar and waited.

  His senses screamed at him. Someone was in the woods with him. How many?

  He eased from behind the tree and made his way on his stomach to a slight depression about three hundred yards from the tree. Nothing moved except the canopy swaying in the wind.

  A shrill blip sounded to his right. It cut off almost immediately, but it wasn’t his alarm and it didn’t belong in these woods.

  He flipped his mic on. “Ella?”

  “Here.”

  “There are two go bags under the bed. Grab them both and stay in the comm room. Hit the code on the panel by the door on the inside, and head to the back of the room. Wait for me there.”

  “Ten-four,” she responded, a slight tremor in her voice.

  “I’m not going anywhere, and neither are you. Safe, Ella,” he whispered.

  “Ten-four,” she responded again, the tremor gone.

  Good girl, he thought. He had to get to the trees again. His clothing had been made with a two-fold purpose—camouflage in the snow and to eliminate any heat signature he may give off. The light was low now, and thermal imaging couldn’t spot him. The only thing that could give him away was his movement, so he had to proceed slowly and carefully.

  It took him twenty minutes to move three hundred yards. There were no more sounds, and nothing disturbed the falling evening. But Jude’s neck told the story. Someone was there.

  An enemy.

  He’d made it to the tree line and turned over to sit up when two shadows fell from the trees above. He got to his feet and turned, meeting the first fist with a quick deflection and a punch of his own to the man’s ribs. The first man fell. The second one had a gun to Jude’s head in less time than it took to blink.

  “Put your hands behind your back,” he ordered.

  Jude had two options—fight or accept the restraints. His entire world was in the cabin below them. Fight it would be.

  He was faster than either man who’d jumped him, and he attacked with a ferocity born of fear for Ella. He switched his mind down and let his instincts guide him. His KA-BAR knife was in his hand before he drew a breath, and he stroked it across the throat of the man holding the gun. That took two seconds. The man fell as the other one came up firing his weapon. Jude threw the knife, and it embedded in the other man’s eye.

  Jude pulled it out, wiped it on the man’s clothing, and sank down beside them. Searching the woods around him, he didn’t notice anything out of place. He grabbed the walkie-talkie one of the men had and listened.

  “Do you have him?” a voice asked excitedly.

&nb
sp; The men he’d just taken out were scouts. “Yes,” Jude answered.

  “Dresden is coming up the pass now. Hold him until the boss gets there,” the man said.

  Goddamn! Dresden had found him.

  Jude got up, ran back toward the house, and hurried inside, the cat following him, meowing like the end of the world was upon them. Jude opened the door to the comm room, and the cat flew in behind him.

  “Ella!” he called out.

  “I’m here,” she said, rushing to his side.

  “Get dressed. The smaller bag is yours. I’m going back out. Dresden is coming up the pass, and I’ve got to prepare the traps. I need you to stay here. See that door right there?” He pointed behind her.

  She turned, saw it, and nodded.

  “I’ll be coming through that when I come back. Nobody can get in here except you and me. I’m letting King know what’s happening. They won’t make it to us in time to help, but if I go down, you stay here until King calls you. Do you understand me, Ella?”

  “No, Jude! I can help you out there,” she pleaded.

  He grabbed her face between his hands. “You can’t. I’ll be pulled in two different directions. You’re a hell of an operative, Ella, but Endgame needs you alive. The world needs the information you have. And I need you safe.”

  “I need you, Jude,” she responded.

  “I’m right here. I’ll always be right here,” he promised, holding his hand over her heart. “I’m not planning on dying today, but you need to be prepared, Ella.”

  She nodded. She’d become a better soldier while she’d been away from him, but she was still soft.

  He had about fifteen minutes before Dresden topped the pass and was at the house. He led Ella to the console in front of the computers. “See that button right there?”

  She nodded.

  “See that monitor?”

  She nodded again.

  “When you see me hold up my fist, press that button and then take cover. I had the cave surveyed. It should hold up, but I don’t know what Dresden is packing, and I’ll never take chances with you.”

  He sidestepped her and began walking to his armory.

  “Uh, Jude?”