Tangled Mark
Page 1
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Table of Contents
Cover
Synopsis
Title Page
Copyright Page
About the Author
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Bella Books
Synopsis
Nikki Mitchell found a home when she joined Flagler Security as an undercover agent over ten years ago. It didn’t take long for Nikki to completely immerse herself inside the organization, easily adapting to the secrecy that was essential to the job. That is until she becomes Mel Carter’s next mark.
Mel has her own secret mission—finding the leak that is putting every agent’s life at risk. Willing to do whatever necessary to accomplish her assignment, Mel’s suspicions have settled squarely on Nikki and her team. Could Nikki possibly be the leak that Mel is determined to find and bring to justice?
Completely dedicated to their individual missions, the lives of both women become tangled as personal and professional lines begin to blur. With the danger so real and the stakes so high, they risk it all in search of the truth—not quite knowing where their safety truly lies.
Copyright © 2016 by Becky Harmon
Bella Books, Inc.
P.O. Box 10543
Tallahassee, FL 32302
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
First Bella Books Edition 2016
eBook released 2016
Editor: Medora MacDougall
Cover Designer: Judith Fellows
ISBN: 978-1-59493-485-8
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
About the Author
Becky Harmon was born and raised just south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Though she considers herself to be a Northerner, she moved south in search of warmth. Becky calls many places home, but she is happiest with her partner, their daughter and the rest of their four-legged family. She can be contacted at beckyharmon2015@yahoo.com.
Dedication
For Sheri.
Thanks for being my example.
Acknowledgments
To my mom. My first reader and always my biggest supporter, no matter the endeavor.
To all of the wonderful authors who have paved the road in front of me. Your dedication and sacrifice has brought me many hours of enjoyment.
To Linda and Jessica Hill, thank you for helping Bella Books flourish and continue to grow. And for welcoming me into the family.
To my editor, Medora, thank you for turning my story into a real book.
To Judy Fellows, thank you for creating a cover that gives life to the Flagler building.
To the readers, thank you for taking a chance. I hope you enjoy it. I did my best to keep things real but it is fiction and I did take some liberties to make the book more enjoyable. I apologize for any errors.
Chapter One
“You have a go, Sierra One.”
Nikki took a deep breath before responding into the headset microphone that rested along her cheek. “Roger,” she said softly. Without moving the rest of her body, she switched the rifle’s safety off with her thumb. Slowing her breathing, she made a final check on the wind direction before gently pulling the trigger. The rifle gave a small kick as her target exploded. Flipping the switch back to safe, Nikki silently rolled over and moved to a sitting position.
She had barely found her feet before she heard Mission Control say the words she hoped to never hear during a mission. “Your position has been compromised, Sierra One.” She cradled the rifle to her chest and began running in the direction of her team. There wasn’t time to wait on Brad to secure her weapon. She listened to multiple voices in her headset as the team ran through its evacuation protocol.
“Move, move, move,” Brad demanded as she searched the trees in front of her, willing him to appear. “Come on, Nikki. Get here. Now.”
A flash of light to her right warned her of the upcoming explosion and she veered to the left, trying to avoid it. The impact pushed her forward and she struggled to remain standing. Her legs worked quickly to find their rhythm again. When she could no longer feel the heat from the fire on her back, she slowed to a steady jog and smiled. She was going to have a talk with Josh when she returned to base. She was sure he was responsible for the location of that explosion. She was thankful there was enough of the morning sun showing in the sky to keep her vision from being hindered by the burst of light.
“It’s about time.” Brad fell into step alongside her, unzipping the rifle case in his arms.
“It’s not like I was out for a stroll.” She passed her rifle to him, and he secured it before swinging the carrying strap across his shoulders.
There was a lot of things Nikki liked about Brad, but this was one of the best sides of him. Brad didn’t carry her weapon to be chivalrous. He carried it because it made sense. His six-foot-two frame could handle the four-foot-long rifle better than hers could, especially on the run. For her and Brad, efficiency was not something they debated.
He bumped her shoulder. “That explosion looked really close to you.”
“It was.”
Brad laughed, but before he could comment a burst of heat and fire blocked their path. “Well, shit!” he exclaimed. “Let’s pick up the pace.” He too
k off through the trees and around the fire.
Nikki ducked her head, using her arms to protect her face as they skirted the flames. Clearing the heat, she watched Brad check their direction on his GPS wristband. When it came to directions outside of urban terrain, Brad was a genius. Nikki knew if their GPS should fail, Brad was equally efficient with a map and compass. She would follow him anywhere. She’d had several partners since she first joined Flagler Security, but she and Brad had been inseparable for the last five years. She considered him the brother she never had.
“Big jump coming up,” Brad called over his shoulder.
Nikki watched him take a flying leap, bending his knees to take the impact of his landing. She lost sight of him when she launched herself over the ledge behind him. She pulled her legs in close to her chest, allowing her body to roll when her feet met the ground. Thankful there wasn’t a tree in her path, she let the momentum from her jump carry her back to her feet as she cursed Brad under her breath. The fifty-pound pack they each carried on their backs didn’t seem to faze him, but on her 160-pound frame, it was unbalancing. She tightened the straps on the pack and grasped her P90 with both hands. One of the advantages to the personal defense weapon everyone on the team carried was its hands-free capability. Nikki could clip it to any piece of equipment and let it dangle until she needed it again.
“ETA.” The gravelly voice of Tyler, their team leader, sounded in her ear.
“Not more than ten,” Brad responded.
Nikki sighed and wiped the sweat from her face. Based on the information Brad had relayed, they must have a little over a mile left to cover. It appeared they were past the explosions, but Nikki still watched the tree line closely. After a while, she allowed the sound of their boots on the damp earth to soothe her and she replayed the mission. This was only a practice run. When they returned to base, Josh would give them their final briefing and then they would catch their flight. Practice would be over.
Chapter Two
Forty-eight hours later
Nikki fought the urge to lift her head from the scope of her rifle. She listened to the nocturnal sounds of the forest surrounding her, checking them all off as normal. The gruff grunts and hoots of night monkeys broke the silence repeatedly as they defended their territory from her and Brad. Nearly thirty minutes had passed since Brad had finished his reconnaissance on the villagers and moved out of her line of sight. She calculated the distance to the village below as barely within the effective one-mile range of her M82 sniper rifle. It shouldn’t take Brad longer than twenty minutes to cover that distance, but she knew he would avoid a direct path back to their position. She listened for any sound identifying his return.
Nikki flexed her muscles to keep the circulation moving throughout her body. The seasons south of the equator were the reverse of those in Florida, so it was summer here. But now, in the early hours before daybreak, the ground was cold and hard beneath her body, and there was a pebble under her stomach that sometime in the last hour had morphed into a boulder. Taking a deep breath, she blinked her eyes several times, shifting her cheek against the cold steel of the rifle. She peered through the thermal imaging scope mounted on it and scanned the valley below, returning to rest on a group of people gathered around a campfire on the eastern edge of the village. A quick count confirmed that no one had moved out of her line of sight in the few seconds her eyes had been off them.
The display inside her scope was set to Zulu time, the universal basis for all time zones. Flagler preferred this for reports and operational briefings to avoid confusion. After years of working within multiple time zones, Nikki could quickly make the conversion from civilian time, the twenty-four-hour military time or Zulu time with barely a second thought. She mentally calculated local time. Argentina was three hours behind Zulu time and she knew from the mission briefing, sunrise was barely three hours away. She hoped instructions would come through soon so she and Brad would be able to complete this mission under the cover of darkness.
Listening intently, she heard a soft crunch of leaves and gave an involuntary shiver at what could be moving in the darkness around her. She again fought the urge to pull her eye away from the scope, not wanting to lose a visual on the target area until Brad returned. There was another rustle of leaves, and she heard Brad’s voice whisper softly through the trees, “Hot dog.” She smiled, resisting the urge to shake her head. Brad took great pleasure in creating the passwords they would use on each mission. On this mission it was all about hot dogs and their condiments.
Nikki relaxed slightly as she felt Brad slowly lower himself onto the ground beside her.
“I count fifteen people in the village,” he said softly. “All men. No women. Houses are empty and everyone is around the fire. I sent a secure text to Josh before I started back.” He shifted his position, trying to find a comfortable spot before continuing. “I’m back on the team frequency. Any word from Mission Control yet?”
“Nothing,” she whispered. She couldn’t help wondering if instructions from Josh would make things any clearer. “So we continue with the initial mission directive.”
“Watch the village and stand by for fire support.” Brad sighed. “Yeah, I got that part.”
Nikki could hear the usual frustration at lack of information in his voice. “Don’t forget to say ‘only if needed.’ Fire support only…” she paused for dramatic effect “…if needed.”
“Right. Clear and concise, as usual.”
Nikki knew he was smiling now. She liked to lighten his mood. She knew she was better at the follow-instructions-without-question attitude that Flagler expected. Missions were operated on a need-to-know basis and she understood that she didn’t need to know. Josh would consolidate incoming information from all sources and send them new data when necessary. Brad wanted more details and instructions faster. He would wait with the rest of team, of course, just not very patiently.
Brad softly broke the silence. “The buzz I heard before we left was that it was political.”
“They don’t look very political to me.”
“Political or not, they’re having one hell of a party.” Brad shifted his position again. “I wonder if they do this every night or if it’s a special occasion.”
“So all of the houses were empty?” Nikki confirmed.
“Yep, everyone is around the fire.”
“No nonparticipants already in bed?”
“A complete village party.”
“Well, all right then.” Nikki sighed. “Settle in. I have visual.”
Several hours passed as Nikki watched the sky through the trees as it lightened with the coming of the new day. Brad lay beside her with his spotter scope and they watched the villagers below pass the bottle. The details given during their flight didn’t elaborate on the identities of the villagers. Based on their appearance and the lack of women, Nikki assumed this was a farming camp. They had been told the area was sparsely populated and lacked roads capable of being traveled during the wet season. Which told her farming was the main occupation and that their families probably didn’t live nearby. Though this was the wet season and they had packed for rain, it looked like they might make it out before it came. The majority of individuals around the fire appeared to have passed out, but a handful were still talking and drinking. She couldn’t imagine that this behavior was a nightly ritual. Even fraternity boys couldn’t drink all night and function properly the next day. It did seem odd to her that no one was returning to his residence but instead choosing a spot to sleep around the fire. To her the night seemed chilly so maybe they preferred the warmth of the fire to the huts with open windows.
Nikki didn’t like to think she was targeting farmers with her rifle. Over the years, she had learned to compartmentalize the more difficult issues of her job. She trusted Flagler and the integrity of their directives for each mission. If they told her to fire, then she obeyed. Her training officer had taught her early on that hesitation could get her and her team killed. She
wondered if additional instructions would follow today or if they would only be told to return, as they had on the last couple of missions. Reconnaissance and nothing more. The missions seemed insignificant to her, but apparently the information they were gathering was important.
She and Brad were considered veterans and usually worked alone. Mostly they were assigned protective details for US dignitaries traveling abroad. On those missions they were briefed thoroughly before leaving the United States and they always knew what was expected of them. Unlike this mission, where they were operating as part of a six-man team and seemed to always be in standby mode, being fed small morsels of information at a time. As part of a team, she and Brad normally worked with Tyler, the team leader, who was always accompanied by his number two man and technical genius, Shawn. The other two members had changed several times in the last two years, but Mike and Jewels had been with them for almost six months now. Mike was also a sharpshooter; Jewels was his scout. Nikki had worked a training mission once with Jewels and she had been surprised at her stealth. She was five-foot-eight, just over two hundred pounds of solid muscle, and could move like a feather, barely rustling a leaf or brushing a tree branch. Brad was equally talented even though he was at least twenty pounds heavier than Jewels. Nikki often wished she had their abilities, but somehow Flagler had managed to match each team member with their own greatest skills.
The majority of missions Flagler Security agents were sent on were shrouded in secrecy, and Nikki had discovered quickly that she liked this lifestyle. Over the years she had settled into the position and found it was easier to avoid having friends outside of Flagler rather than having to create lies to explain her absences. As for family, all she had was the foster mom and dad who had taken her in when she was ten after her parents had been killed in a car accident. Their death had taught her two things: that things she loved could be taken away and that loss was easier if she wasn’t emotionally attached. Her relationship with Brad had melted some of that coldness, but she still insisted she had the ability to control whether to love someone—or not.