by Dawn Ryder
Normally, this was the moment when Ricky struck. The guy did know his stuff. Plenty of his comrades hadn’t taken a second look.
But Kagan had made the conditions of his new passport clear.
No killing.
At least, not beyond the targets Kagan identified.
Ricky raised his hands high. The guy grunted and used the tiny microphone in the cuff of his sleeve to call for backup.
* * *
The press was camped out behind the yellow lines set up by security. Miranda would swear she felt them as she fixed her makeup before the press conference.
The gun was heavy.
And a comfort.
Oh, she didn’t enjoy killing. But there were times a mother had to protect her family. She finished with her hair and felt her cell phone vibrate again. She pulled it out of the pocket in her skirt and looked at the text.
Dunn was looking for her.
So was Vitus.
Her heart warmed and her determination hardened. The text from Thais Sinclair was the one Miranda felt affecting her the most. Dunn loved the girl. Oh yes, there would be plenty of people who would tell her love didn’t happen so quickly.
But Miranda knew from experience that it did.
So Miranda tucked her phone into her pocket and checked the gun a final time.
* * *
Carl was having trouble sitting still in his seat as his car rounded the corner to the location of the press event. Actually, there was dinner and a reception being held later that night but his attention was on the press conference he’d called.
“Is Miranda already here?” Carl demanded as the driver pulled into the underground parking garage and came to a smooth stop in front of a set of elevators.
Eric was out of the car though, performing his duties before answering questions.
Carl grunted as someone else opened the door for him. He had to get out of the car and make his way over to Eric before asking his question again.
Eric was sweeping the area, his attention sharp. The Secret Service already had men posted at the entrance to the private and secure elevator.
“We’ve got one man in custody,” one of the Secret Service men said as Eric came close. “He was found working on a ventilation panel with a stolen identification badge. Rest of the building is secure.”
Eric stepped into Carl’s path before he made it too close to the men standing guard at the elevator.
“This is a jamming device,” Eric informed his boss as he offered him a small black box.
Carl looked at him for a moment before he nodded. “Right. Miranda has recorded me before. Good thinking. Seems I have a reason to keep you around after all.”
Carl stuffed the little black device that looked a lot like a smartphone into his lapel pocket.
“Why don’t you go check on that man they have in custody.” Carl wasn’t actually asking a question. He patted his suit jacket where the jamming device was hidden and flashed Eric a smug grin. “Let me get a little business done with Miranda.”
“Yes, sir.”
Carl enjoyed the obedient reply. He whistled as he moved toward the elevators and one of the Secret Service men pushed the call button. The doors slid open with a little chime. Carl strode forward without a backward glance.
Pompous ass.
Eric kept his jaw tight. He waited until the doors closed and Carl disappeared before turning and moving toward where the suspect was being held.
* * *
Kagan knew his art.
Some might call it a job, but to him, a man who had nothing else, it was an art. The single form of expression afforded him because of his devotion to his duty.
Shadow Ops was his world.
He’d settled into the teams because their mission was one he found meaning in. Plenty of men ended up in the shadows, working with different badges, for a variety of reasons.
All of them were personal.
Some liked the buzz, others came for the glory; there were those scooping up riches, and men like himself who carried the scars from injustice and found peace in knowing they were helping to shield others from the same damage.
There had been a time when he’d been like the people he passed on the sidewalk. A memory surfaced as he got to where a perimeter was set up and the Secret Service was checking IDs.
A memory of a woman who had loved him and had his baby.
Their ghosts accompanied him as he flashed his badge and was allowed past the checkpoint. Kagan indulged in their company for a few more steps before he shut the door on his personal past and focused on the moment at hand.
He’d once told Carl Davis that not killing him was what made Kagan far more useful to him.
Carl hadn’t seen the merit in keeping good men loyal to him.
It wasn’t the first time Kagan had been pushed into a corner. He didn’t like it but he’d do what needed doing.
“There’s my boss,” someone said, raising his voice. “He’ll tell you … Kagan!”
Kagan snapped his head around, looking at two large mobile trailers that were arranged in a side street alongside the hotel that was closed off to secure the location. The Secret Service was escorting a handcuffed man toward one of the trailers.
Ricky Sullivan.
Kagan didn’t have time for the ex-hitman but he also knew that Ricky was a wealth of information. If he was there, Kagan likely wanted to know why.
“He’s mine,” Kagan said, flashing his badge.
The Secret Service wasn’t in the mood to have their entertainment interrupted. The two men holding Ricky tightened their grip on his shoulders as a supervisor slid between Kagan and Ricky.
“I never repeat myself.” Kagan held his badge up again.
“I’m more interested in what your man was doing pulling off a ventilation screen while wearing a stolen ID,” the supervisor demanded.
Kagan didn’t shirk, he didn’t even raise his voice. “Take another good … long … look, son. This badge is one you can’t argue with.”
Kagan watched as the supervisor looked back at the badge. Kagan gave him time to see it before he was pushing it back into this pocket. “We’re on the same team.”
The supervisor opened his mouth to argue. Kagan beat him to the punch. “Release my man and don’t bother with questions I’m not going to answer.”
There were a lot of eyes on them. Serving in the Secret Service meant you spent endless hours watching. Actual events were few and far between due in a large part to how good the members of the elite security force were. So when something actually happened, everyone wanted to enjoy the entertainment.
Kagan wasn’t planning on giving them anything to remember.
He pulled Ricky along with him and into the building where he could be sure of privacy.
“What are you doing here, Sullivan?” Kagan demanded softly.
Ricky wasn’t exactly willing to turn over the information, but as he’d said before, he knew who held his leash. Kagan watched as Ricky lifted one shoulder and answered. “Miranda called me.”
Kagan didn’t get surprised often. He enjoyed the slight sensation of being caught without having considered something before it occurred.
“She wanted a gun,” Kagan said, finishing his explanation.
Ricky nodded. “Got to hand it to the old bird, she’s not in the grave just yet.” Ricky looked around again before he finished. “Don’t worry. I got her a clean one. Nothing to trace it back to any of us.”
“I’m more concerned for the danger she’s putting herself in,” Kagan replied.
Ricky offered him a hard look. “Carl started it and she’s planning on finishing it. Seems to me, she deserves for the rest of us to get the fuck out of her way. The ass has it coming. A mother defending her kids is sort of timeless justice.”
Kagan was silent for a long moment.
“Just don’t get in her way,” Ricky advised.
“I can’t live with what might happen,” Kagan replied.
>
“Don’t put her in the princess box,” Ricky advised. “She found me all on her own. I got her what she needed. You should get out of here so no one draws a line between your teams and what she plans to do.”
Kagan’s attention shifted slightly before he was turning Ricky and moving through a doorway. Eric Geyer never saw them.
“You know I’m right,” Ricky said once they’d ducked through a service hallway and out a side door. “You just don’t like it.”
“Don’t tell me what to think,” Kagan warned Ricky.
Ricky shrugged again. “What can I say? I like to see scrappiness in people. She’s got all the money and still takes a hands-on approach. It’s fucking beautiful.”
Kagan walked without talking, earning a chuckle from Ricky.
“Looks like you have to make a choice,” Ricky said.
“How do you figure that?” Kagan asked.
But Ricky didn’t answer. He didn’t need to. Kagan caught sight of Vitus and Saxon.
“Decision time, Kagan boy-o,” Ricky cooed. “Going to let them bust in on the old gal’s party?”
Saxon had reached them, his phone in hand. “Thais and Dunn are four minutes out.”
Kagan felt himself hesitating, looking back at Ricky as their time ran short. Ricky was right, it was his call and that wasn’t the only thing the Irishman was spot on about, either.
Miranda had earned the right to face her demon. But even if Kagan allowed her to, he doubted Dunn would agree.
Which left him with a tough choice. He pulled out his phone and typed in a code. Sending it took only a second before he was face-to-face with Vitus Hale.
* * *
Thais pulled her phone out as Kent took them around a corner on two wheels.
Dunn’s man’s driving didn’t alarm her but the code her section leader sent her did. In fact, it chilled her blood.
“What’s happening?” Dunn demanded.
She looked up, into Dunn’s hard stare. He was tight and ready to kill. She knew the look, knew he was anything but making idle threats.
“We’re being ordered to stand down,” she informed him.
Kent looked at her via the rearview mirror.
“Like hell I will,” Dunn growled.
Thais felt her gut ball up. “It’s a hard stand down, Dunn. Straight from Kagan. Pull over, Kent.”
“Keep going, Kent.”
Thais locked gazes with Dunn. “This is not about agreeing, Dunn. It’s about the team. Kagan is in charge of the operation.”
“This is my mother, Thais, I’m not letting her down,” Dunn insisted.
“You’re emotionally compromised,” Thais argued. “Kagan is an experienced section leader and you don’t know what he knows. He’s closer to the action. This is where we have to trust.”
Dunn didn’t like what she said. Kent was slowing down, as they neared their destination. Dunn was caught between what he wanted and what she’d said. Thais watched the battle on his face.
She had to convince him.
Thais was torn but it was her deeply rooted trust of Kagan that had her reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small air gun. She fired it with a soft shudder, sending a dart into her own shoulder. The needle punctured her skin as Dunn growled and pulled it free.
“Thais?” he demanded, sending a rage-filled look at her.
“We’re standing down,” she answered him quietly. “I trust my section leader … this much.”
The dart had performed well, delivering a large dose of a tranquilizer into her bloodstream. But the effects weren’t instantaneous.
She had several long moments to watch the way Dunn stared at her and back at the door. She was hitting below the belt now. Forcing him to choose trust or go with his own plan.
There would be no recovery from it if he chose to abandon her in favor of his own judgment.
“I hope … you’re here … when I wake up…” Her last few words were slurred. She sunk down into the seat, drifting off.
* * *
“Stand down, Hale,” Kagan said. “That’s an order.”
Vitus ripped his sunglasses off. “Excuse me, sir?”
Kagan didn’t budge. “You heard correct. Stand down.”
“You know Carl is forcing Miranda to do this?” Saxon asked.
Kagan nodded and started moving away from the building. “Miranda plans to face him.”
Vitus looked from Ricky to Kagan before he started to head toward the hotel.
“That’s … an order … Hale.” Kagan didn’t raise his voice.
In fact, the section leader lowered it. Vitus and Saxon both knew the tone well. They were torn and Kagan knew it. He leaned in close.
“Carl’s been pushing her,” Kagan explained. “And she’s about to turn and give him what he’s earned. I don’t like it any more than either of you, but it’s everyone’s right to protect their children.”
“She’s family,” Vitus insisted.
“Which is why you need to let her do what she feels she needs to do. You’d expect the same from her if the situation was reversed. Let her slay her own demons,” Kagan said.
Vitus cussed. Kagan reached out and clasped his shoulder.
“I don’t like it, either,” Kagan confessed. “But if we go back there, Carl will get his wish to see our teams blamed and dismantled. Miranda isn’t stupid, she knows she’s the best person for the job.”
“And it’s not like Carl hasn’t been asking for it,” Saxon added in a tone that betrayed just how much he didn’t like the current situation.
Vitus shot a stern look at Ricky. “You better have gotten her a good weapon.”
One side of Ricky’s lips twitched up in cocky grin. “I know, you still don’t like me.”
Vitus shook his head.
* * *
There was a spring in his step.
Carl enjoyed the surge of strength going through his body.
He’d worked hard for this moment.
There had been twists and turns along the way and disappointments, like having to let Damascus go. She really would have been a perfect wife for his image.
That was just another little thing Miranda would be paying for. Her failure to raise her daughter to know her place.
At the top of the stairs, the hallway went in different directions. One way was toward the ladies’ room and the other went toward the men’s room. Carl reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the jamming device Eric had given him. Pressing down on the button resulted in a flickering green light. Tucking it back inside his jacket, Carl went down the hall toward the lounge where Miranda would be.
His personal security had done their job well. Carl shoved the door in, startling Miranda. She caught sight of him in the mirror in the same instant he pushed her against the wall.
“What are you doing?” she demanded.
“I won’t be as easy to kill as your husband, Miranda,” Carl informed her. “You know my preferences, so don’t take this personally.”
He frisked her, snorting when he found the unmistakable bulge of a gun.
“I guess I’d be a little disappointed if you just rolled over.” He yanked the gun from her waistband.
He checked it before leveling it at her, holding the gun for a long moment before he snickered. “I’m not going to shoot you. But the next time you step out of line, Damascus won’t just get scared.”
Miranda sent a hard look toward Carl. He snickered at her, his lips curved into a bright smile of victory. “I knew you were responsible for that accident at the lab.”
Carl yanked the door open and pushed her through it into the hallway.
“Next time,” Carl stressed his words as he leaned in close and kept her in place with a hard grip on her upper arm. “Next time, I’ll make sure your precious daughter and granddaughter die. You’re going to smile and shake my hand downstairs or so help me, Miranda, I’ll make sure the bug that gets released in that lab is one that kills them both in the worst wa
y possible.”
“Are you insane?” Miranda looked him straight in the eye. “You could infect more than the underground lab, Carl. The only reason we have those facilities is to make certain we have countermeasures against those diseases. Are you really so blinded by your own ambition?”
Carl wasn’t budging. “An outbreak would only make it easier to sell the budget to Congress next year. Nothing wrong with thinning the herd from time to time.”
“You are truly a monster, Carl,” Miranda muttered.
“Don’t be coy,” Carl growled at her. “I know you shot your husband.” He patted the pocket he had the gun in. “You are not so innocent yourself.”
“In both cases, I was motivated by the need to protect,” Miranda answered. “A mother does what she must to protect her child.”
“Good.” Carl pulled her toward the hallway. “If you want your daughter and granddaughter alive tomorrow, get your ass down those stairs and shake my hand. You’re going to publicly change sides, support me, and use your family name to pressure all your friends to support me.”
Carl watched Miranda lose her color. He pulled back, releasing her, and enjoyed the horror glittering in her eyes.
“Bringing you to heel has been a bitch,” he muttered. “You’re going to pay for it. I promise you that.”
Eric Geyer appeared at the bottom of the steps. Carl chuckled, enjoying the moment just as much as he’d anticipated he would.
“Move your ass, Miranda.” Carl indulged in vocalizing his victory. “You don’t have a choice. Know something? This beats knowing I had you killed. I’m going to enjoy seeing you screw over your friends … and then watching them try and tear you to bits. I’ll be the only thing shielding you. You’ll sit just as properly as can be at my feet.”
He gave her a little push. She stumbled but righted herself as Eric came up a few steps to try and steady her. His head of security grasped her wrist and she gasped. Miranda pulled back slightly, bumping into Carl.
“What’s the problem?” Carl demanded.
Miranda only stared at Eric a moment before she wavered and her knees buckled.
“Madam Delacroix?” Eric asked, his voice slightly louder than Carl might have expected.
