Still, leaving the door unguarded, knowing that if caught with the Minnow disks Nico would be in grave peril, went against every instinct Mac had. Leave no man behind. The idea had been ingrained in Mac’s psyche ever since basic training. In the end, he decided to lead the strangers away from the door, far away from Nico. His partner wasn’t untrained after all. He had been a cop… in New York for God’s sake. Yeah, tell yourself that, buddy, cause you’re leaving the man you love behind. As he walked away, trying to make space between him and the server room, he pondered falling in love. Did he love Nico? The feeling was strange to Mac but the minute he tried to tamp it down and push it away, he wanted it back. He’d enjoyed the instant chemistry he had with the handsome Italian. He loved everything about him, his body, his courage, and his fascinating goddamned brain.
Mac headed for the stairs, knowing that would be the better solution to his problem. If he were able to lead someone away, he might as well make them work to catch up. Eventually, the footsteps behind him vanished. He reached the stairs and opened the door, moving into the narrow space with steps leading down. He checked his watch. A full minute and a half had elapsed since he’d left the server room. He began to descend when he heard the door to the stairwell open and shut. Mac continued to walk down the stairs. He had just passed the fourteenth-floor landing, when he heard someone behind him call out.
“Soldier! You there! What were you doing on that floor?”
He debated running but stopped and pivoted, turning to find that two imposing men dressed in the same black fatigues were coming down the stairs rapidly toward him. Facing them and answering their questions might be the only way to get out of this. He decided upon a technique that had worked for him in the past. He planted his feet and let them come down to join him on the same step. He stood as tall as he could, knowing he was an imposing figure. He frowned, drawing from his days in the Green Berets. He’d excelled in intimidation. As the men approached, he narrowed his eyes.
“You were saying something to me?” Mac said, staring one of the corporals straight in the eye.
The man opened his mouth to say something when his companion suddenly straightened and saluted.
“Corporal Moody, Lieutenant,” the man said.
Mac returned the salute as the second corporal also straightened, having obviously just recognized Lieutenant Black’s rank as well.
“Corporal Jimenez, sir!”
Mac saluted back. “At ease, Corporal. What are you two doing on this stairwell?”
“We just came from Colonel Archer’s office, sir.”
“Do you have clearance to be anywhere near Colonel Archer’s office?” Mac demanded.
The men exchanged a glance before answering.
“No, sir,” the one called Moody said. His face flushed bright red all the way to his blond hairline. “I mean we were told to check out the top floor for intruders, sir. We saw someone duck into this stairwell which is why we followed you.”
“Intruders?” Mac asked. His heart squeezed painfully and he tried not to gasp out loud. There was only one reason anyone would be checking the floor for intruders. Nico must have been caught.
“Yes, sir, Lieutenant, sir,” Jimenez said. “Colonel Archer’s office was breached this evening, sir. We were told to check the floor for intruders.”
“Do I look like an intruder, son?”
Jimenez exchanged a wary glance with Moody before shaking his head. “No, sir. We were just told to check the floor and followed you in here.”
“Well, I’m Colonel Archer’s new bodyguard. The last time I saw him, he was in his bunk for the night and I assure you I haven’t seen anyone but you two. You said someone breached the colonel’s office?”
Moody nodded. “Yes, Lieutenant. Someone broke in.”
That was not good. That meant that Nico had been caught in Archer’s office. If that was the case, it had happened after Mac walked away from the server room. He must have left immediately after Mac walked away and that meant there hadn’t been any time for him to replace the Minnow disks.
“Is the colonel in his office?” Mac asked, hoping to glean any information about what might have happened to Nico. His stomach was in knots.
“No, sir. He caught an intruder and has taken him to be interrogated. We’re looking for an accomplice.”
Mac’s heart thundered. Nico’s been taken! He knew it was more critical than ever that he keep his cool. If Nico was going to get out of this alive, Mac was going to have to be the one to help him. He debated how to get pertinent information out of the two corporals and decided to behave the way they would have expected.
“Well, I’m not a fucking accomplice, Corporal,” Mac responded angrily. “I’m a superior officer. Now, tell me where Colonel Archer has taken this man so that I can catch up with him.”
The two men straightened and looked straight ahead. “Yes, sir!” they said in unison. “The prisoner has been taken to the armory to be interrogated, sir!”
“Where’s the armory, Jimenez?”
The man frowned but wouldn’t meet Mac’s eye. He figured it was because Jimenez thought he should know that.
“It’s okay, son. I just started this morning so I haven’t scouted the entire building yet, Corporal.”
The man’s expression relaxed. “Yes, sir. The armory is on the fifth floor, sir.”
Mac straightened and stepped back, saluting smartly. “Thank you, men. As you were.”
Both men returned the salute and then visibly relaxed as they turned to walk away from Mac. He’d intimidated them to the point that they’d completely forgotten to pursue their original line of questioning which was exactly what he’d been hoping for.
As they walked back up the stairs, fear for Nico’s safety returned. He’d quite obviously been caught in the act of returning the Minnow disks… the worst possible outcome of their excursion. The temptation to yell into the earwig he wore, calling for help from the FBI and ATF, was almost overwhelming. All Mac knew was that there was no way he could go barging into the armory to rescue Nico like a bull in a china shop. He’d have to find a way to get in there and free him some other way. What scared him the most was the knowledge that Nico had absolutely no explanation for being caught red-handed with the Minnow disks, and that, more than anything, scared the holy hell out of Mac.
Chapter Sixteen
Thayne and Jarrett sat in the SCIF with the rest of their team. Lincoln and Galvez had abandoned the bus and joined them along with Sarah and Dev and their two SACs, Stanger and Diaz. Both women had been looked at by personnel on site at the prison and released to return to LA. Dev wore a white bandage where she’d been struck by Rios and had been given some Tylenol for her other obvious injuries. She had refused anything stronger and wasn’t complaining. Jarrett had flown them back to LA in the Sikorsky and been met by Tate Heston, turning over the keys to the aircraft with grateful thanks.
Lincoln and Galvez had been at LAX to pick them up when they landed, and Lincoln swept Sarah into his arms and held her for long minutes, whispering quietly into her ear. Everyone had gotten a fright by the unexpected prison break and subsequent riot so having the women safe and sound back on the ground in LA, had been a relief to everyone, SAC Stanger more than anyone. He’d been inconsolable when he’d greeted the women back at the federal building, telling them over and over how wrong he’d been to send them into a bad situation all alone with no backup, not that Sarah and Dev weren’t incredibly capable women. Thayne figured that Stanger had looked past the fact that they were women, taking into account how good they were at their jobs. Even though no one blamed him, his remorse was evident and he promised to somehow try to make it up to them. It had been a bad call but everyone had come out of it alive, and that’s what mattered.
Thayne turned his attention to the audio that they were listening to. The earwigs, even though military grade, could only pick up conversations happening within a few feet of Mac and Nico. As best as any of them could tell,
Nico had been caught red-handed with the Minnow disks and taken to a room where he was to be interrogated. His earwig had cut out shortly after. They’d no doubt found it and destroyed it which made everyone nervous as hell.
Mac had been silent after he’d left the hallway in front of the server room. He’d told them that he was going to attempt to draw Archer’s men away from Nico, but when SAC Diaz had spoken to him calmly in his com, letting him know that Nico had been captured, she’d cautioned him to keep his cover. She’d reiterated the fact that he was the only one who stood a chance at liberating their colleague but they all knew Mac must be going crazy. One man in a building filled with hundreds of killers was the worst of odds. He’d agreed to be careful and find out what he could and then gone silent. They knew he would be checking in with them when he could, but they all worried that he’d try something heroic and be caught himself. That would make extracting them both just that much more difficult.
They waited, anxious to do something to get the men out of their current circumstances. The only thing they knew was that Mac was their eyes and ears in the building and hoped that he was still free and in a position of trust, right beside Drake Archer. They’d come to the conclusion that Mac would have to handle the situation how he saw fit. They all trusted that he’d call in the TAC teams when he was ready because they were all pretty sure the time would come that it would be necessary.
The other thing that had become readily apparent to everyone was that Mac and Nico shared a bond and a definite attraction that everyone had been oblivious to prior to the mission. Both of their coms had gone silent for some time when they were in Nico’s quarters. The silence might have meant more than one thing, but none of them were stupid enough not to believe it had been something personal. Thayne knew neither man had talked about dating or having a significant other since joining their ranks, but the possibility that they were gay sure hadn’t hit Thayne’s radar. Having a man like Jarrett at his side pretty much blinded him to other guys, so in hindsight, he wasn’t really all that surprised that he’d missed it. His gaydar was definitely out of tune.
Adael Dayan was the real wild card in the mix. Though they all considered the Mossad operative to be an ally, Thayne downright disliked the guy in a big way. He’d always come through when they’d worked missions together in the past, but he hated the fact that Dayan seemed to pop up in the middle of things all the time. Him and his fucking good looks and badass skills made Thayne just a little crazy. More than anything, the Israeli seemed to throw Jarrett off his game. His happy-go-lucky husband had been serious ever since learning that Adael was once again in the middle of their op. Thayne hated that. He wanted to get Jarrett out of his own head and he knew the best way to do it. Unfortunately, until Nico and Mac were out of danger, none of them would be leaving the federal building unless it was to head up a TAC team.
They were all confined to the SCIF, listening, waiting, and hoping they’d come up with a plan to go in and save their friends or get the good news that they’d gotten out safe and sound. The latter scenario seemed impossible. They were both trapped. They all hoped Nico had been able to read several disks but until he was safely extricated from the Stryker-Dunn building, their hands were tied. They needed him and the knowledge he’d gleaned to be able to prove the company and its officers, among them Drake Archer, were rotten to the core. The simple fact that Nico had been taken hostage proved they had something to hide. All Thayne could do was hope he wasn’t being tortured. He was intimately familiar with the practice and he knew that everyone had a breaking point.
If Drake Archer had let his goons know he suspected Nico was an imposter, he would be in even more danger than he already was. Thayne was certain Mac would lay down his life to protect Nico if it came to that. They were all alphas and would step in front of a bullet to save a team member, of that Thayne had no doubt. All he could do was pray that they’d have enough warning to get in there and rescue both men if the time came. Sitting here, feeling helpless with no plan of action to go in and rescue them, was the hardest thing they’d ever done but they all knew that going in at all, even with the backup of TAC teams, was risky. If Drake Archer felt cornered, he would order his men to take out the enemy, and he’d have no qualms about calling the ATF and FBI his enemy. The man was a traitor of the highest magnitude and Thayne promised himself that he’d hang for it.
****
Nico was strapped to a metal chair in the armory. Blood ran down one cheek and dripped off his chin to his bare chest. His left cheekbone had been split open by a fist and he couldn’t see out of his swollen left eye. He flexed his neck and moved his jaw side to side. Not broken. Well, that was something, he thought bitterly. Archer’s goons had done a number on him and he was pretty sure they weren’t finished. They’d only stopped punching when they needed a break. Apparently, torture was a tiring business and not only for the guy sitting in the chair. Since they hadn’t asked him any questions before they started in on him, he just figured they were tuning him up for those to come later.
Nico had known he was in trouble the moment he’d entered Drake Archer’s office and been caught red-handed coming back from the server room with the disks in his hand. He had no idea what tipped Archer off that he was making his move this late at night, but he’d been waiting for him. If Adael was right and Archer suspected he was not the real Flynn, he’d been right about Archer setting a trap for him. The look on the colonel’s face had given him a moment of sheer panic but when he hadn’t felt the instant bite of a bullet passing through his dome, he figured he’d be in for something akin to what he’d been going through for the last two hours. Where the hell is Mac? Have they got him too? Abject fear for his lover ran through his brain and wouldn’t leave.
He’d told them nothing of course, giving up insisting that he was Josiah Flynn the moment Archer had come in with a fingerprint kit. He’d been hoping, if push came to shove, that he could claim that Archer had detained the wrong guy and that he really was his IT guy. Nico knew the FBI had erased his real identity from all government databases and wondered whether they’d replaced his fingerprints with Flynn’s. If so, he might stand a chance of making it out of here alive but he wasn’t hopeful. On top of that, he had a feeling that any new hire to the company would be scrutinized also. That meant Mac’s life was in peril as well. Was he taken? Is that why he wasn’t outside the door to the server room?
Nico couldn’t imagine Mac leaving him, knowing he was in danger unless he’d tried to lead someone away from the server room. There was just no way he’d abandon Nico to be exposed that way. Nico knew that Mac cared deeply about him so he figured there was little chance the Green Beret would leave him on his own, destined for certain torture. He’s either in trouble or he’s biding his time until he can free me.
Nico couldn’t think about it right now. He had to think first about surviving this ordeal. They’d been working on his face and midsection with nothing but their fists but he was well aware if he didn’t give them the information they sought, they’d move on to other methods. There were probably plenty of people in this building trained to do it. He dropped his chin, letting his head sag. He had a strap around his chest, securing him upright against the back of the cold metal chair and he was handcuffed behind his back. His ankles were secured to the chair legs which had been bolted to the floor. They’d taken his shirt, shoes, and socks. He didn’t like feeling so open and vulnerable.
The place they had taken Nico was quite obviously the building’s armory. Rows and rows of AK-15s and various other assault rifles of every shape and size lined the walls. Cases of smoke grenades, flash bangs, and ammunition were stacked on shelves of the wall facing him. Face masks, vests, and other tactical gear were hanging on pegs and folded on shelves. The place was outfitted for war and that was only the small room he was in. There were several doors in the room and Nico suspected there were more weapons than what he could see in the room. His head throbbed.
The door swung wide
and a petite African-American woman strolled through. She was wearing the black fatigues they all wore and she carried a rolled tube made of brown canvas. She was escorted by a very tall, very wide thug, similar to the two who’d beat on him. She set the canvas down on a metal table nearby and turned to smile at him.
“Hello,” she purred in what was surely a Cajun accent. “My name is Sergeant Boudreaux.” She held out a manicured hand and then drew it back, giggling. “Oh, my. Sorry. I forgot you can’t shake.”
Nico clamped his teeth together and tugged at his bindings.
“Nothing to say?” She planted her feet and crossed both arms over her chest as she stared down at him.
“What do you want? Poetry?” Nico spit blood onto the floor at her feet.
She smiled. “Poetry would be nice, Mr. Flynn, or whatever your name is. But more importantly, I’d like to know who you’ve been talking to since entering the building.” She motioned toward his ear where the other goons had removed his com.
“Dunno what you’re talking about.” He stared at her with his one good eye.
“Tsk. Tsk,” she said, waggling a finger in his face. “No more lying,” Boudreaux singsonged drawing out the word. She smiled again and then moved in a slow circle around his chair, stopping out of his line of sight for a few breaths and then coming back around to the front where he could see her again. She seemed to be looking him over for some reason. “You could make this so easy you know. Just tell us who you are and what you were doing with the disks, and I’ll make your death quick.”
Nico smiled. “Fuck you.”
She cocked her head and stuck out her lower lip, looking sad. “Now you see, that’s exactly the wrong attitude but I’ll tell you what…” She turned and walked over to the table where she picked up the rolled canvas and untied it. She laid it back down on the table and rolled it open revealing an array of shiny silver instruments of torture. From scalpels to knives in every possible size, to hammers and something that looked like a meat tenderizer, the display was surprisingly complete. The little tongy thingies looked like they could grasp a fingernail and pull it right from the nail bed. She reached down and lifted something that looked like a grapefruit spoon, twirling it in her thumb and forefinger as she held it up. It was pointed on the end with serrated edges.
Endings and Beginnings (Death and Destruction Book 8) Page 24
