Dangerous Lies (Shades of Leverage)

by Claudia Shelton

  “My mother locked the door and told me to stay quiet. She was trembling as she sat me at the table and handed me a coloring book and crayons.” Liz’s forehead scrunched into furrows, her lips parted, and she blinked repeatedly, but still tears formed. “I was so afraid. But she wrapped her arms around me and whispered it was only a game. A hide-and-seek game.”

  Drake looked at Mitch. “Russ was able to keep them out long enough for Liz and her mother to hide in the safe room I’d helped him design. Just in case.”

  Mitch zeroed in on his warning—just in case. Every OPAQUE agent knew the term for safe room and just-in-case situations. Especially the agents who were married. They all had taken that precaution in their homes. Single agents like him usually didn’t bother with that safeguard. He always figured he’d face CT down, be captured, or die at their feet. There’d be no hiding for him.

  Reese pointed skyward. “Ten minutes.”

  “Needless to say, the two CT operatives shoved their way inside the house and overpowered Russ.” Drake quickened his speech. “They said they knew he was in WPP. That they weren’t there to kill him. And then they told him the job they needed him to do for CT. He said no.”

  “My dad wouldn’t help people like that,” Liz raised her voice with her answer.

  “No, he wouldn’t usually.” Drake bit his lip. “But all that changed when they pulled him into the bathroom, yanked the cabinet out of the way, and tapped on the locked hidden door.”

  Liz sucked in a loud breath as she steadied herself against the railing. Panic seemed to roll across her entire body. “The knock on the door scared me, and before I thought, I yelled out, ‘Dad?’” Liz wiped her cheeks free of her tears. “My mother yanked me against her and clamped her hand over my mouth.”

  Mitch reached out to comfort her, but she stop-signed him with her hands. She turned away for a few seconds, and when she turned back, she’d gained some control.

  “Russ agreed to work for them. He had no choice. Took him almost a month before he felt it was safe enough to contact me or the WPP,” Drake said. “That’s when I came up with a plan to use his involvement with Coercion Ten to our best advantage. Your dad agreed.”

  Liz shook her head. “I’m still confused. You mean to OPAQUE’s advantage.”

  “OPAQUE. CIA. FBI. There were a lot of times he worked for all of us.”

  Reese stared at the open sky. “I used to be an undercover agent with the CIA. Your dad furnished good intel for us on the front line.”

  “You said this time was different. How?” Mitch grabbed a life preserver and headed toward Liz.

  Drake shot a look at the notepad-sized tracking screen hanging by the ladder to the wheelhouse. “We’ve always had a system for contact. Re-contact. Code words. And finally, follow-up with direct communication. Since Russ’s first contact this time, nothing else has happened. Either he’s found a hidey-hole—”

  “Or they got him?” Liz asked.

  Mitch motioned for her to put on the life jacket. “If they captured him, they’d have made contact by now. And, if CT wants her so bad, why didn’t they walk into the Mariner’s and take her before we got there?”

  “How would they know I was there?”

  “I don’t know. But they were waiting for us.”

  Drake’s eyes narrowed. “What are you saying?”

  All Mitch had was a gut-ache feeling. The kind he got in dark cover assignments on his own without any backup. The kind that wormed its way into his worst thoughts, and said “Hey, there’s someone worse out there. Something that will kill you if you don’t figure this out.”

  The kind that called for out-of-the-box thinking—crazy outside the box.

  Willing to put everything on the line, Mitch needed to make sure his reasoning hit the right spots. “Whether CT’s got her dad or not, I don’t think they needed him to do anything. Without even knowing, he completed the job the moment he contacted you and Liz. Has it crossed your mind CT could be simply using her as bait?”

  “Bait? What the hell are you talking about?” Drake asked, seeming mildly insulted. “Bait for who?”

  “You? Me? OPAQUE? What if they figured out Russ was feeding us info? Decided to use him?” Mitch didn’t much like where his brain was taking this. “Hell, you’ve brought most everyone on the Shades of Leverage team into this mess. What if that’s what they wanted? Take down OPAQUE’s elite team. Think of the hole that would leave.”

  He glanced in Reese’s direction and could tell from the expression on his face he was intrigued by the idea. An idea that could provide a lot of answers to this assignment or open a whole different set of what-ifs.

  Drake set his jaw, his nostrils flared. “You better be able to back that up.”

  “Coercion Ten already knew about Russ and the WPP. Somewhere along the line, they figured out the OPAQUE connection.” Mitch knew once this conversation ended, they all needed to head for safer places. “I figure all their connecting lines on people, places, legal, illegal, they hit upon you and Russ back in college. From there it was an easy—”

  “An easy trail to me as head of OPAQUE.” Drake shook his head. “I should have seen this coming.”

  Liz reached out and touched Drake on the shoulder. “There’s no possible way you could have known. Besides, you care about my dad and me. You’d do anything to keep us safe.”

  “That’s the problem,” Drake said. “Evidently, a lot of people know that.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Swallowing the lump in his throat, Mitch carefully considered his next words. “Throwing everything on the table…what if CT thinks Liz might be your daughter, too?”

  The corner of Drake’s eye twitched.

  “That’s no big deal, I’m already in danger,” Liz said.

  “It’s not the same.”

  “Of course it’s the same.” She glanced from one man to the other and back. “Besides, how would they even suspect such a thing?” She zeroed in on Drake. “Even you don’t know for sure.”

  Staring at her, Drake chewed the corner of his mouth then turned to Mitch. “What do you think? Gut deep, what do you think?”

  Mitch didn’t want to admit OPAQUE had become vulnerable, but everything that had happened so far shouted they were. CT had never been able to take the offensive against OPAQUE, and this whole scenario could be about OPAQUE playing catch-up. There were only two players in this game who were possible targets—Drake…and Liz.

  “I think there’s a rat someplace,” Mitch forcefully said. “Not sure who. Not sure when. Not sure why. But I’m ruling very few people out as possibilities.”

  Drake stepped into his personal space. “It sounds like you included me in that statement.”

  “Yeah, that includes you, old man.”

  “Then you make damn sure you keep her out of CT’s hands.” Drake’s ominous warning accompanied the snarl on his face. “And don’t let anyone get in the way of her safety. Got that? Not. Anyone.”

  Mitch nodded. “Got it.”

  A gauntlet had just been tossed between them. Each working for the good of Liz. Each on the same side. There was no way in hell Drake couldn’t be trusted. But CT was cruel with its leverage and targets. Cruel and manipulative. Anyone might crack under that kind of pressure. Anyone.

  “Chopper at six o’clock.” Reese shouted, pointing skyward.

  Mitch shaded his eyes and looked to the north. “Tell them to come on in. We’ll be ready in five.”

  He motioned Liz to follow him downstairs. Once below, he checked her life preserver, always keeping his eyes on anything but her face.

  “That was pretty intense up there,” she said.

  “Yeah.”

  “Surely you trust Drake. I mean—”

  “Focus, Liz.” Mitch barely glanced into her eyes. “There’s a reason for everything I do. Your job is to focus and react. You do that, and we all just might survive.”

  The kiss on the Q40 had made him realize being close to her was
a definite jolt to his system. He didn’t need a repeat, so he looked away. Especially in the heat of an escape maneuver. Especially…Liz. His nostrils flared as he double-checked the straps on the front of her preserver.

  “I think I’m pretty well secure, unless you plan to cut off my breathing.” She stretched to her side, evidently trying to get comfortable.

  “Got to make sure you don’t drown,” Mitch said.

  “Good idea.” She patted the life preserver. “That way you don’t have to haul my sorry ass out of the water again.”

  A cold chill charged into his gut. The cut of her words had been hard and fast. And he’d been caught off guard. On the offense, she hadn’t even looked up from his chest. She’d simply stared straight ahead, letting the blow sink in. Even now, she stood perfectly still.

  The words had hurt like hell, but he’d survive. Words were just words. Sometimes. Then again, there were times like this when the whole world depended on their significance and tone and purpose. He’d said enough in his lifetime to know the difference.

  “Liz, look at my face.”

  Slowly, she lifted her chin upward, scanned his face, then turned to the side. “We should—”

  “I said look at me.”

  Wounded defiance greeted him when she looked into his eyes. He gave her the same eyes-on-me gesture she’d given him at her stateroom door.

  She shook her head. “Not funny.”

  “Nothing about this case has been funny,” he said, letting himself make an easy excuse for his actions. “And whether you realize it or not, I’d give my life for you.”

  “I know. That’s part of your job.”

  He braced his fingers beneath her chin then leaned in next to her ear, his cheek brushing hers. “That’s not what I said, E-liz-a-beth.”

  She pressed her cheek a little closer against his, and he let the side of his lips slide along her cheekbone as he stepped back. “And, what about my sorry—”

  Pressing his fingertips to her lips, he couldn’t believe how deep a pit he kept digging for himself. “Talk like that will get you in trouble.”

  A loud bump against the side of the short stairway leading to the cabin caused them both to jerk back and turn in that direction.

  “Excuse me,” Reese said from the cabin stairs, his expression one of what the hell are you doing. “Drake wants to talk to us up on deck again.”

  How long had he been standing there? Didn’t matter. Mitch knew that pit he was digging had just gotten even deeper.

  Mitch tugged on the strap one more time. “I was making sure she had the life preserver hooked up right.”

  “That’s exactly what I thought. You’re only looking out for Liz’s best interest.”

  Trouble was, Mitch hadn’t worked with Reese enough times to know what he’d do with what he’d seen. Better to find out now than later. “About what you saw…”

  “I didn’t see a thing.” Reese blanked his expression. “You’ll find I don’t see much. Especially when it doesn’t concern me.”

  The three of them reported back on deck and were promptly met by Drake’s pacing. He stopped. “I thought about what you said. About Russ and Liz being bait to get to me. There’s one thing wrong with that thinking. If your hypothesis is right, why haven’t they taken me out?”

  “CT isn’t after you personally. At least not yet.” Everything was coming together in Mitch’s mind. If he was right, a lot of people had a lot to lose.

  Stopping in front of Mitch, Drake cocked his head, his expression quizzical. “If they don’t want me, who do they want?”

  Mitch pointed at himself, then straightened. “First, CT wants me. Wants Reese. Wants Josh and Stealth, Keith and Cat. Anybody else you put on this job. Coercion Ten believes you’ll pull in your best to protect Liz.”

  Reese glanced upward as if in thought. Liz stood quiet.

  “They’ll cripple OPAQUE. Maybe take it down.” Mitch motioned the chopper to move into place. “If nothing else, CT can run rampant while OPAQUE recovers. Except that’s when they’ll take you out, Drake. Without you, someone else would have to take over. Maybe they’ve already got someone in mind.”

  Blowing out a long, loud sigh, Drake nodded. “Someone we don’t know is CT.”

  “Likely. Could even be someone already in OPAQUE.”

  “That’s a hard thought to swallow.” Drake clenched his jaw, his tone harsh, his stance I’ll-be-damned.

  There was nothing any of them could do about that prospect at the moment. But they needed to get a move on this plan of escape. Sure, they’d gained space between themselves and the CT group heading in their direction, but that gap could close rapidly.

  “Reese, tell the chopper to push smoke upward.” Mitch hoped that would at least mask exactly who was leaving the boat. Because, sure as anything, CT had their satellite feed trained on them.

  Within minutes, whup-whup-whup could be heard approaching from the north. The blur of smoke began to settle seconds before two divers jumped into the water. They made a quick swim to the boat, and Reese quickly pointed them toward the wheelhouse. He gave them few directions; they already knew what was expected.

  The chopper settled overhead and lowered two rescue lines. One, a six-inch-wide ladder. The other, had an airlift rescue vest attached.

  Looking a bit unsure, Liz pointed at the rescue vest. “I take it that one’s for me.”

  “What makes you so sure?” Reese joked.

  “Listen, I may have a life jacket on, but I don’t plan to climb a ladder, flying in the wind, over the Gulf of Mexico.”

  Drake walked over and gave Liz a hug. “Nothing to worry about. We just need to get you out of here and somewhere safe.”

  “Don’t take me out of the country. I’ll never get back in.” She hugged him in return.

  “Sure you would.”

  She shook her head. “Might take some doing. Same day I was fired, I lost my passport.”

  The three men shared a quick passing glance.

  “Let’s get this show on the road,” Mitch said, checking her vest, and the hoist rigging, once again. He needed to make sure they were off the boat before the smoke cleared. “Now, lean back and get ready for a fun ride. Relax. Reese will be on the other line, right beside you as the hoist pulls you both up.”

  “What about you?” she asked.

  “Drake and I will be up next. First, we need to finalize where we’re headed.” Mitch nodded upward, letting his hand brush the side of her leg as he steadied the rig.

  “Hey, I forgot to tell you.” Reese nudged her arm, then wrapped his leg and one arm around the ladder line. He winked in her direction. “I think your hair looks cute like that. Darn cute. In fact, I think I’ll call you Short Stuff.”

  “Nobody asked your opinion,” Mitch snarled. Was this going to be the payment for the guy keeping his mouth shut about what he’d seen?

  “Imagine that.” Reese winked at Liz. “Looks like somebody’s a little green.”

  The roar of the chopper was deafening, but Mitch still heard the comment. He pointed up. “Get on the damn chopper. Now!”

  The two hoists lifted, slow and easy, disappearing into the haze of dropped smoke, heading for the open doorway. Everything was falling in line for a smooth escape from the boat. From there, the group should be able to lose CT’s lock on them. How they’d found them this time was still a question to be answered.

  A thought shifted in his mind, trying not to get lost in the excitement of the moment. “Hey, Drake. Liz said something about losing her job and losing her passport all in one day? Don’t you find that strange?”

  “I wondered if you caught that. We’ll need to check what kind of assignments she’s been covering.” Drake grabbed the lowering chopper line, then pushed it in Mitch’s direction.

  “You’re next,” Mitch said.

  “I’m not going.” The boss motioned the chopper crew not to lower another line.

  “The hell you’re not,” Mitch shouted.


  “Hear me out.” Drake stood firm. “I think you’re right. CT used me to get to my best agents. And I think they also want Liz as leverage. We already lost one agent. I can’t afford to let them get you or Reese. Or any of the others. And, I can’t let them take Liz.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “If Liz and I are the ones feeding their operation, we need to break the food chain.”

  “Such as?”

  “I’ll stay with the boat. Me, and the two guys the chopper dropped. We’ll take CT on a merry little ride around the Gulf.”

  That made sense on a lot of levels, but there was always the possibility the plan would backfire. Then his boss would, for sure, be in the crosshairs. “Let’s say I agree with the break-the-chain theory. What do you want me to do?”

  The smoky haze was lifting, dissipating rapidly. He needed to decide whether to contest Drake’s idea or not, and he needed to decide now.

  “Get on that chopper. Get yourself, Liz, and Reese someplace safe. Contact Josh and let him know what’s going on.” Drake looked like a man with a heavy load. He shoved a sealed envelope into his hand. “Give that to Liz when you land.”

  Tucking the envelope in his pocket, he nodded. “Why Josh?”

  “I plan to stay far away from him and Stealth and Cat, too. In fact, I’ll steer clear of anybody involved in this case. That’ll allow you to use the Shades to set up your position.” Drake sighed. “You know I’m right.”

  Mitch swiped the back of his hand across his chin. “Okay, we’ll go with your plan. Where do you want us to head?”

  “Anything I say would be tainted. So you get nothing from me.” Drake grabbed Mitch’s arm in a brothers-in-arms hold. “I’m confident in whatever you decide. You’re in charge of this assignment. You find a place. You keep her safe. And, you and Reese make damn sure you come out alive on the other side.”

  “You stay alive, too, old man.” He wrapped his leg and arm around the ladder line then yanked for the chopper to lift him up. “If you don’t, I’ll hunt you down and kill you again.”