Re/Deemed (Doms of the FBI Book 8)

by Michele Zurlo

  Needa went after her denim-clad backside with vicious intent, and Brandy felt very little of it.

  Next to her, Lukas was stiff with fury. His hatred was a palpable force, and it bored into Ben Ross, forcing him to take a step back.

  When Needa’s arm tired, she threw the belt at Brandy’s feet. “Did you like that, you lying bitch? Did it make you wet? Do you want to kneel at my feet?”

  The stinging pain had subsided enough for Brandy’s mind to clear. She blinked at Needa. “I didn’t know you had a crush on me. That explains so much. I always wondered why you liked to hang out in the kitchen and listen to Lukas and me having sex. I thought maybe Mr. Ross’s boner had stopped working, and you needed to get your jollies elsewhere. You know, porn is all over the internet. You could have gone that route. Maybe you could have shown it to Mr. Ross. It might have fixed his problem. Or you could have just used pills like everyone else your age.”

  Needa gasped, and Ben did as well.

  “CIA tactics.” Nathan remained unimpressed. “I’ve run into that before. Don’t listen to her. She’s trying to get inside your head, mess with you, and get the upper hand.”

  “She’s also laughing at the pathetic beating you gave,” Zarah added. As a nod at this event, she’d chosen a designer jogging suit, and her long, blonde hair was piled in a chic knot on top of her head. She approached Brandy and ran a manicured fingernail along Brandy’s lower lip. “Let me at her. She won’t be laughing once I’ve had a go at her.”

  Brandy lifted a brow, stealing the upper hand with her dry tone. “You both have crushes on me? I had no idea I was so popular. Sorry, but I’m just not that into you. I mean, you’re pretty, but you’re a psychopath. I have a strict no-psychos policy for dating. Sorry. Been there, done that.”

  “She’s doing it again.” Nathan moved closer, positioning himself between Brandy and the women she’d enjoyed taunting. “Don’t let her get in your head. Mrs. Ross, you love to learn new things, right?”

  “I do.” Needa moved to her left for a better view.

  “I’m going to start with showing you a better technique for how to use that belt for torture and interrogation.”

  So many snarky comments sat on Brandy’s tongue, so she clamped her jaw closed to prevent them from leaving. “It’s never good when the designated hitter swings like a wimp.”

  Whoops. One escaped.

  Lukas shot her a look that clearly ordered her to shut the fuck up. His command succeeded where hers had failed.

  Nathan chuckled. As her would-be torturer loosened up and became more jovial, Brandy’s mood turned somber. He knew what he was doing. As with all the guards at Willowlands, Nathan Armstrong was ex-military, and he’d auctioned his skills to the highest bidder. With the deplorable way veterans’ medical and psychological needs were ignored when they returned—and exploited when actively serving—it was no wonder so many turned to selling the marketable skills they’d honed in service to their country. For many, it was a better alternative than struggling in the private sector.

  “Use what you know, Mrs. Ross. Agent Lockmeyer has a background that includes time spent in the Army. Her records are sealed, but given what I know about her friends and connections, she was most likely a member of an elite Special Forces squad. After the Army, she spent a year as a CIA spook before transferring to the FBI.”

  Lukas stared, his expression as smooth and hard as granite.

  Though she’d spared a stray glance for Lukas, her attention remained glued to Armstrong.

  Needa gaped. “But she’s not very bright.”

  Another chuckle. “She played you, Mrs. Ross. Nothing about Brittany Sorrel applies to Brandy Lockmeyer. You met a fictional character created to gain your confidence and infiltrate your organization. She’s a professional liar, a master shape-shifter who can become anyone she needs to be in order to further her goals.”

  Needa’s face darkened as Nathan confirmed Brandy’s betrayal. “Ben, give me the brass knuckles. They appear to have made an impact.”

  Nathan held up a hand. “We’ll get to that eventually.”

  “Why not now?” Needa’s eyes narrowed, and her lip stuck out in a pout.

  “Agent Lockmeyer is trained to withstand interrogation. She’ll crack eventually, but it’ll take a while. It’s a process, and you can’t rush the process. Doctor Luke, on the other hand, is your regular, everyday veterinarian-turned-doctor, loyal to The Eye until he fell for this con artist.” Nathan reached out and palmed her breast. He kneaded and squeezed.

  Having been trained to win the mental game, Brandy sneered at this paltry effort, but Lukas bellowed. Too late, she realized that while she understood the interrogation and torture game, Lukas did not. He was an alpha male, and he was very protective of her. Armstrong’s tactic was aimed at harming him, not her, and it worked.

  Using the way they’d bound his wrists, he lifted his weight, swinging his legs around to kick Armstrong. But Armstrong knew what he was doing. He ducked out of the way and let the full force of Lukas’s kick land solidly on Brandy’s midsection.

  “Oh,” said Needa. “I should have grabbed her tits and let him beat her up instead?”

  “No, honey,” Ben said. “She won’t break, but he will.”

  It was obvious to Brandy that Needa was the brains behind the operation, but Ben was the one in charge of human resources. He understood people better than she did, and he’d spent time extracting information from unwilling sources before, probably with Nathan Armstrong as his brawn.

  Zarah sighed. “But he doesn’t know anything. We’ve already interrogated him. Torture her. Break her. Let him watch. It’s his punishment for falling for her tricks.”

  Needa chimed in because there was no way she was going to let a blonde tartlet upstage her or usurp her power. “Nathan, I know it’ll take time to break her, so get on with it. I have questions, and I would like answers sooner rather than later. We’ll be at home. Call the moment you’ve made a breakthrough.”

  Taking a parting shot, Ben swung at her again. The brass knuckles reflected blue light, flashing just before he buried his fist in her side. Pain shot through her, and she catalogued at least one cracked rib. Fucking brass knuckles were for cheaters and wimps. Real soldiers used their fists like civilized human beings.

  Okay, maybe the blow to her head had rattled her marbles a bit more than she’d thought.

  Zarah crossed her arms and settled into a hip. “I’m staying. I want to watch, and I’m willing to help.”

  The Rosses swept out of the building, holding hands as if they’d been out for a relaxing evening stroll.

  Brandy struggled to catch her breath, and she regarded Nathan silently. He wasn’t an FBI plant, which would have made the whole situation much easier. He was an honest-to-goodness hired mercenary. Likewise, Zarah Braithwaite wasn’t playing for her team either. If given the chance for money and power, she’d betray the Rosses, but Brandy only had prison to offer. Zarah stood off to the side, watching Armstrong as she waited for an order.

  Armstrong leaned closer. He licked a path up her non-bloody cheek and whispered in her ear. “It’s been a long time since I’ve worked over anyone who was a challenge. Tell me, Agent Lockmeyer, when you spread your sexy legs for this ugly fucker, do you close your eyes and pretend he’s someone else?” His hand grazed her breast and moved down her body. He cupped her ass, kneading it as he pressed her pelvis to his.

  Brandy thought men who went straight for sexual assault were stupid. While he was distracted by feeling her up, she was working her hands free from the rope.

  Only she didn’t have to get that far.

  Lukas’s legs swung again, but this time Armstrong was too preoccupied to pay attention, and Zarah, the woman who should have been watching, was also focused on Armstrong’s technique. Lukas swung his body, knocking hard against Zarah, and the tall woman tumbled into Armstrong.

  The pair fell against Brandy, but she was a free-swinging figure. Her toes ba
rely touched the ground enough to take an ounce of strain from her shoulders. She used the momentum to let them fall to the ground. Then she lifted herself up and came down as hard as she could on Armstrong’s head. The stomp lacked the force she would have liked for it to have, but it was enough. Then she slammed her feet into Zarah’s head, and the pair cracked against the cement.

  Since they were at her feet, she went after them again to make sure they were both out cold. Thank goodness she’d been able to keep up her running. Her body was toned, and her legs were strong. A sickening thud let her know they wouldn’t be moving anytime soon, and a pool of blood spread over the cement. She didn’t know who it was from, but she hoped both contributed to the mess.

  Lukas wasted no time. He hefted himself up, climbing the rope in a tedious hand-over-hand way because his wrists were bound. He vaulted up and over the rafter, landing on top. Because he was such a big guy, people were often surprised at how agile he was. His acrobatics brought a brief smile to her lips, but pain shot through her skull, and she decided against smiling for the time being.

  She watched as he scooted around up there. A few minutes later, the rope above her dropped to the ground. She was still bound, but not tied to the rafter anymore.

  She pressed her fingers to Armstrong’s neck, checking for a pulse. She found none. Next she checked on Braithwaite. Zarah’s pulse was weak, but it was there. She rolled Zarah off Nathan, surveying the damage. Blood matted her hair where she’d cracked against the cement floor. Nathan’s skull was crushed in the back. She must have hit with more force than she’d intended. The regret inside her came from the fact that she wouldn’t be able to put him in prison for his crimes.

  Lukas shimmied over to a pole, and he used the support to climb down.

  Wordlessly, he used a knife to slice the rope restricting her movement, and then he helped bind Braithwaite.

  “Daddy.” She touched his sleeve.

  He flinched away. “Don’t. Just fucking—don’t.”

  His rejection hurt more than the brass knuckles had. So many words stuck in her throat. In his eyes, she’d betrayed him. She’d lied to him and used him. Her heart beat so hard it hurt. When she finally forced words out, they weren’t the ones she wanted to say. “How did you know there was a knife up there?”

  He rubbed a hand over his head and studied the exits.

  “Lukas?”

  “I’ve hidden weapons in several places.”

  She had so many questions. “We have to get out of here.”

  “Wow. Smart plan. Did you learn that in the CIA or the FBI? Or maybe Special Forces?”

  He was not happy with her, and she understood why. She’d expected him to be furious when he found out who she really was, but she hadn’t been prepared for the way his anger sliced her insides.

  She locked that pain in a box so she could focus on matters needing more immediate attention. One thing she’d learned in all three jobs was to use an exit closest to a path to safety. She motioned to the far side of the barn. “That way. We’ll need to get to the wall.”

  “The only way in or out is through the front entrance. I’ve looked.”

  “Armstrong destroyed my transmitter. An exfil team will look for me in the designated location, which is along the west wall.” She hoped. With the transmitter going dead, she knew Liam would be flipping out. Even if he was back in Michigan, he would have his system set up to alert him the moment she was in danger.

  He leaned against a bale of hay, crossed his arms, and regarded her through narrowed eyes. “Your exfil team isn’t going to get me out of here, Brandy.”

  Years of training kept her from wincing at the way he spat her name. “My team knows they have to exfiltrate us both.”

  The intensity of his glare didn’t change.

  She closed the distance between them, and she set her hands on the arms guarding his heart. “Lukas, I know you’re not a True Believer. I know they didn’t brainwash you. I don’t know why you’re here, but I do know you aren’t fooled by their rhetoric.”

  His eyes darkened, as did his expression. “You seem awfully confident for a woman who was kidnapped and given to me as a sex slave, a reward for my years of loyal service.”

  A man who was truly loyal to The Eye would have used and abused her, and they both knew it. She ignored his dig. “They’re going to kill us both if they find us. Your best chance at survival is to come with me.”

  He leaned down until his face was inches from hers. “Here’s what you missed about me, Agent Lockmeyer—I knew when I joined that my life was over. I never expected to survive. You go ahead and run away. I’m not finished until every last one of them is dead, and so am I.”

  She blinked at his undisguised vehemence, and everything in her rebelled at the idea of him not being part of her world. No scenario she’d played out when planning her escape ended without him by her side. And layered under his words was a finger pointing at her, blaming her for everything wrong in his life. She appealed to him again. “The FBI will arrest everyone here. They’re going to jail. It’s not necessary for you or anyone else to die.”

  Unless they attacked agents or resisted arrest—then they might not survive the encounter. She spared a glance at Armstrong’s lifeless body. She had no pity for him. He’d made a choice, and he’d paid for it.

  Lukas didn’t have to pay that price. “Don’t be stupid, Lukas. Come on. Let’s go.”

  He jerked his arms away from her, reversing their position and pinning her between his body and piled bales of hay. “Fuck you, Brandy. Fuck you and the FBI. Where were you when The Eye killed my brother? Where were you when my mother had a heart attack and died at his funeral? I’ll tell you where you were—sitting on your lazy asses while The Eye amassed power, while they systematically destroyed lives.”

  Rage exploded from Brandy, and she pushed him hard enough to force him to back up. “Sitting on my ass? I’ve dedicated every moment of my life for the past two-and-a-half years to bringing down The Eye. I’ve missed holidays and birthdays, weddings and funerals, because I was so focused on this goal that I put it before everything else. My friends have been targeted by The Eye, their houses and cars blown up, and I’ve been targeted as well. They kidnapped me just before Christmas, and when I was given a chance to go back to my life, I chose to go from being a kidnap victim to an undercover role so I could finally catch a break in the case. I have not been sitting on my ass, Lukas. I’ve sacrificed more than anyone to take down The Eye.”

  “Bullshit.” He stalked toward the wrong door. “You’re full of shit, and so is the fucking FBI.”

  She launched herself after him, landing on his back. By sheer stroke of luck, he stumbled and fell onto a mound of scattered alfalfa. “I won’t let you go out that way. You’re leaving with me.”

  He rolled, dislodging her easily, and he lumbered to his feet. “And I won’t let you destroy what it’s taken me years to do. I got here by proving my loyalty, and I won’t leave here until everyone responsible for killing my family pays the ultimate price.” He took one step.

  Finally she understood what had motivated a good man to leave his life behind and throw in his lot with The Eye. He wasn’t there to serve them; he was there to take them down from the inside. They wanted the same thing.

  “Lukas.”

  He froze.

  “They’ll pay. I promise. I’ve found enough to put them all away for the rest of their lives, and I’ve found where the rest of their operations are located. Let us do this our way. We’ll get them all. Your brother and your mother will be avenged. Please—come with me.”

  He half-turned back to her. “Almost four years ago, I went to the FBI. I told them about The Eye, how they recruited vulnerable people, how they ran their operations. I told them all of this when my brother was still alive, when he and countless others could have been saved. You know what the FBI said to me?”

  Facing her fully, he waited for her reply. She got to her feet, the feat difficult
due to the incredible pain in her ribs and the dizziness invading her brain. “Obviously you didn’t like the response.”

  His nostrils flared, evidence he didn’t like her response. “They laughed at me, Agent Lockmeyer. They laughed and showed me to the door. I went back after my brother died, and I tried again. They said my brother was an addict, and addicts died. They said my mother had a bad heart. But I know the truth. My brother was clean until they killed him, and my mother died from a broken heart. And the fucking FBI did nothing. You did nothing.”

  Brandy’s heart ached for his pain. She held her ribs and struggled to breathe. “Four years ago, the FBI was riddled with agents working for The Eye. I didn’t know. I was working white collar crimes back then. When I found out what was going on, I got rid of them all. I led the task force that cleaned out our ranks, and I led the team tasked with ridding the world of The Eye once and for all. You heard what Ben Ross said. He hates me for a reason.”

  She swallowed, panting to ease some of the physical pain. She definitely had a fractured rib or two. “That’s why I’m here, Lukas. I’m sorry for what happened to you and your family, but you can’t let that be the reason you throw your life away. I’m sure your mother and brother wouldn’t want you to die here.”

  “Why do you fucking care?” He clenched his fists as he thundered, and his whole body seemed to grow larger and more menacing.

  But she saw him with her heart and not her eyes. She knew he’d never hurt her. He was her gentle giant, not the thug he tried to be. If he killed the Rosses, she knew he wouldn’t be able to live with that violent act on his conscience. “You’ve lived with me for the past six months, and you’re honestly asking that?”

  “Lived with you?” He growled, fury and hatred suffusing his tone and emanating from every pore in his body. “I don’t even know who the fuck you are! And don’t you stand there and pretend like you have the first fucking clue who or what I am. We were both pretending. We were both doing what needed to be done. You were a means to an end for me, and I was a means to an end for you.”