Forged Risk (Aegis Group Task Force Book 2)

by Sidney Bristol

  “Yes,” Kelsey said without hesitation.

  “She’s wearing a tracker. I need my tablet to activate it.”

  Kelsey’s eyes widened. “You’re the most amazing man I’ve ever met.”

  Logan came to a stop next to Kelsey, his mouth twisted into a grimace aimed at the woman, not Evan.

  “You were right,” he said directing his attention at Evan.

  “Tell me something I don’t know.” Evan turned his back on Logan before he said or did something he’d really regret.

  He’d made a promise to Felecia, one he intended to keep. She’d get to be free. She’d get the life she deserved if he had to break every law known to man to make that happen. Even if he had to go through his own team to do that. Because someone had to keep their word. Someone had to be good for Felecia. The world had wronged her far too much in her short life. He deserved some happiness.

  Wednesday. Unknown.

  Felecia knew the drill. So long as she sat quietly where they’d put her with the bag over her head and restraints binding wrists and ankles nothing more would happen to her. She’d gotten smacked across the face once. That had been enough to wake her up to the reality.

  Somehow her father’s men had fooled Evan’s people into believing they were the FBI.

  This must be what they’d meant when they said there was a mole working on their Task Force somewhere. It was the only way this made sense. Why else would Evan’s team stand back and watch her be taken away?

  Which meant they’d expected her to go with the FBI willingly or not.

  The team wasn’t her concern right now. She’d have to figure out who to be angry at later.

  Her father and these rogue SEALs were doing something. What she didn’t know, but it was the only thing that made sense.

  The van came to an abrupt stop.

  She strained to listen, to hear the idling of other vehicles that meant they were at a stop sign or a red light.

  Nothing.

  Just—silence.

  The engine died.

  What was going to happen to her now?

  Dad would kill her. She’d brought people to his secret place, the spot where he hid all the most important documents. The things that could bury him.

  Now she knew she wasn’t his last scrap of family left on this earth. He had a whole other family tucked away waiting for him. She was just the scraps. The leftovers.

  Hands grasped her arms.

  Cold steel pressed against her ankle then split the bonds.

  She briefly considered fighting back, but what was the point?

  There were too many of them and she had no idea how to get out. It was time to wait, watch and plan.

  She let them guide her out of the van, one on either side.

  They only spoke English. No accents.

  Were these her father’s men? Or were they the Horseman’s? Was it possible her dad had a whole team of people here she knew nothing about?

  Yet more things he’d potentially kept from her.

  Footsteps echoed.

  The space was large. The air cooled her skin. They were inside somewhere, which was how Dad liked to do things.

  “Get that off her head.”

  She froze.

  The words were heavily accented and familiar.

  A hand grasped the bag covering her and pulled, taking some of her hair with it. She winced and squinted as bright lights momentarily blinded her. She blinked rapidly, banishing the spots from her vision and stared back at her father.

  His dark salt and pepper hair was gelled into place as normal. But that was where the familiarity ended. She no longer knew this man. He’d kept so many things from her.

  She shifted her weight a bit.

  Why hadn’t he yelled at her? He always did that so very well. Why was he just looking at her? Was he trying to decide how to kill her?

  She’d betrayed him to save herself. He would kill her. He had to. There was no other option. Besides, it wasn’t like he needed her for anything. She was fairly certain he didn’t even like her.

  Felecia straightened her spine and glared back at him. She would not beg. She wouldn’t fight with him. He had all the power. He always had. She’d made the best choices she could at every turn, and they’d led her right back to him.

  He would kill her and she’d never see Evan again.

  That made her heart twinge and for a moment her lower lip quivered.

  Evan. The man she vastly underestimated. The one who’d wormed his way into her heart. She didn’t deserve him, but she’d been grateful to him. For everything.

  At least he wouldn’t have to make good on his impossible promises.

  No one could help her.

  More footsteps echoed in the cavernous space. A staccato tapping, like that of a woman’s shoe.

  Felecia’s body went cold. She’d resigned herself to her father’s judgement, but what she felt for the woman who’d been her mother was something else entirely.

  She turned her head and watched a graceful woman come closer. She wore low heels, slacks and a blouse all in the same boring cream and beige. All the life was straightened out of her dark hair. It was enough to make her look like a completely different person.

  This person, this Karen, she wasn’t Felecia’s mother.

  Felecia drew herself up as tall as she could make herself and turned to face her father. “I’m ready for my cell, Dad. Better hurry before I try to run away again.”

  “Your mother wants—”

  “That woman is not my mother.”

  Karen stopped several paces away.

  “It’s Felecia now, right?” he asked. One hand rose to slid across the generous stubble at his jaw.

  She sighed. He was always going to find out. “Yes. Felecia. I liked the sound of it.”

  “Felecia, you don’t get to pick your parents—”

  She pitched her voice louder, wanting this Karen to hear. “You’re right. I don’t. Too bad my mother died years ago.”

  “You’re being foolish,” her father spat.”

  “Am I?” Felecia arched a brow at him. “I’m the fool who believed what you said.”

  Anger flashed in his eyes. “What I let you believe for your own safety.”

  Felecia shook her head. Her own safety? When had that ever been his concern?

  Her father’s gaze narrowed and one side of his mouth screwed up. He waved at the men and they guided her none too gently away from the couple.

  Felecia did her best to keep her back straight as she was marched into the depths of the building. It took everything she had to not touch the bracelet Evan had given her during the flight. So long as she had that he could find her. Or at least her body. Felecia didn’t think she’d be alive much longer. Not if the coldness in her father’s gaze meant anything.

  The deeper they went into the building the more obvious its regular use became.

  Then came the cells.

  They were proper ones with metal grate welded to form holding cells. Her guards shoved her in one and locked the door.

  Felecia sank down on the edge of a narrow bed, her knees shaking.

  That woman. She’d been there. Almost close enough to see. To smell. To touch.

  Felecia grabbed the thin pillow and clutched it to her aching chest.

  She wanted Evan. She wanted his strong arms to hold her, to tell her it would be okay somehow, someway. But the best he might find now was a corpse. She just hoped her dead body led them straight to the old bastard.

  A slow tap penetrated the fog of sorrow.

  Felecia’s head snapped up and she stared through the metal grate at Karen watching her.

  Evan had said they looked just alike. Dad used to say she was her mother’s carbon copy. Felecia used to want to be just like her, so beautiful, funny, poised. Never in her wildest dreams would she have imagined her sweet mother was capable of being so heartless.

  Felecia turned her back on the woman and stretched out on the cot. Th
e fact that Karen got to wander around free, that she knew all of Dad’s secrets, told Felecia all she needed to know about the lay of the land.

  18.

  Wednesday. Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Austin, Texas.

  Caleb pushed his sunglasses up his nose and glanced around the airstrip.

  He’d never intended to come back to his home state. Hell, he’d been content to never set foot in the country again. Yet, here he was.

  They’d moved as quickly as they could to stay on their target’s tail, but that still meant they were hours behind. Add to that they’d been forced to take smaller air crafts and travel in shorter leaps to skirt the TSA and customs and they were all running on frayed nerves.

  Their people sent to pick the girl up in Amsterdam were dead. If it weren’t for Skilton coming through with leads for them Caleb was half afraid they would have been left twiddling their thumbs.

  He glanced over his shoulder at Bodhi and Ramon.

  Neither were talking to him.

  Caleb didn’t want to be in charge. He’d just answered the phone. That was all he’d done, and now somehow he’d wound up on the hook for everything they did.

  “Caleb?” A man wearing grease stained clothing stepped in front of him.

  “Yeah.” Caleb looked the man over, committing him to memory.

  “Here.” The man handed him a toolbox. “Your ride’s on the other side of this fence.”

  Caleb peered around a pile of crates. The chain-link fence had a noticeable hole cut through it.

  Who was this man? How had he known where they’d be?

  Before, Caleb had always assumed Kurt lined these things up. But had he? Or was he, too, dancing on the strings for Skilton?

  The man nodded and strode past Caleb.

  A ringing made the toolbox echo oddly.

  “Shit,” he muttered and hustled around to the other side of the crates and out of sight.

  He pulled the phone out and looked at the display. He didn’t know the number, but he was willing to bet money who it was.

  “Hello?”

  “Caleb. You’re in Texas. Good,” Skilton said.

  “Yeah.” Caleb glanced over his shoulder as Bodhi, Ramon and the others followed at a short distance.

  “Good, I have updates for you. You and your men need to move fast.”

  “I’m listening…”

  If only Caleb’s stomach didn’t knot up at the idea of what they were going to do. He had a bad feeling about this.

  Wednesday. Old meat packing plant. Austin, Texas.

  Evan sat shotgun in the SUV staring through binoculars at the large building. For a business that had been defunct for over a decade, the facility was nice.

  Who was Obran working with? Who were these people?

  “You are not going to keep ignoring me,” Kelsey grumbled.

  It was just the two of them in the SUV. The others all had jobs to do scouting the area. Evan was fairly certain he was being punished stuck in here with Kelsey. Or maybe she was being punished. He wasn’t sure who had pissed Logan off more.

  “You are a pig headed, stubborn man,” Kelsey said and shifted behind the wheel. “I agreed we needed to help her, but running off on our own would have been suicide. Don’t you see we need the others?”

  Evan could admit to himself that rescuing Felecia would take more than two people. But he’d trusted Kelsey with his plan and she’d gone off to Logan the moment things calmed down. Which Evan didn’t entirely understand. Logan seemed to rub Kelsey the wrong way and she actively avoided their Team Leader. So why had she gone to tattle on Evan?

  He couldn’t trust anyone on this God damn team anymore.

  He knew it for the lie the moment the thought solidified. Still, there was a breach of trust. They’d all known the FBI was going to arrest Felecia and they’d kept it from him. After everything she’d done, the trust she’d shown them, this was how they repaid her?

  She shouldn’t help them anymore.

  If he got her out of there he’d take her away from all this and damn the consequences. He’d give her all the cash he could and tell her to go. Find somewhere to have the life she wanted.

  It would mean never seeing her again. The idea of not losing himself in her eyes or making her laugh brought on a profound sense of loss. He’d felt a kinship with Felecia. One he hadn’t expected to find.

  Nothing could happen between them that would last. He knew that. Whatever came next for her after they arrested her father was likely a world away from here. Somewhere she’d be free to become the woman she wanted to be.

  He wished he could see that. Felecia was strong, resilient, and under it all she was still kind.

  “Men. You’re all so obnoxious. You need the team.” Kelsey had twisted to face him now. “You need us. And so does she.”

  Evan turned his head and stared at Kelsey finally. “Does she need the people she trusts betraying her? Again?”

  “There are processes and procedures, Evan. She has to go through them.”

  “Zora doesn’t want to help her. No one does, except me.”

  “Hey. I want what’s best for her, too.”

  “Then why the hell did you tell Logan?”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “Because you’re in a man-rage, your boxers all bunched up and you’re going to do something stupid.”

  “I am not—”

  Evan’s door opened and Logan leaned in. “I think we found our way in. Come on.”

  Logan turned, confident they’d follow, and headed off toward the hood of the other SUV where the others had gathered.

  “You are, too,” Kelsey whispered before sliding out of the driver’s seat.

  Evan grit his teeth.

  The woman was ten kinds of frustrating when she wanted to be.

  He got out and joined the others. A tablet lay on the hood showing cell pictures. Since they weren’t calling in the Task Force, they had to operate using the tools at their disposal.

  “This entrance seems to be the least guarded point.” Logan tapped the screen. “We will have to do a fast approach. They’ll see us coming, so we need to hit them hard as soon as possible. Now, I want each of us leading a team—”

  Evan held up his hand.

  Please let him have heard wrong…

  “Wait. Leading a team?” He stared Logan in the eye.

  Logan braced his hands on the hood of the SUV. “Yes. I’ve coordinated with Zora, who is on her way here, and a sizeable support team from the FBI should be arriving soon.”

  Evan shook his head. “Felecia is never going to trust you again.”

  “With any luck, we won’t need to rely on her trust. Not if everything she said is in this building.”

  “When did we stop worrying about the little people? What was good for everyone? When did we start just taking orders?” Evan had followed Logan into some scary shit, out of trust. Because they’d all believed the same thing. Everyone deserved to be saved. But they were losing sight of that.

  “You think it’s in Felecia’s best interest to stay in there? You think her dear, old dad gave her a big hug and a welcome home?” Logan stared right back at him. “We are saving her and if you’d pull your head out of your ass, you’d see that. Stop thinking with your dick, man.”

  “She wouldn’t be in there if it weren’t for you, so don’t try to say you’re only looking out for her. You’re just doing the job, I know, but… This isn’t what we signed on for. We saw that in New York and we’re seeing it again here. I know we agreed that whatever Zora’s working us toward has to be some bad shit, but what’s the point if we trample people on our way to saving others?”

  “I hear you,” Logan said. “I hear you and I don’t like Zora’s methods. But this is the job. We know our rules. Felecia can’t just get a ticket to a new life without being put through the wringer. That’s not how things work. You more than anyone should know that.”

  Evan grimaced. He’d been a kid when they immi
grated. The process hadn’t really touched him, though he had vague recollections from his childhood of his parents jumping through hoops to stay in the country.

  And now Felecia would have to do the same. But he doubted it would be as easy for her. And what would happen in the interim? Who, besides him, would look out for her?

  “I’m listening,” Evan said.

  He’d work with what he had, but he was going to be there for Felecia. Zora couldn’t stop him.

  Felecia wished she could have dozed. It would have made this silly stand-off easier. Instead, she lay on the cot with its thin pillow and couldn’t focus beyond the pair of eyes she knew was staring at her.

  Her mother hadn’t moved in however long Felecia had lain there. No one spoke. They just shared the space. Felecia locked up. Her mother—no, Karen—free to stand there watching.

  That woman was not her mother.

  Felecia closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. Sleep wouldn’t be a terrible idea. She needed some. This was likely her best chance to get it, so why not take advantage?

  She’d just found a comfortable spot when the first tap of a shoe punctured the stillness.

  Felecia’s eyes popped open and she listened to another footstep, then another.

  Karen was coming closer.

  “I didn’t have a choice,” Karen said softly. “It seems like I say that a lot, but maybe someday you’ll fall in love and understand. I’ve never really had a choice. The moment I met your father it was…magic. He wasn’t anything I thought I wanted, but he was everything I needed. I fell under his spell. I‘m still under it in many ways.”

  Felecia stopped breathing for fear she’d miss a word.

  Dad never spoke of mother, their relationship, how they’d met. None of it. And with Mom gone, her only window into that world was Karen.

  “When I found out I was pregnant, I wanted to run away with you and the baby. I even packed our bags. I was going to go, but I wanted one more night with your father. That turned into two then three nights. After a week I knew I couldn’t do it. Then he found out I was pregnant and all the choices were taken away from me.” The voice was closer now. She had to be just on the other side of the metal grate.