Athena Force: Books 1-6

by Justine Davis, Amy J. Fetzer, Katherine Garbera, Meredith Fletcher, Catherine Mann

  “You were right about Lab 33,” Dawn said abruptly. “I’m a part of Lab 33. I was raised there, trained there. The only family I’ve ever known was my uncle.” Her face tightened at the mention of her uncle.

  “He took care of you,” Kayla suggested.

  Dawn nodded. “He taught me everything I know.”

  How to seek, Kayla surmised, how to kill.

  “What can you tell us about what goes on at Lab 33?” Alex ventured.

  “Whatever others can’t or won’t do, haven’t thought of or wished they could accomplish, that’s what Lab 33 does.” She mentioned the technology her faux uncle had created, how he’d used it to mimic sudden lapses into deep sleep, as he’d done with Rainy…with each of them to serve his needs.

  “Why are you telling us this?” Alex asked, her tone openly cautious.

  “At first I wanted to kill all of you.” She looked from Alex to Justin to Kayla and back. “The others as well.” Kayla guessed that she meant Darcy, Josie, Tory and Sam. “But then I overheard some of your discussions about what Bradford had been up to. I never trusted him. Or Reagan. As you guessed, Lab 33 destroyed his files.” She took a moment to consider what she would say next. “When you told me that Rainy Carrington was my mother, I knew I had to learn the whole truth.” This she said to Kayla. “I decided to do whatever necessary to…know everything.”

  Kayla’s heart threatened to jump out of her chest. She didn’t want to risk spooking the young woman. She’d already run from Kayla twice. But she had to take a chance.

  “I want to show you some pictures.” Kayla got to her feet and crossed the room to remove an old, tattered photo album from a bookshelf. She offered it to Dawn. “Your mother is in there. Look at her and then think about what Bradford and Craig did to her.”

  Kayla and Alex exchanged anxious looks as Dawn pored over page after page. When she’d reached the end she tossed the album onto the nearest chair, seemingly indifferent.

  “She’s dead. I’ll never know her.”

  Dawn made the statement with such cold, clinical objectivity that Kayla shivered. What had Bradford and Reagan created here? She was beautiful, extremely intelligent and capable. But where were the emotions?

  “There’s only one thing I want to know.” She looked directly at Kayla then. “Tell me who my father is.”

  Another of those worried exchanges passed between Kayla and Alex.

  “Dawn,” Alex began, “I think it would be best for all involved if we started an investigation into Lab 33. The Bureau could see that you’re placed into protective custody.”

  “I don’t need protecting,” Dawn said, her tone nothing short of lethal. Tension started to radiate from her like the summer heat rising off the rocks in the desert.

  “Why do you want to know?” Justin looked squarely at her. As an agent he’d certainly had extensive training in detecting deceit as well as refocusing negotiations about to go wrong.

  “Because I have the right to know.”

  “You wouldn’t want to harm him,” Alex countered.

  “No.” The single word was cram-packed with frustration.

  Kayla held up her hands for everyone to stop. “Let’s remember that we’re all on the same side here, right?” She looked to Dawn for confirmation.

  After about ten seconds she finally nodded. “I want to take care of Lab 33 myself. You have no idea what you’d be dealing with.” She looked at each one in turn. “You and all your resources couldn’t do what has to be done. You can’t possibly comprehend what you’d be up against. I can handle it. I’m in deep. Clear for full access. I can destroy Lab 33.”

  A new kind of anticipation fizzed inside Kayla. “They’re doing more experimenting like what they did to Rainy.”

  Dawn scoffed. “Far worse. That was only scratching the surface.”

  Kayla had to know. “Does what they do still involve Athena Academy?”

  Dawn shook her head. “That was Bradford and Reagan’s game. Lab 33 has many, many resources. Their reach is mind-boggling.”

  “Then how do you propose,” Alex wanted to know, clearly skeptical, “to bring them down single-handedly?”

  “Trust me,” Dawn said flatly. “I can’t offer you anything more than that.”

  The silence thickened for another pulse-pounding minute.

  “And you’ll keep us in the loop,” Kayla pressed for some sort of guarantee.

  Dawn considered Kayla for a time before responding. “You keep your knowledge of me under wraps and I’ll see that you know what I know. I can’t risk my cover being blown. Today was too close.”

  Kayla knew she meant the shooting. “I’ll handle that. It was a justified shooting. If you hadn’t shot him he would have killed my daughter and me. Even if you were forced to go to trial no jury would ever convict you of murder or even manslaughter for what happened today. Any D.A. worth his salt wouldn’t even pursue charges.”

  “You keep up your end of this bargain and I’ll keep up mine.”

  Kayla looked to Alex for agreement. She nodded.

  “But I’ll require a good faith gesture,” Dawn went on. “Since you have nothing to lose and I have everything including my life on the line, I need some amount of proof that you’re going to trust me.”

  “What is it you require?” Alex didn’t bother beating around the bush.

  “The name of my biological father.”

  “There’s only one way to confirm he’s your father,” Kayla put in. “DNA testing.”

  “But you know who he is,” Dawn argued.

  “We know who we think he is,” Alex clarified.

  Dawn’s expression reflected her impatience.

  “Thomas King,” Justin relented. “Navy SEAL Thomas King. He’s a highly decorated hero.”

  Dawn took a step back, her eyes widening. She looked shocked. Kayla wondered if Dawn had been part of the team sent to eliminate King and Tory when Tory had gone to interview the Navy SEAL after his surprise rescue in the volatile Central American country of Puerto Isla. Tory had mentioned a blond female sniper who’d shot at them…but she’d also said the sniper had died. Perhaps Tory was wrong. If Dawn had been that sniper, it just made the Cassandras’ case stronger in Dawn’s eyes. She hoped.

  Dawn went to the table where Kayla’s answering machine sat. She jotted something onto the message pad there. “If you need to contact me leave a word at this number.” She turned back to the Kayla, Alex and Justin. “Don’t do anything that will jeopardize my cover. Forget I exist for now.”

  When she would have disappeared the same way she’d come, Kayla stopped her with a question. “How will we know you’re safe?”

  Dawn turned back to her, those gold-green eyes glimmering with a knowing quality. “Don’t worry about me, I’m pretty much kill-proof.”

  “If you need us we’re here,” Kayla said. She moistened her lips, sucked in a breath. “That’s a promise.”

  For a seemingly endless beat Dawn stood there, her eyes full of uncertainty. And then she was gone.

  For a long time, no one spoke. Then….

  “What if we never see her again?”

  Kayla shook her head. She had no answer for Alex’s question. Dawn O’Shaughnessy was a complete mystery. “If she’s anything like her mother, she’ll keep her end of that bargain.”

  Alex suddenly pulled Kayla into her arms for a hug. “It’s almost over.” She drew back. Her usually cool exterior was not so cool now. “We’re on the verge of bringing this whole empire of evil crashing down.”

  Kayla tried to work up more enthusiasm. She felt utterly drained. “We still don’t know exactly who is behind all that’s happened.”

  “But we’re getting closer. With Dawn’s help we’ll get there.”

  Justin walked over to the two of them and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. “I don’t know about you two but I think it’s time we ordered some dinner. We’ve got a lot to discuss. People to call.”

  He was right. She a
nd Alex had to pull themselves together…had to follow through on their pact. The other Cassandras had to be updated on the situation. An agreed-upon strategy for their new role in this continuing investigation—the wait-and-see role.

  Kayla couldn’t have agreed more on the dinner suggestion as well. And she knew just the place to go.

  Her kitchen. There was nothing else on the planet like Ryan cuisine.

  Chapter 14

  “I don’t think he’s coming out.”

  No kidding. That was just swell. Kayla flattened against the wall next to the front door of the subject house. Her partner had taken up a position on the opposite side.

  “It’s Christmas Eve, dammit,” she muttered. “Don’t these people have presents to open or something?”

  Jim shrugged. “Beats the hell outta me.”

  Perfect.

  Here it was 6:30 on Christmas Eve night, her folks were already gathering for Kismus and she was stuck trying to defuse a domestic disturbance.

  “Maybe he had a little too much eggnog,” Jim joked.

  From the shouts going on just the other side of that door, she felt relatively sure he’d had a little too much something.

  “Let’s give it another try.” Kayla whipped around, kicked the hell out of the bottom of the door in an effort to make herself heard over the ruckus. “Open up! Sheriff’s Department!”

  She flattened against the wall next to the door once more in case the guy bellowing inside decided to shoot first and ask questions later.

  The abrupt silence inside the house had her and Jim exchanging skeptical looks.

  “Who the hell is it?” the husband of the woman who’d called in the complaint roared through the door.

  “Santa,” Jim muttered under his breath.

  Kayla had to laugh. She stifled the hysteria and shouted, “Sheriff’s Department, open up, Mr. Mitchell.”

  The door jerked inward and a mountain of a man towered in the open doorway. He appeared unarmed so Kayla took the lead. Jim moved up beside her, his hand resting on his sidearm.

  “We received a complaint about the noise, sir,” Kayla said with all the politeness she could muster for a guy wearing a wife-beater T-shirt and swizzling a can of beer while he waited for her to answer. His eyes, red-streaked from his alcohol binge, resembled road maps.

  He gulped down the last of the beer in his can then crushed it in his fist. “What noise?” Two days’ beard growth and a greasy mop of tousled hair suggested that hygiene was not a priority.

  “Sir, my partner and I heard you ranting at someone inside. May we speak with your wife?”

  He threw down the damaged can. “What the hell for? Did that bitch call you?”

  Not good. Kayla stepped closer to the door. “I’m sure your wife wasn’t involved with the complaint, sir, we’d just like to speak with her.”

  “Well, come on in then.” The big burly ape suddenly grabbed Kayla by the shirtfront and jerked her inside.

  Oh, hell was her first thought. I’m gonna have to hurt this guy her second.

  She didn’t want to shoot him. She’d only just gotten squared away after the last two shootings.

  “Release my partner and put your hands up, Mr. Mitchell.”

  Ignoring Jim, the gorilla slammed Kayla against the closest wall. “She look okay to you?” He jerked his head toward his wife.

  Shit. Kayla’s hopes of getting through this without excessive force withered and died at the sight of Jim leveling his weapon on the brute who’d pinned her to the wall.

  “Look at her,” Mitchell repeated. “Don’t she look just fine?”

  Kayla glanced toward the sofa where a woman, midthirties maybe, sat. Her eyes were wide with fear. Her long brown hair disheveled. There were no obvious bruises, but that didn’t mean a thing.

  “Let go of me, sir, and we’ll get this cleared up.”

  “You women,” he snarled, “you think you can treat us guys any way you want to and we’re supposed to put up with it without a fight just because you’re women.” He glanced at his wife. “Get me a beer, bitch.”

  Merry Christmas, Kayla mused.

  “Mr. Mitchell, I’m only going to ask you once more to release my partner.”

  Mitchell didn’t flinch, didn’t even bother glancing Jim’s way. “Bitches,” he muttered, then burped.

  Time was up. If Kayla didn’t do something quick Jim might just shoot this guy on principle.

  Kayla heaved a sigh. “You know what, Mr. Mitchell, you’re right.”

  He snickered. “Damn straight.”

  “We bitches,” she added, “just don’t know when we’ve got it made.”

  Mitchell laughed loudly. “Now that’s what I’m talking about.”

  At that exact instant Kayla drove her right knee into his unsuspecting balls.

  Big, bad Mr. Mitchell was suddenly on the floor howling in agony and curled into the fetal position.

  Jim winced. “Man, that had to hurt.”

  “Book him, Jim,” Kayla said, grinning from ear to ear.

  While her partner restrained the asshole on the floor she walked over to the sofa and sat down next to Mrs. Mitchell.

  “Ma’am, are you all right?”

  She nodded. Her hands were clasped tightly in her lap.

  “You’re sure?”

  She turned to Kayla then, tears spilling down her pale cheeks. “I’m glad you came so quickly.”

  Kayla placed a hand over hers. “That’s what we’re here for. Don’t ever hesitate to call for help when you need it.”

  The woman swiped at her eyes and let go a shaky breath. “I didn’t call you to help me,” she said, her gaze connecting to Kayla’s in a look that sent a new burst of adrenaline into Kayla’s bloodstream.

  “But he was hurting you? That’s why you called, right?”

  Mrs. Mitchell reached beneath the throw pillow next to her and withdrew a handgun. She offered it to Kayla, watched her accept it. “I’d decided to use it this time.” The woman’s gaze lifted back to Kayla’s. “I called you to save him. I wasn’t sure I could let him to do this to me again.”

  Kayla couldn’t decide what to say, except the necessary. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I’m going to have to bring you in as well for questioning. I hope you understand.”

  It was almost ten before Kayla and Jim headed back to their small Athens office. Mr. Mitchell was sleeping it off in county lockup and Mrs. Mitchell had been admitted to General for psychological observation.

  Dammit. Kayla’s family had probably given up on having her show up for dinner. Jazz would be intensely disappointed. She could imagine the whole clan of Ryans gathered around the table. Lights lining the driveway for welcoming the Christ child in celebration of the traditional Navajo Kismus. She was going to miss everything.

  Oh, well, one of the many hazards of the job.

  “Can you believe she was going to kill him?” Jim asked, dragging Kayla’s attention back to the interior of her Jeep.

  Kayla laughed dryly. “Sure looked that way.”

  “You’re positive you’re okay?” he asked, his tone somber.

  “I’m good.” She was a little shaken but she’d live.

  Every home in Athens was lit up with Christmas lights. Beautifully decorated trees glowed from the front windows and wreaths hung on the doors. ’Twas the season to be jolly. No point in being depressed.

  Kayla made the turn down Main Street toward the office. She had so much to be thankful for. Her daughter, her family. A great deal of the mystery behind Rainy’s murder and the egg mining had been solved. Dawn had promised to keep the Cassandras in the loop as she progressed in her own investigation. Hell, Kayla had even worked out visitation arrangements with Mike. She had every right to feel damn good about her life right now.

  “Kayla, there’s something I should tell you,” Jim said abruptly.

  She parked behind the office they used as a station house for the small sheriff’s department detachment here in Athens. “
Yeah, what?” She shook off the worry that immediately launched. “It’s Christmas Eve, don’t sound so ominous.” She’d had all the bad she wanted for one night, especially this night.

  “You know there’s a lot of talk around the community about incorporating.”

  Kayla shrugged. “Yeah, so?” The way Athens was growing she’d expected as much. The only thing that prevented the little community from becoming an incorporated city was the official steps.

  “You know that means a full city council and mayor.” He opened his door and got out. “The whole works.”

  Kayla emerged from the Jeep. She knew what he meant. “Which would include a city hall and city police force,” she said for him since he appeared to want to dance around that aspect.

  “Uh-huh,” he grunted.

  “We’ll still have our jobs.” She figured that’s what he was worried about. The sheriff would likely reallocate the assets used in Athens. Pinal County was a large, thriving area. It wasn’t like the two of them had to worry about being laid off. Athens had been her territory for a long time now, she would miss being so close to home and her daughter, but she couldn’t stop progress.

  “A couple people mentioned a candidate for police chief.”

  She reached for the rear door of the building that housed their small detachment, but hesitated. “Anyone we know?”

  “You.” His face split into a broad smile. “They want you, Kayla. The sheriff’s all for it.”

  Too stunned to speak, Kayla just shook her head. She jerked the door open and went inside, grappling with the unexpected news.

  She stopped and turned back to him as the door closed behind him. “That’s nuts. Why not you?”

  Jim gave her that look. The one that said don’t be stupid. “We both know who’s the best man for that job,” he told her bluntly. “I don’t have the finesse required. I’m not chief material.” His expression turned petulant. “But I do want to be your deputy chief.”

  Kayla had to laugh. “Okay, big guy. Consider it done. If, by some crazy stroke of fate, I’m asked to be chief of police when the time comes, I’ll make sure you’re my deputy.”

  The sound of a voice clearing jerked Kayla’s attention down the corridor to the lobby. She blinked, looked again. What the…?