Critical Intelligence

by Mandy M. Roth

  She let out a soft laugh. “I figured you’d be like every other man who knows what I do.”

  “Every? How many men have you dated?”

  “Roi.” The stern look she gave him shut him up.

  “What happened to a slice of normalcy?”

  Nodding, he hugged her tight. “Let’s eat.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “Captain, we’ve been waiting for this PSI agent for an hour. Is it safe to assume he ain’t coming? Because I’m hungry,” Wilson said, his feet perched on a tiny table. “And why the hell did we have to come here? The briefing room back at headquarters is more comfortable and I didn’t have to drive a half hour out of my way. Can someone tell me why we even have more than one building anyway? There’s five of us. We don’t take up that much room.”

  Roi stood silently with his arms folded as he leaned against one of I-Ops’s many training room walls. He didn’t want to be here any more than Wilson did. He wanted to be out tracking Missy. When he’d woken to find her gone, he could barely breathe. If Lukian and the others hadn’t shown up to collect him, he’d still be searching for her.

  “Wilson, I just friggin’ talked to the colonel less than fifteen minutes ago. And I told you that he said we have to stay put, that something had come up but the agent would still be here.”

  “If he’s not here in five minutes, I’m fucking leaving,” Roi said, daring Lukian to tell him different.

  “Roi, we all promised to help you look for your mate the minute we get this out of the way. She left on her own accord, so we’ll continue to operate under the assumption that she’s fine.”

  Roi was about to comment when the double doors to the room opened. Two men walked through them. The first, a tall man with wide shoulders and a build that could rival Roi’s, looked to be in his late thirties but smelled centuries older than that. Picking up the scent of a lion, Roi uncrossed his arms and stood tall. The second he looked at the man with the werelion, he lunged forward.

  “You son of a bitch! Tell me where she is now!” Roi yelled as he went for Eadan.

  Lukian and Green were suddenly in front of him, seizing hold of him and pinning him in place. “Calm down, brother, and tell us what’s going on.”

  “Blondie is Melanie’s brother, Eadan. Fuck if I know the lion.”

  The werelion laughed. “Well, Geoffroi Majors, you are mistaken. Our paths have crossed before.”

  “Why in the hell is Melanie’s brother here?” Green asked, loosening his grip momentarily before tightening it again.

  The werelion nodded toward Eadan. “He’s one of our operatives. He serves as a liaison between the Shadow Agents and myself.”

  “And you are?”

  The man looked at Lukian and smiled. “General Jack Newman.”

  Green gasped. “The Jack C. Newman. The Jack C. Newman that is the Director of Operations at PSI? The one rumored to have once taken on a legion of demons, alone, grossly outnumbered and with only a fork as a weapon, but in reality the fork was really a knife?”

  “One in the same,” said the general. “And yes, it was a knife. Good guess.”

  Lukian leaned forward and stared past Roi at Green. “How in the hell did you know if the fork was really a knife?”

  Wilson snorted. “Tell me you aren’t going to ask brainiac how he knows something. The man’s a book of useless knowledge. We’ll end up here for another hour listening to him ramble on. Roi’s sure to blow by then.”

  Jon smacked Wilson in the back of the head and stared at the general. “Excuse me, sir, but you look very familiar.”

  “I should. I’ve appeared at various times in your lives for decades, keeping up on what you’re all doing. I also attended Lance’s funeral. I’m sorry for your loss. We weren’t aware of the situation until after the fact.”

  Eadan’s face went hard and Roi couldn’t help but smile. “Hey Blondie, did you figure out what your little sister did with Lance yet?”

  “She signed her own death warrant, Major. It’s nice to see you smile when you remind me of that. I don’t personally find it amusing, but our tastes in humor clearly differ greatly.”

  Roi shook his head, suddenly feeling bad. “I’m not…umm, it’s not…”

  “What he’s trying to say is that he didn’t think before he spoke. Roi likes Melanie, and since he doesn’t care for too many people, that’s a big step,” Lukian said, squeezing his arm tight. “He loves Melissa and doesn’t want to see anyone she cares about suffer. Neither do the rest of us.”

  Roi locked eyes with Eadan and saw the anger in them.

  The general took a step forward and gave Roi a questioning look. “Is what Lukian said true? Do you love Melissa?”

  That was an odd question coming from the head of the PSI.

  “Hmm,” Wilson mused. “It only took the four of us and a tranquilizer gun to get him here today. He was adamant that he was going to find Missy come hell or high water. You’re welcome to check Jon. He’s got two more bottles of the stuff that makes Roi pass out for about fifteen minutes, just in case he tried to bolt to get to her again while we were waiting for Blondie here. The shit is powerful enough to take down ten shifters, but it barely fazes the psycho.”

  “I see. Do you behave this way for every woman who comes into your life?” The general kept his eyes firmly locked on Roi.

  Wilson almost fell out of his chair laughing. “Ohmygod, that’s good! Roi can’t even remember a girl’s name the next morning. Hell, normally he has them home before the night is even over. The fact that the man not only started tripping over his own two feet the moment he first met her, but then tied himself to her for eternity should answer that for you.”

  The general arched a sandy-blond brow. “Did you claim Melissa? More importantly, did she claim you as well?”

  “Sir, I don’t see how this is relevant to…” Jon fell silent as the general put his hand up.

  Roi stood tall and nodded. “Yes, I claimed her, and yes, she claimed me as well.”

  A slow smile splayed across the general’s face. “Right then, let’s get down to business.”

  Growling, Roi went to go after the general only to find Lukian and Green jerking him backward. “The only business we’re going to discuss is you ordering my wife to be interrogated. That’s the only thing we’re discussing. You can take your blond little sidekick and shove him up your ancient ass. I don’t care how whatever Missy is mixed up in looks. She’s not working for the other side and I’ll fucking kill anyone who touches her or claims different. She told me to get in touch with you. Except you’re fucking impossible to get in touch with, then you show up here with pretty boy and a damned smile on your face. I’m going to rip your goddamn—”

  Green leaned into him. “Umm, Roi, stop threatening the head of PSI.”

  “I don’t give a rat’s ass if he’s a god. He will not subject my wife to his henchmen and he will not lay one damned finger on her. I’ll rip the thing off and cram it—”

  Eadan snickered. “If you’re done, Majors. The general didn’t order the investigation into Missy. The man who did has been dealt with.”

  “Dealt with?” Lukian asked.

  The general nodded. “Yes, Lukian. He’s dead. I handled it myself. I also handled two others who were aiding him, and have come to watch the rest of the men involved in that die.”

  “Why would you come here for that?” Green asked.

  “Because when your colonel called PSI wanting to know where the agent I promised was, my instincts told me that the rest of the men I was after were already here.”

  Lukian stiffened. “Oh shit, they’ve got your agent in here, don’t they?”

  All of the Ops looked at each other. Roi knew what they were thinking. They wanted to know how they could have missed that.

  Nodding, the general stared at Roi and sighed. “I hate to ask you to do this, son, but I need you to mask your scent and keep it masked until I tell you it’s safe to stop. This is a matter of l
ife and death. Any slip-up will result in the death of the agent.”

  Son? Did he just call me son?

  Confused, Roi masked his scent and stared at the general.

  “Thank you,” he said, glancing at Lukian and Green. “You can let go of him. Eadan will handle holding him back from here on out.”

  Roi, Green, and Lukian chuckled.

  Eadan rolled his eyes and flicked his wrists. Suddenly, it felt as though someone had shackled Roi to a brick wall. The sly smile Eadan cast in Roi’s direction made Roi want to kick the shit out of him even more. As though that was even possible.

  “Very good. Now, as far as the rest of you go, you are not to interfere regardless of what you see happening. While this was unexpected and makes me want to peel the skin from each and every man participating in this, it’s necessary to prove the agent’s competency and loyalty. Trust me when I say that it will come into question. My guess is, it already has. And trust me when I say that this is harder for me to deal with than any of you.”

  Lukian looked at Roi as his brow furrowed. Roi shrugged. He was as lost as the rest of them.

  “Wilson, I presume you know which button on the panel will open the wall to give us a view of the interrogation chamber. And we’ll need you to hit the audio button. Do not allow for two-way communication just yet. In the event of an emergency, Eadan can direct link to the agent,” said the general.

  Wilson glanced at Lukian and waited to see what he should do. Lukian nodded and Wilson went to the wall panel. He hit the button and the wall began to retract slowly, revealing a two-way mirror.

  “Gentleman, meet the agent you will be aiding,” the general said.

  It took a second for Roi’s mind to register what his eyes were seeing. The room was full of supernatural muscle. In the center of the room was a tiny waif of nothing strapped to a chair with her head down. “Melissa!”

  Roi fought with all his might to break free of the Fae’s hold on him but made no headway. He watched in horror as a man punched Missy across the face hard, snapping her head back and making blood flow from her mouth.

  Instantly, the rest of the I-Ops went to aid her. Eadan put his hand out and pinned them all in place. “I know it’s hard to watch but you need to know you can trust her. The things she’ll do and say and the people that she’ll call friends will make you think she’s playing for the other team. She’s not. None of you can question that or you’ll get her killed.”

  Roi watched helplessly as another man approached Missy. The bowie knife he held seemed to reflect the light of the room and make Roi’s gut tighten. “Let me go,” he said in a low rumble.

  “Roi, if she senses you, she’ll worry about you and not her own life. That’s why they were able to inject her earlier with the chemical they did. She’d been too focused on keeping you safe to worry about herself.”

  For a split second all eyes went to Eadan. Wilson laughed. “Blondie, no one needs to worry about Roi’s safety. He’s a ruthless bastard when he needs to be and an asshole the rest of the time. Hell, sometimes he’s both.”

  The general stared at Wilson. “Yes, but has Melissa ever seen him in true battle form? She knows that one I-Op died less than two weeks ago. She understands that you are not as immortal as she once believed you were. Can you see why she’d worry?”

  Jon gasped and Roi looked at the two-way mirror. When he saw the man with the knife taking it and dragging it down the arm of Missy’s black turtleneck, his body stiffened. The minute blood began to drip to the floor, Roi growled out. “Let me go! I trust her. Hell, I’m so in love with her I can’t fucking see straight. Let go of me. I need to go to her. I can’t just stand here. She needs me!”

  General Newman gave him a slight nod. “I understand, son. Trust me. I do. But who is the first person the enemy will attack to distract all of you?”

  “Melissa,” Lukian answered softly. “We can’t take her with us.”

  Eadan laughed. “Excuse me, but the I-Ops were brought in to go with her, not the other way around. Either you accept that or she goes in alone, again.”

  They all gasped.

  Missy cried out, the sound filling the room through the speakers in the wall.

  The man with the knife dragged it down her arm again. “Tell me how it is that you can heal this so fast.”

  Roi wanted to kill him. He would kill him. No one harmed his wife. Ever.

  Missy mumbled something that Roi couldn’t make out. The man apparently had the same problem because he leaned in closer. “What?”

  “I don’t know.”

  The man slashed out fast and caught her cheek, slicing it open. Missy winced and closed her eyes, clearly in pain. A second later, the wound was healing before their very eyes. That amazed everyone, including Roi.

  “Tell us how you know so much about the enemy and this will stop.”

  Missy just stared at the man as tears streaked down her face. Her lip quivered and Roi wanted to hold her close while he killed the bastards who dared to do this to her.

  “Sir, she’s hardly competent to be in the field. She’s sitting there in tears. She’s not doing anything,” Jon said.

  Eadan let out a soft chuckle. “And what would you do while you’re tied to a chair with silver-coated rope and surrounded by a team of men who are as powerful as you are?”

  “Kiss my ass good-bye.” Wilson shook his head and looked back at Roi with wide eyes. “Know that the minute that ass lets me go, I’m gutting him.”

  Roi’s nostrils flared. “Only if you beat me to him.”

  Lukian growled. “I agree with Jon. Get her the hell out of there. She can’t possibly defend herself. We’d have trouble defending ourselves in that situation.”

  General Newman cast him a wary look. “Melissa is more than capable of defending herself. She’s just sitting there because she believes these men are on the level, that they’re loyal to PSI. She’s not permitted to reveal her status to anyone lower than her. To do so could expose her to the enemy and alert them that a new wave of hell is coming at them.”

  “Wait,” Green said, trying to move forward. “You mean to tell us that she’s taking the torture and will continue to take it until she’s told otherwise?”

  The general nodded.

  “They’ll kill her at this rate,” Lukian said.

  “If it comes down to that, Melissa will not fight back.”

  Missy cried out again as another man punched her with a clawed fist, ripping her neck and jaw open. Roi fought to keep from vomiting.

  “She’s only carrying cat breed DNA. She can’t heal…” Green’s protest was cut short when they all watched Missy heal the wounds. “How?”

  General Newman locked eyes with Roi. “Geoffroi, you and Green have known Missy longer than I have. You met her when she was just a baby still.”

  “Huh?”

  “Throughout the years, you have all assured the safety of the supernatural children and also human ones as well when you happened upon them while on assignment. Even when your objective was to get in and get out unseen, you have all ignored that to aid a child.” The general didn’t look away from Roi. “About twenty, twenty-five years ago, one of you sensed something a moment before the demolition charges you had all planted on a known paranormal hot bed in Asia were to go off. You, Roi, ran into the building without any concern for yourself. You found a…”

  Roi’s stomach dropped as he ran the countless times of seeing children to safety through his mind. The second he landed on the memory of the demolition day, he gasped. “Ohmygod, I found a little girl, she was pushing two at the time and in a,” his brow furrowed, “cage.”

  General Newman nodded. “Yes, I read that in your report. I also read that she was so incredibly sick that she couldn’t lift her head. At the time, none of you were sure what was wrong with her. It’s come to light since then that they were continuing to inject her with were DNA because of her inability to shift forms.”

  Green choked back a sob. �
�When Roi pulled her out, he refused to give her to me to examine at first. We cleared the area, the building blew, and after Lukian spent an hour promising we’d take her back to the States with us instead of depositing her at a local hospital, Roi finally let me look at her. The minute she was separated from him, she cried and bit me hard enough to draw blood.”

  Green’s face paled. “That’s why the strand of panther in Melissa is identical to mine. They had her on so many synthetic drugs, that the minute my blood entered her system, she absorbed its genetic traits.”

  General Newman nodded. “Yes. And the reason she can heal lycan-inflicted wounds is because…”

  Lukian stared at Roi. “Because Roi put his saliva on his fingertips and placed them over the open sores she had on her upper arms to help her heal them.”

  “Yes, that was the spot they’d been administering her injections. We still aren’t sure how she picked up Green’s DNA and not Roi’s, but we assume that your saliva did trigger the ability to heal lycan wounds.”

  Roi couldn’t breathe as he watched his wife take another punch, this one to the chest. Images of her as a baby flashed through his mind. Something about her had demanded that he protect her and see her to safety beyond what he would normally do. “I called her doll baby because she was so tiny, so perfect, and so…”

  “Amazing,” the general said. “Yes, I know. When you had to leave on your next assignment, she was placed in a good home. And she grew up not only remembering the team of men who could do amazing things, but obsessed with finding them. Melissa didn’t understand the burning need to locate the group of men who were thought of as only a myth. But she wouldn’t stop looking. She had one man in particular in mind in her search.”

  “She was driven because deep down she knew the minute Roi picked her up that they were destined to be together,” Lukian said, sounding as astonished as Roi felt. “And that explains why we had to sedate Roi to get him to leave PSI’s infirmary to come on assignment with us. He didn’t want to leave her when she was a baby.”