CHAPTER
5
Dylan took Riley to dinner, and then instead of heading straight home, he took the route past the Adirondacks, telling the woman he planned on spending the rest of his life with that he had a quick errand to run.
Partial truth, and Riley was full and happy from dinner and wine, so she turned up the radio, put her feet up on the dashboard and didn’t question him. The truck strummed along the open road and his stomach tightened with the knowledge of what he was about to do.
He’d met Riley years earlier, when she’d been hired to kill him. Instead of holding it against her, he’d ended up in bed with her—and ultimately fell in love. Their road here hadn’t been easy, but after Riley had gotten herself into trouble again, she and Dylan had worked together, and they’d made their peace.
Since leaving Delta Force years earlier in order to do private contracting—akin to spy work but without the yoke of the CIA around his neck—Dylan had helped his friend Cam successfully leave the military behind and had finally gotten to a place with Riley where they were working with and not against each other.
She was as good at the spy game as he was.
This past year had seen an awful lot of things come together and some others fall apart for the group of men he considered friends. His best friend, Cam, had found love himself. Cam had saved a woman he’d fallen in love with on a mission. Her name was Skylar and she made Cam the happiest Dylan had ever seen him.
Dylan’s youngest brother, Zane, had also found love, with a doctor he’d saved from the clutches of a terrorist group after finding her in Sierra Leone and facing his own personal demons. And Dylan’s middle brother, Caleb, had suffered a devastating blow on a mission with his Delta team, which included Reid and Mace and Gray—lost a friend and teammate and most of his memory as well.
It had returned—along with a woman who loved him, Vivi—thanks to both her and Mace’s help.
Mace, another former Delta Force operative from Caleb’s team, had battled his own losses and helped Paige Grayson, the stepsister of their murdered teammate Gray. And he’d fallen in love with her.
Definitely a pattern there, with the men letting the torture of their souls go and finding love.
Cam and Sky had tied the knot months earlier, at Mace’s bar before the construction started. It had seemed fitting to give the place a happy memory before rebuilding. Now the bar it was in the middle of full-fledged construction, with the majority of the work being done by Caleb and Mace, since they needed to do all kinds of special security wiring. When Cam returned from his honeymoon, he’d moved in to help Mace, while Paige and Vivi moved into Sky and Cam’s house for the month, since their soon-to-be home was unlivable.
Vivi was thrilled to have access to Cam’s bank of computers and the three women bonded during the month-long sleepover. They also got closer to Riley, as she moved back and forth between Sky’s house and some jobs she needed to complete. And while the women hammered out their roles in this new organization, Dylan began to make some plans of his own.
The first party in the rebuilt bar would be Mace and Paige’s wedding. Mace had proposed soon after he’d rescued her from her from her biological brother—the man had escaped from prison, intent on killing her, and had almost done so, right in Mace’s bar. Mace and Reid and Caleb had all helped to save Paige. Now Mace wanted to wait until the construction was finished to christen the new bar with a happy memory, the same way they’d honored the old bar with one.
But just as things were settling into place, with Cam, Mace, Caleb, Kell and Reid all agreeing to work together with Dylan and Riley—taking charge of their own destinies and leaving the military behind—Dylan caught wind of some unsettling intel.
When Vivi mentioned that there had been action on their names, meaning that someone had been looking them up and actively searching for information on all of them, Dylan did some checking on his own. Although he wasn’t one hundred percent certain, he had an idea of who was behind the searches and he felt his past coming back to haunt him in a way he’d never worried about before.
Kell and Reid had finished their mission in Mexico, but not without bringing along some added trouble. After he’d gotten Reid’s call, Dylan had put Vivi on figuring out who the hell was behind the attack on Kell. He assumed the attackers were tied into the searches Vivi had stumbled upon.
It was all starting to make sense in an absolutely terrible way, and Dylan, always a realist, wouldn’t admit that it was true—not yet.
Before anything else blew up in their faces and despite the late hour, he knew it was time to take action on the plan he’d been putting into place for the past couple of months. He’d wanted things to be perfect.
Dylan turned right at the stop sign—the road was private and poorly lit, but he knew where he was going. He’d been here a few times before.
But this time, it wasn’t a dress rehearsal, this was the real thing … and the woman sitting next to him was that as well.
“Where are we?” Riley asked for the millionth time. He’d been holding her hand for a while across the console and she was curled up in the truck’s seat, looking even more gorgeous than the day he’d first seen her.
She’d tried to blow him up, had only succeeded in ruining his car, and they’d been fighting—and making love—ever since.
But for the past eight months they’d been together. Working, living—and he wasn’t about to let anything come between them. “Almost there.”
She sighed a little, but she wasn’t complaining.
The fact that she trusted him enough to go along for the ride made him even more firm in his decision. When he drove up the long driveway and parked, she turned to peer out the window. He got out and went around to open her door, and she looked at him with a million questions in her eyes.
“I’m guessing if I needed to bring my gun, you would’ve told me, right?” she asked.
“You’re fine unarmed. Come on.” He took her hand and led her toward the small, private house.
Richard was waiting on the porch and he waved as soon as he saw the couple approach. The porch had several lit candles scattered around it, which Dylan had to admit was a nice touch.
He didn’t have much in the way of traditional romance in him, but there was almost a primal need to do this right.
“You must be Riley,” Richard said, introducing himself to her, and Dylan told him, “She doesn’t know anything.”
“Maybe you should take care of that. I’ll set up in the meantime.” Richard smiled and Dylan was surprised Riley waited until he went inside before taking her hand from his.
“I know you’re not always big on sharing intel,” she started, but he’d already begun to get down on one knee.
Her mouth opened, then closed. Her eyes got moist and she barely got out, “Dylan,” a whispered breath more than anything.
It was all she could say.
“Have I finally managed to surprise you?”
She nodded, her free hand over her mouth. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring. It was a band of white gold—because Riley rarely wore more jewelry than a watch. This was elegant and simple, and it suited her. She watched him hold it out to her and she nodded again.
“Is that a yes? You’ll marry me?”
Finally, she found the words. “It’s a yes, Dylan. It’s always been a yes for you.”
He stood then, pulled her to him, kissed her as the passion flared between them. Always hot, but this time there was a sweet tenderness, an easiness that belied all they’d been through to get to this point.
When they broke the kiss, she asked, “Why now?”
“I want to be tied to you, Riley. I want forever and I want everyone to know it.”
He’d always been traditional in that sense, had wanted what his parents had. They’d married young, did everything together. They’d even died together, doing the adventure hunting they’d enjoyed so much, and while their death had been a devastating blow
for Dylan and his younger brothers, there was no denying the positive influence their marriage had had on their children.
Dylan especially believed in marriage and its sanctity, thought it should be private—the more so, the better. His vows were for Riley’s ears alone.
It was also safer if no one outside their immediate circle knew of the marriage. Bad enough if word got out they were together. It would make them equal targets, but actually Riley more than him. And although he hated that work would mar this occasion, he’d always been a hell of a realist. “Ready?”
“Ready.” She smiled and he led her inside, where Richard had everything set up for the ceremony, including his wife, who would be a witness. The ceremony was brief, but Riley loved the fact that she and Dylan spoke their vows each other, promising in sickness and health and all the other things that could possibly happen over the course of a lifetime.
It was easy to make the commitment because, in so many ways, they’d already been to hell and back. And they’d survived.
When Dylan kissed her as her husband, it was her life coming full circle.
It was everything.
After saying good-bye to the pastor and his wife, she and Dylan made out like a couple of teenagers, leaning against the car for a while, until Dylan murmured, “Gotta get you home before we do something to shock Richard.”
“What, no honeymoon?” she teased.
“Oh, there’s a honeymoon, smart-ass. Get in the car.”
She did so with a smile, and her phone began to ring before they’d left the driveway of the pastor’s house. She dug it out of her pocket, didn’t recognize the number, but with the women rapidly becoming her friends, her family, and her responsibility while the men were out of town, she picked up. Fiddled with the ring with her thumb, enjoying the smooth newness of the jewelry. Watched Dylan playing with the matching band on his finger as well.
But after she said hello, the male voice that greeted her stole away the sense of contentment she’d been sure would last for days, if not weeks. “Riley Sacadono.”
A statement, not a question, and she remained silent. Wondered if she should put the phone on speaker, but Dylan was on with Mace already and so she steeled herself for a conversation she was certain would not be fun.
“I’m sure Dylan hasn’t mentioned me,” he continued. “He knows me as Crystal. Perhaps you can mention this conversation to him.”
“Why not call him yourself?”
“Because this is much more fun. Like the old days … Dylan will remember the old days. And then he’s going to wish they never existed.”
Crystal hung up first and Riley shut the phone and fought the urge to throw it to the pavement speeding by. Dylan had many more enemies than friends, but her gut told her that this phone call was a much bigger deal than a simple enemy’s threats.
No, it sounded too personal to be strictly business.
“What’s wrong?” Dylan asked her, and as much as she wanted to leave this behind for the night, there was no way she could.
“You need to tell me about Crystal,” she said, saw Dylan’s hands tighten on the wheel and knew it was as bad as she’d feared.
Kell hated the look on Teddie’s face when she realized just how damned dangerous he actually was, but he’d resigned himself to it. She was safe and that was what mattered, although it would’ve been a hell of a lot easier if the three guys in the alley had been after her.
No, it was him they’d goddamned wanted, and he had the bruises to prove it.
When he’d finished with the men in the alley, he’d rousted them of their wallets and weapons before throwing the bodies into a nearby Dumpster, all the while, Teddie’s look of horror flashing in front of his face.
If she hadn’t known what he was before, she did now. She had every reason to be afraid of him. Much better that way. Maybe she’d come to her senses and demand to be taken to the marshals before this got more out of hand.
Because none of the men in the alley was looking for Teddie. They’d come for him, and now he and Reid needed to figure out why. But he wouldn’t discuss any of this in front of her, and so he willed himself to calm down and focused on their brand-new stolen vehicle, a big pickup with a double cab.
While Teddie curled into a corner of the back and closed her eyes, he leaned into the front seat. “Maybe we could be more conspicuous.”
“You want safe and reliable, it’s going to be conspicuous.” Reid said. “But Cruz bought a shitload of these last month. We’ll fit right in.”
“Except theirs are bulletproof,” Kell grumbled.
“We can do the phone book trick, but hell, we barely had enough time for me to grab this. We do have OnStar, though. And Sirius.”
“You do realize this isn’t our car, right?”
“Kinda is. Consider it a business expense,” Reid said, and Kell decided not to question him further, mainly because Reid had bought bags of food too—empanadas and tacos and burritos and chips—and Kell was starving.
He grabbed some of the wrapped tacos and handed them back to Teddie, was surprised when she accepted them readily.
“Did she really save your ass?” Reid asked, his voice low. Kell just snorted his response and Reid said, “I told you I liked her.”
Kell wanted to say, Then you deal with her, but Reid would and he wouldn’t have stopped with a strip search.
“Shut up,” he said, unable to control the irritation radiating through his body and shoved a taco in his mouth. For now, it was safer to let her eat in the comfort of this luxury truck while Reid brought them to their new safe house, which Kell hoped he hadn’t somehow purchased too.
Dylan would skin Reid’s ass—and Kell’s, by association.
“Dylan would have to catch us first.” Reid said, reading Kell’s mind and his reaction as he pulled up to a driveway with elaborate gates and punched in a security code. “Besides, I got tired of living in a hovel.”
Fuck it. Kell was officially done arguing and trying to rein Reid in. He just hoped this mansion had actual beds and wasn’t simply an empty shell.
He let Reid deal with getting Teddie inside, slid out of the truck and walked into the house and stared up at the huge chandelier as Reid passed by and said, “It was some movie star’s place. Couldn’t get out of it fast enough after that swine flu scare. It’s been empty for a year—caretaker comes once a week. He was here yesterday, so we’re set for now.”
Teddie brushed by Kell and he made the mistake of glancing at her, noted that her arm was bleeding and her cheek was bruised and, shit, he’d forgotten that one of the men had gotten a stranglehold on her.
“You okay?” he asked, his voice much harsher than he’d intended.
She nodded, took a few steps away from him. “I’m just, ah, tired. Think I’ll rest for a little while.”
She was lying, but it would suit his purpose. Reid came up next to her and guided her into a den right off the kitchen, got her settled on the couch with a blanket and then he came back into the kitchen.
Kell spread the IDs he’d taken off the men in the alley onto the kitchen table while Reid scrolled through the GPS Kell grabbed from their truck conveniently parked beside the alley, for no other reason than it had been there and might come in handy. It would.
Teddie was in Kell’s line of sight, pretending to be asleep on the couch. That was good, because she’d be trying hard to listen, which meant she’d stay put. Even so, he still had the urge to handcuff her to something. Like himself.
Yeah, way to get your head in the game, Kell.
The first ID was for a man named Juan Feliz. Arizona driver’s license. The second was Gavin Slater. No license, but rather a military issue ID card.
Another vet. Shit. The third man had no identification on his person.
“I don’t recognize these names,” Reid said after staring at the IDs, and Kell agreed.
“DMH?”
“Could be, but that’s pretty quick for them to regroup and track u
s. There’s been no chatter to that effect either,” Kell said as Reid turned the GPS screen to him.
“I’ve got two addresses that come up multiple times. We should probably pay a visit,” Reid said.
“Let’s feed all this to Vivi first,” Kell suggested, and Reid nodded.
Kell called Vivi, put the phone on speaker, and he and Reid gave her the names and addresses they had retrieved.
“I’ll get right on this,” she told them. She was a better hacker than anyone who worked for the major Intelligence agencies.
“What did you find out about Teddie?” Kell asked.
“Not much,” she said and that didn’t bode well.
“Her story doesn’t check out?” Kell asked.
“Her story doesn’t exist,” Vivi clarified. “At least not that I’ve been able to find.”
“With witness protection, you might not,” Kell said.
“Unless the story never existed in the first place,” Reid added, and Kell gave him a sharp look, then let his gaze drift to the couch where she was curled up.
He couldn’t get a read on her—she’d spent enough time hiding and lying, had managed to sharpen her skills to the point where she could easily throw someone off track.
Concentrate. Forget about the softness of her skin, the vulnerability in her eyes that made him want to gather her up and protect her in a way he’d never known before. “I need more details.”
“I know, Kell, I’m still working it. I’ve hacked into the U.S. Marshals’ database, so let me poke around more,” Vivi said. “In the meantime, I’ve got some intel on one of the men in that photo. His name’s Conner McMannus—honorable discharge from the Army three years ago, Rangers. He was injured badly in Mosul, lost a few fingers on his right hand and sight in his right eye. After he came home from rehabbing his injuries, his marriage fell apart. He sold his house about a year ago and no one’s heard from him since.”
“Credit cards?”
“Haven’t been touched. His bank account was closed out and there’s not a new one in his name,” Vivi said. “He’s disappeared.”
“He could do that easily,” Kell murmured. “Any of us could.”
Night Moves: A Shadow Force Novel Page 6
