by Paige Tyler
Landon looked up from the brochure. “You’re kidding? I can get detailed satellite pictures of any mud hut in Afghanistan I want, but getting a clean shot of a place right here in the good old US of A is asking too much?”
“Take it up with the intel branch.”
“What about the company that owns it?” Landon asked. “Any connection to Stutmeir?”
“None that we found. He’s most likely using the lodge without their knowledge.”
Ivy flipped the brochure over to read the back. Two ski bunnies with eighties big hair stood in front of the ski lodge, smiling brilliantly for the camera. “Have we considered the possibility Stutmeir chose the place because he knows we’re closing in on him?”
“We thought of that, yes, and I don’t think so. The timeline suggests Stutmeir already moved to the lodge before anyone in the U.S. was even aware of his presence. The guy we interrogated said Stutmeir never stayed in one place more than a month or so until he got to the lodge. Whatever weapon he’s making, he’s almost certainly making it there.”
“So you need us to get in there and snoop around?” Landon asked.
“Yes. And fast. We have the preliminary report back from the CDC on those bodies you found in Atlanta, and they’re completely stumped. They have no idea what killed those people. Or more precisely, what killed them first. Every one of the victims shows signs of massive heart failure, severe brain damage, organ failure, tearing of all the major muscle groups, even broken bones. We have to find out what Stutmeir is brewing up there. The last thing we need is this getting into al-Qaeda hands.”
Ivy didn’t even want to imagine something like that happening. “Were we able to identify any of the victims?”
John frowned. “Most of them were homeless veterans. We were able to ID them by DOD dental records. We’re still working on the others.”
Damn, she didn’t know what bothered her more—that Stutmeir had experimented on homeless veterans or that there were homeless veterans in the U.S. in the first place. “Please tell me we’re going in as part of a larger team,” Ivy said.
John gave her an apologetic look. “As much as I wish I could give you backup, right now I can’t. We have about fifteen scientists we’re still covering just in case Stutmeir tries to grab someone to replace Bosch.”
Landon shrugged. “So put the FBI on the protective details.”
“If I wasn’t confident you two could handle the recon on your own, I’d consider it.” John exhaled loudly. “Look, I know it’s not the answer you want to hear, but until we can confirm Stutmeir is in that lodge, I can’t pull any of the other teams. The people up on the Hill can’t make a decision until the threat is ready to smack them in the face.”
The muscle in Landon’s jaw worked, but he didn’t say anything. Ivy knew what he was thinking. She was thinking it, too. She didn’t like the idea of going in there without backup.
“Isn’t Tate’s team in that area?” she asked.
“At last contact, two weeks ago, they were more than a hundred miles south of there.”
“Two weeks ago?” Alarm bells went off in Ivy’s head. “They haven’t checked in since then?”
“No, but there’s nothing to be worried about. They confirmed the person who killed those hikers is a shifter, and they’re tracking him. He’s turned out to be more difficult to apprehend than they thought. Tate said they were going to be deep in the mountains and that contact would be sporadic. I’m sure they’re fine.”
Then why did John look so concerned?
“Okay.” John’s favorite word when he wanted to end a conversation and move on. “Once you two get to the lodge and confirm Stutmeir is there, I’ll be free to pull the other teams and send them in to back you up. Whatever you do, don’t take any unnecessary risks. Understood?”
“Hooah.” Landon’s favorite word for most everything. Ivy was pretty sure he’d even said it after she’d given him a blow job during their marathon sack session. Though it had come out much raspier. “When do we leave?”
“Right after you pack,” John said. “Kendra already has you on an afternoon flight to Seattle. You’ll have everything you need to outfit an entire attack team, including weapons, ammo, and explosives. It’s already been prepositioned in a storage unit outside of Seattle. You’ll be ready to hit the ground running as soon as you get there.”
Ivy groaned. So much for talking some sense into Clayne before they left.
***
It took her and Landon more than three hours to get from Sea-Tac Airport to Chelan. That included the short stop at the self-storage facility to pick up weapons and any other equipment they thought they’d need. John hadn’t been kidding. There’d been enough stuff in the unit to start a war. Hopefully, they wouldn’t have to use all of it.
As Landon drove, Ivy looked up at the snow-capped mountains surrounding them. They were absolutely breathtaking. “I had no idea it was so beautiful out here.”
“You’ve never been here?”
“No. Have you?”
“The team came out to Fort Lewis for training a few times. We got lucky enough to have some downtime to go hiking and mountain climbing.”
“You shouldn’t have mentioned that part about the hiking. Now I’m officially jealous.”
Landon chuckled. “After this op, we should come back.” He gave her a sidelong glance. “Do some hiking. Check out Seattle. Go whale watching and stuff.”
She smiled. “I’d like that.”
The thought of coming back here—or going anywhere with Landon—made her heart backflip. She’d shied away from relationships for so long, she almost forgot what it was like to do the things normal people did. Being with a man who knew what she was and accepted her—claws and all—was something she’d given up on. Until now.
“Which trail is closest to the lodge on that map we bought?” Landon asked.
Ivy spread out the map on her lap so she could read it easier. “It looks like Cutthroat Pass is going to be our best bet. We can head off the trail about ten miles in, which’ll probably put us at the lodge by nightfall.”
When they got to the trailhead, Landon double-checked their packs to make sure they had everything they’d need while she stowed their wallets, IDs, and cell phones under the seats. They left a note on the dash saying which trail they’d taken and when they’d be back. There were similar notes on the other vehicles, only in their case, the info was bogus. It’d keep the park service from getting curious if they noticed the Jeep sitting unattended for a day or two.
Despite the other cars around, she and Landon didn’t run into any other hikers on the trail. Ivy inhaled deeply, letting the scent of pine fill her nose. When she’d been at the FBI field office in Anchorage, she spent almost all of her free time hiking. That was harder to do now that she lived in DC, but as the fir and spruce trees closed in around them, she remembered what she’d loved about it.
Ten miles in, she and Landon left the trail and headed cross-country. The landscape was rougher, which slowed them down, but since they couldn’t do any recon until after dark anyway, that wasn’t a problem.
Ivy glanced over her shoulder at Landon. “I’m going to check in with Kendra.”
Unfortunately, the mountains were playing havoc with the signal of the satellite phone, so it was fifteen minutes before she finally got through.
“That happened with Tate, too,” Kendra said when Ivy mentioned it.
“So John said. If we lose contact, don’t freak out. It probably means we don’t have a signal.”
“Just be careful. I saw the photos of what Stutmeir did to those bodies in Atlanta. I’m going to have nightmares for a week.”
“We’ll be careful.” Ivy chewed on her lower lip. “Have you talked to Clayne yet?”
Kendra sighed into the phone. “Not yet. But I’ve left a message on his cell every hour o
n the hour to call me. When he does, I’ll talk him down. Don’t worry about it.”
Easy for her to say. Kendra’s life wasn’t about to blow up in her face. Ivy sighed as she put the phone in her pack.
Landon handed her an energy bar. “Problem?”
“Clayne is still MIA.”
“Good. That means he can’t rat us out.”
She tore open the paper and bit into the energy bar savagely. “Just because he hasn’t said anything to John yet doesn’t mean he won’t.”
“It’s his word against ours, Ivy.”
She chewed slowly. “This isn’t a court of law. The allegations will be enough. If the DCO splits us up, I’m handing in my resignation. I won’t work with another partner who doesn’t trust or respect me. Been there, done that, and I won’t do it again.”
He didn’t say anything.
“What about you? Will you go back to Special Forces?”
“Unless you don’t want me to.”
She hadn’t thought about him going back to the army because she didn’t have any reason to. Now that getting fired from the DCO was a real possibility, it made sense he’d go back to his former career. The idea of him putting himself in harm’s way on a daily basis over in Afghanistan terrified her so much she could barely breathe. But how could she ask him to give up something he loved?
“I don’t know how to answer that, Landon.” This was so not the time—or the place—to be having this conversation. “I know how important the army is to you.”
He reached out to gently push back the hair that had come loose from her braid. “You’re important to me, Ivy. If I went back into Special Forces, I’d be gone more than I’d be home. That kind of life is hard on a relationship. Trust me, I know.”
Hearing him say how much she meant to him did funny things to her heart. If they weren’t in the middle of a mission, she would have jumped into his arms and kissed him until neither one of them could see straight. But they were talking about his career here.
“It’s not fair of me to ask that of you, Landon.”
“You’re not asking. I’m offering.” He cupped her cheek. “Being partners outside the DCO works the same as it does on the inside. We don’t do things or make decisions without talking to the other person first. If you don’t want me going back into Special Forces, I won’t. As long as we’re together, you come first. We’ll just figure out where we go from the DCO.”
Her breath caught as she finally figured out what the funny feeling in her heart meant. She was crazy in love with Landon. She’d started falling for him that first day when he’d saved her from falling on the confidence course and hadn’t stopped since, no matter how hard she’d tried to fight it.
Was it a shifter thing? Did her animal side somehow recognize him as her perfect mate? What other explanation did she have for falling in love with a man she’d known less than a month?
Unless this wasn’t love at all. What if it were simply another side effect of being in heat? The idea that the things she felt for Landon might be purely the result of feline hormones made her want to cry.
She might have given in to tears if Landon’s mouth hadn’t closed over hers. The kiss was thorough and possessive, claiming her mind, body, and soul, and when he lifted his head, it took her a minute to remember where she was, much less what she’d been going to say.
“We’d better get moving.” Landon’s voice was low and rough. “It’ll be dark soon.”
Ivy reached for him when he pulled away, then stopped herself. She needed to know the things she felt for him were real before she said anything.
***
Resigning his commission was something Landon never thought he’d do in a million years. But he’d give it up in a heartbeat if Ivy asked him to. Because she would never ask him to. He’d had exactly four girlfriends since joining the army (not counting Erica) and every one of them had tried to get him to quit the military. He’d told all of them the same thing—hell no. As expected, they’d walked out. It had hurt, sure, but he’d gotten over it. If Ivy walked out of his life, it would leave a hole not even his career in Special Forces could fill. Which was why he was going to do everything he could not to let that happen.
But he’d worry about that after taking down Stutmeir.
Landon swore as he took in the massive stone structure. As evil lairs went, the lodge was intimidating. Eight stories high and built into the side of the mountain, it looked like a fortress. The perfect place to film a World War II movie.
He scanned the top of the high wall that surrounded the building on three sides. It was wide enough to serve as a walkway, but no one was prowling around up there. Why would they? It wasn’t like they were expecting him and Ivy. He hoped.
He jerked his head at the mountain. “What do you think about climbing that? It’d give us a great view of the grounds.”
Ivy chewed on her lip as she considered it. Her green eyes were bright in his NVGs. “I don’t know. The stone up there looks really loose. If we try to climb it, we could start a rockslide.”
Which would be a dead giveaway to anyone inside the lodge that someone was there.
“Plan B, then,” he said. “We hike back into the hills to see if we can get a look over the wall.”
He followed her up the slope, stopping when she did. It didn’t give them the kind of view the mountainside would have, but it was safer.
There was only one way in and out of the property, a set of wrought-iron gates wide enough to accommodate a tractor trailer. A flash of movement caught his eye and he shifted his gaze to see two men standing off to the side. One was leaning back against the wall, a cigarette casually dangling from his fingers. The other held a Styrofoam cup in his hand. Landon narrowed his eyes, searching for signs of a weapon on either man, but he couldn’t see any.
“Do you think those are Stutmeir’s men?” Ivy asked.
“Neither of them are carrying weapons, so it’s hard to say. They could work for the company that owns the lodge and be up here on some kind of retreat.”
He took the night vision scope from his pack and slewed it from one end of the lodge to the other, hoping to see Stutmeir through the windows.
“Anything?” Ivy asked.
Landon shook his head. “The only way to be sure is to get inside and look around.” He looked at her. “You up for that?”
“If you are.”
They didn’t have much choice. John wanted confirmation Stutmeir was there and what the situation was. That meant going in.
Landon handed her the scope and jerked his chin at the part of the building he’d scanned earlier. “That side of the lodge looks deserted.”
She put the scope to her eye, then frowned. “If Stutmeir’s here, wouldn’t he have guards patrolling the property?”
“You’d think so. It seems sloppy for someone with his reputation. Your kitty cat senses telling you anything?”
Ivy shook her head. “Not much. There’s a background hum that’s always there in situations like this, but it doesn’t seem like there’s any serious danger.” She lowered the scope. “Maybe Stutmeir doesn’t have enough men to cover the scientists he’s holding prisoner and guard the property.”
He snorted. “We should be so lucky.”
Landon put the scope away, double-checked to make sure he had everything he needed in his tactical vest, then hid both their packs under the thickest foliage he could find. The plan was simple—get in, recon the situation, and then get out without being seen. After that, they’d call in the cavalry.
Piece of cake.
Chapter 14
The wall wasn’t hard for Ivy to climb. At the top, she cautiously peeked over to make sure no one was around, then leaped over the railing and motioned for Landon to follow. The plan had been for her to lower a rope down to him, but the roughly stacked stone had cracks and crevices
large enough for him to use as handholds, so he could climb it as easily as she could. When he got to the top, he stretched out on his stomach beside her.
“Still no sign of anyone,” she whispered.
Even the two guys who’d been outside had gone back in. Ivy chewed on her lip thoughtfully as she surveyed the lodge. The place was dark except for a few lights on the first floor. That was good for her and Landon.
She glanced at him. “I don’t see anyone on the top floors. If we can find a way in from up here, we won’t have to climb down into the courtyard.”
He pointed. “It looks like the wall meets up with the top floor. Even if it doesn’t go all the way, it’ll at least get us close enough to access one of the windows.”
Fortunately, the wall went all the way to the building. Unfortunately, the door at the end was locked.
Landon shifted impatiently behind her as she picked the lock. No doubt he would have preferred to kick in the door, but that’d get them a lot of unwanted attention. The lock was unsophisticated, so he didn’t have to wait long for her to pick it.
Making sure Landon was ready to cover her, Ivy took out her SIG 9mm and cautiously opened the door.
Ivy expected the inside of the lodge to be as cold and unappealing as its rough-hewn exterior, but though the interior was rather dark, it was still obvious the place was intended to be warm and inviting. The atrium that extended all the way from the ground floor to their level probably had a lot to do with that. Thankfully, the place seemed to be deserted—at least the level they were on.
She walked over to the railing separating the walkway around the top level from the open-air atrium and looked down. She didn’t see anyone all the way to the ground floor. There was a dim glow coming from a hallway down there, though. That must have been the lights she and Landon had seen from outside. She strained her ears but didn’t hear anything.
Landon jerked his head toward the far end of the floor. “The stairs are over there.”
As she turned to follow, a blood-curdling scream echoed off the walls. It was followed by a long, drawn-out howl that turned into a deep-throated roar before finally tapering off and leaving an eerie silence.
