“No, but do you know any other hit men that have that particular tattoo on that wrist?”
“Shit. This just got complicated. Wait, I thought he worked alone?”
“He does most of the time, but breaking into our building required a few disposables. You know he’ll sacrifice anyone to get what he wants.” I got up and grabbed a drink from the bar in the corner. I needed something to take the edge off.
“And what he wants is you or Maggie.”
“No, what he wants is Vanessa.”
“But he needs access to someone who knows where she is.”
“Nobody knows but me, you, Sinner, and the team protecting her, and even Sinner doesn’t know for sure where she is.”
“And now Rob. He’s going to have to stay there now that he knows she’s there. We can’t risk anyone slipping up.”
“That’s fine. Cazzo doesn’t know his ass from his cock when it comes to computers.”
“Tell yourself that if it makes you feel better.”
I blew out a breath and looked out the window. The strain of the day was starting to get to me.
“What do you want to do from here, Cap?”
“This is our base of operations now. Any other job is pointless until this mess is cleared up. Our number one priority is keeping Vanessa alive and keeping Knight off our asses. We’re going to have to pass any other jobs along to other companies. Call Cash and ask him to take over for Team Five. They need to be brought back here immediately.”
“Do you want to send more people over to Cazzo’s?”
“I’m hesitant to. Right now, no one suspects that we’ve got her there. He’s got all that property and we’ve fully loaded it with security measures. If we send another team, it might draw too much attention to his house, but I’ll take any advice you’re willing to dole out.”
“I’d have to agree with you at this point, but we have to ask Cazzo what he thinks. There’s also the problem that Cazzo’s going to be on high alert now and trips to town for supplies are going to be fewer. What about his PT? You know he’ll stop going if he thinks that it could endanger her.”
“We need to get Cazzo on the phone and strategize. We can’t make any decisions without him.”
We made our way to the study and had Becky get Cazzo on a secure line. We had Becky step out of the room so we could have some privacy and closed the doors.
“Cazzo, we have an update on the situation,” I said into the speaker in the center of the table. “We know who Reiner sent for Vanessa. It’s Knight.”
“Fuck, please tell me that’s a joke.”
I shook my head. “I wish I could, man, but we saw his tattoo on the video feed at Reed Security.”
“If you saw the tattoo, then maybe it was someone impersonating him.”
“No,” Derek interjected. “You know he likes to play with his food. He wants us to know that he’s after her and he’ll do anything to get to her.”
“Is there anything that was left behind at Reed Security?”
“No, we wiped everything. There was nothing for him to find, but he knows that we protected her at one point. Reiner knows that we were in his offices a couple of months ago, and he probably told Knight to start looking at us,” I said.
“Still, how the hell would he connect her to us? Her father picked her up and as far as he knows, we haven’t been in contact since. The drop-off was solid.”
“Yeah, but Sinner was already taken. We have our fingerprints all over this. There’s no way Knight won’t turn over every rock before moving on. He’s going to want to be certain that we don’t have her. We’re Reiner’s best lead at this point.” I looked at Derek who gave a nod of agreement. “I think we have to consider moving you. You’re connected to Vanessa because you were on her detail. I know that no one has suspected you yet, but Knight will go after you just to be sure.”
“Cap, I hate to say this, but I’m not in fighting shape. Maybe you need to send her away and leave me as a decoy. He can come after me all he wants, but if she’s not here, maybe he’ll leave us alone.”
“Did you seriously just offer yourself up as bait?” Derek’s pissed off voice echoed in the room.
“Look, I’m not saying it has to be for the entire time, but maybe she needs to go away for a while. You know that I couldn’t take him out right now unless I had a gun on him. If he got the drop on us, there’s not a damn thing I could do to protect her. She’s probably safer without me.”
“I don’t like the idea of you not being there. Face it, you and Derek are the two people I trust most in the world. I have no doubt you would do anything to protect her. If you’re not there, I’m always going to be wondering if one of the men could be turned.” I hated to admit that I would always be a little uneasy about the men working for me.
“Bullshit, we have Ice here and I would trust him with my life and hers. I can be in contact with them on a regular basis. You know she’s a distraction to me, Cap.”
“I’m guessing she’s the perfect kind of distraction.” Derek and I were both well aware of their budding attraction. Since we were never around them, we had no idea if they had given in to temptation yet, but it was just a matter of time. “This is the plan, you’re taking your team and leaving. We’ll have new ID’s worked up for all of you. I need to find someplace that isn’t connected to us, so give me a few days to do that. In the meantime, hang tight and be on your guard. I’m guessing it won’t take too long for Knight to start looking into you.”
“I know someplace we can go. There’s no connection and you won’t know our location either. Makes things more difficult all around. I’ll handle our ID’s.”
“Do you have Cash’s number?”
“At OPS? No.”
“I’ll get it to you. He’s located on the west coast. If you’re in trouble, you call whoever can get to you fastest. I’ll give him a heads up.”
“Take care, Cap.”
“Watch your six.”
Derek hit the end call button and stared at me. “You really think this is a good idea? If they go off grid, they won’t contact us unless absolutely necessary.”
“That’s probably best at this point. We have enough shit to deal with right here. If they go dark, it benefits all of us.”
“I don’t like the idea of them out there alone.”
“He’s right. Ice is solid. I don’t know how the hell they’re going to create a cover for all of them, but Cazzo will come up with something.”
“I’ll have all the guys come in and we can fill them in on our new situation. Give me about fifteen minutes,” Derek said as he headed for the door.
I walked out of the study and tried to concentrate on this new threat, but my thoughts were preoccupied with Maggie. I was so pissed that she hadn’t told me at the hospital that she knew she was pregnant. I was too shocked when I found out in the truck to really let myself react. A huge part of me was angry that she wanted to get rid of the my kid, but the other part of me was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I was going to be a father. What kind of man would I be if I walked away from my kid and let her have her way? One thing I knew for sure, I wanted this kid the moment I heard she was pregnant, but things happened too fast, there was too much new information flying at me to really say what I was thinking. Then she passed out and shit got fucked up. I needed to see her and figure out how she was. I took the stairs two at a time and knocked softly when I got to her door.
“Come in,” her voice floated through the door. I opened it and saw her lying in bed, the light from the hall filtering in over her. She sat up and wiped the sleep from her eyes. “Hey.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Good. Tired.”
I nodded. “I hear it’s like that when you’re growing another human. Tough work.”
She looked down and didn’t say anything. I guess she didn’t want the reminder that she was pregnant. I walked over to her and sat on the edge of the bed. “I have so many questio
ns, but I know you’re not up to it tonight. I’m meeting with everyone in a few minutes to go over recent developments, so I can’t stay anyway. Maybe tomorrow we could sit down and talk about this.”
“What developments?”
I laughed a little. “Story first, right?”
“I’m curious. You already knew that.”
I had known that. Had I really ever thought that would change? As I looked at her now, I could see that look in her eye that was the same as the day I met her. She had always gone after the story and always would. For some reason, when she came to Reed Security, I thought she would settle down and we would look toward the future. Now I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she would never settle down. All this time, I had been expecting her to change, to give up something about herself that I knew was just engrained in her nature. I would never be able to give up what I did for someone, so why was I expecting it of her?
“Tell you what, how about you come downstairs and you can sit in on the meeting.”
“Seriously?” She sat up straighter, completely shocked by my willingness to let her be involved.
“You’re just going to listen from behind the door if I don’t ask you to sit in. Besides, I think you need to hear about this and know exactly what we’re in for.”
She practically jumped out of bed in excitement, but then thought better of it when she swayed on her feet.
“I have to learn to stand up slower. Hunter told me that I would get dizzy if I stood up too quickly.”
“Did he bring you something to eat?”
“Yeah, but I couldn’t eat that much. I’m still too queasy.”
I looked down at her stomach and reached my hand forward. I was just about to touch her stomach when I realized that since she didn’t want the baby, it was probably best if I didn’t try to make a connection. I couldn’t really stop her from making the decision that I dreaded so much. I clenched my fist tight and pulled it back to my side. Turning toward the door, I spoke over my shoulder as calmly as possible.
“We’re meeting downstairs, so put on some clothes and come down.”
I stepped into the hall and clicked the door shut, leaning against it to regain my composure before I went to meet the team. I couldn’t let myself get sucked into the fantasy. It would kill me if I got my hopes up and she decided not to keep it.
The guys were all gathered in the living room, with the exception of Sinner and Burg.
“Maggie’s joining us. We’ll start when she and the rest of the team are here.”
Derek walked over to me, facing the other wall with his shoulder to mine. “Are you sure it’s wise for Maggie to be here?” he asked so only I could hear.
“I think it’s best if Maggie knows exactly what we’re facing. She runs headlong into trouble when she’s uninformed.”
“She does that anyway.”
“Well, maybe knowing she’s pregnant will affect her decision making.”
“One could only hope. It’s going to be hard enough to keep everyone alive without worrying about her running off.”
“I’ll chain her ass to the bed if necessary.”
“I think that’s a little drastic, don’t you?”
Maggie was standing in the door to the living room, obviously listening in on our conversation.
“Just wait until you hear what we have to say and then you can tell me I’m being drastic.” My nostrils flared as I spoke. I was angry all over again, thinking of her trying to run off while all this shit was happening. It wouldn’t be the first time and I really doubted it would be the last.
“Alright, everyone quiet down.” The room got silent and everyone gave me their attention. Chance stood and motioned for Maggie to take his seat. She did and once I had everyone’s attention again, I started in.
“You all know that Carl Reiner is after Victor Adams because of money he lost from a bad investment. Reiner has been stealing the money back since Adams is unwilling to pay him, but this is now going beyond getting his money back. If Adams had paid the money right away, Reiner would have most likely let that be the example, but when Adams refused, this turned into revenge. Reiner is not one to let anyone get away with screwing him over. The best way he can get back at Adams is to take his daughter and use her. She’s currently on the run and neither of them know where she is.”
“So, why is he coming after us?” Jackson from Team Four spoke up.
“Because he thinks we have her,” Derek said.
“Do we?”
“There’s something that all of you need to get used to, I don’t share client information with anyone but the team watching out for said client. I know that the three of you are new,” I said, nodding to Chance, Gabe, and Jackson. “And wouldn’t know about Cal, but he was a very loyal member of our team. A serial killer took Cal’s family to persuade him to betray us so he could gain access to our systems and find someone we were protecting.”
The three of them looked pissed, but they didn’t understand.
“Before you all get on your high horse and call him out, you have no idea what you would have done if your wife and kids were being held, so no passing judgement. It’s over and done with. That being said, it’s safer all around for our clients if only the necessary team members know about who we’re protecting.”
Gabe, who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, pushed off the wall and took a few steps toward me. “That’s the same as saying you don’t trust us. I thought that we were supposed to be like a brotherhood here. To me, this reeks of distrust.”
I nodded to him and then looked to Lola. “Lola, would you mind coming up here?” She stepped forward and came to stand beside me. “Why don’t you tell Gabe here about that scar around your forehead?”
She looked over at him with her badass ‘don’t fuck with me’ expression and narrowed her eyes. “I was on protection detail for the client the serial killer was after. Because he got to Cal, he had the location of our safe house and what our next move would be. He flushed us out to a safe house that hadn’t yet been prepped for our arrival. Derek, Hunter, and I were the only ones there with no backup close by. He had been waiting for us to arrive. He took Hunter out from behind with a rock to the head. Derek took a bullet to the leg. I came across Hunter when coms went down. I was also surprised from behind and held at knife point as leverage against our client.” She followed the faded scar along her hairline. “This beauty is from where he was cutting with that same knife to scalp me in front of her.”
Gabe looked horrified and swallowed hard.
“Hunter?” I asked.
“Coma for a few weeks until the swelling in my brain went down. Out of commission for the better part of a year.”
“Derek?”
“I was the lucky one. Gunshot to the leg. Through and through. Fairly easy recovery.”
“It may seem to you that we’re not working as a team when I hold information like that back, but I’m protecting this team. There’s only so much a person can take before they break. Which brings me to why we’re here. We’ve identified who Reiner sent after us. Does the name Garrick Knight sound familiar?”
Half of them seemed shocked while the newer team members, Becky, and Maggie looked confused by the name.
“No shit, Cap?” Burg sounded as shocked as the others looked.
I shook my head. “He left his calling card on our video feed.”
“Wait, for all of us who don’t know what that means, would you care to explain?” Maggie said.
“Garrick Knight is former military turned assassin. He’s a lethal gun for hire and only takes jobs that he sees as righteous. He has a tattoo on his right wrist of a snake wrapped around a cross. He always makes sure that whoever he’s hunting knows he’s coming for them.”
“Cap, we’re all heavily trained. What makes you think he could get the drop on us?” Chance asked.
“Knight thinks twenty steps ahead. He never makes a move unless he’s thoroughly planne
d out every move. Do you wonder why he waited two months to make a move on us? He was planning. It wasn’t happy circumstance that we were able to escape when Reed Security was under attack. He was forcing us out of our comfort zone to here. I would bet every one of your lives that he scoped this place out a month ago. He knows every move we’ll make and every sensor that we have set up. He wanted us here and this is exactly where we came.”
“He hasn’t hacked our systems yet. I’ve looked over everything,” Becky added.
“If he’s as good as you say he is, maybe we should contact OPS and find someplace to regroup that isn’t connected to us,” Lola said.
I shook my head and laughed. “You don’t get it. It’s already too late. He’s on the offensive and there is no move we can make that he won’t be ready for. I’m telling you guys, we can’t outrun him. All we can do at this point is defend ourselves. When he makes a move, we need to be ready for him.”
“Cap, that’s like laying down and taking it,” Burg said.
“No, that’s being smart. If we run, we don’t have the safety of this house. On the run, we don’t have access to things we have here. We need to have every weapon cleaned and ready. Nobody goes anywhere alone. You will all have an implant that will send Becky all information on your vitals. If you so much as get a fever, we’ll know about it. We have all our cameras in place and since they haven’t been compromised, we’ll have eyes on everything within a ten mile radius.”
“What if he’s already on the property?” Hunter asked.
“Chances are he is. He’s very smart, so there’s every possibility that he’s lying in wait for us. There’s one thing we have going for us that he won’t expect.”
“What’s that?” Sinner asked.
“Truth. As I said, he doesn’t do a job unless he considers it righteous. Do not engage him if he gets to you. He’s here to take a hostage, but what we need is a face to face with him. We need to convince him that what he was hired for is all a lie.”
“Wait, you want us to let him take one of us?” Burg asked.
“No, this is why no one is ever to be alone. We need to draw him in to us. I want everyone to stay in groups of three or four, spread around the house. If he wants one of us, he’s going to have to come to us as a whole.”
Cap_A Reed Security Romance Page 12
