Caught in the Crosshair

by Han, Barb

  “Men like these can’t exactly be trusted to keep their word.” Jaden pulled out the SIM card he’d taken from Beady Eyes and placed it into the computer. It would take the system a while to hack into it. They might find answers.

  Lauren’s hopeful expression dropped, replaced by another that nailed Jaden’s gut. Like she’d come in to contact with men like these a little too often. Did she lump him in the same category? Is that why she pulled away from him suddenly? Then again, hadn’t everyone in her life betrayed her? It was probably for the best. Involvement with him would only bring more danger to her doorstep. As it was, she could walk away when she got her brother back. Leave all this behind. Stay out of harm’s way.

  “Figures. What about your agency? You said people are being killed left and right. Why is that? How do you know who you can trust?”

  “There’s only one way to find out. Doesn’t matter though. I will keep you safe no matter what. You know that, right?”

  A slight smile curled pink lips. She was saying yes.

  He typed in the code, sending the signal for a meeting with Gunner. The message would let him know he’d made it to the safe house. Jaden hoped it wasn’t a mistake to give his location to the man a second time. The cartel shouldn’t be able to intercept the encrypted message he’d sent from command. He closed down the laptop and secured it back into its spot.

  Picking up Lauren’s soaking clothes from the floor, careful not to spend too much time eyeing her bra and panties, he fanned them out on the hearth. “These should dry in no time,” he said.

  She tied the top of her blanket in a knot. “It’s nice to be warm and dry again. Will your guy come here to meet us?”

  “I sent him our location. He was probably on his way already.” Jaden cleaned and dried his Glock before moving to a cabinet full of ammunition. “We’ll be ready for whoever walks through that door.”

  Looking at Lauren standing next to the fire — her sweet face, the rosy hue to her cheeks, those pink lips — stirred emotions deep in his chest. His feelings were running deeper than a fleeting attraction. That made her more dangerous than the storm, or the thugs chasing them through it, or the possibility of someone at ManTech turning. Could explain why so many operatives had been killed.

  Not one person before Lauren had been able to break down Jaden’s iron walls or reach the core of him. But Lauren, beautiful, sweet, innocent Lauren might be cracking the casing.

  He should’ve been scared. He wasn’t. He found himself wanting to take care of her. Needing to find out why this attraction took on a life of its own when his better judgment screamed to shut it down. Was it judgment or survival? Jaden had been alone so long, he couldn’t sort either out anymore. For now, he would take care of her.

  Jaden went to the small fridge filled with emergency supplies and brought back more bottled water, pain relievers, and canned fruit.

  “These should help with your shoulder,” he said, placing a couple ibuprofen in her hand. He had no such magic for the bruises on her insides. The thought roiled his gut. Was that why she didn’t trust him? His fingers clenched around the water bottle. He forced them to relax. He wouldn’t let another man hurt her. She was safe. Safe and brave and beautiful. No one will ever hurt you again as long as I’m here.

  Her golden gaze pierced into him. “Your friend back on the beach. Were you two close?”

  “As close as two people can be when they work in this business.” It was a copout. He knew it. Hoped she didn’t pick up on it. He checked progress on the computer. Nothing yet.

  Her gaze locked onto his. “You like working alone all the time?”

  Damn. She did.

  “It never bothered me before. Besides, we don’t completely work alone. We usually have a couple guys on the job at the same time. We don’t interface much except for work.”

  “Sounds lonely. You don’t know who you’ll work with beforehand? When you’re walking into a situation? How do you separate the good guys from the bad? How do you know not to shoot one of your own?”

  “First of all, you don’t walk in shooting unless you have to. Second, you look them in the eyes. Third, sometimes we’re told in advance. We focus on the objective, not each other.”

  “The black in that guy’s eyes back at the condo. I saw pure evil when he looked at me. It was the same with the guy on the beach,” she said.

  “You can’t fake true wickedness. And you can’t fake good. It’s either there, or it isn’t.”

  “Your agency train you how to convince them you’re bad too? Why do they trust you?”

  Do you see black when you look in my eyes? Is that why you pulled back? He couldn’t bring himself to ask. Didn’t know if he could handle the answer.

  With her background, he figured she saw black in most people’s eyes.

  “You can’t train evil. It might be fleeting, but it’s there or it isn’t.”

  “Why don’t they make you guys?”

  Make? Did her ideas of his work come from GoodFellas? “It’s not like that. Not at all like the movies make it out to be.”

  “Then how?”

  “I have to be better at my job than they are at theirs. I have to convince them I’m on their side.”

  He wanted to open up to her, tell her things he didn’t normally tell anyone. But how could he? The suspicious way she looked at him before … the fear in her eyes … the random frustrating thought that he might have had anything to do with putting the alarm there. She was a civilian. Therefore, not used to his world. She didn’t deserve to be dragged in by her brother, and certainly not by a man who had nothing to offer in return

  “Look. I had history with Bryce running all the way back to our days in the military. We were as close as any two guys can be who work in jobs like ours. He’s dead now. End of story.” He was the closest thing to a friend Jaden had ever had, and that didn’t say much. They had never even been out for a casual beer. It had always been all too easy for Jaden to close himself off from the rest of the world, to use his job as an excuse as to why.

  “But are you okay?” she asked, her concern bringing out the copper tone in her golden eyes.

  There she was, asking that question again. Who was really ever okay? Are you? What did okay even mean?

  “I’ll survive.” He heard the hollowness in his own words. Didn’t like it.

  “For how long, Jaden?”

  Hell if he knew. He didn’t answer.

  “How did you get that bullet hole in your shoulder?”

  “I trusted the wrong person.”

  “Is that why you’re so cautious now?”

  A piercing shriek sounded from one of the laptops.

  Jaden hopped up and moved to the screen.

  “Gunner’s here.”

  Chapter Ten

  A thin man, average height, who looked to be early forties with white-streaked hair slipped in.

  Jaden stepped forward and offered a handshake. “I’ve been worried about you.”

  Green eyes framed by thick black glasses scanned Lauren. He nodded, shaking water from his soaked clothes. “I could say the same.”

  “Me? Nah. I seem to have the unique ability to be the only one who walks away from a gunfight. Where the hell have you been?”

  Blood stained Gunner’s overcoat. His expression weary. His head shook. “We lost another soldier today. We were ambushed while trying to get to the condo.”

  “What happened?” Jaden asked, concerned he’d done the right thing in bringing Lauren here.

  His shoulders came up in a shrug. “Either the cartel has caught up to our technology, or,” he paused a beat, “I initially thought … well, you of all people know.”

  “That Smith might’ve turned because of his financial situation.” His gaze instinctively flashed to his shoulder. “Smith was too damn proud to let me help when I offered. He wouldn’t turn on us. Besides, can’t be him now. He’s dead.”

  Jaden tucked Lauren further behind him. “Helena’s becomin
g reckless. She might be leading them to our door.”

  “Makes sense.” Gunner’s expression didn’t change. Instead of commenting, he moved to the fire. “May I?”

  “Of course,” was all Jaden said. “You know about Bryce?”

  Gunner’s unfocused gaze stared away from the fire as a pained expression dropped his brow. “Yes. I do. We lost another first-rate soldier.”

  “He was a good guy,” Jaden agreed.

  “You two were close.”

  Jaden almost laughed out loud. If he’d had a friend, it would’ve been Bryce. Instead of friendship, he had regret. “We had a history.”

  “You okay?”

  “Right as rain.” What was it with everyone today? Jaden was a big boy. He’d seen other men die on assignment. Right next to him. In his arms. Why did people suddenly look at him with concern?

  Gunner frowned. “People like you and me don’t have many real friends, do we?”

  Jaden cleared his throat. He didn’t want to focus on the deficiencies in his life right now. He needed information. More than anything, Jaden needed to know if he could protect Lauren. He pointed to the screen. “I took a SIM card off one of them.”

  “Might be difficult to break the encryption.”

  “What happened to you today? You were supposed to be on the beach.” If you were, Bryce might be sitting here enjoying a beer right now instead of lying dead out there, God knew where.

  “Only a select few knew where we were going this morning. I have to believe one of them set us up. I can’t prove anything. There’s only the body count and my suspicion.”

  Jaden had known it, and still the confirmation hit hard. It was becoming a virus in his agency. He eased his grip on his weapon, tucked it into his waistband, and moved to the fire, taking a seat next to Gunner. “What happened to communication? I know Bryce would’ve signaled for help.”

  “Someone jammed our frequency. They anticipated our arrival. They led us to what was supposed to be a safe house where we were —”

  “Ambushed.” Jaden rocked his head.

  “Lost another man there.” Gunner dropped his head.

  “Damn. Ambushed twice. They must’ve tapped into our communication. With another one down, that only leaves a handful of us.”

  Gunner nodded. “I tossed my cell. They must’ve hacked into it. I’m sure that’s how they tracked my every move.”

  Explained why Jaden couldn’t reach him.

  Gunner looked as tired and strained as Jaden felt. “You think they got anything out of Tim while they had him?”

  “It would explain how they’re anticipating our every move. But, no.”

  Gunner motioned toward the computer screen. “Maybe we’ll get something off the SIM.”

  “I know one thing’s certain, Max is the key.” Was this whole mission doomed to fail from the get-go?

  The computer pinged.

  Gunner moved to the computer. “Looks like we got something.”

  Jaden was already standing behind him.

  “We can retrace this guy’s steps by pinning the locations he made calls from.” Gunner’s fingers danced across the keyboard, and a map of the island popped up in the left-hand corner.

  A cluster of red dots populated the map.

  Jaden sighed sharply. “I know the area. It’ll be crawling with Menendez cartel.”

  Gunner’s expression tensed. “I got intel yesterday about a safe house here. It’s the most logical place to stash him.” He pointed to a spot on the map. “It’ll be dangerous.”

  Lauren dropped to her knees. “Does this mean what I think? Max is here?”

  “Most likely.”

  “Is he …”

  “Alive? I believe so. And he’s not far. We have a weather window. We’ll have to move fast. I’ll alert Gage.” Gunner pulled a new cell from the cabinet and started punching numbers.

  Jaden’s stress factor hit a hard run. Normally, an extraction would get his blood going. In this case, it felt risky.

  “On the phone, it sounded like they hit him with a bat or something.” Lauren’s brown-gold eyes were wide.

  Gunner’s gaze bounced off the floor and back. “As soon as we extract him, he’ll have the best possible medical care available. We’ll do everything we can to help him heal.”

  “You’re not saying … he will survive … won’t he?” Tears flooded her eyes.

  Jaden’s heart squeezed at the panic in her voice, the bravery she showed.

  “From what we know about Menendez so far, I believe he’ll be okay. They don’t want him dead just yet. He’ll have a long road ahead to heal. They won’t have been easy on him. From everything I hear, he’s a fighter,” Gunner said.

  “Thank you for helping my brother. I know he doesn’t deserve it after what he’s become, but thank you,” Lauren said, tiny droplets staining her cheeks.

  “There’s something else I learned this morning.” Gunner shifted an ominous gaze to Jaden

  “Go ahead and say whatever you need to. I trust her.”

  “One of my contacts heard he was talking to a Marshal.”

  “Going state’s witness?”

  “It was supposedly being arranged before this happened.”

  “You think Menendez figured it out?”

  “Can’t say for sure. Doubt it.”

  Anger had Jaden clenching his fists before he realized he was doing it and stopped. “If Max was turning against Menendez, then Ruiz could be involved. Those two have been battling each other for control over the Panama Canal.”

  “Maybe they’re worried he has something on both of them?” Gunner said.

  “Does Helena know?”

  Gunner glanced from Lauren and back to Jaden again. “There’s more, chief.”

  He tensed, ready for just about anything. “Go ahead.”

  “Max James was moving on. He’d been clean more than six months, turned his business over to someone else,” Gunner said apologetically.

  Jaden didn’t state the obvious fact that people rarely ever got out once they went in this deep. There were two paths for those like Max, prison or death. “Did he owe somebody?”

  “We have no intel about debts.” Gunner turned to Lauren. “Excuse me for saying, but your recent financial records indicate you’ve taken out loans and cleaned out your bank account.”

  Her angry eyes flashed. “Then you already know I brought one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to the island with me.”

  “Sorry for the intrusion.”

  Lauren’s lips thinned. She didn’t speak.

  “I’d say it’s just part of the job, but I can imagine how this must appear and feel to an outsider,” Gunner said regretfully.

  “Degrading. And I didn’t do anything wrong.” Her arms held onto the blanket tightly. “If my brother wanted out, why didn’t he just disappear? He had to know these men were dangerous.”

  “You go rogue on these guys, they tend to go after your family,” Jaden said quietly.

  “He stuck around to protect me.” She lowered her gaze. “Sounds like something the old Max would do.”

  Gunner took off his raingear. “If someone wanted his job, they might take him, extort money, just to torture him.”

  Jaden cocked his head to the side. “It could go down like that, except it’s not their normal mode of operation. And why keep chasing after her?”

  She wiped a tear streaming down her cheek. “Is it possible he was being forced away? That he didn’t really want to get out?”

  Gunner shook his head. “Not likely. My contact said it came from him.”

  “How dependable is your data?” Lauren asked.

  Gunner paused for one thoughtful moment. “We have to double check everything we think we know.”

  “You understand what you’re saying?” Jaden asked deadpan.

  Gunner nodded. He glanced at his phone. “Gage’ll be here in a minute. Says he has something to show you.”

  Lauren’s hands twisted. “Could
they be after me to hurt my brother even more?”

  Jaden took her hand in his to reassure her. “I’m afraid so. If he gave them any indication hurting you would be his ultimate pain.”

  “Our intel says you don’t have any other family,” Gunner said quietly.

  ***

  Lauren’s back teeth clenched. She didn’t talk about the past with anyone.

  If it would help Max, she would have to. She took in a fortifying breath. “There’s no one else. I mean, they could be alive. Who really knows? I’d be the last one to be told.”

  Gunner’s green eyes darkened with what looked like sorrow when he said, “I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this. Our intelligence says your mother passed away five years ago.”

  A few tears welled in Lauren’s eyes. Pain that shouldn’t be there pierced her insides anyway. It shouldn’t matter that her mother was gone. It shouldn’t hit Lauren this hard. After all, her mother was a stranger. They hadn’t seen in each other in more than a decade and the woman certainly hadn’t been around when she was growing up. At least not sober. And yet, she was still her mother. Lauren fought the urge to release the emotion clotting in her throat.

  The rain pattern shifted to a rhythmic pulse as Jaden pulled weapons from cabinets, tucked them in his waistband, and handed others to Gunner. He looked ready to wage war.

  “Are you sure it was her?” she asked.

  “We’re confident. She’d been sick for a few years leading to her death. She lived in a trailer park in rural Arkansas with a man identified as Jeb Wheeler. Does that name sound familiar?

  Lauren shook her head, steeling herself against the tsunami of emotion building.

  Gunner continued, “We couldn’t find your father.”

  Tears fell. Lauren took in a fortifying breath. She was determined not to lose it. She’d been expecting news like this about her parents someday. Confirmation hurt.

  Next thing she knew Jaden was by her side, his comforting arm around her waist.

  “Good luck finding him,” Lauren said. “God knows I tried.”

  “On your birth certificate, your mother wrote —”

  She pushed out a little puff of air. “Mike Mouse. I know. She had a fixation for all things Mickey Mouse from her childhood. Had quite the sense of humor, didn’t she?”