Midnight Target

by Elle Kennedy

  Aguilar looked startled. “W-what?”

  “Dead as a doornail,” Kane confirmed. “I took him out myself.”

  Noelle stepped forward impatiently. “None of this matters. Tell us where he is.”

  “I don’t know,” Aguilar sputtered. “I swear, I don’t know.”

  “D,” she prompted.

  Quick as lightning, the tattooed mercenary pulled the M45 from his waistband and swung it across Aguilar’s jaw. Blood, spit, and maybe a tooth flew across the room.

  “We’re done playing around,” Noelle growled. “Where do we find Rivera? I know you would’ve sent one of your goons to follow those messenger boys.”

  “He’ll kill me,” Aguilar sobbed. “He’ll kill me.”

  Noelle smiled. “And I’m going to order these nice boys to peel the skin off your cock and make you eat it if you don’t tell us what you know. Ash . . .”

  He held his open palm toward D, who slapped a KA-BAR into his hand. Before their captive could even blink, Ash shoved the blade into Aguilar’s shoulder.

  The man let out a high-pitched shriek. “A warehouse!” he cried out. “I know of a warehouse on the west end—Santino Road. I think they do deals there. Maybe it’s where they bring the product. But someone there would know where Rivera is. They must!”

  Noelle’s smile widened. “Now, was that so hard?”

  Ash pulled the knife out, wiped it on his pants, and tossed it back to D. “Sit tight,” he told Aguilar. “We’ll be back if the information you gave us isn’t accurate.”

  “It is. I swear it!” Aguilar yelled, but he was talking to their backs.

  Ash and the others were already walking away.

  “Should we kill him?” Ash murmured on their way out the door.

  “Why?” Noelle shrugged and kept walking. “The cartel will do it for us.”

  * * *

  Ash returned with blood on his hands. Most of it had been wiped off but there were smears around his knuckles, and Cate’s heart seized up as she inspected him covertly.

  The team had gone out without her—again. Noelle, Ash, and the others had moved against Aguilar tonight, while Cate was once again relegated to the base to watch Jim lie like the dead in his hospital bed. Not one of these operatives would want to be in her shoes. It sucked to wait and wonder and worry. Couldn’t any of them see past their own noses to recognize that?

  “Do I want to know?” she asked Ash as everyone congregated in the war room for a briefing. She strove for a casual tone, even though she felt like punching him and everyone else in the face.

  He flashed her a grin. “Not my blood.”

  Cate hid her relief. She wasn’t supposed to feel anything toward Ash—not relief, not fear, not love, not hate. “Did you get any information from the Aguilars?”

  “Maybe.” Noelle tossed her handgun and a couple of knives onto the table. “He gave us the location to a warehouse that Rivera may or may not be using as his hideout. How’s Jim?”

  “He’s still out. Doc Palmer says we need to wait it out. They’ve given him something to keep him unconscious until the swelling goes down.”

  Cate bit the inside of her cheek until she tasted blood. Seeing her dad lie there so still and motionless, so much like her dead mother, pushed her emotions right up to the edge, but the entire group already thought she was a weak link. She wasn’t going to enforce that notion by breaking down in front of everyone.

  “You okay?” Ash asked softly.

  Damn this man. He always saw too much. “I’m fine.”

  Noelle caught Cate’s eyes and jerked her head to the door. “I need to wash up. Come join me.” She glanced at the others. “We’ll do the briefing in five. Go take a potty break or something.”

  D snickered as the two women slid out the door. Cate bristled at first, because she thought Noelle had postponed the meeting for Cate’s sake. But when she looked over at the older women, she noticed that Noelle’s face was haggard and drawn, grief making her beautiful features look sharp and hard.

  “He’ll wake up soon,” Cate murmured, but they both heard the lack of conviction in her voice.

  “He’d fucking better.” Noelle sounded tired.

  They entered the small bathroom at the end of the hall. Cate watched as Noelle pulled off her black tank top and started splashing water over her face and neck.

  “You and Ash still fighting?”

  Cate met the woman’s eyes in the tiny mirror over the sink. “When do we ever not fight?”

  “Didn’t always used to be that way,” Noelle reminded her.

  “Yeah, well, things change.”

  The blonde grabbed a towel and patted herself dry. “High-pressure situations can bring out a lot of emotions in people. Both good and bad. And sometimes those feelings aren’t real. It’s just adrenaline masking itself as something different and intense.”

  Her mouth twisted in a scowl. “Yeah? So you’re saying Ash doesn’t actually think I’m a weak little girl who can’t take care of herself?”

  Noelle rolled her eyes. “Of course he doesn’t think that.”

  “He’s got a funny way of showing it.”

  “Because he’s a man. Men are stupid, honey.”

  Cate hesitated. “You don’t think I’m weak, do you?”

  “Oh, please.” Noelle tossed the towel back on the hook and then leaned against the wall. “Unlike your father, I don’t believe that we should continue protecting you. People can’t learn how to protect themselves unless they’ve experienced some pain.”

  “Pain,” she echoed warily.

  “Yes. We need the pain. It’s the negative response that kids get when they stick their finger in a light socket or over a hot surface. The brain tells the little shits not to do it again.”

  “I have no idea what you’re telling me,” Cate admitted. “But if you’re warning me against involving myself in this mission, it’s too late. I’m already part of it. Rivera knows my name. He’s coming after me—he said so himself.”

  “You’ve always had a good head on your shoulders.” Noelle gave her a rare smile, one that actually reached her eyes. “I’m not going to exclude you from anything because, yeah, you’re already involved, and I know how fucking stubborn you can be. But you do need to listen and follow orders. A couple of years out in the field with a camera isn’t on the same level as years of training.”

  “I know that.”

  Noelle sighed. “Jim doesn’t want you to get hurt, physically or emotionally. He’s been trying to shield you ever since he met you. But pain is what defines us. Too much of it and your barriers become too hard. I’ve been there. Jim’s been there. Almost all his men have been there.” She offered a pointed look. “You have to decide whether what you want is important enough to fight through those walls. But that’s your call.”

  Cate frowned, not at the advice itself but because of who was dispensing it. She reached for Noelle’s arm before the woman could walk out the door. “Why are you being so nice to me?” she asked suspiciously.

  Noelle frowned back. “What, I can’t be nice to my own kid?”

  She inhaled, sharp and fast. This was the first time Noelle had ever implied—no, flat out stated—that she viewed Cate as her daughter. Yes, the woman was technically Cate’s stepmother, but their relationship had always been more of a friendship than anything.

  “I’m your kid, huh?” She couldn’t fight a smile.

  “Oh, wipe that smug look off your face,” Noelle grumbled. Then she let out a breath, and her voice grew surprisingly gentle. “Of course you’re my kid, asshole. You think I’d invest all my time and wisdom on just anybody?”

  Cate snorted.

  “Even if Jim doesn’t make it—which he will—I’m still going to be here for you. So if you had any ideas about ever getting rid of me, you can forget about
those, fuck you very much.”

  A rush of emotion warmed Cate’s heart. “I love you too,” she said quietly.

  “I know.”

  Cate’s eyes felt hot as they left the bathroom. They stepped into the hall and nearly ran into Ash, who’d taken the time to clean up. A fresh T-shirt clung to his defined chest. His face looked slightly damp, as if he’d washed up in a hurry.

  Cate drew in a deep breath, searching for the anger that she’d nursed for years. It was her best protection against this man, and at times like these, when she was at her lowest, it was her only protection.

  There’d been nights when she was on assignment in foreign locations that the loneliness would eat away at her until she closed her eyes and saw Ash smiling at her, heard his Southern drawl telling her that she should slow down, that life was still going to be there tomorrow. In those low moments, she’d longed for him.

  And now, while her superhuman father lay unconscious for the third straight day, a part of her wanted to throw herself into Ash’s arms and scale those barriers that Noelle talked about.

  But he wasn’t worth the effort. She’d already offered him everything she had and he’d refused it. No, he’d spit on it, turned his back, and then refused it.

  Cate wasn’t going to ever put herself in that position again.

  “Can we talk?” he asked, his green eyes fixing on Cate.

  “The briefing—”

  “Hasn’t started yet,” he finished.

  Cate looked to Noelle for assistance, but the woman just shrugged and said, “Take your time. We’ll see you in there.”

  A jolt of desperation shot up Cate’s spine as she watched Noelle walk away. Reluctantly, she turned back to Ash. “What do you want?”

  “Is it so wrong for me to care about what happens to you?”

  She forced herself not to be affected by the thick emotion in his voice. “It is when you’re trying to shut me out of this mission.” She stuck her chin out. “I’m a part of this, Ash. Noelle has already agreed to that.”

  His jaw hardened. “Not with me you’re not.”

  “Then I’ll be with someone else. Bailey—”

  “Goddamn it, why won’t you just let the professionals do their jobs?”

  “Because that’s my dad in there.” She jabbed a finger down the hall toward the medical wing. “And he’s all I have left in this world.”

  Her voice quavered, which she hated, particularly in front of Ash. She couldn’t look weak in front of him. He’d leap on that excuse, go running to Noelle, and have Cate kicked off the team before she’d even strapped on a gun.

  “Cate—,” he started.

  “You want me to be safe?” she cut in. “Then you have to include me. You have to. Because if I’m forced to sit here and watch another parent die, I guarantee you I’ll go insane.”

  “And what if something happens to you?” He glared down at her. “What then?”

  God, she could get lost in his eyes. Had gotten lost in them. Those green, green eyes that reminded her of the lush plants in the jungle held a banked heat that she’d never seen before.

  “I’ll be careful,” she found herself whispering. Her hands reached up to press against his chest—to calm, to caress, she wasn’t sure. He felt warm and alive and she had to fight hard not to throw her arms around him and hold him tight.

  “There’s no such thing.” His voice was as low as hers, the tone as raw as she’d ever heard from his lips.

  She opened her mouth. “Ash, I—”

  “You guys coming?” a deep voice said from behind them.

  Cate closed her eyes in relief at Kane’s appearance. She’d been so close to making a mistake, saying things she shouldn’t, and she’d never been more grateful for the interruption.

  “Yep,” she said lightly. “Heading to the war room now.”

  “In a minute,” Ash corrected. “We’ll be right there.”

  Kane arched a questioning eyebrow at the two of them before giving a nod. “See you in there.”

  Cate tried to follow him but Ash tugged her back. “Wait,” he said. “What were you going to say?”

  Somehow, she found a reserve of steel and straightened her spine. She hadn’t avoided her only home for two years to lose all of her self-control—and self-esteem—in one awful moment. “That you’re not in charge of this mission,” she lied. “Noelle is, and she’s agreed that I can be a part of it.”

  She didn’t wait for his response. Nope. Instead she scampered after Kane into the war room, where the team was once again assembled.

  “There’s increased cyber chatter between tangos,” Holden was saying. “Comm channels indicate that the Barrios cartel is taking credit for the attack at the hotel, which is bound to piss off Rivera. There’s probably going to be a retaliation strike.”

  “Yeah, Isaac Barrios has a habit of riding in on someone else’s coattails,” Liam said with a nod. “He’s a lazy son of a bitch.”

  “Have you made contact with him yet?” Noelle asked.

  “In the process of it,” Liam answered. “I never dealt with Barrios directly when I was undercover—I mostly did business with Niko Vega, one of his lieutenants. I’ve already left Vega a message, so we’ll see what he comes back with. Shouldn’t be an issue to set up a meeting, though.”

  “About that . . .” Kane exchanged a look with Noelle and then squared up to face Liam. “We got a call from the DEA. They heard you were going back in and want you to stand down.”

  Liam glowered. “How’d they hear about that?”

  “Must be a mole inside the cartel,” Kane replied with a shrug.

  Liam clearly didn’t like this one bit. “What do they want us to do? Hold our dicks while they leak more information than an oil tanker in the Gulf?”

  “No. Fuck them,” Noelle retorted. “We’re going in regardless. Set up the meeting, Macgregor. But for now, we need to plan an attack on the address Aguilar gave us. As of right now, you’re all on recon.” Her deadly gaze swept around the room, making Cate shiver. “We strike tomorrow night.”

  Chapter 18

  “You don’t call me anymore.” In the passenger seat, Bailey sounded more upset than angry as she twisted her body to look at Liam. “And you haven’t answered my last few texts.”

  “I know,” he said ruefully.

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “Care to explain why?”

  With a sigh, Liam turned away from her concerned gray eyes and focused on the windshield, under the guise that he was surveying the area.

  But the street was quiet and deserted, and had been for hours. It was also pitch-black, courtesy of the broken lampposts lining the cracked sidewalk. The lights weren’t out due to power outages—the bulbs had been smashed, shattered glass strewn all over the pavement. Liam wasn’t sure if that was a result of neighborhood kids throwing rocks at the lights, or something more sinister, like cartel scumbags requiring the shroud of darkness for their illicit activities.

  Either way it made their job easier. He and Bailey were in the front seat of a beat-up Volkswagen, a vehicle chosen specifically to fit in with the other shitbox cars in the area. They’d been assigned street surveillance, while the rest of the team was posted on the perimeter they’d set up around the address that Aguilar had given them, a two-story building with a sagging tin roof and very few windows.

  So far, they were simply watching. The problem was, the building’s handful of windows were boarded shut, so they had no line of sight to the interior. Abby had called in a request from a CIA contact for satellite images, but no one had gotten back to them yet. For now, all they could do was wait until they received more intel.

  Normally, Liam would be thrilled to work alongside Bailey. The two of them had become close during the Paris job four years ago and had kept in touch ever since. Regular phone calls, long e-mai
ls, funny texts. He adored the woman, and he’d been the first person to fly to Ireland when Bailey had needed help getting Sean Reilly out of a jam.

  She was right, though. He had been ghosting for the last while. But he supposed it was too much to hope that Bailey wouldn’t question him about it.

  “What? Have you unfriended me?” she demanded. “Am I not cool enough for your Boston lifestyle?”

  He chuckled wryly. “Nah. If anything, you’re too cool for it.”

  Which was the absolute truth. His life in Boston didn’t include gorgeous female assassins. Hell, he could just imagine what his parents would say if Bailey dropped in for a visit. If she showed them how good she was at transforming into other people. If she revealed all the men she’d killed with her bare hands. Paula and Callum Macgregor would have simultaneous coronaries.

  “I’ve kind of lost touch with everyone,” he confessed. “My life is boring now.”

  “Well, that’s no fun.” She grinned. “You don’t do boring, L. You’re built for action.”

  He shrugged. “Maybe I had too much action before. I’m getting old, B. Maybe this nice stable security gig is just what I need.”

  “And the nice steady girlfriend? She still in the picture?”

  He shifted uneasily.

  “What’s her name again?” Bailey pressed. “Penelope?”

  “Yeah. Penny.” He glanced over. “She dumped me.”

  Bailey’s jaw fell open. “Are you fucking kidding me? She dumped you? Has she seen you?”

  He couldn’t help a laugh. But his voice lacked humor as he said, “Oh, she saw me, all right. She saw too much, apparently.”

  Bailey leaned over and placed her hand on his knee, stroking it gently. “What happened?”

  Before he could answer, an Irish brogue filled his ear. “The fuck are you doing, luv? Giving him a handie?”

  Liam snorted, while Bailey narrowed her eyes at the sound of her husband’s irritated voice. Sean Reilly was positioned on the roof across the street. He’d be providing cover for them if they were compromised and needed to make an escape. But it looked like he was monitoring his wife as well as their car.