by Cara Carnes
A smile spread across her face. Then she glanced down at the screen and turned rigid, as if remembering why she’d woken.
“It’s okay, you know,” he commented.
“What’s okay?”
“To turn off the operative side and live life a little.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. Mary was the one who couldn’t identify herself away from The Edge. I have a firm handle on that,” she argued.
“Whatever you say, Viviana.” He motioned down the hall. “They said they needed you, something about connections and webs.”
They’d lucked out. It’d taken Viviana a couple hours to assemble the pieces so she could glue them together into the complicated network the alphabet soup hadn’t unearthed yet because they’d held everything close to their vests and shared nothing. Idiots.
She’d fallen asleep on Jud and he’d let her stay there for three hours. She was stunned, horrified, embarrassed and confused—all in equal measure. He’d taken care of her even when there was no reason. She’d slept.
Truly slept.
Though her body demanded a few more hours, she was more refreshed than she had been in a long time. She didn’t understand why she’d fallen asleep so easily, or why she was drawn to Jud. He was attractive and a bad ass. Out of her league in a lot of ways. She dealt with so many hardheaded assholes running on more testosterone than brain cells at Hive, she’d gotten turned off muscled men in general.
But seeing Dylan with Mary shifted her mindset, and rebooted her internal processors when it came to men. Stereotyping all military men as hotheaded, walking testosterone wasn’t fair. Jud wasn’t military, though. Her brain labeled him as an assassin, but she couldn’t toss someone like Jud in one category. He was…
Complicated.
Yep. There it was. She loved rooting around complicated. That’s why she was so drawn to him. Tall, dark, handsome, mysterious and a bad ass. What wasn’t there to like?
Assassin. Mysterious.
Ugh.
Marshall and Nolan had gone to the office to make a couple phone calls, see what they could do to involve the suits. Having their blessing to work the operations would expedite things and make cleanup a lot simpler. She helped Mary, Bree and Rhea complete the web while Cord and Jacob continued mining data. The kid was a natural. He’d taken to HERA like the proverbial duck to water.
Jud watched his nephew closely. Pride reflected in his gaze.
The door opened and the two eldest Mason brothers took their seats.
“Well?” Jacob asked impatiently.
“We’re a go. After we got done laying out what we’d discovered, what we’d gathered from them, they were more than willing to turn control of the take down to us,” Marshall said.
“Because they don’t want to deal with the fallout,” Nolan finished.
“Dylan and Jesse put together team assignments,” Cord commented. “Where are they headed, Vi?”
She pulled up the map. “The Solov family has an extremely complex, and downright brilliant, network established, which is run by our man Jian. I’m not sure we’ve made all the connections yet, but we’ve gotten enough of them to establish patterns.”
Red, green and orange lines appeared on the map, connecting cities and states to one another back and forth in a complicated web, a geographical one corresponding with a three-dimensional version connecting people.
“Data obtained from the FBI, CIA, and Homeland Security offered a patchwork of connections, layers of interlinked social media accounts. The guy running the operation in Philly doesn’t know the one in Chicago, but they have a mutual friend on three different social media platforms,” Mary explained.
“What does that have to do with it?” Dylan asked.
“It’s layers of an onion,” Jacob explained excitedly. “The guy running the trafficking operation in Philly ships to Chicago, but he doesn’t know anything about Chicago because it’s done through an intermediary.”
“That way if the FBI or anyone else busts Philly, it doesn’t spread to the rest of the network. Each location is isolated, except for the intermediary,” Marshall said. “Insulation.”
“And the mutual connections aren’t around long. Bodies are piling up on HERAs lists as she links common MOs to unsolved murders around the country and some in Mexico,” Vi said. “I’ll forward the data to the FBI and let them run with that.”
“So where’s our man and do we need to worry about busting this up so we can tend to business overseas?” Jesse asked.
“What you see here is the Solov empire, one Jian runs. Jian’s a busy boy, though, and has his own operation,” Mary said. “We’ve found his contact in Afghanistan. He’s running product through the Solov network. The product is produced in the region where Danny went missing.”
“CIA intel marks the area as being controlled by Ahmad Zubair.” Cord pulled up a grainy photo. “No one knows much about him or his group, it sprung up just under five years ago. They’re heavily armed and have three base camps we have limited intel on.”
“HERA’s accessing satellites over the area in question so we can get detailed layouts. I’m going to contact a Delta team we’ve assisted a couple times and see if they’ll do some recon for us. They have a slimmed down version of the field box,” Vi said.
They hadn’t been able to trust them with the version that included the biochemical agents as much as she’d wanted to. Although she trusted the team itself, she wouldn’t trust HERA in the hands of any government run group. Everything the team had was easily destroyed via remote interface, something no one knew—not even Mary.
“Good. That’ll give you and Mary time to work with us while we’re wheels up.”
“And we’ll secure your use of the nearby military base. That’ll give you somewhere slightly more secure to make thorough dry runs, hone the plans,” Mary said. “Once you’re in position and ready, the ground teams stateside will strike at the same time you do. We’ll snag Jian.”
“The alphabet soup gave us access to him for seventy-two hours,” Marshall said. “That’ll mean we need Sanderson or Graves stateside to handle interrogation.”
Gage Sanderson and Fallon Graves were their two best assets for advanced interrogation. While anyone at The Arsenal was more than proficient, the two men were on an entirely different level. Neither of them, however, would be down with staying stateside while the majority of their counterparts were overseas freeing hostages. Taking down Jian would be considered the second-string. Vi studied both men, though everyone already knew which would be going overseas.
“Sorry, Gage. We can’t risk not having Fallon’s enhanced ordnance skills,” Vi said.
“Understood,” Gage said. “I’ll let my team know we’re cleaning up the streets stateside. We’ll get the boy and anyone else there secure. And I’d be thrilled to go a few rounds in the box downstairs with Jian.”
The containment facilities in the lower levels of The Arsenal were far more sophisticated than a box. They’d recently undergone an overhaul, one she and Mary oversaw. Anyone who went down there wouldn’t escape. Ever.
“I’ll coordinate with local FBI offices at the other sites of Solov operations. Hopefully they’ll work with us and strike with local law enforcement around the country at the same time we hit Jian’s location,” Mary said.
“FBI surveillance flagged Jian’s operation in a trailer park on Roosevelt Avenue in Dover, but he’s in a two-story Victorian half a click away.” Vi called up the images HERA had pulled. “There’s heavy tree coverage, lots of buildings and sheds. We’ll need at least two teams.”
“Understood. We’ll iron out which will assist Gage’s. The rest are wheels up for the sandbox in the morning. Until then, rest up. We’ve got a long haul ahead of us.” Marshall rose.
Vi stood, intercepting him. “A moment.”
He nodded as everyone filed out. Arms crossed, he looked down at Vi. “Is there a problem?”
“No, probably not.”
She took a deep breath and forced her thought out. “We need to make sure Jesse’s cleared for this op.”
“We’ve done a lot of extractions, Vi. Why would this be any different?”
“This one cuts closer to the grain than the others. Danny’s a paraplegic who’s been in captivity. Jesse might have issues remaining detached from this one.”
“You want him stateside on Dover.”
“I want him wherever he’ll be least affected and okay with being there.” She put a hand on her hip. “It might be my call or Mary’s whether he’s okay with going, but he’s your brother. I figure you’d rather handle that.”
“Appreciate it, I’ll have a word with him.”
Vi suspected he’d be overseas with the rest of the teams. She’d done what she could to make sure there wasn’t any fallout for him after it was over. She glanced at the time and realized there weren’t many hours left until sunrise. As much as she hated the idea, she needed more rest because, like Marshall said, there was a very long haul ahead.
“You okay?”
Judson’s voice startled her when she exited the room. He shoved off the wall and closed the distance.
“Sorry.”
“No, I’m fine. I was just thinking over what all needed to be done,” she said. “Is Jacob okay?”
“The delays frustrate him, but he’s starting to understand what’ll happen if we don’t plan ahead, take our time.”
“I’m betting it’s not easy on you either. You’re used to being a lone wolf,” she guessed. “It must be hard to have so many differing opinions.”
“It is.” His jaw twitched. “I could be in, have Jian and be out before Marshall has his plane in the air. But that’s not the specialty we need for this operation. I haven’t survived two decades in The Collective by being stubborn. I don’t have a problem punting the ball to someone else as long as I’m still in the game.”
“Good. That’ll go a long way toward the guys trusting you on one of their teams. It’s their call whether you’re on one of the overseas teams, not mine.” She chewed her lower lip and waited out the silence.
Jud opened the door leading out of the building. “Come on, I’ll walk you to your place.”
Her pulse quickened. Jud placed a hand at her waist. “I was raised in a working-class family. Dad was an engineer for the city. Mom was a college professor. We didn’t have a lot, but we had each other and that’s what mattered. I was raised with a strict moral code, one where you didn’t put anyone above your family and you always kept your word.”
Jud took her hand. Warmth spread where he rubbed his thumb into her palm, up her wrist. “That sounds nice.”
And it did. Very nice. Family first was a concept her parents never quite grasped. She pushed back the thought of her family and focused on his, even though she wasn’t sure how she’d earned the glimpse into who made Judson Jensen what he’d become.
“Leaving them, going into the life I led was hard, probably the worst decision of my life. I went years, over a decade without any contact. Jacob wasn’t even a concept when I went in and Judith had left Danny and their kid by the time I reestablished contact. I had a brother-in-law in a wheelchair with a brilliant little boy missing his mom and two parents determined to make it right somehow. To fill the wound their daughter ripped into her kid.” His jaw twitched. “It took a long time for Danny to recover, heal. But he never quit, he never let the pain take a second of his time away from Jacob. I asked him how he managed one night. As long as I live I’ll never forget his words.”
Vi took a breath. The emotion in Jud’s voice spurred protectiveness in her. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and take away the ache, the pain they’d experienced back then. Maybe Jud and Mary were right. Maybe she hadn’t done anything wrong during Danny’s rescue, but that didn’t make it any easier to see the fallout from the horrible situation. See how it ripped a family apart.
Jud turned so they faced one another. He cupped her face. “The Quillery Edge gave me a second chance with my boy. I’m not going to let them down by wasting a single second.”
Breath swooshed from her lungs.
“I’m not going overseas, Viviana.”
“You aren’t? Why not? Jacob expects you to. The teams expect you to.” Confusion muddled her brain. “Why aren’t you going?”
“Because you aren’t,” he answered. “I said I’d stand between you and anyone who came after you. If you think for one second I’m leaving your side because everyone else is, you’re crazy.”
“They aren’t leaving my side. They’re doing their job,” she shot back. “We can’t let a contract on me, Mary, or anyone else neuter our ability to conduct missions.”
“I agree. But I’m not Arsenal and my only mission right now is keeping you and Mary safe. The Arsenal is going after my family. While they do, I’m keeping theirs safe.”
“I’m not their family,” she argued. Thinking deeper than surface level on what he’d said was not happening, not now.
“You are.” He squeezed her face between his hands and smiled. “Mary is. Everyone here is, but you’re the one I’m protecting first and foremost. I’m not sure what this is between you and me, Viviana, but I want to explore it when all this is settled.”
“Explore it? Wait, there’s an it to explore?”
“You feel it.” He ran a thumb across her lips. “I know you do. I’ve lived most of my life staring through the sight lines and making split-second decisions on whether someone lives or dies. I’ve learned to trust my gut.”
Her heart thundered in her chest.
“It’s telling me you’re worth the risk.”
“What risk?”
“Any risk,” he whispered.
Pleasure assailed her as he pulled her against him and claimed her mouth. The kiss was hot, wanton and everything she needed rolled into one toe-curling moment. She followed his lead, then took over. The war was a duel of desire, a cat and mouse game promising carnal delight if they went further. He tasted of mint and danger.
Jud severed the kiss and offered a grin. “I’ll see you in the morning, beautiful.”
Beautiful? Ha.
An ugliness settled in her gut. He didn’t mean it. She wasn’t beautiful. She was average at best. Him declaring her beautiful negated everything else he’d said. One lie meant others, which made sense because he was an operative. They lived or died based on their ability to sell a lie.
He wasn’t going overseas to assist with Danny’s rescue because he was staying at her side. She scurried into her bedroom and closed the door before Addy wandered out of hers. The distant sound of a running shower offered her a bit of comfort in knowing she’d be alone with her thoughts for a while. She sat on the floor beside her new bed and yanked out the small ornamented box with her supplies. Her mind buzzed like a million command codes with nowhere to go. When her thoughts became too jumbled, or she was too confused or agitated, she had two recourses. Most of the time she ran simulated code in her head. She’d written entire programs in her brain over the years.
But when things got extra jumbled and her brain couldn’t handle processing code, she went to the one thing that always worked, the one piece of her childhood she’d kept carefully guarded. The lone strand of goodness and love she’d carried forward into life after her family. Paper quilling.
As a child she’d often become overwhelmed by the data her brain absorbed. Sleeping and focusing proved impossible. After years of trying everything, her mother had finally sat her down and taught her quilling. At first Vi hated it. She’d rather study, read books or ask questions to figure out the why of everything around her. But a nine-year-old didn’t have business being a know it all. Punishments never worked beyond the soreness or bruises. Confinement in locked rooms only made her mind twirl faster.
But quilling.
Quilling gave her a secret world, one where she could hide her fears and questions and hopes in tiny scraps of colored paper she folded and curled into any de
sign she wanted. She typed up her dark thoughts from the past few days and sent them to the small printer on the edge of her desk. The paper cutter sat tucked away between the bed and the desk so no one noticed its existence. Tiny strands of colored paper in the wastebasket also went unseen.
She read each sentence as she cut the sheet into individual strands of dark blue, much like Jud’s eyes. The white lettering was easily legible if you realized it was there. By the time it was coiled into a teardrop or one of the other shapes she often used in her quilling designs, no one would know the words were there, tucked away. Once they were spun into an intricate design and put away, hopefully they wouldn’t haunt Vi anymore.
Quilling hadn’t taken away her guilt and pain over what happened to Mary. Nothing would take that away.
Tears filled her eyes at the thought.
We’re closer now, Mary. We’ll get Jian and then we can get answers. You’ll get your closure.
She forced a deep breath as she read the statements she’d wanted to give Jud earlier.
I don’t know you, but I want to and that terrifies me.
Thank you for keeping the nightmares away so I could sleep. I wish you chased them away every night. Do you have nightmares?
The only thing that can matter in my life is protecting those I love. I have no space in my life for a man like you.
You look after those you love like I do. Who protects you?
Thank you for staying behind to keep me safe.
You make me feel things I want more than anything and that terrifies me.
I wish I was beautiful, then I’d believe you really wanted me and you could be mine.
Vi studied the narrow strips of dark blue and paired them with lighter shades. An arrow would be a good design to quill, a challenge, but masculine enough. It wasn’t like anyone would ever see it anyway. She’d tuck it away in the box with all the others once she was done.
Tomorrow her mind would be ready for the tasks at hand. Save Danny. Secure Jian. Get Answers.
