“He’s the human trafficker?” Nadine asked.
Kendrick shook his head. “Oh hell no. This guy couldn’t organize a Girl Scout meeting—”
“Whoa now.” Wyatt held up a hand. “Girl Scout meetings take more organization than most people realize.”
“—much less a human trafficking network,” Kendrick continued without stopping. “He’s a heavy. A thug for hire.”
Wyatt nodded. “Alright, so he’s no Einstein. That’s good.”
“But he’s definitely brutal. He’s left a blood trail a mile long. Guy is sadistic as fuck.”
Wyatt shot Kendrick a look when Nadine stiffened beside him.
“Sorry.” Kendrick gave her an apologetic smile. “What I meant is, Hudson’s not someone any of us want to be friends with. He mostly works around Vegas and Reno, but evidently, felt it was worth his time for an inter-state pursuit. He’s been after the drive—and you— because someone offered him an insane amount of money to get it.”
“Who?” Nadine asked.
Kendrick winked at her. “Imma find that out for you right now.” He held up his hand. “Drive?”
Wyatt handed the small electronic box to him.
Nadine sat quietly beside him on the couch as Kendrick worked. They were both exhausted, but it was mostly over. Now that he had backup and Hudson’s ID, Wyatt was going to make sure the threat was eliminated.
“You okay?” he whispered to her.
“Yeah. I’m hoping Kendrick can get the info off the drive and everything won’t be in vain. If what we did saves lives, then it all will have been worth it.”
She was going to have a hard, emotional crash after this. Dealing with the loss of her home, her possessions, the exhaustion, and aches from what her body had been through was going to hit all at once.
But he was going to be right there with her. He squeezed her leg, frustrated that was all he could do right now to help her get through this. He wouldn’t blame her if she needed to fall apart right now, but she was keeping it together like a champ.
“Okay, let’s see what you’ve got.” Everyone ignored Kendrick since he was talking to his computer. His fingers moved faster on the keyboard than Wyatt could ever dream of typing.
It was like the rest of the world didn’t exist for the younger man as he worked, alternating between muttered curses and delighted laughter.
Kendrick had been at it for nearly an hour. Wyatt and Nadine were both resting on the couch with their eyes closed when Dorian tapped Wyatt on the shoulder.
“You got anyone outside I should know about besides Zac and Finn?”
“No, they were going to remain about two hundred yards out.” Wyatt gave a tiny nod to Ray. “They figured it was crowded enough with the three of us, but they’d be around if we needed them.”
There was more than enough room in the cabin for five people, but given her past, Ray didn’t like to be around anyone but Dorian for extended periods of time. The guys knew it and respected it. Wyatt would’ve stayed outside if it wasn’t for wanting to give Nadine a safe place to rest while Kendrick worked.
“Then we’ve got problems.”
Nadine’s eyes popped open. “What problems?”
“Somebody’s out there who’s not part of our team.” Dorian gestured for them to come toward what looked to be a large, plain cabinet—a hutch where you’d keep dishes or something. But when he opened it, there definitely weren’t any dishes.
It was a damn command center with multiple screens showing a huge radius around the house. Infrared surveillance, heat signatures, markers with all sorts of triggers that would let them know when someone was nearby.
Wyatt had been on military missions that didn’t provide this much detail about the area being infiltrated as this did.
“I thought you guys were off the grid,” Nadine whispered.
Ray shrugged, taking her place next to Dorian. “We’re off the government’s grid… we just built our own.”
Dorian pointed at two blinking dots. “That’s Zac and Finn. But someone just tripped our outer perimeter.” He pointed to the other end of the screen where dots had appeared.
Ray placed her hand on Dorian’s. “You don’t think it’s…” she trailed off, silently communicating with her husband, who obviously knew what she was trying to say.
“No. Too much is different. Wrong direction, wrong time of day. It’s not them.”
Ray nodded but didn’t say anything further.
“Something I should know?” Wyatt asked. “You been having problems with strangers in the woods?”
The Lindstroms were more than capable of eliminating any threat to their safety.
“Not a problem exactly,” Dorian gingerly ran his fingers along the screen, “but definitely an anomaly.”
“Dorian, we have to be sure,” Ray said softly.
Nadine looked to Wyatt, but he didn’t know what to tell her. He had no idea what his friends were talking about, either.
Dorian slipped an arm around his wife. “We will be. We’ll take tranqs as primary.”
“Ghost, talk to me,” Wyatt said. “What the hell is going on?”
“Are you sure you weren’t followed? Phone wasn’t traced?”
Wyatt nodded. “One hundred percent. Dumped my phone days ago, and there is no way anyone followed us here.”
They’d driven for more than an hour to make sure of it.
“They found us through the drive,” Kendrick said.
“What?” Wyatt turned to look at him. “Is that possible?”
Kendrick ran a hand over his short, cropped hair. “That’s why it has its own power source. When it turns on, it lets out an electronic ping. If someone like our buddy Hudson knows to look for the ping, it’s like a homing beacon.”
Shit. Wyatt turned to Nadine. “That’s how they found us at your house. I thought maybe they had run some sort of facial recognition software on you from the hotel, but it’s because I turned the drive on to make sure it was still intact.”
He turned back to Ray and Dorian. “But you think it could be somebody else out there? Not our tangos?”
Dorian shook his head. “No, I think it’s your bad guys. However, we need to be aware that there is the possibility of… neutrals out in these woods. Like I said, they’ve never moved at night or from that direction, but we all need to make sure we’re not trigger happy, just in case.”
The look Dorian gave him promised he’d explain more later. When it came to things out in the wilderness, Wyatt trusted Dorian’s instincts more than anyone on the planet—and trusted his friend’s judgment just as much.
“Roger that. Tranqs it is. I’ll make sure Zac and Finn know.”
And he would make sure Dorian explained exactly what was going on later. Dorian and Ray had been through enough. The team wouldn’t let them go through whatever problems they were facing alone, even if that was their preference.
“Shit.”
Everyone turned toward Kendrick as he did the unthinkable—he shut his computer down. “We’ve got bigger problems than Hudson or whoever is after you in the woods right now.”
“That can’t be good,” Nadine whispered.
Kendrick scrubbed a hand down his face. “I know who’s paying Hudson to get the drive back.”
Wyatt grabbed Nadine’s hand. “Who?”
“Mosaic.”
Everybody cursed. Ray slammed her hand down on the table and looked like she might punch through a wall.
Kendrick nodded. “This drive is a much bigger deal than you thought. From what I could see before I was booted out completely, it contains details of the inner workings of Mosaic. Evidently, they’ve branched out from treason and cyber terror to actual human trafficking.”
“I don’t understand…” Nadine whispered. “What is Mosaic? I’ve never heard of them.”
Wyatt squeezed her hand. “It’s a criminal organization. A pretty name for a very ugly group of people. They’re bad news on all possible fronts.�
��
Dorian kept his arm around Ray, whether to comfort or keep her from going into a rage, Wyatt wasn’t sure. “You need to get this info to Ian DeRose. If it’s Mosaic, he’s going to want to know.”
Kendrick nodded. “He’ll be my first call. Ian and the Zodiac team are the only ones who’ll be equipped to move on the info.”
“Kendrick,” Ray said, her eyes narrowed, “do we have Mosaic soldiers outside our door right now?”
“How many people did you detect through your surveillance system?” Kendrick began to disconnect his equipment.
“Half dozen at most,” Dorian said.
“Then it’s not Mosaic. If it were Mosaic, there would be a hell of a lot more. It’s probably Hudson following the last pings.” Kendrick wrapped a cord around his hand. “I hid you as best I could—made it seem like the ping was a malfunction, bouncing all over the place. Once you take care of whoever’s out there, your house should be secure again, Ghost.”
Kendrick looked back and forth between Wyatt and Dorian. “What’s on this drive is time-sensitive now that Mosaic knows someone could potentially access their internal info. I need to get it out of here and to someone who can help me. This isn’t something I can handle on my own.”
“You’re going to bring Neo in on this?” Dorian asked.
“She’s my only option.” Kendrick didn’t look too happy about the situation.
“Fine,” Dorian said. “I’m calling Zac so he can go with you.”
Kendrick rolled his eyes. “I don’t need a babysitter.”
Dorian dropped a hand on the man’s shoulder. “I know, Blaze. But that drive is too important—you’re too important—to take a chance with. We’d send back-up no matter who it was.”
Kendrick reluctantly nodded, and Dorian was on the phone with Zac a few seconds later.
Kendrick turned to Wyatt. “This is going to leave you shorthanded against Hudson and his buddies.”
He slipped an arm around Nadine and gave the other man a smile. “Their six to our five? I’ll take those odds any day.”
But he’d give anything to make it Hudson’s six to their four, wishing Nadine were anywhere but here. Especially with how worried she looked as she watched Kendrick finish packing up.
“Hey.” He turned her so they were face to face. “Hudson and his men don’t know we know they’re out there. And if you thought I was great with SERE training, wait until you see Dorian. His code name is Ghost because he can move in and out of places without anyone ever seeing.”
“Okay.”
“We’re going to take them down without them knowing what hit them. That’s what we were trained to do.”
Chapter 13
This was happening. It was really happening. The possibility of a showdown had always been there ever since the first bottle bomb had flown through her kitchen window.
Maybe since the moment Wyatt first showed up at the Fresh Market.
But Nadine realized it hadn’t been entirely real until now. The sight of an entire room full of weapons solidified that.
She had thought the cabinet holding the surveillance screens was impressive, but then Kendrick had left with Zac and Ray flipped a switch on the back wall…
The whole wall moved.
The whole damn wall moved to reveal some sort of secret compartment straight out of a Terminator movie. Guns of all kinds, knives of all sizes.
A very impressive collection of bows and arrows… Crossbows.
Nadine turned to stare at Wyatt, then Dorian and Ray. Who owned such an arsenal?
Wyatt had told her they had their reasons for being off grid. She would trust that they had their reasons for being equipped heavily enough to take down a small army.
It would all certainly come in handy now.
Dorian handed a pair of guns to Wyatt, who checked them over with practiced efficiency.
Ray accepted a gun and a small crossbow. Her fingers moved over the weapon with a gentle—almost lover’s—touch. She was obviously familiar with the weapons in her hands.
Ray was petite, almost fragile-looking. The type of woman Nadine was normally afraid of accidentally stepping on and squashing or something. Nadine towered over her by probably eight inches and had at least eighty pounds on her.
But there was nothing even remotely damsel-in-distress about Ray. She was coolly efficient and confident while she prepared for this situation. Ray was a trained soldier, like the men in the room.
Dorian looked over his shoulder at her. “Nadine, do you know how to handle a weapon?”
“Uh, not a crossbow, but I can fire a handgun.”
Wyatt winked at her and walked over to her with a gun Dorian had handed him.
“This is a Sig Sauer P320.” He pressed the gun into her hand. “Here’s the safety lever. You click that off, point, and pull the trigger. Easy breezy.”
Her laugh was tinged with hysteria. “Yeah. Easy breezy.”
Wyatt winked at her again. “Well, easy breezy compared to a crossbow.”
“Right.” She forced another smile. “We’ll start training on that tomorrow.”
He kissed her forehead. “You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever known.”
She leaned her head down against his chest. “Yeah? I’m pretty sure Ray could kick my ass.”
He let out a short bark of laughter. “Ray could kick all of our asses. You’re still the most amazing woman I’ve ever known.”
“You be safe out there.” God, she couldn’t stand the thought of Hudson getting his hands on Wyatt. She looked down at the harness he’d slipped on over his broad shoulders. “Two guns, huh? Pretty tough stuff.”
He held up the one in his hand. “This is a tranquilizer. The others hold real bullets. I believe in keeping myself covered. Whatever we find out there, we’ll handle it.”
One of the displays on the living room wall pinged. Dorian’s jaw tightened before he moved past them to check the alarm. “They’re within half a mile now.”
Wyatt looked down at his phone. “Zac just messaged me. He and Kendrick are out safe. He’ll get Blaze where he needs to go to work on the drive.”
There was hardly the time to feel relieved before a second alarm went off. This one was louder, more assertive.
Ray reached for a tablet. “The inner perimeter’s been breached, they’re splitting up.” She tapped the screen a few times before it revealed six men approaching the cabin.
Nadine’s heart beat triple time, and her stomach tightened painfully. It was hard to hear anything over the rush of blood in her ears. How could the three of them be so businesslike about an ambush?
Yet that was exactly how they acted as they slipped in earpieces for communication. “You ready?” Dorian asked Wyatt, who nodded.
Wyatt slipped an arm around her waist and pull her in for a hard kiss. “I’ll be right back. Stay with Ray.”
With a wink, he was gone, down some stairs that no doubt led to a secret exit.
She scratched at the ache in her chest. What if she never saw him again? This wasn’t some game. Wyatt might have tranquilizers, but Hudson’s men definitely didn’t.
“It’s okay.” Ray placed a gentle hand on Nadine’s arm. “They know what they’re doing. They’re a team.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t go with them. You don’t strike me as someone who chooses to sit out of the action. You certainly look comfortable with weapons.” She pointed to the crossbow in Ray’s hand.
Ray’s smile was thin. “I can fight, but I choose not to when possible. That choice was taken from me once.”
“Oh. I see.” She didn’t see at all, but what else was there to say?
“Dorian has spent our relationship trying to give me that opportunity—the choice not to fight—and I love him for it.” Her eyes narrowed as she studied the screen in front of her. “But make no mistake, I can fight when I need to. And if an enemy enters this house, they won’t leave alive.”
Nadine didn’t have a drop of dou
bt that was true.
Not that it calmed her nerves much. Wyatt was out there, outnumbered and in danger.
She paced the small living room with her Sig in hand. She constantly kept looking down to make sure she knew where the safety switch was in case she needed to use it.
Ray was the opposite, waiting patiently for word, checking the monitors every once in a while. She touched a finger to her earpiece. “Roger.”
Nadine wished she had an earpiece. “What?”
“They’re outside, met up with Finn. They’re sweeping the perimeter.”
“That’s good, right?”
Ray nodded. “Yes. They both sound focused.”
Ray pressed her hand to her ear again a few minutes later. “They’re splitting up, about to flank the intruders.”
A few moments of silence passed. Nadine’s heart hammered in her chest. She wanted to know what was going on but knew they couldn’t report if they were in the middle of fighting for their lives.
After a few minutes, she felt like she was going to crawl out of her own skin. “Are you worried?”
“No. Dorian always comes back to me.”
Ray’s quiet assurance helped Nadine some, but relief still pooled through her a little while later when Ray put her fingers back up to her earpiece. “Roger that. Good to hear.”
Nadine nearly jumped on her. “What happened?”
“They’re okay.” Ray smiled wide. “It’s over. The tangos are down. They’ll be coming back to the house soon.”
She leaned heavily against the wall. “Thank God. I guess I didn’t expect it to be that simple.”
“Sometimes it works out that way. These guys obviously didn’t expect the level of security we have here.” Ray patted her shoulder. “It’s all over. You can breathe.”
Nadine did better than breathe. She placed the Sig on the table, thankful she didn’t need it, and walked toward the kitchen for a glass of water.
Once she had Wyatt alone, she wasn’t going to let him out of her sight until at least next year. What they’d done in the cave was nothing compared to what she was going to do to him once she had her hands—and lips—on him.
Her hands shook as she filled the glass. She needed to calm down before Wyatt made it back in here. She blew out a breath and gripped the glass, then took a sip.
Danger and Desire: A Romantic Suspense Anthology Page 52
