Tate grunted. “Like it’s supposed to dig its way into her skull?”
“Not sure, but it could be how Zaroyin tracks and controls his drones.”
“Didn’t look like he was controlling Stark.”
“Maybe it’s got to be dug in deeper to work. That might be why it was still moving after I removed it. Hmm.” Ky extended his index finger like a gun, flicking his thumb as if he’d just taken a shot. “I’ll bet once it’s inside a guy’s brain, the device shocks Zaroyin’s soldiers or something, and bang, resistance is futile.”
“Do you think the devices in their groins are for global positioning then? Locators? But why run the antennae up the length of a guy’s body? Why implant a mechanical device in a guy’s groin in the first place? That’s just plain weird.”
Ky shrugged. He honestly didn’t know which device did what, and he didn’t have the time or the energy to waste thinking on it. One guess was as good as another, but he meant to be on his way home with his client before any of it mattered. “Either way, Zaroyin now knows we’ve intercepted and disabled Koenig and Shields. Sweets, too. He might even know we’ve interrupted his control over Eden if that spider thing had a sending device attached to it.”
“Which means we could have company in a couple of hours to a couple of days. Did you happen to notice both of those guys stunk, and not just because we shot them?” Tate’s nose wrinkled. “They were both saturated with sweat, Ky. Did you see how fast it froze on their chests when I tore their shirts open? And it smelled—different. Rank. Like they hadn’t bathed in a while.”
Ky nodded. “It did look like they’d been running a long time.”
“In the dark, too,” Tate hissed. “Like robots. Until their blood mingled with their sweat. What the hell’s going on? What kind of a man runs in deep snow like that?”
“A cybernetic one, if Eden’s right.” Ky kept his tone low. “Maybe once Zaroyin turns them on, they run until they drop dead.”
“Then he really is a mad man. Should I crush these things?” Tate asked, the evidence bags still in his hands. “They could be pinging our location to Zaroyin right now for all we know.”
“Not until Eden takes a good look at them. Maybe she knows what they do. If she doesn’t, Mother needs to see them, Alex for sure. This op smells like there’s collusion inside the Bureau. Big time.”
“Do you think she might be in on this, whatever this is?” Tate raised a spiked brow.
Ky’s gaze scrolled back to the tent. “What? And risk her life in a plane crash to establish an alibi? What the hell are you smoking?”
Grunt. “You and me both know things aren’t always what they seem.”
“No. Not Eden,” Ky said adamantly. “She’s the victim here.”
“Or she’s one helluva covert analyst, and she’s leading you into Zaroyin’s trap.”
“Why? What could he want with me?”
Tate shrugged, so Ky changed the subject. “Do you really think we can take on twenty running drones, just you and me? You saw Koenig and Shields. They were decked out in full body armor and packing powerful heat. They didn’t falter once. Koenig didn’t even fall down when I hit him the first time, and I hit him solid. If we’re right, the next wave will be coming at us with more firepower. We won’t get a chance to surprise them.”
Tate grunted. “Then we need to find Zaroyin’s weak spot and hit him before he finds us.”
“No, that’s the boss’s job.” Ky looked into the high branches overhead. “All we need to do is get Eden stateside. I’m calling flyboy for a pick-up at first light. Eden’s FBI. She’ll have a weapon. She can help hold Zaroyin’s men off if they show before then.”
Tate followed Ky’s gaze. “Storm’s coming, Ky. Snow. Silver Wolf may not be able to get to us before it gets here. Stupid name.”
Ky agreed. Their Canadian counterparts had chosen their mission monikers, naming themselves as alpha to The TEAM’s beta, a definite declaration of who owned these woods—not that it mattered. Silver Wolf, ha! A tough name for a guy sitting on his ass in a warm hotel room. “Then we move now. Once Eden’s done, stow the tent and get us ready to roll.”
Tate’s eyeballs scrolled beyond Ky’s right shoulder, enough of a hint for him to shut his mouth.
“Br-r-r,” Eden murmured behind him, slapping her biceps. “Thanks for the extra snowsuit, guys, but no matter how many layers I put on, I’m still freezing.”
Ky lifted to his feet. Damned if she didn’t offer a shy smile instead of a cold shoulder as he’d expected after his less-than-cavalier departure from the tent. His lips automatically returned the smile. Despite how he’d made a fool of himself, she thought he cared. It was easy to read in the soft glow of firelight dancing in her eyes. The problem was that he did care. A lot. And this psychic woman knew it.
She shook her head, those sleek tresses tucked up inside her fur cap again. “What’s the plan, Ky?”
He ignored the familiarity. “Pack up. We’re leaving. What do you need to take with you?”
She glanced to the downed Cessna at her right. Caught in the confines of several massive tree trunks and a net of splintered pine boughs, it resembled a giant dragonfly in a trap. Tate’s foraging had all but turned it inside out. “My bag, if I can find it.”
“What’s in it?”
“Clothes. Makeup.” She ticked her inventory off on her gloved fingers. “Sunscreen. Stuff.”
“Sunscreen?” He had to ask.
She shrugged. “I was going to Hawaii. Ended up here. Remember?”
Ky shook his head, wishing he hadn’t gotten wrapped up in this woman so fast. She was going to be a problem. “No stuff, sorry. Dump the bag. Bring all the food you can carry. Tate thinks there’s a storm moving in. If we can’t hook up with our chopper pilot, we’ll have to find some place to hunker down until it passes.”
“Storm?” She lifted her pretty eyes heavenward, her palms spread wide. “I don’t see any—oh, God! Look! Something’s over there. In the trees.”
Ky took a step toward her, his palms forward. “Shhhhh, it’s okay. Don’t worry. Tate put the bodies up where predators can’t reach them. That’s all.”
“Charlie too? He dug Charlie up and hung him in a tree? But I just buried him.” And there it was again, sympathy for the man she’d thought was a friend.
Ky nodded. “Charlie wasn’t who he said he was, Eden. Show her, Tate.”
Tate pushed off the ground and pulled the evidence bags out of his pocket. “Your buddy was a snitch for Zaroyin, same as Koenig and Shields. See for yourself.”
“Sweets had the same kind of thing I dug out of your head. Do you know what it is?” Ky asked.
Eden’s brows lifted as she studied the two devices in Tate’s open palm. “I’ve never seen anything like them before. He had one in his head, too? He lied to me?” Her voice caught. “But I thought—” Those pretty green eyes widened in shock.
“It gets worse. Both your FBI buddies had some kind of wires embedded in their groins. Sweets did, too. Do you?” Ky couldn’t take his eyes off Eden. A fierce trumpet call to protect this woman had just lifted up strong and clear inside his head. This was no experienced black operator. What was Zach Strong thinking to send them on a wild goose chase looking for one, when he had to have known this agent was as vulnerable as a newborn babe in the woods?
Those lovely green eyes widened with indignation. She stiffened her neck and tossed the bag at Tate. “Of course not. I would’ve noticed something like that.”
“You didn’t know about the spider-thing in your head,” Ky lowered his voice, his tone stern. “You need to be sure you’re not wired before we head out. Go back into the tent and undress if you have to. Check yourself thoroughly. Do it now. We need to know for sure what we’re dealing with.”
“I’ll be right back, but you’ll see. I’m not wired.” Her cocky chin lift caught him by surprise. This woman had backbone.
“I will?” He couldn’t resist the taunt.
/> She blinked. “You will what?”
A genuine smile curved his lips at the tease. He couldn’t resist taking a step inside her comfort zone, daring her. “You said I’ll see. Does that mean you’ll show me you’re not wired?”
Eden coughed, swallowed hard, and coughed again. Her cheeks darkened in the dim light. Her lashes fluttered, and he couldn’t believe what an easy mark she was, what a refreshing change from the other FBI agents he’d worked with. “N-no. It means…” she stammered, taking a step backward. “Oh, never mind. You’ll just have to take my word for it. I’ll be right back.” With a self-righteous pivot on the ball of her boot, she stomped back to the tent, all that shimmering hair drizzled down her back and her backside twitching.
“Make it quick,” Ky warned, secretly pleased he’d gotten to her. Secretly pleased with the view of her walking away. Something about this woman drew him in, and it was more than his male attraction to her good looks. Understand it or not, her presence calmed him. If only his reactionary brain could let her in.
Eden wasn’t gone long. Her countenance said it all when she returned. Ky didn’t ask. Didn’t have to. Judging by the size of her eyes, she’d found something, and she wasn’t happy about it. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I… I don’t know how I missed it.”
Ky grabbed hold of her forearm and drew her into the firelight. “Where is it?”
Eden pointed her gloved fingers to her breastbone and trailed a line to her navel. “Here. It ends inside the crease of my, umm, thigh. You’re right. Zaroyin’s got me wired like he already owns me.”
“Does he?” Ky snapped, hoping to hell Tate wasn’t right, that she wasn’t in league with the devil.
“No, I...” She lurched forward, but stopped short of bumping into Ky. Eden bowed her head. Her cap slid to the snow. A silken blond cascade tumbled over his arms and wrists. “Oh, snap, no-o-o.”
“What the hell’s going on?” he asked, fighting the urge to pull her into his side again.
She sucked in a deep breath. “Run, Ky. They’re coming!”
Chapter Eight
“Run? Like hell. What’s going on?”
Eden dropped to her knees at his feet and pressed her fingertips to her temples, focused on the gray-black smudges in the distance. “Six. I see six.”
“Six what? Shit, talk to me, Eden.”
“Six men. Six FBI agents. I don’t know. Three miles to the east. Coming fast.” To me. Her second sight shimmered and changed from light to murky shadows. No black smudges materialized like before, but she could sense that someone besides the drones was out there, too. Two others. She couldn’t decide how close they were, only that they were also coming for her.
The strength of the competing visions turned her second sight into a warzone, both flashing images so quickly she couldn’t read one before the other collided with it, ripping up the inside of her brain, tearing her apart. Pain thundered like a jackhammer out of control inside her skull. “It hurts like an ice pick,” she muttered, her eyes squeezed tight and her control slipping. “The pain’s never been like this before.”
Ky knelt with her, his hand gentle on her knee. “Where?” His tone changed. Not panic. Not fear. More like calm authority in the middle of mayhem. It grounded her.
“My head. My eyes. I can’t see both warnings. They’re... they’re too much.”
“I meant where are the men?”
Oh, duh. Of course he meant the men. She sucked up her whining embarrassment. “Six from the east, but more from the south, from Thunder Bay. I don’t know how many though. I can’t see them clearly. Maybe two. They’re blurry. It’s as if they’re running in fog.”
“Anything else?”
Worry eked out of her. “Yes. I can’t see like I used to. My second sight’s damaged or something. I’m missing things. Like this wire imbedded in my body. I want it gone, Ky, but why didn’t I see it until now? How could I have missed something like that? I mean, really? It’s not like a piece of gum stuck to the bottom of my shoe. It’s not a tiny bug someone could’ve slipped inside my pocket. It’s a long wire, Ky, and it’s taped to me, and the end of it is inside of me. Me! It’s inside my body. Somebody surgically implanted something in a very intimate location. That person violated me, Ky. Darn it, why can’t I remember?”
He pulled her to her feet and into his side, and honestly, she didn’t understand this guy. One second he pushed her away, but the next he wanted her close. She accepted the shelter of his hard body, but kept her hands to herself this time. His arm around her immediately eased the pain in her head, but touching him seemed to have triggered rejection last time. She wouldn’t do that again.
“I’m no rocket scientist, Eden, but maybe that thing in your head was meant to control you so you wouldn’t see the wire. Maybe you were hypnotized. Maybe Zaroyin used subliminal suggestion—hell, I don’t know. We’ll figure it out later when we have more time. Tate,” he snapped. “Remember Morocco?”
“You’re thinking riverbank? Here?” Tate’s bushy brows met in the middle.
“No. I’m thinking we need a solid wall behind us. How close to the nearest one?”
“There’s a place to the north. Sheer granite. Three miles or so. It oughta work.”
“Let’s move,” Ky ordered, his fingers still circling Eden’s wrist. “Tate, stow the tent. Leave no trace. Zaroyin may be tracking Agent Stark, but unless he’s got some kind of a video feed I’m not seeing, he has no clue we’re with her. Let’s save that surprise. Move out in five. Go get your bag, Eden.”
She nodded. “I’ll hurry.”
Hurry, heck. She flew to the Cessna, her heart on fire with this different version of Ky in command. He meant her to obey, and she meant to do it. She never thought twice, just jerked the door open, and there it was. Her over-the-shoulder bag, sitting on her seat. Tate must have located it in all his digging. No doubt he’d searched it—not like Eden cared if he had or not. She had nothing to hide.
Tate had thoroughly ransacked the plane. Much of what he’d gone through lay in disarray outside the door, but if he didn’t need it, she didn’t either. She focused on restocking her bag with necessities. Ammo. Lip balm. Sunscreen. Her knife. Toilet paper. Wet wipes. Her jar of Vicks. A long-stemmed lighter and a bundle of nylon rope. The TEAMwear outfit Ky gave her warmed her enough that she discarded all of her clothes except one extra pair of jeans, another pullover sweater, clean underwear, and socks.
What else? Her gaze pinged over the inside of the cockpit, coming to rest on the ax beside the pilot’s seat. It went into her bag. She didn’t look back, just turned her face toward Ky and put the betrayer, Charlie Sweets, out of her mind.
“I’m ready,” she announced at what had been the site of the tent. Only a flat depression in the snow remained. Both Ky and Tate were packed, their heavy backpacks strapped over their shoulders. She shouldered hers as well, intent on proving that FBI agents were just as strong and capable as Alex Stewart’s men.
Ky nodded at her to come stand between them, so Eden took her place. The tables had turned. She needed Ky to keep her alive now as much as she’d kept him alive two years earlier.
“We’re going due north. Stay close. If Tate’s recollection of this terrain’s correct, we’re four miles south of an outcropping of granite. I called for air support, but it’s dicey. Our pilot said he’d try to get to us at first light, but he may have to wait out the storm.”
“Okay,” Eden replied breathlessly. They were on the run. She got it. She might not have gone through the extensive training most FBI agents did, but she was physically fit. She could keep up.
Ky stared at her, his face devoid of gentleness. “Be honest with me, Eden. Exactly what do you do for the FBI? Are you even remotely involved in black ops? How many active ops have you been on?”
She gulped, but confessed her weakness. He might as well know everything. “I’m an advisor, not, umm, a real agent. I never trained at Quantico. I only go where my handler tells me to go, and
then I travel with a contingent of agents.” Real FBI agents. The kind who used to protect me.
“What’s your official job title?”
She stalled. “I’m in, umm, intelligence. I don’t have a job title, but I’m sure not in black ops.”
“You said you were a psychic before. What’s that mean? Exactly?”
“It means that I can get inside people’s minds in order to locate victims or persuade assailants. I can see things others can’t. Like that jagged scar on your back below your left shoulder blade.” She couldn’t really see it at the moment, not with her second sight compromised like it was, but she knew it was there, and she needed him to believe her. His tormentor in Afghanistan had delighted in skewering his victims with something akin to a switch. He’d left a small blade in their backs, something he simply had to pluck to get their attention.
Ky winced, possibly convinced, possibly mortified that she’d outed him. One eyelid narrowed. One brow lifted. “Go on.”
“I can’t see everything, but I can get inside missing children’s heads or kidnapped victims’ minds. I can transfer mental images and suggestions. Sometimes. I can encourage them to hold on until help arrives.” Just like I did with you.
He cocked his head, those amber eyes wide and rimmed dark cocoa with intensity. “You can do that?” He caught himself, cleared his throat and asked, “Who’s your handler?”
“Was. Special Agent Matt Hartigen.” She let his previous question slide. Yes, Ky, I can do that and more.
“What happened to him?”
“He dropped dead in the middle of a briefing. Heart attack. Just like my pilot before he crashed.”
“Let me get this straight. Your pilot and handler died of the same mysterious heart attack? You’ve got some kind of weird psychic abilities, yet you’ve been surgically compromised, only you don’t remember how or when. Someone did insert a possible tracking and a mind-control device into your body that you honestly have no recollection of, and were not aware of until...” His final word hung in the air as if he expected her to make it sound better than it did.
Ky (In the Company of Snipers Book 13) Page 9
