“What’s so funny?” Buck’s shoes scuffed on the carpet when he walked.
How was he ever stealthy in the field with such obnoxious habits? Sugar couldn’t imagine Buck and Jared on the same level. Buck was smarmy and obvious. Jared was competent and deadly. “Just thinking about how Jared’s going to knock down GSI’s front door and kick your ass.” That was hardly what she was thinking. But why fess up now? “I imagine there’ll be lots of damage. Your pristine carpets will get stained.”
“Not that easy, sweet cheeks. You aren’t in Kansas anymore.”
So we’re at Buck’s mountain compound? Why hadn’t that registered? Her brainwaves were still hazy from Brock’s injection, but the pieces were coming together. Where’s Asal? Sugar’s heart beat faster. She needed intelligence to survive, and the more she needled Buck, the more he talked. “You’d be surprised what he’s capable of.”
Buck scoffed. “Well, let’s find out. At any moment, I’ll be able to tell you what the great Jared Westin is up to this morning.”
Buck went to a metal table that held two computer monitors and other electronics. He stared at the black screens. GSI was attempting to hack into Titan? Good luck. Parker would recognize a problem faster than she could pull a trigger.
“Looking good there, Buck. I can totally tell why GSI has such a great reputation. Oh wait.” She rolled her eyes and gave him an antagonistic laugh. “I’m not sure that’s what I heard about your rep.”
Buck whirled, his face a deeper shade of red. He was so easy to manipulate. Almost too easy. Must be an insecurity thing. Jared wouldn’t get worked up over harmless pokes, even though her pokes were meant to cause harm.
“I’ll have you know—” Behind Buck, the computer started to whir. The screen came to life, but it was too far away for Sugar to see the details. Turning his attention to the screens, he mumbled, “Never mind. You’re nothing more than a pawn in this game.”
He began banging away on his keyboard. Sugar felt his excitement build with every mouse click and key press. Even the two armed men looked on with interest.
“What are you doing over there?” Sugar pried, trying for a better look without getting caught. “You and Jared playing Who Sank My Battleship? Or maybe it’s a testy game of Go Fish?”
Buck smiled over his shoulder. “Hardly. This, Sugar, is Titan’s mainframe. Their internal files. Access to every electronic document they have. Bank account information, contacts, and contract lists. This is everything that makes Titan.”
A vulnerable Titan Group was inconceivable, and she hated that Jared’s baby was under attack. Acid coated the back of her throat. A useless feeling haunted her. She could do nothing more than glean what she could from Buck and play the part of a semi-interested, mostly-inquisitive sarcastic woman. “So what? You can check their e-mails? Learn the latest Titan gossip? I’ll save you the trouble. Jared has a dog that eats everything. Brock’s apparently going to have to find a new job. Oh, and they’ll soon be in the market for an upgraded computer-system firewall.”
“You got the beauty and enough snark to drive a man insane, but you missed out on the brains? Tough break, Sugar.”
Not really, since you keep explaining all of your plans. “So dumb it down for me, Buck. Explain how smart you are.”
“Simple. While I’m in their system, I can drain their accounts, take their clients, and review their contracts. Think of the classified jobs they might have detailed. The covert projects that the trusting public wouldn’t understand. Leak that, and Jared loses all of his clients who would rather remain anonymous. He goes to check his bank accounts and finds zip. Nothing. Nada. Titan-sized goose eggs.”
Sugar stayed on her bottom, pressing her back into the wall. Was GSI talented enough to pull off that kind of cyber-attack? Were Titan’s online defenses so poor that it could happen? “Nah, that’ll never happen.”
Buck gestured to the screens. “Easy. This has been like taking candy from a kid.”
Easy? How could any fight with Titan be easy? “I’d say it’d be like trying to take it from a killer, not a kid, which is why it’ll never happen.”
“Killer?” Buck harrumphed. “More like Boy Scout.”
Boy Scout? Now I’ve heard it all. If Jared was a Boy Scout, then she was a virginal gun protester.
Buck turned toward her. His body language looked confident, if not over-exaggerated. His hands on his hips, he shook his head knowingly. “Everything’s downloading into our server. Very neat and orderly, almost one dimensional, just like Jared.”
Do we even know the same man? Jared’s twenty-second summary of Buck had been on point—greedy and oblivious to the big picture. Buck’s memory of Jared had been whitewashed over the years, but Sugar did need to chime in on that point. “Great, Buck. Boys and their toys. Honestly, I don’t care. Let’s talk about Asal instead.”
Buck rolled his eyes and paced. “Now there’s a complication. Had I known how this would work out, I’d have made a different move with the kid.”
His change in tone gave her chills. Sugar started to stand up, leaning her weight—
“No, stay seated.”
On all fours, there was little to do but rock back onto her backside, which wasn’t the most advantageous position.
Buck whined again about Asal. That was another difference between Buck and Jared. Jared knew each future move, no matter how far out an op was. He found all his info, then came up with contingency plans for his contingency plans. Except when it came to her. He’d never seen the stolen spark plug coming… or going.
Somehow, remembering that automotive part made her heart deflate. Why was she constantly screwing with him? Oh yeah, because he chose not to trust me.
Buck murmured to himself about Asal. “What to do. What to do. Both a headache and a complication.”
Asal was the only thing that Sugar should concentrate on. Buck’s face went ugly. Sugar’s stomach soured as she watched him pace, his evil thinking cap in overdrive.
She didn’t want to show how invested in Asal she was, so kneeing him in the junk was out. Instead, Sugar smirked, throwing her best sarcastic grin. “Fine, Asal’s a complication. Tomato, to-mah-to.”
He stopped pacing. “No lip, Sugar.”
“She wouldn’t have been such a headache if our plans had gone accordingly, if I’d shown up at the agreed-upon time. We could chat about Asal-the-complication, and you’d let me take the kid home. So here’s my deal—”
He laughed. “Your deal? Priceless. Go on, Sugar. Tell me your deal.”
Dick. “I forget about everything that happened in Afghanistan. I comp you a few major special orders from GUNS to show no hard feelings, and you let me walk out of here with Asal. Very clean.”
“No can do, pretty girl.”
“Why not?”
“I think you know why.”
“I didn’t kill Kip Pearson. I messed with him, but I left him alive.”
Buck laughed and rubbed his forehead. “No, I know. Your restraint earns you a great deal of respect from me—the use of restraints in his bed, not necessarily your restraint in finishing him off. But as for Kip, the blame rests on my shoulders. Or rather”—he pointed to the armed men—“one of these two did the act, but I gave the order. You can’t imagine the laughs we had when they explained how they found him.”
Sugar bit her lip. They’d laughed about killing their teammate? Maybe they were more ruthless than she’d realized. “Entertainment wasn’t my goal, but I’m so glad you’re impressed. If not the Kip problem, what’s the holdup with my offer? I rid you of the complications. You get a lucrative bonus from GUNS.”
“The problem? Jared Westin, of course.”
“Jared isn’t my problem. He’s a big boy. He can handle his glitches without my involvement. And, actually, I think he’d prefer it that way.”
“Sugar, I think you’re selling yourself short and lying to me in the process. There are two things important to Jared Westin. You and Titan.”
<
br /> The cold laugh fell from her lips before she could think better of it. “Correction, nothing would be ahead of Titan, and trust me, I’m not on the short list.”
“We’ll agree to disagree, though there’s not much point.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because you and Titan are near to his heart. Dismantling, for lack of a better word, both will hurt him. And, well, between me and him, it’s personal, so I want him to hurt. I’m just sick and tired of the goody-two-shoes act.”
“Jared? A goody two-shoes? That’s a riot.” Sugar snorted and didn’t touch the subject of her dismantling. She didn’t need more details on that at the present. Maybe that was avoidance, but it might’ve been mental preservation.
“I’ve never been one to hide from the term “greedy.” But I will enjoy poor Jared, penniless and heartbroken.”
“Ah, heartbroken. That’s me, right? I’m finding serious flaws in this plan, Buck. Sorry.” Thinking better of her info-avoidance plan, Sugar did a complete mental turnabout. Knowledge was power. “Get to the point where you explain dismantling me. I find that far more interesting than your games with Titan.”
“Your role is simple. He cares for you. You’re his Achilles heel. Watching you suffer will almost kill the bastard. I want him to want death. To reach and beg for it. Anything to save you.” Buck chuckled. “You’re simply collateral damage.”
Her nerves threatened to make her lose her trademark cool. Throwing snark back and forth was easy enough. But when the barbs came laced with deadly threats, explained with such business-like disinterest, it brought reality home. And fast. Goddamn you, Jared, for not saving me already. Damn him. Damn the whole situation.
“Sugar, nothing to say?”
“You’re a sick fuck.”
“Yes, I’m both greedy and sadistic. Comes with the job, I suppose.”
She took a deep breath and tried to channel her inner Titan warrior. “I’m not big on threats, Buck. The whole make-me-suffer thing doesn’t really have me quaking in my pants.” It was a miracle she didn’t scoff aloud, crying, “Bullshit” at her own lie.
“You have an attitude problem.” He glanced at his computer screens, then back at her on the floor. “I bet he dreams of shoving a gag in your mouth.”
“That’d be the day.”
Buck crossed his arms. “It’s almost a shame about the way this has to go down. You’re growing on me.”
She rolled her eyes because crying wasn’t the right move. Buck liked her, in some screwed-up way. If she kept him talking, if she bought enough time, maybe Jared would realize Brock was a problem and that her plan had gone haywire. She wanted to believe that he would still want to go after Asal, even if he didn’t come for her. Someone had to take care of Asal and get her out of the clutches of this jerk who’d called her a complication.
She swallowed against the lump in her throat and toyed with her hair. “Assuming you take down Titan, make me suffer, and Jared has some sort of nervous breakdown. What then?”
“I’ll expand my team. Brock Gamble is already on board.”
Brock was going to be dead as soon as Jared put a few pieces together. “Already? Like Team Titan is just going to join ranks with GSI?”
“A bunch of cold, heartless operatives? Why not? I offer competitive wages. They stay in the field. That type doesn’t know any better. Just point them toward their next kill and pay them well.”
“Interesting.” Buck didn’t bounce a look to her, apparently missing her sarcasm. Clearly, he had no idea about the people on Titan Group’s payroll. Heartless? Not a chance. Try loyal to a fault, with the exception of Brock. They weren’t mercenaries who were in it for the dough. They were good people who handled problems so people like Sugar could sleep safely at night. “And the kid?”
“Good question.” He ran a hand over his chin. “How to clean up a complication?”
From the tone of his voice and the look in his eyes, Sugar already knew how Buck Baer would handle Asal. Her heart sank, and her eyes shut. Screw the false bravado. All she wanted to do was cry.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The Titan team circled the war room table and took their seats. Parker was present via the television screen so he didn’t have to leave his post at Titan’s electronic nerve center. Brock was noticeably absent, but none of the team had mentioned it yet.
Jared took his seat and chewed the inside of his mouth. His bulldog, Thelma, who’d been staying with Parker while Jared was out of the country, had plopped down on the toes of his boots, gnawing on a rawhide bone the size of a grenade launcher.
Brock’s empty chair made his stomach roil. Screw that traitorous son of a bitch. When it was time, he would tear him to pieces.
“All right, let’s get down to business.” He cracked his neck, wanting to get this op into the done column soon as feasibly possible.
Roman knocked the empty chair next to him with an elbow. “We aren’t waiting for Brock?”
“He’s tied up at the moment.” Literally.
Rocco failed to stifle a clucking cough, and Jared slammed him with a glare that the whole room took notice of. He would have to admit out loud that his team wasn’t as loyal as he’d thought. It hurt. It physically made him ache. Loyalty was his credo, and Brock had screwed that up.
Insubordination was humiliating. His most-trusted man had hurt him in the worst way. Jared’s pride had been drop-kicked to the dirt, and now he had to tell the team. As if knowing he was about to drop a bomb, Thelma nuzzled his leg to give him canine support. Jared reached down and rubbed her head with his fist. Now she was loyal. She hadn’t betrayed him like Brock had. She wouldn’t run off like Sugar had. All a man needed in life was his dog.
Between the Brock-Sugar double whammy, Jared was dealing with emotions that he’d never dealt with before. It was unpleasant.
“Forget about him.” Shoving his shoulders back, he took a breath. Nothing showing. Nothing telling. Just a high-stakes mission to complete. Keeping his voice even, he told the team, “Brock’s off the team. Gone.”
Every eye went wide. The room was quiet, except for the rhythmic grinding from Thelma’s teeth on her bone.
Ignoring the shock and awe, he looked at each member of his team, staring each in the eye. “Buck Baer has Sugar and Asal. He also has another woman and two more children in a mountain compound that we’ve tracked to outside Charlottesville.” Jared lifted his chin to Rocco, who handed out a map of the area and an aerial view of the compound. “We’ve no idea what type of security or manpower we’re dealing with. The area is rural, but we can’t blow a hole in the side of the place without someone noticing. Our plan is to go in quiet. Extract our marks. Capture Buck if possible, but he’s secondary.”
Winters tapped his fingernails on the table, making a dull sound, and Roman leaned forward. Cash adjusted his cowboy hat, and Nicola looked from Rocco to Jared, then Parker.
She cleared her throat. “What aren’t you telling us?”
On the screen, Parker shifted, and Rocco stared straight ahead. Jared dropped his head, hating to admit the betrayal. He looked at the empty seat, then met each of their eyes again, studying the team that he’d stake his life on. They deserved the truth. No matter what that said about him as leader.
“Brock kidnapped Sugar in exchange for his wife and children, who Baer had abducted. Baer, being the double-crossing asshole that he is, kept Brock’s family. He’d been working with Baer during the Abu Dhabi mission. Each time we almost lost Sugar, you can thank Brock.”
Another explosion of shock rolled through the room. Even Thelma stopped making her noises. Then the questions started: Brock was married? He had kids? How did he do that to Sugar?
“Not sure what more there is to say other than this: I walk into the field with you. I work side by side with you on every job. There is nothing I won’t do to make sure my team makes it home. But to be betrayed like this, to have this level of deceit—it’s far past unacceptable. I expect your loyal
ty, and you have mine in return. We walk a dark, jagged line of honor, but it is honorable. If that’s not the case for any of you, walk out now.”
No one moved.
“Good.” Taking a deep breath, Jared weighed what’d been scratching at the back of his mind. “I didn’t know he had a wife or kids, either. Can’t understand what happened, but we’re going to fix it.” He slapped the table. “Let’s bring them home.”
***
Sugar walked down a hall, drawn by the sound of children and a television. Other kids are here, just like Kip said. Buck didn’t seem like the type to have his own children. But even if he had them, he probably wouldn’t mind a creepy windowless play area with armed men strolling about.
He’d given Sugar the freedom to walk around. He was no longer interested in conversing and was tinkering on his computer. Staring at the back of his head gave her no answers, so she hoofed it.
Utilitarian everything. Bland walls. Florescent lights. Locked doors. The more she explored, the more certain she became that she was in a bunker or insulated basement. The place was too large to be a home and too small to be… What, a fortress?
When she rounded a corner, the smell of pancakes wafted her way. The sound of children and smell of pancakes? What the hell is this place?
A uniformed man was resting on a barstool beside a slightly open door. She didn’t know whether to look at him, ask directions, or—
“You looking for the food?” He looked her up and down. With his sidearm in easy reach, he seemed unconcerned that she was without a chaperone.
“Um, yeah. Sure.”
He elbowed the door beside him, opening it a crack. The sound of children and cartoons spilled from the brightly lit room. Cautiously, Sugar peeked in. In the wide space, a television sat in the corner. Two girls about Asal’s age, wearing brightly colored leggings and T-shirts, giggled in front of it.
She scanned the room to the far corner, where a woman sat on top of a folding table, pillows at her back against the wall and a few water bottles within arm’s reach. She cradled a dark-haired child who was about the same size as the other two kids. Sugar instinctively knew who it was.
The Titan Series: Military Romance Boxed Set Page 69
