Hostile Ground

by Cara Carnes

  Personal intimacy didn’t exist in the operative she now was. She hadn’t been prepared to set her new persona aside during the last mission. Memories of that night flooded her, engulfing her in regret and guilt. He’d deserved more than she’d offered him that night.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Kristof grabbed her hands, held them by the wrists and glared at her. “This isn’t you.”

  “It is.” She fell back onto the bed and stretched. His gaze tracked her movements. Her nipples hardened beneath his perusal. “Fuck me.”

  “No.” Kristof’s jaw twitched as he looked away from the bed. Hands fisted, he remained silent.

  “I know you want me.” She ran her hands down her torso, then lower. “I need you to fuck me.”

  Fuck. Such an impersonal word for the emotions consuming her. Desire flamed her arousal. When was the last time she’d experienced such strong need?

  Never.

  Kristof straddled her on the bed. His hot breath fell across her cheek. He gripped her hair and tugged hard, until her breath swooshed from her lungs. “This isn’t the Addison I want.”

  Shock stilled her breaths as their gazes locked. What did he mean? “It is.”

  “No. I won’t taint what could be with this fake person you give everyone else,” he said. His voice deepened as he peered into her eyes. “I want the real Addison.”

  “This is all I have to give.”

  “It’s not.” He traced her lips. Awareness arced between them, an undercurrent she couldn’t deny. This was Kristof, not a mark. “I’ll find her one day, when we aren’t on a mission and can be our real selves. She’s in there. My Addison. And she’s worth waiting for. Fighting for. Dying for.”

  “She wasn’t ever your Addison.”

  “She was.”

  She always had been his, even back then when she’d been trapped within the nightmarish camp, because he’d kept her safe. He’d given her a reason to survive, a measure of normalcy in the friendship they’d formed. The connection she still felt despite the years that’d passed.

  Regret and need vied with anger. The loss of him had almost broken her. She couldn’t risk it again. Could she?

  No. All she had to offer was emotionless sex, a physical, surface-level connection. Anything more and she might not have the strength to walk away, to remain the protective operative Mary and Vi needed. She’d failed them once. Never again.

  “Well, too bad.” She shoved him away and rolled off the bed. “She’s dead. She died in that shithole. You know, the one you left me in.”

  The argument streamed in Addy’s memories. She’d stamped away rather than force a reply. At the time she hadn’t wanted to hear his excuses. But now? She wanted it more than the air she dragged in through deep breaths.

  Why had he left without her?

  Gage had been right in the meeting. She’d watched him and Jesse and Dallas and Rhea and all the others survive hells they’d buried.

  But she’d ignored her own, let the embers simmer so deep within her she wasn’t sure how to contain them if they erupted. She didn’t have a real connection with Kristof the man, but the boy he’d once been still mattered.

  Even if he’d abandoned her in that hell.

  Could she walk away when they got the missiles? Could she pretend it didn’t matter if someone was trying to kill him?

  Why did it matter?

  Jesus. She was a pathetic disaster zone.

  She took a deep breath and pushed the worries and fears back where they belonged. Secure the missiles. That was the mission. Keeping Lavrov safe until that happened was an objective—a bullet point.

  Nothing more.

  7

  “We have guests,” Maksim said as he entered Kristof’s room.

  Kristof dragged the left sleeve of his shirt on and glanced over his shoulder. “Who?”

  “It appears The Arsenal is doing a debrief.” The man’s lips thinned. “Your presence has been requested.”

  Requested was spoken with a tone that implied it was an order. “This should be interesting.”

  Kristof glanced at the clock and realized he’d slept for seven hours—longer than he’d wanted. Exhaustion still plagued him, though. Years of conditioning helped him ignore injuries, but this time was different because Addy could’ve been killed.

  Because of him.

  “Perhaps you should take this opportunity.” Maksim glanced at the camera in the corner.

  Kristof turned his back to the man and continued pulling the shirt on. He focused on the buttons and left Maksim’s statement unanswered. The Arsenal wasn’t involved with the war he silently waged with his father.

  “Have we heard anything about the shooting?”

  “Nothing actionable.”

  “Offer a reward,” Kristof ordered. “Someone will come forward. Get a car ready. I must finalize things with Gavriil once this meeting is finished.”

  “Is that wise?”

  “It’s necessary.” Necessity drove Kristof’s life, kept him on course. He turned to face his friend. “We will speak once I return. I’ll need your assistance to secure some privacy later this evening.”

  The unspoken reason loomed between them. He needed to speak with his father. The fact that the bastard hadn’t forced a conversation already offered more answers than he’d likely get. He either knew something about the shooting or was behind it.

  “This must be addressed before the auction.”

  “As you wish.”

  Kristof exited the room and took the stairs. Conversation drifted from the left. He followed the sounds and froze at the entry to a large living room. Nolan and Marshall Mason sat on a loveseat nearest the door. Zoey sat in a seat while Gage half-leaned against the arm. Addy was curled in a corner. Arms around her knees, she watched as he fully entered the room and stood.

  Five men took up the large sectional sofa to the left.

  Her team.

  Kristof knew their names—Beast, Thunder, Shep, Cracker, and Johnny—but didn’t know who was whom. Not that it mattered. Tension struck the room as everyone’s gazes settled on him. Maksim drew to a halt at his side.

  “I’m glad you’re up and about,” Gage said. “Sit. This might take a while.”

  A man with skull rings and tattoos along his arms slid over. Kristof took the open seat and looked about. His gaze settled on Zoey, aka Hummingbird. “I’m afraid my agenda got lost.”

  “Have you learned anything about who shot you last night?” Zoey asked. Suspicion glimmered in her narrowed gaze and punctuated her inquiry. Navigating the secrets he maintained would prove challenging because of the attack, but he couldn’t risk Addy becoming involved in his war with Father. She’d endured enough because of that bastard.

  “No.” He glanced at Maksim. “I trust you got the lists we made.”

  “We did. HERA is working on them, but I think we all know you could narrow them both down,” Marshall said. Arms crossed, he glared at Kristof, then glanced at Addy. “I won’t have my teams at risk because of whatever you’re involved in.”

  “The auction is tomorrow evening. It won’t be an issue.”

  “How can you be sure?” Addy asked. The doubt and worry within her voice struck him hard. He’d never wanted her harmed by his world. He hadn’t protected her from it.

  “Because they missed,” Kristof answered. “And no one is stupid enough to try again now that I know I’m being targeted.”

  Everyone regarded one another. A few grunted. Some chuckled. Tension filled the air.

  “Okay, we’ll pretend that bullshit answer didn’t happen and share what we know,” Zoey said. Lips thinned, she tapped on the laptop perched in her lap. “Maybe then your memory will get clearer. Johnny?”

  “We found the nest on the sixteenth floor of the apartment complex. Wind trajectory and the thousand-meter distance means the sniper was good. Damned good,” the man with the skull rings said. “Extremely fast exfil. I was on the roof six stories above and he’d ghosted
before I got there even though HERA targeted the location in seconds after the first shot was made.”

  “Either Lavrov was a lucky son of a bitch or the sniper missed intentionally,” Nolan Mason said.

  Given the pain radiating from his shoulder, Kristof didn’t think the sniper missed, but he remained quiet. This wasn’t a two-way conversation.

  “We pieced together all the surveillance footage of the area,” Zoey said. The large television screen flickered to life. Frames of still images appeared. “Some are pretty grainy, but HERA cleaned them up as much as she could. Facial recognition identified most people captured within them as local residents. Others were patrons of the nearby bars. We were able to track their movements and remove them from the suspect pool.”

  “How many suspects were identified?” Gage asked. “Or did we get any?”

  “We have a few unidentified people.” Zoey tapped a button and six images appeared on the screen.

  Kristof stifled the curse rising from him and glanced at Maksim, who shifted where he still stood near the living room entry.

  “You recognize someone,” one of the men said. “I’m Shep, by the way. The man beside you is Johnny. This is Cracker, Beast, and Thunder. We’re Addy’s team.”

  Kristof nodded and memorized the names, matched the faces. “I appreciate the introductions. And, yes, I recognize the second man from the left. He’s a local merc. He wouldn’t have the skillset for the shot, but he was likely the wheelman or a lookout.”

  “Name?”

  “I only know him by Art.” Kristof glanced at Maksim, whose eyebrows furrowed.

  “Artyom Alekhin,” Maksim supplied. “He works out of a club and has a few locals on his payroll. I can provide an address.”

  Several eyebrows rose as they studied Maksim. Kristof offered an apologetic smile to his friend. The man hated attention.

  “And the others?” Marshall asked.

  Anger rose in Kristof as he peered at the screen. The man on the far right was someone he’d seen with Father on several occasions. He’d have to look at the records Maksim had gathered to get a name, but they couldn’t involve The Arsenal.

  They couldn’t know about Kostya Sidorav, or that he was Kristof’s father. He couldn’t open that wound in Addy when it wouldn’t make a difference since they’d be gone in a couple of days.

  Art was a well-known local merc, which meant they’d likely figure out who the man on the right was eventually. Stalling them was his only option, which meant a half-truth rather than an outright lie.

  Fuck.

  If Art was involved, that meant Father was likely behind the shooting. Why?

  Father wouldn’t have ordered Ivan’s death. Would he?

  “The one on the right. I’ve seen him around at a few of the auctions I’ve held, but I don’t know who he works for, or his name,” Kristof said.

  “How can you not know his name if he was at your auctions?” Addy asked.

  “We only pay attention to the buyers, not their staff.” Kristof shrugged. “I meet a lot of people and don’t bother remembering their names. It’s a flaw.”

  “A convenient one,” Nolan commented.

  “And you?” Gage asked as he looked at Maksim. “Do you know his name? And who the hell are you? You aren’t an attendant.”

  “Maksim,” Kristof offered. “He’s more of an assistant than an attendant. He never attends my auctions, nor does he participate in my meetings or other business dealings.”

  “Right.” Zoey’s gaze narrowed. “So? Do you know his name? I’m not sure why HERA isn’t getting hits on them. Or you.”

  Maksim flinched at the latter. Kristof’s eyebrows lifted as he regarded his friend. They’d known The Arsenal would dig deep and had hoped his identity remained buried. So far it had.

  “Not everyone is in a database,” Marshall said.

  “If you give me a printout of them, I will see what I can find,” Maksim offered. “We likely have better contacts in the area than you.”

  And they could control what intel was provided.

  “We had a bit of luck with vehicles,” Zoey said. “Only two were identifiable from the plates. One was a light gray sedan. The other was a black Suburban.”

  Pictures appeared on the screen.

  “Are they trackable in other surveillance images?” Beast asked.

  “HERA’s working on it, but I’m not holding my breath,” Zoey answered. “I’ll send their info to your phones so you can be on the lookout for them just in case, though.”

  “We’ll need to change up a few things until the auction,” Addy said. “We’ll need a secondary team on my team’s six. Whoever tried to kill Kristof could either return or be following him.”

  “And might therefore see us,” Thunder said.

  “You’d spot a tail,” Zoey said.

  “Addy’s right. My team can merge with yours until the auction. That’ll give us extra bodies and different vehicles to make sure we aren’t spotted.” Gage crossed his arms and glanced at Kristof. “You’ll need to bring additional security in. Any chance you could bring on a few of our men?”

  “It’d be a risk,” Kristof said. “How many know Russian?”

  “All of us do,” Shep said in flawless Russian. “And a few on Nolan’s and Gage’s team.”

  “And a couple from mine,” Marshall said. “We can figure out who’d work best. Adding them for the auction would help.”

  “Agreed,” Addy said. “I just realized that whoever tried to kill Kristof may have been trying to keep him from the auction. What if this is because of the missiles?”

  Unlikely, but he couldn’t assuage Addy’s concern without divulging more than The Arsenal needed to know. For their own good, he’d remain silent and let them operate under whatever assumption they decided.

  “The list of attendees was published to the Dark Web site,” Zoey said. “It’s possible someone saw his name on it and figured he’d be the stiffest competition for a winning bid.”

  “Which makes what happened more of a problem for us than Lavrov,” Cracker said. “I can think of one group with a vested interest in those missiles.”

  “And they’d have snipers to pull off that shot,” Johnny said.

  “Mandrake,” Kristof guessed. “I thought you said their involvement was minimal.”

  Addy and Zoey had debriefed him on what had happened during the first phase of the mission. They’d taken down Carlisle Industries and secured most of the weapons. But Mandrake’s involvement with the operation was supposedly halted when the corrupt portion of the organization was taken out in Cuba.

  Trouble always seemed to find Addy no matter how much he wished otherwise. He clenched his fists and fought back the protective rage filling him. He’d agreed to help The Arsenal to lessen her time in Russia. She’d suffered enough without enduring the memories her return here likely incited.

  Then there was Zoey. Hummingbird had been a huge asset for Kristof over the past few years, even if she hadn’t realized.

  He owed them both.

  “That’s what we were assured,” Marshall said.

  “We can’t assume what we heard is true, though,” Nolan said. “We all know how that goes.”

  Kristof hoped it was Mandrake. At least then it wasn’t his father, but he knew better. “It’s more likely to be an enemy of mine and not yours. But perhaps I should attend the auction alone.”

  “That’s not happening,” Addy said. “If anything, I’d attend without you.”

  Like hell she would.

  “Let’s debrief on that tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll have a better idea who we’re up against before then,” Nolan said.

  “We’ll track down Artyom and get some answers,” Marshall said. “Gage, get your team merged with Addy’s. Zoey, get them extra vehicles so we vary enough to prevent being spotted.”

  Kristof realized the meeting was almost over. More importantly, the fact someone could be following him or might try again left him uneasy abo
ut meeting up with Gavriil alone as he’d initially intended.

  “I hesitate to mention this, but I’m afraid it can’t wait.” Kristof glanced about the room. “I must meet up with Gavriil in a few hours to finalize our business.”

  “What’s there left to finalize?” Gage asked. “He has the women.”

  “Yeah, I was wondering how you were handling that situation,” Marshall said.

  “It was a necessary step to avoid scrutiny. Anyone watching would see the women given to Gavriil. When they disappear a couple days later, no one would think anything of it.”

  “You’re a sick bastard,” Zoey said.

  “I bought them back,” Kristof admitted. “Gavriil paid twice the value to make restitution for his employee’s stupidity. I paid three times their value to him so I could keep my word to you and maintain peace.”

  “Why would you do that?” Addy asked.

  “Because I promised you I would take care of them,” Kristof said. He peered into her eyes. “And believe it or not, I always keep my promises to you.”

  Doubt reflected in her green gaze when it latched on to his. Tension rippled between them in the silent room. Now wasn’t the time to force a conversation about what’d happened long ago, but he’d take every opportunity he could to chip away at the distrust widening the chasm between them. Even though he’d likely never have the life he wanted with Addy, he couldn’t walk away without trying. He didn’t want her in Russia, where memories likely haunted her, but his life wouldn’t always be here if he succeeded in taking his father down.

  “Wait. Wait. You bought them back.” Zoey slammed her laptop shut. “So now what?”

  “Now we pick them up. I turn them over into your care and you do whatever you’ve done for the other women you rescued,” Kristof said.

  The woman’s gaze narrowed. “That’s not happening.”

  Surprise registered on everyone’s faces when they looked at Zoey. Kristof noted the tension filling the air. “I clearly missed something.”

  “I’m not sure what you think I do after women are saved from those auctions, but even if I did do something, there’s no way in hell I’m touching those women. Do you think I’m an idiot? Who are they? Plants?”