Hostile Ground

by Cara Carnes

  Sure, any operative at The Arsenal qualified in that regard. But she’d drawn that line firmly after being there for a few months. She couldn’t go there with someone she fought alongside on ops.

  Family.

  Marshall had called them family and he was right. In some twistedly perverse way, everyone at The Arsenal was more of a brother or sister to her than she’d ever had with Peter.

  Life had been simpler before she’d arrived in Resino. Before The Arsenal, she’d been drowning in chaos and danger twenty-four-seven and never saw loving relationships like she did now. Watching Dylan with Mary and Jud with Vi and Dallas with Kamren. Gage with Zoey.

  Jesse with Ellie.

  Now Rhea with Fallon.

  Addy sighed heavily. She wanted that. The admission burned deep because it absolutely terrified her. It opened a doorway she’d considered permanently shut after the debacle months ago.

  Kristof.

  She couldn’t fight a war with him when she wasn’t even sure she wanted to win. Fuck. She shook her head and set down the bag she carried when she approached the corner of the last hallway on the schematic she was drawing out.

  One more drone then she’d get her crazy ass to bed and move on. There was no other option, not when everyone needed her focused on getting the missiles.

  She keyed in the serial number of the drone into the wrist apparatus she wore and put it into place in the upper corner facing southward. Based on the layout she’d blueprinted, all of the mansion was now under surveillance except for Kristof’s bedroom and a locked room in the same area.

  Bree was going to have a seizure when she found out how many drones it’d taken to fully cover the interior of Kristof’s domain. Addy chuckled. She missed the brilliant hellion and the freakish way she incited chaos in her wake at every turn.

  “Movement along the eastern exterior,” Gage said in the com. “Making entry via the first level eastern side door.”

  Addy drew her Sig from its thigh holster and sprinted toward the nearest stairwell. “Engaging from the interior. Drones are activated inside.”

  “Six targets on the western side,” Beast said. “How the hell did they bypass our perimeter and Lavrov’s external security?”

  Good question. Anger rolled through her as she arrived at the stairwell.

  “Cover Kristof, Addy,” Mary ordered in the com. “Cord and I will use the drones to engage targets on the first level.”

  Mary was awake and monitoring? She was supposed to be on maternity leave. Addy vaulted up the stairs to the upper level and sprinted to Kristof’s room. She paused at Maksim’s door and banged.

  Kristof was in danger. Again. Anger and worry consumed her insides.

  “We’re under attack!” She ran toward Kristof’s suite. Maksim exited his room but remained in the center of the hallway with his weapon drawn. On guard.

  The door opened as she approached. Anger simmered within Kristof’s gaze as she halted in front of him. He chambered a round in the weapon he held.

  “Get dressed,” she said as her gaze swept his bare muscular torso then downward to the shorts and bare feet.

  “I could order the same of you,” he growled.

  Addy glanced down at the spaghetti-strapped top and snug shorts she used to sleep in. “There’s no time. We need to get you secure. Is there a panic room? I haven’t found one.”

  “Downstairs in the basement, but I won’t cower.” Kristof charged past her and stopped where Maksim stood. “Where are they?”

  “Six making entry along the western door and one at the eastern. We’re engaging with drones.”

  “There’ll be a second group,” Kristof said. “Another wave.”

  How the hell would he know that? Addy growled her frustration. The insufferable idiot was hiding something, and she would find out what, after he was secured.

  “On it,” Gage said. “We’re engaging now. Shep, get inside and help Addy in case we missed anyone.”

  Two drones flitted around Addy. She grabbed Kristof’s arm when he moved toward the stairs. “Don’t. Mary and Cord are using the drones. We’ll engage if they make it this far.”

  “They won’t,” Mary said.

  “You have drones in my house.” Kristof’s eyebrows rose.

  “I couldn’t sleep. Seemed like the thing to do.” She shrugged. “How did you know about the second wave?”

  Kristof and Maksim regarded one another.

  “They need to know,” Maksim said.

  Damn straight they needed to know.

  “When this is done, we’ll share what we suspect. It hasn’t been confirmed, but likely will be once we see who these men are,” Kristof said. “Fuck! I need to be down there.”

  “You’re injured. Our teams have this under control. I’d love nothing more than to go down there and kick some ass right now, but this is where you need to be.”

  Gunfire boomed from downstairs. Addy’s pulse quickened as the chatter on the com increased.

  “Four down. Two are engaging the drones,” Cord said. “Where the fuck is the guy from the eastern side?”

  “Halfway up the second-floor stairwell. He’s almost to you, Addy,” Mary said.

  “Get down!” Addy shouted as she ran after the drone racing toward the stairs. “None of these up here have sleeper darts in them. I ran out of those.”

  “One’s en route,” Mary said. “Engage.”

  Her pulse thumped hard in her ears as she crouched within the nook near the stairs. She glanced back where Kristof was and breathed in relief as she saw Maksim drag Kristof into a room.

  Good. He was safe.

  Whoever these assholes were, they wouldn’t get near him. Not tonight.

  Not ever.

  “Ten feet,” Mary said, her voice the same calm she always exhibited on the com.

  Addy sprang from her crouch and kicked the bastard in the face. Gunfire shot from his AK-47. Ceiling bits crumbled onto her as she broke his arm. Pain exploded in her stomach with the impact of his boot.

  She aimed and fired. Two to the head. He fell on the last stair.

  She glared down at his body, then forced a deep breath. “Target clear.”

  They never should have allowed Kristof to return home. Anger simmered within her as she headed down the hall and entered the room Maksim had dragged Kristof to. The man stood beside the bed where Kristof was lying.

  “What the fuck happened to him?”

  “He refused to stay. I knocked him out,” Maksim said. “Go. I will keep him here. You have my word.”

  “How did they bypass your exterior security and our perimeter?” Addy asked.

  Maksim crossed his arms at the wrists and sighed. “There’s a secret entry beneath the basement, a tunnel with an armored vehicle. It exits near the neighboring house.”

  “And you didn’t think we should know this?” Addy’s voice rose. “I should kill you idiots myself.”

  “We intended to walk the entire grounds with you and your team in the morning. Kristof felt it could wait until then.”

  “Goddamned idiot.” Addy charged from the room and slammed down the stairs.

  “I’ll track down the not-so-secret tunnel,” Pierce said in the com.

  “Take Thunder with you,” Addy ordered. “Everyone else get into teams of two and map every inch of this security nightmare. Gage, you’re with me. It’s time we got some fucking answers.”

  “Take a deep breath, Addy,” Mary said in the com. “Lavrov will wait.”

  “We shouldn’t have brought him here,” she said. “We should’ve demanded answers.”

  “Knowing who he suspects wouldn’t have stopped this attack,” Gage said. “They’re organized. It would’ve happened either way.”

  Addy forced silence and paced.

  “HERA only identified one of the attackers. He’s a mid-level grunt of the Sidorav syndicate who got picked up by the Israelis two years ago,” Cord said.

  Sidorav.

  Breath swooshed fr
om her lungs. She ran her hand down her face. How the hell was Kristof tied to that bastard? “Kostya Sidorav ran the camp I was trained in.”

  “He took over the Sidorav syndicate when his brother was killed twenty-two years ago. Rumors were Kostya killed him to take control,” Mary said. “I’ll wake Zoey and get her working in the Dark Web so we can find any chatter about him and why he’d go after Lavrov.”

  Because they couldn’t believe a damned thing Kristof told them.

  Numbness seeped into her brain. She should’ve killed Kostya years ago. Hunted him down like the monster he tried to create.

  “Let’s go,” she said as she motioned toward the stairs.

  The Sidorav syndicate was one of the largest and most violent organizations. Addy had tracked them through the years when she worked at Hive. Though their paths hadn’t ever intersected, she knew Peter had somehow been tied to them. Why else would he have put her in that horrid place?

  “I’ll go through the files we got from Peter’s personal hard drive,” Mary said. “We’ll figure this out.”

  The brilliant woman had put the pieces together even though Addy hadn’t shared her suspicions. “I don’t understand why he wouldn’t just tell us.”

  “Let’s find out.”

  Addy followed Gage up the stairs as he took them two at a time. He halted at the end of the stairs on the third story and turned to face her. She froze on the last stair and looked up at him.

  “You need to kill the team coms for this, Mary,” he said. “You, me, and Addy only. This’ll likely get ugly and she shouldn’t have shit shared until she’s ready.”

  “It’s already done,” the woman replied.

  Addy’s gut tightened. They had her back without her even asking. She trusted her team without hesitation, but she’d spent decades safeguarding everything personal—keeping only the relevant operative details at the forefront. Kristof was a conduit to hells she’d never intended to share. She’d try hard to keep conversation from details, but a discussion about Kostya Sidorav was likely to expose more than she’d want.

  “Thank you,” Addy said. “I—”

  “Don’t.” Gage touched her arm. “I get it. You know I do.”

  Addy nodded. He’d gone through his own private hell—one which included having to kill his teammates in order to save a village of innocent people. The road to recover from that had been a hard one he shared with no one until Zoey entered his life. Addy had likely heard more than most of the operatives at The Arsenal since they worked together on a lot of ops.

  Gage stopped outside the door and glared at Maksim, whose gaze focused on Addy. The man opened the door and motioned them in. She entered first and halted a few steps in. Kristof glared from where he sat at the end of the king-sized bed. She hadn’t been away from him long, only a few minutes, but he’d changed clothes.

  The gray T-shirt hugged his muscular torso and stretched across his biceps. Black denim jeans hugged his firm ass and thighs. Kristof made an impression no matter what he wore. He pulled on a pair of socks and reached for a pair of sneakers.

  He’s safe. Relief calmed the agitation rolling within her, but frustration and determination pressed to the forefront. She needed answers.

  The door shut and Maksim and Gage moved deeper into the room. Neither sat. Gage’s cellphone rang. He pulled it out and clicked it to speaker mode.

  “Edge, Addy, and I are the only ones who’ll hear whatever’s said here,” he said.

  Kristof nodded as he tied his shoelaces. “I’ll share my suspicions with the understanding this is not an Arsenal issue to handle. Your work here ends tonight when we’ve acquired the missiles.”

  Like hell it would. Someone was trying to kill Kristof. Why the hell would he think she’d walk away when he was in danger?

  “That’s not yours to decide,” Addy said, her voice low with anger.

  “It is or you leave now.” Kristof stood. “Sidorav is the only one with the resources to come at me and succeed. He’ll likely go to ground now that he realizes I wasn’t the only one here tonight.”

  “You can’t be certain of that,” Mary said.

  “No, but he’s far from stupid,” Maksim replied.

  “Tonight wasn’t exactly smart.” Gage rocked back on his heels. “Let’s rewind to why he’d want to come after you.”

  Kristof paced at the side of the bed. Back and forth. His gaze swept to Addy more than once.

  Silence increased her frustration. Rather than explode, she started the conversation with what little she knew. “Sidorav ran the camp. We know he killed his brother and took over the syndicate. Why is he after you?”

  His eyes flared wide, as if he hadn’t expected them to know about his move to take over the syndicate two decades ago. Regret softened his gaze when it settled on her. “I’m his son.”

  What? Addy’s stomach pitched. Kristof moved toward her, but she took a couple steps backward and held out her hand. “Don’t.”

  His son? How was that even possible? How could the only person who’d ever kept her safe back then be the same blood as the bastard who’d… Bile rose in her stomach.

  “Kristof Lavrov isn’t your real name then,” Mary said.

  “Lavrov was my mother’s name. I assumed it when I began my underground operations. Father expected my work to expand the Sidorav syndicate’s reach without any of his competition realizing it.”

  “Did it?” Gage crossed his arms.

  “At first it did.” Kristof’s gaze cut to Addy. She looked down to avoid the intensity in his gaze. Kostya’s son. “I suspect the insolvency I’d intended to create within the syndicate worked better than I planned. It’s the only plausible reason I can come up with for why he’d try to kill me.”

  What insolvency? He wasn’t making any sense.

  “And you’re sure it was him,” Addy said. “How?”

  “One of the men you caught on surveillance from the first attack works with him almost exclusively.”

  “Why the hell didn’t you tell us?” Addy shouted. “Jesus. Don’t you think we should have known you were making a power move to take the syndicate from him since our asses are on the line right now?”

  Why would he want to run the vile organization who’d tried to destroy them both? Her pulse quickened. She fisted and unfisted her hands as she battled the urge to punch Kristof. How the hell could he do this to her? To them?

  This wasn’t about her, though. How could she have been so blind?

  “Does he know we’re here?” Gage asked.

  “No.” Kristof motioned to Maksim. “We are the only two who knew.”

  Right, like they could trust that. He’d lied to them at every turn.

  “Which brings us right back to what I asked before. Who the fuck are you?” Gage took a step toward Maksim.

  “I began working for Kristof nineteen years ago. Before that I did private contracting work. I continued with it and helped Kristof with a number of assignments through the years. Jud will recognize me easily enough.”

  “You were Collective,” Mary said.

  “I contracted for them a long time ago.”

  “How does Jud know you?” Addy asked.

  “We trained together on occasion a long time ago. He may not remember me at first.”

  None of it made sense. Why would Kristof’s own father shove him into that camp? He’d been fourteen when he arrived. Most people who went there had been far older and headed for special forces or black ops groups.

  “Why were you at the camp?”

  “Father said I was weak, an embarrassment to the Sidorav name.” His jaw twitched as he clenched his fists. “I needed to be conditioned.”

  “So he pulled you out once you were. That’s why you left. Without word. Without giving a damn about me. You promised. You swore.” Anger burned her eyes. She blinked and forced the hurt back.

  This wasn’t about her. It couldn’t be.

  He was that monster’s son.

  Disgust
rolled through her. Had she ever really known him? Had everything been a lie?

  “Addy.” His voice cut through her thoughts and forced her to the present. “Look at me.”

  She clenched her fists and tensed when he approached. She punched his chest when he reached for her. “Get away!”

  “Look at me!” He grabbed her face.

  Gage moved toward them, but Maksim stepped between him and Kristof and shook his head.

  “He wouldn’t ever hurt her.”

  “There’s more than one way to hurt someone,” Gage growled. “Step back or I’ll make you.”

  Kristof gripped her chin and pulled until her gaze collided with his. “I had no choice. I swear I would’ve come back and saved you from that place if I could have. I had no choice.”

  “You did.” She shoved his hand off her. “You could have told me who he was to you back then. Why didn’t you?”

  “He’s never been anything more than a sperm donor to me. No one could hate him more than me.” Hurt flashed across his face, visible pain in his haunted gaze. He looked away.

  “You still work for him. With him,” Mary said.

  “Sometimes the only way to destroy a monster is to become one. I vowed to do everything possible to destroy him and that syndicate long ago. I’m close.”

  “Closer than you realized if your suspicions are correct,” Maksim commented.

  “Do you have access to his financials?” Mary asked.

  “Some of them, not nearly all.”

  “Give us what you know, and I’ll get the rest.”

  “This isn’t an Arsenal matter,” Kristof argued. “I’ve given you my suspicions even though they don’t matter at this point. After tonight your mission is complete and you’ll be back where you belong.”

  Far away from him. The unspoken words hung between them when his gaze cut back to Addy. Maybe she’d added the regret in his face when she studied him. It eased the ache radiating in her chest and calmed the sourness in her gut. She couldn’t believe he was anything but the protector he’d always been back then. He’d cared. Right?

  “Your underground operation funds his syndicate?” Mary asked.

  “No. It did at first, but not for the past several years. The only profits he reaps are when he uses my services to move assets.”