by Cara Carnes
“You think he’s involved,” Addy said.
“We do.”
Damn. Addy nodded. “Then let’s get the debrief started. Both he and I are likely to collapse soon. We need the air fully cleared before that can happen.”
“There’s something else you should know,” Mary said. “Marshall and Nolan want you benched as primary on this mission. At first, I agreed. You ignored my direct orders to remain in that cell. What if those five operatives hadn’t been dead? You could have been killed.”
“And they could’ve come in and killed us before the team got there,” Addy argued.
“It was a risk. A risk you wouldn’t have normally taken. Why did you?”
She’d wanted to make sure there weren’t any more threats to Kristof. Addy didn’t answer because her friend already knew the answer.
“I’m thinking that’s the wrong call after hearing what just went down,” Mary said. “And what Lavrov said when Nolan told him.”
What had Kristof said? Addy was tempted to ask, but she was too exhausted to wage that battle right now. It’d wait. Everything would wait. But they’d cornered him before he’d even been removed from that cell.
“That’s why he finagled time alone with Kristof.” Anger filled Addy. “He was injured and barely conscious and Nolan hit him with that?”
“We’re all worried, Addy. We can’t protect you from any of this because we don’t know what the hell we’re fighting.”
But they did know. At least, her exhausted mind thought they did. Kristof was at war with his father—who may or may not have been involved in taking them captive. Either way, there was trouble there that Kristof hadn’t fully explained. As for her history with him, she’d made it clear enough.
He’d once been an important part of her life—a life she’d locked away when Peter died.
Was there anything else to share about that? Probably. Would it change anything? No.
“I’m not leaving this mission.”
“I know. In all honesty, I don’t think Nolan agrees with that call either at this point.”
That must’ve been some conversation he and Kristof had. “Thank you, Mary. You’ve always had my back, even when I failed to have yours.”
Silence. Addy cursed. Exhaustion had left her tongue loose.
“Mary…”
“You blame yourself?”
“Shouldn’t I?” Addy asked. She turned away from the group watching her from across the room. “He was my brother. I knew he was a monster. I should’ve known he’d go after you and Vi.”
“You couldn’t have stopped him. No one could. I should’ve realized you’d think that. Hell, Vi did, too.”
“None of what went down was on Vi.”
“And it wasn’t on you,” Mary said, her voice loud in the com. “Peter was the only one at fault. He was the monster. None of us could’ve stopped him.”
Whatever. “Okay.”
“You say okay, but I know you’re not letting yourself off that hook. Be warned, I’m getting you off of it when you come home. You’re one of my sisters. You’re my rock. You’re everyone’s rock. Bree and Rhea both gravitate toward you whenever they’re scared or need support. Because you always stand between us and any threat. Please, please let us be your rock. Whatever this is, let us help you through it.”
Emotion clogged Addy’s throat. She felt as though she’d been shoved into a blender set to shred. She was scraped raw and too confused to formulate thoughts or a strategy to deal with the next phase of whatever the hell this was. “I can’t make that promise, Mary. Not yet.”
“Fair enough. Just promise me you won’t intentionally shut us out. We can help you through this. No war is won alone.”
“You’ve fought enough wars, Mary,” Addy whispered.
“So have you. I’m thinking you’ve fought more than any of us realize.” Her heart warmed. “We love you, Addy. Everyone loves you.”
Love. Hearing the declaration calmed her tumultuous thoughts and eased the ache in her chest. Peter hadn’t ever expressed the sentiment, not even before her parents had died. Even though she’d started over at The Arsenal after Hive was taken down, she’d operated as she’d always done—from the sidelines. Guarding those she cared for from a safe distance.
But she hadn’t been at a safe distance. Mary and the girls had flanked her. Marshall and the guys had somehow maneuvered her into the center of their protectiveness without her realizing how deeply entrenched she was with them.
Sure, she’d known how important they were to her, but she hadn’t taken a step back and considered her value to them. She’d known her importance to her team, though.
And everyone at The Arsenal was a team.
No.
They were family.
“I love you, too.” Her eyes burned with the admission. Why had it been so hard to admit that?
She couldn’t answer that, not right now. Maybe later. After the mission was complete and she was…
Home.
She kept her back to the room and swiped at her eyes. Damn. She was a train off the rails and headed into terrain she wasn’t sure she could handle. She’d watched her girls and the guys go through this shit, but she’d never thought she’d be here. Exposed. Emotionally eviscerated.
“Don’t kill Marshall and Nolan. I know you want to kick their asses, but you’re their commando sister and they’d do anything to protect you.”
She chuckled. “I know.”
“Good. Now let’s get this meeting started before Kristof takes on everyone in that room.” Mary chuckled. “I’m almost tempted to let him.”
“He’s too injured for that.” Addy turned and froze.
Kristof stood in the center of the room. Intensity resonated within his stance as he faced off against Marshall, who’d inserted himself in the path leading to Addy.
Oh boy.
14
“Sit down,” Marshall ordered.
Kristof clenched his fists and glared at the man standing between him and Addy. He’d agreed with Nolan earlier. She deserved better than him and he wouldn’t stand in their way to remove her from the mission, but he wasn’t about to sit back and let her get ganged up on when she was exhausted.
“Have some common sense,” Kristof said. “She’s exhausted. Whatever is going on will wait until she’s rested.”
“You’re right.” The man crossed his arms. “Nolan and I didn’t know her team would corner her like that. They’re worried. Any of our teams would’ve done the same thing. As for the conversation I’m suspecting she’s having with Mary, I’m as in the dark as you are since she turned off all of our coms. Edge will never hurt Addy. None of us will.”
“Fine.” Kristof turned and sat between Nolan and Gage.
Gage settled his forearms on his knees and looked over. “I’m thinking we can have a sidebar right now about what the hell you were thinking sharing Zoey’s contact info with that psycho.”
Kristof tightened. His gaze cut to the woman, whose eyes widened from where she sat in a rocking chair.
“Gage.”
“Not now, Little Bit. That could’ve gone sideways.”
“It was the smart play,” Zoey said. “He knew I’d handle it. He knew we were listening. Those calls triangulated their location and got you there in time to exfil them. It also gave us another in to figure out who we’re up against.”
Gage’s eyes narrowed. “What did you find out?”
The com system in the center of the room buzzed. Everyone glanced that direction. Marshall clicked a button. “We’re all here, Edge.”
“First,” Edge said, “we think the group we’re up against is the remnants of the Mandrake splinter we fought in Cuba. The account the funds were sent to the second time isn’t tied to Mandrake. It was a private account of an operative terminated from Mandrake last week.”
“Convenient,” Nolan said.
The tension in Kristof eased somewhat when Addy sat across from him in the makeshif
t circle of the living room. Redness appeared around her eyes. He glared at her team. Had they made her cry, or had it been Edge?
Didn’t matter who instigated. The reason was him.
He was a toxin in her life. Nolan and Marshall were right. He needed to carve himself out of her life even if it wasn’t what he wanted. He’d waffled between doing so too much the past few days. It was time he manned the fuck up and did what was right for her.
He let the decision percolate in his brain a moment, then spat it out. To hell with that. They’d both endured hells and survived. They deserved a happy life, hopefully one together. He couldn’t walk away now.
“We’ll send the details to your handsets, but the account owner is affiliated with the leader we took down in Cuba. He’s also had several hefty deposits from Carlisle Industries through the years,” Jesse said.
“We missed some of the ones tied to Carlisle,” Marshall said.
“We did. Whether they are actually a black-in-black team still tied with Carlisle is up for debate,” Edge said. “There’s another point to mention before we move off the Mandrake part of the discussion. We’ve been warned off.”
“Excuse me?” Marshall asked.
“Bob called Vi a couple hours ago, shortly after the raid on the bunker. The directive was clear—stand down and do not go after Mandrake in any way,” Edge said. “Needless to say, that conversation didn’t go as he’d hoped.”
Gage chuckled. “It rarely does when you and Vi are involved.”
“What’s the play with them?” Addy asked. “Those operatives who had us weren’t what I would’ve expected. They were barely trained.”
“We think the group was recruiting former Mandrake rejects,” Edge said. “We’re looking into that angle, establishing the backgrounds for the eight dead operatives from the bunker.”
“And the interrogator?” Kristof asked.
“We’re looking into him, but Jud was able to share some light on that,” Jesse said. “He’s former Collective. Jud recognized him as an enhanced interrogations expert they sometimes called in when Jud refused an assignment or needed to be shifted to a different assignment. He escaped the takedown.”
“And likely began working with Mandrake or was already working with them,” Addy said. “Did Jud know anything about an assigned protector?”
“No, but he’d expect there was one. Probably a Mandrake operative. He didn’t go anywhere without at least one protector,” Edge said. “Vi’s hacking into Mandrake’s files.”
“What?” Zoey leaned toward the com. “I’ll do it. You two should be on mama duty. Cord and I will take this on. Jacob can help us.”
“She’s not backing off this, Z,” Jesse said. “Bob’s call made it personal. Jud will pull her off if she gets too focused.”
Judson Jensen was an excellent operative—one who’d had Kristof’s back when he’d worked Collective assignments on many occasions. They’d formed a strange friendship through the years. Kristof owed the man a huge debt because he’d taken a huge risk and warned him about the takedown so he could extricate himself from the assignment he’d been on.
Navigating his work with The Collective while running his own underground operation had been difficult, but the latter was typically the cover story he’d needed for whatever missions he was assigned. Scraping the organization out of his life had relieved Kristof more than he’d initially realized.
“Okay, so the assumption is that the leftover Mandrake operatives have turned on Yesim’s organization and want the missiles back,” Jesse said. “Based on Rhea’s calculations from the Cuba data, we know there are still three in play. Our primary objective is finding them.”
“Agreed,” Marshall said. “Any leads on which doors to start knocking down?”
“We retrieved data from two cellphones on the bunker operatives. Both had frequent calls originating from this region.” A map with a red circle appeared on the television screen.
Fuck. Kristof’s insides burned. The bastard.
Addy’s gaze captured his from across the room. Silence descended as everyone’s attention settled on either him or her. Pale, she looked at him with wide eyes.
“That’s…” She stopped, cleared her throat. “That’s the camp.”
“Are you sure?” Zoey asked.
“You don’t forget a place like that,” Kristof said. “She’s right. But the camp was shut down nine years ago. Father turned it into a fortress. Added a huge house.”
“You’ve been there? Recently?” Edge asked.
“I’m allowed there once a month.” Kristof clenched his teeth and kept his attention on Addy. “I didn’t want you to know. Not like this. But I can’t keep quiet if you all intend to hit that location.”
“Why not?” Her question was a hushed whisper.
“Father is holding my cousin there,” Kristof said. “I intend to break him out when I take Father down.”
“Your cousin,” Edge said. “Olaf?”
Ice formed in his veins. He should’ve realized the brilliant women who led Zoey would’ve dug and found what he’d tried to hide. Maksim had warned him they’d find answers quickly. Had they already told Addy?
Did it even matter?
“Yes.”
“Let’s rewind and hit pause,” Zoey said. “Who’s Olaf and why is your dad keeping him prisoner?”
“Olaf tried to overthrow my father four years ago,” Kristof said, keeping the answers as surface level as he could. None of the history mattered. The Arsenal didn’t need the why behind the facts. “He decided imprisonment was a better punishment, a more painful one.”
“You should’ve told us,” Addy said. “I would’ve helped you free him. We all would’ve helped.”
A couple eyebrows rose, but no one negated her response. His stomach pitched.
“You aren’t sharing anything beyond that,” Jesse said. “Warning. Edge found more. She dug. Deep.”
“I don’t see how any of that matters,” Kristof said. “Not to any of you.”
“It matters,” Edge said, her voice softer than before. “Olaf is the sole survivor, the only son of Kir Sidorav, Kostya’s brother.”
“The one he was rumored to have killed to get control of the syndicate?” Zoey asked.
“Yes,” Kristof said. “That happened twenty-two years ago.” He looked up, at Addy. “Two days before I was taken to the camp.”
“Kristof.” Addy breathed his name. Eyes wide. “That’s why you were there? Did…did you see him kill his brother?”
Kristof nodded. “Uncle Kir and my mother were in love. They had an affair. Father found out and killed them both. He…”
Emotion clogged his throat. He looked down at the floor and willed the silence away. They didn’t need the details. He’d already shared too much.
“He made Kristof watch their executions,” Maksim said.
Shocked, Kristof looked up as Maksim entered the room. “Forgive my truancy. Had I known we were discussing this, I would’ve been here earlier.”
The man moved through the room and sat in front of Kristof. He reached out and took his hand. “I am glad you are safe.”
He nodded. Not trusting his voice, he kept his gaze on the man who’d stood by his side the past two decades.
“Kostya deposited Kristof at the camp to condition him, turn him into what he wanted him to become. A future leader of the Sidorav empire,” Maksim continued. “Perhaps it would’ve worked, but he had his mother’s temperament—one which was strengthened by a young girl he met at the camp.”
“Maksim,” Kristof warned.
“We’ve opened the path. It must all be said now,” the man replied.
“Who the hell are you?” Gage asked.
“I’m the man his father hired to kill him nineteen years ago,” Maksim said. “He was sent from the camp under the guise of taking on his first mission when he was seventeen. I was ordered to terminate him.”
“But you didn’t,” Nolan said.
&
nbsp; “He didn’t. He kept me safe. I convinced Father he had my loyalty,” Kristof said.
“Does he?” Marshall asked.
“No.”
“So Olaf tried to overthrow him four years ago,” Zoey said. “Did you help him?”
“No. He was tired of waiting, thought my plan was too slow.”
“There’s a plan?” Edge asked.
They were well aware that there was a plan, one he’d already alluded to.
“Kostya Sidorav’s empire is larger than most small countries,” Maksim said. “A direct strike wouldn’t have achieved anything but Kristof’s death. The plan he created will work. Has worked.”
“We. You strategized more of it than I did,” Kristof said. “I was an angry youth who wanted his death.” Kristof glanced up, into Addy’s stricken face. “That’s why I didn’t return to the camp. I didn’t abandon you there. I intended to tell someone about you, get you out. But…”
“But your father tried to kill you,” Addy said, her face red with anger. “Why the hell didn’t you ever tell me this?”
“You suffered enough at his hands. He may not have been the one who was there, but that place existed because of him. I didn’t want you to see how deep his evil ran because…” Because that evil sired him. “By the time I was in a position to help you out, you’d already been removed and taken to Hive.”
“And Olaf?” Edge asked. “What happened four years ago?”
“He thought we’d weakened Father’s control and finances enough for him to simply kill him outright,” Kristof said. Anger filled his voice. “He was foolishly stubborn.”
“How was imprisonment worse than death?” Beast asked.
Kristof regarded Maksim. The man’s eyes softened as he nodded. Right. They’d gone so far down the road he may as well share what remained. He forced a deep breath.
“Uncle Kir arranged a marriage for Olaf to another syndicate leader’s youngest daughter. Neither Olaf nor the girl had a choice in the matter,” Kristof said, his voice low. “The other syndicate wanted to back out of the arrangement after my uncle’s death, but Father demanded it continue. They agreed as long as the two could meet. They fell in love despite the circumstances.”
