Takedown

by L. T. Ryan

  Sadie stood up to stretch her legs. “But?”

  “But he reached out again about a month ago. He was a little more convincing this time. Had evidence of every single thing I’d skimmed from the top while I was back in the Marines. Had information on my family. My sister and her kid. Said he needed a favor. I couldn’t exactly say no.”

  Bear wanted to blame the guy for everything that had gone down since the three of them had gone missing, but once again it came down to Thorne. It always led back to Thorne.

  “Why did Thorne want you to get mixed up in all of this?”

  “Not a clue.” When Bear and Sadie both looked at him with skepticism in their eyes, he tried sitting up and leaning forward. “No, really. I have no idea. I told him I’d do this and that’d be it. He seemed okay with that.”

  Sadie turned to Bear. “That’s not like Thorne. Once he digs his claws into someone, he doesn’t let them go.”

  “Unless they don’t serve a purpose for him anymore,” Bear said. “Maybe this wasn’t about Fredericks and getting him on the roster. It was about the job.”

  Sadie returned her scrutinizing gaze back to Fredericks. “You really have no idea why this job was so important?”

  “He didn’t tell me much. I was supposed to get money from both the Irish gang and the neo jihadists, then shut down the cell and save the day. Be the hero, he said.”

  “He wanted a win for the CIA,” Bear said. He could feel the pieces coming together, but they weren’t quite locked in place yet.

  Sadie looked at Bear. “No, he wanted a win for himself.”

  33

  Sadie paced the room in a random and chaotic pattern. “Miller played us. Hard. He told us Thorne had no idea this job was even going on, but made sure to drop his name after minimal pressure. We thought it was to help himself, but if he’s in as deep with Thorne as I think, he’s only interested is keeping Thorne’s name out of the dirt.”

  “So how does all of this help him?” Bear asked, gesturing around the room. “If Miller was so quick to name Thorne, that means Thorne wanted us to know he was behind this. How the hell does that benefit him?”

  “If things had gone off without a hitch? The CIA would’ve been the good guys and Thorne could’ve swooped in to save the day. There’d be evidence that he set up the operation himself, scrubbing a few facts here and there like taking a little money on the side while they did that.”

  “What’s the point, though?” Bear asked. “The CIA wouldn’t let him out of his jail cell based on this alone.”

  “You know Thorne’s got a dozen other jobs like this going on right now, right under our noses. He wants the CIA to recognize his genius. He wants to be in charge of keeping the peace. Right now, they think he’s a loose cannon, but if he can pull all this off? They’d set him up in the Director’s chair.”

  “He doesn’t need that much power. Look what he can do on a shoestring budget,” Bear said. “If he had the entire CIA backing him up? He wouldn’t stop at world peace. He’d put a monopoly on war.”

  “I have documents,” Fredericks said. “Proof that Thorne orchestrated this. Just let me get back to my apartment. I can give you everything you need to keep him locked away for good.”

  Bear looked at Sadie for permission before he let the news drop. “Hate to say it, pal, but your apartment went up in flames. Everything’s gone.”

  All the color drained out of Fredericks’ face. “Shit. Tell me you found something. Anything.”

  “Nothing,” Sadie said. “Did you have backups? Is there anyone else who could corroborate with you?”

  “No one willing to betray Thorne.” Fredericks looked sicker than a few moments before. “Only me, Miller, and Noble knew the truth. And they aren’t going to say a damn thing.”

  Bear felt like he’d been electrocuted. He froze, all his limbs tingling. The top of his head felt like it was on fire. Tunnel vision set in. A ringing in his ears. He could feel every nerve ending in his body, but he also saw himself from the outside, as if from above.

  And that’s why, even though his brain was telling him to stop, he couldn’t keep himself from launching forward, grabbing Fredericks by the collar, and shouting, “What did you say?” over and over again in his face.

  Sadie tried to pull him off Fredericks, but he had a death grip on the guy’s tattered shirt.

  Bear saw red. It was only when he realized his hands had moved from Fredericks’ collar to his throat that Bear finally let go. The other man choked and sputtered while he regained his breath. Bear let Sadie pull him away, but he stopped when he was just out of arm’s reach.

  “Noble,” Bear said. He could only get out one word at a time. “Everything. Now.”

  Fredericks’ eyes were wild as they bounced from Sadie to Bear. He was obviously terrified, but he apparently didn’t want to give Bear another reason to attack him. “I only met him once. Couldn’t get a read on him. He came in with Miller one day. He was our backup plan, I guess. If everything went to shit, he’d clean it up. I didn’t have to ask what that meant. I did everything to make sure I wasn’t going to find out firsthand, either. And now…”

  Bear’s muscles were on fire as he kept himself from launching at Fredericks again. Sadie had to put her whole weight into pushing him a few feet further back.

  “What’s wrong with you?” she snapped. “Get your head together.”

  “Jack would never. With Thorne? Never.” Bear was still having trouble forming whole sentences.

  “I know that and you know that,” Sadie said. She still held a firm hand on his chest, but her voice was softer now. “We both know this isn’t what it looks like.”

  “Then what is it?” Bear said, finally finding something resembling composure. “Because I’m at the end of my rope, Sadie, and I’d really like some goddamn answers.”

  “So would I.” When Sadie was sure Bear wasn’t going to run forward again, she removed her hand from his chest and started pacing again. “Jack wouldn’t be working with Thorne unless it was his only option. We both know that.”

  Bear could only grunt in assent.

  “He’s either trying to protect someone, or he must know what Thorne’s master plan is. Maybe the only way he could stop it was by working with Thorne.”

  “As a fixer?” Bear asked. “We’ve done some shitty things in our past, he and I, but we always tried to keep our hands as clean as possible. This isn’t clean, Sadie. To fix this, he’d have to shed a lot of blood. And some of that was bound to be innocent.”

  “We don’t know that,” Sadie said. “We don’t have all the details yet.”

  Bear started looking around him wildly, barely taking in the fact that Davis and all the other agents were watching every move they made. “Jack must be close. He’d have to monitor this situation. He’s probably been here all along. That means he knew what we were up to. He knew we were close. And he didn’t help. He didn’t come forward.”

  “We don’t know why,” Sadie said, more and more insistent. “There could be a million reasons—”

  “I’m sorry,” Fredericks said. His voice was low, but Sadie and Bear whipped their heads in his direction. He had slumped to the side, one arm in his lap and the other placed awkwardly behind his back. “This was never part of the plan.”

  “What was?” Sadie asked. She was creeping forward as slowly as she could. “What was never part of the plan?”

  “I didn’t want anyone to get hurt,” Fredericks said. “But if there’s no proof, Thorne won’t even hesitate. My family is as good as dead.”

  “We can figure this out together,” Sadie said. “There’s still plenty we can do.”

  “There’s only one thing to do,” Fredericks said.

  He didn’t finish his thought. Instead, Fredericks pulled a pistol from behind his back and aimed it forward. Not at Bear. Not at Sadie. Not at anyone else standing in the room.

  Instead, he aimed for the pile of C4 just over Bear’s shoulder. It was enough to kill
them all and level several city blocks above them.

  Bear didn’t think. He just moved. He dove in front of the explosives just as Fredericks pulled the trigger, cringing and apologizing as he did it.

  Someone put a bullet in Fredericks’ forehead, but he still got off two of his own shots.

  Bear hit the ground having just felt a pair of bullets slam into his chest.

  34

  “You’re the reason why I’m getting gray hairs,” Sadie said. “Not this job.”

  “You knew I was wearing a vest.” Bear winced as he rubbed the darkening bruises on his chest.

  “Knowing and remembering are two different things when your world is about to explode.” Sadie paused for dramatic effect. “Literally.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”

  And he was. Bear had remembered he was wearing a vest when he dove in front of Fredericks’ bullets. The only thing he had been worried about was timing his jump correctly. Anything other than perfect would’ve led to a bullet in his brain or something much worse.

  That’s not to say he was feeling his best. He was still banged up from when he had been jumped by the jihadists who had crawled out of the tunnel long enough to track him down. Stitches in his chest had opened up. Couple that with the two sizable bruises spreading across his skin, and Bear could honestly say he’d been better.

  But all of that paled in comparison to what Fredericks had revealed to them.

  Bear was still trying to process it. Still trying to piece it all together.

  Jack had been mixed up in all of this, somehow.

  Jack Noble. His friend. His brother.

  He had known about the terrorist attack. Had let it get as far as it did. He had been hired by Thorne to clean up the mess if it had all gone sideways. He had watched and waited and had nearly let Bear get killed.

  But Bear wasn’t angry. Not at Jack, at least.

  He was pissed at Fredericks, that was for sure. The man was a coward. He had been willing to kill thousands of innocent people just so he didn’t have to face the consequences of his actions. When Bear had brought this up to Sadie, she had given him a noncommittal shrug.

  “Maybe he was protecting his family,” she had said. “We just don’t know yet.”

  There were a lot of things they didn’t know yet. But they were about to find out.

  Sadie and Bear had two options. They could either stay in London and keep looking for Jack, or they could go back home and finally talk to Thorne face-to-face.

  Sadie had made her decision on the spot. She needed to go to Langley to deal with the fallout of three of her agents losing their lives on the job. There was gonna be a lot of paperwork and a lot of explaining to do. Better to get it done sooner rather than later.

  Bear, on the other hand, had been torn. He needed to talk to Jack.

  Noble felt so close, like Bear would turn a corner and he’d be right there, waiting for him. Waiting to explain what the hell was going on and why he had teamed up with Thorne.

  But the universe wasn’t ready to spill her secrets just yet.

  Without knowing where in the world Jack Noble was, Bear decided to follow Sadie home. Thorne was their best chance at getting some more answers, and unless Jack wanted to be found, no one would be able to lay a hand on him. Not even Bear.

  So it was with that consideration Bear found himself waiting to board a plane back to Virginia. They were at Mr. Corbyn’s airfield, as neither Sadie nor Bear had felt like dealing with public transportation that day. They’d take a private jet home instead.

  It wasn’t just for rich people and criminals, after all.

  Mr. Corbyn shook their hands and thanked them for their service. Bear knew he meant well, but at the moment it just felt like rubbing salt in the wound. Sure, they’d stopped the terrorist attack, but all three missing agents were dead. And Jack was still missing. Had it really been worth it?

  Bear knew it had, just to keep the bomb from exploding. But he couldn’t help wishing he’d stayed home and just waited for Jack to reach out to him, eventually. They could’ve shared some great stories and a good laugh over a couple of beers and everything would be normal.

  Director Winters had been waiting for them when they arrived.

  Bear couldn’t hold in his surprise as he shook her hand. “Is it normal for the Director of MI5 to see a couple Americans off as they fly back home?”

  Winters laughed. “Not really, but you did us a great service today. Not only did you stop a terrorist attack from happening, but you discovered a new faction, something for us all to keep an eye on. Your country will be proud of you. I know I am.”

  “Thank you,” Sadie said. She paused, looking around. “Where’s Maria?”

  “I sent her home ahead of you. I wasn’t sure how long you would be and Langley was quite interested in their own line of questioning for the young woman.”

  “We appreciate you giving us space to carry out our mission. And letting us in on the op to take down the cell.”

  “I recognize a good agent when I see one,” Winters said, looking at Sadie. Then she switched to Bear. “And whatever you are, Mr. Logan, you’re a good one, too.”

  He couldn’t stop the laugh that erupted from his mouth. “Thanks. That’s a pretty high compliment coming from you.”

  “It is.” There was a twinkle in Winters’ eye. “Don’t get used to it.”

  “I used to love London,” Bear said, wistfully. “But I wouldn’t be too upset if I didn’t cross your path again anytime soon, Director.”

  Winters’ smile fell, but she looked like she understood. “There are a few cities like that on the map for me, too. London, thankfully, will always be my home. No matter how turbulent the waters get.”

  Bear nodded. He knew what that felt like. That was New York for him.

  “I hope you find what you’re looking for,” Winters said, holding out her hand to him.

  Bear hesitated. “What do you mean?”

  “You seem lost, Mr. Logan. From the day you set foot at MI5, you’ve seemed disconnected. Whatever it is you’ve been searching for, I hope you come across it soon. There’s nothing worse than finding yourself floating, detached from the rest of the world. Especially for people like us.”

  Bear shook her hand, but the comment still didn’t sit right with him. Did she know about Jack, or was she really that observant? A lot of people in this line of work knew how to read between the lines, whether that was body language or all the stuff you didn’t say. Winters was a smart woman, Bear knew that for sure, but Dottie had warned him that she also liked keeping the whole truth close to her chest.

  And Director Winters had proven she was smart. Dottie was good at her job—one of the best, if Bear was being honest—but that didn’t mean she was infallible. Had Director Winters overheard either one of their conversations? It was more than just a little possible.

  If that was the case, it was now a question of whether or not Winters was hiding something. Maybe she knew exactly where Noble was—or knew someone who did—and didn’t want to divulge that information. Was it because she had something to hide or because she didn’t want to stick her nose in someone else’s business? Sometimes it was better to keep your hands clean.

  “And I hope they don’t give you too much trouble back home,” Winters continued, shaking Sadie’s hand. She didn’t notice the strange look on Bear’s face.

  “Thanks,” Sadie said, returning the gesture. “I’ll be all right.”

  Winters checked her watch and started walking away. “I’ve got to go. Have a safe trip home. I hope to see you both again under better circumstances.”

  Sadie stopped her. “What about the prisoners? Were they freed?”

  Winters turned and let a smile slip past. “Fortunately we had the foresight to keep them in holding until we heard from the cell again. During that time, some of the best interrogators went to work on the men and it was determined they had absolutely no connection with the terrorists. It was all
a diversion meant to buy some time.”

  Bear joined Sadie in a chuckle and wondered if he’d ever really find the story amusing.

  Winters turned again and set off.

  Sadie waved, but Bear just kept staring after her like if he did it hard enough, he’d be able to read her mind.

  “What’s wrong?” Sadie asked.

  “Think she knows anything about Jack?”

  Sadie put her arm down and turned to him. “Why would she know anything about Jack?”

  “She’s the Director of MI5. I imagine not a lot escapes her notice.”

  Sadie was silent for a minute. “I want to find him too, Bear, but—”

  “Thorne is the priority now.” Bear started walking toward the plane. “Yeah, I know.”

  Sadie and Bear loaded onto the plane, saying hello to their captain in the process. The trip should be slightly shorter than on a commercial flight. Bear was grateful for that. After everything he’d been through, the last thing he wanted to do was spend any more time on a plane than absolutely necessary.

  Sadie’s phone buzzed just as Bear was making sure his seatbelt was nice and tight. He didn’t have the cocktail of drugs at his disposal that he’d had when he first came over, and he was already regretting everything about this flight. Smaller planes meant more turbulence. He didn’t care how fancy a private jet was. They could never avoid the turbulence.

  Sadie hung up the phone and turned to Bear. Her face was a mask of confusion and anger.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “Maria slipped her detail,” she said. “She’s missing.”

  35

  “They’re just going to let me walk in there with you and talk to Thorne?” Bear asked. “Seems convenient.”

  Sadie laughed. “While you were passed out on the plane, I spent eight hours convincing my superiors to let you interrogate him with me. There was nothing convenient about it.”