by Cara Carnes
They found a way through no matter what.
14
Tension filled the airplane as it approached the compound. Ram’s gaze swept the packed interior but settled on Levi and his team. They’d kept themselves apart from everyone else, their need for space evident in their cut-off, succinct responses whenever addressed.
Gavin floated between the assorted groups, an unwanted magpie in a plane of predators.
“Something serious went down,” Spade commented.
Yeah, no shit. Ram knew the woman in the cage had been handed over to Medina’s team. She was now secure within the underground network. No other intel was shared beyond that.
“Those colored toys were fun to play with.” Spade laughed. The sound fractured some of the tension within the plane as its wheels touched down.
A few of the other operatives around them chuckled.
“That so?” Beast asked from the back. “How?”
“I predict we’ll have new drones soon,” Ram said. “Spade here strapped a clamp to their belly and Operations flew Bree’s new color-coded grenades straight into the area. First one blew up the weapons cache. Then they flew it back, reloaded it, and did it again on the northwest corner.”
“While two more dropped new green grenades into the middle of over a dozen targets,” Gage said. “Knocked their asses right out. That left half a dozen inside. Easiest takedown we’ve had with that many combatants in a long time.”
All thanks to Bree. Ram couldn’t help but grin. Gage had secured a lot of intel about Alex’s operation, but he hadn’t shared yet—which was fine. Debrief on this phase of the mission would be extensive. It’d take a while for Operations to hone in on what mattered, though.
Gavin entered the bathroom. Levi stood and made his way toward where everyone else was seated. His gaze cut to where Gavin had gone.
“Off the record, we don’t know what went sideways,” Levi said, his voice barely audible. Worry reflected in his gaze when it settled on Gage. “Edge went nuclear. I’ve never heard her that pissed. Cord took over right after she told us the woman’s real name. Melanie. That’s all we’ve got so far.”
“The kids?” Mia asked.
“Not at any of the sites,” Addy clipped, anger evident in her tone. “We detained who was there, more of Alex’s crew. That’s all we know, aside from the bomb Mary dropped about a potential former Mossad being involved.”
Homeland hadn’t fucked around. They’d arrived within an hour and secured all the locations. Ram wasn’t sure how Mary had made that happen, but he was thankful someone had shown up to take over the cleanup. As long as they didn’t get in the way with the rest of the mission.
But no one danced with the feds like The Arsenal, who always managed to lead. Bob might not be in their corner right now, but their contract with the president gave them carte blanche. Whoever was behind this would pay.
Everyone disembarked the plane. Gage stilled beside him. His gaze swept toward the hangar where Mary stood. Alone.
“Fuck. This isn’t good,” Spade commented.
No. No, it wasn’t. Fury filled the woman’s face and stance. She coiled and uncoiled her fists. Nolan, Gage, Addy, and Levi approached. Everyone else hung back. Whatever was going on, Ram was glad he wasn’t a team lead right about now.
Whatever Edge had to share didn’t take long. None of the three team leaders looked happy. Gage turned and headed back to where Ram was huddled up with Doug, Pierce, and Spade.
“What’s going on?” Gavin asked as he joined everyone. Uninvited. Crazy fucker. He’d tried to draw out conversation with everyone on the way back from the mission. Thank fuck Levi’s team had been saddled with him.
“Not your concern,” Gage replied. The area above his left eye twitched, so slightly it was only discernible if someone was watching. “We’re wheels up. New unrelated mission just came in. Priority.”
No one commented. Doug’s eyebrows rose as his gaze followed Gage, who made his way over to Lexi. The unspoken question hung in the air. Yeah, boss man had just lied. But why?
It took half an hour to refuel and get the plane ready to take off again. No one spoke until they were in the air.
“So, do you want to tell us why you lied back there?” Pierce asked. Gage glared. “Come on, we know your tells. There’s a reason you don’t join us on poker night. We’re too good at reading you.”
“Shit’s hitting the fan. Edge didn’t have enough detail to share what, but we’ve got orders to return and pick Melanie up, bring her here.” Gage unzipped his backpack and pulled out his earbuds. “Rest while you can. She expects trouble, which is why we’re going instead of sending Melanie back with Medina and his crew. They’re good, but not good enough for what Edge is expecting to happen.”
Fuck.
“That bad?” Doug asked.
“Bad enough she hasn’t figured out who the potential threat is. She wouldn’t even tell me anything about this woman, other than to consider her a potential hostile. We need to gauge her responses and be ready for anything.” Gage popped his earbuds in and reclined his seat back.
Guess that conversation was over. Ram wasn’t sure if Bree had heard about the second mission. He pulled his phone out and typed out a quick text, one he hoped would go through.
Ram: Sorry for the delay seeing your pretty smile again. I’ll let you know when we get back.
The response came quickly.
Bree: I just saw the plane land. Then take off again. WTH?
Ram: New orders from Edge. Don’t know details. TTYL.
Bree: Stay safe. Chill night when you get back? I’ll have food at the hideout.
He smiled. He’d rather spend the evening alone with her when he returned, but he suspected everyone would need to unwind.
Ram: Looking forward to it.
Unease pricked Bree’s skin when she entered the whiteboard room. Whatever had pissed Mary off had been bad enough for her to order Ram and his team right back out, which was definitely not typical. They had teams on standby for a reason.
Everyone was already there. At least, the typical attendees of this sort of meeting, minus Gage. Bree glared at Gavin, who preened from what should be Dallas’s seat. Again.
Asshole.
“So, that went well,” Gavin commented.
“Sure. Whatever you think since you clearly thought you were in charge,” Zoey clipped. “Word of advice. Don’t talk so much when you’re on an op. It tends to get people killed. You’re lucky it was Levi’s team. He’s more patient than the others.”
“You weren’t even assigned to my team,” Gavin replied. His face reddened.
“Which should tell you how irritated we all were if she knew that,” Levi clipped. “Keep your mouth shut. This is an Operations meeting. They speak. We listen.”
“Thank you,” Mary said. Whatever rage had taken over was stifled now. Bree noted the tension in the woman’s body. She hadn’t sat. “The portion you’ll need to be in here for will be brief. As everyone knows, all sections of the mission went off well. No injuries. The proper authorities have taken custody of everyone captured and are awaiting intel from us. We’ll have access for interrogations if necessary.”
“And those proper authorities are?” Every gaze cut to Gavin. Most glared.
“My previous threat still stands,” Marshall said. “Listen. Don’t speak.”
Wow. He must’ve seriously pissed Levi and his team off. How had she missed that? Jesse had been on Bob’s house, which meant he’d likely mentioned something to Marshall. Interesting.
“Bob’s kids are still missing,” Mary said. “They were not at the locations we hit.”
“Are there others?” Gavin asked. “What have we found out from those detained?”
The man couldn’t buy a clue. No one replied.
Mary continued. “We have gathered a significant amount of intel from the primary headquarters, along with the site Addy’s team hit. It’ll take some time for HERA to sift through every
thing, but I anticipate we’ll have answers soon.”
“Wonderful.” Gavin slapped the table and grinned. “When would you like to discuss Facility Six?”
“We’ll let you know,” Zoey replied. “You can leave now. I heard there’s pecan pie in the mess hall. You should try some. It’s the best I’ve ever tasted.”
“Great.” The man stood without argument. “I’ll do that. I can’t wait to hear what HERA discovers. Perhaps I could see the readouts myself, just so I can tell my group how impressive it is. Seeing is believing, after all.”
“We’ll make sure to get right on that request,” Vi commented. “We’ll see you soon.”
Silence loomed as Gavin exited. Jesse stood and locked the entry door after he left. He flipped the button nearest the door. A faint buzzing sound filled the area.
“So, not that this isn’t fun, but why am I here?” Mia’s gaze swept the room. “And what is up with Melanie?”
“That’s exactly why you’re here,” Mary said, her voice filled with anger. “We’ve either walked into a trap or are about to. Facial rec finally located her on a Russian Intelligence database. They’d identified her as an operative but didn’t know whose. All they had was a description, a very grainy photo, and a name. We need to whiteboard everything we know and dig until we figure out what the hell is going on.”
“Mary,” Dylan said, his voice soft. “Sit down. We’ll figure this out. Tell us who Melanie is.”
“Vi and Zoey hacked into Knight databases using the cloning Mia put into place on Gavin,” Mary said. “We started that dig shortly before the mission got underway. It got a hit while Levi’s team was at Bob’s. She’s a Knight.”
Shock rippled through the room. Bree gasped. What the hell?
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Nolan shook his head. “We should’ve known.”
“Yeah, we should have,” Jesse said. “We need to figure out how deep this goes. Either Gavin knew she was there and that’s why he inserted himself into this, or there’s more going on.”
“It’s got to be the latter,” Rhea said. “Otherwise he would’ve just told us. Right? I mean, he admitted they had other assets in play. Why not tell us about her?”
“Exactly,” Zoey replied. “So, I take it that’s where my man’s team is headed? To get her?”
Mary nodded. “She’ll be safer here, and we can’t risk making her aware of the network. She’s either a high value asset or a threat. Either way, we need to contain her here until we get some answers.”
“Is that a good idea? If Gavin’s here, this could go sideways.” Nolan’s expression turned grim.
“That’s why we need to figure out what’s really going on. We were going to bring Bob here, but I think we should leave him in play. See what we find out from the micro drones,” Mary said.
Damn. Bree took a sip from her bottled water and let her brain chew on what little they knew. “Gavin thinks he’s smarter than everyone when he enters a room, which means he’s sloppy with what he says sometimes. He mentioned a few things that made my skin crawl. First, he knew a lot about the Russia operation. That in itself isn’t too strange, though I’d be curious where his intel came from.”
“Agreed,” Nolan said. “What else?”
Bree’s gaze swept to Vi and Mary. “He mentioned Hive. They were on Knightwind’s radar. I don’t know. My brain puts those two comments together and I get all growly inside. It’s a bit too stalkerish. Right?”
“She’s not wrong,” Dallas muttered. “Everyone wants HERA, or access to it, so I get it’s possible their interest is above board, but based on what Addy said about Knightwind, I don’t think it is.”
“Agreed,” Addy said. “They’re rats. Filthy ones. I’d bet they had someone inside Hive or inserted near someone at Hive. If that’s the case, they’ve been deep into our shit, and that’s not cool.”
Bree understood what they were saying but couldn’t help but feel there was more to it. “There has to be more. He’s really obsessed with Facility Six. We need to get a way into their system somehow. Shelly can help. Hopefully.”
Her gut tightened. She hadn’t made Shelly a priority since finding out she was there. What kind of friend was she? A real friend wouldn’t have been distracted.
“Don’t,” Rhea whispered. “I know you’re feeling bad you haven’t started that mission yet, but we’d all agreed it had to wait until we were further in the investigation into Bob.”
“She’s right,” Marshall said. “We need to do a deep dive into everything, going all the way back to Hive. Everything we’ve done since you ladies arrived. We’re missing something vital.”
“What are you thinking?” Nolan asked, his gaze cutting to his brother.
“Nothing good.” He crossed his arms and leaned back. “My gut tells me it’s all connected. Hive. The Collective. Carlisle.” He locked gazes with Vi and Mary. “Bob. Knightwind. Facility Six.”
Dallas punched Nolan’s arm. The man scowled at his little brother. “What the fuck?”
“You put that bad juju out there, man. Not smart.” Dallas shook his head. “Fuck if it wouldn’t make sense, though.”
Neither Mary nor Vi reacted to Marshall’s statement. Bree’s mind spun. What if it was all connected somehow? Dread curdled her stomach.
And Mary had just sent Ram back out there to collect a mysterious woman they’d found in a cage—one connected to the same group that’d frequented her nightmares for months after she escaped them.
“I’ll talk to Gavin,” Bree said. When dissent rose immediately, she raised her hand and continued. “He played the Shelly card quick, which means he’s either desperate or too egotistical to consider us a threat. Let’s use that.”
“Okay,” Jesse said. “How?”
Bree shrugged. “I’m not a strategist. Tell me what would work best.”
“Introduce us. Formally,” Mia said with an evil grin. “I’m good at pushing buttons. If he’s given the opportunity to speak with the two people he thinks can break into the facility, he’ll show his hand. We can go from there.”
“Smart,” Vi commented. “You’ll need to steer the conversation as it unfolds.”
Mia nods. “Of course.”
“How close are we to finding our real target?” Bree asked.
“I’m not sure,” Mary admitted. “It’ll depend on Alex and his crew. What they know. They could be a diversion to keep us off the real path. Hopefully Bob will spiral now that Alex isn’t around. If he’s involved, we might figure out how by watching him. We can’t make an approach with him until we know more. We need to find out why Alex was shadowing him. We linked Bob’s kids being gone to Alex, but with a former Mossad agent in play, we can’t make that assumption. We could have more than one party involved.”
“What are you thinking?” Marshall asked. “About Bob.”
“Nothing good,” Mary admitted. “Something is fishy.”
“You think he might have been involved with Alex,” Bree whispered.
“It’s a possibility,” Vi admitted.
“I could hack into their system and take a look around,” Zoey said. Way too much excitement filled the woman’s words, leaving no doubt who their referred to. The woman loved hacking into Israeli intelligence databases for some reason.
“Let’s make that Plan B,” Mary said. “I’ve reached out to a few trusted sources. If anyone else has some, now would be the time to put them on the table.”
Nolan glanced at Marshall, who grunted. Yeah, those two Masons were definitely playing with a fully hidden deck. Nolan spoke first. “I have someone I can reach out to. He’s on an Israeli black ops team, or used to be. He commands them now. He owes me several times over. He should know something about our mysterious former agent.”
“Good. Any wet work related to Knightwind or any of these groups potentially in play would’ve likely run through them, or a different group he’d be aware of,” Mary said. “My contact is in intelligence, but he’s watched ve
ry closely. Conversations are a challenge. I’d rather not go that route if possible because he’d have no qualms about sharing said talk with his superiors to cover his ass.”
“Then we start with Nolan’s contact, then move to Edge’s if we still don’t have a full read on this target in play,” Marshall said. “Whatever dust that gets stirred up can be settled by my contact. That’s a card I’d rather not play.”
“Understood,” Jesse replied. “That handles the former Mossad agent. Whatever is in the systems we’re linked to is probably not the full picture. This will help. But let’s whiteboard what we’ve found first. You ladies have tremendous success doing this.”
Vi motioned to the readouts on the walls. “This is what HERA has chewed through on everything recovered from Bob’s place and Alex’s headquarters. There aren’t any notable links from the intel itself so far. We’re three layers deep into the mining.”
“What does that mean in English?” Dallas asked.
“Think of this process as a loop. We thread what we’ve found into the system and it provides a filtered version of what HERA thinks is important,” Zoey said. “But what it filters out might not be immediately linked to other sources, like Alex’s headquarters. So we thread the data in again and keep going until we find a pattern or links.”
“We normally have links by the second threading,” Vi said.
“Which means so far, we’ve yet to confirm any links between Bob and Alex’s organization, even though we know there is one,” Marshall said.
“Yes,” Mary replied. “Or the logic HERA is using isn’t going deep enough. We could have multiple layers of encryption from more than one source and simply not be drilling deep enough for HERA to identify the links. Either that, or they aren’t there at all.”
Hmm. No link seemed strange. “What was on the laptops Ram found?”
“Bob’s had nothing that seemed important, which was strange. Why have a different computer at all?” Zoey shook her head as she called up the data stream. “There were tons of emails and chat conversations with his family, so it was definitely his personal device.”
