by Cara Carnes
“The Arsenal agreed to help.”
“Maybe, but that doesn’t mean I agreed to share my secrets. Besides, there’s a big difference between strategizing and acting. They might do one, but not the other. That’s where I come in. I’ve got the skillset to make this happen. That’s worth a lot.” She sighed heavily. “A woman has needs, Gavin. Those can get expensive.”
“I can make it worth your while,” he promised.
What was Mia up to? Bree moved to sit beside her, opting to use the seating area to climb because there was no way she could leap like a freaking mountain lion.
“The problem we have, Gavin, is that I was the reason you all brought Bree here in to increase your security.” Mia winked at Bree. “Bet you hadn’t figured that out yet. Yeah, they panicked when I extracted one of their precious detainees from there. Should I mention who it was, Gavin? Do you even know?”
“Of course I know,” he gritted out. “And who you freed isn’t a discussion point. It hardly matters.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. See, I’ve been thinking.” Mia paused. Gavin’s fists coiled and uncoiled. “If you’d hold a high-level CIA agent captive there, who else is a guest at that facility? Hmm? It wouldn’t take more than a whisper in the right ear around here to make this issue of yours into a full-blown problem.”
Damn. Mia was good. Gavin looked away. “I’m surprised you haven’t already shared. You’re Arsenal now.”
“I’m here, yes. That doesn’t mean I’m one of them. I doubt they’ll keep me around much longer. I’m a thorn in a bed of rosebuds. They’ve dealt so far because, see, they understand my kind don’t always play well with others. I’m sort of the loose cannon. I can only camouflage my real self so long.”
“If that’s the case, I can offer you protection afterward. Come and work with us. We need better field assets,” Gavin said. “I’d make it worth your while.” His voice turned seductive at the end as he approached.
Gross.
Mia threw her head back again and laughed. “Oh, Gavin. You need much bigger balls to get my interest. I need no help finding quality entertainment. What I want is information. A quid pro quo, if you will. See, I have intel you need. And you should have access to what I want.”
“Which is?”
“An associate of mine disappeared a few months ago. A trusted asset believes he was detained. Then he vanished. We both know what that means. He was too valuable to kill, so he’s locked up tight somewhere.” She shifted her body to face him fully. “Verify he’s at Facility Six, and I’ll help you. Hell, I’ll even go in myself as long as he’s got a ticket out. All I need is proof he’s there, along with the reason you really want in there. We both know your mission isn’t about getting control of that facility back. You’re too desperate.”
“Love, you’re crazy.”
“Probably.” She leaned forward and wiped her hands on her snug pants. “But that’s the offer. Give me proof Carver is at Facility Six. I’ve already checked all the other black sites. No joy.”
“I’ll need some time,” he clipped. “It’s not like we have full access to the system. We can get in, but…” He paused. “It’s complicated.”
“I bet.” Mia chuckled. “That’s not my circus or my monkeys to worry about.”
“Not sure The Arsenal would be okay with you offering this deal. I should probably have a word with Edge, let her know.”
“Go ahead.” Mia shrugged. “Hell, I’ll just phone her and let her know right now.” She pulled out her cell.
“You’re crazy.” Gavin grabbed the phone. “Fine. I’ll make a call and see what we can do, but I’ll need more than Facility Six. Tell me what’s been going on here. I know something’s going down and I’m not being read in on it.”
“Oh.” Mia sighed. “That.”
“Mia, you shouldn’t,” Bree whispered. Whatever the woman was doing, she’d dug a deep ditch and Gavin had dove headfirst into it without hesitation. She’d go along with the play. She had to trust that Mia knew what she was doing. She was a badass commando, after all. “I know you haven’t agreed to stay here, but you don’t want to piss Edge off.”
“True. She’s way scarier than weenie dick here,” Mia said. “She’s right. I guess we’re at an impasse. Besides, what could possibly be happening worth worrying about? It’s not like you’re hiding anything. Right?”
“Right.” He dragged the word out. His gaze darted around the area. “Look, you’re right. Okay? There’s someone in there that I want to get out. Someone very valuable to a lot of people.”
“That’s interesting,” Mia said. “Still not worth the effort if I’m not getting anything out of it.”
“There’s a high price tag on this asset. I’ll split it with you if you get him out.”
“Sure. I’ll just believe you.” Mia laughed. “You have no credibility with me, love.” She spat the last word out as though it tasted bad. “Tell you what. I’ll give you a little something to show I’m serious. Consider it an olive branch.”
“Okay, fine. Give me something about what’s going on around here, and I’ll tell you who I want out. Deal?”
Mia smiled. “Certainly. We found an unknown asset in Bob’s house. A captive. HERA’s initial facial recognition identified her as Bob’s housemaid, but that bullshit didn’t fly. Whoever did her cover did really shitty work. Positively lazy. Her background only went back two years. So, we know she’s someone’s asset. We’re just unsure whose.”
“Where is she? I need to see her.” He cleared his throat. “I could possibly find her in our offline databases.”
“You mean the ones you were going to hook us up to but haven’t?” Bree asked.
She secretly loved Mia right now. Seriously, the woman had embedded Gavin so deep at this point he was about to spew info in exchange for something they’d already intended to tell him. Wow. Bree wished she had a notebook to write this down.
“I don’t know where they took her. Somewhere safe. That’s all I know,” Mia said. “She was drugged, so she hasn’t talked so far. I’m sure we’ll learn more soon. HERA moves really fast.”
“Shit.” Gavin paced. He ran his hands through his hair and cursed again. “It’s possible she’s one of ours, but I was told she was dead. Okay? Get me a picture and I can confirm.”
“Why would Knightwind have had an asset with Bob? I mean, you supposedly told us about all your assets in play around him, and she was never mentioned once.” Mia hummed. “This seems fishy to me, Gavin. I don’t like working with liars.”
“My bosses heard about some meetings Bob had with individuals he shouldn’t have been associating with, okay? They put her in to confirm what they’d heard and gather evidence,” Gavin said. “We fully intended to disclose that to The Arsenal once we had proof.”
“Interesting. Very well, I’ll get you a picture,” Mia said. “Now, tell me. Who’s worth so much to break out of Facility Six? I mean, Bree’s desperate to get her friend out. That’s the only reason I’m even talking to you right now.”
“Right. We’ll need to get Shelly out, too.”
“She’s not going back to Knightwind,” Bree said, letting her anger out.
“Fine. I couldn’t care less about that woman.” Gavin rubbed his chest. “Many organizations hired us to secure detainees at Facility Six, which worked well for us because we could gather intel from them.”
“So you get paid and get a bonus by gathering intel you wouldn’t have access to otherwise. Nice.” Mia whistled. “Quite a racket. Sounds fun.”
Gavin tugged on his hair. “The asset is in a group that was brought to us a few months ago, right before the Knightwind war began. None of the higher ups wanted to detain them at the facility, but the payday was too big. We were bleeding cash trying to keep the site.”
Dread seeped into Bree’s gut. Her pulse quickened. Whatever he was about to say wasn’t going to be good.
“Fucking Mandrake. We never should’ve agreed,” Gavin said. “We don
’t ever get the details on why someone’s being detained or how they were taken. That’s not our business.”
“Heaven forbid you have any morals,” Bree muttered. Mia elbowed her side.
Right. Play along.
“I don’t give a damn about anything except getting Shelly out,” Bree said. “I couldn’t care less who you have there, okay?”
“Fine. Mandrake had six detainees they brought to us. It took some time, but they were eventually identified as a Delta team. We’d intended to reach out to the U.S. government and offer them up in exchange for helping us secure the facility against the assholes trying to take it over.”
Except those assholes were other Mandrake operatives working with Bob and his precious committee. Fuck this was bad. So bad. Bree’s gut churned. A Delta team. In Facility Six for months.
“So you want to extract them,” Mia said, her tone even. Seemingly bored.
“Not all of them. We just need one,” Gavin said. “He’s the high-value target.”
“Why him?” Bree asked, her voice low.
“He’s the president’s nephew,” Gavin said. “He and his cousin both went into the military. The latter retired when his team leader left the service. The nephew stayed in, though.”
Fuck. Marshall was that team leader. Bree would bet her lab on it.
“So you want to break him out and auction him to the highest bidder. If that’s the U.S., then they can help you get control of Facility Six. If not, then you still have a big payday, one you’ll cut me in on.” Mia folded her arms near her knees. “Is that right?”
“Yeah. Yeah. I’ll get proof that Carver guy is there. We get them both out, along with Shelly. Agreed?” Desperation filled Gavin’s face. “And don’t think about fucking me over. I’ll deny any of this if you even think about telling Edge or anyone else.”
“Oh, I don’t think proving this happened will be a problem.” Mia vaulted off the table. Her legs impacted with Gavin a second later and wrapped around his throat.
He screamed as a loud snap sounded.
“I hope that was enough. I couldn’t listen to the bastard any longer,” Mia spat as she jumped up. Bree stood and made her way to the woman.
She peered down at a passed-out Gavin, whose arm was broken at the elbow. “Holy. Shit.”
“I’ll show you how to do that,” Mia said with a smile. “We good, Edge?” She quieted. “Right. We’ll be there in a minute. I think my girl here needs some caffeine. Or a stiff drink.”
“How did you know that would even work?” Bree asked. “I mean, why would it work?”
“He’s desperate and cornered. He knew my background, that much was obvious. We used it to our advantage and took a chance,” Mia said. “If he hadn’t taken the bait, we would’ve used Melanie. This way we didn’t confirm we got her. We merely said we found someone.”
“And he read into it what he wanted to hear, what he was most worried about.” Damn, that was smart. “Wait. Is Carver real?”
“Nope. Well, yes. But there’s not a facility in existence that could contain him. He makes Jud and me look like kindergarteners.” The woman’s laughter filled the area as they made their way into the mess hall.
“Shouldn’t we stay with Gavin? Take him to detainment or something?”
“Nope. Levi and the others were nearby. They’re on cleanup.” She wrapped an arm around Bree. “Now, tell me where my new roomie was last night. I’m starting to think you’re avoiding me.”
She couldn’t help but laugh. The woman really was a nut.
19
Ram didn’t want to be at the rehab facility right now, but he’d been warned to steer clear of whatever the fuck Mia and Bree were doing. Tracking down Donovan and having a word seemed like a decent use of his time.
The man’s attention moved to him when he entered. Donovan set the weights down and walked toward him. “Figured you’d track me down. I’m sorry about the other day. I was out of line. I’ve already talked to Spade again.”
“Good. He’s a good operative. He deserves a leader who’ll have his back.” Ram studied the man’s eyes. “You square?”
“I’ll get there.” The man reached for his water bottle. “There’s a new guy coming in next week. I’ve already booked time with him. Sinclair will be there.”
Finally. The woman needed the help. “Talk to me until then.”
“I fucked up, man,” Donovan whispered. “I knew better, but I still fucking did it.”
“Did what?” Ram sat beside Donovan when he collapsed on the bench.
“Not sure I should say. You’ll go straight to Command, which you should. Hell, I’d go if I were you.” Donovan sighed loudly. “Got hooked. Knew better than take those fucking pain pills the surgeon gave me. I should’ve had a word with Logan, gotten something else. I didn’t.”
“Fuck, man.” Ram wasn’t sure what else to say. Too many soldiers got hooked on pain pills, either chasing away pain from the injuries or phantom pains from what they’d done. “Says a lot about you that you recognize the problem. Too many don’t until they’re in deep. Have you chatted with Logan about it yet?”
“No.” Donovan glanced over at him. “You think I should?”
“You already know the answer to that. He’ll see you through it. Everyone here will.” Ram slapped him on the back. “Let’s go do that now. Then you need to have a word with Fallon. He deserves to know where your head’s at, man. Not sure about some of your other crew, but he’s solid.”
“Most of them are. They just haven’t settled into the team environment. Fallon’s right. They will.” Donovan stood. “Thanks, man.”
“We’re here whenever you need us.”
Donovan nodded. They fell into a comfortable silence. Although the conversation had been briefer than Ram wanted, the man had surprised him with how truthful he’d been. He’d known he was in trouble and only needed help taking the first step to fixing it.
Logan glanced up from his chair when they entered his office. “Hey. Something wrong?”
“You want me to stay or go?” Ram asked.
“Let me get the words out so you know I didn’t turn tail and run, then you can go,” Donovan said. “I know shit’s going down right now.”
It was. Ram was itching to find out what. He nodded.
Donovan pulled a bottle of pills from his pack and tossed it onto Logan’s desk. “I filled that two days ago. I’m popping them like candy. I need help breaking out of this, Doc.”
Logan opened the bottle and poured the few pills remaining out. He glanced at the label. “Wish you’d told me what he put you on. I never would’ve advised that.”
“I know. That’s why I didn’t tell you when you asked the other day. By then I knew I had a problem.” Donovan ran his hand down the back of his neck. “I wasn’t ready to admit it.”
“But you are now. That’s good.”
“I am because Ram and Spade have been in my face about my attitude and the way I’m shoving people away.” Donovan sat. “So what’s next?”
Ram patted the man on the back and exited. Logan would get him through.
The walk back to Operations took longer than he wanted. Where was Bree? Was she okay? What had Marshall wanted?
He entered the whiteboard room and let his gaze roam the room until it landed on Bree, who was seated between Zoey and Mia. She offered a small smile when their gazes locked.
“Good. Everyone’s here,” Mary said, her voice tight. “I was going to delay reading everyone in until tomorrow, but given the information Mia and Bree obtained, I think everyone will need tonight to get their heads sorted.” The woman’s gaze cut to where Marshall sat. “Please try and remain operationally in control until we’ve finished sharing what we’ve learned.”
“Like we didn’t lose our shit when we found out,” Zoey muttered.
“Mia,” Mary said.
“I’ve been baiting Gavin at Mary’s request since he arrived. Given my background, leading him to believe I
didn’t fit in here was simple enough. A few disagreements with operatives while he watched. That kind of thing.” The woman leaned back in her chair. “I’ve also been moving things around in his room so he knows someone’s been in there.”
“Upping his paranoia,” Nolan said.
Mia nodded. “Today, with Bree’s help, we escalated that. We had Mary’s permission to reveal that we had Melanie. Instead of going for that approach, we opted to start off with a softer one. We led him to believe The Arsenal wanted nothing to do with breaching Facility Six, that we’d abide by our agreement and offer strategy options, but we didn’t want to take the risk of entry. Bree’s friend wasn’t worth the risk.”
“Fuck, that’s cold,” Dallas commented. “He believed that?”
“Our girl’s a good actor,” Mia said with a grin.
“Or you are just that fucking terrifying,” Bree replied. “Seriously, Z, you’ve gotta show the takedown.”
“Let’s get the intel out first,” Mary suggested.
“Right. The short summary sucks, so I’m ripping this shit off quick so you can all go gonzo.” Mia took a deep breath. “Knightwind was selling cells in Facility Six, no questions asked. They’d use the detention to interrogate the people brought in and collect intel they could use. The money also helped them fund their facility. Shortly before the ‘war,’ Mandrake brought six captives to them. The payday was too big to refuse.”
Ram tightened when Mia paused. Anger flashed in her gaze as it swept the room, which electrified with tension immediately. Whatever she was about to say wouldn’t be good.
“A Delta team,” she said.
Cursing sounded around the room as everyone reacted a few moments. Jesse whistled. Silence descended as the loud, shrill noise he emitted ended.
“Gavin didn’t give a damn about getting them out. He wanted one of the team members to auction off to the highest bidder. He’s apparently a hot commodity.” Mia’s gaze cut to Marshall. “The president’s nephew. He’s still in.”
“It was his team,” Mary added.
“Fuck.” Marshall slammed his fist on the table. Vi winced.
