Shadow (Military Intelligence Section 6 Book 4)

by Heather Slade

  Darrow’s face fell. Is that really what the commander thought of her? She’d approached every task, every lesson, every exercise with enthusiasm and a desire to learn, and yet it hadn’t been enough.

  “Look at me, Whittaker.”

  “Yes, sorry. I’m just embarrassed that I’ve failed so miserably.”

  “Interesting,” he said, scratching his chin.

  “What?”

  “General Pope told me your instincts were ‘spot on,’ as he put it. But in this instance, you couldn’t be more inaccurate.”

  “Sorry. I’m not following.”

  “He thinks you’ll be bored because you are exceeding your trainers’ expectations. JohnTwo thinks you need more of a challenge.”

  “Oh,” she mumbled, trying to mask the smile spreading across her face.

  Doc leveled a serious gaze on her. “You’re being given a unique opportunity to train with K19 Security Solutions, in part because of my relationship with your brothers, but not solely. You’ve earned this, Darrow, and I expect you to continue earning it.”

  “I appreciate it, sir.”

  “Do you have any questions?”

  “What exactly will I be doing?”

  “Each member of the K19 team brings with him or her a certain level of expertise in intelligence and security. Some specialize beyond that, based on their prior careers in the military, with the CIA, and in some instances, both. Once your general training begins, skill or skills that you innately excel at will be identified. Your training in those skills will be intensified.”

  “It sounds daunting.”

  “It is. Not to cast a shadow on MI6 training, but this is…better. I’ll warn you, no one will go easy on you.”

  “I wouldn’t want them to.”

  “Of course you wouldn’t, and that’s one of the reasons I agreed to do this.”

  “I don’t know what to say, other than to thank you.”

  “Your thanks to me will be in your hard work. Don’t make me give Shiv a bad report.”

  She shook her head and laughed. “I won’t. I promise.”

  “Your brother is one of my closest friends. Merrigan’s too.”

  “I met her through Thornton.”

  They continued to talk about his wife and her brother, MI6, and finally about the current mission.

  “This is nasty business, Darrow. The people responsible for killing Tommy Sholes, will stop at nothing to kill Esland as well. Who knows how many others have been killed in ways that, like Esland’s parents, were considered accidental. When there are billions of dollars—or pounds in this case—on the line, people are driven to do horrific things.”

  “Understood.” She didn’t know Mr. Sholes, other than that he’d played on the same team as True’s father. She’d seen photos of the crime scene and what the killers had done to the man was heartbreaking and gruesome.

  “Merrigan will coordinate your travel and also monitor your progress. She’s the head honcho at K19.”

  “That’s mildly intimidating.”

  “I’m glad you see it that way. She’s another one you won’t want to disappoint.”

  “I won’t disappoint any of you. I can promise you that,” she said a second time.

  “See that you keep that promise. By the way, Merrigan is in the house, talking to Esland now if you want to head in.” When Doc stood, so did she. They shook hands, and Darrow went inside.

  “There she is,” said Merrigan, standing.

  “Am I interrupting?” she asked, looking between Doc’s wife and True.

  “Not at all. In fact, I have monopolized far too much of Merrigan’s time as it is.”

  “I’ve enjoyed it ever so much.”

  “She knew my mother,” True said to Darrow.

  “What fun! Well?”

  “Very well, in fact,” answered Merrigan.

  “I’ll excuse myself and let the two of you talk,” said True, thanking Merrigan again before she walked away.

  “Please sit down,” she said to Darrow when she did the same.

  Merrigan briefed her on what her itinerary would be. The only thing neither of them knew was the start date. “Did Kade mention you’ll also be training with Burns Butler and Leech Hess?”

  Darrow’s eyes widened. “He didn’t.”

  “Burns and Leech are—what is the American expression? Old school. While Burns is a technological savant, he’ll still teach you how to do your job without using it. You never know when the bad guys might find a way to hack into your systems. You need to know what to do when that happens.”

  “Makes sense.”

  “As far as Leech goes, he’s the best on-the-ground operative there ever was. I’m told you already possess the Whittaker stealth. That will serve you well. More than you’ll ever know, since to you, it isn’t a big deal. Other agents will want you to train them, but no matter how much training they have, they’ll never be as good as you are.”

  Darrow didn’t know what to say. She didn’t consider herself particularly good at anything. She looked up at Merrigan, who was smiling.

  “Darrow, tell me, can you draw?”

  “Draw?”

  “Yes, as in art. Pencils, paper, sketches.”

  “No, not at all.”

  “It’s the same thing. Those who possess the talent have no idea how unique or special it is. To them, everyone can draw; those who say they can’t, aren’t trying hard enough.”

  It was a good analogy. “Thank you.”

  “I’m sure Kade has told you, you’ve earned this. Don’t throw it away.”

  “I wouldn’t. Never.”

  “I have to ask, what about Quint Alexander?” said Merrigan.

  Darrow took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “If it weren’t for Quint, I wouldn’t be sitting here talking with you. I can assure you, if I gave any indication that I didn’t want to continue my training, he’d be the first to tell me to get back at it.”

  “Do you see a future with him?”

  She shook her head, willing her eyes not to fill with tears. “I do not.”

  “Do you have any further questions for me?”

  “About my training or anything?”

  Merrigan smiled. “Anything within reason.”

  “Can you tell me about your training?”

  34

  Q uint had just walked into the kitchen when a call came in from Deck.

  “What can I do for ya?” Quint asked him. “Thought you were headin’ out?”

  “I am. Waiting to board, but I heard something I want to bring to your attention.”

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s about the Palmyer place.”

  “What about it?” The ranch was not far from King-Alexander, but another property separated the two.

  “Word is that old man Palmyer cut his two sons out of his will. Left everything to his daughter’s kid.”

  “Cassie?”

  “That’s right. You know she married Cody James a while back.”

  “Yep. I was at the wedding.”

  “As you can imagine, Mav and Bran are fit to be tied.”

  Quint had never liked Maverick or Brandon Palmyer. Never trusted them. Evidently, their father hadn’t either. “What are you thinking, Decker? It isn’t something we should get involved in.”

  “I agree, but those kids need our support. Her uncles are gonna be doin’ everything they can to see to it they fail, that is if contesting the will doesn’t work.”

  “Understood.” The ranchers in the region all stuck together. They always had. If one was in trouble, the rest would line up to help. After the storm that took so many head of cattle, they’d banded together to lick their wounds and make a plan to build their operations back up to the levels they were before the freak blizzard hit.

  Knowing the young couple had to watch their backs against two of their own was a damn shame and a terrible way to start their life together. Once things got back to normal here, Quint would reach out to
them and let them know they could count on him for anything they needed. He’d also mention it to some of the other ranchers although in a community like theirs, news spread fast. It was likely most everyone already knew about the will and that Mav and Bran had been cut out of it.

  “Thanks for filling me in,” he said before ending his call with Deck. “Enjoy your trip.”

  “This ain’t a vacation.”

  Quint knew it and wished it was. If anyone at the ranch needed one, it was Decker. The man essentially had two full-time jobs, and neither was easy.

  HE’D BEEN BACK out on the ranch an hour when Edge told him he was going to head back in.

  “What about you fellers?” Quint asked Ranger and Diesel. “You ready to call it a day?”

  “How much daylight do we have left?” asked Ranger.

  “Another hour or so.”

  “If you’re not going in, I’ll stay out with you.”

  “Me too,” said Diesel.

  “Let’s head over to Schoolhouse.”

  They’d just ridden over a crest and dismounted when he saw two men coming toward them and four more coming from either side. Before Quint could as much as pull his gun, he was knocked unconscious.

  35

  Merrigan had just excused herself to look for Doc when an alert popped up on Darrow’s mobile.

  Wellie’s gone. Tell Axel, the message from Thornton read.

  She clapped her hand over her mouth as the cry came up from her chest. She tried to ring her brother as she ran down the hallway and pounded on the door of the bedroom where she knew Axel and True were.

  “Coming,” she heard him say.

  “It’s Wellie,” she said, dissolving into sobs in Axel’s arms.

  “No,” he said, holding her tight to him. “It can’t be,” he muttered.

  “Where is Esland?” asked Axel, turning around to look for her as he wiped his tears.

  “I don’t know. She was just here,” answered Darrow.

  Axel walked over to the bedside table and picked up his mobile and looked at the screen.

  “Who contacted you?” he asked Darrow while he tried to call Shiver.

  “Thornton sent a text asking me to tell you about Wellie, that he’d…” Darrow dissolved into tears. “I tried to ring him, but the call didn’t go through, so I came to find you. I’m so sorry, Axel.”

  He looked at the screen on his mobile. “My call isn’t going through either. Let me see his message.”

  She handed her mobile to him.

  “Swipe it and then enter your code,” he told her.

  When she tried, first nothing happened, and then an error message came on the screen.

  “Try again.”

  She did and got the same error message.

  “Something’s off. We need to find Esland.”

  Darrow nodded her head but was too stunned to move.

  “Darrow!” he shouted, shaking her. “You go find Doc or Quint, anyone at all. I’ll go around back and look for Esland.”

  “I HAVEN’T BEEN able to find Quint,” she told Axel when he came around from the back of the house.

  “I haven’t seen Esland either.”

  Both Doc and Merrigan were fussing with their mobiles. “Something has jammed the signal,” said Doc, pulling out his gun. He fired once, counted five seconds, and then fired again, repeating the sequence one more time. “Where the hell is Decker?”

  “Out of town,” Darrow told him as they waited a few moments but didn’t see anyone or hear a response. “I know the property. I can head out on horseback,” she added.

  “I’ll go with you.” Merrigan pointed to their vehicle. “Kade, you and Axel take the 4x4 and look as well.”

  Doc was already inside the SUV by the time Merrigan finished her sentence. He tried to start it, but it wouldn’t turn on.

  “There are ATVs in the barn!” Darrow shouted, running toward it. Axel and Doc followed.

  “Jesus bloody Christ!” Axel shouted, pointing to one of the stalls.

  Merrigan raced over. “It’s Edge!” she shouted. “He has a pulse. I’ll stay with him; you go!”

  Darrow had the keys to the ATVs. “This will be faster than on horseback,” she said, tossing one set to Axel.

  “I’ll head north,” he said after Doc told them he’d work on getting the security systems back up and running.

  Darrow went west, to the terrain she knew best. The Schoolhouse pasture was the highest. Maybe from there she’d be able to see where Quint and the others were. It was a long shot, and they were quickly losing light. What choice did they have but to look, though?

  As she rode up the crest, she saw three saddled horses running in the opposite direction. One was Gunsmoke; she was certain of it. She gunned the ATV over the hill and saw three bodies lying on the ground.

  “Quint!” she screamed, pulling out her gun and firing three shots at five-second intervals, praying that someone would hear and send help.

  As she checked for his pulse, Quint came to.

  “What happened?”

  “Ambush,” he said, rubbing his head. “Check those two.”

  She knelt down and checked the first man’s pulse. He was still alive. She was about to check the second man’s when she heard a single gunshot.

  “They’re both alive,” she told Quint before firing two more shots at five-second intervals in response to the single shot she’d heard. She had no way of knowing if that had been a response to her or not.

  Quint sat up and tried to stand. “Fire two more, Darrow,” he told her, sitting back down.

  She could hear the ATV approaching before she saw it. “Thank God,” she mumbled, going over to check the two men she now knew were Ranger and Diesel.

  “Where the hell is everybody?” Quint shouted. “We’ve got twenty men working this ranch. Where the fuck did they all disappear to?”

  “Something is very wrong, Quint. Esland has disappeared too.”

  Just then Axel came over the crest.

  “We were ambushed,” shouted Quint at him.

  “Were you on horseback?” Axel asked as he climbed off the ATV and raced over to where Darrow tended to Ranger and Diesel.

  “Like I said, we were ambushed. Must’ve been ten of them at least. Might’ve had a chance, but we weren’t on the horses at the time. Bastards must’ve scared ’em off after they knocked us out.”

  “Did you see or hear anything?”

  “They were Englishmen, I can tell you that much.”

  Darrow helped Ranger sit up when he came to. Quint got to his feet and helped him on the back of the ATV just as Diesel came to as well.

  “What the fuck?” he groaned, trying to sit up. Axel caught him as he fell back toward the ground.

  “It’ll be easier for me to find my way back to you. I’ll take Ranger and come back with the truck,” said Quint, climbing on the ATV.

  “They’ve been disabled,” Darrow told him.

  “The Bummer sure as hell hasn’t,” Quint shouted as he raced off.

  Diesel groaned and rubbed his head. When he held out his hand, it was bloody. “Help is on the way,” Darrow told him and then turned to Axel. “You go. I’ll wait here for Quint to come back.”

  “Jesus,” Diesel groaned, rubbing his head. “What the hell happened?”

  Darrow repeated what Quint had said about being ambushed. Diesel shook his head. “I don’t remember a damn thing.”

  She looked up at the sky and then closed her eyes. “Please, God, keep True safe,” she whispered. “And please, I beg you, let it be a lie about Wellie.”

  She opened her eyes when she heard the vehicle referred to as the Bummer approaching. She was helping Diesel up when Quint and Ranger raced over to assist.

  BY THE TIME they got back to the ranch, emergency vehicles had arrived. She could see Edge sitting on the bumper of one of them.

  “Check these two out first,” Quint shouted, pointing at Ranger and Diesel as the EMTs tried to do the same to him
.

  “I think I might’ve hit on something,” said Doc, as Axel pulled up on the ATV. He motioned him and Darrow over to where he stood near the barn.

  “Whoever hacked into the system must not have realized that the drones would continue recording even when sabotaged. They didn’t shut them down completely, although they probably thought they had,” he explained. “Essentially, all they did was block the signals temporarily.”

  “Where is this?” Axel shouted to Quint, who rushed over to join them.

  “About three miles due south.” He pointed to the largest structure. “That’s a cowshed; it’s all open. The smaller structures are where we keep equipment. Those are enclosed buildings. Looks like they’re in the shop area. We’ll take the Bummer.”

  Darrow climbed into the front with Quint and warned the others in the back to hang onto whatever they could. “This is not a smooth ride,” she warned.

  Axel leaned forward and put his hand on Darrow’s shoulder. “I talked to Wellie. He’s fine.”

  “Oh, thank God,” she gasped, and then covered her mouth with her hand to muffle her cry of thanks. “Thank God,” she repeated.

  Axel grabbed the roll bar when Quint gunned the Bummer and went barreling in the direction of the buildings Doc had shown them.

  When they were close, Quint slammed on the breaks, turned off the lights, shut off the engine, and motioned the direction each of them should go in, Darrow got out and followed Axel. As they got closer to the building, she slowed down when he did, creeping through the brush.

  He motioned with his head for her to go to the left window of the building while he went to the right on the same side. They both listened to the men inside.

  “She’s no use alive,” she heard one man say. “MI5 has the evidence. Even if you were able to retrieve it, it’s too late. Most of it has been scanned into evidence already. I need the bitch dead. Once she is, you’ll have more money than you know what to do with to silence what few witnesses are left—by any means possible.”

  “What the fuck are you about?” another shouted. “You don’t fucking tell us what to do. You wanna end up like this wanker? Keep running your bloody mouth, and I’ll see to it you do. You didn’t deliver any better than he did. ‘I’m on the bloody case. I’ll intercept the diaries.’ Fucking useless is what you are.”