Always Been Mine (31 page)

“Maia, warn our guys to expect another team. Keep their eyes peeled for an ambush,” Viktor turned to Skinny. “You better tell your men to stand down. Your boss is dirty and is conspiring with Russians to kill innocents with the virus.”

“You’re wrong,” Skinny said. “Our boss is entrapping an ISIS operative who plans to launch a terrorist attack on U.S. soil with a virus.”

Wait. What?
Gabe turned his attention to the gathering behind him. This was getting more FUBAR by the minute.
 

“Tim was right. He mentioned something about an ISIS plot to attack the U.S. after what happened in Iraq,” Maia said.
 

“Who’s Tim?” Gabe asked.

“AGS data analyst,” Travis answered. Obviously, his friend knew these people very well.
 

Viktor put his comms back on. “All in position? . . .
 
Damn it. Okay we gotta move in. We’re heading down. It’s a go.”

The second the AGS boss gave the command, gunfire erupted in the barn area. Viktor gave Big Guy instructions to secure Skinny.
 

“You coming, Sullivan, Blake?” Viktor asked. He gave the signal for Maia to go ahead.

Gabe locked gazes with Travis.
 

“We’re not sponsored by any government agency in this op,” Travis said.

“You think we are? CIA directive or not, we’re totally clandestine on this one,” Viktor said. “We fuck up, we’re on our own.”
 

This time it was Viktor who leaned his face close to Gabe’s. “You like playing by the rules, Sullivan?”

“You like playing games, Baran?” Gabe fired back. “We could have killed each other earlier, you know.”

A chilly smile curved Viktor’s lips. “If I wanted you dead, Sullivan, you wouldn’t have seen me coming.”

With that parting shot, Viktor Baran disappeared into the shadows.

*****

Panic gripped the control room at the safe house as everyone listened to the scuffle breaking out through comms.

Soon after Travis failed to respond, they heard a fight break out from Gabe’s feed and judging from the distant sound coming from communication devices, both had been knocked off.
 

Caitlin and Beatrice gripped each other’s hands while Nate tried to get the guys back online.

“Travis, do you copy?” Nate’s voice was calm, but his expression was worried. “Gabe, do you copy?”

Finally, there was a distant,
What the fuck, Maia?

“Travis, come in, buddy!” Nate spoke loudly.

“This is Blake.” There was a loud irritated huff. “I’m okay.”

Caitlin sighed in relief.
 

“What’s going on?” Nate asked.

“Can’t talk now. Need to get to Gabe and Viktor Baran before they kill each other,” Travis said. His voice jarred, indicating he was jogging.

“What?” Beatrice exclaimed, grabbing the mic from Nate. Viktor was one of the most lethal operatives in the history of security companies. “Tell me you’re joking, Travis.”

Travis didn’t respond for a while until he said, “They’re alive.”

Beatrice sank in the swivel chair in relief.

Her relief did not last long because Gabe and Travis were planning to join up with the AGS team in the raid, which was already underway. There was no time for discussions; split-second decisions were the order of the night.
 

“I’m not so sure about that, Travis,” Caitlin said. “You promised you were just doing recon.”

“I know, sunshine, but with Viktor at the helm, we should be fine. Gabe wants to get his hands on Zach Jamison,” Travis said. “Besides, I don’t think you want BSI to be labeled as a bunch of pussies, do you?”

Nate and Sam chuckled. Beatrice was leaning toward the plan. She had huge respect for Viktor and his team.

“Speak for yourself, Travis,” Gabe mocked, then addressing the control room, he said, “I think we’ll be fine going in. You okay with that, Beatrice?”

“It’s Viktor. There’s no one else I trust more,” Beatrice said. “You’re in good hands, Gabe.”

There was a stretch of silence and Beatrice thought they had lost communication again. Finally, Gabe’s voice crackled over comms.

“Hmm, not sure I like your total confidence in this guy.”

“Knock it off, Gabe,” Travis muttered. “We’re going in. Out.”

They watched the two blips of Gabe and Travis travel down the hill on their tracking map.

“So you know Viktor?” Caitlin asked Beatrice.

“Most of his team, actually,” Beatrice said. “You might even know Maia. I frequently bump into her in high-society functions. How she keeps doing undercover ops, I have no clue.”

Just then, the alarm on the driveway beeped loudly.
 

“Are we expecting anyone?” Nate frowned into the monitor as they watched the dark outline of a car come up the driveway. “Are you expecting Doug, Beatrice?”

“No. And it’s 10:00 p.m.” Beatrice said urgently.

Nate got moving and punched the button that would flood the front of the house with lights. In seconds, he and Sam were armed to the teeth with pistols and assault rifles as they strode down the hallway to the front door.

Beatrice watched in horror as the figure staggered out of the car, obviously hurt.

“It’s Dad,” she whispered.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Gabe’s fist smashed into Zach Jamison’s face.
 

Fucking exhilarating.
 

He and Travis caught up with Viktor just as they entered the perimeter of the yard fronting the barn. By the time they got there, it had been mostly a clean-up job.
 

The four buyers who showed up were quickly subdued. Much to their own detriment, they were only allowed two security guys for this meet. One of them was a French defense company, another one was a security firm based in Africa. The third guy was connected to a German pharmaceutical corporation, but it was the fourth buyer who Viktor had his Guardians haul off to the main house beside the barn to await interrogation. The man was the ISIS agent rumored to be looking for a bioweapon to unleash on U.S. soil.

Maia had secured Jamison to a chair while Viktor, Gabe, and Travis looked on. Afterward, Viktor looked at Gabe. “Consider this a bonus. He’s all yours.”

“Not sure I know what you mean, Baran,” Gabe said warily. Everyone seemed to trust Viktor, not sure he did quite yet.

“I mean, I know what he did to your woman. If you decide to cut him into pieces,” Viktor shrugged, “we’ll clean it up for you.”

Zach’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“You can’t be serious?” Gabe asked, almost choking at the offer.

“I am. However, I don’t think that’s what you should do at this point.”

“Oh, yeah? Enlighten me.”

“Priority is establishing Redrook’s identity, not revenge.”

“I know that.”

“Although, I’m not too concerned because I’ve made contact with the leader of the special ops team that was supposed to ambush this meet. We’ll find out soon enough who’s pulling their strings.”

“And you trust this guy?”

“As much as I should,” Viktor said. “Understand this, Sullivan. Unless you’re on my team, I don’t fully trust you.”

“It’s mutual at this point, Baran, so luckily, I’m not on your team.”

Viktor cracked a slight smile. His expression was one of innate stoicism. Add the face paint to the whole facade, and it was damned near impossible to read the man. Now in the light of the barn, Gabe could see ice blue eyes that had seen too much death. He should know—Gabe had seen the same reflected in his own eyes.

Viktor moved closer and lowered his voice. “I know what you’ve been through, Sullivan. You’re still trying to claw your way back from who you once were. Killing Jamison at this point is not the road back. But make no mistake, I understand you. Just remember, you have to live with the consequences of your actions.”

So now, Gabe was staring at Zach with much unparalleled rage and he was torn with what he had to do. If Viktor hadn’t made his little speech, would he even think twice about slitting the man’s throat?

“How do I know this Frank Wilkes isn’t some name you pulled out of your ass, huh, Zach?” Gabe scoffed.
 

“You think I like being made a punching bag?” Zach asked, spitting blood on the floor.
 

“What’s the matter, Zach? You can dish it, but you can’t take it, you sadistic son of a bitch!” Gabe growled as he unsheathed his knife from his boot.

He waved the weapon in front of Zach’s nose, who was at the moment, just staring at Gabe, daring him to do his worst. In his peripheral vision, he saw Travis make a move forward.

Gabe held back a hand. “Stay out of this, Travis.”

“Gabe, think about it, man, would Beatrice want you to do this?”

“Are you suggesting I call and ask her?” Gabe asked derisively.

“Don’t be ridiculous—”

“She screamed, you know,” Zach sneered.

“You will shut up if you know what’s good for you!” Travis snapped at Zach. “Gabe, killing Zach is not what Beatrice wants.”

“She’ll never be safe,” Zach said and laughed chillingly. “While her father is alive, she’ll always be fair game.”

“Oh, you’ll be wasting away somewhere,” Gabe replied. His voice was calm, but the desire for retribution scalded his veins.
 

“You think that will stop me? How do you know she’s safe even now?”
 

Both men froze.
 

“Ah . . . your little safe house. You never considered we’d track Douglas Keller.”

“Impossible. There are sensors—”

“Technology changes every day, trackers become more advanced, more difficult to trace. When was the last time those sensors were updated?” Zach asked mockingly. “Everyone who knew the location of the safe house was careful and experienced in security, but it’s not difficult to determine the weakest link.”

“Travis, call the safe house,” Gabe said before turning back to Zach. “Why are you telling us this now?”

“Why did I give up Frank Wilkes’s name easily? It appears the bastard double-crossed me. Even if he killed Porter for me, what good would savoring that knowledge be if I was locked away behind bars? Even for Crowe, that wouldn’t be worth it. If I get charged with treason, it’ll be the death penalty. I have nothing to lose now.”

“No one’s answering,” Travis said. “I’ve tried everyone’s cell phone numbers. Something could be jamming the signal.”

“They’re probably all dead,” Zach continued to taunt them.
 

“Here,” Gabe tossed Travis his secure phone. “There’s a direct line to the landline in the control room.”

“I should’ve let them rape her,” Zach continued. “Ventura had the hots for Beatrice.”

“Shut up, Jamison,” Gabe growled as unwitting images of the Colombian gang leader’s hands all over Beatrice flashed through his mind.

“He loves her spirit; he would enjoy breaking her—”

Gabe didn’t reply. It took all his self-control just to keep his hands by his sides.

“Push her to her knees, shove his cock in her mouth, spread her open and— urrk . . .”

Gabe detachedly observed the blood spurting from the C-curve he had carved across Zach’s throat. Ear to ear. He felt like he was a heat-forged sword plunged into water, hardened and tempered to become the deadly weapon he was meant to be. Rage had dissipated into a chilly regard of the bloody scene before him.

“Ah, fuck,” Travis muttered behind him.

“Funny that my regret at the moment is giving Zach what he wanted,” Gabe said tonelessly. “Did you get through?”

“The admiral arrived at the safe house. He’s injured.”

“What?”

“We need to head back. Now,” Travis said, turning and marching to the gate of the barn.

“Tell me what’s going on?” Gabe sheathed his knife into his boot.

“Zach Jamison was right; Harold Baxter knows the location of the safe house.”

“Harold Baxter—”

“—is Redrook, and my bet is Frank Wilkes is an alias he’s used to run Red Bridge since its inception. Porter has the evidence.” They exited the barn, and Gabe followed Travis’s lead into the main house, presumably to look for Viktor. “He needs to send the information to AGS for safekeeping. But to do that, he has to have Viktor’s analyst open a secure socket so Caitlin can transmit the intel.”

Viktor was walking out with another guy who was dressed in fatigues. This must be the Special Op guy Viktor was talking about. Both men looked grim and unhappy, but at least they didn’t look like they were about to kill each other.

“Our man is Harold Baxter,” Viktor said to Gabe and Travis. He made the introductions with the newcomer.
 

“We got confirmation from Porter as well,” Gabe said.
 

“So he’s okay? He went off the grid this morning,” Viktor said.
 

“He’s injured,” Travis announced grimly.

“What?”

“He’s got intel he needs to transmit to Tim,” Travis said. “He’s holed up in the safe house right now, but that location is blown. We need to get over there, ASAP. No telling if Baxter is going after them.”

Gabe and Travis were about to return to their vehicle when Viktor stopped them. “Hold on. If Baxter’s after them, you’ll need backup. And you need to get there quickly.”

“You’re not saying—” Gabe started.

“We have a chopper on standby,” Viktor said. “I can round up a team and fly you guys out there and provide cover fire. If there’s no landing site, you guys still know how to fast rope, right?”

“Hell, yeah,” Gabe snorted as Travis nodded his affirmation.

Viktor nodded in approval. Gabe didn’t change opinions very quickly or often, but he was actually beginning to admire this motherfucker.
 

*****

Tim Burns, the AGS data analyst, was on video conference with Caitlin while the two worked on establishing a secure connection between the safe house and the AGS data center. Beatrice was crouched down in front of her father, wrapping a bandage across his torso. A bullet had torn through the side of her father’s abdomen with no apparent internal damage.
 

“I can’t believe you let yourself get captured.” She was so pissed at her dad right now that was probably the first full sentence she had spoken to him since he stumbled through the door.