Exchange of Fire (11 page)

Damn. As thrilled as she was to see Romeo and Talon, Sandra had hoped to stay in this new world she had been cocooned in a little while longer. A fantasy, she knew. Everything had changed the second her apartment had been broken into and would never go back to the way it was.

Short of walking out right now, she had no way of stopping the inevitable backlash. How would Grady react when he realized how much she had kept secret? How would Romeo and Talon react when they heard what she had let slip?
Fuckety fuck fuck.
Her two worlds were on a collision course from hell with her caught in the middle.

Tension slowly rose in the room. Romeo looked openly curious and made no secret about studying Grady. Talon, on the other hand, was his usual friendly self—meaning he appeared ready to stab one of the knives he currently fiddled with into Grady’s heart. Though, judging by her former teammate’s glare, she’d be more inclined to call what rolled off him hostility than simple tension.
Great.

“Back to you mentioning me,” Talon said, breaking the silence. “What’s Lover Boy mean when he asked about a knife in training? What have you told him?”

“Not nearly enough,” Grady shot back. His stiff back and tight shoulders would make a drill sergeant proud as he resolutely tapped his handgun against his leg. “My question seems a little more pressing. What did you mean, Romeo, when you said Sandra’s ‘still alive and hiding in Ridge Creek’?”

“Well, I’ve got a question of my own I want answered,” Sandra announced, putting her hands on her hips. She didn’t miss the way Grady’s eyes narrowed and skimmed her fully exposed thighs. Tough shit. He’d have plenty of time to yell at her later for much more worthy things than her nudity underneath his shirt. “How did you two find me?”

“Are you kidding?” Grady answered instead. “One, if not both, was shooting at us earlier. My money’s on him.” Grady thrust his chin toward Talon. “A normal person does not break in and lob a glow-in-the-dark fuzzball at my heart and brag about how it could have been his knife—”

“Talon!” Sandra snapped. “You didn’t.”

The asshole just shrugged. “It could’ve been, but it wasn’t. Just a harmless prank.”

“Yeah, real funny to the guy who doesn’t know who the hell you are. So what were you doing all night if it wasn’t taking shots at us?”

“Following you.”

“What?” Sandra asked, blinking. “Why? How?”

Talon slid his cold emerald eyes to Grady before landing back on her. “Let’s just say I got a tip while I was in for my annual evaluation—”

“Would this be a psych eval, because I think you’re due for one,” Grady interrupted, his hand clenching as if smashing something in his palm.

Oh boy.

“Whatever. Kettle, pot.” Talon motioned between himself and Grady.

“Guys, please.” Sandra held up her hand. “Talon, if you’ve been following us, then you must have seen the operative when he snuck back into my apartment. Why didn’t you stop him? He almost killed us.”

Talon swallowed and glanced out the door before mumbling, “I got waylaid by an ancient woman beating me with a bag filled with . . . Yeah, not going there.”

Romeo let out a peal of laughter. “I wish I could’ve seen that. I can just picture it. In my mind, that bag’s overflowing with adult diapers and prunes.”

Talon flipped Romeo off. “It wasn’t me”—he directed that line to Grady—“because I took out Granger while he lined up his next shot when you guys were in the police station.”

“
That’s
what happened,” Sandra muttered, feeling as if a weight had lifted off her shoulders. The sudden disappearance of the operative hadn’t made sense, and she hadn’t really been sure if they had lost him or not.

Grady straightened. “You killed him?”

“Only way to stop him,” Talon replied coldly. “Not squeamish are you, Lover Boy?”

“Hardly.” Grady frowned. “Are you saying you took out the guy while he was chasing us?”

“Need me to talk slower?” Talon asked sarcastically.

“Just answer the question unless it’s too complicated.”

Talon crossed his arms. “Yes. I snuck up behind him and knifed him across his vocal cords. Enough detail for you?”

Grady nodded. A contemplative look stole over his face, but he didn’t say anything as he tapped a finger on his hip.

“What are you thinking?” Sandra asked, her stomach tightening.

Grady locked gazes with Talon. “You’re holding something back, aren’t you?”

Talon snorted. “You kidding me? I’m holding a crapload back.”

The knot in Sandra’s stomach squeezed tighter.

“Relating to her, asshole.” Grady pointed at Sandra. “Your tip. Why would it specifically state to come here?”

“I was trying to be diplomatic, but have it your way,” Talon retorted. “Did you run a background check on Wraith when she applied?”

“Of course.”

Talon lifted an eyebrow.

Confusion filled Grady’s face, then he stiffened.

Fuck.
“What’s going on?” Sandra asked, pinging her gaze back and forth between them.

“He knows,” Talon said instead.

“I couldn’t quite believe your résumé, so I ran your background check twice. When both times came up clear, I let it go.”

Sandra’s stomach dropped. “You checked it twice?”

“That’ll do it,” Romeo stated, the smile now gone from his face.

“Someone want to tell me what the hell is going on?” Grady demanded, his arms crossed in front of his chest. “That’ll do what? Does this have something to do with Kansas?”

Tension plunged into the room, and both men stared at him in shock. Sandra had the sudden urge to flee.

“What do you know about Kansas?” Romeo demanded, stepping closer to Grady.

Grady met everyone’s eyes head-on, not backing down from the intensity. “That you guys have a clandestine training facility out there. I know that Talon is a former teammate of Sandra’s who gifts her with knives.” He glared at her teammate as if that was a capital offense before continuing. “And judging by the reunion I just witnessed, so are you, Romeo.”

As if on cue, Romeo and Talon turned to gape at her.

“What the fuck, Wraith?” Talon burst out.

“Watch the tone,” Grady growled.

Talon ripped his gaze away and focused on Grady. “What did you say?”

“Unless you need a set of Miracle-Ears, you heard me. Don’t take that tone with her. Besides, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out you both answer to codenames. Even
you
aren’t that slow-witted.”

Oh hell.

Talon rounded the dining room table, and Romeo moved to intercept him. Grady’s stance changed as if to prepare for the fight.

“That’s enough,” she snapped.

After a few tense heartbeats, Talon relaxed his stance and Romeo released his hold, but Grady didn’t listen. “Sandra, earlier you admitted to
padding
your résumé—with resources to back it up, I might add—being a teammate of an as-yet-to-be-explained team, and, Jesus, by the way, they think you died and came back to life. I’m tired of asking the same question. So this is the last time: What the hell is going on?”

Everyone stared at her. The expressions ranged from glaring to suspicious. Her heart sank. She had done this. Goddamn it, why hadn’t she gone with left-brain’s choice and split town, saving everyone the heartache? Her own heart wrenched, reminding her just how invested it was in Ridge Creek (and a certain Marine). She stole a glance at Grady. Gone was the happy-go-lucky guy from the adventure center, inspiring loyalty among the staff just by being him. In his place was a frustrated, suspicious man who appeared at the edge of his patience. With a few words she could fix it or destroy everything that was left. A lump surged forward in her throat. Would Romeo and Talon see her letting Grady in as a betrayal? Probably. Could she do it anyway and trust Grady?

“I’ll take your silence as your answer.” Sandra could hear the icy hurt lacing his Southern drawl as he stepped back toward the hall.

She nibbled on her bottom lip.
Time to find out.
She took a deep breath and said in a low voice, “Before coming here, I used to be an operative for a clandestine organization.”

“Wraith!” Talon burst out at the same time Grady halted and replied, “I already stated as much a second ago. Want to try again?”

Grady waited impatiently for the next words to drop out of her mouth. Judging by Talon’s and Romeo’s fierce frowns and not-so-subtle signaling for her to shut up, they were anxious too.

Her tone paled another shade, highlighting the dark circles under her eyes. “The reason I’m called Wraith—”

“Think about what you’re doing,” Romeo warned, his face no longer smiling prettily.

“Believe me, I have,” Sandra answered, then focused her tired hazel eyes on Grady. “You know how you have the grim reaper tattooed on your arm?”

“Yeah,” Grady drew out, a sense of foreboding stealing through him.

“That was me.”

“What do you mean?”

“As you probably remember from your years in the Marines, job tasks varied from day to day within a unit, but each person had a specialty.”

Grady definitely did not like where this was going. “Sandra, just spit it out.”

She swallowed and cast somber eyes at him. “Within Delta Squad, I used to be a sniper.”

“Fuck,” Talon whispered, swiping his hands through his hair. “You just broke the oath.”

“A sniper,” Grady repeated, not sure he’d heard right.

“Yes.” Her hands wrung together, and her posture radiated nervous regret.

He blinked. “You’re trying to convince me that the same woman who won’t play any of the shooting games in the arcade because they’re ‘too violent’ is a sniper?” Grady almost wished he was being punked, but Talon’s whispered outburst and the tense, resolute atmosphere didn’t allow for that wish. “The same person who told me she didn’t want to attend the team-building event on Wednesday because it has laser tag used to lie down behind a long-range rifle and shoot people?”

Sandra winced. “A customized Remington, and only at bad guys.” A flash of despair crossed over her face.

Before Grady could ask about it, Talon exploded with, “She was one of the best damn snipers I’ve seen until she died.”

“Talon!” Romeo rounded on his cohort.

“What?” the prick retorted. “She’s already confessed it. He needs to get over himself and stop looking at Wraith like she belongs in a nut farm.”

Grady’s heart constricted. “Died.” That was the second reference to her death. What the hell did it mean? The sense of foreboding grew. Did he even know this woman at all?

“Fuck,” Talon said again, this time casting a guilty glance at Sandra. “Sorry.”

Sandra nodded and dropped onto a dining room chair and clasped her hands together. “It’s okay. I think he needs to know anyway.”

Romeo pulled a chair out and situated himself at the table. A piece of silver winked out from the edge of his black V-neck, hanging from a silver necklace. Same emblem Sandra always wore. “Cappy’s going to blow a nut when he hears about this.”

“Then it’s a good thing he’s got two of them,” she replied, her tired voice laced with steel.

Talon moved back to the screen door, his shoulders stiff as he gazed outside. “You’re not just talking about yourself, you know,” he said in a low voice. “To appease Marine Man’s curiosity, you’re compromising all of us.”

Grady assumed he was supposed to feel guilty and back down, but fuck that. Too much had happened too quickly, and he was in the goddamn middle of it. The woman he was falling in love with didn’t even resemble the ominous picture that seemed to be emerging. He needed to know for his own survival how bad this was going to hurt.

Just as he opened his mouth to prompt her for a response, Talon lunged to the side and slapped the lights off. The unmistakable sound of the screen door opening was cut off by two people grappling.

“You’re damn right I’m going to blow a nut,” a deep, gravelly voice boomed behind him, sounding like a chain saw.

Grady whirled, aiming his Beretta at the disembodied threat coming from the living room. A viselike grip clamped on his right wrist just as the weight of an arm dropped over his and a body pressed into his side.

Grady punched forward with his left fist, connecting with a hard skull. The vibrations traveled up his arm, and pain radiated from his knuckles.

The man grunted and grabbed the top of Grady’s gun. Before Grady could counter, the man forced his Beretta to roll down to the floor, then back up toward his chest, almost breaking Grady’s wrist before the man yanked the gun away.

Shit.
Grady stomped down on the guy’s instep and pushed against the mass.

The presence of the threat moved forward, regrabbing Grady’s right wrist and twisting it behind him, just as a hefty limb snaked around his throat and squeezed. “Easy there, I’m not the enemy,” Chain Saw whispered into Grady’s ear, making Grady pause the elbow-in-the-kidney strike he had lined up.

“Cappy?” Sandra asked, just as the dining room lights snapped on.

“Yep.”

Romeo stood by the light switch, a Smith & Wesson with a wicked suppressor screwed on to the front now slowly lowering to the floor.

Where the hell did he keep that hardware stashed?
Stupid thought to run through his mind with a gorilla immobilizing him, but Grady couldn’t help it.

“And me,” a beautiful, albeit red-faced china doll wheezed from Talon’s choke hold.

She was breathtaking, but Grady instantly dismissed her—the current woman in his life was about all he could handle.

“What the hell, Cappy?” Talon groused, letting go of China Doll. “You couldn’t knock on the door like a normal human being?”

“Keeps you all on your toes,” Chain Saw retorted, freeing Grady from his hold.

Grady jumped out of the way and Sandra ran toward the man, getting swept up in a hug.

“I understand more than you realize, but we need to talk, you and I,” Cappy whispered when her feet touched the ground.

Grady rubbed his throat and eyed the hulking man who resembled a brick building.
This
was a man he understood. The guy couldn’t exude military any more if he had a blinking sign above his head. From the regulation buzz cut to the tech around the guy’s throat and ear, even the way the man carried his frame showed Grady the guy had seen some action. Probably a lot of it if the guarded, haunted eyes were an indicator.

“Military?” Cappy asked, not hiding his own inspection of Grady.

Grady’s shoulders snapped back like Pavlov’s dogs. Reflex. “Marines. Retired after too many trips to the sandbox.” He just knew this man would get it.

The guy nodded.

“Army?” Grady asked. “I’m guessing Ranger or Green Beret.”

“Observant.” Cappy’s mouth thinned slightly. “Green Beret in another life.”

Called it.

“Huh.” Romeo moved forward and circled in front of Grady while tapping his chin, the Smith & Wesson gone, disappeared back into its secret hiding place. “Wraith mentioned that earlier. Really shedding the military look, aren’t you?”

Sandra socked him in the shoulder, and China Doll asked, “Feeling threatened by his good looks?”

Romeo swung her way. “You think he’s good-looking?” he asked, as if crushed by the observation.

“Absolutely,” China Doll answered, and Sandra stiffened beside him. China Doll slipped forward, adjusting the same hardware Chain Saw sported, and paused between Cappy and Sandra. “But don’t worry, Romeo, I’m sure you’re still the biggest tramp in the room.”

Romeo blew China Doll a kiss. “I only have eyes for you, babe.”

The woman snorted and winked at Grady. Did they have a thing going? He could be wrong but he thought he detected an undertone to the exchange. With the two resembling supermodels it would make sense, but was also confusing, since China Doll hadn’t stopped checking
him
out after Talon had let go. He got the feeling she was placing him next on her list of amusements.
No, thanks.

Sandra gently hugged China Doll.
What’s with the kid gloves?
The gorgeous newcomer hugged Sandra back, but kept Grady in her sights. Sandra shifted back, edging closer to him, frowning.

China Doll was dwarfed by Chain Saw’s six-foot-two frame by over a foot, and Sandra had at least five inches on the woman. Her long, straight black hair hung down her back, making her vivid baby-blue eyes stand out of her pixie face. Hidden underneath a layer of makeup was a long scar on her cheek, disappearing into the hairline near her ear. Definitely a story there.

“Grady, meet Magician,” Sandra coolly supplied, indicating China Doll. “Be careful, though; one of the reasons she’s earned her moniker is the spell she weaves over men.”

Magician curled a manicured finger around a lock of hair and said, “I can’t take credit for the good genes, but it does come in handy.”

Chain Saw cleared his throat. “You can call me Cappy.”

“Everyone”—Sandra swiped her hands toward Grady—“meet Casper Grady.”