Night Moves: A Shadow Force Novel (22 page)

Reid was sure those men would let Chambers know an American had been asking about him, and that was exactly what he wanted.

Now he waited across the street until he saw Chambers pull his car into the small lot, gave the man half an hour to settle comfortably before Reid went in to try to get a job working with him.

It was for sure a dangerous move, but he supposed he’d always been dangerous. Foster homes were almost as good as juvie or jail in terms of learning to be a better criminal, and he’d been fortunate—or unfortunate—enough to get in with the right kind of crowd early on.

Delta had given him the opportunity to perfect his skills and now he used them to put his life on the line. He grabbed a beer from the bar and took a walk, found Chambers holding court in the back of the restaurant as if he were some kind of high-level mafioso.

In reality, the restaurant was a piece of shit, but
Chambers could play the big-fish, little-pond game here. Judging by the number of hangers-on, he was fooling a lot of people.

McMannus was the only security, sitting at a table to the right. As Reid advanced, the man stood, ready to turn him away.

“Need to talk to him about a job,” Reid drawled.

“We’re not hiring.”

“I’m not interested in working for you—I want to hear it from him.”

“It’s best for your health if you turn around and leave.”

It was going to end up like a bad B movie where Reid kicked McMannus’s, the current bodyguard’s, ass to catch the attention of the big boss.

In this case, it would be that much more satisfying, knowing that the bodyguard had murdered innocents.

“I’ll give you one last chance to get out of my way,” Reid told him.

McMannus smirked. Reid was only too happy to wipe that right off his face with a hard slam of his forehead to the man’s own, sending him stumbling back, dazed.

Reid took advantage of that, advanced and knocked him flat with a punch that was more bar fight than skilled Delta but was damned effective and took very little effort.

McMannus fell and did not get up and the whole ordeal had taken under a minute.

Reid smiled and finished his beer, because yeah, he’d definitely gotten the crowd’s attention—and
Chambers, too, since the man motioned for Reid to come closer.

Reid did, walking slowly past a few pretty women who looked him up and down. Whoever won the fight usually got to take home the best woman, but tonight, that wasn’t his main goal at all.

A pity, really. His mind flashed back to Grier and he wondered how pissed she actually was right now. He guessed very and that nearly made him grin right in Chambers’s face.

He pulled up a seat that magically opened right next to Chambers and the people who’d been sitting at the table slowly scattered.

Chambers took a sip of his drink—looked like Dewar’s—and licked his lips as he put the glass down back on the table. Stared at Reid as if trying to memorize his face and Reid found the entire damned thing really creepy. “Was that performance for me?”

“Did it work?”

Chambers’s expression didn’t change. “I typically don’t like show-offs, but that was impressive.”

“It was nothing.” Reid paused. “I’m looking for employment.”

“How did you hear about me?”

“Let’s just say I’ve got something you want. Actually, someone,” Reid clarified, the danger of the game running hot in his blood.

Chambers sat back and considered him slowly. “And in return for this someone?”

I’m going to kill you
. “I want in.”

Chambers took another drink. “This person …?”

“A woman,” Reid clarified.

“I have plenty of those.”

“But this one shot you.” Reid glanced at Chambers’s arm that was still in a sling and let that information settle in. For the first time that night, Reid caught a slight flash of anger behind the other man’s bland gaze.

“For a man who’s just come on the scene, you know quite a bit.”

You’d better believe it, buddy
. “Give me a call when you’re ready to talk.” Reid slid his phone number, written earlier, along with a few names and other numbers, at Chambers. “That’s my phone and these are my references. Feel free to call and check up on me.”

“What’s your background?” Samuel asked. “American military?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re willing to do anything?”

“Always.” Reid stood. “I want a job before I tell you where to find her. That’s my deal.”

“And if I don’t play your game?”

Reid just drawled, “You will,” and he walked out of the restaurant, knowing there could easily be a gun aiming between his shoulders or an ambush in the alley to the right.

The man he’d taken down had gotten up and gone out the back while Reid had been talking with Chambers. It was time to make sure he was no longer a problem—for Reid, and for Teddie.

Chambers would be all Kell’s problem, though. It’s the way his friend wanted it and Reid was more than willing to comply in order to watch Kell get back into the game, no matter how briefly.

He strolled as if to pass the alley that ran along the
side of the restaurant, his body taut as a wire. At the last minute, he stepped into the darkness, and found who he was looking for.

McMannus was still unsteady from the hit he’d taken. The head-butt move could be a real stunner if done correctly.

If not, you could end up knocking yourself out. Reid had only done that once. Now he said to McMannus, “You’re a slow learner.”

He wanted to ask him about Khartoum, press for a confession, but it would come back to bite him in the ass if the man survived, told Chambers.

The bastard reached out and Reid saw the glint of a blade. The knife caught him along his biceps, tearing the sleeve of his shirt. It didn’t hurt—not yet—and Reid took that opportunity to pound the shit out of him.

First, he subdued the knife hand, pounded it against the wall until the weapon dropped with a clatter, and then he brought the guy to the ground.

“Where did you learn your moves? The Boy Scouts?” Reid asked him, pumped for a good fight.

Tonight, he’d find none. The man rolled too easily, and Reid had his arm across McMannus’s throat in seconds while he lay prone and helpless.

Before Reid could do anything else, someone called his name. Female voice.

He took his arm off McMannus. “Run, you fucker. I just saved your ass—it won’t happen again.”

McMannus looked at him strangely and dragged himself away, half-hopping, half-running.

Chickenshit pussy. Reid touched his arm where the warm blood was dripping. Ripped some fabric from
the bottom hem of his T-shirt to bind his wound as he heard light footsteps heading his way from the main road.

Grier. “Are you all right?” she asked. “I saw him come after you. What happened?”

“No clue. I guess he was just a mugger.” He glanced at her. “Is this a lucky coincidence?”

“I don’t believe in coincidences.”

He snorted and pushed to his feet. “I lost you for a good long while.”

“You’re welcome for helping you with the mugger.”

“I had it under control.” He went to brush past her but she held a palm flat to his chest. He looked between her hand and her face, raised his eyebrows. “You want a piece of me now?”

“What were you doing meeting with Samuel Chambers?”

She didn’t move her hand. He had to give her credit, because his death stare usually did the trick on both new recruits and tangos alike.

He’d obviously have to perfect it for female marshals. “I went inside for a beer.”

“And you got into a fight.”

“It happens. Especially when people touch me without permission.”

She removed her hand but continued talking. “You just happen to have a meeting with the man who was once suspected of working a high-level kidnapping ring in three countries with Teddie’s father?” She was way better than he’d given her credit for.

“Just looking for employment.”

“Gainful or not, right?”

“Money’s money.”

She cocked her head. “I don’t know you well enough to say this, but that’s not what you’re about at all. You’re one of the good guys.”

“Jesus, Grier, you really don’t know me at all.” He shook his head as he lied, because fuck it all, she seemed to. “I’ve gotta go lick my wounds.”

She was going to put two and two together really quickly. “I’ve seen Teddie’s picture from the marketplace in Khartoum and I’ve passed it around here—people have mentioned seeing the men, although they’re too scared to tell me where. I’ve been over the file since she disappeared.”

“Maybe you should’ve been on it from the second she went into protection,” he countered, and now it was her turn to dole out a death stare.

It kinda turned him on.

G
rier was caught between a rock and a hard place, because Reid was working really hard on what was really her investigation. He wasn’t doing it for money—he’d already told her he was doing it for his friend. For love.

God, an operative with a romantic streak.

She knew what he was trying to do. By breaking into Chambers’s world, he was trying to prove Teddie’s father’s innocence—and by association, Teddie’s. But Reid’s ass wasn’t on the line with this missing WITSEC suspect. Hers was, and she needed to find Teddie, using whatever it took to get Reid to help her.

“Is the man you fought responsible for killing Teddie’s family?” she asked, because she hadn’t been able
to get a good look at anything but his back jumping the fence.

Reid didn’t answer her directly. “He’ll come after me again. I can’t be responsible for what happens.”

She began to walk away and he followed her.

“Reid, you need to bring her in to me.”

“She’ll get there.”

“On my time, not hers or yours.”

“Do you always work inside the law?” he asked, and she had to stop and think about that. Because yes, she did. She respected the law, worked within its parameters—but often got frustrated as hell with the bureaucracy.

“I think everyone’s safer that way,” she told Reid finally.

“I think that you know you couldn’t be more wrong.” He began to walk away, still bleeding down his arm.

“How are you getting back to your room?” she called after him before he got too far away.

He didn’t turn around when he called back, “My two legs.”

She hesitated and then asked, “Want a ride?” before she could stop herself. But her words did make him pause, and she heard him sigh, saw him shake his head like he couldn’t figure her out.

Half the time, she had the same problem.

He turned to her. “Is this on the record?”

“No. Does that mean you’ll take the ride?”

He glanced at his bleeding arm. “If you’ve got a first-aid kit in your car, I’d rather that and then dinner, if you’re up for it.”

“Come on.” She motioned for him to follow,
opened the back of her truck and had him sit there while she brought the kit around. He took over immediately, and she watched as he stitched himself up easily.

Military for sure—this would’ve cinched it even if she hadn’t already known. He glanced up at her when he finished, grinned, like he knew she was nervous around him and that it had nothing to do with her job. “Hungry?”

She cocked her head as if attempting to figure out his motive, which, at the moment, he probably had no clue as to what it was, and she finally nodded. “I pick the place, though.”

“I’m done. Lead on.”

“It’s back closer to your motel.”

He raised his eyebrows but didn’t say a word, just took the passenger’s seat and they drove to the restaurant, making small talk about the city, the escalating violence and the problems with the drug dealers and gangs.

“In one border town, they have a single cop, a policewoman,” she said with a shake of her head. “Who can win this?”

Reid shrugged and she continued, “Rivera and Cruz, two of the big ones, were found murdered a few nights ago. That’s really shaken up the drug dealers, so it’s been quiet since then. They’re trying to regroup.”

“I’m sure they’ll find a way.”

“I know you probably don’t want to talk about this.”

“I’d rather talk about you.”

“My job?”

“No, you,” he said, and she wondered if this was all a bullshit act, because if it wasn’t, then he was really good.

She didn’t say anything when she parked, and they walked into the restaurant and got their table, complete with tortilla chips and salsa and beers. “It’s a hole in the wall, but that’s the best kind of place,” she offered.

He leaned back in the booth. “See, now I’ve learned something about you.”

“You already did when you discovered I work within the confines of the law.”

“So you agree they’re confining.”

She swished a chip in salsa. “Maybe,” she said before taking a crunching bite.

That made him smile a little and there was a comfortable silence while they ate and she tried to think of a way to explain to her superior that this really was business. It just happened to be very pleasurable as well, and that rarely happened in situations like this.

“I’ve done some checking on you,” she said once their food was served, in an attempt to regain the upper hand … any hand, actually. Although she really didn’t get the feeling he was trying to one-up her—he was trying to do a job.

“Really? Find anything good?” he asked and then took a few bites of his food like he was relishing it.

“You barely exist.”

“I tend to travel light.”

“Because you’re in the military?”

He sat back. “Why? Would that turn you on?”

Everything the man did turned her on and he knew it. “I think it’s admirable that you’re trying to help
Teddie. But she’s in a lot of trouble and you and I both know it’s in her best interest to turn herself in and let us sort this out together.”

“No clue where she is.”

“I’m supposed to believe that when your friend took her at gunpoint?”

His steel blue eyes pierced hers. “Grier, I’ve got enough shit going on—I don’t need more.”

“Then why are you actively looking for trouble?”

“People have been asking me that for years. I don’t know why it’s taken so long for them to figure it out.”