Under the Wire: Bad Boys Undercover (22 page)

He almost got there. Made it right to the edge before Mickey grabbed him. The former Stasi guard had the advantage while Reid was focused on Simon and knocked the gun out of his hand. When the pieces stopped moving, Reid was on his knees next to Mickey . . . with a gun pointed at his forehead.

Mickey looked up at Parker and Cara. “Now, let’s talk about my lab.”

T
ASHA SLIPPED
inside the mine without anyone shooting her. That was a triumph of sorts. So was getting Niko to stay quiet. He complained the entire bumpy ride over. When she reminded him that he chose to join her, he threatened to have her thrown in a top secret Russian prison in the arctic region of the Urals.

If he was trying to convince her he was innocent, he was failing miserably.

They rounded the corner and she shoved Niko back against the wall. Had to put a hand over his mouth to keep him quiet. Then they listened. As Mickey suggested he was working on something other than Niko’s grand plan, Niko’s eyes narrowed. By the time they got to the lab, Niko shook with fury.

It looked like they found their rogue player: Mickey, with a very big gun and Reid kneeling at his feet. The last part didn’t bother Tasha that much. Reid knew how to get out of a situation like this. If Mickey had been smart he’d have made a run at Cara. Her safety would have given him much greater leverage over her men.

Time to make an entrance.

She grabbed Niko by the collar and dragged him in with her. Being stunned and in a full fit of fury, he was easy to throw around. She had to remind herself that he was a potential target today. Her job was to protect him, even if it killed her.

“I guess we know why the security at the campsite sucked.”

“Tasha.” Mickey pressed the gun tighter against Reid’s head. “Perfect. Everyone is here. Even my boss.”

“What are you doing?” Niko asked the question as he ventured one step too close to Mickey before Tasha pulled him back.

“What you should have done but you were too busy worrying about restoring power to Russia.” Mickey shook his head. “The system is corrupt. Don’t you get it, the leaders can’t be saved.”

“This doesn’t sound crazy at all.” Reid’s comment earned him a knock against the side of his head with the gun. He bent down and his hands hit the floor but he didn’t fall over.

Tasha took that as a good sign. “It’s time to put an end to this madness.”

“I agree.” Mickey gestured to Cara. “Come here.”

Reid lifted his head. “Do not move.”

“I will put a bullet in his skull.” Mickey pressed the gun to Reid’s temple.

“He won’t.” Reid pleaded with Cara now.

“He’s former Stasi,” Parker said, reminding them all
that this guy might not have a lot to lose. And that he had skills. Not to rival the Alliance, but he was a threat, and this close to Reid, a significant one.

“My partner apparently is dead.” Mickey almost laughed as he said it.

The nonchalance seemed to snap Cara out of her stunned stupor. “Brad?”

“You’re interchangeable and you will be easier to manage than he ever was. I won’t even need to pretend that I plan on paying you.”

“Not that it’s your money anyway.” Tasha glanced at Niko. “Now we know where those payments from your accounts were going.”

“For all his supposed skills, he’s an easy man to scam.” Mickey shifted his weight as he grew more comfortable with the topic. “All that talk about Russia being strong again. So misguided. The last country capable of producing a bomb like mine or to run the world is the one we’re standing in.”

“I’m going to kill you.” Niko took a step forward.

Tasha held him back. “Doubtful.”

She mentally measured the distance between her and Reid. In close quarters like this, someone was almost guaranteed to get hurt. Hit Mickey, and he’d fire. Bullets would ping and bounce, and that barrel hovered right by Reid’s ear. It was tough to miss at that distance.

Still, she knew Reid had a plan. He always had a plan. She just wished she knew what it was.

C
ara tried to keep calm, a task that proved impossible. Her knees shook and her head spun. Seeing Reid in danger knocked every ounce of control out of her. She wanted to rush in and grab that gun. Stupid moves, but she wasn’t thinking rationally. For the first time in her life she abandoned what made sense and moved on instinct.

Right now part of that depended on keeping Mickey talking. He seemed impressed with his plan. Fine, let him tell it. The longer they stalled, the more time Reid had, and the closer Parker could get to Mickey. Between the two of them, they could get off a shot. Add in Tasha and the combination should be lethal.

That made her wonder if there was another plan at work here. One she didn’t know about.

Not that her instincts were all that reliable at the moment. She’d been so sure Simon was lying, that he had something to do with the cobalt bomb. The botany angle never made sense but the money part did. Simon was the guy who lived big. He threw money around, drove an expensive car. Had to live in the right part of town.

Word was, he took part in the expedition because he needed the cash, and an expedition with some level of danger like this one came with a bonus. In light of all that had happened, they should have received combat pay. If she lived through the next few minutes, she’d demand it.

But her staying alive was not her number one concern right now. She ached for Reid. Seeing him sitting there in the dirt ripped her inside out. She knew he had another gun, or he usually did. She couldn’t remember where he put it when they came in from the truck.

The damn truck. Those stolen minutes had been perfect, but now she regretted them. If they had come back earlier or been more aware . . . She didn’t know if Mickey crawled out from under his rock during that time, but being off-duty couldn’t have been a good choice.

One more thing she needed to atone for. Right after she got combat pay she’d start working on her bigger apology. This time for everything. Reid would not die today, because she hadn’t told him she loved him and that would happen. She refused to believe this would go any other way but her telling him how she felt about him. How she’d always felt and how being away from him destroyed her.

So much death. So many lives lost over what sounded like a man’s greed. Not principles or because he was under threat. No, Mickey was motivated by money.

“So, you used your boss’s money to hire Brad to set up the lab,” she said to him.

“If it wasn’t for the Russian special forces performing that midnight raid and grabbing the scientists from their tents, the lab would be operational now.”

“Was the secret work camp location up north in
the Urals, the one that was blown up and started all of this, also yours?” Cara couldn’t believe one man could wield that much power in a country he didn’t live in, but weirder things had happened.

“My original partner, an old scientist friend from my days in Germany. He should have sided with me, but he took his intel to the Russians.” Mickey shrugged. “His mistake.”

Reid’s eyes narrowed. “You’re saying you destroyed the lab?”

“All I had to do was make sure some of other old friends knew about the disloyalty.” Mickey actually winked. “They pulled off the maneuver. It worked, but it made Russian special forces pretty angry. Hence the scene at the tents and shaking down the scientists for information, thinking they had some but only Brad did.”

She tried to process all that loss and deception. She also tried to imagine Brad crawling down into a makeshift lab each night and setting up the equipment. Even weirder to think about him doing all the work on his own. Brad had been smart but not a genius. He was the type who depended on assistants. Not exactly the guy she would pick as the father of the cobalt bomb.

Mickey looked at her. “Brad insisted he needed you. Frankly, I thought he had a crush, but grabbing you should have been easy enough.”

She fought off a shiver. Refused to give him the satisfaction. “Should have.”

The thought of being locked away with those two in that tiny lab was too horrible to imagine, but at least the plan made some sense now. Brad depended on her. Maybe that’s why the CIA picked her. Maybe someone else was in on this. She almost didn’t care so long as Mickey stopped pointing the gun at Reid.

“You used my expedition.” Niko sounded stunned by the idea. He shook his head. “How dare you?”

It seemed like a ridiculous thing to say. Weapons were out. Poor Simon was floating in a pool of God knew what. Commandos could storm the building at any time. And Niko worried about a lack of loyalty. The way Cara saw it, that was the least of their problems.

“Don’t pretend it was really about that hiking incident,” Mickey said in a singsongy voice. “You lied and I lied. The only difference is I stand to make a lot of money off my lie.”

“A perfect match. Greed for greed.” Reid didn’t even bother to mumble his comment.

The last thing they needed was for him to tip this madman over the edge. “Reid.”

“Yes, Cara. Warn your boyfriend to be careful with what he says,” Mickey said. “Tasha might tolerate insolence. I don’t. Not after having to listen to Niko here drone on about unnecessary bullshit and follow his useless orders just so I could get closer to the money.”

She hated that he acted so familiar. First he tried
to pretend she was in on his plan. Now he stood there, ignoring the fact that trained gunmen—Alliance members, no less—were aiming at him. There was no way out here. More would die, but Tasha was not going to let Mickey get by her. No question about that.

Calling him a madman was not accurate. This guy was about ego and cash. He didn’t care about anyone except himself. He wasn’t mad. He was dangerous, maybe evil. She had no idea how to fight either.

“Once you get out of here you still have to deal with Russian special forces.” Reid sounded so calm. The man looming above him looked ready to execute him, and Reid didn’t even flinch. “They will kill you rather than let you move around with that cobalt.”

“They haven’t been able to do much other than kill a few scientists. No, I’ll slip by just fine.” Mickey called out to his boss, “And Niko, you’ll get your way.”

Niko shook his head. “What are you talking about now?”

“You wanted me to set up Tasha and have the authorities find her in a compromising situation.” He performed a small bow. “Consider it done.”

“I think that’s everything.” That was the first thing Parker had said in a while.

It didn’t make any sense to Cara. “What?”

Reid slowly lifted his head. “Yep.”

Then the room broke into a free-for-all. Chaos reigned. One minute everyone stood in their positions,
not making any sudden moves. Then everyone shifted. People flew through the air.

Reid lifted his hand and a blade flashed. One swift shift and he stabbed it into Mickey’s thigh. An anguished roar cut through room. Mickey lowered the gun to fire, but Reid slammed into him. Sent him flying backward. She ducked as Parker flew across the room, He knocked into her, bringing them both down and into the dirt.

She struggled under his weight. Shoved and pushed. She needed to get to Reid. Parker yelled her name as she rolled away from him. She was up and on her feet, racing to where the men fought on the floor.

The gun shook in her hands. She aimed then tried again as their bodies flipped. Legs and arms wrapped around each other. She waited for Reid to pin Mickey down or to get a clear shot, but neither happened. One arm lifted. Punches and kicks. When Reid finally rolled to the top, she took aim at the man beneath him.

Before she could fire, a gunshot blasted through the room. A chunk of the wall blew apart. She could hear crashing behind her. It all happened so fast and all she could do was stare at the weapon in her hand. Her gaze shifted from the gun to the men crawling around in front of her.

Reid clutched his shoulder. Red seeped through his fingers but he kept fighting. Another shot in the same
area where that first one had been. His arm hung lower on one side. He made a fist but his fingers didn’t move that much.

Horror raced through her. She almost dropped the weapon. It slipped from her fingers as her muscles turned to mush and she tried to focus.

She was the one who’d shot him. She panicked at the thought but feared she did it. Without thinking, she must have pulled the trigger. Now Reid was vulnerable and Mickey hadn’t been slowed down.

“Not you.” Parker said the words as he stepped in front of her. “Mickey got him.”

A gun went off again, and for a second no one moved. Parker stood there, looking around.

It took another second for Mickey’s body to slump over Reid, trapping him against the hard ground. The two men just lay there, still. Blood ran over both of them, with no clear idea where it came from.

It was quiet now. All the shouting, yelling, and grunting had stopped.

“Reid.” Panic rose inside of her and washed over everything. She wanted to claw her way across the floor to get him out from beneath Mickey.

Then Mickey moved and her heart stopped. He’d survived. He must have been the one who got off that last shot, and now he was rising like some sort of otherworldly creature from a horror show.

Instead, his body flipped to the side. There was a
crack as his head hit the tunnel wall. Blood ran over the uneven rocks and a new smell filled the stale air.

Relief drove her to her knees. Reid was alive. He’d shoved Mickey aside. She could see Reid now, watch his chest rise and fall. Then she noticed the pool of blood under his shoulder. It gathered, then ran down his neck.

She could barely focus, but the red stain brought her winging back to sanity. She slid across the floor to him. Behind her, Parker was talking. She didn’t know if it was to her or to Reid, and she didn’t care. She kept working. Ripped her jacket off and rolled it in a ball to press it against Reid’s shoulder.

He panted but then his breathing slowed and his eyes drifted shut.

She wanted to scream into his face. She forced her voice to remain somewhat calm. “Reid.”

“I’m okay.” He nodded but didn’t open his eyes. “Where’s Tasha?”

A new wave of guilt pounded Cara. Until that moment she’d forgotten all about Tasha. She looked around and saw the other woman’s body tangled up with Niko’s. More blood stained the floor. Pretty soon a river of it would wash through here.

Cara squinted in the semidark to better see what had happened. Tasha was on top of Niko. Covering him. Protecting him.