Act of Surrender: An Immortal Ops World Novel (PSI-Ops / Immortal Ops Book 2) (19 page)

“The government sent them,” stated Bill as he paced the edges of the room, shaking his head and moving in an erratic fashion—or as everyone else knew it as, Bill’s norm. “The government has Laney and they sent the bully with pink hair to try to scare us. Sent the mean one too. So mean he has black eyes. But they didn’t scare us, did they, Casey? We didn’t run from the mechanical elephants in the jungle and we didn’t run from pink hair or mean men.”

Casey offered a warm grin. Bill had lost touch with anything close to reality years ago. Probably before he ever left the jungles of Vietnam. “No, Bill, they didn’t scare us.”
 

“Bag full of crazy shit in here,” said the one with onyx eyes, who Bill had referred to as mean. “Mechanical elephants? That never happened. DARPA just considered it.”

The man with pink hair tilted his head and lowered his gaze. “Actually…”

The dark eyed one groaned. “Figures. If you want a stupid plan, see them. I really hate scientists.”

“You’re married to one,” reminded Pink Hair, an accent evident.

British?

The pink-haired guy was a Brit?

“Oh, right,” said the other.

Bill stared at the men. “I was there. I saw ‘em. I rode one.”

Pink Hair seemed surprised. “You are the famed Wild Bill of Nam? The one who rode an out of control mechanical elephant for nearly ten minutes before they were able to disable it?”

“One in the same,” said Bill with pride. “It couldn’t buck me. It didn’t scare me and neither did the enemy. But the government lied. Told people it never sent the elephants. All they do is lie. They said it was the drugs making me see elephants that weren’t there. But they were.”

Pink Hair grinned. “They most certainly sent them. In fact, one is a lawn ornament for a friend of mine. He kept it as a souvenir.”

“I knew they were real.” Bill whistled and then pointed to the captive with pink hair. “You know where Laney is. We want our Laney back. Give us Laney or we shall give you death…or LSD. We’ll do it, man. And you don’t want the LSD. It makes you see all the shit you don’t think is really there.”

Gus stared off in the other direction but Casey knew the man was soaking in everything around him. That he saw more than most ever would or could. Whatever had been done to him by the scientists working for the government had left Gus with perceptive skills to a degree Casey had never seen before, and he’d seen a ton of weird shit. Gus didn’t speak out loud, only via mental connections with other supernaturals.

Casey focused on the men. “Why did your strike team have a photo of Laney?”

He’d first assumed the hit team was there for him. That after all the years of staying off the grid, they had finally found him. When he’d finished dealing with them, he, Gus and Bill had searched the hit team, finding Laney’s photo on one man.

They’d not been able to reach Laney on her cell since then. Worry settled into the pit of Casey’s stomach. Laney was a sweet girl. She was young as far as supernaturals went, and hadn’t a clue what she really was. She thought she was the caregiver to the men in the hotel, but in reality it was they who looked after her, a young, unmated supernatural female.

And now she was missing.

“Answer me!” shouted Casey.

The one with pink hair lifted a brow nonchalantly. “Why? You’re not interested in the truth. You have your own reality and whatever I say you’ll believe to be a lie.”

“Say it anyways,” demanded Casey.

“Laney, at last check, was alive and well and in the care of one of my men. Her fear for you lot brought us here. I see her concern was unwarranted,” he said with a grunt.

Truth
, pushed Gus at Casey.

The onyx-eyed one snorted. “Fucking never thought to mention we were walking into crazy-supernatural land.”

“Are you telling me the hit team wasn’t yours?” asked Casey, thankful Gus was near, because Casey wasn’t sure he could be objective when it came to Laney. She was important to him. He’d been drawn to her and protective of her from the moment he found her on the streets—a punk-nosed girl barely in her teens at the time. It wasn’t until tonight that he’d fully understood the reason why.

Pink Hair shot Casey a look that said
what do you think?

Casey exhaled slowly, his body coiled with the need to strike someone, anyone, in regards to Laney being unreachable. “What did they want with her?”

“Can we please kill them now, Captain?” asked the one with dark eyes.

Bill stopped pacing and pointed at the man. “You’re a big mean, meanie.”

The man rolled his eyes. “That one’s elevator stopped visiting all the floors.”

Truth
, pushed Gus.

Casey nearly laughed. Yes. It was true. Bill was crazy but good-hearted.

“What does a hit team want with Laney,” Casey pressed. “And what does a were-lion and a werewolf want with her?”

The men shared a look and then both of them locked gazes with him. The pink-haired one surveyed him, keeping his hands on his head. “What are you?”

Casey ignored the question. “Answer me.”
 

“We want Laney. Laney. Laney,” said Bill, chanting her name as he stomped around the room like a tin solider wound too tight. “Laney. Laney.”
 

“For fuck’s sake, Captain,” said the dark-eyed one. “Two seconds, that’s all it will take. Let me kill him.”

The pink-haired man smiled. “No. James would not want harm to befall these men because they’re important to the girl, and from what you told me, the girl is important to him.”

“She better not be his mate.” Duke groaned. “Look at the amount of crazy she brings to the table. Man, James will have this lot as in-laws.”

Casey’s gut clenched. “This James is who Laney met online? The one she had a date with tonight?”

Pink Hair nodded. “Though the date did not go as planned. Obviously.”

The dark-eyed one stood and Casey made no move to attack the man again. Something deep down told him he may have been wrong about the two men before him. That they might not be the enemy after all. The man stretched and then tipped his head back and forth, his neck cracking.
 

“I’m too old for this shit,” he said. He met Casey’s gaze. “The little hacker and James have had the hots for each other since they started talking. They had a date tonight. It went sideways when a hit team showed. Probably from the same dicks who sent one here.”

Casey gasped. “Laney?”

The guy lifted his shoulders. “I don’t know. We came here at James’s request to make sure you three crazy fucks weren’t harmed and you all waylaid us.” He shot an angry look at Bill. “And you are like a fucking monkey—jumping on me the way you did. I should have snapped your neck.”

“Meanie,” returned Bill, putting his thumbs in his ears and waving his fingers before blowing the man the raspberries.

The guy groaned. “And whatever you have going on in this room won’t let either of us reach out and check on James or the girl.”

Casey knew what he meant by reach out. He meant with his mind. Gus’s telepathic skills far exceeded the average supernaturals, so he could still function normally within Casey’s place, despite Casey turning on a makeshift L.A.R.D. device to block supernaturals from sending out mental signals to one another or receiving them. Casey had activated the machine right after the hit squad had attacked and been defeated.

“I fucking hate crazies,” said the man. “Captain, reconsider letting me kill them. At least let me off the noisy one who acts like a monkey on a sugar high.”
 

Bill stuck his tongue out at the man. “Meanie.”

Truth
, pushed Gus.

Casey glanced at the guy still on the floor. “Who are you with? What agency?”

The man stood and kept his hands on his head and Casey was pretty sure it was out of common courtesy and not because he couldn’t break the cuffs. “
Quid pro quo
.”
 

Casey sighed. He’d get nothing more unless he offered something of value. “At one point, I had level-one clearance. I don’t anymore. So, what are you? Shadow Agents?”

“Do we look like tortured souls who can’t play nice with others?” snapped the dark-eyed one.

Casey nodded. “Yes.”

“Duke,” said Pink Hair. The man faced Casey. “PSI.”

Casey tensed and weighed his options. He could run again and go to ground. He’d been doing it for decades. If he did, he’d never find out if Laney was well. And he’d have to leave Gus and Bill behind with PSI because neither of them could go on the run. They simply weren’t equipped for it anymore in their advancing years and fragile mental states.

Once, Casey had been a mortal man. Not anymore. He’d not aged a day since he’d signed on to be part of the Immortal Ops Program. That had been just shy of a century ago. He’d been one of the first men to be brought, officially, into the program’s folds.

He’d not been the last by any means.

If PSI was here, nosing around, it wouldn’t be long before those who headed the I-Ops would realize who he was. An Outcast. A wanted fugitive in their minds. A failed attempt at greatness.

If I run, Laney could die.

She was important to him on a level he couldn’t explain. She was like family and he’d been running a long time. Too long. He’d see her safe and then go.

He locked gazes with the captain. “Captain Casey Black, former Immortal Ops Agent.”

The man narrowed his gaze and then sighed. “Outcast?”

Bill stopped stomping and demanding Laney and put himself before Casey as if to protect him. While sweet, it was unwarranted. “Leave him alone. He’s not broken. He’s not damaged,” said Bill.

Pink Hair lifted a hand. “Relax, small man,” he said to Bill. “No harm will come to your friend. In fact, I know a group of men who have been looking for him.”

Casey grunted. “A whole fucking government has been trying to track me and kill me.”
 

“I’m Corbin Jones,” the man said. “And information recently came to light about you and others like you, Captain. You need to understand something. The I-Ops themselves weren’t part of what was done to you and the others like you.”
 

“The rejects,” offered Casey in a bitter tone.

“The men who went above and beyond for their country only to see that very country betray them,” corrected Corbin. “The I-Ops and their colonel were only just given files on you all. They thought you all dead. All of us did.”

“Then who has been hunting my kind?” asked Casey.

Duke grunted. “Fucking traitor dicks who we’re gonna find and rip the heads off of. Nobody fucks with a soldier. Nobody.”

Bill stuck his tongue out at the man again.

Casey looked to Gus, waiting for his thoughts on it all.

Gus met Casey’s gaze, surprising him. “They speak the truth,” said Gus, and Casey nearly lost his footing hearing the man speak out loud. “These men and their friends are not the enemy to you or us. But they do not understand the full layout of the war. They know only the recent battles. There are heads of the war who wear masks of bravery and honor, who pretend to be friend when they are foe. Who have secret agendas in line with those who seek world domination. They believe in their cause.”

Corbin popped his cuffs off. “Let me guess, brain and telepathic testing subject?”

Casey nodded. “This is the first time I’ve heard him talk in all the years I’ve known him. He’s always just communicated telepathically.”

Gus stared out the window and Casey realized the man had said all he had to say on the matter. He focused his attention on Corbin. “You going to lock me up?”

“No. Your crime was trusting your country,” returned the man. “Can you kindly stop doing whatever it is you’re doing that has prevented us from linking with our teammates? We would like to check in and make sure…”

A big redheaded guy in a kilt came bursting in, weapon in hand, pointing it at Casey. “Hands up!”

Casey rushed him and in the blink of an eye had him disarmed and the weapon trained on him. He prepared to fire.
 

“Casey, no!”
 

“Laney?” he asked, lowering the weapon, looking to the side as Laney came running in with a man wearing leather pants that he looked totally out of place in. Another man entered the room, and he too had on leather from head to toe, but he looked like he didn’t mind it. Plus, with his long dark hair and eyeliner, it suited him.

“Why is Striker on the floor?” asked the newcomer.

Corbin snorted. “Because Casey put him there, Boomer. Welcome to the party. James, why are you wearing leather pants? You look like a deranged biker.”

The one Casey had noted seemed uncomfortable in the leather pants blushed. “Might have had an incident with doing a full, uncontrolled change. Needed some clothes. Boomer had extras in the SUV.”

Laney tossed her arms out and hugged Casey. “You’re alive? I thought a hit team was going to come. Ohmygod, we should go in case they do. Bill? Gus?”

Bill smiled and waved. “Laney!”

Gus merely stared off into nowhere.

Laney teared up. “You’re all okay. I’m so glad no one came to hurt you.”

“Oh, a hit team showed,” said Duke. “But the
Lone Wolf
here took them out all on his own. Handed us our asses too.”
 

Corbin walked to the man on the floor in the kilt. “Handed Striker his as well. For that we are forever thankful to you.”

“What the hell
are
you?” asked the man called Striker. “Because yer nae human with that strength and speed.”

“Don’t be silly. Of course Casey is human,” said Laney, releasing him and stepping back. It pained Casey to know there was trust in her voice and he’d violated it. He’d lied to her. She wasn’t one to trust easily, and when she fully understood that he’d betrayed the trust he’d spent so long gaining, she would shut down on him. She’d never be able to wrap her mind around the true danger she was in.
 

Casey had been naïve at her age was well. He hadn’t realized what lived among humans. What was really out there and what others were willing to do to protect those secrets. He knew the costs. He’d suffered them more than once and he wouldn’t allow her to be hurt.