Bare Nerve (19 page)

The men fanned out in the area surrounding the cave. The afternoon sunlight gave them too much exposure to just maneuver closer. They were on silent maneuvers. They were all on their bellies inching their way closer to the cave.

A small chirping sounded in Jack’s ear, and he acknowledged the signal from Anna’s team that they were in position and handling their part of the mission.

Jack shifted to his knees as one of the sentries neared his position. He used the mountain terrain and underbrush for cover. He saw Hamm out of the corner of his eye, but Jack signaled him that he could handle the guard on his own.

Jack came up from his knees, wrapping one arm around the guard’s throat. The guard wrapped his hands around Jack’s wrist and tossed him over his shoulder. Jack came up in a rolling movement, getting his feet under him and finding his balance. The guard moved toward him with a roundhouse punch to the head. Jack turned his body to the left, bringing his left arm up to block.

He connected with the guard’s jaw with a solid right hook. Then he twisted his left arm around the guard’s right, grasping his wrist and pulling him forward while he used his right hand to give a palm strike to the guard’s nose. Blood gushed from the man’s face as he lashed out with a strong front snap kick.

Jack deflected the blow with his thigh and spun back away from the guard, lashing out with a crescent kick that caught the guard squarely on the side of the head. The guard took a step backward, reaching for his weapon.

Jack grabbed the guard’s hand, pulling him toward him and hitting him in the side with a hammer fist right above his ribs. The guard grunted and tried to kick him, but Jack used his grip on the man’s arm to force him to the ground.

The man dropped to his knees, and Jack got him in a chokehold, cutting off his air. When the man went limp in his arms, Jack bound his hands behind his back with a zip cord and then did the same to his feet. He used a piece of duct tape over his mouth to keep him from raising the alarm if he came to.

Then he dragged the man deeper into the brush and continued moving forward to the cave. Each man chirped softly when they were in position. Jack collected his thoughts. He wanted Andreev, and so far they’d had no visual on the bastard.

“Anna?”

“Yes?”

“Have you seen Andreev?”

“He’s out of the cave. I’m not sure where. We just handled two guards here. There’s an office of some sort in the back. I’m going to check his computer for information, and Charity and Justine are going after Andreev.”

“Negative. Have them stay with you. I don’t want you alone.”

“I can handle myself, Jack. I’m a big girl.”

“Are you a big girl?” Andreev’s voice came over Jack’s radio.

“Yes, Demetri, I am,” Anna said.

Jack cursed. “Don’t antagonize him.”

“Too late,” Anna said.

Jack turned to his team, but they had heard the exchange as well. They all moved quickly toward the other cave area.

L
iberty Investigations really pissed Demetri off. Why wouldn’t these women die and stay dead?

He knew the problem was that he had sent another man to do a job he should have done.

He couldn’t believe Anna was in his office going through his computer. He didn’t see any type of flash drive in her hands, but he had no idea how long she’d been in here.

He’d moved quickly and, staying to the shadows, crept up behind her. Before she could turn, he’d grabbed the back of her jacket at the base of her neck with his left hand. She’d shrugged in his grip, lashing backward with a strong kick that connected with his thigh.

“Where are your girlfriends?” he asked.

“Let me go.”

“I don’t think so.”

He brought his right hand across her throat, trying to subdue further assault, but she twisted in his grip, bringing her heel down on his instep.

Andreev tightened his grip on her throat, closing off her airway. She went limp in his arms, her slight body slumping in his arms. He started to loosen his grip, but she twisted against him. He put his left hand on her forehead, securing her in a headlock and pulling her backward to force her off balance.

She screamed again, and he put his palm over her mouth and nose. “If you don’t want to die, shut up.”

Her eyes widened, connecting with his. He stepped back and went down on his left knee, keeping the headlock secure. She reached up, gouging her nails across his face. He brought his right leg over her left arm and pulled it back to restrain her.

Anna just dug her nails into his lower calf. Her fingers scored the skin through the fabric of his pants. She flailed in his arms until he leaned forward, using his body weight to bring her under control. He rolled her onto her stomach, keeping the headlock secure. He let go of her forehead and pulled her hands together behind her back.

Andreev used his belt to bind her hands behind her back. Then he took his handkerchief from his pocket and stuffed it in her mouth.

He pulled her to her feet, gathered up her bag, and pulled her down the hallway. Where Yan waited. “Get rid of her.”

Yan tossed Anna over his shoulder, and Andreev double-checked to make sure his computer information hadn’t been breached. “We’ve got company,” Andreev said.

“What should I do with the girl? Kill her?”

“No. Just toss her someplace where we won’t have to worry about her. There are two other women around here as well. We need to find them and make sure they don’t interfere more than they already have.”

Andreev pulled his Glock from his holster and double-checked the clip. His face ached from where Anna had scratched it. What a bitch. He really hated dealing with people like the ones in Liberty Investigations.

Life was much nicer when he was alone in his part of the world. He could understand them coming after him in Seattle, but here?

They were in his world now, and he wasn’t going to pull any punches. “I want to finish this,” he said.

“I’m with you, sir. Mann is in the other room. Two of our guards have been knocked out.”

“Mann!” Andreev yelled.

Mann appeared in the doorway. “I can’t revive your guards.”

“Don’t worry about them. I want you to go find the other two women and take them out.”

“Kill them?”

“Yes. Is that a problem?”

Mann shrugged. “Not really, but you didn’t pay me for that.”

“I’ll pay you double what I promised for the weapons demo. Just get out there and take care of them. I have clients coming this afternoon, and I want this place secure.”

“No problem.”

Andreev followed Mann into the other room. Yan left Anna in the office bound and gagged.

How had this happened? No one had found his base of operations in all the years he’d been operating. He should ask the woman some questions.

“Follow Mann and make sure that there isn’t anyone in the camp,” Andreev ordered Yan. “Wake up,” he commanded Anna.

She moaned a little and opened her eyes.

“How did you find me?” he asked her.

She shook her head and moved her mouth. He reached down and removed the gag.

“I tracked your mobile phone,” she said.

“I threw away my phone from America in Paris.”

“We aren’t without means. We work with a number of government agencies. You were on a commercial flight from Paris to Morocco. It didn’t take a genius to figure out you’d be going someplace that was hard for us to follow.”

“Yes, but these mountains. How did you know to look here?”

“I’ve got good instincts,” she said.

He knew she was lying to him. He reached over and grabbed her hair, pulling her head back. “I don’t like being lied to.”

She jerked her head free of his grip. “I don’t like bastards who think they are above the law.”

“I’m not above the law, Anna. I’m outside of it.”

“Not anymore,” a man said from behind him.

Andreev turned to see Jack Savage and knew his day wasn’t going to get any better.

Jack drew his Sig Sauer as he eased up on Andreev. The bastard was going to die. Jack didn’t care what the ROEs or the mission specs were.

Andreev glanced at Jack in full desert camouflage. Then he looked at Anna.

“I will kill the woman,” Andreev said.

“You don’t want to kill me, Demetri. You aren’t a murderer.”

“I certainly don’t want to die, and that’s what this man has on his mind.”

“You don’t have to kill anyone. We’re only here to arrest you,” Anna said.

“I’m not going to jail. I saw what that did to my brother.”

“Suits me,” Jack said. He didn’t like letting someone like Andreev off scot-free, and going to jail would hardly make up for all the lives Andreev was directly responsible for taking. If this man hadn’t sold weapons to militant groups…well, Jack might have been out of work.

Andreev was distracted by Anna. Jack moved quickly to Andreev’s right side and turned sideways. Leading with his left foot, he stepped diagonally toward Andreev, keeping his shooting arm directly in front of him. He grabbed Andreev’s wrist with his left hand, bringing his weapon up toward Andreev’s face.

Andreev brought his left hand up in a crosscut punch that knocked Jack’s head back. Jack held tight to Andreev’s wrist, and the other man hit him again, pivoting on his left foot and breaking Jack’s grip on his arm.

“Don’t move, or you’re next,” Andreev said, bringing out his weapon. Jack was in point-blank range. Jack took two steps backward, bringing his handgun up.

“How good a shot are you, Andreev?” Jack asked.

“Yan!” Andreev called. “Get your ass in here!”

Yan appeared, weaponless and surprised, at the door. Jack included him in his line of fire.

“You killed one of our men. Armand Mitterand,” Jack said to Demetri. “We’ve got you surrounded. There’s no one coming to help. Drop your weapon and surrender.”

“Surrender isn’t an option,” Andreev said and turned to look to Anna across the room. Yan was still standing there, watching the tableau between Jack and his boss.

Jack divided his attention between Anna and Andreev. Andreev had to know he wasn’t getting out of this cave alive, or, if he did make it out, that he was going to jail for a long time.

Jack knew his men were working their way in, could hear the signals on the radio. But he had no idea how much time they had.

“Yan, get the girl. We will take her with us.”

Jack pulled a second gun. “Stop, Yan. Or die.”

The other man hesitated and then drew a gun from his holster. “Which one of us will die?”

“You,” Jack said, firing his weapon and watching Yan fall to the floor. He saw the horror in Anna’s eyes that he would kill someone at point-blank range. But this wasn’t some kind of computer simulation, and unless he fired, they were both going to die.

Andreev turned his gun toward Anna and fired. The bullet hit her in the shoulder, and he heard her cry out in pain.

“Let me go, or she dies. I’m not going to discuss this at all.”

But Anna suddenly pulled her hands free of her binds. The move startled the other man.

“I don’t think it’s Anna’s day to die,” Jack said.

Andreev turned toward him for a split second, which was all the opening Anna needed. She rose to her feet and let a knife fly across the room, hitting Andreev’s gun arm and making him drop his weapon. It fell on the floor at his feet.

Jack went in low, kicking the weapon out of Andreev’s reach. Andreev scrambled for his weapon. He palmed his gun and rolled to his feet, bringing his weapon up.

Jack fired, aiming for Andreev’s gun hand. Andreev fired at the same instant. Jack turned sideways to present as small a target as possible and felt the bullet enter the fleshy part of his upper arm.

Anna charged Andreev, hitting him with a flying side kick that drove him to his knees. She spun around, out of reach of his good arm.

Jack approached from Andreev’s left side, striking Andreev’s right arm and bringing his body around with a circular motion. He took Andreev’s elbow with his left hand and forced Andreev’s hand toward the ground, not stopping until Andreev lay on the floor at his feet.

Jack forced Andreev over onto his stomach and brought both of his hands together behind his back, binding them with a zip cord from his pocket. His entire body ached from head to toe, but when Anna sank down next to him, her small arms wrapping around his waist, he felt a wave of peace wash over him.

He wanted to pound on Andreev. In the past he would have taken his aggression out on the man, but he wasn’t that man anymore. Anna had changed him, and he was happy for it. He held her loosely in his arm. The smell of blood was thick in the air.

“I thought we were both going to die,” she said.

“No way, angel. I finally found something worth living for. You think I’d give that up?”

“No, I guess you wouldn’t.”

“What happened in here?” Justine asked as she entered the office area.

“Where were you?”

“Um, taking care of the other guards and capturing the prime minister of Serbia. They were the client.”

“Good job,” Anna said.

Jack didn’t give a crap about any of that stuff. He wanted to take Andreev into custody, and then he wanted to take Anna someplace where they could be alone. But that would have to wait. He let her go as his men came in. Hamm bandaged his shoulder, and when Jack looked around for Anna a few hours later, he saw she was gone.

A week later, Anna was back in DC. Her life had returned to normal…well, almost. Charity and Justine were both on leave for some well-deserved vacation. And Sam had told Anna he wasn’t going to close the office, but maybe look at taking on less dangerous assignments. She didn’t know what that meant, but it didn’t sound like what she wanted from her life.

Hell, who was she kidding? She missed Jack, and nothing at work was going to fill the gap of excitement he’d brought to her personal life.

“Need a ride?”

Jack was suddenly standing in the entryway of the office, his heavy overcoat dusted with the light snow that was falling. He looked tired, but otherwise she couldn’t read any emotion on his face. He wasn’t the Savage Seven operative she’d last seen in the Ahaggar Mountains.

Andreev had been arrested and was awaiting trial. His database of clients was being read by government agencies, and there was a worldwide effort to make sure the weapons he’d sold were recovered.

“Thanks,” she said to him.

Jack slipped his arm around her shoulder and led her to his car. He opened the passenger’s door for her, but before she could climb into the car, he took her in his arms. “Damnit, why haven’t you called me?”

Anna held him as tightly as he held her. “Why haven’t you?” She closed her eyes and just breathed in the scent of him, thankful that he was there with her and that she was in his strong arms.

“You scared the shit out of me,” he said.

She slid her hands down his back and cupped his backside. “Sorry.” She didn’t want to let this get too serious. She didn’t trust what she felt for Jack.

“I’m not kidding, Anna.”

“I know.”

“Every time I close my eyes I see you bound on the floor again, and this time you don’t get up.”

He made a rough sound deep in his throat and then lifted her face to his, kissing her deeply and holding her to him with a strength that would have frightened her a few weeks ago. But now it felt right that he should need her as desperately as she desired him.

“Come home with me. Let me make love to you so I can know we’re really safe and that you’re really mine.”

Anna nodded. Jack hustled her into the car and drove them quickly to his Arlington apartment. He started kissing her in the elevator, his hands roaming up and down her body, leaving no part untouched. She did the same to him, understanding that these caresses were, for both of them, a way of confirming the other was alive and well.