Fatal Honor: Shadow Force International (32 page)

“I’ve been around a whole lot longer than you, missy.” Zeb smiled at her. “Been in this game a lot longer too.”

He was too old to be a current operative. Maybe a handler? “Are you CIA? NSA?”

He winked. “Let’s just say I came out of retirement to help some friends.”

She gave him a nod. “I appreciate that.”

Parker, the woman, grabbed a coat off a nearby chair. “Norris will have to take Madeena somewhere to torture the information out of her. Where would he go?” she asked Charlotte.

Charlotte scanned her weary brain for an answer. “I don’t know where he was staying, and he wouldn’t take her back there, anyway. He didn’t want Orlo to shoot Miles in the cabin because he said he was going to go back there. It’s remote, it’s close to the mountains…?”

“He said that, thinking we’d both be dead by now,” Miles said. “We know about the cabin. He won’t take her there.”

Memories of Nico’s torture flooded her mind. A fresh chill slipped over her skin. “Did anyone see him leave Nico’s compound?”

Zeb’s head came around and he zeroed in on her. “SIS cleared the premises but found no trail.”

The man named Moe spoke up. He had a tablet in one hand. “Satellite imagery of the past few hours shows no vehicles leaving the compound except for those the SIS guys arrived in, and they didn’t report any missing, so he didn’t steal any of theirs.”

“He’s still in the castle,” Zeb said.

“Probably took one of those secret passageways to disappear into,” Miles added.

Charlotte fought the terror the memories of Nico’s torture chamber invoked. The chamber of secrets she never wanted to see again. “I know where they are.”

“W
HAT?”
M
ILES
S
HOOK
his head at Charlotte’s ridiculous idea. “You can’t go. You can’t even walk.”

Charlotte shot him a look that said, “watch me”, then yanked out the makeshift IV Jax had carefully put in her arm. “You guys don’t know how to find Nico’s torture chamber. I do.”

Jax made an unhappy grunt at Charlotte undoing his handiwork. Charlotte threw back the blanket, swung her legs around and sat up.

“How would Norris know where it’s at if it’s that hard to find?” Parker asked.

“Who says he hasn’t been in it before?” Charlotte swayed slightly and Miles grabbed her arm and plunked down on the bed next to her. She didn’t pull away, but stiffened. “If he’s been working with Nico all this time, I’m sure he knows more about that castle and its secret passages than any of us.”

“I’ve already been in the secret passageway.” Charlotte’s earlier statement was still rocking Miles to the core. How could she believe he would hurt an innocent girl? He grabbed the set of blueprints from the nearby table, held them out to her. “I can find it if you tell me where it is.”

She shook her head, made to stand. “I’m going. That’s final.”

God, she was so stubborn. Miles stared at her as she wobbled on her feet. Dark circles bruised the undersides of her eyes. Her hair was limp, her bottom lip swollen. She teetered precariously for a second, staring back at him, and in her eyes, he saw the raw determination propelling her to her feet. The driving intensity, not for justice, or revenge, or to clear her name, but to save a girl she barely knew. For the first time since they’d met, he wondered if he was finally seeing the real Charlotte Carstons.

“I won’t ask her about Blackwater, I swear,” Miles said, blocking her from moving away from the bed. “Just stay here with Jax. Let him give you some pain meds, get some more fluids in you. Please, for me, Charlotte.”

She lifted a hand and touched his face. “I know you won’t ask her about her father, but it has to be me who goes. She doesn’t trust anyone, with good reason.”

He gripped her hand, squeezed it. Madeena wasn’t the only one who didn’t trust anyone. “I’ll bring the girl back, unharmed. I promise.”

“It would be easier for her and for you, if I go. She’ll come with me without question. She’ll fight you.”

Her point was valid if that were the truth. He could see in her steady gaze it was. “You’re not healthy and you’re in terrible pain.”

“I’m breathing and upright. That’s enough.”

So stubborn. He let his forehead fall forward and rest on hers, lowering his voice. “I can’t lose you again.”

“You won’t,” she murmured. “I’m stuck to you like glue, mister. You’re never getting rid of me after all we’ve been through. Renalda said we have some difficulties to overcome. Let’s go overcome them and get on with a new life together.”

Zeb cleared his throat. “I hate to break up this romantic moment, but we need to get a move on. A fifteen year old girl won’t hold out long against a man like Norris.”

Parker handed Charlotte her coat. Miles helped her get it on. Jax dropped a couple of white tablets into her hand, and held up a glass of water. “This won’t do much, but it’s better than nothing.”

Charlotte swallowed the pills and gave Jax a grateful look. “Thank you.”

Her boots were next. Charlotte sat on the edge of the bed as Miles helped her pull the first one on. The others were already outside, readying themselves and the van. On his knees at her feet, he laced the ties.

“I can do that, you know,” she said, sipping the water.

He double knotted the first one. “Those bruised ribs might say otherwise.”

“Thank you for everything.” She sighed. “You’re the first person to take care of me since my mother.”

He glanced up and saw tears in her eyes. Finishing up the second boot—he had to leave the ties loose because of the wrap job Jax had done on the ankle to stabilize it—he slid up to sit next to her. “I’m always going to take care of you, Charlotte, whether you like it or not.”

A slim smile crossed her lips. “You don’t have to do this—go after Norris and Madeena. Your team…I don’t like putting them or you in danger.”

“I don’t like it either, but we’re finishing this mission. Together. Nico’s in custody, Norris is going to pay.” He patted her knee. “And we’re going to clear your name.”

“As long as you and Maddy make it out of this okay, none of the rest matters to me.”

“Yeah, well, it matters to me.” He stood and helped her to her feet. “Come on, Agent Carstons, we’ve got some butt to kick.”

Chapter Twenty-one

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Bourean Compound

T
HERE
W
ERE
M
ULTIPLE
secret passageways throughout the castle and its fortresses. Inside walls, under ground, behind fireplaces and bookshelves. Stone crawlspaces sometimes gave way to wood, acknowledging different centuries, different reasons for disappearing from the main areas of the castle. There were complete rooms off of some, others once led under and out of the castle grounds, escape routes in case of siege. As far as Charlotte knew, all of those had caved in long ago.

The stone walls she was now leading Miles and Jaxon through seeped with cold and frost. Charlotte hobbled on her bad foot, shivering deep in her bones.

Parker and Trace were keeping an eye on the entire compound, which was quite a feat considering the place took up ten acres of ground. Each was stationed in a tower, scopes and rifles in hand.

Zeb was in the van, monitoring their movements and giving verbal instructions when needed over their comm units. Moe was on standby, ready to assist with nabbing Norris or running interference should anyone unexpected show up.

The fires topside were mostly out, thanks to the snow, the castle grounds quiet and deserted when they’d arrived. The SIS had left with Nico and a handful of his men an hour ago. Charlotte counted herself lucky she wasn’t with them.

The blizzard howled and blanketed everything in white, but Charlotte, Miles, and Jax were too deep underground to hear it. Flashlight in hand and gun at the ready, Charlotte wove cautiously through the tunnel, praying her hunch was right, but hoping it wasn’t at the same time. There was no good outcome for Madeena—tortured and left to die here, kicked out in the blizzard, or forced to watch Norris hunt down and kill her father. At least if she was here, Charlotte could help her.

The gun felt too heavy in her hand. An H&K P30, it was made for a bigger person, a wider hand. The hammer had no spur and there was no de-cocker button. The only way to release the cocked mainspring was to pull the trigger.

She’d never fired one of these before, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. It was Zeb’s gun, the only extra weapon they had unless they wanted to go clear across the grounds to break into Nico’s weapon room. Charlotte didn’t want to waste the time.

Noise at her feet startled her and she jumped. Caught in the flashlight beam, a rat skittered away and Charlotte shivered with revulsion. The rats. Those were the worst. Madeena, the poor girl, had made pets out of several of them. They were, of course, always after food, and the kindhearted girl would break off small pieces of her rations and feed them. More than once, Charlotte had woken up to one chewing on her hair, her clothes.

It hadn’t always been that way. Before Nico had found out she was an MI6 agent, she’d practically had the run of the castle. He’d valued her as an asset because she brought him solid intel. He liked her because she was aloof and flirty but would never let him cross the line sexually. She was a challenge.

The second time around here, she’d been his slave.

The room was a typical medieval torture chamber. Chains, knives, punishment. One wall held implements, a long steel table under them with more assorted tools for inflicting pain.

The brutality she’d endured, and watched Madeena endure as well, infuriated her. It would be priceless to see Nico given a dose of his own medicine, but, right now she had to save the girl and stop Norris.

“How much farther?” Miles asked from behind her.

He’d been right at her side the whole way, a touch here and there, steadying her. The pain pills had kicked in and allowed her a certain amount of relief, enough to let her focus on finding the right tunnel and getting down to the torture chamber. She saw the familiar T in the passageway ahead. It looked like a dead end as her flashlight beam caressed the rock wall, but the illusion disappeared once you were up on it and could see the door encased by stones. “Almost there.”

Rocks crunched under their feet. Debris from the explosions that had rocked this side of the grounds earlier, most likely. She slowed, not wanting the noise to warn anyone behind that door in case Norris was still in there.

A tiny sound met her ears and she raised her hand to signal Miles and Jax to stop. Slowly easing her way up to the door, she turned her head and listened.

Stifled sobbing filtered through the wood and stone.

A girl’s sobs.

Relief stripped her of strength for a moment, her knees wobbling, her head going light. Gripping Zeb’s gun tighter, she looked back at Miles and Jax and gave a nod. “She’s alive,” she mouthed.

Quietly, they slipped up beside her. Miles signaled her to stand back. She took one side of the door, Jax the other. Gun in hand, Miles reared back and kicked the door in.

Wood splintered. Miles raised his weapon, disappeared into the room, Jax on his heels.

Charlotte raised her gun and swung in behind Jax as Miles called, “Clear!”

His voice echoed off the high ceiling, the stone walls. No Norris. None of Nico’s men hiding out. The only person inside was Madeena.

The girl was gagged and tied to a chair, wrists bound to the chair arms with wires. Her head was tipped forward, long, stringy dark hair cascading over her face as she sobbed. A thin cotton dress hung down past her knees. Her feet were bare and dirty, ankles tied to the chair legs with more wire.

She didn’t even look up.

Blood ran from both of her wrists, covering her forearms and hands, running down the chair to pool on the floor.

“Oh God” Charlotte rushed to kneel in front of Madeena, brushing the stringy hair out of the girl’s eyes and pulling the gag from her lips. “Maddy, it’s me, Sarah. You’re okay now. We’re here to save you.”

The girl’s head wobbled on her neck as she tried to bring her chin up and look at Charlotte. She couldn’t seem to get the job done. Her eyes were half-lidded as if she were drugged. Her words slurred. “Sa… Sarah?”

So much blood
. “Yes, baby. It’s me.”

“I knew you…would come ba…back…for me.”

Miles brought out a knife and started sawing the wires from her wrists. Jax shrugged off his backpack and let it fall to the floor, unzipping it and hauling out first aid items.

“I’m sorry it took me so long,” Charlotte said. She accepted some gauze pads from Jax and began wiping blood and dirt from Madeena’s face. “Did the bald man do this to you?”

Madeena’s chin dropped to her collarbone as if her head were too heavy to hold up. “He said I had to tell him.” A sob wracked her thin frame. “I didn’t… I couldn’t…”

“Hey, Charlie?”

Charlotte swung her attention to Jax. He met her eyes, then dropped his gaze to Madeena’s arm.