Night Moves: A Shadow Force Novel (25 page)

R
eid left before she could sputter out a curse or a question or both, and yeah, he’d left Grier abruptly, but he’d given her a lot of information as well. Probably more than he should have, but when someone’s life is on the line, he felt they had a right to know.

It was a quiet walk to his motel, and Grier didn’t come after him. About ten minutes before he got
there, he got the call he’d been waiting for from Chambers.

“Reid here,” he said when he picked up the phone, and Chambers wasted no time.

“You hurt one of my men badly.”

“Wish I could say I was sorry, but he jumped me. Fair is fair.”

“I called your references.”

“I trust it all checked out.”

“You’ve led an interesting life,” Chambers commented. “It’s about to get more so.”

“That means you have a job for me?”

“I’ll need your information first.”

“Doesn’t work like that. Job first, then I’ll give you the intel.”

Chambers was silent for so long, Reid thought he’d either hung up or the connection was lost. But finally, he heard the man sigh. Reid continued walking, keeping an eye out for anyone tailing him.

“Be at Mariano Escobedo Airport at nine tomorrow evening. You’ll be looking for a couple—American—you’ll be their chauffeur. Their last name is Moorehill.”

“I didn’t sign up to be a driver.”

“You’re not going to take them where they want to go, Mr. Cormier,” Chambers said. “You’ll get more information when you arrive. Now, I’m assuming you have some for me as well.”

Yes, plenty. He rattled off the address of Riley’s place in Florida and Chambers repeated it and then hung up. Reid stared at his phone, checked it to make sure the conversation had been recorded.

You’re going down, Chambers, straight to hell, and I’m going to be the one driving
.

He emailed Dylan to give him the pickup time. According to plan, the Moorehills would be intercepted and federal agent decoys would take their place, wrapping up Chambers’s kidnapping business nicely. Then Dylan would contact Kell on Riley’s sat-phone.

Satisfied, he shoved his phone in his pocket as he got to the motel parking lot … and that’s where the assault began. Reid knew it was Crystal, that he’d been lying in wait for him, judging from the blow he took across his back—not so much the force of the hit, but the style was Special Forces all the way.

According to Dylan, Crystal was in his mid-forties, but for a well-trained man, age meant relatively little. It was a good shot and Reid mentally cursed himself for getting caught off guard, for being too wrapped up in Grier’s safety to remember most of his own rules.

He opened his eyes and got up off the fucking pavement quickly, turned to see the man who’d promised to personally make all their lives miserable.

Crystal stood about five feet from him, his stance a fighting one. And then, in a move that surprised Reid, who thought he could never be surprised by much in combat, Crystal smiled.

Smiled
. Asshole.

Reid took the moment to recoup, stared at Crystal and realized that he looked a lot like Reid himself would in fifteen years. Probably charmed his way into a hell of a lot of places, the way Reid had his whole life.

Fighting yourself. Excellent
.

What the hell, he’d been doing it for years anyway.

“Hey, Reid.” Crystal’s voice was a loud boom and he didn’t bother to lower it. Not that anyone was really around, and certainly no one likely to help either of them.

Crystal would be the one who needed medical attention—or the morgue—when Reid was done. Or maybe he’d just send the fucker to prison.

“Hell of a greeting,” Reid growled.

“Wanted to see what you can handle.” He spouted off Reid’s PT scores, starting with goddamned boot camp and then detailed a few of his other accomplishments that were deemed classified, much like the rundown the men in the alley had given Kell. Crystal was impressive as hell and Reid could appreciate the merits of that despite the fact that he wanted to kill him for having fucked with Dylan.

Granted, Dylan had given as good as he’d got. It was something you risked when you worked jobs like this.

“You’ll get a taste of what I can do.”

“This won’t end here, I promise you that,” Crystal told him. “I just needed to see what you’re made of. Then again, I know what drives you—not being able to save your family still eats at you.”

Reid wanted to tell the man to fuck off, but he channeled the anger back inside, because it made a hell of a fuel, and instead stood calmly, staring at his would-be opponent.

“Am I boring you?” Crystal asked.

“Yes. I’ve got a lot more important things to do, so let’s get this over with.”

Crystal laughed, like Reid had just told him the best joke in the world, and then he pulled out a wicked-looking small knife. “Have at it.”

Reid always preferred fighting one-on-one barehanded. It was a more intimate way of fighting—and an easier way to get a feel for one’s opponent. While he understood the need to bring a knife to a gun-fight—or any fight—he felt fighting with no weapons showed who the better warrior was.

It would be him this time, no question about it. Because this fight wasn’t just for him—it was for Kell and Dylan and all the other men and women he called family. They were worth fighting for.

They circled each other and Reid thought about Dylan, about how his friend would never forgive himself if Reid didn’t extricate himself from this situation.

It wouldn’t be easy. Good thing he never thought anything would be.

Crystal jabbed the air with the knife, going for Reid’s upper body, and Reid dodged it, jumping out of the way. He let Crystal pump his arm over and over, then swung into a half spin and kicked the knife out of the man’s hand. At the same time, he grabbed Crystal’s wrist and twisted until he heard a satisfying pop.

Crystal brought up his other arm and caught Reid with a stiff jab to the side of his neck and a kick to the side of his knee. Reid released and recircled his enemy, kicking the knife well out of reach, his neck aching. If Crystal had gotten him in the right spot, Reid would’ve been unconscious.

“Come closer and play,” Crystal taunted, moved
forward a step and swung, but Reid ducked and got in a slam to the side of Crystal’s head, hard enough to bring the man down to the pavement. But he didn’t stay there, moved to chop the back of Reid’s knees, which buckled them. He then grabbed Reid’s calves while Reid was already unsteady and pulled his feet out from under him in one smooth motion.

Reid blocked his fall with his hands, rolled out of the way of Crystal’s grasp and kicked him hard, the blows landing against Crystal’s gut. Reid heard the groan and the sharp intake of breath and took the opportunity to leap to his feet.

But Crystal, still surprisingly limber, was up again with only a bit of a stagger. He came at Reid, and Reid propelled himself at his enemy, throwing them both into the plate-glass window of a storefront their fighting had moved them toward. An alarm began blaring before the men could disengage, a tangle of arms and legs and broken glass.

Reid was breathing hard, but Crystal’s breath came harder. His nose was broken as well as his wrist, and maybe his arm.

“Well done,” Crystal wheezed.

“Can’t say the same for you.”

Crystal smiled then, and it was so full of menace Reid felt the chill to his soul. “I’ll be back for you, Reid. And I don’t think I’m going to kill you … since you fight so well, I’ve got a real special place for you,” Crystal sneered.

“Who says I’m letting you go?” Reid asked. “Won’t take me long to break your neck.”

Crystal held up a remote. “Bomb in Grier’s car. She’s not at her hotel yet … my tracker says she’s got
another three minutes. The timer’s counting down from two minutes. It’s killing me or saving Grier—which one will you choose?”

Grier. Fuck, he couldn’t risk it. Let the bastard go for now, because he believed a man like that didn’t come into a fight without backup in place.

Killing a merc was never easy—it’s why they kept their nine lives.

Crystal tossed the remote in the air and took off. Reid raced to get the timer before it hit the ground and then moved around the corner so the police coming to investigate the broken window wouldn’t bother him. He knelt on the pavement, taking apart the black plastic carefully, mouth dry, watching the clock count down too fast.

He took his knife out—it wasn’t the best tool for this, but time wasn’t on his side. He checked the wires and double-checked and, knowing this could all be a setup, cut through the yellow one and saw the timer finally stop and let out a breath when the GPS tracker showed that Grier’s truck continued to move past the three-minute mark.

He sagged with relief, his body aching and his adrenaline waning. He took a quick look around the perimeter, studiously avoiding the police activity. Crystal could be anywhere by now—and unfortunately he’d already learned Reid’s vulnerability, even before he’d put on his little show.

He headed to his motel room and checked it thoroughly for bugs—or bombs—before he took out his phone and made a quick call.

Vivi answered on the first ring. “Are you okay?”

He smiled a little at the true concern in her voice. For bringing his friend Caleb back to life, Reid felt like the men owed her everything—Vivi seemed to feel the reverse.

“I’m okay. I need a favor.”

“Name it.”

“Find out what records of mine have been pulled recently.”

“Military? I did that already.”

He paused. “No, go back sixteen years or more and look for ones through DHS and CPS.”

“Will do.”

“One more thing, Vivi.”

“What?”

“This goes no further than us. It can’t. This is personal.” It was business too, but he didn’t want Dylan or the others knowing anything about it just yet.

“I’ve got your back,” she said quietly, and he knew she meant it.

If his gut was right, this would play out much differently than anyone thought. Crystal had never been focusing on Kell, but on Reid. He’d had a feeling about that from the start, which was part of the reason he’d wanted to separate himself from the others.

He’d suspected it from the second Dylan had mentioned how Crystal liked to investigate pasts. Because none of the men knew the full truth about Reid’s—and that was something he’d rather be kept under wraps.

Even now, Reid could berate himself so easily for what had happened that night in his house. But what
no one knew, not even Kell, was that the perfect family he couldn’t save wasn’t anywhere near so fucking perfect after all. But that was a place he wasn’t going tonight. Or any night, if he could help it. Lying to himself about this had become part of his life, and giving up the fantasy would rip his guts out again.

A
fter Teddie told her story, they both lay there, letting the weight of her confession—and its possible repercussions—settle in.

In Kell’s mind, it didn’t change much at all.

After putting it off as he long as he could, he dragged on his jeans and shirt and went to look at what was happening outside through a garage-door window.

A fucking mess. Good. No one was out there right now and that was just how he wanted it.

When he came back inside, Teddie had pulled on her T-shirt but remained wrapped in the blanket. She was still tense because of the storm but she wasn’t nearly as frantic as she’d been earlier. “Is it almost over?” she asked hopefully.

“It’s going to take a little bit longer.”

“You don’t have to break it to me gently, you know.”

“I’ll need to keep you occupied for the next day or so.”

“Shit.”

“Ah, sweetheart, you had fun today, right?” She smiled and blushed and he joined her again on the floor. “Don’t worry, okay? Can you give me that for the next couple of hours at least?”

“It’s not so much worrying. And actually, I’m not sorry to be feeling all of it,” she started to explain. “After my mom died, everything changed. My dad went right back to work. He had to and I …” She shook her head. “I went into robot mode too. It’s like I consciously shut down, and I don’t think I’ve gotten out of it since—and it only got worse after the murders. But when you got hurt, something changed …”

He looked at her.

“And then I woke up and came back to life …” She turned to him. “I liked it.”

“I scared you.”

“It was more than that.” She reached out and took his hand. He didn’t resist, although he wasn’t used to outward shows of emotion and affection either. It was a learning curve experience for both of them, for sure. “I have friends—acquaintances—all over the place. But I never really stuck around to have permanent home. You get used to that, being nomadic. Now I don’t think it’s a good thing. You’re the first person—you and Reid—I’ve had in my life who worried about me … at least as an adult. It’s nice to know there are people who’ve got your back. I’m
tired of running, Kell. It seems like you aren’t. It doesn’t bother you?”

“I’ve been running in one way or another my whole life. After a while, you realize it’s not such a bad deal. At least I’m never bored.”

“But you have a place to go when things get bad, right?”

“Yes.” Now, more than ever, thanks to Dylan and his contingency plans.

“I don’t.”

“You do, with me.” The words came out before he could stop them, but he doubted he would’ve. That meant what he said had to be true.

She blinked, hard. Her eyes got wet and her voice husky and she simply said, “Thanks. You have no idea what that means.”

He did, even though he wasn’t ready to talk about it. But her next words threatened to put an end to that, threatened to pull him someplace he didn’t want to go.

“When we were at the house in Mexico, when I talked about my family …” She seemed not to know how to finish the sentence and settled on, “Are your parents around at all?”

“No.”

“Oh. Are they dead?”

He wanted to say something sarcastic, but the way she’d lost her family … he just couldn’t. “No.”

“Did they do something bad to you?”