Night Moves: A Shadow Force Novel (35 page)

“Say that last part again,” she said quietly, less of a demand, more of a request, and still there was no denying her anything.

“Jesus, Teddie, you’re killing me. You’ve been killing me since the night I met you,” he muttered.

“I know.”

He tilted her face to his with a finger under her chin. “I love you, Teddie. Simple as that, and trust me, that’s the only thing that’s simple about our relationship.”

“I love you, Kell Roberts. Let’s worry about everything else once the storm has passed.”

For once, the choice was easy.

K
ell was hesitant about driving the stolen electric company van around after the storm, for many reasons, the least of which was being stopped by random people asking for help restoring their power. So he borrowed another car from the lot and drove them to the nearest hotel he could find with vacancies. Left the car abandoned in the garage and called Dylan with his location.

He’d never heard the man sound so relieved. “We’re coming for you guys, don’t move,” he admonished Kell.

“Not a problem.”

He turned to find Teddie pacing nervously, and he understood—she still had hoops to go through before she’d be fully free. But he’d be with her the entire time—just let anyone try to stop him.

“Come here,” he told her. “Try to relax.”

“Yeah, okay.” She allowed him to pull her to him, stayed next to him until there was a sharp rap on the door, maybe twenty minutes later, and Kell didn’t bother to ask Dylan—or Riley and Cam, who trailed in after him—how he’d gotten there so fast in the aftermath of the storm.

After introducing Teddie to them, Kell set about explaining what had happened. He ended by asking if they’d heard from Crystal. “I can’t imagine he’d just walk away like that, he must have a plan.”

“Reid left with him.”

Kell felt his breath come harshly. “You are fucking kidding me.”

“Wish I was.” Dylan stopped. “Crystal told me he was okay with the trade. Said Reid is trainable.”

Kell went cold. “What the hell did you do? Why the hell?”

“Crystal wanted me back to do a job for him. Reid went instead,” Dylan said. “We would’ve stopped him if we’d known that’s what he planned on doing.”

“You wouldn’t have been able to. Once Reid makes up his mind about something …” Kell trailed off. Dylan handed Kell his phone, and Kell stared blankly at him for a second, then turned it on. He found a couple of texts there, from Reid … recent texts. And his heart nearly stopped. Teddie came up next to him, as if she knew he suddenly felt weak. He thumbed through the messages.

Sometimes, you’ve got to make a choice
.

That night fourteen years ago, when Kell had dragged Reid out of the car, the young blond kid unconscious and bruised as hell, he’d had a decision to
make. Now Reid was telling him that he’d always understood Kell’s choices, even when Kell hadn’t.

He was also giving him an out on the guilt, as evidenced by the second message.

You deserve to be happy. Be fucking happy
.

The final one though made Kell smile.
This state sucks
.

“I need your truck,” he told Dylan. “Right now.”

“Crystal could’ve coerced those texts out of him,” Dylan said, but Kell shook his head.

“He didn’t. Reid’s got a plan.”

C
rystal drove along the storm-battered roads in a stolen truck. The police lining the area could give two shits about that now, and neither did Reid. He was just waiting until Crystal hit the open road along the coastline, near the private airstrips.

“What’s the job?” Reid asked finally, like it didn’t matter to him one way or the other. He’d gotten word on his phone earlier that Grier was safe and sound in a new place, counted on that since as he drove Crystal was holding in his palm the remote start to a bomb in Grier’s hotel room.

He’d shown it to Reid as soon as he’d picked him up in the park.

“I’m working with the Albanians,” Crystal said.

Crystal would never be out of their debt, thanks to Dylan. But Reid would make sure Crystal was out of the team’s lives, no matter what it took.

Reid had no doubt Crystal had more safeguards in place, in case of his untimely demise, but Reid couldn’t worry about his friends any more than he already was
right now. They’d cut the head off this monster and fight the remaining fallout when and if it came.

Could be that Crystal was just a damned good illusionist.

“Do you feel guilty you couldn’t save your family?” Crystal asked.

“Do you feel guilty you couldn’t save your sister?” Reid asked, watched the man’s hands tighten on the wheel.

“It’s a secret you keep all to yourself,” Crystal continued. “Your mother’s mental illness.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“My father asked me to.” Reid paused. “Your sister’s killers were never brought to justice.”

“No.”

“I thought you were supposed to be the best.”

Crystal was getting more agitated by the second. He’d expected to be able to do that to Reid, but spilling his guts to Grier had helped Reid in ways he couldn’t have imagined. Saving her from Crystal had helped too, despite the fact that her betrayal stung like a hard slap.

“I mean, how hard could those men have been to find?” Reid continued. “If that was me, I’d hunt them down to the ends of the earth.”

“Your friend forced me underground for years,” Crystal roared before calming down. He’d been off since he’d picked Reid up, so whatever happened with Kell and Teddie helped to throw him more easily than Reid had anticipated.

Time to make his move, because no way was he getting on a plane with Crystal.

Reid had learned a lot about cars over the years—what made them crash and burn, what could cause a roll that could kill … or a rollover that could save your life.

He’d never wanted to crash again without being able to save himself. Now that’s exactly what he was going to do.

Of course, he’d still need Kell. And he had no doubt his friend would be there for him.

“You put yourself in that prison,” Reid told him, and then he grabbed the wheel and jerked it hard toward him, leaving Crystal cursing and trying to right it, ultimately jerking it too far to the left, and that’s when the heavy truck lost its center of gravity.

Reid braced himself by willing his body to relax—too taut and every fucking bone would break. But no matter what, the impact would still be a bitch and a half.

“You wanted this,” he said, wasn’t sure if Crystal registered his words or not. Either way, Reid’s ghosts were dying tonight in this truck.

He’d do everything necessary to make sure he didn’t go down with them. Now he just had to close his eyes and pray that the motherfucking guardian angel would show when he needed her again.

He wasn’t sure how long it was before his eyes opened. He felt the concrete under his back and realized he was half inside the now-flipped truck. He smelled the gasoline and smoke and knew that wasn’t a good combo, even in his groggy state. Tried to pull himself out, looked inside and saw Crystal, slumped and unmoving.

They were both out of their misery now.

Strong arms grabbed and pulled him from the downed vehicle.

“Going to kill you one of these goddamned days,” Kell was muttering.

“Did you even stop to ask if I could move everything?” Reid shot back and Kell smiled, and Teddie was there too, and so was Dylan, cursing, and yeah, things were right back to the way they should be. Finally.

A
ll the bruises had finally healed. Kell had barely left Reid’s side in the hospital—neither had Teddie—not until Reid sat up and insisted that they
get the fuck out of here and clear up Teddie’s shit
.

And they’d listened. Up until that point, Dylan had kept the marshals and the FBI at bay—the FBI had the evidence about Chambers’s bank accounts that Reid had given to Grier. But Teddie still had to face some music, because she had been part of witness protection and therefore subject to all their rules and regs.

The marshals hadn’t been happy with her—and even less so with Kell and the fact that he refused to leave her side through any of the proceedings. Neither
had the lawyer Dylan utilized, an ex-JAG who was effective as hell at cutting through bullshit.

It had taken a month to untangle everything, but the murder she’d committed was obviously self-defense, so she wasn’t charged. Teddie was then cleared of jail time for possessing an illegal firearm and shooting in a public restaurant, instead pleading to lesser charges in exchange for a year of probation. The judge had okayed her checking in with a parole officer in upstate New York, where she’d be staying put—with Kell—until the year was up.

All in all, it had been a relief to bring Teddie here, to Mace’s.

Today, a week after Kell had brought her in to meet the other members of the team he’d only told her about, they were all gathered in the newly renovated bar, which boasted two additional floors—enough room for all of them—plus a war room with banks of computers. And an underground bunker.

Yeah, they were prepared for anything.

Kell surveyed the scene playing out in front of him as Teddie leaned against him, his arm draped around her waist. Paige and Mace were dancing, married ten minutes earlier in a no-nonsense ceremony that still brought tears to everyone’s eyes. And then Caleb and Vivi joined them on the dance floor, followed by Dylan and Riley.

Cam and Sky were too busy making out in the corner, like teenagers, which made Kell snort when he caught sight of it. Then he looked down at Teddie and wondered if he could pull her into the back room.

She glanced up at him and wagged a finger, because what he was thinking must be written all over his
face. And for the first time in forever, he didn’t care that no poker face in the world would work on her any longer.

“Fine, I’ll be good. For now,” he muttered, and she snuggled against him.

“When are we going to look at the property?” she asked, referring to the piece of land two hours away he’d purchased years earlier, and now planned on building a home on for the two of them.

“We can go tomorrow,” he told her. It wouldn’t be their last solo trip. He’d already made plans to go with her on an extended photography tour of Jakarta at the end of the month.

Translation—she wasn’t going anywhere like that without him. But he was damned glad he’d get to see her doing a job she loved. After that, he’d alternate between her work, and his with this group.

And he could think of nothing better.

Reid had cut in and was dancing with Vivi now and Caleb was grumbling good-naturedly.

“Does he know?” Teddie asked, and Kell shook his head. Because he’d known Reid would’ve refused to contact the marshal so Kell had done so himself.

And even though Reid might kill him for it … Grier knew where to find him.

The rest would be up to them. For the first time, Kell realized that it really was that simple. And when he pulled Teddie in for a kiss, murmured, “I love you” and heard her say it back to him, he knew Reid had been right all along.

BOOKS BY STEPHANIE TYLER

NIGHT MOVES
IN THE AIR TONIGHT
PROMISES IN THE DARK
LIE WITH ME
HOLD ON TIGHT
TOO HOT TO HOLD
HARD TO HOLD

BOOKS BY STEPHANIE TYLER
CO-WRITING WITH LARISSA IONE
AS SYDNEY CROFT

TAKEN BY FIRE
TEMPTING THE FIRE
TAMING THE FIRE
SEDUCED BY THE STORM
UNLEASHING THE STORM
RIDING THE STORM

ANTHOLOGIES

HOT NIGHTS, DARK DESIRES
 (including stories by Stephanie Tyler
and Sydney Croft)