Rescue Me (6 page)

“What the fuck is there to celebrate?”
Spencer barked over his shoulder. The team fell silent and he felt
each and every set of eyes burning into the back of his neck.

Lyons walked up to him as the rest of the
team made themselves scarce. “Son, you can't bite their heads off
because you're pissed.”

“When it's them I'm pissed at, sure I can.”
He drew in a breath and held it in an attempt to keep his temper in
check.

“That's not what's got you ready to
kill.”

Spencer ground out a sigh. He had no choice
in the matter, which only pissed him off more. “TREX is benching
you, aren't they?”

Lyons smiled and, goddamn it, the gesture
reached his eyes. “I get the cushy job of my choice. Intelligence.
Surveillance. Logistics. And those are only the ones I'm interested
in. Field agents get their pick.”

“Is this really what you want? You love field
work, Gabe.”

“The mind is still willing, but the body… Not
so much.” Lyons slapped him on the back. “Don't worry about me,
Spence. I get to work a normal job for the first time in my
life.”

“There's no such thing as a normal job in
TREX. If we're in the middle of a find, you'll be working around
the clock just like the rest of us.”

“Not at a desk job,” he told Spencer. “They
work in shifts. I work ten hours and then someone else comes in
behind me to pick it up. I'm actually going to be home for dinner
every night. And I get vacation time. If I don't feel like coming
in to work, I can call in sick. No more sitting in the middle of
the desert during the hottest part of the day and not being allowed
to sweat. No more hiding in the shadows in the freezing cold
waiting to get the jump on someone.”

Spencer knew Gabriel Lyons better than that.
The man lived for a find. “And you think you'll be happy sitting at
some desk watching instead of being out here living it?”

“I don't have much of a choice.” Regret
filled his voice, giving him away.

He hated this. He couldn't lose Lyons. No,
goddamn it. He wouldn't. He'd just have to talk to Weber about
extending Lyons' time in the field. That was the only solution.

“When are we going to do something more than
just stand around?” McKoy asked, his teeth audibly chattering.

“Go for a run,” Spencer barked, annoyed by
the team's constant bitching. So it was colder than shit. So they
were all running on pure adrenaline since none of them had had a
chance to eat or sleep since this cluster fuck started. Man up, for
Christ's sake.

“It's been daylight for hours. Why are we
still here and not back out in the field?”

Lyons shook his head. “You know the rules,
probie. We've been in the field for twelve hours. We stand down for
four hours required rest while another team steps in. It's standard
protocol.”

“But we could be out there searching, too.
I'm not even tired.” To demonstrate, McKoy jumped up and down.

Lyons looked at Spencer before turning back
to McKoy. “Listen, kid. You can push the body beyond the physical
limits, but when exhaustion hits the mind, you miss things.
Standing down gives your brain the chance to rest.”

“I don't need to rest. This is such
bull—”

“Got a problem with orders?” Weber barked as
he appeared from the darkness of the forest surrounding them,
Gessler in tow. The SAC nailed that piercing blue gaze on McKoy.
The man never cracked a smile and always looked pissed as hell.

“No, sir.”

“What do you have on the fourth kidnapper?”
Spencer asked him.

Weber sighed and pinched the skin between his
eyes. “That there isn't one, at least not that we could find.
Everything pointed to a team of three. The intel. The messages they
left. There were no signs of a fourth guy.”

“Tommy didn't take out his kidnappers by
himself.”

“From what we were able to gather, the
kidnappers turned on each other. The male of the couple we found
north of the cabin took out the one in the cabin and then ran with
the female and the kid.”

“We didn't find any footprints for the kid
with them.”

“The male had to be carrying him. When they
stopped to rest, they fought. Tommy got scared and ran. The male,
in a panic, shot at Tommy, wounding him. The female instinctively
shot the male trying to protect the kid. When she realized what
she'd done, she took her own life.”

“That's quite a story,” Spencer ground out.
He listened to his earpiece as Kathryn's communications officer
talked with a dog team, assigning them to another trail. Once the
air cleared, Spencer turned his attention to Weber. “How did you
come up with it?”

“The blood,” Gessler jumped in. “It's
Tommy's.”

Shit. Things just went from worse to
fucked.

Spencer pushed off the tree and took a step
toward the Com Van. Enough of the covert bullshit. He had to at
least tell Kathryn that her subject was wounded. It could change
the dynamics of the search.

“Where are you going?” Weber demanded.

“Kathryn needs to know.”

“No, she doesn't.”

“Sir—”

“Let me remind you, Allen. K-SAR is not TREX.
They are on a need to know basis only, even the hot little biscuit
running it.”

Spencer ran his fingers through his hair,
ready to snap Weber's neck for talking about Kathryn like that.
“And you don't think this is something she needs to know?”

“No, I don't.”

For the love of Christ. He couldn't be
serious. Judging by that cool look in his hard gaze, he was deadly
serious.

“And you're certain the boy is out there on
his own? There's no fourth kidnapper?”

“There's no intel to support a fourth
kidnapper.”

Spencer continued toward the Com Van. He knew
Weber had more intel than he shared with the team. Why would he
hide anything from them? It made no sense. They were a team. A
brotherhood. They didn't keep secrets from each other, especially
on a find and even more so that it involved a kid.

“Allen?” Weber said in warning.

“I'm just going to check in,” he shot back
gruffly.

“Need to know only.”

Spencer spun and nailed his superior with a
glare. “I get it.”

Weber lifted his brow as his expression fell
slack. Oh, shit. Spencer's heart hit his feet when Weber smiled.
“Hold up.”

Gessler laughed and jabbed Snyder in the
ribs. “Nice knowing you, Allen.”

“You two do a perimeter sweep,” Weber barked
at them.

Perimeter sweep? Spencer stiffened. Why would
they need a perimeter sweep at base camp for a little boy lost out
in the forest? That sealed it. Weber didn't believe his own
bullshit story. Now he knew he had to tell Kathryn. He would not
put her in any danger.

“Yes, sir.” Gessler even bowed and laughed
again when Weber glared at him.

Spencer held his position as Weber
approached. He then grabbed Spencer by the back of the neck and
squeezed as he led him further away from the rest of the team.
“Let's take a walk.”

He tensed as the unease he'd been feeling
grew inside him. Dead kidnappers? Perimeter sweeps? Now a talk away
from his team? Something didn't add up.

“Do you like your job as a TREX field agent,
Allen?”

That was a loaded question if he'd ever heard
one. He also knew better than to answer it. Weber's lectures were
legendary. He could trap the best agent without effort. Aside from
wanting to tell Kathryn more than Weber wanted him to, Spencer
couldn't honestly figure out what he'd done to deserve one of
Weber's lectures.

Well, aside from the whole snapping at his
superior thing.

Weber went on. “You have your own team.
Snyder is one hell of a bartender. Did you know that? And McKoy has
an older sister who puts Aims to shame on a computer. Lyons is
looking at buying a sailboat. Cummings only wears white pajamas and
plays in his Zen sand garden when he's not on a find.”

“That's…” he paused, thinking of what to say.
“Interesting.”

Weber tossed him a smug look. “You didn't
know that about any of them, did you?”

“No.” And he didn't give a shit. They didn't
know anything personal about him, either. He purposely kept them at
distance for their own protection. If they knew nothing personal
about him, they'd never crack and hemorrhage the information to the
enemy. Why the hell would Weber think that was a bad thing?

“And yet they all know your entire history
with that feisty redhead. Why do you think that is?”

Okay, so maybe he hadn't done such a good job
at keeping them at a distance. Something told him Weber already
knew that. “Not sure, sir.”

Weber set his jaw. “Because you can't keep
your fucking personal life out of your job. You're one of the most
even-keeled agents I have working under me. I trust your gut when I
don't even trust mine. You were born with dead-on instincts. Most
people can't learn that shit. You either have it or you don't. You,
Allen, have it.”

“Uh, thank you?”

Weber's grip on Spencer's neck tightened. “So
when I see you fucking all that up, it bothers me. Having one of my
own agents challenge me in front of the rest of the team
really
bothers me.”

Spencer wasn't about to apologize for it. But
he got the message. “Yes, sir.”

“Kathryn Davis is one hell of a SAR
coordinator. The best TREX has ever partnered with. But she's not
the only private SAR firm out there. If having her working so
closely with us messes with one of my best agents, I have to do
something about that. Do you understand what I'm saying?”

Loud and clear. “You want me to calm the fuck
down.”

“See?” Weber patted him on the back.
“Instincts, Allen.”

“Yes, sir.” He felt five years old being
reprimanded like this, but Weber was right. Spencer knew better
than to challenge the chain of command. Weber deserved more respect
than that. He was a hell of a great leader. Spencer had no right to
question that.

And yet, as his gut churned, he couldn't help
it. “Weber, something isn't adding up. I know you feel it. Why
aren't you pursuing it? There has to be a fourth kidnapper in on
this. If there's another player out there with the kid, hiding him
from us, Kathryn needs to know. Her teams could be in danger. We
need to read her in.”

“We were hired to find Tommy Miller. He's the
job, not playing nice with your ex. Like it or not, she's a
competing agency with TREX. We both find things. Her finds are
focused on people. Ours are on threats.”

“Then why did we bring her in on this?”

“To use her resources,” he stated
matter-of-factly. “This is her specialty. It would have taken us
hours just to identify the right agents for the job and another
several hours to get them into the field. K-SAR has the manpower at
their disposal we need to find Tommy Miller before it's too late.
But with every competing agency, we have to be careful on how much
intel we share with them.”

Spencer had never understood that. “We're all
on the same side. What do you think will happen if I tell her the
truth? She has a right to know.”

“Does she?” Weber countered. “She's a
civilian who started a private SAR firm. She's never been through
agency training. She's never been taught how to recognize valuable
intel from bullshit. She could end up leaking the information
without even realizing it. Some of the intel we pick up is
dangerous. We're trained on how to identify and eliminate threats.
A civilian is not. The less you tell your ex, the less danger you
put her in.”

God
damn
it. He was right. It made
perfect sense and Spencer hated that it did, especially since it
came from his SAC. He should have been able to put that together on
his own.

The Com Van door opened and Kathryn stepped
out. The light caught her red hair and made it glow. She searched
the base camp until her gaze landed on him. Her cheeks flushed as
she motioned for him to join her.

“It sucks,” Weber pointed out the obvious as
he nodded at her. “I get it. That's why none of us have steady
women. We have enough shit to deal with without the added stress of
even more lies.”

Spencer hated the double standard, and hated
even more that Weber seemed okay with it. “I understand.”

“Keep your radio on VOX. I want to monitor
all radio traffic.”

No, he wanted to make sure Spencer didn't say
anything to Kathryn. It pissed him off that his SAC didn't trust
him. “Yes, sir.”

Spencer started in the direction of the Com
Van, his chest tight. He hated lying to her even more than he
already had but had no choice in order to protect her. When he
reached her, he followed her gaze as Weber disappeared back into
the woods.

“Was that Dan Weber?”

“Yes.”

She lifted her pretty brow. “Calling in the
big guns?”

Shit.
Shit
. She was always so damn
perceptive. “Like I said, Tommy Miller's grandfather has a long
reach.”

“I'll bet.”

“Did you need something?” He didn't trust
himself with her for too long. Those icy blue eyes sliced into him
and weakened his resolve.

“I, uh…” Kathryn glanced around and then
reached for something behind her, bringing out a handheld radio. “I
wanted to make sure you had some way to contact me—my
communications officer, I mean—if your team found anything.”

“You think we're conducting our own search in
parallel?”

She looked at him. “Of course you are.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because that's exactly what I'd do.” She
went to close the door to the Com Van but stopped and swung back
out. “Spencer? We're on the same team here, working toward the same
goal. There's no such thing as over communicating. I plan to share
everything with TREX. All I ask is that you offer me the same
courtesy.”

Son of a bitch. He forced a nod and nothing
else. “Understood.”