Under the Wire: Bad Boys Undercover (9 page)

“That’s a bad plan.”

She heard Parker’s voice and looked up to see him staring at her. “Why?”

“When a guy like that attacks, you aim to kill.” Parker exhaled. “It’s too dangerous to do it any other way. Too Hollywood.”

That from the guy who believed in the unbelievable. “But . . . we have nothing. No information to go on now.” She wiped a hand down her face. Tried to regain her composure. “I don’t—”

“Where’s the other one . . . this Simon guy?” Reid stood up, putting his body between hers and Parker’s and pointing to an empty spot on the floor. “He was right here.”

Her brain stuttered. She’d forgotten all about him. About the rest of the team. She hated that she could block the human toll from time to time. The thought that she’d become so detached made her feel sick all over again.

So much had happened in such a short time, she couldn’t even catalog and assess it all. For the second time in her life chaos reigned. She’d grown up in a household where very little danger happened. Her par
ents had scrambled for cash and chased their dreams. Her father would sing for money on the street.

They’d gifted her with a life full of music and art, and all she’d wanted was to break free of the uncertainty of limited paychecks and the aching of not belonging, or not being like everyone she lived with. Free-spirited parents who were disappointed that their daughter had chosen something as stereotypical as science. Who even now questioned her every choice and tried to sideline her career, until she’d had to build an emotional wall between them and her when it came to her professional life.

She’d spent so much of her life making excuses for them, silently resenting them . . . aching for her mom to be just a little bit like the stereotype people had about Asian mothers. Just once. Just for a little while.

But as she stood on the edge of death for the second time before reaching thirty, Cara missed them and who they were. Wondered if a simpler life would have taken her away from all of this. Wondered if maybe their mutual inability to understand each other had stolen something important from her.

For someone who craved the stability of a steady job—and she did—she kept landing in unstable situations. She wasn’t an adrenaline junky or danger-seeker, but some part of her seemed to search out this life. No part of her feared Reid or questioned the life he led, even though being around him meant wallowing in danger. She didn’t know what that said about her.

“I thought Simon was dead,” she said, putting words to a thought her brain refused to accept.

Parker scoffed. “Apparently not.”

“They’re looking for something, Cara. They may be keeping Simon alive just long enough to get information.” Reid’s intense stare didn’t ease. “Which means your time is up. As soon as we clean this place up, we need the whole story.”

“Fine.” She didn’t see the need to disagree. They’d walked into a bloodbath. Right or wrong, the Alliance specialized in this sort of thing. She might not trust Reid with her heart, but she trusted him with her safety.

“The jammer is one building over.” Parker reloaded his gun as he talked.

“Let’s go.” Reid didn’t wait for his friend to finish.

With his hand on the small of Cara’s back, they started moving. Careful steps took them out of the building and around the rest of the bodies. They reached the end of the main structure and glanced up at the black metal staircase that wound its way to the top floor.

“Already checked there,” Parker said as he stepped up and took the lead.

They headed for the next building and didn’t stop until they got to the far end. There, on the ground, sat a black box. Wires connected it to two antennas. Except for those, the whole thing looked small enough to carry around. There was even a cart resting nearby.

“It should be bigger.” The idea made sense to Cara.
Something that messed up their cell phones and Reid’s fancy tracking system and whatever else should at least take a truck to move.

“That’s the kind of nightmare line a man never wants to hear from a woman.” Parker dropped to one knee and opened the lid. There were switches and dials and he seemed to know what to touch.

Still, she didn’t fully appreciate the joking. Not now. “People are dead.”

“It’s his warped way of dealing with the situation,” Reid said.

The trucks, the men. All of the evidence stacked together in her head. She was a person who dealt in details and facts. Things she could test and analyze. The Alliance did the same, in a way. Which made her wonder how this happened. “Don’t your people look for things like this? Movement where there shouldn’t be movement?” She pointed at the antennas. “Those.”

“Something this size would be hard to pick up via satellite image, and they—whoever they are—would have to be looking for trouble right here at the exact right time to discover the problem.” When she started to argue, Reid nodded. “But you’re not wrong. Having a communications blackout area should raise some flags.”

Parker stood up and wiped his hands on the front of his pants. “Tasha could be trying to reach us right now.”

“Which is why you’re going to dismantle this thing.”
Reid snapped into leader mode. Fatigue pulled around his mouth but he no longer spoke in clipped, angry sentences. “Then we need photographs of the dead and a safe place to put Cliff until our people can come and get him. I don’t want anyone using his body as a political statement or as an excuse to start a war.”

Parker’s eyes narrowed. “Sounds like I got the shitty end of the to-do list again.”

“We also need to collect the guns and ammo, so we’re stocked.” With that, Reid put the one he was holding in the holster by his side.

“And what are you going to be doing while I race around and play fetch and take photos?”

“Calling Tasha and getting an alternate place to hide out.” Reid winced as he unzipped his thin jacket and peeled up the bottom of his shirt. “And letting Cara handle this.”

Parker paled. “Oh, shit.”

More blood. Red everywhere. Cara blinked, hoping the frightening image would disappear. But it didn’t. Reid covered the wound with his hands, but the blood just seeped through his fingers.

“You were shot?” She knew it was a ridiculous question. She could see the evidence, not a direct hit to his stomach but a hole right off to the side.

“Again,” Parker said. “I think this is the second time.”

“On this mission.” Reid shrugged. “I’ve had worse.”

Parker moved closer to Reid. Took a packet out of the utility pocket of his pants and ripped it open. “No one tagged me. You losing your touch?”

Reid hissed when Parker touched the bandage to his open wound. “You’re too busy playing it safe, hiding behind buildings and stuff.”

Part of her understood Parker wanted to take Reid’s mind off the pain. She got that. She just knew they needed to do some pretty serious first aid if they had any chance of getting Reid out of there on his own. She didn’t have a medical degree but she knew enough. Knew he needed a doctor.

First she had to make sure he stayed stable. “Enough boy talk. You need to sit down and—”

“We’re heading out.” Reid held out a hand. Parker passed him a needle and Reid administered his own shot. “I want to be away from this area before I scramble a call to Tasha.”

Before Cara could stop the back and forth, they were tending to the wound. Acting as if it was no big deal or like Reid was made of some sort of unbreakable metal. Not human. Immune to things like shock and death.

His nonchalance made her want to strangle him. “Have you lost your mind?”

Parker frowned. “Fair question, but we are trained for on-the-ground triage. Once you get the bullet out you can either sew him up or use some of the magic powder we bring along to seal wounds.”

Reid pressed his hand against the edge of the bandage. “The person in charge of the men we ran into here could be watching. Certainly will come back.”

“Besides,” Parker put the pouch back in his pocket, “this will go faster if I don’t have to worry about Reid fainting.”

“Not happening.” Reid added a bit of name-calling before flipping back into leader mode. “I’ll get coordinates for a safe place then send them to Parker, who will be right behind us.”

She listened to the arguments and comments. Every one sounded so reasonable, as if they’d acted out this routine a million times. They had her thinking she’d blown his injuries out of proportion . . . until she remembered they were not normal. “This new safe house, or whatever it is, better be close because I can’t carry you.”

Reid shrugged and then winced. “I’m fine.”

“Yeah, you seem great.”
The idiot.

“Not after Tasha gets done with you. ‘How did you get into Russia?’” Parker’s voice changed as he mimicked a higher tone. “I can almost hear her now.”

“I remember Tasha. Tough, in charge.” That gave Cara comfort. These two needed an ass-kicking. She was happy to start it, but she savored the idea of turning them over to Tasha for a second round.

“Remind you of anyone?” Parker asked.

Reid cleared his throat. “I’m still bleeding here.”

And limping, and walking half bent over. Cara saw it all now. Tried to ignore it and keep her voice steady. Letting him know how concerned she was about him wouldn’t make the next few minutes run any smoother. “Just so long as it’s not another labor camp.”

“Knowing Tasha, it won’t be anywhere near that nice.” Reid wrapped an arm around his midsection. “Let’s grab the bags and go. The time for finding temporary cover is running out.”

T
ASHA SAT
on one of the sleek gray modern couches strategically placed at odd angles in the middle of the Bastion Foundation’s waiting room. At least that’s what she thought it was. With its three-story soaring ceilings and spare monochrome décor inside, the scaling glass building shouted overpriced and trying-too-hard to her.

She sat on the second floor and squirreled away from the steady stream of visitors and deliveries coming through lobby doors downstairs. Out of the way and cold, like something a serial killer might find soothing.

When her cell beeped for a third time, she read the message and sent off a four-word response. The first emergency call provided the location she needed. The second requested supplies and backup. The third confirmed the coordinates she provided. Not bad for three minutes’ worth of covert communication bounced back and forth through a series of proxy servers and pinged from one side of the world to the other.

Caleb glanced at her arm as she dropped it and pocketed the cell. “What was that?”

Tasha skipped right to the information she knew he wanted to know. “Your sister is fine.”

That counted as an overstatement. Still, Tasha delivered the line with confidence, just as she’d been trained to do. Just as she’d done in numerous cases over the years. Reassure the loved ones so they stayed quiet and out of the way. Limited the potential liability.

“How do you know that?”

“A message from Reid.” Telling Caleb his sister had gotten trapped in some sort of informal turf war—or worse—would not calm him down. He had the resources to get to Russia and get in Reid’s way. Add in Caleb’s hacking skills and whatever underground network fed him information and he could make himself a target without knowing it. Pulling out another Layne sibling was the last damn thing she needed.

“Ask him—”

“The message was coded and short, which means Reid is worried about communication right now.” And that was already more information than she wanted to share. “To the extent your sister is in danger, he’s protecting her.”

Caleb left the seat across from her and started pacing. “You need to get her out.”

“Reid will, as soon as he can.” Tasha glanced around. There wasn’t a single employee or security guard in
sight. That likely meant cameras and, knowing Niko, ultrasensitive listening devices and body scans.

“You trust your guy that much?”

An interesting question since Caleb was the one who contacted Reid and dragged him into this mess in the first place. Tasha decided not to dwell on that point right now and skipped to the truth. “With my life, with Ward’s life. With the life of every member on my team. So, yes.”

That part wasn’t for show or a line in a training manual. Ward Bennett operated as her second in command in the Alliance, but he was so much more than that. He was her fiancé and the one person who could get her through even the worst day.

The rest of the team qualified as family. Better than blood relation in that she handpicked them and watched with awe every day as they amazed her with their strength and loyalty. Which was why they never left a team member behind and appreciated every sacrifice.

“If it’s dangerous for her there, she should be on her way home. Let Reid stay behind and fix whatever is happening on his own.” Caleb stopped behind the couch he’d abandoned and glared at her. “Hell, you can move your people in as her flight takes off, but I want her in the air and headed home.”

All of that sounded good in practice. Tasha knew better.

She leaned back on the uncomfortable low-backed couch and pretended to brush some nonexistent lint off her knee-length black skirt. The one that hid the knife strapped to her thigh. “It’s not as easy to get out of Russia undetected as you might think. Not when you’re there on a supposed mission with people watching your movements.”

“What kind of answer is that?”

“An honest one.” She could almost see the wheels turning in his head. Unless she stopped him—and she absolutely would do that whatever way she had to—Caleb would do something reckless and launch the world into a new war. “You need to trust me. Your sister’s life matters to me. I’m not writing her off as collateral damage.”

Caleb exhaled, not bothering to hide his exasperation. “That’s not very comforting.”

Heavy footsteps stopped Tasha’s response. A man appeared from the shiny marble hallway leading to the elevator bank. Tall and trim, objectively attractive but not too much, so he blended in. With the slight graying around his temples and conservative striped tie, he would have fit in at any business throughout the DC area. But he worked here, in the swanky offices on the edge of Georgetown, right next door to the high-powered sports management building.

“Mr. Murin will see you.” The man delivered his message and started walking away, not waiting to see
if they followed. Barely giving her time to get off the couch.

But she’d played scenes like this before. The man was not just a man to her. She kept an eye on Niko and knew about those closest to him.

Michael Stoltz—Mickey to those who worked for him and had the displeasure of going against him—was the foundation’s attack dog. He had some official title like Director of Security, but Tasha suspected his role was a bit less civilized. That would match his very hazy no-intel-to-be-found background.

Her heels clicked against the tiles as she walked past the first few elevators to the one at the end marked
PRIVATE.
The only one with a guard next to it. Looked like she’d finally found the one place the public riffraff could not visit.

They rode in silence to the penthouse floor. She’d yet to meet a big-name business mogul with an office on a lower floor. The elevator doors opened directly into the plush corner office. She and Caleb took a few steps into the room before Mickey held up a hand to stop them. The move put them a good twenty feet from him.

Gleaming hardwood floors partially covered with woven carpets that likely cost more than her car greeted them. But all she could see was the man standing at the opposite side of the room, staring out the floor-to-ceiling windows to the street. It was a dramatic entrance. Niko didn’t even need to move to telegraph
his need to control the meeting. His I’m-in-charge vibe bounced around the room. Tasha was fine letting him live in that fantasy.

He slowly turned. The noted billionaire had just passed the threshold to forty. Never married and at the top of every “Most Eligible Bachelor” list out there. Tasha didn’t see what everyone else saw. The temptation to roll her eyes nearly overwhelmed her every time she read his name in the paper or saw him on the news.

“I can’t figure out if you’re brave or stupid.” He uncrossed his arms as he spoke.

She figured the goal was to show off his newly developed muscles. She half wondered how much he paid for those. “Probably a bit of both.”

“I told you what would happen if I saw you again, yet you walk in here without a weapon.”

That was adorable. It also meant all his fancy scanners could not penetrate the special sheath that held her knife. “What makes you think I’m not armed?”

Niko moved then. Took a few steps until he stood right behind his oversized black leather chair. “You’re saying you beat my security measures to get into the building.”

“I’m saying you shouldn’t be so cocky.” Much more of this and she might just shoot him to knock that smug look off his face.

But Mickey was already moving. He pushed away from the wall and stood right next to her. She almost
wished he’d try to touch her. Showing him that women could fight, too, would be a pleasure.

“It’s fine.” Niko waved his guy off then sat down in that big chair. Looked her and Caleb up and down. Didn’t offer them a seat. “Tasha and I understand each other.”

“Yes, we do.” Instead of yelling across the stupidly big room, Tasha ignored the lack of an invitation and moved farther into the room. Got right up to the edge of the desk before she stopped and gestured to the man beside her. “This is Caleb Layne. You sent his sister on a death mission to Russia.”

To his credit, Niko’s eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”

“We’ve known each other a long time, Niko.”

“He’s Mr. Murin to you,” Mickey said from right behind her.

Niko smiled then launched into an introduction. “This is—”

“I don’t care.” She didn’t spare Mickey a glace.

Niko leaned back in his chair. His gaze suggested he kept sizing her up. “That’s a mistake because my head of security can be very protective.”

As if that impressed her. “So, this is the guy you hired after I kidnapped you.”

Niko sat up straight again. “What do you want, Tasha?”

“Answers.”

“Go find them somewhere else.”

She actually admired the response. Sounded like something she might say.

“My sister, Cara, is on your expedition to the Ural Mountains.” Caleb’s voice stayed even. Not exactly respectful, but not rude either. “The missing expedition.”

The man had a flare for the dramatic. She admired that, too. “I told you that you’d want to see us,” she said to Niko.

For a second, just a flash and then it was gone, Niko’s self-assurance slipped. His forehead wrinkled and his look could only be described as confused. Then he returned to his usual I’m-better-than-you half smirk. “The expedition isn’t missing.”

Not a surprise he took this tack but still annoying. To keep from giving anything away, she kept her expression neutral and didn’t fidget. Stood perfectly still. “Oh, really?”

“Everything is on track. She is working in the field and I’m sure once she gets back to the main station—”

“Two of my men are with her.” She broke in because if she let this guy talk he might never stop.

“Isn’t that interesting.” Niko’s tone suggested he found the new information anything but.

“I thought you would like that.” She didn’t. She planned to lecture them later, but Niko didn’t need to know that. “Since you’re not really funding some documentary about dead hikers from an incident years ago,
why don’t you tell me what you’re really looking for in the Urals.”

“I do not have a hidden agenda.”

She noticed he matched her neutral expression with one of his own. “Does that mean you no longer play with Chechen rebels?”

“That won’t work.” The faint stain rose from his throat and covered his neck then his cheeks. He looked wound up and ready to spring in that chair. “Because that never happened.”

“You tried to overthrow the Russian government and help buy a new one.” She told the story more for Caleb and Mickey’s benefit than anything else. Well, that and to get Niko squirming. “Supplied weapons. Funneled money.”

Mickey took another step. Stood right behind her, close enough for the front of his shoes to touch the back of hers. “You need to leave right—”

She talked right over him. “Problem was, you backed some pretty nasty people who decided they liked your money but not the strings you attached to it. They double-crossed you. Covered their Chechen ties until it was too late.” She leaned in. “That’s not exactly the group of bad guys you intended to support.”

Niko’s jaw tightened. “All of this is a fiction created by you for leverage. You lied then you tried to use me.”

“I did use you.” She smiled because she couldn’t help it. “Let’s be clear on that.”

“No.”

“You know you’re not the only one with friends inside Russia, right?” she asked, ignoring the intimidation tactics. When her cell beeped she ignored that, too. This conversation was too important to push aside. Niko needed to know the power balance hadn’t shifted in his favor. He might threaten but she was the one who would act.

He visibly regained his composure. Loosened his death grip on the armrests of his chair. “It is because of my family history that you can understand why I would fund an expedition to investigate a long-running question in Russia’s history.”

“Because a random relative of yours botched the initial investigation into the hiking incident all those years ago.” Not that she cared. She didn’t believe for one second this guy would spend that amount of money on something that didn’t directly benefit his current bottom line. It’s not as if this bit of family history was easy to uncover and trace back to him anyway. And, really, no one would care or blame him. He had enough things he’d done on his own that he should answer for first.

“You’ve done your homework,” Niko said without even blinking.

Always
. “I make it my business to know everything about you.”

Caleb started to shift his weight around. He’d worked
for the Alliance on the side and off-the-books but never in the field. Being this close to the action seemed to rev up the tension and kill his patience. “None of this helps my sister.”

“Working with Tasha is your mistake. One you will pay for,” Niko said in a low, menacing tone.

“Then forget she’s standing here and tell me what is happening with my sister’s expedition.”

“It’s on track.” With the rush of tension over, Niko’s shoulders seemed to relax as he leaned back a bit in his chair. Then his attention switched back to her. “You need to remove your men from my expedition. Tell them to stand down.”

Her smile only grew wider. “Not likely.”

“There are factions within Russia who may be interested in knowing the Alliance is on the ground there.” The amusement lingered right there on the edge of Niko’s tone.

Tasha found the threat anything but funny. She’d bring the full weight of every agent and weapon at her disposal to stop him from harming one member of her team. “Are you telling me you plan to commit espionage and pass top secret information to Russian authorities?”

His smile faded. “I’m telling you that once again you’re playing a dangerous game.”

She could see the hatred in his eyes. He seethed with it. “I won last time.”

“You won’t this time.”

She had what she needed. Now it was time to leave, so she gestured to Caleb to move. “We’ll see.”

“Y
ou did well in there,” she said as soon as they were out of the building and on the street. Still under Niko’s watchful eyes, thanks to his network of cameras, no doubt, but outside of listening range due to the audio jammer she’d disguised as a cell phone. She didn’t know if Niko would try to hear their conversation but she wasn’t risking it.