Deadly Ties (3 page)

I can’t stand this. God, why did You let me love her and fail to protect her? I can’t take—

“You okay, bro?”

Mark glanced from Jane to Joe. Of all the guys, Joe and Mark were closest. Sam, Nick, and Tim all sat staring at them. They too had red-rimmed eyes. “No, Joe, I’m not okay.” Jane was gone. Dead. He’d killed her. “I’m not okay, and I am never doing this again.”

Barely thirty, Tim swiped a hand at his temple, ruffling the premature gray salting his brown hair, and leaned forward. “Don’t make rash decisions. We’re all hurting right now. Give it time.”

No amount of time would fix this. “I wasn’t there and she’s dead.” His throat thickened. He swallowed hard. “When the chopper hits the ground, I’m putting in my papers.”

The guys studied one another, and then Sam shoved off his helmet and hung it on his knee. “You realize that leaves our team two short. The brass isn’t going to drop a guy in, bud.”

Mark wouldn’t be replaced. The team would be expected to function short. The Shadow Watchers were an elite, highly specialized unit, and its members’ skills were cumulative. It’d take at least two years to get a new man qualified to take on their kind of missions and cleared by Intel to do them. And that’s if they put the new recruit on the fast track, learning the systems they created and destroyed.

“Sorry. I’m done. I won’t risk killing another one of you.”

The chopper blades’ steady
whap, whap, whap
filled the silence.

Tim stared beyond the group to Jane, paused a long time, and then swerved his gaze back to Mark. “It could have been any of us. Nick and I weren’t in a position to help her either.”

“I was her primary backup.” Mark dangled his helmet between his spread knees, swinging it by its strap.

“We’re a team, bud,” Sam said. “We all watch each other’s backs.”

“I failed.”

“Yeah, you did.” Joe cut through the clutter. “Due to circumstances beyond your control, you failed. So did the rest of us. We all risk failing each other every time we go out. You know it. Jane knew it. We all know it. She’s gone, and we have to live with it.” Joe softened his voice. “She was like your little sister. I get that. But you don’t get exclusive rights on the guilt, bro. There’s plenty to go around.”

Mark opened his mouth to object.

Joe lifted a hand to halt it. “We’re sorry we lost her, Mark. If we could change it, we would. But we can’t.”

“Dang right.” Sam shoved his fist into their inner circle.

One by one they all bumped knuckles, then Tim said, “You had to hunker down. That’s how these missions go. Stuff comes up. We deal with it as best we can. Sometimes we get lucky. Sometimes we don’t. Jane’s regular team goes through the same thing.”

“We’ll have to tell them.” Mark hated the thought of it, but he couldn’t let them find out through official channels, especially Omega One. They were close.

“When we get to the Pentagon, we’ll tell them together.” Joe stared at the back of the guy manning the side door. The dread on his face was as fierce as Mark’s.

Tim stared at Jane a long minute, then resolve slid down his lean face. “I’ve had enough of this too. We’ve done our share and then some.”

Nick mumbled, agreeing and disagreeing. Sam and Nick went back and forth a bit, and then they all fell silent.

Mark had no idea what position Nick had taken, but Mark had his own problems to worry about. He slumped back, doing his best to absorb what had happened.

Deep inside the Green Zone, the chopper started its descent at headquarters. Tim glanced from man to man. “Gentlemen, it’s time for us to go home and get ourselves lives.”

Seated beside Joe, Sam jerked. “Whoa, bud.” He had helmet head. His hair was smashed in places, ruffled and on end in others. “Two short, we no longer have a viable team. Mission selection will be the pits.” He rounded on Nick. “Figured out your final call yet?”

Nick shrugged, then his body tensed. “I don’t like the way things are shaping up. They’ll never let us run two short, much less three. They’ll disband the unit.” He leaned back, crossed his outstretched legs at the ankles. Sand sprinkled off his boot. “The team’s the only reason I’ve hung in here. If you’re gone, it’s gone, so I’m gone.”

“That’s it then.” Sam rolled his shoulders. “We’re just moving up the timetable on them before they move it up on us.”

There’d been high-level talks of breaking up the unit. The work would continue to be essential, but the political climate didn’t currently welcome it. So the unit would be formally disbanded and informally re-formed elsewhere by others under a different covert umbrella.

Joe crossed his arms over his chest, seemingly at peace with their decision. “None of us planned to make this a career. Duty called with 9/11. We answered. Now we’re done.”

One by one, they all nodded. But none returned Mark’s gaze. All eyes were on the medics. Both pulled back from Jane’s body, and one made the sign of the cross. “Sorry, sirs. Nothing more we could do.”

Mark moved and squatted beside Jane. Her pasty skin was cool to the touch, but without her warm expressions, her vibrancy, she didn’t much look like herself. That should have helped. She was at peace now. But it didn’t.

I already miss you, Jane. You needed me and I wasn’t there. I won’t ask for forgiveness—I haven’t earned it. But I’ll regret failing you every day of my life
. Tears washed down his face.
I’ll never forget you
.

With a trembling hand, he closed her sightless eyes and then lifted the sheet over her beloved face.

2

August 2007, Atlanta

K
ill order Alpha 24733.” The woman’s voice didn’t falter. “Execute it immediately, Lone Wolf.” Male or female, when issuing a kill order, most hesitated or showed some emotion, but not Raven.

“Yes ma’am.” Karl Masson stared through the darkness to the target: a young woman, midthirties, brown hair, thin face, seated on her patio. Definitely her, though he wasn’t crazy about killing a woman sitting in her own backyard. It raised concerns about his own wife and her safety while he was away on business. But orders were orders.

He lifted his rifle, sighted in until her left temple was dead center in his scope’s crosshairs. Then he pulled the trigger.

She jerked, then slumped.

It was done.

Why her husband hadn’t just paid her alimony, Karl had no idea. Some men were tough to figure. They were crazy in love one minute, and when they weren’t the next, they suddenly got greedy. The man was done with her, and she was disposable.

There was no need to double-check the body. Fired at this distance on that trajectory, the bullet had penetrated her brain. She was as dead as dead gets.

Karl tucked the rifle under his long coat and held it close to his body. It was a rainy night, so anyone spotting him would assume he was wearing a raincoat. He made his way along the hedge to the sidewalk and then down the empty street. Lightning streaked a jagged path through the sky and thunder rolled, making far more noise than his weapon had. The woman he’d just killed had to be pretty miserable to be sitting out on her patio in the rain.

He cut through the yards to the next street over, paused on the sidewalk to look through a wide window, and watched a woman stir a pot at her stove. He loved glimpses of domestic life. Made him less homesick.

At the curb he got into his car, stashed his rifle, then drove away. After he cleared the subdivision, he phoned the boss.

“Raven.”

He reported the mission code, the kill-order authorization code, and then added, “Complete.”

“Excellent. Any problems?”

“No ma’am.” If there were, he wouldn’t tell her. Raven didn’t react well to bad news. He’d clear it up and then report.

“Excellent. You’ve quickly become my go-to man.”

That was his goal. “Whatever you need, ma’am.”

“Thank you.” Her tone lightened. “Raven out.”

Not so much as a flicker of compassion for the dead woman. That was a common trait for NINA—Nihilists in Anarchy—members in general, but especially for high-level ones, and Raven was as high up as Karl knew existed. Words like
mercy
and
compassion
were not in her vocabulary.

NINA was an international organization, and its members were dedicated to making money. Governments, terrorists, private individuals—NINA did whatever to whomever for the right price. And Raven alone determined what that price should be. She sat on NINA’s throne and chased money with such a single-minded focus, it wouldn’t surprise Karl to discover her blood was tinted green.

He drove a couple of miles down the road, then lifted his phone from its console cubby and tapped
Angel
to speed dial home.

“Hello.”

Karl softened his voice. “Hi, Angel.”

“You’re calling early tonight. Everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine.” He accelerated and headed north out of Atlanta. “I finished my business ahead of schedule, so I’m coming home. Tell the motorcycle gang they have to go.”

“Oh, shoot. I was having such fun with them.” She laughed, lusty and deep. “You’ll make it in for Brent’s game, then?”

The motorcycle gang was a longstanding joke between them that never seemed to get old. “Wouldn’t miss it.” Love swelled in Karl’s chest. Family was everything. “Did you see the doctor today about that lump?”

“We’ll talk about it when you get home. Did you explore any of Atlanta while you were there?”

“Not this time. Too homesick to linger.”

“Twenty years and I still have it, huh?”

“Baby, you’ll always have it.” He smiled, but it was strained. “Did the doc give you bad news today?”

“That can wait. I’d rather hear you tell me how adorable I am.”

“You’re adorable. Now tell me what the doc said. Otherwise, I’ll be worried sick about you all nine hundred and ninety-seven miles.”

“It’s fine, Karl.”

“Don’t lie to me, Angel. I can hear it in your voice.”

“Pull over and stop, and then I’ll tell you.”

Karl whipped onto the shoulder of the road. His mouth went dust dry. He licked his lips and stiffened, bracing for whatever she might say. “Okay, I’m parked.”

“It’s cancer, honey.” She sniffed. “Malignant, I’m afraid.”

“No.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“What are they going to do about it?” Cut it out? Chemo? Radiation? He didn’t care what they did as long as she lived. She
had
to live.

“I go in for surgery tomorrow morning. My mother is here with the kids.”

“Surgery? And you didn’t call me?”

“I didn’t want to tell you this over the phone.”

She was holding back. As awful as this was, she wasn’t telling him everything. “What else?”

No answer.

“Angel, tell me.”

“It—it’s probably too late.”

“Don’t say that. Don’t even think it. They’ve made significant advances, you said so before you went. All you need is a fighting chance. That’s all you need.”

“Yes.”

“That’s right, yes. Just a chance. That’s all it’ll take.”

Silence fell. Angel broke it. “You’re going to have to accept this, you know. You can’t protect the kids and me from everything. I know you want to and you try, but this is … different.”

“Doctors don’t know. Not until they’re in surgery and can see for sure. There could be a chance.”

“Karl, no.” She sobbed. “It’s my body and I know.”

“What do you know? You have a lump. Just a little lump.”

“It’s too late, honey.”

The finality in her tone chilled him, drained away his rebellion. And sitting in the rain on the side of a road too far away from their home in Syracuse, Karl stared through the spotted windshield into the darkness and sobbed with his wife.

“Do the kids know?” Angry lightning slashed the night sky, and thunder clashed, reverberating in his ears.

“I’ve told them.”

“How are they taking it?”

“Brent’s better than Shelley. She’s dazed.”

At seven, she would be. She’d been shielded from death and as much else as possible. How would he work with the kids? He kept his mind busy, avoiding the question he didn’t want to ask because he didn’t want it answered. He wasn’t that brave or strong.

“Mom’s offered to move in so she can help with the kids.”

“Angel—” He cleared his throat. “I don’t work without you.”

“You have to, Karl. The kids will need you. And I need to know you’ll all be okay.”

That hit him like a sucker-punch to the gut.
So brave. So strong
. But she needed reassurance too. “How long?”

“Three months if things go well tomorrow.”

He blew out a sharp breath. She’d be gone before Christmas.
If things go well
. “And if they don’t?”

“Please don’t make me answer that.”

“Okay, baby.” He cranked the engine. He needed to get home. Before she went into surgery, he had to see her. He pulled back onto the highway. They talked and soothed and sobbed some more, and finally, somewhere near Roanoke, Virginia, he accepted the truth.

There would be no chance.

His beloved Angel was dying.