Authors: Maya Banks
But she wouldn't apologize. Not for putting D first. He came before her. Before Falcon.
At six hours she still stared broodingly into the dark, willing the dawn to come so she would no longer be alone.
A warm mist enveloped her, and she relaxed, the tension in her body dissipating as Eli wrapped himself around her, surrounding her in a light fog. He touched every part of her skin, light and seeking. A gentle sensation trailed down her cheek like the soft stroke of a painter's brush. Slowly, he came to form in front of her, his hands on her face.
“You should have woken me before now,” he chided.
“I can sleep while you drive. You needed the rest more.”
He tugged the blanket a little tighter around her and tucked the corners beneath her chin.
“Why don't you go back and get some sleep now?”
“I'm not tired yet,” she murmured. That wasn't true. She was plenty tired, but she knew her brain wouldn't shut down enough for her to sleep.
“Then keep me company for a while,” he said as he crawled up beside her.
He put an arm around her shoulders and drew her close into the shelter of his body. She relaxed and laid her head against his chest.
“Tell me about you,” she said in a near whisper. “I only know what little I could dig up when I was looking for you and back when Falcon did background before accepting the guide job into Adharji.”
“Not much to tell,” he said. “No family. That was a requirement back when CHR was a spin-off to Special Forces. No ties. No life to speak of.”
She frowned. “How did you get from being a specialized unit to leaving the military and going out on your own?”
Eli sighed. “Same reason most military teams get axed. Bureaucratic bullshit, cutbacks, changes in administration. Everyone comes in with their own agenda.”
Tyana nodded. All reasons she loved being a part of Falcon. They didn't answer to anyone but themselves.
“Our team was formed with a take-no-prisoners attitude. We were ruthless, and we did what we had to do in order to get the job done. We had a one hundred percent hostage recovery rate. Never lost a civilian. Bad guys? Didn't fare so well, and we didn't give a fuck.
“Then came changes in administration. They started making noises about dismantling us. We weren't exactly politically correct. Admin didn't want it to get out that the U.S. supported a military team that didn't adhere to political niceties.
“And then we had an assignment into a fuck hole in the Middle East. Several Americans were being held hostage by some fuck show who wanted the U.S. to surrender to His Royal Highness the King of Fuck-u-ban.”
He turned his head toward Tyana. “You see the bright individuals we were working with here. Obviously with those kinds of demands there was going to be no negotiating, no reasoning with these brain children.
“So we went in to recover the hostages. Things were going well until one of the women, who'd evidently decided during her captivity that she sympathized with our poor misguided terrorists, decided to take a bullet for one of her captors.
“She stepped right in front of him. Took a round to the chest. The pisser was, she didn't even save the asshole. The bullet passed through her heart and took the guy behind her out anyway.
“We recovered the hostages and got the hell out. It was our first civilian casualty, and the guys in Washington jumped at the chance to wag a finger in our faces and disband us. There was no way I was going to let go of something I believe so strongly in.
“Ian, Braden, Gabe and I resigned and struck out on our own. The Army was more than willing to utilize our services as long as they didn't carry the ultimate responsibility. If a mission went to shit, they could throw their hands up and deny having any knowledge of a gun-for-hire hostage recovery group.”
“Real nice,” Tyana said dryly.
“It gets better,” he said. “After what happened in Adharji, it was like we ceased to exist. We'd call needing intel, they'd pretend they didn't know who the fuck we were. All the contacts outside the military, mostly ex-military guys with ties to the government, wouldn't give us the time of day. I'm not convinced that the government and your Esteban weren't in it together.”
She scowled. “He's not my Esteban.”
He continued on, ignoring her protest. “Esteban might have been the brainchild behind the chemical that turned man into shifter, but what would he want with warriors? He planning to go to war? A pharmaceutical company?
“No, I'm thinking for him it was all about money. He'd create the freak of nature and let the U.S. government buy the product. Only it didn't turn out as well as Esteban hoped and no way Uncle Sam would pay a dime until Esteban could produce a working prototype. In this case, me. He wouldn't want Ian and Braden around as shining examples of his failure.”
“That makes sense,” she murmured. “It still doesn't explain why he has no interest in Gabe, in either killing him or having him brought in alive. When Esteban approached Falcon with the job, he was very fixated on you. Less so on Ian and Braden, but then he wanted them dead. But there was never a mention of Gabe then or later when he approached me outside of Falcon.”
“No, it doesn't make sense unless he simply doesn't know about Gabe.”
“So you're men without a country,” she said, foregoing the subject of Gabe for the moment.
“Yeah, you could say that.”
“I guess that's something we have in common,” she said softly.
“So what about you?” he asked as he drew her a little closer to him. “How did you join up with Falcon?”
She stiffened and realized too late that by asking Eli for personal details she would be expected to reciprocate. Her skin itched just thinking about revealing parts of herself that she hadn't shared with anyone.
“Shouldn't we be going?” she asked as she checked the time. By the time they got back to the truck and on the road, it would be getting light.
Eli let out a small breath. “Yeah, I guess we should.”
He stood and pulled Tyana up beside him. They started for the truck, and when they arrived, Eli opened the door to the backseat and handed her a small satellite transmitter.
“Think you can buzz your guy and have him find out what he can on Esteban's whereabouts?”
She nodded and took the equipment before climbing into the passenger seat. As Eli cautiously drove back out to the main road, she fitted the earpiece and entered a series of commands.
There was a long period, and the connection crackled and hummed in her ear. She adjusted the thin wire leading from her ear to her mouth. “Tits, if you're there, I could really use you right now.”
She looked over at Eli in the darkness. “Is there a secure frequency I can upload to him?”
He reached over to the glove compartment and dug around, his arm pressed against her leg while he kept the other hand on the wheel. He dragged out a pen and a pad of paper, placed the pad on her knee and quickly jotted down a series of numbers.
“Tyana, long time no hear. You okay?”
“I'm fine, Tits. Look, I need you to switch to a secure frequency. I don't have my equipment on me.”
“Yeah, I noticed it wasn't you flashing at me. Fire when ready.”
She punched in the numbers. “I'm switching over. Holler when you're there.”
She entered the numbers on the small keyboard and went through the complicated series of gateways. The static and interference in her earpiece died as crisp silence replaced it. A few seconds later, Tits' voice boomed over the connection.
“Now, what is it you need? I hope you're not wanting me to come pull your ass out of some shithole somewhere.”
“You wish. I need intel on Esteban Morales. I need to know where he is, what he's doing and who he's doing it with. Once you figure that out, I need a safe house as close to him as you can manage.”
“I don't like the sound of this, Ty.”
“You don't have to like it. Just do it. It's important, Tits. You know I wouldn't ask otherwise.”
He grunted. “Yeah, I know.”
“E me the info when you get it. I should have a decent enough signal to be able to read it by the time you collect it. I'd rather not do this live. Make sure it's encrypted.”
Tits snorted. “I don't tell you how to do your job, baby girl.”
“Yeah, yeah, do this for me and I'll give you another kiss.”
“I want tongue this time.”
“You got it last time, asshole.”
He chuckled then broke the connection.
She pulled the receiver from her ear and pushed the unit off her lap and into the space between her and Eli.
“He should have the info we need by the time we reach Buenos Aires. At least then we'll know where we need to fly. Are you going to be able to get us out of Argentina?”
Eli smiled in the dim light. “Yeah, sugar. Just leave that part to me.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Tyana dozed fitfully as they drove through small villages and a few larger towns. When Eli stopped for petrol, she dug around in one of the bags they'd packed for food.
They drove on, eating in silence, tension settling over them like a cloud.
She knew she hadn't been fair. But then it wasn't her job to be fair. If Eli wanted to unload on her, fine, but it didn't mean they had to have some mushy meeting of the minds and a therapy session starring her.
Still she could sense something in his attitude toward her. Disappointment? She slouched further down into her seat and turned so she couldn't see him or his occasional glances in her direction.
“I'm not going to stop tonight,” he said, finally breaking the silence. “If I drive through, we can hit Buenos Aires by tomorrow afternoon.”
She turned to look at him, his profile as he concentrated on the road in front of them. He pushed his hair back behind his ear and occasionally fidgeted with his earring.
“And what then?”
His gaze skittered sideways for a second. “Then we wait for your friend to tell us where we can find Esteban. I'll work on our flight details in the meantime.”
“Do you have a place we can stay?”
He grinned. “Of course. Buenos Aires is a big place. Easy to lose yourself in the crowds. Though it would help if you got rid of the bloody jacket sometime between now and then.”
She glanced down, realizing she hadn't even bothered to change since they'd left the compound.
“I'll change when we stop again,” she murmured.
The hours dragged on. Even the scenery, which at first had offered an interesting diversion to Tyana, blurred in one unending line. She hated the silence but knew better than to try and draw Eli into conversation.
When darkness fell, she succumbed to sleep more out of desperation than fatigue.
When Eli shook her awake, though, bright sunlight streamed through the windshield, nearly blinding her. She blinked as she sought to get her bearings. She felt heavy and lethargic, like she was coming out of a coma.
“Where are we?” she mumbled.
“Reaching the outskirts of Buenos Aires,” he replied.
She sat up straighter in her seat. “Shit. You should have woken me up.”
“Why? You needed the rest. When was the last time you got more than a few hours of uninterrupted sleep?”
She didn't bother responding, because they both knew the answer to that one.
“Did the others make it yet?” she asked.
“Talked to them a while ago. They're a couple of hours behind. They'll meet us later.”
She scrubbed the sleep from her eyes and focused on the direction they were heading. Sleek skyscrapers dotted the horizon and traffic around them increased as they drove further into the city.
It reminded her of European cities. Crowded. Similar architecture. It could be one of any of the major metropolises. It could swallow you whole. A person could be as obscure or as noticeable as they wanted.
But she was out of her element, and she knew she had to rely on Eli. This was his turf. Not hers. That dependence made her uneasy.
She absorbed the hectic pace around her as they continued to navigate the busy streets. Beyond the more stylish, modern buildings, they entered an older, more rundown part of the city where the shadows grew and the new and shiny faded.
Eli pulled into a three-story parking garage and parked on the top level. She eyed him curiously as he opened his door.
“Get your stuff. From here we walk.”
She got out and hoisted her bag over her shoulder then walked around the back to get the bag containing their weapons. He took two duffel bags with clothes and electronics and headed toward the stairs.
They exited the garage into an alleyway, and he set off at a brisk pace. After four blocks of dodging trash bins and refuse thrown onto the streets from windows above, he stopped at a battered door and pulled out a key from his pocket.
She looked up to see there was no unit above this one and a glance to the side told her that this apartment adjoined a closed business. The windows of the business were busted out, and it looked as though no one had occupied the building in years.
Eli unlocked the door and ducked in, motioning for her to follow.
It was a simple one bedroom efficiency-style apartment with a small kitchen and a rag-tag couch straddling the space between the bedroom and the kitchen. A small television rested on a rickety stand by the window, but other than that, the apartment didn't boast much else.
“Home sweet home,” he said as he dropped the bags onto the floor beside the couch. “At least until we hear from your friend.”
And hopefully that would be soon. This place made her uneasy. Reminded her too much of things better forgotten. Even the smell was familiar. Dirt, poverty, painâ¦
She gripped her arms with her hands, rubbing up and down, trying desperately to make the fear go away.
“Hey, are you okay?” Eli asked softly.