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“She’s pregnant. Aren’t you, Rose?” Karasu said, anger seeping into her voice. Anger not at Rose for being in this predicament, but simply because Karasu thought that this complicated things. And maybe her condition did make things more difficult, but they didn’t have a choice in the matter. She couldn’t see Trasker letting them go…ever. When he got what he wanted from Celeste, he was going to either leave them here to starve, freeze, or kill them outright.
Even with her rationalization, Rose had to fight back another wave of tears. “Yes. Yes, I am.” She was pregnant and it did change everything.
Celeste burst into tears and covered her face. Karasu slid over, reached up and pulled her down to the floor, then wrapped her arms around her.
Her words were full of pain. “I feel like this is all my fault! If I hadn’t dug so hard—” She swore for several seconds. “I’m an analyst. I don’t know how to protect you and your growing baby,” she wailed. “I’m just a glorified computer hacker, and I miss GQ…my Remmy. I’m so worried about what he’ll be forced to do to find us. I’m so sick with all of this.”
“Okay, waterworks. I’ll protect you both,” Karasu said, but it was clear from the frustration in her eyes that she sympathized with Celeste’s worry.
Rose couldn’t breathe for a moment as the crushing reality dropped on her. What would her beloved Chris have to do to get the information he needed to track them down? Preacher? GQ? These men were warriors, ruthless and dedicated to every mission they took on. She was under no delusions that her Iceman and his brothers would do whatever they needed to do to find them. Like Celeste, that troubled Rose deeply. He was her heart and Preacher and GQ her friends and colleagues. Now that she was carrying his child, everything just seemed all the more heightened, more dire. It was a blessing that he didn’t know. She could feel his anguish from all the miles between them.
“I don’t need protection,” Rose said, reaching out and clasping Celeste’s hand. “And this isn’t your fault.” She squeezed Celeste’s hand, and she squeezed back with a wan smile. “Karasu and I are CIA operatives, and you are a kick-ass cryptologist who invented a freaking AI. Nothing has changed as far as I’m concerned. We need a plan, and we have to believe in the certainty that our guys will find us. Trasker is the asshole, and we’re going to beat him against all these odds.”
“I just want to punch that fucker in the nose, just once,” Karasu said between clenched teeth. Preacher and Volk won’t rest until I’m either found, and if the worst happens, avenged. She bit her lip. “Boyce…Axel…” She cleared her throat, blinking rapidly. “I can’t dwell on what they have to do. That’s their fight and their conscience. I can only focus on what I have to do. NSH must go down, and Trasker is the head of that snake. Now that we know who he is, he won’t be able to hide once word gets out.”
Celeste sniffed and wiped her eyes, her chest heaving. “Just the nose?” She gave Karasu a wry look, her eyes going stormy. “I can think of a better place to kick that son-of-a-bitch.”
The three of them burst into laughter and it helped immensely. “The fact of the matter is we’re trapped here, but that doesn’t make us helpless. We have our minds and our bodies.” All her protective instincts were aroused and throbbing. Rose was terrified of losing the life she had with Iceman, and of jeopardizing the baby that grew inside of her, a child she already loved. But the man who was responsible for the death and destruction of countless lives, including her wonderful sister and brother-in-law—she let that spark of anger grow and fill her—the war they were fighting had to go on, pregnancy or not. She was going to give everything she had to accomplish victory. Because anything less would mean the end for all four of them.
Celeste leaned over and closed the bathroom door. They were unseen in here. The first thing they did was remove all the cameras in their bathrooms. Trasker thought he had the upper hand, but he couldn’t anticipate their capacity to survive and fight back. “Then, let’s use them,” Celeste said.
* * *
Once they foundKaiya’s keys and sidearm, Kodiak could only go down one path of thought. Lenny Cox. He must have her. They had been active in not only looking for Archie Baker, but the four NSH recruits who were still at large. Cox probably didn’t have anything to do with them, but whoever was pulling the NSH strings here in Australia—some lackey that freaking mastermind hired independently for each country they had attacked—he had definitely contracted Cox to carry out Baker’s kidnapping.
It was the only logical conclusion.
That conclusion had led them to Cox’s warehouse headquarters on the outskirts of Sydney thanks to Mickey’s intel. The guy had been crushed to learn of Kaiya’s disappearance and he’d given up the location.
He scanned the area. Junked cars, piles of old tires, a couple of broken dumpsters—the place was a maze of hiding spots and fences to keep people out. He scoffed. Fences weren’t going to deter SEALs.
They couldn’t assault until they knew for certain Kaiya was inside. Or, at least, her location. Nor did they have any information to go on. Talk about having his hands tied behind his back.
Thermal imaging showed that there were a lot of warm bodies on the premises. One of those warm bodies was seated in a chair with others around that figure. One of the images had gotten really close to another, and that image had gone down with a third image dragging the second one away.
They had just watched a murder happen, and he swallowed hard, praying that it hadn’t been Kaiya. Unaccustomed panic plowed through him as he watched the small screen.Please no, he thought, staving off his emotions, burying them to keep himself free of distractions. There would be time for those later when he got her back.
Wraith was currently making his way to the warehouse to get a peek inside. The team was here, including Anna, along with AFP backup if it was needed. Kaiya’s boss had been livid when she’d heard the news, mobilizing her elite assault team to stack the deck.
Wraith climbed the warehouse wall like a monkey, assisted by a sturdy 7mm climbing rope. Dropping low onto the roof, he moved forward as if he were gliding on air. Word from the guys who had worked with Wraith said they believed the guy’s feet never touched the ground.
“Pure Wraith,” Panda said smugly through the comms.
He floated over to some raised transoms with narrow windows. Clearing off the grime with his gloved hand, Wraith peered inside.
“She’s here, seated in the chair,” Wraith said, “and they’re working her over.” He swore softly. “We need to move—fuck! Wait, wait. Don’t set the charges,” Wraith said. “They’ve got gasoline in big barrels down there. Avoid the east side of the building. If you breach there, the whole place could go.”
“Copy that,” Hazard said, as Reck’d, Kodiak, Anna, and Tessa moved from their vantage point, double-timing it to the hole in the fence. Slipping through, they approached the warehouse cautiously.
“Guards neutralized,” Wraith said, and Kodiak wondered when the guy had gotten down off the roof. Avoiding the east wall of the warehouse, they congregated in front of the small side door. Other than a back door, it was the only access into the building and was conveniently placed next to the huge hangar doors. They would have preferred the element of surprise and not entered through the door, but their strategic area was right behind barrels of explosive gasoline, forcing them through the front door.
“I counted seven warm bodies inside with AKs locked and loaded.”
“Copy that,” Reck’d said into his comm. “Skull, take Bones to the back in case of squirters. Wraith, back him up.” Skull and Bones peeled off from the main group, and took off to the right, bent low and moving fast. Another figure joined up with him, seemingly coming out of the shadows…Wraith.
Reck’d looked at the group around him, then said, “Boomer, set the charge on the door. Breakneck, hit the hangar switch door release once we enter. On my mark.”
Boomer moved up to the front and pulled out a charge strip and adhered it to the door. They all moved to either side of the door, far enough away to avoid the effects of the blast.
