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“Jennifer Langdon,” her husband said, with so much pride filling his voice, “She’s my fucking ass-kicking wife.”
“Well, Jennifer, the man said, “You just saved a lot of lives.”
13
Hazard didn’t even realizehow much paperwork was involved in police work. All of them had been giving statements and filling out reports for the rest of the day, but he couldn’t help smiling every time he thought of Jennifer Langdon subduing Sonny Robinson with a throat punch. He chuckled again, shaking his head. The young woman and her husband were sitting in Tessa’s office. It might be possible she would receive the Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service of a high degree to Australia and to humanity at large in recognition of her bravery in saving so many lives at the Trasker Hotel.
Then there was Barry Turner. What a sap. He and the whole team had been nonplussed when Kaiya had told the potential mass murderer that the attorney general would double whatever the mastermind of NSH was paying him. When he named a figure, she’d said done. After he’d told them that the attack on the AIEC for Fulbright Scholars was happening as they spoke, she had said he would have a nice nest egg when he got out of prison. He’d said she sounded sarcastic, and she told him that, oh, yeah, she was lying and then proceeded to tell him where he could stick his hurt feelings. On top of that, they were seizing his whole bank account as part of the evidence they were building against him for being a terrorist, and if they were lucky, the next time he saw light, it would be red and orange when he was rushing toward it on his way to hell.
The look on the bastard’s face had been priceless. They’d wasted no time in scrambling and rushing over there to be met in the lobby with Sonny down on his stomach, his hand twisted in a very nice thumb hold, with Jennifer’s high-heeled foot in his back.
So, their mission here was about complete—if it wasn’t for the nagging feeling that they had missed something. It had been Kodiak who had pointed out that Louis Campbell and Heath Fergurson were still at large, and if they hadn’t participated in the three attacks on Americans, what had they been hired to ultimately do?
That worry had kept them all on the edge. But they had no clues about their mission or missions. He suspected the AFP would continue to pursue that matter once the team departed tomorrow evening.
Hazard had been in almost constant contact with GQ, feeling his frustration and fear for Celeste. Hazard didn’t know why, but he was bolstered by the very fact that Celeste was one of the women taken. She was a computer genius, and if anyone could get word to them, it would be her. Anna had received updates during Iceman, Preacher, GQ, Kat, the NCIS agents, and Bree’s vigilance as they cooled their heels in Anchorage, Iceman unwilling to leave until he’d exhausted the search for their women. But that was about to come to an end. There was no sign of them anywhere they had already searched, and helicopters couldn’t keep flying across the frozen tundra indefinitely.
It was also frustrating that neither Barry Turner, nor Sonny Robinson knew anything about who was the mastermind of NSH. NSH and their attacks had consumed so many lives, and it was time for it to end. Hazard couldn’t help feeling a sense of failure that the mastermind was still free to cause more death and destruction.
Then there was his brother, Kodiak. If it wasn’t obvious before the Turner takedown, it was obvious now that he had a thing for Kaiya—not a thing, but something serious. It seemed like a tough situation he was in. He just hoped Kaiya felt the same way, and they would be able to work it out.
* * *
Kodiak watchedas Jennifer Langdon and her husband rose and shook Tessa’s hand. He was finishing up his report for the record, while Kaiya had been summoned to her boss’s office. Everything in the AFP was glass, so it was easy to see what was going on. His cell rang, and he answered, “Kodiak.”
“Hi, this is Jody Larkin. My husband’s sleeping now, but he wanted me to call you and tell you he remembered something. He doesn’t know if it’s important.”
“Of course,” he said. “What is it?” The Langdons made their farewells, stopping and offering their hands to Kaiya with warm looks on their faces. He felt a rush of amusement remembering Sonny Robinson’s position when they’d gotten to the hotel. The big, bad dude had been trounced but good by a slip of a woman. A throat punch. Awesome.
Kaiya nodded and entered Tessa’s office and they started talking. After a couple of minutes, Kaiya stiffened and her chin came up. She looked poleaxed, and he was dying to know what they were talking about.
“One of the kidnappers said, ‘This was going to be a good dry run.’”
Kodiak frowned. “Dry run” was usually a term used to practice something to be carried out…a kind of rehearsal…but for what?
That restless feeling went through him again, a feeling of being crowded, of being diminished, twisted in him. He was aware the team was now done in Australia, and they were leaving to head back to Virginia Beach. Leaving Kaiya wasn’t the only thing gnawing at him. He hated like fuck that the mastermind was still unknown, that he hadn’t heard a word from Ailee, or that Iceman, Preach, and G were no closer to finding their SEAL babes. He was stoked they had taken down the cell in Australia and prevented any casualties. The only nagging remnants were the two wild cards, Heath Ferguson and Louis Campbell. They had been recruited for something…but what?
It didn’t sit well with him that they were leaving before the mystery of Campbell and Ferguson was resolved. Could it have something to do with this “dry run?”
And fuck it, he didn’t want to leave Kaiya.
At that moment, she turned her head, seeking him. Their eyes met and there was a mixture of emotions in them. They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, and he felt her slipping through his fingers. What had just happened? Tessa snagged her attention again, and when it looked like they were wrapping things up, he stood and waited for her.
She came out of the office and made a beeline for him. She didn’t say anything, just took his arm and started to pull him toward her office. When they were inside, she closed the door behind them, then let go of him.
“What happened?”
Kaiya stared at him, looking pensive and excited at the same time. Her dark hair was in a side braid, lying along the curve of her sweet neck, but some tendrils had slipped loose and now curled around her face. He suddenly remembered what it felt like to have the silky weight slithering across his chest and down his thighs. He clenched his jaw against the heated rush of physical response, knowing that what he wanted clearly wasn’t going to be possible. Maybe it was time for him to make a clean break. With her body trembling and that strange look, she seemed oddly vulnerable. Kodiak tightened his jaw, and looked away, knowing the news she was about to deliver was going to fuck him up.
“Because of my performance on this assignment, regardless of the couple of hiccups with you, my boss has handpicked me for a temporary assignment to liaison with Europol to analyze and apprehend the leader of a splinter group operating throughout Europe.”
His heart sank, but he pushed away his own disappointment. He knew this was eventually going to come to a close and she was now rising in the ranks. That didn’t surprise him. She was a formidable law enforcement agent, a natural. Forcing his face to relax, he gave her a smile. “You deserve every opportunity that you’re offered. When do you leave?”
“Next week. We need to wrap up here, and I have to pack and do a lot of personal stuff.”
“Of course. Where are they sending you?”
The excitement bubbled over in her voice, yet there was still a solemn cast to her eyes. “Europol’s headquarters in the Hague in the Netherlands. Can you believe that?” She paced away and ran an unsteady hand over her hair. “I’ve always wanted to do something…bigger. I didn’t know how much until now. Not that the AFP isn’t important, but I feel I have a knack for international law enforcement. Who knows where this could take my career?”
