Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
“Where is everyone?” I asked, glancing around the empty basement the team had been using as a base of operations, zeroing in on the lone occupant.
Zane Lewis brooding alone in silence was never good. It was a clear sign we were in the shit and there was little to no chance we’d wash the filth off before we were buried under it.
Though we’d been wading in this particular steaming pile of shit for a while. And around every turn more shit fell on us.
“Not here,” he grunted, not taking his eyes off the wall in front of him.
I pulled out the closest chair, plopped down, and waited.
“Brave,” Zane mumbled.
He wasn’t wrong. I’d just painted a bullseye on my forehead for a snake coiled ready to strike.
“You gonna let the president swing?” I asked, knowing he wouldn’t.
“I should.”
A few hours ago, President Graham had addressed the nation.
He’d tossed out words like: terrorist attacks, transparency, treason, foiled assassination attempt, and conspiracy.
He’d doubled down and called out China and Russia, alerting both our adversaries that the US knew they were behind two bridge collapses—one in Baltimore and one in the Bay Area.
He’d also shared that we knew the Chinese were behind a power outage in Arizona and they’d done it by installing a backdoor in the transformers they’d manufactured and sold us.
Further, he lowered the hammer and addressed both countries on national TV for the world to see and hear that if they didn’t retreat and cease further attacks, he’d deploy the nuclear options available to him.
The only thing Graham didn’t divulge was that we knew the Chinese were targeting our nuclear power plants and those were now heavily guarded and taken offline.
The country was already quickly sliding into chaos. If the population at large knew about the power plants, Graham could kiss chaos goodbye and pandemonium would sweep through the country like wildfire.
“After that speech, he not only tied the knot, he slipped his head into the noose,” I reminded him.
“The fuck of it is, I would’ve done the same thing,” Zane admitted. “He’s backed into a corner—putting China on notice was the right move. But the Russian involvement was a powerplay. One I hope doesn’t come back and bite us all in the ass.”
“What’s your next move?”
Zane’s features were perfectly blank as he continued to stare at the wall.
The man was next-level in his mastery of hiding his emotions.
If he didn’t want you to know his thoughts, not a single reaction was telegraphed.
On the contrary, if he wanted you to feel his mood, it filled the room until you were suffocating on it.
“You know that woman is going to chew you up and spit you out.”
Fuck.
I leaned back in my chair and settled in for a conversation I didn’t want to have.
“Nothing for her to chew up. Besides, it’d be hard for her to sink her teeth into nothing but scar tissue.”
“You’re wrong, Cash. That scar tissue isn’t the armor you think it is.
And when it tears open, what’s buried underneath is unprotected.
I want nothing more than for you to find a woman who will protect those burdens and free you from the prison you keep yourself in.
But Lore, she’ll rip you apart and leave you bleeding. ”
He was right about one thing. Lore was a conniving, manipulative man-eater with her own agenda and she’d plow down whoever stood in her way.
Lucky for me, it wasn’t the scar tissue I used as armor.
It was knowledge. Knowledge I’d gained from years’ worth of pain.
Those lessons started when my mother cast me aside and left me.
They continued when I shuffled around foster care.
And were permanently inked on my soul when I was a homeless kid forging for food and shelter.
There would be no woman protecting my burdens. No freeing me from my past. No feelings. No love. No kids. No marriage. Not for me.
But Stella, now she was a different story. When she shed the Lore persona and I had the woman under the facade, she was magnificent. In the time we had before she left to do whatever it was she did, wherever she did it, we were going to have some fun.
It was temporary.
She knew it and I knew it.
But the attraction couldn’t be denied. And I had to admit; I wanted more than to just fuck the woman.
I wanted to exchange barbs. I wanted to push her buttons, and I wanted her to push mine.
Her smart mouth and comebacks were a turn-on just as her iron-clad control was.
She was unquestioningly gorgeous, but that wasn’t what drew me to her.
I wanted her surrender. More, I wanted to break her.
I wanted to bend her to my will knowing when I finally got her on her knees that victory would be the sweetest win I’d ever taste.
Every inch I gained would be a battle. She’d match me play for play. Hell, I had no doubt she’d outplay me a time or two. A war of wills—winner takes all.
There would be no love, no promises, no sharing secrets, no unburdening of souls.
But there’d be respect, and since that was all I had to offer, it worked.
“You’re heard,” I told him.
“Am I?” Zane sounded unconvinced.
“You are,” I affirmed. “And no worries, I know exactly who Lore is and who she isn’t. Besides, in the time you’ve known me, have I ever given you any indication I’m looking for anything other than a good time?”
Zane transferred his stare from the wall to me. It was no longer bland but full of concern, an emotion from him I didn’t want—actually, I didn’t want it from anyone. But from him, it felt like a blade sinking into my chest.
“Cash—”
Before he could piss me off, I interrupted. “Don’t say anything more. You gave your warning. It was unnecessary but out of respect for you I listened. Now I’m asking you to respect me and drop it.”
His face blanked and he nodded.
“The agency’s got a man en route to pick up Jun De Chen and Senator Rutte. Need you to go down to the shed and oversee the handoff.”
Jen De Chen was an MSS agent we’d captured.
I wish I could say in the forty-eight hours we’d been holding him we’d been able to break him, but the man was made of steel.
He hadn’t even made a face when Lore had ripped open a box of Icy Hot patches and given me instructions on where to place them.
Not even a flinch when those patches were affixed to his cock and balls.
Unfortunately, we’d been ordered not to employ torture, so with our options limited, the guy had remained silent.
Senator Rutte had proven to not only be a traitor but a weak-ass pissant.
Five minutes into his patches, he’d blabbed.
Clearly the Chinese had chosen correctly if Rutte was the man they’d picked to install into the White House after they assassinated the president and those in succession until they got to the senator. Rutte would be easily controlled.
Now both men would be picked up and whisked off to some CIA black site where a Mr. Green or Mr. Purple would have all the fun.
Sucked, but sometimes that was just how the cookie crumbled.
“After the handoff?”
“I need you and Lore to go to Wyoming.”
Wyoming was where the mysterious Black Team was headquartered. Their base of operations a heavily guarded secret even from those of us who worked at Z Corps.
“You’re sending Lore to the ranch?”
“She’s nothing if not a survivalist. I don’t trust her, but being a survivalist, she’ll know what will happen if she breathes a word about Black Team or about the ranch. And since her top priority is herself, she’ll take it to the grave.”
Lore’s priority certainly was Lore. But what Zane wasn’t saying was if she ousted the location of the ranch, the team would simply move to a different state. That was if they survived whatever attack that drove them off their land.
Risky move.
“What do you need from Bolin?”
Bolin Chen was Jun De’s brother. A man called Dutch had tracked him down and taken him prisoner. Not that being the brother of an MSS agent was a crime, but Bolin had racked up a laundry list of felonies by playing a role in the recent terrorist attacks among other things.
“Bolin’s gone. A Mr. Blue picked him up from Dutch this morning. There’s someone else there I need you to talk to.”
I waited for Zane to tell me more. When he remained silent, I pressed, “Are you going to keep me in suspense or tell me who we’re meeting?”
“An old friend. Goes by Shades. He has something I need.” Zane paused, shook his head, and continued. “Whatever he gives you, don’t let it out of your sight. Lore doesn’t touch it and it’s to be on your person at all times.”
I knew I’d get nothing else from Zane, so I didn’t pry.
“Copy.”
“Dutch is also providing safe passage for a woman named Irine Peterson, formerly Irinia Kikoin, a Russian translator. She has intel we need before Dutch takes her to start her new life.”
I didn’t ask why Dutch couldn’t get the intel from the woman and relay it to Zane or why whatever this guy Shades had couldn’t be sent via a courier or sent electronically.
He was the boss. I was the good sailor who followed orders.
Nothing more than a highly trained killing machine that had been taught not to question.
“Copy that. When do we leave?”
“As soon as you deal with the spooks.”
“Got it.”
I stood but stopped at the bottom of the stairs when Zane called my name.
“Don’t let those fuckers dally. I only have so much patience and self-control. I want those assholes off my property ASAP.”
To say Zane and the CIA had a checkered past would be an understatement.
It was more of a love-hate relationship.
Zane would work with the agency when it suited him, and the agency would put up with his hostile attitude when they needed him.
Making the relationship even more interesting, Zane and most of his team, including me, Theo, Easton, Smith, and Jonas had worked for the CIA.