Chapter 4 #2
“Why are you sorry?” She demanded, her body stiff, her hands resting against his chest. “You’re not the one who didn’t get her somewhere safe.
You’re not the one who didn’t keep them from drugging her to death.
I was the one who should’ve made sure she was all right.
It’s my fault she never saw her ninth birthday.
It’s my fault she’ll never be a teenager, drive a car or fall in love. ” The last words came out on a sob.
Rogue held her loosely, his arms around her but not holding her tightly. If she wanted to be free, all she had to do was step back.
Her body trembled, the stiffness melting away as she leaned into him, pressing her cheek against his chest. Her body shook with her silent sobs. Her tears soaked through the fabric of his shirt.
He didn’t say anything, just held her for as long as she needed a shoulder to cry on, another human to lean on. Rogue suspected it had been a long time since she’d had anyone hold her like he was holding her—a long time since she’d cried for her sister.
Finally, she lifted her head, her eyes red-rimmed and damp. “You shouldn’t be here. Shouldn’t be involved with me.”
“It’s too late. I’m here and staying until we figure this out.” He brushed his thumb across her tear-soaked cheeks.
“Helping me could get you killed.” Her fingers curled into his T-shirt. “I barely lived through losing my sister, an innocent with her whole life in front of her. I don’t know if I could live with myself if something happened to you because of me.”
“I’m not scared.” His thumb swept across her lips.
She stared up into his eyes. “I am,” she whispered. “For you.”
He smiled and brushed his mouth across hers, his arms tightening around her as he pulled her closer.
Her hands slid up his chest and wrapped around his neck as she rose on her toes, deepening the kiss.
When his tongue swept across the seam of her lips, she opened to him.
He lost himself in that kiss, wanting it to last forever, losing himself in the warmth of her body pressed against his.
A vibrating rattle jerked Rogue back from the edge of reason to the danger at hand. He looked to see the burner phone rattling against the end table where he’d set it down next to his beer.
As much as he wanted to continue kissing Keira, he had to answer the call. Rogue grabbed the burner phone and received the incoming call.
“Rogue, Royce here. Are you and the target surviving?”
Rogue released the breath he’d been holding, relieved the sat phone hadn’t been compromised. “Hey, Royce. Yeah, we’re okay.”
“I’m glad you had the foresight to bring more than one of your phones. I tried your previous burner number a couple of times with no response. Swede tracked it to Oklahoma. Are you in Oklahoma?”
Rogue’s lips quirked. “No, I’m not in Oklahoma. I dumped the burner in the back of a pickup with Oklahoma tags in case the burn team had locked onto it.”
“Smart,” Royce said. “We’ll remove that number from our files.”
“Have you learned anything more about Strickland, Kaufman and the Onyx project?” Rogue asked.
Keira leaned close, pressing her ear against the hand holding the cell phone.
Rogue angled the cell phone outward, allowing her to hear the conversation.
“That’s why I called. We’ve confirmed that Strickland is dirty and is connected to Kaufman.
SOS is officially off the grid—the administration, we assume via Strickland, has issued a quiet burn notice on you and me for refusing to cooperate.
I’ve tapped into our network of trusted officials, and I’m working with them to resolve this issue. I need your intel.”
“We’ve been attacked more than once by a team of highly trained, combat-ready men. We ditched our cell phones in case they were tracking us through them. I haven’t used this one to contact anyone, but now that you’ve contacted me...”
“I’m using an encrypted phone, but I get that you might have to ditch that burner. Swede is tracking this call for your coordinates. I need you to stay put as I’m sending you a package with secure equipment, ETA eight hours.”
“Roger,” Rogue said.
“And, Rogue,” his boss said, “keep the target safe.”
Keira frowned.
Rogue cringed at Royce calling her the target. “Her name is Keira.”
“Keep Keira safe,” Royce corrected. “She’s key to blowing this thing wide open.”
Royce ended the call.
“He referred to me as ‘the target,’” she said. “Can you trust him?”
“With my life,” Rogue said. “Royce isn’t just my boss. He’s one of the good guys and the most honorable man I know. If he says he’s helping, he’s helping.”
Keira’s frown remained. The woman had reason not to trust men. Words wouldn’t convince her. Royce’s actions would.
“Eight hours until his drop?” Keira’s lips pressed together. She sank onto her end of the sofa and opened her laptop. As soon as she booted it to life, a ping sounded.
“I thought you said we were off-grid here?” Rogue commented.
“I had one of my contacts set me up with satellite internet and a virtual private network that routes traffic through an encrypted tunnel to mask my IP address.” Her lips quirked.
Rogue grinned. “You really didn’t want anyone to find your secret cabin, did you?”
“No.” Keira frowned down at her laptop.
“What was the pinging sound for?”
Her frown deepened. “I set up facial recognition software a couple of days ago, scanning for Viktor and other Onyx operatives. It found a match.” She turned the laptop toward him. “This surveillance video is from a hotel in San Antonio.”
Rogue moved to sit beside her, their thighs touching, as he looked at a CCTV image of a young woman, maybe in her early twenties, with dark hair and Asian features, moving with the same precision and confidence as Keira.
Keira’s face paled. “She’s Onyx.”
“You know her?” Rogue studied the woman.
“Yes,” Keir nodded. “That’s Jade. If she’s active...it’s to replace me.” She pulled the laptop close again and clicked the keyboard. A news anchor appeared.
“Breaking story,” the man said. “A federal prosecutor was found dead in his Houston home this morning of apparent suicide.”
Keira’s eyes narrowed. “That prosecutor didn’t die of suicide. That’s got Onyx written all over it. One of the ways we stage our kills is to make it look like suicide.”
Rogue leaned close to view the news report and study the victim. “They’re not standing down because one of their weapons has gone rogue. While they hunt you, they’ve activated your replacement.”
Keira’s brow knitted. “She’s doing what I would’ve done—blindly follow orders based on lies and brainwashing.
Only now, they’re going after political enemies, not just cartel leaders.
And I can do nothing to stop her. I can’t believe it took me so long to see the truth.
They’re turning girls into killing machines.
They’ll do the killing, and the people calling the shots keep their hands clean. ”
He hated seeing how distressed she was. “If we can find her, is it possible to flip her?”
Keira’s gaze met his, her eyebrows dipping into a V. “Flip her?”
He nodded. “Make her see that she’s being used. Show her that she doesn’t have to do their bidding? Maybe we could use her testimony along with yours to expose Onyx for what it is.”
Keira bit her bottom lip. “I don’t know. She won’t trust me. I’m sure they’ve told her that I’ve abandoned the family. The program. That I’m a traitor.”
“Then we make her see the truth. You tell her what you overheard in the senator’s apartment.”
“The brainwashing is so deep, I don’t think she’ll listen.” Another alert pinged on her computer.
“Another facial recognition software alert?”
She frowned down at her screen, touched a few keys and brought up a messaging app. Her eyes widened. “Holy shit.”
“What?” Rogue leaned closer to see what she was reading.
“It’s Jade. She’s reaching out to me.” Keira turned the laptop toward Rogue.
He read the message.
J: KD, they’re making me do things. I can’t. I don’t want to k anyone else. I need your help.
“The fact that you’ve defected might have opened the door.” Rogue met Keira’s worried gaze. “I think she’s willing to talk.”