Chapter Ten
GREAT. JUST GREAT. Riley scowled as she turned away from Andre and Elias and stared at her computer screen.
The last thing Fortress needed was a leak.
So many missions in progress would be compromised if the leak turned out to be real.
But nothing else made sense. Members of Artemis and Echo units weren’t blabbing the information to anyone. So that left Fortress.
But to accuse Brent or Zane of being careless with mission security was beyond stupid.
That conversation would likely end with her walking papers in hand as she left the boss’s office.
Besides, both men were Navy SEALs. They understood the importance of mission secrecy.
Brent and Zane would never endanger the operatives. So what did that leave?
Riley drew in a deep breath. One thing at a time.
At the moment, they were secure. If the worst happened and they were outnumbered and outgunned, Rod’s cabin also housed a safe room.
Embarrassing though it would be to run and hide, that was better than standing their ground and dying if the odds weren’t in their favor.
Riley didn’t want to die tonight. She had plans with Andre, a lot of them. Truthfully, her plans spanned a lifetime. She just had to figure out how to tell him.
She glanced at her phone to check the time. One more hour on their shift. With Elias working too, Riley could focus more on her computer work rather than splitting her attention between the computer and the security cam views.
Riley dove back into her search, peeling back another layer of information as she chased another lead. Unfortunately, the hour passed without new information.
She growled. This was the most frustrating search she’d ever encountered.
Andre rested his hand on her shoulder. “Ready to go upstairs?”
After checking that her bots were still at work, she pushed the computer to the side and stood. Although she didn’t really want to sleep, she knew she needed rest. “Let’s go. Did you have any luck?”
“Some. The information will keep, though. I’ll tell everyone at the same time after breakfast. If we talk about this now, neither of us will unwind enough to sleep.”
Andre escorted Riley upstairs to her room. He signaled her to wait while he checked the room, then motioned her inside. “Try to sleep, Riley. If you can’t, wake me and we’ll put on a slow movie or television series and see if that helps you sleep.”
She nodded, although she’d do everything possible to avoid waking Andre. After a long, heated kiss, he left the room, shutting the door behind him.
Riley slipped off her boots and climbed onto the bed, draping a quilt over her. She didn’t like that someone might have discovered their safe house’s location. If they made a move overnight, she wanted to be ready to roll in seconds.
When sleep remained elusive fifteen minutes later, Riley resorted to the trick Angie taught her after she first arrived in Homestead and had trouble sleeping. She slowed her breathing and relaxed her body muscle by muscle, moving slowly from her neck to the soles of her feet.
She woke an hour later to a brisk knock on the door. Riley sat up as the door opened.
“Riley.”
Andre. “What’s wrong?”
“We have company.”
“Where?”
“North quadrant.”
The same place as the broken branch and the boot print.
Wonderful. Not. Guess they should have moved after all.
Riley paused. Perhaps not, though. If they captured the intruder, she could interrogate their prisoner.
She’d learned many things during her time in The Company.
The art of questioning prisoners was one of them. “Two minutes.”
“Security room.”
“Copy that.” After Andre left, Riley threw off the quilt, stepped into her tactical boots, and hurried to splash her face with water to shake off the mental cobwebs.
At the two-minute mark, she dropped into a chair beside Andre. “Show me.”
He pointed at the camera view of the area with the broken limb and boot prints.
At first, Riley saw nothing. Seconds later, a shadow shifted, and a man emerged. Dressed in black from head to toe, the man also wore a ski mask to cover his face. “What’s the plan?”
Andre’s eyes glittered. “Catch him and have a chat with him.”
A chat. Right. Dread coiled in her gut. Should she let Andre catch and question the intruder or tell him of her specialty?
For that matter, why bother hiding it? Iona was her team leader, and as leader she used the gifts and abilities of her team members.
Iona wouldn’t allow her to sit on the sidelines without using her training.
Time to tell him the truth and see how he reacted. Riley turned. “Catch him and bring him to me in the kitchen.”
Her man stared in silence for a few beats. “I assume there’s a reason you asked me to do that. Care to enlighten me?”
“Besides being a computer analyst, The Company trained me well in the art of interrogation.”
More staring, then, “You’re serious?”
“Very.”
He gave a slight nod and stood. “Let’s go, Elias. We have an intruder to catch.”
Riley watched the computer screens, waiting for the two men to appear so she could follow their progress.
Iona joined her at the table. “Andre didn’t know about your second specialty?”
“No.”
“Does he know about your time in the CIA?”
“I told him a couple of hours ago. He was surprised.”
“I’ll bet. People underestimate you, Riley. I didn’t think he would.”
“It’s not his fault. I told him the CIA hired me as a computer analyst and eventually became a field agent, but I never mentioned the interrogation training.”
“He seemed to accept the news.”
“Maybe.” Andre was a cool customer when called for, squashing his reaction to upsetting news until later. Riley hoped he wouldn’t view omitting information as holding back on him.
“You’ll see.”
Yeah, she would. Hopefully, Andre Marsh wouldn’t break her heart.
Riley straightened when Andre and Elias appeared on one screen. She and Iona followed their progress from one quadrant to another. Riley had to admire their skill. What techniques the military taught them, Fortress honed to a fine point and added ten layers of skill.
The two men communicated with hand signals, eventually splitting up to intercept their quarry before he breached the inner perimeter they’d established.
Riley followed Andre’s progress as he moved closer to the intruder.
Tension built inside as the stranger stopped suddenly and scanned the area.
Had he heard something? In the next instant, the man drew a weapon and held it down by his side.
From their positions, neither operative saw the stranger’s action.
They could walk into gunfire. “We have to warn them their target has a weapon.”
“Do it.”
Riley pressed a button on the console that allowed her to communicate with the operatives. “Target is armed. Unknown if he has more weapons.”
“Copy.”
That’s all she and Iona could do until Andre and Elias scooped up the prize and brought him to the cabin.
Riley would have chosen a neutral place to interrogate their soon-to-be prisoner, but she didn’t know the area, and it was obvious he knew where Riley and the others were staying.
How he found out their location was a problem for later.
On the screen, Andre and Elias converged in sync on the intruder, weapons locked on their target. The man froze, then slowly raised his hands above his head.
While Andre held the stranger at gunpoint, Elias confiscated the weapon, then searched him for more. By the time the search ended, zip ties, duct tape, and a black hood littered the ground.
Iona whistled. “Looks like Elias and Andre foiled another kidnapping attempt.”
Riley shoved her hands through her hair. “I don’t understand why suddenly people want to kidnap or kill me. I’ve been ticking people off for a decade. Why am I of interest now? I’ve been out of the game for two years.”
“Some people have long memories.” Artemis’s team leader stood. “Come on. We must be ready when Elias and Andre arrive with our guest.”
Switching the screen of her tactical watch to monitor the security camera views while she worked, Riley followed Iona to the kitchen.
“What do you need to do your work?” Iona stood with her hands on her hips, glancing around the room. “I know you’ll need a chair. What else?”
“A tarp for effect, a hand towel, and a bucket of water.”
Iona smiled. “A fake waterboarding. I like it.”
“Whatever works.” Riley meant that literally.
Under normal circumstances, she regretted scaring someone into telling the truth.
Not here and not now. All she wanted was to uncover information to stop the true culprit before he or she hurt someone she loved.
Yes, her handsome operative could take care of himself.
Didn’t mean she wanted to be responsible for a potential injury to Andre. She’d do anything to prevent it.
Together, the women gathered supplies and set up the scene. By the time they heard Andre’s voice through the comm devices, they were ready.
“One minute warning.”
“I’m ready.” Riley hoped Andre could handle her other skill set. She did the breathing exercise she’d used to slip into the task while working for The Company.
She tapped her earpiece. “Secure him to the chair in the kitchen and cover his head with the hood he brought for me.”
“Copy that,” Elias murmured. “Thirty seconds.”
Iona turned off all the lights except for the hood light over the stove. Pools of deep shadow formed along the walls and in the corners of the room. “Perfect. Ready?”
Riley nodded and moved into the darkest shadow beside the china hutch and waited.
Seconds later, Elias opened the door and led the intruder through the doorway with Andre steps behind them.
Elias and Andre shoved the man into the chair on the blue tarp and secured his arms and legs to the chair with the duct tape he’d brought to use on Riley.
They also covered the man’s head with his hood.