
The Fixer and The Fugitive: In Paradise (Spies Like Us #10)
Prologue
S he could fit anywhere. Probably could have won Olympic Gold in gymnastics, she thought. As if anyone would have enrolled her in that. No one had ever put her in any sort of class, outside of compulsory public school. And she’d missed so many days of that it was nothing short of miraculous she graduated. Probably the teachers had a conference and realized if they didn’t pass her they’d have to keep her. Outside of school, she’d taught herself to swim, along with everything else.
Now she used her natural flexibility to shimmy between tiny spaces in the rocks, like a hungry mouse. Six elite SEALs on standby and I’m the one they send in, only a few months out of basic. Not too shabby.
She supposed she shouldn’t be cocky, but it was becoming harder to accomplish. Basic had been a cakewalk, as had everything since. If not for all the tricky work of relating to other people, she’d probably be recommended for Officer Candidate School. That and her lack of a college degree, or desire to ever procure one. She’d had enough education to last a lifetime, thank you very much. Anything else she had to learn could be acquired the way she’d found everything else: through the school of hard knocks.
One of the SEAL guys gave her the signal, a tiny little sound that was supposed to be like the croaking of a frog. She didn’t tell him she’d never heard a frog croak in real life. City kids like her didn’t get a lot of nature.
She eased into the opening, darting through narrow passages only big enough for someone her size. If not for the providentially tiny openings, would the SEALs have used her? Probably not. She was nothing to them. She saw the way they looked at her, so superior, so dismissive, and wanted to make them pay. And she would, if they had time.
The sound of scuffling feet alerted her to someone’s presence. This part of the building was supposed to be empty, but even a few months in the army had been enough time to teach her things rarely went according to plan, especially not in the middle of the desert where tech was spotty at best. Her head whipped back and forth, looking for a spot to hide. There was none. In desperation she looked up and, like a beacon of hope, saw an opening in the ceiling. With a jump worthy of a standing ovation, she leapt, her fingers barely making purchase with the ceiling’s crack. And then she was through, fitting herself in the tiny little space like a centipede taking shelter from a harsh storm. All of her contorted around whatever she now shared the ceiling with. Squinting, she leaned closer and sniffed, smiling in delight at what she found. Because, without a doubt, it was exactly what the Navy brats came for. And she, lowly newbie soldier she was, had found it for them.
She was so gleeful she forgot to keep track of her allergies. A sneeze popped out before she could stop it and then a dark face loomed below her, scowling.
Stay and hide or fight it out? A little puff of laughter escaped at the idiocy of her question. When had she ever walked away from a fight? She twisted, lowering her foot onto the guy’s face like a boom. He screamed and backed away, clutching his bloody, broken nose.
It was over almost before it could be fun. The SEALs had that effect, swarming the place like ants at a picnic, taking out all the targets while she stood by like, well, like a helpless female. And they were mad. That was the worst.
“You weren’t supposed to engage,” the leader said, whirling on her with a bossiness she didn’t appreciate. He might outrank her, but that didn’t make him better.
In lieu of an answer, she raised a finger and pointed above her, maintaining eye contact with the SEAL. He followed the line of her point, eyebrows rising interestedly at the crack.
“Is that what I think it is?” he asked, much friendlier now.
Again she refused to speak. Instead she shimmied back into the hole and began dumping all the stuff they’d come for down through it. Drugs. Guns. And information, hard drive upon hard drive of it. She shimmied back down and dusted her pants. “Will that be all, Lieutenant Ridge?”
He gave her a little nod, distracted by the bonanza on the floor. “Thank you for your help, Private. I’ll put in a good word with your CO.”
She swallowed her snarky reply. It would feel a little too good to give him one, but he was one of the hoity-toity elite. She could tell by the way her commanding officer practically fell all over himself trying to impress him. A little nod was the best she could manage. Her gaze slid over him and landed interestedly to the person behind him, a pretty boy who was smiling at her in a way that was familiar. He was interested. She gave him a little look. He gave her one in return. Unfortunately the Lieutenant caught it and frowned, giving his head a hard shake.
“Ethan, no. We finish this, and we’re out. No distractions, no diversions.”
With a sigh, Ethan returned his attention to the task at hand, summarily dismissing her. That dismissal made her enraged. It felt too much like every other dismissal in her life. Interestingly, they all came at the hands of some man.
She spun on her boot and fled, trying hard not to stomp like a pouty toddler. I’ll show them, she thought. She could have anyone, and she would. Nelson had been giving her the eye lately. She’d held off because he was with Tina, the only other woman on this assignment. But desperate times and all that…
She returned to base, ignored everyone who tried to ply her with questions, and made a beeline for Nelson. He was just leaving the shower when she found him. Without a word, she ushered him back inside.
An hour later, Tina found her. Normally she could take Tina easily. Despite the fact that Tina was bigger, she was a better—and meaner—fighter. But Tina waited until she was asleep. It was almost a fair fight, almost. Tina said all the ugly things women always said when they learned what she’d done. Strangely they always blamed her instead of their philandering significant other. Oh, well. She’d take it. It wasn’t as if she’d ever had female friends.
The MP’s arrived and tried to break up the fight, but it was too far gone. And because it was her third such fight since the assignment began, she was the one they dragged to the brig. She thought she’d cool her heels for a while and they’d let her out. She should have known her life never worked out that well. But even she was shocked when they came for her and led her to the CO’s tent.
She readied her defense against her CO. Rather, she readied her defensiveness. It would be hard for him to discipline her, given what she had on him. Namely their time together with him in Nelson’s place. He might deny it, but she had proof, backup just in case. It wasn’t her first time. She played for keeps; it was better people knew that up front.
When she entered the tent and saw The Colonel sitting still and silent, watching her, all her defensiveness fled. She’d never seen him in real life, of course. But she’d heard the rumors, the whispers. He was a legend, so much that she’d started to doubt he was real. He must be something the army told all newbies to scare and impress them. This is what you should aim for, and this is what you should hope you never encounter.
Tina must be related to him. That was the only explanation. The army was filled with such blatant nepotism. It made her sick. For that reason she skipped the requisite salute and slouched into the chair opposite from him, uninvited. He didn’t comment, and she was strangely disappointed by that.
For a while, they stared at each other in silence. He was expressionless, so much it was eerie, like staring at a robot. She remained mutinous, arms crossed tightly over her chest. When he finally spoke, it was so unexpected she couldn’t help but jump a little, then cursed herself for the show of weakness.
“Why did you join the army?”
Even his voice sounded tough, especially for an old dude.
“Army or jail,” she answered, after running the list of scenarios and deciding nothing could be gained by stubborn silence.
“Why did you think the army would be better?” he asked.
No one had ever asked her that before. She looked away before she answered. “Maybe I wanted to break the family legacy.” Both her parents had been in jail at one point and might be again for all she knew. It wasn’t as if they’d ever been real parents, the kind who cared about her and kept in contact. Based on her memories of them, jail was a much better place than imagining them let loose on the streets to cause havoc.
“You graduated high school despite missing a hundred days your senior year.”
She blinked at him, realizing for the first time she had no idea what this was. The thought made her uncomfortable. She had spent so long at the mercy of the system, she’d learned all its ways. Wrong behavior equaled punishment at the hands of the higher ups. He was the highest of the higher ups, but this didn’t feel like a punishment, at least not so far. She shifted slightly and uncrossed her arms. “Yes,” she said, because what else could she say? It wasn’t like school had been hard. If she’d been able to attend, hadn’t been shunted from home to home by the state, maybe she would have been like one of the nerds she used to torment. As it was she’d been able to show up and pass all the tests, without ever having done the reading or requisite homework.
“You were the best marksman in basic.”
“Not so hard to accomplish,” she said and squinted. Did his cheek flick upward with amusement, or was that her imagination?
“Not only in your unit, but out of everyone in basic that entire year,” he added, and now it was her turn to flinch. No one had told her that, of course. Probably hadn’t wanted to make her cocky. Rather, cockier.
The Colonel leaned back, eyes boring into her with rapid assessment. “In fact, you’re a pretty good soldier.”
“Thank you,” she said slowly. Was he hitting on her? He was old. She was too far gone to be grossed out by that. Instead her mind went to all the ways he might help her. If she got dirt on him, with proof, it would be like gold in her pocket. She softened her expression and leaned forward, smiling a little as her hand eased closer to his on the table. “What can I do for you, Colonel?”
His expression didn’t change, but somehow the air in the room became colder. He took a breath, held it, and let it out slowly, silently. “It’s more a question of what I can do for you, Private.”
Her smile deepened. Her hand inched closer to his, but somehow she couldn’t bridge the last centimeter, couldn’t make herself touch him. It was as if there was some sort of invisible force field around him, stopping her advances. It bugged her, settled next to her heart and poked in a way that made her squirmy. Why, though? She’d been with old men, powerful men, all the men she wanted, and some she didn’t. This was an old game, nothing new. What felt different in this moment?
The Colonel tipped his head slightly and she had the uncomfortable feeling he could read her thoughts. She squirmed again, fighting the urge to pull back and cross her arms protectively again. It was a while before he spoke again. She had the sense he had weighed his words, sifted them so they’d be perfect.
“Sit up, Private, and put your hands in your lap. Wipe that smirk off your face. I have a wife at home and daughters your age. I do not want what you are pedaling. Let’s get that clear up front so there will be no misunderstanding. Are we clear?”
“Yes, sir,” she said and realized as she did so that she was now sitting at attention, hands in her lap, completely incognizant of how she’d gotten that way. Did her body obey him without her consent? She didn’t like that, didn’t like it at all. And yet she couldn’t seem to undo it. It was as if he’d cast a spell and bound her. All she could do now was listen.
He rested his hands on the table. “You’re going to leave this assignment and work for me. You’ll receive special training and then further instructions. I’ll send you where, I’ll tell you when. But if you ever try a stunt like you tried here today, your time in the army will be over. You will find yourself buried in misery so deep, you will never recover. Clear, Private?”
“Yes, sir,” she said, voice unrecognizably meek and tremulous.
He might have relaxed slightly, it was hard to tell. He took another of those deep breaths and eventually spoke again. “I’m privy to all the details of your life, even the ones you think you’ve kept hidden.”
She blanched. The things she’d tried to keep hidden were so numerous it was difficult to pick which was the most mortifying. Her face felt red, eyes teary. When he spoke in a softer tone, it was nearly her undoing.
“This is your chance to start afresh, Private. But you need to make a clean break of it. You think you’re using these men, but you have it backwards. They’re using you. Enough of this. Be a better woman, soldier.”
She swallowed, with difficulty, past a hard lump. Anger, hurt, or embarrassment? She didn’t know. Maybe all three. She gave a little nod, it was all she could do.
The Colonel gave her what might have been a smile and, if she didn’t know better, might be something like approval. He knocked on the table between them. “Pack your things. Your new life begins now.”