Lethal Echo by Cara Carnes

4

It took less than five minutes for three teams to surround the landing pad outside the hangar. Bree had Bertha activated via her tablet in case she was needed, but she suspected the armed commandos would handle whoever was in the chopper.

The black beast landed with a rougher landing than Lexi ever did. The chopper pilot stood a few feet away, kitted out to take off if needed, not that Bree expected a dogfight—especially since the helicopter currently landing was unarmed.

Relief filled her when she noted its seemingly innocent exterior. Maybe whoever this was was just an idiot and not a threat. Another problem was the last thing The Arsenal needed.

The chopper’s inhabitants were dragged out before the blades stopped turning. The pilot was slammed to his stomach and secured with plastic restraints. The lone passenger was shoved to his knees. He interlaced his fingers behind his head and laughed.

“I take it he didn’t call ahead like he promised.” The man’s thick English accent punctuated each word. “My identification is in my back pocket.”

“That won’t be needed,” Mary said. “Your pilot flew into protected airspace.”

“Bloody twit,” the man spat angrily. “Apologies. I should have rented a car and driven here myself, but he assured me you knew him.”

“He lied,” Vi said. “Who are you?”

“Gavin.” The name slid from Bree’s lips as she took a few steps forward. The man’s pale blue gaze latched on to her. “I don’t know his last name, but he was with British Intelligence. He was my handler when I…” Yeah, she wasn’t supposed to talk about that. “What are you doing here?”

“We need to have a chat,” the man said. “Gavin DuBois. Former SAS.”

“You’re with Knightwind,” Mary said. She glanced over at where the Mason brothers huddled together. “Black Ops group. Privately run. They work mostly within Europe, but sometimes find their way here.”

“You’re better than even I expected, Edge.” Gavin glanced at Vi. “You must be Quillery. I’ve looked forward to formally meeting you both. You probably don’t remember, but you pulled me out of a situation a few years ago.”

“What are you doing here?” Marshall asked.

“We need to have a conversation.” Gavin’s gaze landed on Bree again. “A private one.”

“Not happening,” Ram growled. “Keep your eyes off her.”

Gavin’s amusement sounded in the tense silence. “Very well. You’ve made some very powerful people extremely nervous. A few of them think the lovely Bree is here under duress. Others don’t care and want her. Their reasons vary, but none will end well.”

Her pulse quickened. Ram shifted his stance once more, putting himself fully between her and Gavin. She set a hand on Ram’s back. “I’m okay.”

“Up.” Marshall barked the order as Nolan dragged the operative to standing and shoved him forward.

Dallas prowled into the pilot’s personal space. “What part of restricted airspace didn’t you understand?”

“You aren’t protected airspace,” the man accused. “No way.”

“Eric Whitehall,” Zoey supplied. “You’re in a heap of trouble.”

“Yeah, right.” The man’s gaze roamed down Lexi, then moved to Rhea. “Though, I will enjoy the entertainment while I wait. Which of you ladies would like to go first?” He leered at Lexi a moment. “You’re definitely my style. Come on, sweetheart, I’ll show you how to fly. I see you eying my bird. You a wannabe? Show me a good time and maybe I’ll take you up.”

Asshole.

“You’d best get that verbal diarrhea under control before one of our men rip out your intestines and choke you with them,” Zoey said.

“Take our visitor to the whiteboard room,” Mary ordered.

“And this asshole?” Gage asked as he shoved the pilot.

“Keep him out here,” Vi said. “Have a team look over his chopper. HERA’s digging into him and his company. We’ll decide later.”

Bree pulled up the contact information on her tablet. She fired off a text to one of her FAA peeps.

Bree: A pilot just ignored the protected airspace. What can we do with him?

Jay: Killing isn’t an option, for the record.

Bree: Smartass.

Jay: Like it didn’t cross your mind.

Bree: He’s an asshole.

Jay: Name?

Bree: Eric Whitehall, works out of Dallas. I can give you more in a minute.

Jay: That’s enough. Give me five.

Bree smiled. Ram chuckled beside her. “What?”

“That’s your I-just-did-something-good grin,” he teased. “What are you up to?”

“Nothing much. Yet.” She shrugged. “I’m just doing my part. I guess Bertha wasn’t needed.” She sighed loudly. “That’s too bad. I really wanted to see what she could do.”

“We missed your brand of crazy,” Doug said as he dragged her into a side hug. “You match ours perfectly.”

Bree clung to the banter between the two men rather than think about why Gavin had shown up. If he’d come all the way from Europe, it wouldn’t be good. Dread clawed her insides, but she focused on the friends surrounding her. They’d get through whatever was about to hit. Failure wasn’t an option.

Moments later, she sat in the same seat within the whiteboard room she always occupied. Ram sat beside her. Gage glowered but moved to a different chair. What had once been a small, forgotten room when they’d first arrived at The Arsenal had become the most used room within the building, outside what she called Command Central, where Mary, Vi, Zoey, Cord, Jesse, and Jacob ran missions.

A slight buzz within the room told her they’d put some of her newest soundproofing tech to work. She smiled. At least some of her ideas were well received. She hadn’t realized how much their doubt of her creations bothered her until she’d started sessions with Sinclair. The psychiatrist had told her she’d need to talk to them about it, but now wasn’t the time.

There was never time.

Gavin sat across from her and Ram. His intense scrutiny pricked her skin.

“Keep looking at her like that, and you’ll leave in a body bag,” Ram warned.

The man smirked. “I see things haven’t changed much. There’s always someone who’ll stand at your side.”

“What the fuck?” Gage grabbed the man by the neck. “That’s the last time you insult her.”

“Not an insult, I assure you. Merely an observation.” His voice lowered. “Things haven’t changed much, have they, Bree?”

“You know him,” Ram said. “How?”

“It was a long time ago.” Not long enough. “I took an overseas assignment, my first one. Addy didn’t want me anywhere near it because Mary and Vi couldn’t get much in the way of intel on the organization. Back then, I ran every opportunity by them first.”

“You took it anyway,” Addy said. “It took me three months to track her location and get her out.” The woman glared at Gavin. “This asshole was her handler, for lack of a better word, though jailer explains it better. Once someone signed on to work for Knightwind, they didn’t get out until they’d gotten everything they could from them.”

“My employer’s methods aren’t accepted by everyone, but they’re successful.” Gavin held up his hands. “I do what I’m told. I’m sure everyone in here has been there before.”

“We have. That’s why we scraped them off and went our own way,” Dallas said. “There’s no excuse for being an asshole. Edge, why are we here?”

“Because as much as we might dislike the operational methods Knightwind uses, they’re the best international spy organization around,” Mary said. “They actually saved a mission Vi and I were running when we first started working at Hive. They warned us off a hotbed we were about to send a team into.”

“Hive was on our radar back then as being a potential threat to international security. They took any assignment if the paycheck was large enough,” Gavin said. “It only took us a few months to realize something had changed, though. They had more success than usual. Then we discovered the reason.”

“The Quillery Edge,” Ram said.

Gavin nodded. “It didn’t take them long to surpass our success and become the true powerhouse for intel gathering. I’m here to repay some of the debt Knightwind owes you both, along with Bree.”

“How does she play into your past?” Marshall asked. “From what Addy has said, we owe your group an ass kicking for how she was treated.”

“Perhaps.” Gavin shrugged. “She signed her contract quickly enough.”

True enough. Back then, she’d been looking at her future through rose-tinted glasses. She’d trusted that elite organizations like Knightwind were good. She didn’t understand operational gray, not back then. “Let’s focus on why you’re here now. Regurgitating the past won’t help.”

“For what it’s worth, I sincerely apologize for my part in what happened.” Gavin’s gaze shifted to concerned. “You’re the reason I agreed to come here. I owe you a larger debt than anyone else. I should’ve had the guts to ignore my orders and help you leave when you wanted. I’m just glad you had someone like the infamous Addison Rugers on your side.”

“Me, too.” Bree swallowed. “Why are you here? Stop stalling and start talking.”

“The Arsenal did a good job subverting the threat to Rhea and stopping the biochemical weapons component of the threat, but there are formidable opponents behind the veil you aren’t ready to take on. No one is.”

“Who?” Vi asked.

“They have no name, not formally. To give them a name gives them life, and they operate so deep within the shadows that they’re never seen,” Gavin said.

“That’s bullshit,” Dallas said.

Ram tightened beside her. “Talking about them isn’t smart.”

“It’s necessary.”

“Are you sure they’re behind this?” Ram asked.

“No, but we have well-placed sources who assure us they’re somehow involved, even if indirectly.” Gavin thumped the table and looked around. “I see Mr. Zapatero has not shared what he knows of them.”

“How the hell do you know his name?” Bree asked.

“Intelligence is my job, and I’m very good at it. I may not know a lot about everyone employed here, but I know enough about the main players,” Gavin replied with a smug grin. “Besides, he and his two friends hit our radar several times before they arrived at The Arsenal.”

Bree didn’t like Gavin knowing anything about her friends.

“He’s shared what we needed to know,” Mary said. “Quillery and I know his history. No one else needs to.”

Damn. Bree understood most of the elite operatives working at The Arsenal had shady pasts. Heck, any good commando would because wars were often fought in the shadows, where the civilian population never saw the real battles. She’d suspected there was more lurking behind Ram and his two friends than most of the other commandos. What the heck was it, though?

“You’re okay not knowing?” Gavin looked over at Marshall.

“I trust Edge and Quillery to run Operations for a reason. I don’t need all the minutia of my operatives’ pasts. I trust them to give me what I need to know and no more,” Marshall said. “My men and women deserve what privacy I can give them.”

“That’s an admirable stance, but might get you and your teams killed.”

“You should know better,” Mary warned. “We wouldn’t let that happen. Give us what we need to know.”

“As you know, Knightwind focus on information gathering, as does the mythical group we’re mentioning. Our objectives have clashed on more than a few occasions. None have ended well for us.” Gavin’s expression turned solemn. “When my boss realized you were about to clash with them, he sent me here with a warning and an offer.”

“So don’t go against them is the warning,” Zoey said. “What’s the offer?”

“We have multiple resources deep within the U.S. government,” Gavin said. “Most have been undercover for years, working their way into the various cliques. We’re prepared to use those resources to find those you seek.”

“Why?” Vi asked.

“You’d be a powerful ally,” Gavin said. “Our objectives are not that different. We could both gain significant ground working with one another in the future. Consider this an olive branch, a test of what we could do together.”

“I’d like to rewind and chat about this mysterious group we’re up against. Is this another screwed up version of The Collective?” Dallas asked.

“Table that discussion,” Ram said. “Not now.”

“Agreed,” Mary said quickly. “While your offer is very thoughtful and perhaps in both of our best interests, I’m not sure The Arsenal is prepared to ally itself with anyone. I’m sure you understand where we’re coming from. We’ve spent a lot of time and resources taking out more than a few powerful organizations. We don’t trust anyone at this point.”

“You have done more in your short life as an elite organization than Knightwind has in decades,” Gavin said. “You’ve become the bar we must all aspire to hit. The new leaders of Knightwind recognize that and are prepared to overhaul their approach for future missions, but that will require your assistance.”

“How so?” Vi asked.

“We lack the advanced tech you have,” Gavin said. “Ours is good, but nothing compared to HERA. If we ramp up our endeavors, we’d need your assistance with information.”

“You’re information powerhouses. You said that earlier,” Bree said.

“Yes, but it’s old school,” Mary said. “They likely have significant delays between data obtainment and disbursement. A few hours or days could translate to immediate mission failure.”

“The older the intel, the deader the team,” Nolan surmised.

“So you want us to agree to an alliance in exchange for a one-time assistance with our current issue,” Marshall said.

“We wouldn’t expect an agreement. Our assistance with your current problem is a gift,” Gavin said. “No strings attached.”

“Bullshit,” Bree said. There was always a string. “What are you really wanting for this? Forget the so-called alliance and all the pretty promises you’re throwing at the wall. It’s not going to stick. What. Are. You. After?” She punctuated every word of the question and willed her breathing to calm.

Ram ran his hand down her back. “Talk it out with us, Bree. You know them better than we do.”

“There’s always a string. A condition. My work was supposed to be a quick, one-month assignment, but they dragged it out, adding parameters that were supposedly integral to my original objective. A month turned into two. Then three. On and on.” She glanced at Addy. “I got a coded message to Addy four months into my so-called one-month contract and begged her to get me out.”

“I don’t know this prick, but whoever’s running Knightwind isn’t trustworthy,” Addy said. “Not based on what we saw when I was extracting Bree.”

“We have a new owner, someone who’s worked hard since then to put Knightwind back on the right path,” Gavin said. “It doesn’t excuse what happened back then, but I assure you we have changed.”

“None of that matters,” Jesse said. “Not now. Answer Bree’s question. What are you after in exchange for your help with our issue? What will those assets you have cost us?”

Gavin’s jaw twitched. “Nothing. If you don’t wish to assist with our request, it won’t be an issue.”

“But there is a request,” Bree said. She shook her head. “You’re talking out of both sides of your mouth and contradicting yourself.”

“When we came under new ownership, there was a significant civil war of sorts within our organization. Some high-up leaders who were about to be terminated betrayed Knightwind,” Gavin said. “Their inside intel gave what our enemy needed to take over a detainment facility we ran.”

Bree held her breath. No. Hell no. She shook her head and focused on the table. She didn’t want to think about that horrible place, the one she’d been forced to make impenetrable. God, this was not happening.

“You want our help to get it back,” Vi said. “Why would we be able to do that if you can’t?”

“We have focused on the informational side of the arena while you’ve already made yourselves known as being formidable in all aspects,” Gavin said. “Only one operative has ever broken into that facility and extracted someone. I have it on good authority she’s now an Arsenal employee.”

Mia. It had to be Mia. Right? Or Addy. No, they would have known if Addy broke into that vile place. She’d gotten Bree out of Knightwind after she’d left that facility.

As if reading her mind, Addy said, “I didn’t break into any detention facility.”

“No. You didn’t.” So it was Mia they were talking about. Damn.

The private paramilitary arena was small. Everyone knew everyone else. Bree had accepted that long ago, but all these horrible pathways converging left her wishing she’d stayed at Grams’ cabin.

“And all the impenetrable defenses of this facility were created by Bree,” Gavin said. “If anyone can break them, it’ll be The Arsenal and whatever tech she’s created for you.”

Damn. Damn. Damn. She hadn’t wanted anyone to know about the work she’d done for Knightwind. Addy hadn’t ever asked. Neither had Mary, Vi, or Rhea.

“No,” Addy said quickly. “She’s not working with you ever again. I’ll personally hunt every last one of you down before that happens.”

That’s why Bree loved Addy. She was the protective big sister. Okay, she was apparently younger than Bree, but still. Vi shut her laptop and glanced at Mary, who shook her head.

“This is your call, Bree,” Mary said.

“How do we know your assets are who we need?” Bree asked. Focusing on The Arsenal’s mission to find the financial backers behind Carlisle Industries kept her brain from spiraling. “We need proof you can help.”

“Fair enough.” Gavin pulled out a thumb drive and tossed it to Vi. “That should be a good start. You’ve been looking into the secretary of defense. We’ve been unable to figure out exactly what is happening with him, but we suspect he’s in trouble. That’s surveillance footage from the past week, taken within his home and office—both of which you’ve been unable to get coverage of so far. No one can.”

The large overhead screens along the walls came to life, as did the monitors on the table’s surface. Images of a bald man with Bob filled the screens.

“We’ve been unable to identify him, but this man has become a daily part of his routine. Our asset only sees the secretary of defense a couple times a day, but this individual is with him often, yet is not part of his official entourage.” Gavin motioned toward the screen. “We suspect your HERA system will find his identity even though we’ve failed to do so.”

“So a test within a gift,” Zoey muttered. She, Vi, and Mary all typed away on their laptops.

Bree heard the distinctive chime of an identity match through the room’s speakers, but no visual appeared. She smiled. They weren’t sharing that HERA had already found out who the asshole with Bob was.

“Will that suffice as proof?” Gavin asked.

“Perhaps,” Mary said. “It’s up to Bree.”

“If we agree to this, Edge and Quillery command your assets. They are solely within their operational governance while this operation takes place,” Bree said. “We will allow one Knight asset to work with our teams, but The Arsenal will have full control of the mission.”

“That’s preposterous,” Gavin argued.

“Take it or leave it,” Vi said. “What else, Bree?”

Damn. They wanted more. Okay… She took a deep breath. “We have full access to your databases, both those online and those tucked away while we’re working together on this mission. In exchange, we will agree to run facial recognitions through HERA for you, but no more than six. That will include locating the targets, if we choose to do so. We’ll require the full mission debrief on why you’re seeking them, though, since we don’t trust your moral code.”

“If they even have one,” Addy muttered.

Mary grinned.

“In exchange for this mutual cooperation,” Bree said with another deep breath after, “we will review your mission file on Facility Six. Full disclosure on your objective and who you are specifically wanting to extract will be required. We make no promise to assist, but we will review the material you provide, and I will make recommendations on approach regardless of The Arsenal’s decision.”

“Add in recommendations from the operative who’s been successful, and I can make this work with my superiors,” Gavin said. “When did you become such a ballbuster?”

“When you chained me to a wall and told me my work wasn’t done until your bosses said it was,” Bree shot back.

“What the fuck?” Ram stood.

“Sit down,” Gage ordered. He glared across the table. “There’s a room across the hall. Make your call to the people with the balls to make a decision before we change our mind.”