Night Moves: A Shadow Force Novel Read online

  “And what? Move to a log cabin in the woods and take up fly-fishing?

  “I have a conscience, but I know what it’s like to bury it. I thought I’d have to live my life that way. And after DMH—even before—I was like a fucking machine. I don’t want to do the job anymore.”

  Reid could understand but he wasn’t done … he had more to do, to make up for.

  “We’ve been doing this a long time. Nine lives, guardian angels …” Kell said.

  “You think our luck’s running out?”

  “You think we’re lucky?” Kell responded and Reid snorted. “I feel like the walls are closing in. And here we thought Teddie was bringing the danger to us. Looks like she’s as screwed with us as she is without us.”

  “Maybe she’ll want to go back to the marshals,” Reid said. “She’s scared shitless of us.”

  It was true, but for reasons he couldn’t yet explain, Kell knew that Teddie belonged with him. For now, he’d comfort himself with the fact that he’d managed to keep her safe this long.

  Yet, they were both hunted. And if he and Reid continued to help her, they’d open themselves up to even more trouble.

  Reid wanted to alternately punch his friend square in the jaw and hug him, and fuck it all, Dylan had warned him that Kell’s transition back to the land of the living wouldn’t be easy.

  But shit, Reid hadn’t had an easy time of it either. Typically, Kell was there to pick up the pieces, and this time no one had.

  Most of those pieces were still scattered for him. He remembered the food poisoning, being dragged from the hotel into the van and waking up in the darkness of the cell.

  He’d been halfway to breaking out when the puff adder got him in the calf, where he still had a scar that ached most of the time. After that, it was all a big blank until Kell gave him the antidote on the chopper and he woke up to find he’d been to hell and back.

  Mace’s throat healed with some vocal cord damage. He would’ve been cleared medically if he’d wanted to be, but he hadn’t. Caleb’s memories had come back; a mixed blessing, as he would no doubt always be as haunted as the rest of them.

  But still, they’d gotten some closure.

  For Reid, his life was an endless cycle of escaping in death-defying ways and leaving behind others who weren’t so lucky. “I’m trying to go easy on you, bro, but I don’t like what’s going on here.”

  “I know you’re still pissed at me.”

  Well, yeah, that was true, but Reid was pretty sure he’d get over it. Eventually.

  “I stayed away because—”

  “Don’t go there, Kell.”

  Kell turned from him and Reid sighed as the wall went up between them again, a barrier that fourteen years ago hadn’t been there after a mere seventy-two hours of knowing each other.

  Kell hadn’t wanted to talk about any what had happened with DMH. And so Reid shut down a little more himself and waited his friend out, but that seemed to close Kell off more.

  But his reaction to this Teddie chick—that was interesting, to say the least. Reid would roll with it because if this woman could bring Kell’s soul back, Reid would be grateful as hell.

  He and Kell had had brief relationships over the years, mainly for the sex, as neither man was in any one place long enough to make things work. Truth be told, Reid hadn’t been all that interested in making anything work. Neither had Kell, and that’s why the connection between his friend and Teddie fascinated and confused Reid. He could see the way they were circling each other.

  Even though Teddie was scared of Kell, she couldn’t look away.

  There were even bigger problems on Reid’s mind now, though. Something else was going on: Vivi was fielding all their calls—including his earlier one after they’d completed the mission—and there was nary a word from Dylan himself.

  “I’m going for a swim,” Reid announced to Kell, who just stared at him. “What? I’m not letting a heated pool go to waste.”

  Kell didn’t try to stop him and Reid stripped as he walked outside into the cooler air. The gates were high here and the nearest neighbors’ houses were also vacation homes—deserted ones.

  Naked, he dove into the warm water, did a few laps to burn off some of the tension and realized if he wanted more relaxation, he’d need to literally swim through the entire night.

  So he paused and rested his arms on the decorative concrete around the edge, and thought about what the hell he was actually still doing out here in the first place. Because they had completed an important mission, and because keeping Kell’s head on straight was the hardest thing about working with him these days.

  He was risking a lot with the black ops missions in the first place, knew it and didn’t give a shit. He owed the Army another six months of service and then he was done. He’d stick with Dylan, do black ops until he was ready to retire.

  You’ll be fine if Kell leaves.

  Not that he was particularly fine before meeting Kell, but Reid knew things now. And it’s not like he hadn’t been solo on missions before. Calling him capable was severely underestimating him.

  To be honest, if Kell dropped out of the game, it would be something of a relief. Because Reid had been waiting for the other shoe to drop, for Kell to be taken from his life the way anyone who got close to Reid seemed to be.

  So yes, better for Kell.

  Shit, he couldn’t keep his mind off the swirling mess of memories that threatened to envelope him. It rarely caught up with him this badly; the circumstances over the past few months were definitely to blame.

  His life had been very much about loss, but he’d been lucky to find the group of people he had. Losing Gray, his teammate and friend, while he himself was lying unconscious in a cell—thanks to a snake bite—and his whole team was being tortured around him … well, some days, some hours, it was just too much.

  Sometimes, he could still hear the screams of his parents, his brother and sisters. Could feel the fireman’s strong arms hoist him up and out of the house through the thick smoke that burned his lungs and made breathing nearly impossible. Those same arms stopped him from going back inside for the rest of his family, even as the house collapsed onto itself, killing everyone left inside.

  He’d never forgive that fireman for saving him. It was a ridiculous sentiment, he knew, but if only he’d died that night …

  Ah, fuck it. The guilt would be the death of him.

  Reid had picked up skills quickly in the orphanage he’d been placed in as a temporary measure. He was fourteen and as he was shifted from one temporary place to the next, he’d learned as much as he could about the art of thieving and survival.

  He’d never had to worry about those things in his old life. But that life was dead and buried, along with his family. And if he couldn’t be with them, he didn’t want any part of anyone else’s family.

  The six-foot-one football player with all-American, blond-haired, blue-eyed good looks could’ve had a shot at a good family, despite his age. But his newfound aptitude for theft and snarly attitude toward anyone or anything that looked like help put an immediate stop to that.

  He’d made sure of it.

  The first house he was placed in, he locked himself in his room, cut the electricity because he’d just learned how, stole money from the mom’s purse and snuck out the window.

  He was back in foster care within three days.

  There were the psychologists, the doctors, the nice people in the foster care system who tried to tell him that good behavior was his best friend.

  He wanted to tell them that there was no way he could do that, that it just hurt too damned much inside. That he was pretty sure the pain would never subside and that he didn’t think he’d ever be able to hang on to anything good ever again. And so he’d promised himself that he’d never really try.

  Now he was really trying. He climbed out of the pool, dried off and stayed out by the pool in the dark, readying his weapons. He’d wait the night for Kell to let him kno
w if they were leaving Teddie behind … or if Kell was simply leaving altogether.

  CHAPTER

  6

  Reid came inside long enough to tell Kell he’d take the first shift watching the house. Kell didn’t sleep particularly well at all, although he noted Teddie had no problem in that area.

  He switched off with Reid a couple of hours earlier than he was supposed to; Reid didn’t argue, just went inside muttering under his breath, which Kell knew was aimed at him.

  They wouldn’t leave the house again until nightfall, and it was only six in the morning. This particular place had a pretty detailed security system setup, including cameras that caught the roads surrounding the property, so score one for Reid.

  He prowled the house restlessly, unable to stop his mind from running scenarios that made his head throb. He’d cleaned his cuts and taken ibuprofen for the other aches and pains he’d gotten in the alley … and made a promise to himself to get his shit together.

  When his phone rang, he was eager for the distraction. He glanced at the screen before answering and saw it was Vivi.

  “Tell me you’ve got some good shit for me,” he said, not doubting that Vivi had worked through the night.

  “I’ve got a few addresses on the GPS—restaurants, stores, a motel in Juarez. Other than that, it’s brand spanking new, bought a week ago,” Vivi said. “The men who attacked you are hired guns—mostly low-level stuff.”

  “How did they get that intel about me, then?” Kell asked, more to himself than her. He’d known for sure that the men hadn’t been at the top of their game.

  Sending them after him had been akin to murder. Whoever employed them had been on a fact-finding mission, and Kell had no doubt given them what they wanted. When the men didn’t return, their employer must’ve guessed that they’d found Kell, and Reid, by association.

  If not for Teddie, they’d be out of Mexico and well hidden somewhere in the States. “Anything on Samuel Chambers or the men who killed Teddie’s family?”

  “McMannus’s a wanted man, for sure—he’s being looked into for the murder of Teddie’s father because of her eyewitness statement. Samuel Chambers was investigated as a possible accomplice to the crime because of his close friendship with Teddie’s father, but he was cleared.”

  “Why?”

  “I haven’t gotten that far yet.”

  “But McMannus’s mercing, not CIA.”

  “Appears to be. Chambers was part of the diplomatic community until about ten years ago. Then he retired. He’s had a place in Mexico for years, mainly a vacation home, since his passport shows he continues to travel most of the time. I’ve got an address for you. His bank account’s not anything impressive and his record’s been clean until now,” Vivi said, but they both knew that meant nothing. “I’m checking for hidden bank accounts.”

  He wondered if Teddie knew what Chambers was involved with and decided he needed to find out immediately. After he got the rest of the intel.

  He headed for the room where Reid was sleeping. His friend woke up as the door opened and Kell put the phone on speaker so Vivi could relay her information to both men.

  “I also managed to get into the marshals’ database, and yes, they’re actively looking for Teddie. Not just because she escaped witness protection. There are other reasons. She wasn’t lying about being in the restaurant or about shooting someone,” Vivi said. “She shot two men—one at point-blank range and the other … witnesses say it looked like she tried to take him hostage and then she pushed him away and shot him instead. Someone videotaped it on their cell phone.”

  Kell blinked. “Sure they don’t have that mixed up?” he asked, even though he knew they didn’t. Because he’d known she was hiding something, and he couldn’t fucking wait to hear her explanation.

  “After the other guys came in, she got spooked, shot the hostage in the shoulder in order to make her escape,” Vivi continued.

  “So the marshals and the local police are after her, not to mention McMannus,” Kell muttered.

  Reid shrugged. “She’s in a hell of a lot of trouble.”

  “So are we, if we’re caught with her.” Kell checked down the hall into the den where Teddie was still curled up on the couch.

  “I’ll call back with any updates,” Vivi said before hanging up. Kell did the same as Reid rolled off the bed and stretched.

  “You’d better get some answers,” he told Kell.

  “Why me?”

  “You’re the one who seems to like kissing her,” Reid commented, and Kell fought a strong urge to punch the shit out of him for guessing that correctly.

  “We’ve got an address for Chambers,” he said instead.

  “Sounds like he had something to do with Teddie’s father’s murder … and that she suspected that, according to what Vivi says about witness’s evidence, right?”

  “Teddie told me herself she met Chambers in the restaurant.” Kell looked grim as he glanced toward the couch. Teddie was sleeping restlessly now, her long, bare legs tangled in the blanket Kell had gotten her from a closet.

  “Either way, she’s in deep shit,” Reid commented.

  But they were in deep shit too, and were they shouldering Teddie’s burdens now? “What the hell is going on here?”

  “I could take a run by Chambers’s place when it gets dark,” Reid offered. “And you can question the hell out of her before we make any decisions.”

  “You want to turn her over to the marshals and watch her rot in a Mexican prison?”

  “No, that’s not what I want.” Reid turned to face him. “But you need to decide what the fuck it is you want.”

  “You think I’m going to bolt, leave you behind again and not take your calls.” Because he’d done it before.

  “Yeah, I do. I’ve been waiting for it for the past week,” Reid admitted.

  Reid always did know him better than anyone. “I’m not going anywhere for now. But after this …”

  “We’ll talk about it then, okay?” Reid cut him off, and Kell nodded.

  When night fell, Reid went to Chambers’s house, said he’d pick up a ride along the way. Kell told him to keep in touch and then paced a hole in the floor waiting for a call. Teddie had gotten up once to eat something and then went back to the couch, the past days obviously taking a toll on her, and goddamn, what the hell was he doing here, with her?

  The old Kell would’ve called the marshals to pick her ass up, no matter how pretty she was.

  She’s not here because of her looks.

  And, if he was honest with himself, the old Kell would’ve had second thoughts on calling the marshals on her too. But the past was such an easy thing to rewrite at a time like this.

  Finally, after an hour, Reid called.

  “I’m outside Chambers’s house,” he said.

  “And?”

  “He’s got a bandage and a sling on his arm,” Reid said. “And a hell of a lot of security.”

  So the eyewitness reports must’ve been correct—she had shot two men, not one, and she’d conveniently forgotten to tell him. “What’s Teddie’s game?” he muttered, more to himself than Reid, but his friend responded anyway.

  “The real question is, how far do you plan on taking this?”

  Kell rubbed at the tension in his forehead but it did no good. “I’m going to talk to her now—I’m bringing her to Chambers’s for a little truth or dare scare tactic, so stay put.”

  “And then?”

  “If I believe her … I’m going to help her.”

  When Kell didn’t say anything else, Reid gave a soft, what the fuck? whistle but he didn’t say another word about that, asked instead, “Want me to head inside and have a look around? Chambers’s going into the shower—I’ll have a small window of opportunity.”

  It would be for the best. “Don’t get caught.”

  “Fuck you. And don’t take too long to get to me,” Reid admonished, and Kell hung up and went to rouse Teddie. He handed her some soda wh
en she sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and she muttered something about being hungry.

  She went to the kitchen and rifled through the fridge. She made a sandwich while Kell watched her, and she sat and ate looking out the window, as if wanting to avoid both his gaze and his conversation.

  “Where’s Reid?” she asked finally, but he didn’t answer her question.

  “Tell me more about Samuel Chambers. How and when did you contact him?”

  “I tracked down his number through another family friend in the diplomatic community—I wasn’t supposed to be in contact with anyone, but there were people who remembered me … they felt sorry about what happened. They thought Samuel would want to help. And so I called him about a week ago.”

  “When you called him, what did he say?”

  “He was freaked,” she admitted, looking resigned to having this discussion. “He asked me not to share his address with the marshals.”

  “And you didn’t find that odd?”

  “I know better than anyone that diplomats make a lot of enemies.” She pushed her plate away from her. “Look, I get it. You think this was a really stupid thing for me to do, coming to Mexico on my own to see Samuel. And it was—I admit it, okay? But I was very short on options. No one was trying to bring the men who killed my family to justice.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I couldn’t get any answers from the marshals and Samuel himself confirmed it, told me there hadn’t been any new leads on the case. He said he’d been looking into it as well. Don’t you see—he had leads and that’s why the mercenaries were following him.”

  More lies, but he went with it. “Did he say he was being followed or threatened?”

  She shook her head. “We didn’t talk on the phone long. He told me he had info, that it wasn’t safe to talk on an unsecured line, that I should meet him at the restaurant.” She paused. “If a marshal had been with me, he might’ve been killed.”

  “If a marshal had been with you, you’d never have been allowed to go.” He paused. “Why the restaurant and not his house?”

  “He said it was safer for me.”