“Which is why I was wondering if it was another government. Personally I’m considering Iran.”
“Because of what happened on the last mission over there?”
“Well, it certainly is a possibility, isn’t it?”
“It could be somebody else,” she agreed, “but it would take the right people.”
“We’ve been targeting the right people for a couple years now.” He slid her a glance. “And you know them yourself.”
“I do.” Her mind raced, as she thought about all the different cases. “But so often, we’ve gone after kidnap victims or coups that were happening or taking out terrorists on the sly,” she murmured.
“And all of them have teams,” he muttered.
“Right, I just didn’t think of it.” She paused. “I never considered a significant attempt at retaliation. Over the years it never happened, so I thought we were safe. Plus we were better than everyone else,” she stated, with a caustic tone.
He frowned. “It’s not that we were better than anyone,” he argued, “but you’re only as good as your team, or, when we were running individual ops, we knew we only had ourselves to depend on and, therefore, cut all ties to anyone else. When we came back with the job done, nobody knew what we had done, where we’d done it, or how, and that was a good way to operate.”
“Is that what it’s come down to now? Each of us alone?”
He shook his head. “No, I need Terk, and he needs us.”
“And I’m not sure I need either of you.” There, she’d said it. Clear, crisp, and completely based on fear. He didn’t look at her and didn’t even acknowledge her words. “What? You won’t even say anything?”
“I know where you’re coming from,” he replied. “I’m hoping that you will agree to help us.”
“And why would I?”
At that, he gave half a snort. “You weren’t an ostrich at any point in time in the last several years. But, right now, if you think that sticking your head in the sand will help your situation, you’re wrong.”
Glumly she stared out the window. “Meaning that, as soon as they realize I’m alive, they’ll come back after me?”
“I would.”
She sucked in her breath. That statement said so much. Because whoever was out there who attacked them was just as cold and proficient as the team she had worked for. But it was so much easier to work for her team when she thought that they were the guys on the winning side. The good guys. She sank back into her seat, then closed her eyes and tried to let the fear inside calm down. But it was hard, damn hard. “What if they never found out?” she murmured.
“You’ll spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder. And, when you least expect it, they’ll be there. You won’t feel the bullet in the middle of the night. Just like Wilson didn’t.”
She stayed quiet for the rest of the trip.
When he stopped going around in circles and darted into the back alley of what looked like a large storage compound, full of warehouses, her eyebrows shot up. “Is this what you’re calling offices these days?”
He shot her a look. “It’s temporary.”
She pinched her lips together. And, when he pulled up in front of one, then hopped out and unlocked a door at the side, she followed him.
“What about my stuff?” she murmured.
“Leave it there. We’re not set up for sleeping here.”
She stepped inside and realized it was literally a huge warehouse, with completely concrete walls. “Do you think the concrete in here is enough?”
“It’s not steel reinforced, so no,” he replied briskly. “But it was a temporary solution for a time we didn’t really want to consider.”
“No,” she agreed. “We were disbanding, not trying to set up a new headquarters somewhere else.”
He nodded. “Exactly.”
When the door opened at the back of the warehouse, she jumped, startled, and then walked in Terk. He took one look at her, and she saw the fatigue and the worry clearly on his face. She raced toward him, and, just before she reached him, his arms opened up and wrapped around her. He held her close, gently rubbing her back.
“I’m so glad they missed you,” he murmured.
She felt the tears in her eyes. Something was so damn strong and so … almost stalwart about Terk. Everybody had had their own particular qualities, but something extra was about Terk as a leader. He was the most compassionate and empathetic man whom she’d ever met. Yet he could be as hard and as cold as ice, when the situation dictated. But he always paid a high price. And unfortunately she’d seen that time and time again. When she finally stepped back, she brushed the tears from her eyes. “Mera is alive, but she’s terrified.”
He nodded. “Who isn’t?”
She winced at that. “I was hoping you would tell me that it was all fine and that you already had it all well in hand.”
He gave a bark of laughter. “I would if I could, but it’s not quite so simple.”
“No,” she murmured, “it isn’t.” She looked around. “I see boxes upon boxes.”
“Yes.” He nodded. “New equipment.”
“What kind of equipment?” she asked, walking over and studying the contents. She saw new computers with actual hard drives, extra bits and pieces in open boxes, and monitors.
“Can you set this up?” Terk asked.
She nodded. “I absolutely can, but that doesn’t mean it has any place to go. Particularly in a place like this. We had special satellite feeds running through the steel and the concrete to get the communications that we needed. Otherwise we would never have gotten signals in or out.”
He nodded. “I know, and this is only temporary here, so it’s a matter of doing what we can.”
“Got it,” she noted. “Let me get started then.” She started opening up the rest of the boxes. She looked around and saw a couple folding tables off to the side. She walked over, set one of them on its feet, and started unpacking the electronics. This was her field, no doubt, but she did worry about it. “Does anybody know we’re here?” she tossed out. When a sudden silence came from behind her, she pivoted and looked at the two men, both staring at her. “Please tell me that’s a no?”
Terk shook his head. “Nobody knows, at least not this location.”
“But do some people know we’re alive?”
He nodded slowly.
Her eyebrows shot up. “Is that safe?”
“We have to trust somebody, and I’ve chosen to trust my brother,” he replied coolly.
She stared at him for a long moment. “I didn’t even know you had one.”
His lips quirked. “Not only do I have a brother but he’s a twin.”
“Holy shit.” She stared at him. “How did you ever hide that?”
“I didn’t even try to. My brother was also working in the US Navy for a long time. Now he works for a private security company.”
She wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that. She studied him carefully. “Is it safe? Because, even though he might believe in his company, that doesn’t mean that everybody in his company believes in him.”