“And that’s a very good observation,” Terk noted, “and I appreciate the concern, but, in this case, I do trust him and the company.”
She shook her head. “A lot of people are in companies.” She hesitated. “You can’t trust all of them.”
“I get that,” he noted. “And, if you want to walk, you can at any time.”
She frowned. “I don’t have any place to go, and you know it.”
“Then trust me, just like you’ve trusted me all these years.”
She let out a slow deep breath. “It’s not that easy.”
“No, it isn’t,” he agreed, “and, right now, I guess trusting me is probably even harder than normal because we somehow ended up in this situation.”
“Yes, but I can’t blame that on you.”
“Why not? I do.”
She shook her head. “No, that’s not on you. We were disbanded. We were supposed to be gone, and you were heading off.” She frowned. “Oh, you were going to Texas.”
He nodded. “Exactly.”
“Something about …” And then her face cleared. “Your brother. You were going to see your brother, weren’t you?”
“Yes, I just never made it that clear.”
“No, and I wasn’t really reading between the lines because I was more focused on finishing off what we had to finish off.”
At that, from behind her, Damon asked Terk, “Any update on Celia?”
“Not at the moment.” Terk chewed his bottom lip.
Damon suggested, “Maybe it’s time to check in.”
“I would like to,” Terk agreed, “but I’m not getting any answer from the compound.”
“Ouch,” Damon replied. “That’s not cool.”
She pointed at the tables. “Give me a minute and I’ll set it up. Are we talking about Legendary Security out of Texas?”
He nodded.
“Your brother works for them,” she realized slowly.
“Yes, is that a problem?”
“No, but we’ve used them for various things over the years.”
“We’ve used them when I needed help,” Terk agreed, “or if we needed something special that they had access to.”
“I didn’t know it was your brother though.”
“That’s because I didn’t advertise it. That’s probably a good thing, or he’d be dead right now.”
She stiffened. “Have you checked? Is there any chance that they’ve been targeted too?”
“Well, they have been targeted,” he confirmed. “And in a way that you won’t like. And since I don’t know the status of any of it right now”—he shrugged—“I just have to let it lie and to trust in them.”
“We don’t do trust well,” she noted.
He gave a bark of laughter. “I thought that was my line.”
She felt a reluctant amusement tugging at her lips. “No, you’re right, but I’d feel better if you got an update from them.”
“I was just about to. I spoke to my brother earlier, but we got cut off. I haven’t been able to connect since.” Just then his phone rang. He pulled it up, looked at it. “That’s him now.”
“Put it on Speaker,” she ordered.
He raised an eyebrow and studied her.
She nodded. “We’re all in this now. Let’s not have any secrets, half-truths, or partial information come between us. There’s just the three of us for now, so let’s see who we can trust, who we can use, and who we can’t.”
He gave a quick nod. “Merk?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Jesus, bro, when you bring it on, you bring it on.”
“Is she alive?” he asked urgently.
“You have no freaking idea.”
*
Terk shifted the phone. “I’m putting it on Speaker.”
Ice spoke up. “Terk, we’ve got her. She’s sedated.”
“Is that safe?”
“It’s likely the only answer at the moment. She has been traumatized and tortured, but that isn’t affecting the baby’s health at this point, though the mother’s in rough shape. We got the C-4 off her without any trouble by cutting the signals, and we took down two men. Unfortunately,” she added, her voice hard, “the men self-terminated before we could question them.”
“How did they do that?”
“Capsules in the mouth,” she snapped. “And believe me. I’m pissed about that. I really wanted a live body to question.” Just enough emphasis was in her voice that nobody had any doubt about the questioning part.
“Levi, you there?”
“Right here, Terk. What’s up?”
“We had three operatives who handled our communications. One is dead. One has been shot and is more or less out of the game. At the moment we’re trying to keep her secure, but she’s not cooperating. The third is here in the office with us.”
“Who died?” Merk asked.
“Wilson.”
“Shit, so you’ve got the two females left?”
“If you’re talking about me,” Tasha spoke up, “I’m here. Mera has been shot, and she’s definitely worried about having any further involvement in this or with us.”
“Does she realize that her life is on the line?”
“She does now, but, as of a couple hours ago, she still wasn’t sure whom to trust. Having someone shoot up your bed in the middle of the night has a way of doing that. Trust me. We’re both lucky to be alive. She caught two bullets, so she feels even more vulnerable. It’ll take her a bit to come in from the cold.”
Levi asked, “What can we do to help?”
“I need a communication assist,” she replied. “I’m just starting to set up equipment, so it’ll take me probably two hours, and then I’ll need a satellite.”
“You got it. I’ll patch you through to Stone. As soon as you are ready, he’ll help you set up everything.” Levi hesitated and then asked, “Can you do it on your own?”
“With Stone’s help on the other end, for sure,” she answered, with a note of humor. “We’ve worked together many times.”
Just then Stone walked into the room and spoke, “Hey, Tasha. I’m here. Let me know when you’re ready to go. Do you have a phone?”
“Not of my own, no. I borrowed Damon’s earlier.”
“We have burner phones,” Damon explained. “I’ve got a box of them here somewhere. She’ll call you when we find them.”
“Good enough.”
Terk stepped up to the phone. “So seriously, how is Celia?”
“Is that her name?”
He hesitated. “I think so.”
“Think so?”
“Remember. We’re not operating at full power—” he replied, but Merk interrupted.
“Brother, even injured or without your senses, you’re still more than 120 percent of anybody out there,” he argued. “Do not doubt yourself.”
“It’s not so much doubt as it’s walking through a fog,” he explained. “It’s like losing your sight and being temporarily blinded. Those special senses were a part of me. Something I used almost every moment of the day, without even realizing it because it was so natural. How badly is she hurt, Ice?”