Kennedy stared into the moonless sky. Without the night vision goggles from her kit, she wouldn’t have been able to see shit from her outpost. She hunkered down beside Aarav on a hilltop overlooking the edge of the jungle where a massive drug manufacturing complex was mostly obscured by a lush canopy of leaves. Their “guests” had given up the location fairly easily, along with a few key details about the formula of their new superdrug—mostly that only one person had control of it and that it was stashed in his office.
The past forty-eight hours had involved a lot of strategizing, intel gathering, a couple of quickies. What it hadn’t included was hardly any sleep other than what she’d managed to steal on the private jet flight James had arranged for her, and most of the rest of the team. Jordan, James, Ace, and Ruby were probably huddled together around the table in the command center, monitoring the feeds from each of the field agents’ body cams as well as maintaining the comms, though they were eerily silent at the moment.
Fruit bats circled overhead and monkeys chattered in the distance. Bugs and who knew what else slithered in the shadows, making her edge closer to Aarav while still being mindful of his personal space. She didn’t want to risk nudging him at the wrong moment, given the precision necessary to make his long-distance shots.
Kennedy squinted, barely making out a rustle of movement she knew belonged to one of the pairs creeping up on the complex from various angles. Her stare was locked on the pathway she knew Knox and Marcus were taking on their approach.
At first, she’d been surprised Jordan intended for Knox to come along on this assignment, but she recognized that he had more experience with these sorts of shit shows than she’d like to consider, just from the opposite side. He’d run a profitable arm of a drug cartel’s operations, and that didn’t come without conflict. Besides, Jordan had seemed to think he might have information or connections that could tip things in their favor in the heat of the moment.
Kennedy had to wonder if he was also giving Knox the chance to atone for some of his previous poor decisions. No matter what the reason, she hated that both he and Marcus were out there, crawling toward danger instead of away from it, but that’s also what made them men she could love.
Everything seemed to be going according to plan, which was essentially break in, sneak around, hopefully not get caught, find the recipe, and get the hell out before blowing the factory to bits—though no one really believed that was how things would ultimately go down. There were too many eyes on the entrances and far too many guns patrolling. The rest was going to be an improvisation.
Aarav snapped her from her thoughts when he uttered something in Bengali that sounded a lot like a curse to her.
“What?” Kennedy squinted into the distance.
“Nolan and Sola have been made,” Aarav told her at the same time he disclosed the bad news to the rest of the team back in Middletown. “I can start picking off guards to even the odds, but then they’ll know we’re here. The whole team.”
“We don’t have a lot of options. They’re going to find our people.” Jordan’s voice was tight. “Go ahead, Aarav. Give them the best advantage you can. Take every clean shot.”
Aarav didn’t respond verbally. Instead, he pulled the trigger on the stabilized rifle he was stretched out along. The damn thing was nearly as big as he was. He went so still she knew he wasn’t breathing and wondered if he could even stop his own heart. He was efficient—shot, reset, another shot…
And James’s play by play over the comms made it clear Aarav didn’t miss.
He’d gone through at least a dozen rounds when chaos broke out over the lines. Kennedy tapped her goggles so that one eye displayed footage from Marcus’s body cam along with the blended audio of her teammates.
Kennedy debated taking up chewing her nails like Knox when she saw Liam and Nolan smashing a window before tucking and rolling through it onto a concrete slab floor. Unfortunately, that was about as far as they got. Sola took out a man rushing her, but then she and the rest of the agents were swarmed and fighting hand to hand. Enemies were everywhere.
Too many.
Aarav groaned. “They’re mixed now. I can’t target any more without risking one of our own.”
“You did your part,” Jordan told him. “Sit tight and let’s see if we get another chance to help them out.”
But from where Kennedy sat, watching in horror, it wasn’t looking like most of their other operations. They didn’t have the manpower to go up against this much sheer volume. Punches were flying. Kicks, grunts, and curses echoed from both sides, too. Someone grabbed hold of Liam’s arm and wrenched, making him howl before he flattened the bastard.
And then, a voice cut through the din. “Knox. Is that you?”
Marcus whipped around to face the newcomer, giving Kennedy a good look at the man dressed in a black suit with slicked-back hair. He wasn’t scarred or ugly. No, the man was only about five or ten years older than her and covered with black-and-gray tattoos that would have been sexy if she didn’t have an instinctive sense that the man they were decorating was pure evil incarnate.
“Capture, not kill!” the man bellowed.
Several more of his lackeys were taken out by the Shields then. They had the advantage because they were fighting full out despite the reprieve granted by their enemy’s directive. But eventually, each of them was outnumbered at least five to one. They were herded together, disarmed one-by-one until they stood in a circle, their backs toward the center, facing out.
“That’s better.” The man flashed a wicked too-white smile. “Knox. Welcome home.”
He strode down an open-backed metal stairway from the catwalk over the cooking floor and approached the Shields. Kennedy knew the first person with an opening would break that bastard’s neck.
“What about now, Aarav? Do you have a clear shot?” Jordan asked.
“Negative. There’s a steel pillar in the way. The guy isn’t an idiot,” Aarav hissed.
Instead of telling the asshole to fuck off, Knox tucked his gun into the shoulder holster James had fitted him with and strode over to the drug lord. He bowed his head as he approached. Instead of spitting on the man, Knox took his outstretched hand and kissed his knuckles. “Sorry it took longer than expected, Vex. These guys aren’t easy to fool. I had to be careful.”
What? No! Kennedy’s blood froze in her veins and her lips went numb. She tapped her comms as if she wasn’t hearing them correctly and scrubbed her eyes as if it would change what she was seeing as she watched Knox betray each and every one of them. Her entire being vibrated with rage and pain and self-loathing that she hadn’t known better.
“I can see that. And our delivery drivers?” Vex asked.
“Sacrifices for the cause.” Knox shrugged one shoulder.
“What the fuck is this?” James hissed from the command center.
Jordan shushed him. “Wait and watch. Give him a chance to do the right thing.”
“You knew? You knew he was a plant or a double-cross or whatever the fuck this is?” This time it was Ace, and it sounded like he’d jumped up from his chair, allowing it to crash onto the floor. After all, Liam was out there, exposed and vulnerable like Marcus. Kennedy could relate, except she’d fallen for Knox’s act. “You’re gambling their lives on a man who can’t say no to that shit? This is madness!”
Inside the factory, Marcus jerked, reminding Kennedy that the entire team, Knox included, could hear every word they were saying.
Jordan cleared his throat. “I know about the deal you cut, Knox, and how it will get you closer to the heart of this operation than we could have ever managed. You can do something none of the rest of us can. I believe in you.”
Kennedy bit her fist to keep from screaming and giving away their location in the jungle. She’d done this. Brought Knox into Shields and put Marcus and the rest of her friends’ lives at risk because she vouched for—and slept with—the one man who’d always been able to deceive her. And now he’d even gotten to Jordan, inspiring faith he didn’t warrant.
No wonder Jordan had sent Knox with them into the field. She should have known.
“How could you?” she wailed. If she only had a few more seconds to speak to Knox she hoped he could hear her soul ripping apart. “I fucked you. Hell, I loved you. How could you be so disloyal not only to me, but to Marcus too? You piece of shit. When your friends kill us all know that I will haunt you for the rest of your days—”
There was no use in saying anything beyond that because Knox ripped the communication device from his ear and smashed it beneath his boot heel on the concrete. For some reason, he left his own camera engaged. Maybe he’d forgotten about it or only cared about shutting her up so he didn’t have to feel guilty about screwing them all.
The rest of the Shields in the factory were out of range of Marcus’s body camera, but Kennedy was sure none of them were at ease as they had been among friends in the Shields dining hall.
Because of her and her poor judgment—and Knox’s uncanny ability to inspire confidence he hadn’t earned—they were all going to die.
Without a backward glance, Knox leaned into Vex’s one-armed slap on the back, that was as close to a bro-hug as he probably ever got. They turned and walked side-by-side back up the staircase and toward an office at the top.
The metal vats and boilers sitting on the concrete slab of the corrugated warehouse burped out fumes that must be hazardous. Not that the Shields were going to have to worry about the long term effects of that shit.
“What should we do with our company?” one of the drug runners shouted up to Vex.
“Try to keep them from killing you while I have a chat with our boy here and figure out the best way to get rid of them.” Vex and Knox laughed as they disappeared into the office.
“Ruby, enlarge Knox’s camera feed,” Jordan snapped. “Everyone hold. Stay calm. It may not be what it appears.”
“It is,” Kennedy gasped. “I’m so sorry, everyone. I’m sorry. Marcus—”
She cut off, unable to even speak, the weight of his name and her guilt choking her.
Aarav surprised her by rocking toward her, scooping her up in his muscled arm and sheltering her against his side while still remaining in reach of his rifle. “You couldn’t have known, Kennedy. He seemed genuine. And regardless of how this shit warps his judgment, his feelings for you—and Marcus—were obvious.”
“It’s not enough, is it?” Kennedy sobbed. “It wasn’t then and it’s not now. This time Marcus is going to pay for it.”
She stared in horror at Aarav, and though she didn’t say it, she knew Sola would too. Both of them might endure a nightmare yet tonight.
“Breathe, Kennedy. We’ll take things one second at a time. I’m not giving up yet.” Aarav squeezed her, shaking her a bit to break her from her shock.
As her disbelief receded, anger took its place. “Maybe I should go in there. I’ll wring his neck with my bare hands.”
“Sit on her if you have to, Aarav,” Jordan commanded. “No one else is going inside that place.”
Aarav rolled, pinning her when she would have rushed down the hillside.
“Switch channels, Kennedy. Anyone who can. Watch Knox’s feed.” Jordan barely breathed the order as if he could hardly stand to speak.
Kennedy did as instructed, though why she cared what that traitor did with the man he’d forsaken them for, she couldn’t say. There was a lot of backslapping and a drink poured, though she noticed Knox was too busy talking to take a sip of his.
And when Vex turned and took a sheet of folded paper from a vase in the corner of his office, Knox burst into motion. He used the tumbler in his hand to smash Vex in the base of the skull. The man crumpled. Knox drew his gun and shot the drug lord point-blank in the head.
Jordan didn’t cheer, but his grunt sounded satisfied. “That’s our boy.”
Kennedy froze. Knox snatched the formula from Vex’s lifeless hands and held it as if he was staring at it for several heartbeats. He could steal it. Could control the rest of the cartel goons who already knew him and were used to power exchanging hands when someone became more powerful and devious than the previous boss and usurped control.
But what he couldn’t do was go rogue and still ensure everyone made it out alive.
Knox paced the office for a second or two, as if trying to formulate a plan. Then he snatched up a lighter from Vex’s desk before scribbling something on the back of the formula. He held the paper up, aimed toward his chest so they could read it. “No other way out. This recipe dies with me. Love you both. RUN”
Kennedy clawed the ground as Aarav physically restrained her. “No, no, no, no.”
“Son of a bitch!” Jordan sounded like he might have punched something.
“He’s not going to—” James gasped. “He is.”
Jordan bellowed to the rest of the Shields, who were still huddled on the main floor, patiently awaiting instruction as they side-eyed their guards. And when Jordan’s orders came, they responded, all at once. “Team, Knox is going to blow a crater in the jungle a mile wide. He’s about to set the cooking vats on fire. Get out. Now. All of you. Go!”
The drug runners, who vastly outnumbered the Shields, didn’t see it coming. All at once, the Shields bolted for the windows they’d come through not that long ago.
At the same time, Knox dropped the burning paper and the lighter off the catwalk. They fell into the air laden with so many fumes it shimmered. The flames didn’t even make it halfway to the surface of whatever the hell was bubbling away in the vat below before it went up, initiating a chain reaction.
Aarav released Kennedy and started shooting again, laying cover for the agents sprinting toward the waiting getaway vehicles. He was a high-performance machine, entrancing her with his methodical, lethal, yet somehow beautiful motions. Kennedy scrambled to her feet and bolted, her goggles still showing her the view from Knox’s camera, at least until it was completely engulfed in fire and cut out.
She sprinted through the trees, vines whipping her face, chest, arms, and legs.
Kennedy had almost made it to the clearing, prepared to do the only thing she could and give aid to anyone who’d been injured while fleeing, when the night lit up with a flash. It was so big and bright it made the lightning that had destroyed James’s car seem like a sparkler compared to Middletown’s main fireworks display.
The percussion from the blast sent her sprawling, flying flat onto the ground, stunned for a few seconds before she resumed moving with a crawl before she could start running again, if hunched over. Had anyone survived the impact of that shockwave up close?
Kennedy made it to their cars, and waited, a wall of smoke cutting off her vision. She tapped her comms but nothing worked. A few seconds later, Aarav came up behind her, lugging his gun and scope. His lip was cut and a trail of blood trickled down his chin.
Before she could tend to it, movement registered in her peripheral vision.
Both she and Aarav froze, him drawing a handgun from somewhere and aiming at the flickers.
“Is that your gun or are you just happy to see me?” Sola asked, the quirk of her sooty brow making it clear that humor was the only way to avoid less productive emotions. There would be plenty of time for panic attacks when they got home.
Behind Sola, the rest of the Shields emerged from the jungle, Nolan limping and Liam favoring his arm. Their clothes were bloodied and charred in places, but as Kennedy counted their heads she realized they were all there. All but one.
“Marcus!” she shouted. “Where is he?”
“I thought he was right behind me.” Legend fanned smoke from in front of his face.
“Last I saw, he hesitated.” Tavish shook his head. “I think he went back. For Knox.”
“There is no Knox.” Nolan looked at the new guy like he was an idiot. “Did you feel the fireball that tried to burn its way up our asses?”
Kennedy’s eyes grew wide. If there was any chance, any at all, she had to find them. Had to take care of them. They almost certainly would need a medic.
“Oh shit. No.” Aarav grabbed for her, but it was too late.
She dodged him and pumped her arms, sprinting into the jungle faster than she’d ever run before. She crashed into things in the dark and ash, careening toward the inferno that raged in the direction the complex used to be in. “Marcus! Marcus!”
Kennedy screamed his name over and over. Her lungs filled with acrid smoke until she was choking on his name. If he hadn’t made it out, it didn’t matter if she damaged them irreparably. She wouldn’t survive the loss of him and Knox both.
“Marcus!” she wailed.
“Why the hell aren’t you in the car?” A pissed-off grunt accompanied his chastisement a moment before he broke through a cloud of smoke. “I can’t carry you both.”
Marcus looked taller and more handsome than she’d ever seen him before as he tromped through the wilderness with Knox hauled over his shoulder. Knox’s shirt was gone and his light skin showed plenty of red patches that were guaranteed to blister. But could he still be alive? His entire body was limp, flopping with every step Marcus took.
“Let me see him.” She tugged on Marcus’s sleeve.
“In the car. We’re getting out of here. Now.” Marcus didn’t stop, he kept moving away from the blaze that was engulfing trees in addition to what was left of the buildings then. Kennedy jogged beside him, grabbing Knox’s wrist and feeling for a pulse. It was hard to say for sure given their jostling, but she thought…maybe…there might be something there.
And finally, finally, her own heart began to beat again.
When the three of them entered the clearing, the rest of the Shields sent up a combined roar that seemed almost as loud as the explosion that had ripped through the complex. It was short-lived as they piled into their vehicles and zoomed out of the jungle back to the obscured landing strip where their jet waited.
Kennedy shut off every emotion rioting in her core and focused on keeping Knox alive. Again.
They were an hour into the flight home before she felt comfortable enough to plop onto her ass on the floor of the jet. She stayed nearby the creamy leather sofa where Marcus had laid Knox out, still clutching his hand in hers. The whoosh of the oxygen he was on lulled her.
Marcus joined her, gathering her to him. “You did it, Kennedy. You saved him.”
“No, you did.” She looked up at him, then rested her head on his shoulder, suddenly too weary to move. “And you saved me too, because I couldn’t have lived without him.”
“I know.” He kissed her disgusting char-scented hair. If he seemed a little sad, he had plenty of reasons for his misery, not the least of which were the heavy things they’d done to shift the scales back into the favor of goodness.
It took a lot out of all of them. Kennedy looked around at the entire team, most of whom had crashed, including Sola, who slumped next to Aarav, her head lolling onto his chest.
Numb and overwhelmed, Kennedy let her own eyes close. There would be time to figure out how the hell to piece the wreckage of their lives back together after they were safe, in Middletown.