Nowhere Safe

CHAPTER 15



That kiss got waaay out of hand.

Dangerously out of hand. Josh cruised along the beach highway with no destination in mind. He couldn’t think of one that would bring clarity to his muddled brain.

The goal had been for him to get close to Trish Jackson quickly. Mission accomplished and a helluva feat, too, now that he knew what had been going on inside her head the whole night.

It had damn near been mission failure when he’d almost lost control of the situation. If Heidi had shown up another minute later, she’d have walked in on a half-naked Trish.

Maybe all naked.

Son of a bitch, he still wanted her.

Kissing her that first time had been about getting inside her defenses. He couldn’t claim that had played any part in the second kiss that had been way too real, raw honesty he hadn’t intended to ever let out of its cage again.

Not after Chelsea.

He downshifted and accelerated around a truck poking along.

His job was to manipulate the enemy.

But was Trish the enemy? His gut was saying she’d given too freely in that moment.

What if that chess piece meant nothing and Trish was not involved with the mole?

If that turned out to be the case, encouraging her to see him again and taking advantage of this attraction would be using her in the worst way. Doubt gnawed at his conscience, but he couldn’t allow beautiful brown eyes and a sweet smile to sway him.

He couldn’t do sweet again. Couldn’t let it influence his judgment.

Duty came first and he would do whatever it took to catch Len Rikker.

This is who you are. Accept it. There was no room for guilt in his world. Guilt was reserved for people who had the luxury of following conscience.

For people who expected to, one day, live a normal life.

He’d made a pact with Sabrina and Dingo. Len Rikker and the people responsible for burning their team had to pay.

Josh would not let them, or Chelsea, down.

But could he hurt Trish Jackson and walk away without leaving a part of himself behind?

He shoved that concern aside for the moment and called Sabrina. Once he confirmed they were on a secure line, he launched into his report. He started with Zane’s agreeing for Josh to accompany Trish tonight, covered Trish’s strange text then explained what happened at ReSolution.

Sabrina interrupted. “What did the police find at Trish Jackson’s shop?”

“Nothing. It could have been a prank call, but I have a feeling it’s tied to something strange Trish found after they left.”

“What?”

“A chess piece carved of onyx with a gold band.”

“No shit?”

He sat up straighter. Alert. “Why’s that important?”

“It might be the connection we’re looking for. I’ve been waiting on your call to tell you what I found out today. The mole’s code name is Chessmaster.”

He should be elated to hear that, but in a moment of honesty he realized he hadn’t wanted Trish to be a part of all this. “How do we know that?”

A pause stretched long seconds before Sabrina said, “I received some unexpected intel today. That chess piece is significant. Trish Jackson either knows who the Chessmaster is or...”

“She is the Chessmaster,” Josh finished.

“Exactly.”

Josh shoved his disappointment aside and told himself this was great news even if he did feel miserable. “I’ll have a definitive answer in a day or two.”

“We may need it sooner.”

He slowed to pull off the highway and park along the beach. When he cut his engine and headlights, abrupt silence gave way to the ocean’s soft roar along the dark shoreline. “What’s happened? Have we gotten word on a shipment?”

“No, but we have bigger problems than bath salt getting into the states.”

He didn’t want to think about something worse than drugs that caused a young man to go from a promising future to a lunatic who laughed hysterically one minute and screamed in terror the next, over and over. “What?”

“I’d say it’s a terrorist attack, but no one knows enough to define what we’re looking for. Rikker is tied to three deadly attacks in the past year, so far. Significant body counts in each attack, but a different group claimed responsibility in all three incidents. None of these groups work together so there’s no way to know who he’s working for this time.”

Josh propped his elbow on his car door, tapping his thumb on his cheek. He could think of only one agency that would have information on Rikker. “Where’d you get this intel?”

“That’s not important.”

If that were the case, why be evasive? “Are you in contact with the agency again?” They both knew which agency he referenced.

He got his answer when she said nothing. Josh swore viciously. “And you believe them?”

“In this situation, yes.”

“Why would you even listen to anything they have to say?”

“Because he shared information no other agency has so I took one for the team.”

Josh caught her damning slip. “Wait a minute. Back up to the he. He who?”

She cursed lividly. “Not important.”

Josh stomped the floorboard. “Bullshit. I don’t f*cking believe this. Did you really meet with him?” He didn’t give two shits about protecting Gage Laughton, but he’d given his word to Sabrina to never mention Gage’s name when they were on any electronic device, no matter how secure.

She wanted to kill the bastard as much as Josh and Dingo did. Or she had wanted to at one time. What had changed?

“You have a job to do,” Sabrina said with the bite of a winter storm. “Either do it or tell me to send someone else. No part of your assignment involves questioning me. Got it?”

“Yeah, I got it,” he snarled right back. “I’ll find that bastard Rikker and the Chessmaster. But don’t think in your wildest moment that I’m handing him over to your buddy.”

“We’ll discuss it when you have said target in hand.”

No, we won’t. “You forget the deal you made with me and Dingo?”

“You can be such a bastard. Of course not. We get our shot at him before anyone else no matter what.”

Their agreement hadn’t included anyone else before today. He answered with enough sarcasm to ensure she didn’t take his words to heart. “You’re the boss.”

“And you’re the a*shole. Now that we’re through playing footsie, back to the op. I’m sending down an additional team, but they’ll be in the background. Anything else?”

“No.”

The call ended with a click.

Josh couldn’t believe she was going to hand Rikker over to the CIA. Screw the agency.

They claimed not to have had any part in trading Sabrina’s team for Rikker, but Josh believed Mendelson who’d said he made a deal with someone in the CIA. If Rikker was walking around free and the agency had no idea where he was, that meant Rikker was the only one who could tell Josh who’d burned his team. If Rikker had been found at terrorist operations since then, Rikker was clearly the enemy.

The CIA could have that bastard after Josh was through with him, but there wouldn’t be a lot of discussion going on if he delivered Rikker minus most of his head.

Some days he hated everything about the spook world.

Most days.

The last two years of misery and a burning need for justice came crashing down on Josh. He knew what he had to do tomorrow, no if, ands or buts.

Searching for some objectivity, he got down to basic facts. Trish could be a sophisticated operative or working in sync with one. He’d come up against some of the best in the world of spooks, and they could put the A-list in Hollywood to shame.

He’d determine whether Trish was the Chessmaster’s contact person or the actual mole, then make the call for a Slye team to snatch her and hand Trish over to Sabrina.