Final Target (SEAL Team Blackout), page 16
What choice did they have? Apollo’s allegiance had been questioned over and over again since he faked his death. But Crew knew there was always another darker, more lethal layer hidden underneath the surface. The next question, though, was why he was here with Alpha and not Charlie. Could he be the binding link between both teams?
Lena let out a low cry. Crew looked over to see her sprinting straight at a man in a firefighter coat and pants.
“Lena!”
“He’s strapped! I saw the vest on him when his coat flapped open.”
“Lena, stand down now!” Sparrow blasted her.
She took another few long strides and stopped. Then she started toward the man again.
“Stand the fuck down!” Sparrow’s order had her jolting to a halt again.
“Someone else will take care of him. We need you.”
She twisted to run back toward the Blackout team. A few men wearing protective bomb gear rushed the man, closing in on him from all sides. Crew didn’t get to see what happened next because they were on the move at a punishing pace, boots pounding the pavement as they searched for the terrorist Apollo claimed was in the city.
SIXTEEN
“I can’t just sit here.” Teigen planted her hands on a desk and bowed her head. Her hair tumbled forward to conceal her face from the other ladies, and she was glad of the screen.
She hated feeling so out of control, but she’d been trained to never allow it to show on the surface.
Even though she knew Kit and Gia had her best interests at heart, they didn’t understand the things she and Crew had been through so far. How could they?
The tapping noise of Kit’s fingers on a keyboard was broken up only by Gia taking the occasional phone call. Every time the phone buzzed, Teigen and Kit would look at her with wide eyes.
Maybe these ladies knew what Teigen had been through after all. They all loved Blackout men. SEALs. Warriors.
When she pushed away from the table and walked over to plop on the couch again, something crinkled in the crack between cushions. She reached in and pulled out a bag of half-eaten corn chips.
She held it up for a moment.
Kit chuckled, her voice ever so slightly strained. “Yeah, the guys leave food sitting around all the time. You gotta be careful where you sit.”
She set the bag aside. “Back in the safehouse, they devoured everything in sight. Especially when Lena cooked.”
The ladies traded a look.
“Oh. Maybe that’s confidential. I shouldn’t have said anything,” Teigen hastened to say.
Gia waved a hand. “Don’t worry about it. You’re among friends.”
She dug her fingers into her scalp and lightly massaged the ache of tight muscles. She could probably tell these women stuff that would give them nightmares for a month. Then again, they most likely had their fair share of secrets.
“How do you guys do it?” she asked before she could think better of it.
Kit spun her chair in an arc to look at her, and Gia eyed her too.
“I mean…loving them.”
Gia pushed out a sigh. “It’s not easy. They’re tougher than the toughest SEALs. And they have nothing, so they have nothing to lose.”
“Well, they have you. That’s far from nothing,” Teigen put in.
Gia tipped her head, contemplating her.
“Go ahead and ask me. I know you heard the rumors. All the guys did. Even some on Charlie knew about me and…Mustang.” She’d never used the nickname for her husband out loud. It seemed foreign and yet familiar all at once.
Kit pushed her glasses up her nose. “None of us understood how it happened. Why Mustang was allowed to keep his wife when all the other guys had to give up their lives, their pasts and any future they ever dreamed of. Why he was recruited at all, with a tie like that.”
“Crew and I discussed it. He believes the government knew what we were both capable of and targeted us.”
Gia’s brows shot up. “Interesting theory. A package deal.”
She nodded.
“So it’s true that you work undercover,” Kit said.
After being taught to never give up her identity, it was difficult for Teigen to admit to anything. But she finally nodded.
“I’m finished with it, though. I can’t face being kidnapped again. And Crew would never stop until he found me, which could mean he’d lose his life too.” Her throat clamped off.
“Well, Blackout’s always looking for qualified people with interesting skill sets.” Kit threw her a smile before pivoting back to her computer.
Teigen mulled over the idea of working here in Blackout headquarters. That was, if a position were offered to her.
A gasp ripped from Gia. She leaped to her feet and pressed her hands to her cheeks. Her eyes were wide with shock.
Kit jumped up too. “What happened? What did you hear?”
“Half the city is on fire!”
Teigen and Kit pounced on her in a blink. “Where did you hear that? Who told you?” Kit plied her for information.
“It just came in. See?” She held up her phone, and they looked at the screen. Red pins dotted a map of Washington.
“I’ve gotta find out what’s going on.” Kit dropped to her seat again and put her fingers to the keys.
Teigen’s heart pounded hard and fast. So she’d been right about the attack. She wished she had read all that code wrong.
“What’s starting the fires?” she asked no one in particular.
Gia threw her a look. “I don’t know for sure, and Sparrow will probably never tell me, but I’d say there are bombs planted around the city.”
A shudder of fear broke through Teigen. Her man was out there while things were blowing up all around him. Those red dots on the map were so close together. Could he even be alive?
I would have heard. I’d know if something happened to him.
Her anxiety level kicked up another notch. What would she do if something happened to the man she loved? She’d just found him again. She hardly had enough time to make up for all the mistakes she’d made, first hiding her job from him, and then breaking off their marriage.
When she concentrated, she could see his handsome face—his steely eyes twinkling with silver so she still didn’t know what color they truly were, even after all this time. His rugged features were branded on her soul. She never wanted it any other way.
“What can we do?” she grated.
The other ladies looked as fretful as she felt. Gia clenched the phone in her hands and stared at the screen as if waiting for news. And Kit continued to pound at her computer. Map after map with street views of the city popped up. She’d tapped into several cameras and appeared to be trying to locate the Blackout team. Meanwhile, her knees bounced under the desk.
“This is the worst part, Teigen. The waiting game sucks,” Gia told her.
“There has to be something I can do. Some secret to decode or—” She broke off as both women swung their stares on her. “What?”
“You’re a codebreaker?” Kit asked.
“Why didn’t you say so?” Gia whipped out a desk chair and spun it on offer to Teigen. “Some things came in. Kit passed them on to people at the FBI, but if you don’t mind having a look—”
Teigen was already sinking into the chair, grateful to have a focus besides her worry for Crew. “Point me in the right direction.”
“Just watch your monitor. I’ll pop them onto the screen for you.” Kit’s fingers beat the keyboard and seconds later a string of numbers appeared in front of Teigen.
Her mind clicked into high gear.
Long minutes passed while she sank into the numbers, rolled them around her mind and got a feel for them. Already a few were starting to connect in her brain.
“Can you talk us through what you’re doing?” Kit broke into her thoughts.
“Uh…it’s hard to explain. I have to sort of get a taste of what I’m looking at, if that makes sense.”
She sank deep into it again. One of the ladies might have been asking her more questions but stopped when she realized Teigen wasn’t going to answer.
Numbers flashed in her mind. She correlated them to letters, swapped them around.
She let out a gasp. “Someone give me a pen and paper!”
She wrapped her fingers around the items thrust into her hand and began scribbling. A set of numbers stuck out to her at the bottom of a row. “Are these coordinates? I think they might be metadata from the phone this message was sent from.”
“Tell me the numbers. I’ll do a search.” Kit pushed off the floor, sending her wheeled chair swooshing back to her keyboard.
Teigen spouted off the digits.
“Running them through the system. God, my man is a genius for setting this up. The system is trying all the locations in the DC area first. Okay, a few are already coming up as possibilities.”
“Give them to me!” Teigen’s brain locked in again. She scribbled the digits and compared them to other number strings.
The veil tore away from her mind, and she clearly saw reality right there in front of her.
“Kit, tell me the locations. Are they away from the fires?”
Kit stared at her screen for a long heartbeat. When she turned her head and looked at Teigen, her eyes were wide. “They are.”
“We got him!” She scribbled on the notepad and held it up for the ladies to see.
“Ibis? What is that? Does it stand for something?” Gia asked.
“It’s not an acronym. It’s a bird. A sacred bird in African culture.”
When they just stared at her, she tapped the notebook. “Don’t you see? This refers to an ibis—it’s revered there, used for rituals…and as a symbol.”
They continued to stare at her.
“It might be considered the equivalent of an eagle in our country. Something that points to the head of it all. Our leader.”
Gia jumped to her feet. “You’re saying this message came from a phone in one of those locations.” She waved at Kit’s screen, where the system was still flipping through digits and weeding out possibilities.
“Yes.”
“And that the ibis…”
“Is mentioned several times in the message. Yes. I’m sure it’s the terrorist leader,” Teigen finished.
Kit pressed her fingers to her lips. Her eyes huge. “Abubakar,” she whispered.
Teigen nodded. “He’s hiding in one of those locations. Watching it all. And this message was transmitted only a short time ago. He may still be there. If we can get this information to Blackout, they can hunt down Abubakar.”
She met Kit’s gaze and then Gia’s. Both of them stared back at her, fear and worry in their depths.
It came down to whether or not these women believed in her skill. Or believed her at all.
“I’ll get a message to Commander Barrett.” Gia snapped up her phone again.
So much was riding on Teigen’s discovery. If she was wrong, their men could walk into an ambush.
If she was right, they’d capture Abubakar.
Come back to me safe, Crew. We have a whole life ahead of us to plan.
* * * * *
A light flashed so brightly white that a sharp pain stabbed Crew’s eyes. He didn’t even have time to blink before he threw himself behind a cinderblock wall. His shoulder struck concrete, spearing a new pain into his joint.
With a loud grunt, he rolled onto his side, away from the explosion.
Another body pitched up next to him. He looked over to see Apollo, eyes closed, bleeding from a cut on his forehead where he’d bashed his head.
Fuck, they weren’t going to lose this man again. Pushing through the pain and the ringing in his ears, Crew sat up and leaned over his friend. “Apollo! Can you hear me?”
The man’s eyes remained closed. The never-ending shriek of sirens seemed to grow louder as more backup was sent to the site. Yet another suicide bomber had done his job.
Blackout failed to stop him before he took his own life and those of everyone around him.
The clanging in Crew’s ears quieted enough that he could tune in to his comms device.
“Mustang! Alpha Niner, answer me, goddammit!”
He fought for air that had gusted out of his lungs when he dove behind the wall. With a forceful pull, he managed to draw breath. “I’m here!” He expected his tone to be stronger, but they heard him.
“Give your location, Alpha Niner!”
“Apollo and I are behind a wall. He’s knocked out.” He double-checked the man’s chest and pressed two fingers against the pulse point in his neck. “He’s breathing.”
“Try to get him up. We need you both outta there,” came the order from Sparrow.
Crew mustered all his strength to get himself to his knees. He slapped Apollo’s face, and his eyes popped open.
“Can you stand? We need to split.”
Apollo’s eyes registered that he understood. It took his body a second to follow. With a rough grunt, he rolled onto his side and pushed to his knees. Crew gripped him under the arm and hauled him to his feet. They clutched at each other for a second before Crew got his bearings.
“Follow me. I think we can circle the building and rally with our team!” he told Apollo.
He gripped his weapon and gave a small nod, along with a wince that told Crew that Apollo might be sporting one hell of a headache after taking that fall. He may even be concussed.
Crew took off at a jog, throwing glances over his shoulder to make sure Apollo was with him. They bolted around a corner and almost hurtled right into their team clustered there.
Crew came to a stumbling halt, but Lachlan threw out an arm to stop Apollo. “I think he has a head injury!” Crew shouted.
That brought Frost forward. He gripped Apollo by the shoulder and swung him around, already examining his eyes and the cut on his head.
Lena jumped in front of Crew. Her face was streaked with dirt and the thick, powdery dust that hung in the air clung to her eyelashes. “What the hell happened back there?”
“We couldn’t get to the bomber in time.”
“Thank god you weren’t standing closer to the guy when he pushed the button!”
“Yeah.” He looked to Apollo. “It was a close call.”
“Too close. This places looks like the apocalypse hit.” She swiped a hand across her forehead, streaking the dirt and adding more to it.
Crew looked up at the city block. Black smoke boiled in the sky. Very few people moved around on the street. Thanks to Teigen cracking that code on the plane, they’d given the city enough warning to evacuate in time.
Frost handed Apollo a couple pills, which he forced down without a drink. Then Frost clapped him on the shoulder, obviously deeming him fit to continue with Blackout.
Just then Sparrow lifted his phone to his ear. Crew was staring at his face, and when it rippled with surprise, Crew knew shit was going down.
He tightened his muscles, ready for the next order. Sparrow finished the call and faced the team.
“We know Abubakar’s location. He’s hiding in one of the buildings on the east side, away from all this.”
Holy fuck. After all this time, they had a bead on the guy? Or was this just another close call or a trick from the terrorist?
“Is it real this time? This isn’t the first time we thought we had him,” Crew said.
Sparrow locked his stare on him. “A talented woman broke their coded messages. It’s him.”
The hair on Crew’s forearms stood up in a wave all the way up to his nape. Teigen had done this? Fuck, he should be very afraid of her capabilities, but he only ballooned with pride.
“How do we get there?” Lena asked.
“Tunnels.” Sparrow jerked his thumb toward a building that was included in the hidden underground network built beneath the capital. He took off running, leading the team into a basement level. They located the door to the tunnel swiftly and dropped into the dim space.
“There are usually lights down here,” Gunnison said from up ahead of Crew. “Must be knocked out by the fires.”
“Guess it’s night vision for us, Blackout,” Crew said, positioning his.
Apollo was a few steps ahead of him and steady on his feet at least. It was damn good to be fighting alongside a legend. None of them knew what pushed the SEAL to go rogue and hunt Abubakar on his own, but he was sure they’d find out in time. For not being able to talk about shit, rumors still spread pretty damn fast.
Like the one he’d been hearing about Lena and Overstreet from Charlie team. The guys said the pair acted off whenever they got in the same room together. But Crew knew Lena pretty damn well, and he didn’t see it.
In minutes they reached an intersection. “This way!” Gunnison called back to them.
“What are we walking into here? Is Abubakar holed up in an office, in a van on the street? Anybody know what the hell we’re looking for?” Lena’s voice projected from a few steps ahead of Crew.
“We’ll know it when we see it,” Sparrow responded.
Crew’s gut roiled. “Usually that means shit can go to hell in a handbasket.”
“Can’t it always?” Lena shot back.
A few chuckles sounded.
What felt like mere seconds later, they reached a wall. “This is it.” Gunnison ran a hand over the surface.
“You better be right, Gunny.”
“I am.”
Then they were breaking down the thin layer of plaster concealing a door. When they crawled out into a building, the team was prepared for a fight.
“Time to go hunting,” Crew drawled, weapon at the ready. “Let’s end this here. Now.”
SEVENTEEN
Teigen jumped at the hard clang of a metal door slamming shut. Blackout headquarters had been quiet with the team gone and only her, Kit, Gia and a few support people left in the building. Hearing a sound that wasn’t made by the three of them had Teigen leaping off her chair.
Kit careened out of the room, three steps ahead of the other women. “They’re back!”
