Page 51 of Seeking Vengeance
“Goddamn it, Nix! Quit fucking around.” Brookes tossed his DEA badge into a bag in the trunk.
The bag held similar ID tags and papers for the FBI, NSA, CIA, and various other agencies. Their little organization didn’t actually have an official name. Like the animals after which they had been named, the Chameleons became who they needed to be at any given time. Nicki was a natural.
“Do you have any idea who that guy is?” Brookes asked.
“Former SEAL, maybe a black ops man,” she rattled off, voicing what her instincts had already told her. “Owns the garage in town now.”
Fisher laughed. “All true, sweetheart. But he’s also a member of the special forces teamwecall when we need help.”
That gave her pause. She looked into his eyes, waiting for the punch line, but he was dead serious.
“The Ghost Team?” she breathed in disbelief. That was the name she and her crew had given the group of independent Irish ops men who tackled jobs not even they would touch.
“The same. Yeah, no shit, Nix. Remember that clusterfuck in Kazakhstan a year ago? That was your boyfriend and his brothers.”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” she said emphatically.
Fisher laughed. “Yeah, that’s why his team fired off all those sniffers, looking for info about you, sweetheart. Because there’s no interest.”
Nicki paled as her heart thudded against her chest, but she’d be damned if she showed weakness in front of these guys. Her partners, like her, however, were trained to simplyknow. Their lives so often depended on it.
“Relax, babe. We’ve got you covered. But couldn’t you have scratched your itch with a regular guy? You know, one who doesn’t kill people for a living? Jesus, woman, you just attract trouble, don’t you?”
Despite the roiling of her stomach, Nicki’s lips quirked. “Yeah, so everyone keeps telling me.”
“Seriously, Nix, you’re playing with some intense shit here.”
“Don’t sweat it, sweetie. Game’s over. I won. I always win.”
“It’s not, and you haven’t. Not yet anyway,” Brookes breathed. “We know about Marscone, Nix. We know about the recon you’ve been doing.”
“Fuck,” she hissed.
They were supposed to be using their substantial resources on everyone else, not on her. Another thing she should have known. With any luck, they knew only of Benny’s business dealings and not of her personal history with him.
“No worries. We’re here to help you.”
Her eyes lit up. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. I don’t know how you find them, Nix, but the boss says this one’s got to go down. Taser’s got a real woody about this one.”
Nicki laughed at that. Taser was their leader and the closest thing to a legitimate psychic she’d ever seen. It was he who examined potential Chameleons, got inside their heads, and decided which way they’d go. He had yet to be wrong about a single candidate.
A vision of Sean filled her mind’s eye, but she pushed it into a neat little box in the back of her brain and locked it away. That was over, effective immediately. Later, when she had nothing but time and space and solitude, she’d take out the key and page through the memories and try to make sense of it all, but she couldn’t afford the distraction right now.
“Great. Now, help me nail this bastard and get me the fuck out of this town before I start getting all sentimental.”
Brookes grinned in obvious relief. “Get in the car, beatch.” He made it sound like a long-suffering term of endearment.
“Ah, now, you’ve gone and hurt my feelings,” she said, faking a pout. “Sticks and stones, baby. And there’s no way I’m letting one of you guys straddle my ride.” She strutted over to her bike and climbed on. “Just try to keep up, will ya?”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The effects of the paralytic were already wearing off by the time Shane arrived with Nick. It took both of them to get Sean into a sitting position on the couch. Shane called Michael immediately. After Shane relayed what Sean had been able to tell him, Michael confirmed that the best thing they could do was pump Sean full of water and other liquids to dilute the effect of the paralytic and suggested they bring him up to the farm immediately to make sure there were no other ill effects.
Nick was so quiet that they nearly forgot he was there. He hovered in the background, watching and listening in disbelief.
“Nicki did this to you?” he finally asked, his expression unreadable. “Why would she do that?”
