Echoes at Dawn (7 page)

Rio scowled fiercely at his medic and third in command. He didn’t want to hear anything derogatory about Grace. She had more resilience and fight in her than most of the men he’d served with in his years in black ops. His money would be on her any damn day of the week.

“What are our transport options?” Rio demanded.

“I commandeered an old Chevy work truck,” Terrence said.

Rio blew out his breath. “That’s it?”

Diego shrugged. “We’ve had worse.”

Yeah, they had. Only they hadn’t been carrying a woman who was more dead than alive. A woman who needed gentleness and caring, not a bumpy-ass ride down switchbacks in the bed of a farm truck.

“I can make a bed in the back,” Browning offered. “It won’t be the Ritz, but it’ll do.”

“How the fuck would you know anything about the Ritz?” Alton grumbled. “Fucking pretty boy.”

Browning snorted. “You’ve got me mixed up with Diego here. He’s Mr. Suave and shit.”

Rio held up his hands. “We’ve left bodies all over this goddamn mountain. We’ve got to pony up and get the hell out of here. I’m going to try and raise Sam again.”

Terrence slapped his hand to his pocket as if remembering something. “You have a message from Steele. Must be important. It came in code.”

Rio frowned and reached for the handheld unit Terrence pulled from his pocket. He punched in his access code and scanned the tersely worded message.

Jesus H. Christ. If this didn’t complicate matters. Steele was a cryptic bastard on his best day. What the hell was Rio supposed to do with this?

Rio wasn’t one to give his trust to anyone. He respected Sam and the other Kellys. He wouldn’t work for them unless there was a level of trust there. But he never went so far as to make himself vulnerable to anyone. KGI included.

Now, if Steele’s message was interpreted correctly, Steele was effectively giving the other team leader a heads-up that all may not be well within the KGI ranks and that Resnick was a snake in the grass.

It didn’t change that Rio still had to contact Sam, but it
made him a whole lot more leery of handing over information on a woman helpless to defend herself.

He’d already decided his course of action anyway, and it didn’t include hauling Grace back to Tennessee. Especially now that Steele had warned him. His gut had already given him a heads-up, and now he knew it was legit.

“Let’s roll,” Rio said in a grim voice. “Where’s this chariot you arranged for us, T?”

Terrence’s teeth flashed and he tossed his head to the west. “Quarter mile. Stashed in an aspen grove.”

Rio knelt beside Grace and put his hand on her cheek. She didn’t even stir. His gaze moved down her body, taking in her tattered clothing, the mix of blood and bruises, the makeshift splint on her bruised and swollen arm.

“One more time, Grace,” Rio whispered. “One more trip. We’ll get you out of here. I swear it.”

“She needs to remain as flat as possible,” Diego said. “I’m worried she’s already punctured a lung. I don’t like her color and I don’t like her respirations. They’re becoming more labored all the time. If we aren’t careful, we could end up doing her more harm.”

“If we don’t move her, she’s going to be dead,” Rio said bluntly.

Diego nodded his acknowledgment.

They didn’t have time to secure her as they’d done before to Rio’s back. They didn’t have time to do anything more than hoist her up and hope for the best.

Rio waved off his men. He was taking responsibility for Grace. It was he who’d promised her he’d get her out of this alive. It was he who’d pushed her, bullied her and demanded that she give what she couldn’t spare. He alone would carry her.

As gently as possible, he slid his arms underneath her body and lifted, rising to his full height, bearing her weight with him. He cradled her against his chest and then fixed his gaze on Terrence.

“I’m depending on you to get us out of here.”

Terrence nodded and then motioned for the men to take
position around Rio and Grace. Guns up and ready, they moved as one, taking a fast clip in the direction of the waiting truck.

The sun had just peeked over the horizon, a burnt orange glow lighting a pink sky, when they reached the grove of aspens where the truck was parked.

Rio grimaced. Terrence hadn’t lied when he said it was a work truck. But as long as it got them the hell down the road, it would do.

As they neared the vehicle, movement caught Rio’s attention. He dropped like a rock, instinctively positioning himself over Grace. His men reacted, forming a barrier between Rio and the potential danger.

“Don’t shoot. I have business with Rio.”

The words reached Rio’s ears, and every hair on his nape prickled with apprehension. He eased Grace onto the ground and then jerked a thumb at Diego. Diego dropped to hover over Grace while Rio rose, his gun up, pointed at the man in the distance.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Hancock?”

This was bad. Worse than bad. Hancock being here in these mountains could only mean one thing. Titan was after Grace or at the very least had been sent to recover her.

Fuck.

EVEN
though Hancock didn’t so much as twitch, Rio kept his gun up as he circled warily to get a full view of the other man. Hancock watched coolly, his arms loose at his sides as if sending Rio a clear message that he wasn’t a threat.

Which was pretty damn funny because anyone who ever thought someone from Titan wasn’t a threat was deluding themselves. Rio should know. He’d been one of them for ten years.

He’d lived and breathed those shadows. He knew what Titan was, what they were capable of. What their purpose was. They weren’t black or white. They were so gray that it was easy to get lost in the different world they lived in. A world where there were no rules and the law didn’t apply.

He and Hancock had served together. Rio had saved Hancock’s life in what would be Rio’s last mission with Titan. Rio had walked away, never looked back. He hadn’t wanted to look back. Only now his past was staring him right in the face, and he had the sinking feeling that past and present were on one hell of a collision course.

“What are you doing here, Hancock?”

But he knew. He knew exactly why Hancock was here, but he wanted to hear it from the man himself. And then he was going to let Hancock know that it would be a cold day in hell before he ever touched Grace.

“Put down the gun, Rio. I’m armed but you’d have me before I could ever draw. I’m packaged up. See?” He held up his arms so Rio could see the strap of the rifle and the pistol that was holstered just below his armpit.

“I like my gun just where I have it. Now talk.”

“I’m repaying a debt. You get a free pass. This time. My job is to bring Grace Peterson in regardless of how. My team is at least two miles away. They’ll stay there until you’ve had time to move out.”

He lifted his head a notch so he stared Rio in the eye.

“Next time? All bets are off. I’ll bring her in even if I have to go through you.”

A growl rose from Rio’s throat, and it took everything he had not to lunge at the man he’d once called friend.

Then he turned sideways to look at where Grace lay on the ground, broken and so very fragile. Then he stared back at Hancock. “Take a good look, Hancock. See what you’ve done. Is this what it’s come to now? Preying on innocent women?”

Hancock didn’t so much as flinch. “It’s a job. Just like all the other jobs. You know the drill, Rio. Don’t act like a fucking choir boy. You may have joined up with Captain America and crew, but it doesn’t change a goddamn thing about who you were and where you came from. Your hands are just as stained as mine, and you’ll never wipe them clean. I owe you. You saved my life. That’s the only reason why you’re walking out of these mountains. Don’t make the mistake of underestimating me or of ever thinking I’ll look the other way again.”

Rio took a step forward. Then another. Until he was nose to nose with Hancock and could feel the other man’s breath on his chin. His voice was cold, so chilled that it made the air around them seem warm. “You don’t need to underestimate
me
. You stay the hell away from Grace
Peterson. I’ll take you out, Hancock, and I won’t have a single regret.”

“Guess we know where we stand. I’m coming after you, Rio. This’ll be your only warning.”

Hancock took a step back, turned and then melted into the trees, gone before Rio could say or do anything further. As questionable as Titan may be, they had a code and they lived by it. It would have been easy for Hancock to take a stand. Make a grab for Grace. He could have pinned Rio and his men in the mountains. With an injured Grace, it would have been next to impossible for Rio and his men to escape, at least not without getting themselves or her killed.

But Hancock was a hard-ass bastard who had a code of honor even if it was a twisted sense of justice. Rio had saved his life once and now the debt was paid. Not only had Hancock looked the other way, but he’d tipped his hand and let Rio know who was after Grace.

He only wished to God the information made him feel better.

He turned back and hurried to Grace, his jaw clenched.

“What the fuck was all that about?” Terrence demanded.

“Not now, T,” Rio said in a clipped voice. “We need to get the fuck out of here before Hancock decides he’s been charitable enough for the day.”

Alton and Browning quickly set to work padding the bed of the truck with a bedroll. They even took their shirts off and laid them across the sleeping bag in an effort to give Grace as much padding as possible.

Terrence and Diego lifted Grace from the ground, and Rio hopped into the back of the truck, leaning against the cracked window. Next, Grace was carefully laid on the bedroll and Rio covered as much of her as possible. Her hair was an issue. Long, black as night but dirty and tangled from her ordeal. He tucked as much of it as he could behind her neck and arranged one of the shirts over her head so she wasn’t visible. Not that it mattered, really. Hancock and Titan knew where she was and they sure as hell knew what
she looked like. There was little need in concealing her. They just needed to get the hell out.

Diego climbed into the back with him while Browning and Alton piled into the front with Terrence. Diego positioned himself against the back window just as Rio had so that Grace was between them. With their legs stretched out, they provided stability, or as much as they could, so Grace didn’t move from side to side.

Rio slid his hand underneath the T-shirt covering Grace’s face and rubbed his thumb gently over her cheek.

Stay with me, Grace. Hang in there. You’re not a quitter, so don’t fucking quit on me now. Not when I’m getting you the hell out of here. You’ll like it where I’m taking you. You’ll do nothing but rest, eat good food and get better.

There was no response. No stirring in his mind. He hadn’t expected one. Grace was beyond her endurance. He wasn’t convinced she’d survive this no matter how much he willed it to happen. And now that he knew Titan was involved, he knew they would be relentless. There would be no stopping them. It was a kill-or-be-killed situation.

No longer were they taking on some nameless, faceless, shadowy organization. Titan was government. Buried so deep that only a few even knew of their existence. Highly trained. The best of the best. Funding. Backing. They were invincible.

And they’d been given orders to bring Grace in.

“Who is he, Rio?” Diego asked. “You haven’t said a word. We need to know the sitch and you’re sitting like a stone. I get that it’s bad, but we need to know how bad.”

“As bad as it gets,” Rio said grimly. “Fuck.”

He wiped a hand through his hair. Some of the strands had pulled free of the thong that secured it into a ponytail at his nape. He shoved a piece behind his ear and stared down at the slight bump in the bedroll.

Grace Peterson wasn’t just another mission. She wasn’t just another victim. He had a very personal stake in this and he couldn’t even explain why. He’d volunteered for this job. Sam had been ready to send Steele and his team after
Shea’s sister, but after seeing the footage of Grace on the video surveillance just before she disappeared, he’d demanded the assignment. Hell, he hadn’t given Sam a choice. He’d told Sam he and his team were going after Grace and bugged out shortly after.

There was no way in hell he was going to let Titan get their hands on Grace. Not that they’d hurt her. In fact, he was certain they had strict instructions not to damage her in any way. But once charged with an assignment, they were relentless. Failure wasn’t an option, and in all the years Rio had worked with them, they hadn’t ever botched a job.

It wasn’t their job to judge. Hell, they didn’t have a conscience. It wasn’t for them to decide right or wrong. They just followed orders. A conscience was for the weak. They operated as an emotionless machine, and that was what made them so fucking dangerous.

Rio rubbed a hand tiredly over his face. He knew Hancock would come after him with both barrels. It only made him gladder that he’d covered his tracks so well when he’d finally left. Rio had lived his entire life in the shadows. He didn’t know any other way. He had a damn fortress in Belize, and until recently, no one but he knew of its existence.

Now KGI knew of it. The wildcard was Resnick. Steele’s warning ran through his mind all over again. What was Resnick’s involvement and could he be trusted?

He had to get in touch with Sam and warn him. If Titan was after Grace, they’d sure as hell have pegged Shea too. Rio needed information and he needed it yesterday.

“Okay, so it’s bad. Give me more to work with, boss man. Will I need lube for this ass fucking?”

Rio grimaced at Diego’s dry humor.

“It’s a long damn story and I’m not telling it more than once. When we get the fuck out of here, I’ll give you all a full report. End result is we’re going to have to watch our asses, and if Grace survives to see tomorrow, we’re going to have to work damn hard to keep her safe.”