Ultimate Passage: New Beginnings: Box Set ( Books 1-4) (5 page)

T
arget 42 was
a dog groomer in southeast Houston. Reluctant to check out of the hotel that was near Marissa, Finn thought over his choices.

Don’t, he told himself.
Don’t leave her behind.

I won’t.
He wouldn’t leave her.

The procedure to bring the targets in was simple enough, once initial contact had been made. An additive to a beverage would make the targets complacent and agreeable. Then twenty minutes later they’d be unconscious. And they’d better be in a secluded place or there would be questions asked, suspicions raised if anyone was around. Kal recommended a vehicle, for easy transport.

“Sounds simple enough,” Finn mused. Much simpler than many of the training missions he’d been on. He’d succeeded at those, succeeded very well.

The phone buzzed. Finn checked Kal’s response.

Are you on schedule?

Finn paused. Should he tell Kal he might be behind? No, absolutely not. Better to try to catch up. He’d lost half a day. Or more.

His response to Kal was short.
Yes.

After grabbing a kit that contained the necessities for securing the target, Finn set out for his rental and the forty-nine minute drive to southeast Houston.

F
inn nosed
the rental into the parking lot of 42’s apartment complex, riding the brakes to keep from going too fast, and easily identified her car.

Based on research, 42 shouldn’t be coming out of her apartment until 7 a.m., at which point she’d go to her favorite coffee shop and order her usual.

42. He didn’t want to remember her name. That would mean getting personal. What if the same thing happened with her as had happened with Marissa?

No... He knew the same thing wouldn’t happen.
Not the same, exact thing
, but what if he started to care? What if his mission was impeded? No. That couldn’t be allowed to happen. He would lose everything. He’d be a disgrace. Maybe he’d be court-martialed for treason. And he wouldn’t blame them.

No. No friendships, no bonds, nothing. Just efficiency. Just transporting the target to Kal’s team. That was all.

An apartment door opened. 42’s door. He verified that this was the woman in the file photo, then followed her to the coffee shop. He parked and vaulted out of the car, dashed inside and ordered her favorite drink before she even opened her own car door.

Then he proceeded to the sugar-and-cream counter to doctor the coffee and wait for 42.
Teresa
, he reminded himself.
Teresa. You can’t go around calling her 42.

“Teresa.” The barista called her name and handed 42 her latte.

42 approached him, her face distracted, deep in thought, maybe. Finn ran into her, jarring her elbow, sending her drink flying. Her expression turned to one of horror as coffee splattered him, the tables, and the floor.

“Jesus, I’m sorry,” he apologized, reaching for napkins, doing his best to appear contrite. “I wasn’t paying attention. Let me buy you another. What did you have?”

“A latte.”

“Oh, hell, take mine. That’s what I drink.”

“I couldn’t possibly.” Her pale cheeks blushed a rosy color. She clearly wasn’t immune to male attention.

“I haven’t had a single sip yet. Not one.” Finn pressed the drink into her hand. “It’s yours. Take it. Can I get you a pastry? I feel bad. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going. Do you have time for a quick bite?”

He knew she had the time. Her usual routine included drinking her coffee at a park while she read a paperback romance.

“Oh, I—” She blushed a deeper red. “Okay. Why not.”

“Want to sit outside?”

Twenty minutes later she was getting into Finn’s rental, not only willing but also smiling, thanks to the Asazi supplement in her coffee.

In the car, she turned doe eyes his way.

Finn avoided looking into her eyes. He started the car, reaching for the stick to shift it as 42 sighed and laid her head down. Just like that, she was out.

Damn the curses, that was close. One minute earlier and she’d have passed out in the coffee shop. Exactly what he did
not
need. He wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. Between the humidity and heat in this city and the stress of making sure she was in the car before she passed out, he’d gotten drenched in no time.

Now for the drive to Kal and his group, who had set up a compound northwest of Houston, not far from College Station.

The drive to the compound lasted more than an hour, a long drive during which all he could do was hope that the target wouldn’t awaken. He had never asked how long the targets would be kept unconscious by the formula. If she woke up, he would have to come up with a plan instantly, and he would risk discovery. Not knowing these facts, as small as they may have seemed, made Finn nervous.

He nosed the car up to the hill that housed the compound they’d set up for the procedures to be conducted on the women, lifted 42 out and carried her to the tunnel that was well disguised by a thicket of shrubbery.

Another car pulled up. A different soldier, Merck, carrying another unconscious woman.

Finn nodded to him. “Your first?”

Merck frowned, then looked at 42. “No. My second. This one is your first?”

Finn didn’t want to answer. He didn’t need the attention, but now it was out. And here he’d thought he wasn’t doing too badly. “Yes, my first was out of town.”

“Perhaps our Reconnaissance and Surveillance Team isn’t quite up to par. You should write it up.”

Sure. And get caught lying. “Good idea.” The words slipped off his tongue way too easily.

Two scientists accompanied by a trio of soldiers came out to greet them. One of the soldiers was Kal. He had a suspicious look in his eyes.

“Take the subject.” Kal pointed to 42.

When Finn was relieved of his burden, Kal put a hand on his shoulder. “A moment, cousin?”

Curses on the shadow of fire. He didn’t want to stay for a talk. The others slipped through the opening and shut the compound off, and Kal started to walk away from the entrance. “Follow me, please.”

As soon as they were a few paces away, Kal stopped. “I’m concerned.” That was mild. That meant Kal was worried. Extremely worried.

“Don’t be. Everything is well. I’ll be on track before the third subject is due.”

“I’m wondering if this was a good idea. Putting you on this assignment.”

“Why?”

“I wondered what it would do to you. I know you went through a lot with Nana.”

Finn drew his shoulders up, stood straighter. “People die. Asazi die. It’s part of the cycle of life.”

“I wasn’t simply referring to her death. I’m actually thinking of your whole life. Of all the struggles you’ve had.”

“What do you know about my struggles?” Finn fought to keep from reverting to his Asazi form as strongly as he fought the urge to strike at Kal.

“You’ve been closer to me than my own brothers. I’ve seen you. Watched you go through levels of hell.”

“I don’t need you in my head, and I don’t need a practitioner, not for my body and definitely not for my mind. And you are not studied in the art of practitioning.”

“I’ll say no more.” Kal turned toward the hilly entrance. “No. I’ll say one more thing. I’m willing to support you in any decision you make.”

What that meant, Finn wasn’t sure. He also wasn’t sure why Kal felt the need to say it. “Thank you.”

Kal stepped toward him, put his hands on Finn’s shoulders, and looked him in the eyes. “Any. I mean it. Anything you choose to do, any decision. I’m here for you.”

Finn didn’t know why Kal had said what he said. He didn’t know what extreme Kal was willing to go to when he made a proclamation of that sort, but he knew that if Kal made a decision that was rash and extreme, it could cost him dearly. “Why would you do that?”

Kal turned and walked away. Finn didn’t allow him to go more than a few paces before he called his name. “Kal, I have a few questions for you.”

“I assumed you would. And you know that there’s danger in the questions you’ll pose.”

“Questions don’t create danger. Actions do,” he argued, but he knew he was lying to himself. The thing was, he was certain Kal knew too, from the look in his eyes.

“Ask them. But then I’ll ask you one question in return.”

“The women. Nothing happens to them? We don’t kill them?”

“We don’t kill them. But there are always things that happen in medical procedures, even when the utmost care is taken.”

“And what will happen to 42?”

“She’ll be home in four hours.”

Finn nodded, but wasn’t completely convinced, though he didn’t know why. He didn’t think Kal was lying to him, but something made him wonder, gave him pause. It concerned him.

“My turn.” Kal rubbed his jaw. “41—she wasn’t out of town, was she?”

Finn wanted to lie. He truly did. But he had never lied to Kal. They’d always been too close. “Not exactly.”

Kal turned on one heel and marched back toward the entrance. “Go get your next target,” he said over his shoulder. “If you need anything, let me know.”

F
inn drove back
to Houston with Kal’s questions and assurances heavy on his mind. He took the rental car to a parking spot at a truck stop and studied the files for 43. Downtown Houston. He drove the distance and parked outside her gym, then he waited. For five hours he waited, but there was no sign of her. She should have arrived four hours ago.

He drove by her apartment. Her car was nowhere in sight. Her job, the same, no sign of her.

Should he contact the team and tell them she wasn’t around? After telling them that Marissa was gone? Kal knew the truth about that, but Finn was sure Kal wouldn’t tell, even if his life depended on it. But after saying Marissa was out of town, Finn didn’t think it would look good for him to have another missed target. Maybe he should move on to 44.

He planned to move on to 44, but for some reason, some cursed reason, he drove to 42’s apartment. It had been more than four hours. It had been seven. No. Eight.

Her car wasn’t in her parking spot. The lights were off in her apartment. This could be nothing. Probably was. But he wanted to be sure.

He parked down the street and decided to walk by her place.

He wasn’t even halfway down the block toward her apartment complex when he walked by an appliance store with televisions in the window. Televisions with 42’s picture on them.

Finn stopped. He tried to hear the news story through the glass, but couldn’t. He didn’t really need to, though. He could see what the story was about when her picture flashed onscreen again and above it was the word MISSING.

Kal wouldn’t have lied. Finn believed that with all he held to be true. But something had happened. And until he knew what—

He tapped out a message to Kal on his phone.

What happened to 42?

Two minutes later, a reply came from Kal.

What do you mean? The Installment team returned her hours ago.

M
arissa picked
up a package of chewing tobacco from the corner store. Her father had never liked flowers. He thought they were a waste of money, and he had never seen the point of putting flowers on graves. So she wasn’t going to take him flowers. She put the chewing tobacco in the same bag that held the fishing lures she’d taken out of Dad’s tackle box. She’d taken a moment to use a pair of snips to clip the hooks off. Couldn’t have a stupid bird or squirrel seeing the lures and deciding they were lunch, only to be hooked. Now the lures were rendered useless, at least at hooking.

Along with the tobacco, the lures seemed like the perfect thing to put on Dad’s gravesite.

The drive was long, because he’d asked to be buried near the coast he liked to fish so much. So she’d found the cemetery closest to his fishing spot, off the jetties in Port O’Connor and had gotten him a plot there. It was the best she could do at the time. Little did she know it would have cotton fields right next to it. Dad had loved cotton fields, had said they reminded him of his childhood.

She parked her car and jumped out. The sky looked like rain on the horizon, across the cotton fields and pastures. It smelled like rain, too. Just what she needed, to be caught in a summer thunderstorm on the Texas Gulf Coast.

What she needed was time to talk to Dad about what she was going through, about what she was thinking. She put the tributes beside his headstone and traced his name with her finger, the stone rough and yet warm against her fingertips. Just like Dad. Rough on the outside, but always warm.

She sat by the stone—no way could she sit on the gravesite. That seemed just... wrong.

“Dad.” She bit her lip, unsure where to start. “So, Dad, it’s not looking so good at Two West Two. I don’t think I can keep the restaurant much longer.”

Marissa picked at a blade of grass, folding its symmetry in half lengthwise. “I know you said I should pursue my dreams. I guess that makes me a loser. I thought I was. I thought pursuing your dream would be mine.”

She hugged her knees to her body. “I know you said not to. You said to do what made me happy. But I don’t know what the hell that is. I wish I did. I wish I knew what I was meant to do.”

A rustle came from behind her.

Marissa jumped up, not sure whether she should fight or flee.

“Marissa?”

“Joey. What the hell. You could have given me a heart attack.” She put her hand over her chest. Her heart was beating faster than her pet rabbit’s had the day a dog had chased it. Marissa had held it in her hands, trying to comfort it while the rabbit’s heartbeat raced against her palm. “What the—what are you doing here?”

“I came to talk to you.”

“You followed me?” She would have been nervous, but Joey wasn’t the kind who ever made her doubt her safety when he was around.

He had the decency to look sheepish, and cast his eyes away. “I guess.”

“Why?” Hostility cast an abruptness on the word.

“I wanted to tell you that I meant it. That I meant every word I said last night. Have you given my options any thought?”

“Yes. And I’ve given a lot of other things a thought. You were right. We don’t belong together. Not even to save Two West Two
.
”

“Wait a minute.” His expression was caring. His golf shirt was immaculate, and his khaki pants perfectly creased. Nothing was out of place. “I never said that. Never said it at all.”

Everything about him was perfect. And at the same time perfectly fake.

“You didn’t have to
say
it. You showed it when you cheated on me. You didn’t even have the integrity to break up with me before you slept with someone else. And then you thought you’d keep it from me.”

“How long are you going to punish me for that? To keep us apart?”

“Is that what you think I’m doing? I’m not apart from you because I’m punishing you. I’m apart from you because—” She took a deep breath. “We. Are. Not. Together. That’s it. Period.”

He opened his mouth.

She intercepted his statement, protest, whatever it was going to be. “Just go. Please. I’m trying to visit with my father. To sort out my thoughts.”

“I just hope you make one of the things that you’re sorting out my proposal. I want you to give it some serious thought. I’m in a position to help you.”

A sigh was pushed out of her body, almost as if it wasn’t her own doing. It flowed along with the words that came out. “I know, Joey.”