Black Ice (Hunters Inc Book 2) Read online

  It would have been easy to leave without telling her he was going, to let her sleep hoping she didn’t wake and panic when she found that he and his team had gone, but he couldn’t do that to her, couldn’t leave without telling her one more time that he loved her.

  He needed her touch, her kiss. He craved it. He wouldn’t, couldn’t ever leave her to go on a job without her knowing how he felt, just in case he didn’t come back.

  Connor let his head drop. It hit him like a fucking mortar shell.

  He had allowed himself to become so wrapped up in this damn bubble that was her, without actually taking the time to think about what all this meant for her.

  Could he drag her into his world?

  Could he ask her to understand that he had to take risks, not just for himself, but also for his brothers?

  Did he have the right to hope that she could love him too once she knew there was a chance he wouldn’t come back? That she could be sat waiting for the call that would mean he would be coming home in a wooden box draped in the burial stars and stripes?

  The list of doubts was growing with every breath that he took. And for the first time in his life, Connor didn’t know what to do.

  “Connor?” he felt the soft tender touch of her palm against his cheek.

  He closed his eyes and breathed in her scent. He hadn’t seen her wake, but just the sound of her voice calmed him, calmed the nervous tension that had been building within him.

  Gavin Smith and Morgan Andrews where going to pay for what they had done, for what they had been planning to do and if he had his way, it would be in blood. It ended tonight.

  “Hey baby” he kissed her palm, he kissed her lips, soft and warm to his touch.

  “You have to go?”

  He nodded his reply, as though the spoken words would break her and he was doing his best to save her from pain “I need you to stay here ok. Em is here and Hannah. If you need anything they will know how to contact me” the words hung heavy, he wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms, take her in his bed, make love to her until she slipped into an exhausted satisfied slumber, safe that nothing could ever hurt her again. But Connor knew better than to give a promise he wasn’t sure he could keep.

  He wouldn’t do that to her, wouldn’t give her false hope, wouldn’t lie to her, she deserved so much more than that, maybe even more than him, more than he could give her.

  “I love you Connor Parry, I have no idea how this happened, but what I do know is that I need you to come back to me, I need you to be safe. If your life is in danger, even for one second, you walk away, you have to promise me that you will walk away and we will find some other way to figure this whole mess out, you understand me? I am not gonna lose you, not when I have only just found you, do you hear me?” the tremble in her voice was killing him.

  “Not gonna happen, one thing I will promise you is that where you are concerned, I will never walk away.”

  Connor took her mouth, her lips opening up to him, as she allowed him to explore her mouth with his tongue.

  He knew he shouldn’t be doing this, the kiss said more than any words ever could, but he couldn’t stop, he needed to touch her, taste her one more time before he left.

  Sarah was fighting to stop herself from clinging to him like a frightened child on its first day of school. Her breathing hard and rapid, her chest rising and falling in erratic motion as she pulled him down to deepen the kiss.

  She didn’t know what the next few hours had in store for him, for her, for all of them, but she needed him to know she was with him, would do whatever he asked, he could trust her the way she trusted him.

  “Come back to me ok”

  “Ok”

  She sat and watched him as he walked away from her, it was the hardest thing she had ever done in her life and when he closed the door, silent tears fell down her face.

  ***

  “What’s taking so long? I thought you said this would all be wrapped up by now” Smith closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

  He was starting to regret ever getting into bed with Morgan Andrews, this whole thing was becoming a headache and one he really didn’t need.

  “Calm down Morgan, there’s no need to panic, I told you, everything is under control” was it? he had to admit, Andrews had a point, this was taking too long.

  He’d had his team plant the evidence needed to frame the dumb blonde from the hotel. Whoever it was she was with, they had been sloppy, given him everything he needed, it was actually genius in its simplicity, her loss was most definitely his gain, but he needed her in cuffs, only then would he be home free.

  Gavin Smith had crossed all his T’s, dotted all his I’s, had left nothing to chance. She had given him a suspect to throw under a bus where he hadn’t had one before, he just needed Andrews to keep his shit together and stop panicking, hell, if he was losing his nerve now, he wasn’t gonna last long if the feds came knocking.

  “It’s easy for you to say, I’ve put a lot of faith in you Smith, you said you could take care of everything. I haven’t paid you all that money to stand by and watch this all blow up in our faces”

  Our faces? Not if he had anything to do with it.

  Smith still had hired help on his pay roll, the nice bottle he had waiting for them could have a delayed delivery if he needed a final loose end tying up.

  All he was waiting for was confirmation that the green backs had been deposited into his account and then he was out, a nice little villa in the Maldives waiting for him.

  “Look, it’s only a matter of time before they pick her up, I don’t know what you’re worrying for, this changes nothing, the job was still done, the second device has been planted and will cause the real damage that you want, she was just an unexpected bonus” Andrews was really getting on his last nerve and Gavin wasn’t about to let him lose his shit and start pointing fingers before he was on the plane out of the country.

  When this call ended, he would make another that would eliminate any more problems.

  Then he was out, the only thing he was going to regret was not being able to see the look on Melissa’s face when she realized he was gone and so was her free ride.

  Smith ended the call with a final reassurance that Morgan Andrews had nothing to worry about, not that it mattered, the old man would be dead by morning, nice large bubble in the blood stream should do it.

  He took a hearty swallow of the amber liquid that was swirling around in the crystal tumbler, savoring the burn as it was coating his throat, he didn’t even like the stuff, but it was a gift, and expensive one at that so he thought it only right he toast the prick who had made him a very rich man.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Connor sat shotgun in the second black SUV to leave the warehouse compound.

  Jenson in the driver seat, Chris Hunter in the back. No one speaking as they followed a near identical vehicle that held Jacks, Harry, Briggs and Jones.

  The Op had been planned down to the last detail, each member of the seven-man team knew their role and Em would be back at the warehouse doing whatever it was that she did best.

  It still made his head spin how she could hack, almost anything with just a keyboard and a monitor, hell, he had trouble with copy and paste.

  In the last few hours she had managed to hack Smiths phone and laptop, she had taken remote control of the computer in his office by remote access and had been able to use the laptops built in camera and microphone to record the conversation between Smith and Andrews, that had been pure gold, talk about giving yourself enough rope…

  “You good Doc?”

  Chris Hunter the only member of the field team not to have been in their Army unit sat in the back of the blacked-out ride.

  He was Jacks younger brother and he and Connor had become close since he had joined the team, sharing their love of online gaming and beer to help them unwind after Connor had given Chris a particularly hard time during his training.

  “Yeah ma
n, I’m good” Connor didn’t turn, but kept his eyes forward, focusing on the sister vehicle that was on point.

  He knew Jenson was watching him in his peripheral, it might have looked like he was concentrating on the road, but Connor knew his boss was monitoring him as he drove.

  “Remember what I said, no heroics and as much as you might want to snap the fuckers neck, this one we need alive, he has a world-wide audience of millions to watch his ass being paraded off a transport bus in a nice orange jumpsuit, so I don’t want you fucking this up, understand?” Jenson never took his eyes off the road as he spoke, his ‘don’t fuck this up’ attitude never wavering.

  Connor was more than aware what he needed to do, didn’t need reminding. But he wasn’t sure he would have the self-control it would take to keep the fucker alive long enough for Smith to reach a prison cell.

  Suddenly, his tactical vest was starting to feel unusually tight, almost restrictive around his chest as his breathing became deeper.

  “Can’t promise anything right now” no point lying, these men knew him almost as well as he knew himself.

  “Do I need to turn around and take you back or drop you off at the side of the road so you can sit making fucking daisy chains while you wait for us to come back for you?” Connor smirked, Jenson really did have a way with words that couldn’t be imitated.

  “He’s right man, you gotta keep your head on this one. Jacks managed it when Hannah was in trouble, you’re just gonna have to do the same” Connor listened as Chris referenced when Jacks Hannah had been taken by a crazed Drug dealer who had ordered a hit on her.

  He knew they were both right, he hated that everyone was thinking clearly and he was the only one who seemed to be having a hard time keeping his shit together.

  Connor had it bad, even he was surprised at how strong his feelings for Sarah had become in such a short space of time, he knew there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do to protect her.

  He nodded, it was all he could manage for now, talking about the situation was just causing his heart rate and temper to rise and right now, he needed to keep control of both.

  Sarah had been sat alone in Connors office since he had left, the sound of multiple pairs of boots heavy footing it down the tiled floor as they left had almost caused her to fall into a panic attack, that was the second time she had near on hyperventilated because of this fucked up situation.

  She wasn’t sure how much more she could take, still, could be worse, she could be sat under the comforter in the shitty bathroom back at the hotel in Helsinki.

  A soft knock on the door pulled her back from the dark thoughts that had started to invade her mind again. She knew what was about to happen, Jenson had pulled her to one side and told her that under no circumstances was Connor to know, otherwise he wouldn’t have gone on the op and right now, it was a case of all hands-on deck, she just hoped Connor would understand that she had to do this, she had to do this for him.

  She stood slowly, the weight of what she was about to do hitting her like a punch to her gut, her nerves were starting to falter, she knew this had to be done, she was only sorry she hadn’t told him goodbye.

  Sarah pulled open the office door, a man and woman both dressed in FBI jackets and baseball caps, stood blocking her only exit from the room.

  “Are you ready?” the giant of a man loomed over her, he would even have towered over Connor she thought as she nodded and turned around, hoping her legs didn’t give from underneath her as she felt the cold metal of the cuffs being tightened around her wrists.

  Sarah didn’t say anything else and neither did the two FBI agents who each took and arm to escort her from the building.

  Sarah didn’t look left or right as she walked outside to the sight of several blacked-out vehicles each with their blues flashing, the light blinding her as she stepped out into the cold night air.

  There appeared to be a commotion around her as she was taken to a waiting vehicle, but Sarah was oblivious to it all, she was numb.

  Even the sound of a news crew chopper overhead that would have normally drawn a slight upwards glance, failed to grab her attention, she kept her eyes facing down.

  No words were exchanged as she stopped in front of the open door of the SUV, a large hand was placed purposefully onto her head and she obliged the unspoken command by getting into the vehicle.

  Only then did she look up to see Em come running from the building shouting her name. Only then did close her eyes and let a silent tear fall. He had to understand.

  Connor knew they were close, couple of minutes out at the most. He hoped Smith was enjoying his glass of malt, because it was going to be his last for a fucking long time.

  He had gone over the op details in his head more times than a child learning his god damn alphabet, he knew it, knew everyone else’s role too, and he was ready to kick some fucker’s ass if they didn’t execute their part down to the letter. God help anyone that screwed up.

  “Check comms” it wasn’t really his call, but he was getting restless, needed something to do, something to keep his mind occupied for the final few moments before they approached Smiths property.

  “Comms are fine asshole, calm ya shit down” the reply from Harry did nothing to elevate the burning rage that was building within him.

  “Fucking humor me ok…”

  Each member responded to his request and then fell silent again as the pulled to a stop approx. half a mile from the gated side entrance to the seven-acre estate that Smith used as his weekend retreat.

  The seven men all climbed out, not one of them would stand beneath the six-foot marker on a mug shot wall, and each was as wide set as the next man. All together, they were a sight to behold, almost a shame there hadn’t been anyone around to witness them.

  As it was there was no one, which made the job a hell of a lot easier, but they were still taking a hell of a risk and Connor knew it could go tits up at any time.

  Each one of them was dressed head to foot in black tactical gear, making it hard to differentiate which one of them was which. Only Connors impatience made him stand out from the rest.

  “I say, lover boy, get your shit together now or you spend the duration sitting in the back seat, you get me?” Connor knew he would be benched if he became a liability, it was time to step up and be the wanna be hero that Sarah had called him out on.

  “I’m good” and he was.

  The seven-man team split, three pairs each hot footing it in different directions, each covering the three known exits from the house.

  Jacks was the only one left, a lone sniper bunked down nicely at the top of an over grown grass slope, hidden well against the few bushes that still held onto the last few leaves of autumn, he had a clear view of every exit, including the sweeping drive that fell away from the old stone building.

  If Smith somehow managed to get past the Six men that were about to descend on his home, Connor knew he wasn’t getting far, whichever direction the prick tried to run, he was more than capable of taking him out. Would have preferred a kill shot, but he was under strict orders to wound, not kill, so a nice bullet to the knee cap would have to do, if the fucker had to live, he could live with a limp, your welcome.

  Each pair, Connor and Chris, Jenson and Harry and finally Jones and Briggs worked in silent synchronization.

  Only the occasional exchange of code gave away any indication that they were even out in the darkness.

  They worked with an unmatched stealth as they closed in on the house. The team had been known as ghosts when they were in the military and it was clear to see why.

  Connor and Chris rounded the stone building first, the illumination coming from the office lights giving them an advantage, making it easy to see into the room, but not out.

  All Smith would have been able to see would have been his own reflection, and from what they knew of him, that would suit the narcissistic bastard just fine.

  “We’re in” it was the two words he had been desperate t
o hear as Harry broke silence to confirm he and Jenson were in the building.

  “Team two?”

  “Copy”

  Connor listened as Jones and Briggs gave confirmation that they too had gained silent entry, having covered two of the three exits.

  Chris made his move, Connor covering his six as they closed in on the final entrance.

  It had taken less than twenty seconds for all six of them to enter the house, Smith totally oblivious to the shit storm that was headed his way.

  ***

  Gavin Smith sat on the soft leather couch in his office, clicking the TV remote through the array of channels that held no interest for him. He was killing time, waiting for the call to say Morgan Andrews was no longer a problem.

  The old man had started to lose his nerve and put everything at risk, and there was no chance Smith was going to jail just because the old guy couldn’t hold his fucking nerve.

  BREAKING NEWS…

  The lights caught his eye as he skipped through the news section of TV channels.

  ARREST IN THE SARAH WILLIAMS MAN HUNT

  The details were vague, but this was a news channel, what did he expect, they would give out minimum information and that was only what they had managed to prize from a low -level cop who probably thought by being the one to talk to the press, it made them just that little bit more important than they actually were, even if it was for five minutes.

  The channel held his attention, a deep smirk creeping across his face as he downed the last of the amber liquid, he savored the burn, that beach in the Maldives couldn’t come soon enough.

  The sight of Sarah being escorted out of the building she had been holed up in and then being pushed with her hands behind her back into a waiting FBI vehicle had just about made his fucking year, shame really, she was a looker, definitely his type.