Aftermath Read online

  He didn’t know it yet, but Ryker was going to be hers. Soon, if she could help it. After all, last night proved that danger could strike at any time. And she’d always been one to carpe diem.

  Smiling to herself, she headed downstairs. The enticing scent of coffee wafted out from her kitchen and her steps quickened in anticipation. Maybe Ryker hadn’t left. Maybe—

  A dark haired man with the bulk of a linebacker stood at her stove. Siobahn’s heart kicked once in panic, before the man turned around and she recognized Faith’s brother. Then she noticed the woman sitting at the far end of the kitchen table.

  “Faith! What are you doing here?” Siobahn rushed over to give her friend a hug.

  Faith’s arms squeezed her before she stepped back, brushing a wayward piece of curly blonde hair out of her face. “Toby heard what happened and volunteered to be one of your guards.”

  “Er—” Siobahn threw Toby a startled glance. “Hello, Toby. Good to see you.”

  Both Faith and Toby laughed. “Don’t worry, Siobahn,” Faith said. “He’s stable. Dr. Montague is a genius. Toby has almost no lingering side effects. Ryker has even offered him a job at the SSU. They’re just waiting for the separation paperwork to be completed by the DOD.”

  “Congratulations.” Siobahn accepted Toby’s gentle hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

  “Thanks, Siobahn.” Toby stepped back. “You can call Ryker and verify that I’m cleared for duty, if that would make you more comfortable. And just so you know, there are two SSU men stationed outside, guarding the front and back of the house.”

  “No. That’s fine. I trust Faith. She says you’re good to go, so we’re cool.” No one had fully explained to her what happened to the men in Kerberos’s program, just that their minds and bodies had been altered and one of the side effects was uncontrollable rage. Yet she believed Toby wouldn’t have been so careful when he hugged her if he’d still been under the full influence of the program.

  She looked him over. Aside from having a bit more muscle, and appearing more grim than she remembered, she wouldn’t have been able to tell he’d recently been through an ordeal.

  “Thanks for helping Faith investigate my disappearance,” Toby said.

  “My pleasure. I just wish I could have done more.”

  “You did enough. More than most people who suspected what was going on but kept silent.” Toby turned back to the stove, but not before she saw the flash of hurt and anger in his eyes. In his role as a military intelligence officer, he’d been looking into the disappearances of military and law enforcement personnel even before Siobahn. How many people had he worked with that he later learned had been complicit with Kerberos’s forced recruitment policies? Had someone Toby trusted been the one to suggest that he be forced into the program?

  Her heart ached for him, but she knew he wouldn’t want her sympathy.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked. “I’m making omelets.”

  Siobahn raised her brows. “Smart, good looking and you can cook? Tell me again why Faith hasn’t married you off?”

  Toby laughed and shot an affectionate look at his sister. “We’ve both been too focused on our careers. Besides, a big brother’s first priority has to be watching out for his risk-taking younger sister, not a girlfriend.”

  “Ah. The old ‘I’m married to my job’ excuse.”

  “It’s not an excuse if it’s true.”

  Didn’t Siobahn know it. Her mood plummeted and she used more force than necessary to pull open the door to the cabinet where she kept the coffee mugs. Between running the investigative team, researching her own stories, and cultivating contacts through networking and socializing, she had next to no free time. Worse, Ryker ran a private special ops group. He’d never be off duty. Was she only fooling herself that she could start something with him? When would either one of them have time? Particularly after he returned to his headquarters in Oregon.

  If it’s important, you’ll make time.

  But she was a reporter. The antithesis to the secrecy required within the national security community. What made her think that Ryker would be willing to move forward on his attraction given the threat her job posed?

  Siobahn yelped as hot coffee slopped onto her hand. She’d been so immersed in thought, she hadn’t noticed the mug overflowing.

  “Careful there,” Toby said.

  “Yikes.” She grabbed a towel and started mopping up the spilled coffee from the counter and floor. “Lost in thought.”

  “Siobahn.” The patient way Faith said her name indicated that she realized something was bothering Siobahn but wasn’t going to press for details in front of Toby. “Did Ryker talk to you about moving onto the SSU’s Oregon campus until the threat to you has been neutralized?”

  Siobahn carefully poured out the excess coffee in her mug, added sugar and cream, and carried it over to the table. “No.”

  “Well, Toby and I discussed it. We think that you’d be safer out of D.C. The Oregon compound has excellent security and no one would think to look for you there.”

  But Ryker is in D.C.!

  Unwilling to reveal such a weakness, Siobahn just shook her head. “Faith, the paper is in a tight spot right now. Several reporters are either on vacation or on assignment overseas. We’re so short staffed that I’ve had to pick up the Capitol beat.”

  “Poor baby.” Faith chuckled.

  “Thanks for the sympathy.” Siobahn threw a cloth napkin at Faith’s head. “You know how much I hate listening to blowhard politicians.”

  “Yeah, but no one ever said being a reporter was easy. Dangerous, yes. Easy, no. You really should go to Oregon, Siobahn.”

  She shook her head. “I can’t just disappear and abandon my team, making them pick up all the stories I’m working on.”

  Faith stared at her for a long while. Finally, she sighed. “I expected you to say that.” She gave a little self-deprecating laugh. “Neither one of us is good at doing the smart thing, are we?”

  Siobahn smiled. “Smart is in the eyes of the beholder.” It was a phrase she and Faith had often tossed back and forth when facing critics who thought they should play it safe.

  “Safe never won a Pulitzer,” Faith agreed.

  Siobahn met Faith’s eyes and they both burst out laughing.

  “What’s so funny?” Toby asked.

  “The idea that we risked our lives in order to win some damn prize,” Faith gasped.

  “The truth, the truth, and only the truth shall be my mistress,” Siobahn replied with a grin.

  Toby glanced back and forth between the two women. “Crazy ladies. Didn’t your investigative team win the Pulitzer a few years ago for that series of articles you wrote about child soldiers?”

  Siobahn shrugged. “Yeah, but that wasn’t our goal during the investigation.”

  “Simply the icing on the cake,” Faith said.

  Toby shook his head. “Here, eat.” He placed plates of steaming omelets and toast on the table. “Now then, let’s plan out your week so you’re as safe as possible.”

  The assassin had failed to take care of the reporter. Myron Zybriesky checked his phone again, confirming that the man he’d had following the reporter had failed to check in. Sighing, he tapped the phone against his chin. Things were not proceeding according to plan.

  He paced back and forth in his office. Soon his mysterious contact would call, expecting to hear that Siobahn Murphy had been eliminated. Yet Myron didn’t have any idea what had happened. He’d searched the police blotters and found no mention of an intruder at Murphy’s address. Which meant nothing. The DOD, the FBI, even other elements in the CIA might have stepped in and removed the assassin. Or that interfering SSU might have helped the woman.

  As an analyst, he didn’t have the authority, or the contacts, to order a team to investigate the disappearance of the assassin. But he had a feeling that his contact wouldn’t accept such an excuse.

  Which meant that it was going to be up to him to e
liminate Siobahn Murphy so that no one else would be exposed in this affair.

  The question was, how?

  “You were right, sir. The South Dakota compound appears to be a scaled back version of Kaufmann’s lab.” Rafe’s voice sounded far away. The location his team was investigating was so deep in the wilderness that even the satellite phone connection was poor.

  As Ryker listened to the end of Rafe’s report, he parked his car a few houses down from Siobahn’s place. When he’d realized his destination this evening, he’d questioned his motives. His logical self pointed out that with Toby inside, and Ethan Davies and Tyler Lynch guarding the front and back of the house respectively, Siobahn was well protected. That by showing up unexpected, he was bringing potential trouble to her front door if anyone recognized him. The enemies of the SSU would like nothing better than to find a point of vulnerability to use against Ryker.

  Siobahn Murphy was rapidly becoming such a weakness.

  Yet this time Ryker’s ironclad will was no match for his instincts. He needed to see Siobahn again. And he needed to warn her that the situation, which they’d thought had been contained, had slipped their control.

  “How many enhanced men do you estimate are on site?” he asked Rafe.

  “We’ve counted three teams of twelve. Without getting too close for safety I can’t say for certain what level they’re at. But based on the way they move, I’m estimating that ninety percent of them are Level One, with the remainder at Level Two.”

  Ryker swore. “That means they were brought into the program just before the raid on Kaufmann’s compound.”

  “Yes. So the South Dakota facility must have the ability to administer the drugs and perform the necessary conditioning.” From the impartial tone of Rafe’s voice, you’d never know that he’d experienced the agony of the drugs burning through his veins or endured hours of torture meant to break him down physically and mentally. Ryker was damn proud of Rafe for surviving.

  And he hated the idea that more men were suffering as they spoke. “How’s the security?” he asked.

  “Tight as a vi—” Rafe cleared his throat and Ryker chuckled. “I’ve heard and said worse, Rafe.”

  “Yes, but…ah… It still feels disrespectful, sir.”

  That right there was one of the issues that was weighing on him, Ryker realized. He missed the tight knit camaraderie that came from being a member of a group of equals.

  Odd that this bothered him now, after nearly twenty years of running the SSU. Maybe it had been the recent interaction with his Vietnam buddies, and his questioning of their role in the deaths of MacAdam, Jamieson, and Kaufmann that solidified how alone he felt. Maybe it had been seeing how recent events had brought Rafe, Niko, and Kai closer.

  Or maybe you’re just getting old and tired.

  But as he spotted Siobahn’s house up ahead, he felt anything but tired. In fact, knowing he was about to see her again gave him a boost of adrenaline.

  “All right,” Ryker said. “Send me your report and the surveillance photos. You’re set for another two days of observation?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good. By that time I’ll know if we’re authorized to move in or if we need to stay neutral and let another party do the takedown.”

  If Rafe had objections to the prospect of another agency taking control, he kept them under wraps.

  Once Ryker finished asking his questions, he ended the call.

  A few houses down from Siobahn’s place, he stopped.

  Are you certain this is the right thing to do?

  His mind said no. But his gut told him he needed to see her.

  Chapter Seven

  “All right,” Toby announced, startling Siobahn out of a light doze. “I think I’ve got something.” She’d asked him to use his access to several secure databases to check on the status of Wayne Jamieson and Dr. Kaufmann, since she hadn’t seen any reports of their arrests in the news.

  Siobahn stood and stretched. “What do you have?” In truth, she didn’t want to hear Toby’s results right now. She’d been cooped up too long. They’d spent all day researching. After hours of sitting on the couch, Siobahn’s whole body felt tight and achy.

  “You know what, your news can wait,” she said. “Unless you’ve found information that requires immediate action?”

  He shook his head.

  “Right. Then I’m out of here.” She headed toward the back door, relieved when her stiff hobble eased into a slightly halting limp as her muscles loosened up. “I need to walk.”

  Toby appeared in front of her, blocking her way with a speed that stole her breath. “Not so fast, lady. You’re not going anywhere without protection. Let me call Ethan and inform him that you’re heading outside. He can accompany you.”

  Siobahn grimaced. She hated the necessity of having a guard. “Why don’t you and Faith come with me, instead?”

  “No. I—”

  The front doorbell rang.

  Toby grabbed Siobahn’s arm and shoved her toward the closet. “Wait inside until—” His cell phone buzzed. After a quick glance down, he relaxed. “Oh. It’s Ryker.”

  Siobahn’s body lit up with joy. Oh, brother. I am in serious trouble. “Good,” she said, quickly sliding into a pair of slip-on sneakers. “He can take me for a walk.”

  “Er…” The horrified expression on Toby’s face made her burst into laughter.

  “Relax, Toby, I won’t force Ryker to accompany me if he doesn’t want to.” But feminine instinct told her he wouldn’t object.

  “Yeah, but, ah…I’m hoping he’s going to be my new boss. It would be bad enough guarding just you. But—”

  Still chuckling, Siobahn headed for the front door as the bell sounded again. “Hold your horses,” she called. “I’m coming.”

  The fact that she wished she were saying those words under different circumstances had her smile widening as she unlocked and opened the door.

  Ryker froze in the middle of texting and stared at her. The relief in his eyes as he spotted her calmed something deep inside Siobahn. The male appreciation as he took in her clingy tunic and tight leggings had her preening. She cocked her hip and leaned against the doorframe. “Hello Ryker with no first name. What a pleasant surprise. What brings you here?”

  Not that she had to ask. The way his eyes devoured her was all the answer she needed.

  “Good evening, sir. Everything has been quiet here.” Toby’s crisp report broke the sensual spell.

  “Yep,” Siobahn agreed. “We’re fine here, sir. Perfectly fine. Doing so well that I was just getting ready to go for a walk.” She stepped out the door and looped her arm through Ryker’s. Without her heels on, she was a good half foot shorter than him. “You’re just in time to escort me.”

  “Sir, I—” Toby glanced from Siobahn and Ryker to Faith.

  Amusement danced in Ryker’s eyes. “Stay and protect your sister, Toby. I’m not completely helpless. Ms. Murphy is safe enough with me.”

  Toby cleared his throat. “With all due respect sir, I know you’re still in fighting shape, but we’re talking possible attack by enhanced men. I…ah…have something of an advantage in that case. Since both you and Ms. Murphy are under direct threat, I should accompany you. Ethan can watch over Faith.”

  “Negative. You stay with Faith. Tonelli made a lot of enemies within Kerberos and the CIA when he turned Jamieson over to us. That means Faith is as much a target for being Tonelli’s lover as she is for her investigation.”

  Siobahn chuckled again at the discomfort on Toby’s face. Yeah, it didn’t matter how old a woman was, big brothers never wanted to hear about their little sister’s love life.

  She wondered what her brothers would say about her interest in Ryker, who was nearly fifteen years her senior. Would they warn her about getting involved with an older man, one who held such a position of responsibility?

  Or would they warn Ryker that Siobahn was a short-term relationship kind of gal and not to let himself g
et too close to her?

  Squelching those thoughts, Siobahn pulled on Ryker’s arm. “Come on. I’ve been cooped up in the house all day. My muscles have positively atrophied from the lack of action. I need to walk to loosen up.”

  She heard the front door close as Ryker followed her down the stairs. “This way,” she said, tugging him to the right. “There’s a walking path that leads along a stream that empties out into the Potomac.”

  “Sir?” The quiet voice coming out of the bushes to the side of her front steps caused Siobahn to startle and tighten her grip on Ryker’s arm.

  “It’s okay,” Ryker said, putting his hand over her fingers. “It’s only Ethan.”

  “Right. I guess I’m still a little jumpy.” Something she hated to admit, but somehow the words had just popped out of her mouth.

  “Understandable.” Ryker turned as a figure stepped out from the bushes. “All right, Ethan, you can follow us. But stay far enough back to give us some privacy.”

  “Are you armed, sir?”

  Siobahn felt Ryker’s sigh. His hand moved to his lower back. “Yes.”

  “Very good, sir.”

  Siobahn stifled a giggle as she and Ryker walked down the sidewalk. “I feel like a Victorian lady being chaperoned on her date.”

  Ryker shot her a sideways glance. “Is that what this is? A date?”

  She shrugged and gave him a coy smile. “Well, we were supposed to have dinner tomorrow night, weren’t we?”

  He nodded. “Yes.” Some emotion she couldn’t define flitted across his face. “Under the circumstances, I think we’d better postpone dinner until the danger has passed.”

  Siobahn swallowed her disappointment. Ryker might have backed off from their date, but he was with her now and she planned to enjoy his presence. “You never did answer as to why you came to see me tonight. Is something wrong?”

  His hesitation lasted so long, she looked up at him. To her surprise, he looked bemused.

  “No,” he finally answered. “There’s nothing wrong.” He cleared his throat and she realized that Ryker was uncomfortable with this discussion. “I just wanted to see you again.”