Maya Banks - Shades of Gray

Dolphin, Baker and Renshaw closed in around Steele and Cole. They exchanged fierce looks, their intentions made without ever uttering a word.

“I’m in too,” Donovan said.

Steele frowned. “This is my mission, Van. You’re not taking over. This involves my team. My teammates.”

Sam started to open his mouth, but Donovan shot him a stare that had him backing down. Garrett frowned but didn’t intervene. The rest of the members of KGI looked on with abject interest.

“You’ve got the lead, Steele,” Donovan said calmly. “But I’m along for the ride. I was there. I may not be a member of your team, but I was there with P.J. I heard every goddamn thing you did. I’m the one who let her get away at the party. I have as much a stake in this as you and your team do. P.J. is KGI. You’re all KGI. I’d feel the same if it was any other person.”

Garrett couldn’t contain his silence any longer. “I think we should send at least two teams.”

“Who are you going to send?” Cole demanded. “No way a new team can handle this.” He sent an apologetic look in Nathan and Joe’s direction. “No offense to your team, but this is too important to fuck up.”

He turned his stare back to Sam, Garrett and Donovan. Yeah, technically they ran the show, but everyone knew the teams operated independently.

Donovan stared intently at his two older brothers. “Steele’s team goes and I go with them. You can help by providing intel. But we do this Steele’s way.”

“Then let’s get it done,” Cole cut in impatiently.

He was tired of talking. He was tired of arguing. He just wanted to get moving so he could get to Brumley before P.J. did. If she hadn’t already.

There was a murmur of conversation, mostly between Sam, Garrett and Donovan. Cole’s thoughts had drifted to P.J., wondering if he should have been focusing his search internationally. He would never have dreamed P.J. would have gone after them herself, but it all suddenly made sense.

Why she’d left. Why she’d been so adamant that she cut all ties with her team. It wasn’t that she wanted to. She’d done it because she hadn’t wanted to involve them.

He wanted to strangle her. Anything that happened to her involved the team whether she liked it or not. Just as had been the case when Cole and then Dolphin had taken a bullet while on a mission.

She hadn’t minded butting in then to boss them around and make sure they were resting. But then they hadn’t planned a vigilante mission to go track down scumbags on their own either.

“Cole, a word,” Steele said tersely.

Cole turned and met his team leader’s gaze. Steele motioned toward the door and then left the war room. Cole followed him outside and then a short distance away before they both halted.

“What’s so top secret?” Cole asked.

“Don’t be a smart-ass,” Steele said sharply. “I need you to have your head on straight if you’re going to be a part of this.”

Cole frowned. “Wait just a damn minute.”

Steele pinned him with his forceful gaze. “No, you wait a minute. Don’t act like you haven’t gone to shit in the last months. You look like something the cat dragged in. You’ve lost weight. You look like you haven’t slept in a month. You won’t do P.J. a damn bit of good if you can’t perform your function within the team. We don’t need a goddamn hero, Cole. What we need is an efficient team to go in and take care of business without allowing our emotions to rule.”

Cole wanted to argue. Damn but he wanted to tell Steele to shove it up his ass, but his team leader was right and Cole knew it.

“I get it,” Cole said gruffly. “I’m in. You aren’t doing this without me.”

Steele held up a finger. “The only reason I’m letting you in on this is because I know if I sideline you, you’ll only go off on your own and then you’ll get in the way. I’m not losing P.J. and I’m damn well not losing you either. I’m keeping this team together if it kills me.”

Cole sobered and then turned away to stare over the lake. “I hope we’re not too late, Steele.”

Steele sighed. “Yeah, me too.”

“I want this bastard. I want him to pay for what he did to P.J. But more than that, I just want her back home, with us. With the team.”

“I get it,” Steele said quietly. “And she will be. I told her what she could do with her resignation.”

Cole chuckled. And then he glanced Steele’s way. “You’re not the robot everyone accuses you of, you know.”

Steele’s expression could have frozen lava. “Don’t start thinking I have a heart, Coletrane. I just don’t want to have to start over and train a new recruit.”

Cole stifled a smile. Yeah. Whatever.

SLOVAKIA, SURVEILLANCE DAY TWO

SWEAT rolled down P.J.’s sides, making the thin camo shirt she wore cling to her flesh. She was absolutely still, barely breathing as she waited, just as she’d waited for the last twenty-four hours, for the right opportunity to present itself.

She was patient. She’d often spent long hours in the field on sniper watch. Some missions had been drawn out for days, and she and Cole had been partners in the silence. Unable to communicate or even acknowledge the other’s presence in any way, but it had been comforting to know she wasn’t alone.

That wasn’t the case now. She didn’t have Cole as her partner. She didn’t have her team to back her up. She was flying solo straight into the lion’s den.

She was smart enough to be scared, but she refused to allow that fear to paralyze her and make her helpless and weak. Never again.

She held her breath as she stared through the binoculars to the residence below. Two armored cars had arrived, and she watched as Brumley got out on one side. Nelson got out on the other and looked around, his gaze obviously searching for any threat.

You won’t find me, bastard. Not until I’m ready.

Brumley went in, surrounded by his guards. It would be so easy to pick the asshole off with her sniper rifle. But it was too easy. She wanted him to suffer, and she wanted her face to be the last he saw right before he died. So he’d know it was her and that she’d made him pay for his sins.

Nelson lagged behind, lighting a cigarette as Brumley entered the house.

P.J. smiled. Arrogant assholes. They thought the high fence and million-dollar security and surveillance protected them from the outside world. That she couldn’t come in. That they were safe.

They were wrong.

She eased from her hiding place, making sure the silencer was attached to her gun properly and that the knife Brumley had used on her was in her grip.

Over the past months, she’d spent a frustrating amount of time frequenting places that Brumley was rumored to enjoy. She’d gone through every penny of her savings to support her search for the men who’d raped her.

And it was worth being dirt-poor for the rest of her life if she accomplished her mission.

She pulled out a handheld PC and quickly typed in a series of commands. Donovan wasn’t the only one handy with computers. They just bored her to tears.

In the first hour of her surveillance she’d hacked into the estate’s security monitoring system. It had been a piece of cake. It baffled her that with as much money as Brumley threw around, he’d actually have such a pussy surveillance system.

She programmed the system to replay the tapes of the last four hours, ending before the procession of cars arrived. She’d only have two hours before they’d know something was up, because the sun would start to sink and dusk would be upon her.

Two hours to get in and kill the men responsible for the scars on her body and the damage to her soul.

She’d had less time to perform a mission before. This one wasn’t any different. Objective must be achieved. She told herself that over and over.

She darted toward the house, keeping behind cover so she wouldn’t be spotted through one of the windows. Nelson was still out front smoking his damn cigarette, and that wasn’t where she’d wanted to confront him. But he didn’t show signs of moving elsewhere, so she’d have to do the job there and make it fast instead of making him suffer the long, drawn-out death she wanted.

When she reached the house, she put her back to the stone exterior and inched her way toward the front where Nelson stood.

“What the h—”

P.J. whirled around at the voice and squeezed off a round before the man could shout a warning. He fell to the ground with a loud thump.

Shit! The bastard had lucked onto her and had come in from behind. What the hell was he even doing there? Had Brumley ordered his men to patrol the exterior of the house? Did Brumley realize by now that she was hunting him?

She hoped to hell she was keeping him up at night. That he lived in fear of when she would get to him. It wasn’t a matter of if. It was when.

Her heart was pounding as she peeked around the corner again. Nelson was still there, but he’d just taken a last drag, tossing aside the butt as he blew out a cloud of smoke.

She shuddered, remembering the stench of tobacco on him while he’d pushed his body onto hers. Before she lost her courage, she rounded the corner, gun in one hand and knife in the other.

As much as it pained her to make his death quick, she was going to have to cut her losses and take Nelson out so she could get to her prime objective. Brumley.

“Nelson,” she called out, wanting the bastard to face her and at least know who would claim his death.

He swiveled, his expression a mixture of what-the-fuck and fear.