Page 11 of Cast in Shadow (Drenched in Darkness #1)

11

“I would feel a lot better if you’d let me go with you,” Nguyen said, squaring his shoulders.

We were standing between my Jeep and a white Land Rover with blacked out windows in a multi-level parking garage on the south side of Brynworth. Parking structures were a great place for a vehicle swap because there was just enough traffic coming and going to make it easy to tell if someone was tailing us.

“I need you to go with Shay and the others to track Echo’s last location.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, but it did nothing to help the sick feeling I got thinking about them. “If there’s anyone left alive, do whatever you can to help them.” I looked up at him, trying not to betray the fact that my gut already knew the truth. Lowering my voice, I added, “Between you and me, don’t get your hopes up. And don’t let Shay get hers up either.”

I glanced over at the youngest member of Lexa. I’d taken Shayla under my wing when she was barely thirteen, homeless and starving. I’d seen her digging through the hotel’s trash once or twice, but the first time we spoke was the same night I’d learned my top-notch AI system didn’t work so well with a rearranged face and gore smeared all over me.

I hadn’t wanted to risk healing myself out in the open because it was a hell of an energy drain, and I was already weak. Shay, bless her heart, had found me slumped in front of the door and had pounded on it until someone finally answered.

In the years since, she’d become like a daughter to me, or the closest thing I would ever have to a daughter, and Nguyen had been there to watch the whole relationship unfold. He knew better than anyone else how much she meant to me.

“On second thought, don’t even let her get out of the Rover.”

He shook his head. “I don’t like leaving you to do this without backup.”

I reached up and patted his big shoulder. “I had to pull in a favor just to get the okay to bring Bridget in. If I show up with you too, they won’t even let us through the gate.”

The scowl on his face told me two things: one, he wasn’t going to fight me on this (thank goodness), and two, he didn’t like being on the outside when it came to Salus.

I made it a point to share what I could with my team. Knowledge was power and power kept us all safe. Well, safer. Salus was just one of those things I couldn’t share. Not if I wanted to maintain my connection. It was solid for now, but I was still an outsider.

Nguyen rolled his shoulders back and dipped his chin, meeting my gaze head-on. “Fine. Just… don’t do anything stupid,” he said, his voice gruff.

I probably should have chided him for talking to me that way. Technically, I was his superior, but that was how it went when I worked closely with someone, day in and day out, for years. He was more like family than an employee, which meant he got a lot more leeway compared to someone new to the team.

Nguyen had been with me longer than anyone else at Lexa. I’d brought him in as a consultant on a tough case, and after seeing him in action, I knew I wanted him on my team. His tactical knowledge and experience were unmatched, and his references were like a who’s who of the covert operational world. There was no better second-in-command for an organization like mine.

It was saying something when even our ten-year working relationship wasn’t enough to make me risk exposing my contact in Salus.

“I won’t do anything stupid,” I said. “Leave me a voicemail and let me know what you find. I’ll be radio silent while I’m there, but I’ll follow up after.” I flipped the Jeep’s keyring in my hand and let out a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry for putting this job on you.”

The tension that had been clamping his jaw shut eased, and the hardness in his big brown eyes softened. “It needs to be done.”

“It does. Thank you for always being here.”

He nodded once, just a clipped bob of his head. He held my gaze for a moment longer, then moved around the Land Rover and got in on the passenger side.

I leaned on the driver’s door and leveled Shay with my best motherly look. “Stay in the Rover when you get to Echo’s last location.” Seeing her dressed in black fatigues, just like the other agents, filled me with a warring sense of pride and dread.

She’d made it clear for a couple of years now that she wanted a more active role in Lexa. I’d put off sending her out on a mission as long as I could, but it was time.

“Yes, Mom,” she said, her tone just a little mocking. It might have gotten under my skin if not for the trepidation swirling in her eyes, or the tension in her slender shoulders.

“I mean it, Shay. Let Nguyen and the others find Echo. Your only job is to coordinate with Dennis. From right here.” I patted the driver’s door. “With the doors locked and the windows up.”

The ghost of a smile curled her lips. “You do know I’m an adult now, right? We did the whole celebrating of my eighteenth birthday less than two months ago.” She made a show of studying my eyes. “Or is your age catching up with you?”

Her smile was annoyingly contagious, so I pushed away from the door and headed for my Jeep where Bridget and the girl were waiting. Maybe I was being a little overbearing, but what did she expect?

“Don’t sass the boss on your first mission, young lady,” I called over my shoulder. “Follow orders or I will ground you for a month.” Her laugh, still a little uneasy, followed me as I climbed in. When I was settled in the driver’s seat, I glanced back at her. “I can do it.”

Nguyen leaned around her. “She’d have to leave the building more than once a week to make that threat matter.”

He had a point. Shay nudged him back with her elbow. “I’m out of the building now, aren’t I?”

“First time in how many days?” he asked.

She pursed her lips before turning back my way. “I’ll stay in the Rover,” she said without even a hint of sarcasm. Then she offered me a sharp little salute.

“Thank you.” I pulled the door shut and started the engine.

I exited first, leaving Nguyen and Shayla to watch the road and make sure the Jeep wasn’t followed. That was one of the reasons I’d decided to have them take the Rover. If any of the wolves from the Clark Ridge pack had managed to spot my Jeep, which was only a slim possibility, I didn’t want Shay in it. Plus, this way, they would be able to see if it looked like anyone was tailing us from a distance and call it in.

After a couple of minutes, Nguyen radioed that there were no suspicious vehicles tailing us, so I took out my earpiece, turned off my phone, and hit the highway.

The sun had just begun its slow evening slide by the time I pulled out onto the long dirt road leading away from the shifter sanctuary, leaving Naomi and Bridget in their new home. Bridget’s interview had gone exceedingly well. For all her lone wolfishness, she’d handled herself like a true professional.

It might have been a show she was putting on so she could be there for Naomi, but if it was, that was only part of it. She truly was a powerful alpha, and that kind of influence would serve the pack well if they put her in the right position. Which they would.

I drove for half an hour before I reached the pavement, and another twenty minutes before I pulled over and turned my phone back on. My screen lit up with more missed calls and text messages than I’d seen in a long time, all from headquarters.

Worry curled inside me as I hit the call button.

“Senna? Jesus fuck.” Dennis answered, sounding more frantic than ever. “Where the hell have you been?”

“Dropping off Naomi and her grandma. Just got back in cell service. What’s going on?”

“Nguyen and Shay never made it back.”

Like flipping a switch, the blood in my veins turned to ice. I gripped the steering wheel tight and pulled myself up straight in my seat. “When was the last time you heard from them?”

“Shay checked in when they found Echo’s vehicle, but that was it. I haven’t been able to raise any of them since. I tried comms and phones, and I already have Bravo and Kilo out there looking for them.”

Fuck.

I slammed the Jeep into gear and smashed the pedal to the floor, careening back into the sparse traffic on the darkening highway. “What do we know? Did they get in touch with the cleanup crew?”

“No. I called them directly to verify.”

My pulse roared in my ears, and it took enormous effort not to yell over the internal noise. “Where’s the Rover? Can you track it?”

“Already did. Bravo and Kilo were already there. Checked everything before calling the cleaners in. Echo is dead, torn to pieces.” He took a breath. “And the agents that were with Nguyen and Shay are dead too, but not by wolves. At least according to Anderson.”

A sick feeling swarmed my middle. “If it wasn’t wolves, then what was it? Were they shot? Hit with a car?”

“Their necks were snapped,” he said quietly. “Otherwise, there wasn’t a mark on them.”

That was better than being torn apart by feral wolves, if the end was as painless as it sounded. But then why take Shay and Nguyen? Was this someone’s way of declaring war on Lexa?

I glared at the dual red glow of the taillights in front of me. “What the hell is going on?” I was furious, confused, in desperate need of answers, and all I really knew was that someone was going to pay dearly for this.

“I’m trying to figure it out,” Dennis snapped.

Gritting my teeth, I pulled in a deep breath. “Did the other teams find anything useful? Any leads?” In other words, was there any fucking point in going out to the site of the attack when we already had eight agents combing the area?

The incessant click of the keyboard coming through the speakers in the Jeep was wearing on me as I sped down the road, ignoring the speed limit and any other sign that might slow me down. “Dennis, give me something. Did the other teams at least check in?”

There was an impatient huff. “Yeah, they checked in. Only sign they found was drag marks leading to tire tracks that disappeared once they hit the dirt road.”

That didn’t help me at all.

“So, we have nothing?” I slammed my fists on the steering wheel. I couldn’t accept that. Wouldn’t. Before he could answer, I added, “Send me a pin for where they found the Rover. Now.” It was a long shot, but all I could hope was that maybe the other teams had missed something.