Vendetta (8 page)

“From what you told JJ it would seem we have some time. We’re going to have to wait until he gets back anyway.” Gavin could tell Drake didn’t like waiting. The man was patient most times, but Sabian had worn all of their patience thin; Drake included.

“Why?”

“I thought you said we’re checking out Washington.”

“No. I said there are two factions, and there are. My sources tell me there’s something linked to a bigger issue going on in the Seattle-Lynwood area and that’s something a friend of a friend wants me to keep an eye on as well. I’m sure none of you thought Sabian was the end all be all to this ring of treason.”

“I don’t follow,” Mike sat down at the table. His crisp blue eyes narrowed as if he thought he were being dragged back into government work. Valencia laughed.

“The split cell isn’t your problem. JJ was mine, and I wanted him elsewhere for a little while. He’ll get information I can take back to my friend and I’ll get some breathing room to do what we need to do.”

“Which is?” Mike’s tone was one filled with measured anger.

“Take down the man who almost killed Thomas,” she said. This wasn’t about stopping a traitor for her. This was about revenge. Gavin could tell that from her words.

“This is just about a vendetta for you? You don’t care what Sabian is up to?”

“No,” she said so sincerely that Gavin felt almost knocked back. “Look; I’ve seen our government do a lot of shady things. I’ve seen them kill without conscious, and barter with the enemy when they thought it would get them what they wanted. You can’t honestly tell me that you don’t know this is bigger than Sabian. He has somebody in higher power, maybe in congress, maybe in the senate, but he has a group backing him or he would have been gone already. I know, because he’s the type of man that I would have got the call for the hit on.”

“You’re out of that game,” Thomas said.

“I’m out until they need me; that was the deal.” She arranged her knives. “Right now I don’t care who Sabian is in bed with. That’s not my problem. If you all want to save the world then you do it. But for me, this is personal. Somebody tried to kill a good man; a friend of mine, somebody I look at as my family. And in my family there’s no forgiveness for that betrayal. Thomas is like a brother to me. His enemy is my enemy and I will give my last breath to keep him safe.” She looked at Thomas. Gavin could see the shocked expression on his brother’s face, as if he didn’t know the depth of her commitment to him.

“When you came to see me in Hawaii; when you told me of your mission, of what you wanted to do, I knew I was going to help you when the time came. I made that vow and we sealed it, whether you understood it or not, over afternoon tea.”

“I thought you were just being hospitable.”

She laughed. “I’m not British, Thomas. Tea in the afternoon, for no reason at all, isn’t something I do. I shared that tea with you, a mix of herbs and spices to symbolize the bond of blood, body and spirit oath.”

“I remember the little bowl we both drank out of,” he said smoothly. “I remember you turned it one full rotation before handing it to me to drink and then drinking behind me. I remember it was nasty.” He chuckled. “And I prayed you weren’t going to ask me to drink more.”

She laughed hard. “It’s a rather revolting drink. I would say it’s an acquired taste, but it’s not. Fortunately we only mix it in my family when we are welcoming a new person into our fold. Usually we have to have the permission of the entire family, but occasionally exceptions are made.”

“And one was made for me?”

“I made it,” she said effortlessly. “I told my family after.”

“Was there trouble?”

“No. I have never asked for anybody to be included before and I think they realized that outside of my husband, you would be the last person I would do this for. You changed my life and I think they appreciated you for that.”

“I didn’t even know.”

“It didn’t matter. It only mattered that my family knew. It assured them that I would do whatever it took to save you, and it assured me that I would have their blessing to do it.”

“Why?”

“Because when I saw you lying there on the ground, bleeding and near death I just…my heart hurt over death for the first time in a long time. You reminded me of Leo and I wanted to save you. And when you opened your eyes, those big blue orbs of truth, I knew you were the kind of man who wouldn’t let this go. I knew you would go after him. And I made sure that if you worked hard enough to find me; if I thought you were still that honorable when I talked with you, that I would protect you. And today,” Gavin watched her take a small knife, the four inch blade tipped with ebony wood. “I promise.” She ran the blade smoothly across her fingertip, drawing blood.

“Jesus!” Mike jumped up looking for a napkin so he could go to work on bandaging her self induced wound. Gavin knew the man. He was protector first and it was in his nature to bandage up any wound he saw. He had worked miracles in the field keeping men alive while they waited for medical assistance.

“I swear to you,” she ignored Mike’s insistence at helping her. “On my blood and my family’s honor that I will not rest until you are free, Thomas.” The blood trickled onto the blade of one long knife. “In honor, in family; I, Valencia Dugan-Mishoto,” She ran her finger through the blood on the blade in one long stroke. “Pledge my allegiance to your war on Sabian until death, should it come to that.”

“No. Valencia…I can’t let you die. I can’t let you be another one of his casualties.”

“A Mishoto never retracts a blood oath, Thomas.”

“I didn’t…no. Go home!” He stood abruptly. His anger was evident in his body language. Gavin could tell his brother realized this woman wasn’t just talking about surviving this battle she was talking about dying for him and that wasn’t something Thomas could stand to see. In fact, none of them wanted to think about dying on this mission. They all knew it was a possibility, but going into it knowing…hell she was going into this knowing she wasn’t coming out until either Sabian or she was dead. She was in this for the long haul, just as Thomas had been.

“The oath is on my part, Thomas. You don’t have a say in it. Now,” she left the blade sitting where it was, letting her blood dry on it. Gavin wondered what other rituals she would do that he wouldn’t understand.

“I mentioned two faction cells, and there are. But Sabian’s men are in two different locations as well. The first is in Florida off Sanibel Island. Nice, peaceful Sanibel Island,” she shook her head. “You never know what’s in your backyard until you look.”

“And the other?” Mike chimed in.

“In your backyard,” she said. “Outside of Fort Worth.”

“Hell! All this time?” Drake slammed his hand on the table. “Over ten years…and he’s been right here under our noses.”

She shrugged. “He’s been everywhere, but his main encampments are the two I just told you about.”

“So who’s going where?” Gavin asked.

“We’re all going to Fort Worth,” Valencia took charge and for the first time in their joint mission career, Drake took second string.

“Wouldn’t it be better if they didn’t have time to alert the other camp that we’re coming…just in case Sabian isn’t in Fort Worth?” Drake did have a point there, Gavin conceded.

“No. There are five of us and at least forty-five of them at the encampment near Fort Worth. Forty-five men I can handle. Forty-five men with machine guns I cannot. We’re all going to have to hit this one and hit it hard,” she assured him.

“Forty-five?”

“It’s a training camp. Sabian makes sure his men stay in shape just in case they need to. Think of it as boot camp with Army soldiers, Marines, Navy men and one or two Air Force guy’s too. I’m not positive, but somebody told me one of his men is with the Alaskan Coast Guard division. I haven’t had a chance to check on that one yet. I’m still gathering information so we should leave our travel plans open in case there’s something bigger in Alaska that I don’t know about yet. My friend hadn’t heard of anything, but I never underestimate an enemy.”

“We’re severely outnumbered,” Gavin said.

“We’ve been outnumbered before,” Drake reminded him.

“Anybody who wants out should get out now,” Thomas said. “I won’t be angry with you for leaving. You all have wives to get back to. Families,” he said almost somberly.

“We’re in,” they all confirmed.

“Great,” Valencia pulled out a small digital device. “These are the schematics I was able to get from my source. There are trip wires everywhere. They have state of the art security, so no matter how we go in we’re going to set off some alarms. The trick is to get as many men as we can before they know we’re coming.”

“We’re going to need more guns,” Mike looked to Drake. “I think I know just where I can get them.”

“Good.” Drake looked at everybody. “I know what each of your preferred weapons are, but not you, Valencia. What type of gun are you looking for?”

“I don’t do guns,” she said.

“Forty-five men with guns and you don’t do guns?” Mike snapped.

“Knives are so much better…and a sword…but I didn’t have room for mine and getting it through airport security unnoticed would have been a pain.”

“They have guns!”

She stood, removed her shirt, exposing a fitted black vest beneath. “I have over eighty-five knives on my person. I think I’m covered.”

They all looked at her. Gavin was sure they were all trying to figure out just what he was trying to figure out…where were the eighty-five knives? And how had she gotten them all through security?

“Eighty-six,” she took the knife with her dried blood on it and slid it into an empty compartment on her vest. By the time she finished it looked like just another decorative component to the top. And if all those decorative components had knives in them…wow. His brother had found himself one lethal woman. He was almost surprised Thomas hadn’t latched onto this one as a lover and not a friend, but given the way he looked at her, as if she were his sister, he could see why the word lover never came to mind for this one. It didn’t help that she thought of him as a brother. Striking up a relationship would have been practically incestuous for the two of them. Plus it was clear that Thomas was in love with Thena, and from what Drake had told him, Harrison was in love with Valencia.

“When do we leave?”

“Now,” she said. “So wherever your weapons are I would suggest you get them. They start training at sunrise, so we’ll have more to deal with once the sun comes up. We’ll have some cover of night for a couple hours by the time we get there. Don’t let that lull you into a false sense of security. I know for a fact that there are guards on duty twenty-four hours a day. Study the schematic and arm yourselves.”

The knock on the door disturbed them all. Mike held up one hand, reminding them to stay with caution and Valencia slid one knife from her arsenal in case she needed it.

They all breathed a sigh of relief when the person they heard at the door was a familiar voice…all of them except Valencia. Gavin figured that was because she didn’t know the man at the door.

“Sully,” Thomas shook his head. “I told you to stay put with Alaina and the babies.”

“I know what you told me,” he said. “I’m technically your superior ranking officer and I decided I don’t have to follow your orders.”

“You’re retired.”

“So are you,” he said. “But right now, truth be told; I outrank all of you…except Drake.”

Drake nodded.

“And me,” Valencia said without thought.

“And you are?”

“Nobody important,” she said. “Glad you could join us.”

“Hey!” Sully growled. “Is this…no way…this little woman is the Angel of Death?”

“Why does everybody always call me little?” She shook her head as she rolled up her case with more of her knives. Gavin stood, bewildered by her question. Was she serious? She was surrounded by men who were towering over her and she wanted to know why Sully was calling her little…she had to be joking. When he saw her he was in shock as well. Thomas had told all of them about her, but he had never said she was this petite, docile looking exotic beauty.

“Your security clearance levels alone probably out rank every man in the military,” Sully said astonished, still, at the woman before them.

She shrugged. “I technically have higher clearance than the President…but don’t tell him that. I don’t get the feeling he likes anybody having access to government areas he doesn’t even know about.” She extended her hand. “I’ve read a lot about you Sully Masterson. Glad to meet the man behind the legend.”

“Wow…I can’t believe I’m meeting the most feared assassin in the western civilization.”

“Are you just going to stand their gawking?” Drake shook his head. “Or would you like to tell us what you’re doing here?”

“I’ve come to fight. I’m not sitting at home while my friends are at war.” He dropped his bag on the table and it made a loud clanking sound. “I brought guns and ammunition with me. Fill me in.”

“Good; we’re going to need it.” Gavin said. “First stop is just outside of Fort Worth where we’ll have at least forty-five military men ready to cut us down.”

“I’ve never been to Fort Worth,” Sully said.