Night Moves: A Shadow Force Novel Read Free

part of the world.
    “We’re clear,” Reid said, but he didn’t slow down, nor did he head right to the safe house.
    Kell stared down at the sleeping woman cradled in his lap and wondered what they’d gotten themselves into this time.

    I t only took a few moments for the men to decide they would finish the op tonight. There was only one second chance, and it would be at Rivera’s mansion, making the job infinitely harder—and in some ways, more appealing.
    First, they needed to make sure the mercs weren’t circling back to tail them—and after half an hour, both were satisfied.
    Reid spun the Jeep over the open back road as Kell readied himself for what their next steps would entail. Because this was their plan B and they’d prepped for this eventuality with the keen eye they’d been taught in the Army.
    Rivera’s mansion was high on a hill, with more security than one man would ever need unless he was paranoid as hell. That paranoia was his weapon against other men like him—or gang members, all looking to take his place. The guards around Rivera’s property were always on the lookout for blitz attacks, well trained for displays of shock and awe, but Kell and Reid would give them something unexpected.
    He closed his eyes and pictured the map they’d pored over earlier. Courtesy of Dylan, it had the most up-to-date approach possibilities.
    Dylan Scott was former Delta Force and the man they currently worked with—and for. Dylan had been recruited by the CIA at one point and refused their offer, contending that he worked better alone. These days, he utilized the men he considered friends, like Kell and Reid, wanted them to stick together andkeep one another safe in this business of private-contracting black ops, off-the-book missions.
    Reid stopped the Jeep at the bottom of the hill, outside the range of security cameras and in a circle of foliage that would do nicely to camouflage the vehicle and the woman inside it.
    Kell stepped out of the car after handcuffing the woman’s wrists together and to the inside door handle. She didn’t move, although her chest rose and fell and her color was good when he flashed a penlight on her face.
    Exhaustion, mixed with stress. Or maybe she had a concussion or something worse, because he didn’t know a goddamned thing about her beyond the fact that she was a major liability.
    He turned away from her to concentrate. The wind rustled. A thin sheen of sweat covered his body and he flexed his hands inside the fingerless gloves he’d pulled on.
    Wetwork was his speciality. He could do more with a ballpoint pen than most men could do with an AK-47. Close-quarters battle, silence, stealth. He’d spent the first half of his life being invisible in a crowd. He’d perfected that ability during his time in Delta Force, knew that the line between life and death was a fine one, and he readied himself now.
    There was always the possibility of things going wrong. He and Reid had dealt with every contingency but Kell knew they’d be hanging the unconscious woman out to dry with no one to help her.
    “If you uncuff her, she’ll run—no doubt straight into this op,” Reid said when he saw Kell look back at her for the millionth time. “She’s safest here.”
    “Which isn’t safe at all.”
    His friend shrugged. “We don’t even know why those mercs are after her. She could be worse than Rivera and Cruz.”
    Reid was right, Kell knew that. But still, his protective instincts were all fired up, and no one was safe from them. “Why don’t you stay here?”
    “To protect her?”
    Kell didn’t answer that, because that wasn’t the only reason he wanted Reid out of danger. “I’ve got this.”
    “You’re fucking kidding me, right?” Reid basically gave Kell the equivalent of the middle finger with his expression and took off up the hill, leaving Kell no choice but to follow.
    He gave a final, backwards glance to the well-hidden Jeep and then moved forward, finding two