Dark Deception (DARC Ops Book 11) Read online

  He knew plenty about IT systems and security; he just preferred not to indulge. Look at the trouble Ellie was going through at the moment, trying to recover her bank account. Then she had to remotely access her computer and do whatever it was she had to do to—

  His cell phone vibrated in his pocket. The tapping stopped as he shifted to pull the cell phone from his pocket, glancing at the screen as he did so. Jackson. He glanced at Ellie, watching him again. “I gotta get this,” he said, shifting position and sitting up. She shrugged. “I’ll be outside. You hurry up and finish doing whatever it is you have to do, and then we’ll figure out where to go from here.”

  The tapping continued, and he moved toward the door, slipped the chain from its metal tunnel, unlocked the door, then glanced back at her over his shoulder. “Lock the door behind me.”

  She made a face and quickly scrambled off her bed, heading for the door as he stepped outside. As soon as it shut, he listened for the lock and the chain sliding back into place, then lifted the phone to his ear.

  “Took you long enough.”

  “Sorry, I needed some privacy.”

  “So, what’s going on?”

  Asher carefully looked around, then stepped away from the door of the motel room, moving in the shadows toward the edge of the building maybe fifteen feet away. The single-story motel was served by a well-kept aluminum awning painted a deep, chocolate brown. The motel office separated the two L-shaped portions of the motel, the first story serving as the office proper, and the second floor probably the owners’ living quarters. The south wing of the hotel was the longer of the L-shaped, with twelve rooms and only a couple of cars parked in front of them. The north wing, where he had rented the last room of the shorter branch of the L-shape, had six rooms.

  He stood at the corner of the building, the front window not more than four feet away, enough to be able to watch in case Ellie decided to take the opportunity to skedaddle, and yet not so close that she would overhear his conversation.

  He didn’t know exactly where the motel was geographically, only that it was on a relatively quiet strip of asphalt along a frontage road parallel to the county highway that followed the coastline. He couldn’t hear the ocean, but there was still a faint tinge of salt in the breeze that caressed his scalp. The air felt damp and chilly.

  Nothing moved out there. Through the half-closed blinds of the office, he glimpsed movement, but that stopped moments later. The office manager, a middle-aged, portly fellow, was pleasant but not overly friendly, enabling Asher to check in with a minimum of questions regarding his stay. Hidden in the shadows, speaking softly, his gaze continually sweeping the area, Asher filled Jackson in on what had occurred since the last time they had spoken.

  “Damn, she recognized you?”

  “Yes, from the photo, but she doesn’t know anything about it. She asked, and I played it off as nothing more than a training mission. She seems to have accepted that.”

  “Okay, we’re digging into her queries, but if they’re as good as Tansy claims they are, and if she’s involved in something that endangers national security . . .”

  “If she found evidence, I’m sure you’ll find out who she’s looking at.” Jackson said nothing. “So, what do you want me to do? Tuck her away? Bring her back down with me? What?”

  “Just keep the both of you safe until we figure out what the hell is going on here,” Jackson said.

  The call disconnected and Asher sighed, sliding the phone back into his side pocket. Once again, he moved his gaze over the parking lot. Nothing. He turned to the east, toward the ocean, unable to see it through a thick stand of trees that grew between the hotel and the frontage road. Beyond the trees, he remembered, the land rose slightly on an incline, on the other side of which stood the interstate, and beyond that, the ocean. While the place certainly seemed out of the way, quiet, and calm, he didn’t trust it.

  Jackson had told him to keep her safe. The only way to do that was to keep moving, no obvious destination in mind, sticking to back roads and—

  A faint rustling captured his attention, and he turned toward the trees again, his heart accelerating, senses instantly alert. He reached for the gun tucked into the back of his waist band. Shit. He’d left it in the room on the bedside table.

  He peered into the darkness, casting his gaze into the shadowed depths. A rabbit? Perhaps a deer? He had no idea what kind of wildlife lived around here, so close to the ocean. Though he stood for several moments, counting down the seconds, his ear cocked to pick up anything out of the ordinary, he heard nothing more. He turned back toward the motel building, intent on getting inside when a rush of movement came up behind him.

  He turned, one arm raised in defense, his other arm cocked, his fist ready to strike as a solid force collided with him, knocking him off balance. Adrenaline pumped through his veins as he half crouched, staring at a thick figure cloaked in black pants and sweater, only a ring of skin around his eyes visible through an equally black ski mask. A glint of moonlight flashed against a knife blade as it swung in a sideways arc toward him. Asher twisted and lashed out with a foot. He struck the attacker’s arm with his boot, which deflected the knife’s trajectory but didn’t cause his attacker to drop it.

  Asher went on the offensive, rushing the man, his chin tucked toward his chest, shoulders hunched, both hands balled into fists. His attacker crouched lower, a knife in both hands now, holding them low, ready for an upward or sideward strike. If he just could get close enough, he could take the attacker down in one or two Muay Thai moves, but the man didn’t give him the chance. Lightning fast, he pounced forward, slashed with a knife, then darted away. Asher felt the sting of the tip of the knife against his ribs, ripping his T-shirt. A warm trickle of blood dribbled along his rib cage. Fury surged through him, but he quickly tamped it down. He had to remain calm. Blindly lashing out would get him nowhere.

  “Come on, tough guy, that all you got?”

  The voice was taunting, gravelly, and uttered in little more than a whisper. Again, a hot flush of anger surged through Asher, but he offered nothing more than a grin. He pretended to relax to readjust his position but suddenly lashed out, twisting with a roundhouse kick, ducking low, then barreling into his attacker, catching him off guard. They both fell to the ground. The crunch of dry pine needles, the grunt of his attacker, and the musty scent of decaying leaves and rich soil wafted through his senses. His left hand grasped his attacker’s right, squeezed, then shoved backward. Hard. He heard a crock of bone, a garbled cry of pain from the attacker. The knife fell from his hand. One more to go.

  Asher got one knee under him, slamming his other shin across his attacker’s chest, and sent a left cross into his jaw, his other hand reaching out to disarm him of the second knife. His hand wrapped around the thick wrist, his blood surging with adrenaline, looking forward to the moment he would unmask his attacker—

  Something hard struck the back of his skull. Pain exploded, filling his vision with white spots. Dazed, he started to turn when another sharp blow from a gun butt slammed into his forehead. He grunted in pain. Two of them!

  Fighting off the pain, blinking to clear his blurred vision, and ignoring the hot blood streaming down the side of his face, Asher quickly rolled off the man on the ground and climbed to his feet. Nausea welled up inside him, his heart pounding in waves that matched the throbbing pain in his skull. Fear coursed through him. Not for himself, but for Ellie, in the motel room less than twenty feet away, blithely typing away on his laptop, unaware of what was going on outside.

  His first attacker rose from the ground, his right arm clutched close to his body, his wrist more than likely broken. Asher split his attention between the two—both medium height, dressed in black, obviously well-trained in close combat. A raft of horror went through him as a new sound reached his ears—a metallic click. A shaft of light poured out from the doorway to their rented room, illuminating the second attacker, who was just now raising an automatic with a silenc
er attached to its barrel, aimed at him.

  His second attacker’s attention didn’t waver as he continued to lift the gun, preparing for a headshot. The first attacker turned slightly, eyes widened with surprise when he saw the small woman emerge from a motel room, a gun raised and ready to fire.

  “I’ve called the police!” she shouted, then raised her voice even louder as she screamed. “Help!” She fired a shot from Asher’s gun in their general direction, a spate of dirt shooting upward maybe three feet from the first attacker’s legs. She screamed again, never taking her eyes off the two hooded men. “Help! We’re being mugged!”

  Both his attackers paused but only briefly before they turned and dashed into the tree line. Ellie, eyes wide, stared after them, then turned to Asher, her hand holding the gun now trembling wildly. In the near distance, two car doors slammed, then the squeal of tires as his attackers took off. Ellie’s face shone pale in the glow of the motel room light.

  He raised his hands to waist level, ignoring the pain in his head, keeping his eyes latched onto hers. “It’s okay, Ellie, they’re gone. Point the gun at the ground.” He took a cautious step toward her. She stood frozen, the gun still raised to shoulder height, trembling wildly now and pointed ominously in his direction. He spoke softly and calmly, slowly extending a hand, his knuckles bloodied. “Ellie, give me the gun.”

  He stepped closer, avoiding any fast movements. From the office, a man emerged, staring in their direction.

  “I called the sheriff!” he called out. “They’re on the way!”

  “Thanks,” Asher called back, not turning away from Ellie. Close enough now, he gently wrapped his hand around hers, holding the gun and maneuvering it so the barrel didn’t point toward him. Gently, he pulled the gun from her grasp, startled when she pressed her trembling body close to his own, her fingers tightly clutching at his shirt.

  “You’re all right,” he said, placing his free hand on her shoulder and giving it a comforting squeeze. “You’re all right, Ellie, you did good. You saved my ass.” He gently prodded her toward the room. “Now let’s grab the computer and get the hell away from here before the cops arrive.”

  10

  Ellie

  Heart racing, Ellie rushed into the motel room. She had to grab the laptop and what few belongings they had with them, and then get the hell out of there. She snatched Asher’s backpack from the bottom of his bed, then tucked the laptop under her arm. Fortunately, she’d saved her earlier progress, as she slammed the lid shut and snatched it from the floral bedspread without bothering to save or close a single thing. A quick glance around to make sure nothing was left behind, and then she was out the door.

  Asher stood next to the passenger door of his truck, ready to jerk it open it for her, she supposed. Why he might have to do that sent shivers down her spine. His gaze quickly scanned the parking lot and the shelter of the trees behind. Blood marred the left side of his face. The sight startled her, but she couldn’t bring herself to feel one iota of guilt. She’d fired a gun! In fact, she knew she’d do it again if she had to, although she couldn’t deny the surge of relief she’d felt when Asher had taken the gun from her trembling hands.

  “Hurry! We need to get out of here before the cops come.”

  “Why?” She berated herself for the stupid question even as the word left her mouth.

  “You really want them asking a bunch of questions? Questions that neither one of us has the answers for?” he asked, pulling his phone from his pant leg pocket. He cursed. The cracked black screen failed to respond despite his repeated tapping. “Come on,” he muttered, gesturing for her to get in the truck.

  Asher quickly moved around the hood and climbed in, efficiently removing the back of his phone with his thumb while shoving the key into the ignition. In seconds, he’d removed the battery and the sim card. Slightly more familiar with him now than she had been mere hours ago, Ellie knew he’d discard each of the pieces in different locations. Her heart skipped a beat again. What the hell had she gotten herself into? Even more scary, what had she dragged Asher into?

  Or had she? If she thought about it, he’d pretty much invited himself.

  Ellie wanted to argue, to protest that they should wait for the cops, but Asher was right. They had no idea who those two men were or why they had attacked Asher, though it was becoming more and more obvious she was into something way over her head. It wouldn’t be difficult for the bad guys to do worse things than take money out of her bank account. They could—she jolted sideways as he quickly pulled out of the parking lot, away from the motel even as the motel manager shouted at them to stop.

  “Put on your seatbelt.”

  She did. “Where are we going?” she asked as he pulled onto the highway and quickly accelerated, heading due west.

  “For the moment, away from here,” he said muttered. “Let’s just hope the motel owner didn’t have a chance to write down my plate number. We’ll stay off the main roads, but I don’t hold out much hope that we’ll be able to elude the cops for long.”

  “So how are we going to—”

  “I’ll find another motel where we can try to hole up for a while . . . maybe get some sleep. I need to contact . . .” His voice fell away for a moment before he spoke again. “I need to have a plan. We can’t just run without any planning.”

  Run? What was he talking about? Running? How could they run if they didn’t know who was chasing them? How could they elude anyone if they had no idea why they—she noted their direction of travel. “We’re heading away from Boston!” she yelped. “I told you I need to get my computers!” Ellie slapped a hand against her leg in frustration.

  Asher glanced at her and then turned back toward the highway, gaze riveted on the winding blacktop of a frontage road, its faded yellow lines blurring as they sped past. “Think about it, Ellie. How the hell did they know we were there? Do you think they could’ve determined our location from the laptop?”

  It didn’t make sense. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “I wasn’t on that long, and besides, I piggybacked onto several different Wi-Fi connections and went through a number of networks. It would’ve taken much longer than that to trace—”

  “They knew how to find us,” he said, his voice grim. “Any idea at all how?”

  Was he accusing her? “I don’t know!” she exclaimed. “How could you ask me that? You think I purposely led whoever’s after me to our location?” He didn’t answer, but she barely noticed, more questions surging through her brain. How had they known? And why had they attacked Asher? And if they were willing to hurt or kill him for merely being with her, what would they do to her? And more importantly, why?

  “Who are these people?”

  He didn’t glance at her as he replied. “People that you obviously shouldn’t have messed with.”

  “But I didn’t!” She turned to face him, one hand tightly gripping the door handle, the other braced against the dashboard as the car accelerated. “Slow down! You’re going to miss one of these curves and end up killing us both!”

  “I know how to drive,” he said, eyes narrowed against the glare of an oncoming vehicle. “For now, we need to put some distance between us and them before they track us again.”

  Damn. Who were they? She wished she knew. Were they from the Guardian Knights company? Did it matter? Even if they were, she knew next to nothing about them. She hadn’t had a chance to even dig deeper beneath the surface. If she knew more, if it was the someone, or more than one someone from the Guardian Knights, she would have a specific target to focus her searches on. They had already taken her money. She’d gotten it back, but at what risk? Asher had nearly been killed out there, and for what? “They’ve got to be involved in something illegal. Maybe worse than illegal. Something they can’t have exposed. They have to be. If that’s not it, what’s the rationale for somehow managing to follow us and attacking you?”

  Asher said nothing for several moments, and Ellie’s thoughts ran rampant. Illega
l weapons sales? Something worse, like selling missile parts to an enemy country? Dirty bombs? Chemical weapons? The list seemed endless and more terrifying with every passing second.

  “Try not to get ahead of yourself,” he finally said. What was he now, a mind reader?

  “Too late for that. I’m thinking worst-case scenarios. Like domestic terrorism. Anthrax . . . maybe even biological weapons . . . what if—”

  “We’ll consider scenarios and options after we get someplace safe.”

  “When will that be?”

  “Not sure yet.”

  Ellie stared out the windows as he drove, her hand finding its way to her mouth. She chewed the edge of a hangnail, almost unconsciously. Asher continually scanned passing cars traveling in the opposite direction, even those on side roads and cross streets and as they headed toward the less-populated area along the ocean highway. Those side roads probably wound their way between sand dunes, maybe heading to resorts, exclusive golf courses, or fancy estates. She wasn’t comforted in the least by his continual looks in the rearview and side mirrors. Was he afraid they were being followed? She was frightened and wasn’t afraid to admit it. She wanted to hide. To find a hiding spot and not come out for days, maybe even months . . . images of “what-ifs” raced through her thoughts. She wiped clammy hands on her pants, every muscle in her body tense. She was desperately trying to maintain a sense of bravado, if for no other reason to prevent the tears, the uncertainties from taking her over completely.

  Whose toes had she stepped on? Until now, it had been almost easy, bringing justice to the world from behind a keyboard. No one had known who she was. She’d made sure of that. What the hell had changed this time? Never before had she felt so threatened. She didn’t even know what she had stumbled upon.