Game of Secrets and Shadows (Book One in the Covert Operations series)

Twenty-Four

When we first travelled from the cabin to the clearing, it had taken us close to an hour. We'd gone slowly, trying to avoid detection. The trip back was much different.

It was a panicked, frenzied car ride. Lia, Max, the Ortiz's, Jack, and I had piled into one car and taken off. The other three agents had stayed behind and only out of duty. We knew that there were likely some stragglers in the woods, escaped prisoners trying to find their way to safety. They would wait for as long as they were able, doing interval sweeps of the immediate surrounding area before heading for safety.

I'd learned that some of the escapees had already gone—several had been injured and had gotten on one of the few helicopters we had on standby out, some of the others had hopped into the car that was missing and headed out. I'd thought that they were headed back to the cabin but that had not. Instead, they were headed off to another rendezvous point, a secondary location I hadn't even known existed in the event that the cabin became compromised.

And now it appeared that it had.

Grace was driving with Jack sitting beside her. Every so often they spoke in low tones but it was clear that they didn't really know how to talk to each other. I knew that Daniel's parents had always been closer with my biological mother and had only met Jack a handful of times but it was clear that the years apart, years filled with distrust and fear and hatred, had taken its toll on everyone.

Malcolm was half-sprawled on the middle bench seat, eyes closed, as Lia tended his injuries as best as she was able with our limited amount of medical supplies. Max and I were in the very back. His hand was on my knee as I stared out the window in silence.

"It'll be alright," he murmured for my ears only. "He'll be fine."

"It's not just Daniel. Tasha and that MI6 agent...what if something happened to them? They're only here because I asked for help on this."

"And if you hadn't you'd probably be dead right now, Jack would still be in prison, along with a lot more innocent agents who now have the chance to get back to their families. Everyone involved volunteered for this mission, Melanie. We all knew the risks."

I turned to meet his eyes. They were strong and insistent and after a moment I released a breath and nodded. I knew that he was right. But there was still a part of me that wished I had attempted to go it alone.

It seemed like both minutes and hours before we finally pulled up at the cabin. In reality, it had been a little under a half-hour. The wheels on the car screeched to a stop, screaming at the speed at which we'd come flying in at. With lives at stake, we hadn't wasted any time and had instead pushed the vehicle as fast as we could until the little wood shack had come into view.

When I saw it, my heart sank. The door to the cabin was ajar and bullets from a gun were clearly the cause of the shattered windows. And by the door, on the frosted ground, was the first sure sign of blood.

"Oh, my god," Grace whispered.

"Bloody hell." Lia turned round to face Max and I, her eyes wide and skin very white.

The doors opened. Max and I had to wait until Malcolm had hobbled out of the car to jump into the seat in front of us and get out. By that point, Grace, Jack, and Lia were already inside of the house. The two of us ran as Malcolm moved as fast as he was able given his injuries. His face was lined with worry for his son.

Inside, the scene wasn't much better. Tables and chairs had been overturned and there were bullet holes on several of the walls. Five feet to the left of the door, a body lay in a pool of blood. It was the MI6 agent. A bullet had gone straight through her forehead.