The intruder outside her door hesitated, maybe wondering how to make his next move. A locked door often meant something precious was inside. She realized her mistake right away. If the door were open, the intruder wouldn’t even know they were here, due to her camouflage.

  She waited and then decided that maybe instead of just sitting here and waiting, she could do more. She closed her eyes and gently sent out a message. Nothing is here. Keep walking. Keep walking. Keep walking.

  She wasn’t sure if it would have any effect and then realized she didn’t want them walking toward the others either. She quickly turned to send out a feeling of loss and wrapped a message inside.

  The place is empty. Leave.

  The compound is abandoned. Leave.

  And, in a continuous hypnotic motion, she just kept sending out the same message over and over again, hoping that anyone outside would pick up that same message and would react as suggested.

  She kept sending out the message. There seemed to be just nothing but confusion on the other side, which was better than somebody bursting in and firing at them. Just when she thought she was winning the battle, a hand went back to the door and pulled on it again.

  She sucked in a breath, and then, as she waited, she heard another voice behind her call out, “Mommy?”

  She knew all her efforts were lost.

  *

  Brody swore when he realized that somebody had entered the building.

  Everybody was on high alert, but that didn’t mean much. A lot of Terk’s people were in there, and, if these assholes had sent one person, that was one thing. Brody trusted the rest of his team to take them out.

  But what if they’d sent in a killing squad?

  He couldn’t hear anything, and he knew that he was on his own at the moment. She’d also shut down her constant energy wave.

  She needed it herself.

  Whatever it was, this was serious. He felt a loss, a feeling of emptiness without her energy around him. A keen sense of loss that he’d never expected to experience before now heavily weighed him down. It was bizarre, and yet he understood; she was trying to protect the others in the group.

  He needed to sweep through the building next door and fast. He pushed ahead to the stairs, moving up as fast as he could to the roof. Only one sniper was up here, with the other one directly on the building 180 degrees in front of him. He also knew Damon had headed up to that one. With any luck, they could take out both snipers at once. And he had to trust that those in the building would be okay on their own.

  Clary and Cara will keep them safe.

  Brody was prepared to take out his sniper right now. Yet just so much was going on, and their team had so many people to protect. This was the moment. He knew this was the chance to get out of this hole, and the path was clear, yet the chances for success were slim, and he needed to be vigilant. Clary’s lack of energy and presence had him doubting, questioning.

  At that, another voice slammed into his head and told him to stop overthinking.

  Keep it together, Brody. I am not listening to this BS.

  He was startled for a moment and then grinned, as he raced up the stairs to the roof door. Terk could work magic on lifting any spirit.

  Just checking to make sure you’re there, Brody quipped.

  I’m here too, she said, sounding like she was right beside Brody, her voice powerfully soothing and, at the same time, he sensed that she was rattled.

  Were you under attack?

  Yeah. Her voice was curt and sharp. Not yet but any second now. He swore at that, and then she added, You just keep doing what you doing. We’ll be fine.

  He wasn’t sure how fine anybody could be if they were coming under attack. This wasn’t her world, and it’s not something she should ever have been exposed to. But he’d been the idiot who had insisted on coming home well ahead of time. He’s the one who exposed her to danger.

  Not something he’d really thought out in the long-term, and, now that she was facing this mess, it made him realize just how much his own rash behavior affected everybody else.

  Her voice, dry and yet slightly distracted, emerged like silk on his nerves, soothing him. Save the moratorium for later. I’ll accept your apology when we are all out of this, together.

  Once again, she made him smile because there was just such honesty and a caustic hint to her voice. So pure.

  He always knew where he stood with her. She wasn’t full of lies and never made any attempt to dissuade him from the path that he was on.

  What would be the point? she asked, her voice equally hard.

  Good. So glad to hear we understand each other, he murmured.

  Clary huffed. You are hardheaded, and, if we hadn’t come when we did, you would have been a mess. You still think that you’re separate from me, but you haven’t figured out that we’re already joined. Joined in a way that I don’t even know I can disengage from. A note of sadness filled her tone.

  And what if I don’t want you to disengage? Brody asked her.

  But you haven’t made it clear that you don’t want me to. So there’s this weird sense of straddling between two different worlds.

  And I’m sorry about that. Let’s take care of these attacks, and we’ll discuss it.

  I’m working on it.

  What are you doing, Clary?

  At the moment, silencing the little one. I just put him back to sleep. He called out for a moment, at a very inopportune time, and we’ve got shit hitting the fan. The best thing would be if he could sleep through the whole thing.

  Yeah, I hear you. I’m on the same page, and I’m working on it.

  Our intruder is on the other side of this bedroom door. I don’t want to keep the door locked because that will just bring more interest to this room, but neither do I have any intention of letting him get in here.

  I would really appreciate it if you had a way to stop them from getting in. I really don’t even know what I can do.

  None of us does, not until we’re put to the test.

  Brody realized just how true that was and how honest of her to acknowledge that she didn’t know what she could and could not do in this scenario. I have faith in your abilities. I’m coming out on the adjacent roof, looking for the shooter.

  There are two, she said, her tone urgent, as if she had just found that piece of information.

  I know, and three of us are up here, but two of us are targeting the two different shooters. Damon’s on the big-mouthed one, and I’ve gone after the other one on the adjacent building.

  God, it’s the waiting that kills me.

  I know.

  Now I need to disconnect so I can focus. And, if you don’t need to pull on me, please don’t. If you need to, … well, I’ll already know, and it will be in progress.

  And, with that, she disappeared from his head. The fact that she could even do that said something about her abilities that he hadn’t even considered before. It’s like these two women were on the same level as Terk, and they hadn’t realized it yet.

  Brody hadn’t even considered just how important they were to the survival of the team, the whole group, but, if they didn’t have Clary right now, Brody couldn’t imagine who would be protecting Little Calum and Mariana. Obviously everybody would have been shepherded into one building at the last moment.

  Or, if they’d had a little more time, they could have carried everybody out, potentially safe, but at what cost? With Cara and Clary, everyone on the inside was potentially safe. We have to end this.

  Brody couldn’t even imagine what Terk would do regarding this whole scenario because all the people in their expanded group meant so much to Terk. To all of them. Brody also knew what losing his brother would do to Terk. He would deem it his own fault and would be devastated. It was not something he would argue about, but Brody also knew that no way would Terk ever let himself off the hook for Merk’s death.

  That made it even harder for Terk, so Brody knew that he needed to act decisively. They were one, and they knew right from wrong. The Iran operation had been carried out by the team, per their government’s orders. They did that op together, which meant that they created this monster together. It wasn’t only Terk’s doing, and now they would end it together.

  For the team.

  The situation was pissing Brody off, and, without neutralizing Yousef, there was no safety for any of them. Brody stepped out on the roof, rifle at the ready, and slipped up to the end of the huge metal stacks from the HVAC system. He heard a conversation still going on outside.

  “It doesn’t even matter,” the gunman stated. “I know you’re all trying to figure out how to stop me.” Yousef shook his head. “But it won’t happen, and, even if it does, it doesn’t matter because so many things are in play right now. You won’t stop them all.”

  Then Yousef stepped out of Brody’s sight.

  “But, hey, go ahead and give it your best shot. The good old try that you seem to think you can do. You always thought you guys were the best of the best,” Yousef said, “but you’re not even close. We studied you. We took notes on all of it. We made sure that we understood exactly what was happening in Iran, and now we have taken a page out of your playbook, Terk. You guys have been one step behind us this whole way, and we’ve seen it every damn time. We did something you never expected. We laughed the whole time, as we took out all the different people we hired.”

  Yousef continued. “Everybody who thought that they were something, who needed to be part of something big, are all dead,” he murmured, “because there is no something after this.”

  “What will you do with the weapon when you’re gone?” Terk asked.

  “It’s already arranged for sale,” he murmured. “I just have to survive this, and then I can live the life that my brother always wanted for his family.”

  “You mean the life he wanted, if he hadn’t been so intent on trying to kill all of us.”

  “Only because you killed so many of his team. You destroyed everything he worked for. His family, his work, then you killed him as well. The lab was under contract for the government, and he didn’t have any choice, but you guys didn’t care, as long as you took them out.”

  On the roof and still hidden from sight, Brody took stock of the situation. On the roof of the other building, he saw Damon opening the door and stepping out. So far, they were both out in the clear, but Brody knew that wouldn’t last. The minute they were seen, it would be an all-out war.

  “He’s in hand,” Brody reported.

  “I see mine too,” Damon replied.

  When they hit go time, they sent Terk a message. When Brody came out of his hiding spot, almost immediately a weapon fired and hit the concrete at his feet.

  He didn’t even react and rolled ahead, firing at his target. It all happened so fast that, by the time he stopped his own advance, he didn’t appear to have a scratch on him. Whether that was his own skill or Clary’s intervention, he didn’t know, but he was grateful.

  Terk immediately asked for an assessment.

  “I’m fine.” Brody then waited for Damon to check-in, and, when he did, they realized it was good—so far. “Now what?” Brody muttered to himself, as he turned and looked.

  Let’s end this.

  There are gunmen in the compound.

  Mine is still alive and kicking, Damon alerted them.

  Using Terk for his eyes, Brody quickly raced along the top of the roof, looking for that opportunity to get close enough to take out the other gunman. Yousef stood up suddenly and started firing, but Brody was already rolling and moving out of the line of fire, and, by the time he came to a stop, he heard the other guy swearing.

  “It won’t matter, Terk,” Yousef cried out. “Too much is in motion, and you’ll never get your happily ever after.”

  Terk asked him, “Don’t you want to just give it up and just go?”

  “Won’t matter if I do or not,” Yousef said. “I have to avenge my brother. So, if you can take me out, then take me out.”

  “You’d still avenge him, even though he was a mad scientist?”

  At that, he laughed. “Yes.”

  “You know that’s not the way to live, right? He produced a weapon that would cause mass destruction all over the world.”

  “I know,” Yousef agreed, “and I got him the funding for it. So, if you think it was him alone, you’re wrong. I may not have had the scientific smarts to do what he did, but we were a team, and you did your level best to take out that team. And you did, … everyone but him. And eventually he succumbed. But no way in hell you’ll put it behind you. Even if you take me out right now,” Yousef said, “and I don’t get that chance to live a life that I’ve always dreamed of, yet I also know that you won’t either. Your partner, your child? … They’ll be killed before you have a chance to do anything. If I don’t make sure of it myself, it still goes down.”

  “Doesn’t matter if it goes down or not,” Terk noted. “I trust my team. I trust my brother. I trust my family, and she’s not my partner, and she’s not carrying my child.”

  “And you’re wrong,” Yousef roared in fury. “Why won’t you believe me?”

  “Why would I?” Terk asked. “Only a DNA test will prove something like that. So I won’t listen to any garbage you have to say. You’re all liars and cheats.”

  “We are not!” He fired in Terk’s direction.

  From the roof across the way, Brody broke into a run, and, coming up on the other side of the gunman, he started shooting.

  Yousef took the first one in the chest, and he went down, gasping.

  He tried to raise his weapon again, and Brody dropped him with a shot to his knee. “It doesn’t have to be this way,” Brody called out.

  “Of course it does,” Yousef replied, with a gurgling laugh. “It still isn’t over, but I will have the last laugh.”

  “Well, it will be over,” Brody promised. “Just not the way you had hoped.” And, with that, as Yousef finally managed to get his fingers wrapped around the weapon and slowly raised it, Brody put a third bullet right between his eyes. With that done, he raced over to the far wall and checked to see if Damon was okay. Damon lifted a hand and sent out the all-clear notice.

  Brody walked back to the edge and said to Terk, “Both snipers down.” But Brody saw no sign of Terk. Knowing that their priority was now whatever was going on inside headquarters, he sent out a message to Damon, and they both raced downstairs and headed in. Brody could only hope he got there before anything happened to Clary or the rest of them.

  But he also knew it could be damn ugly.

  As soon as they broached the door, whoever was inside would be trapped, and they would know it. So it would get ugly right after that.

  No one wants to be taken down lightly, and they would want to wreak as much havoc as they can manage.

  It was about time to end this mess for good.

  Chapter 14

  When the bedroom door was tried once again, Clary worried at the insistence of whoever was on the other side. She found herself getting damn angry. She went over to the door and flung it open, staring at the man on the other side.

  “What?” she asked. “What the hell is your problem?”

  He looked at her in surprise and then look behind her at the bed.

  “If you wake that little boy up, I’ll be pissed.”

  He started to laugh. “I don’t think it makes a damn bit of difference what you feel.” He lifted his gun and turned it toward her.

  She didn’t even think twice and kicked out so the gun dropped from his hand.

  The guy looked up at her in anger. “You will pay for this,” he roared, as he rushed at her. But she was already out in the hallway, with the door shut on Mariana and Little Calum.

  As he raced toward her, she put up an energy wall to stop him dead in his tracks. As soon as he hit that barrier, he stood there vibrating, merely a foot from her, rooted to the spot. He looked stunned.

  “What the hell?” he asked, shock in his voice. He reached out a hand, trying to get past the energy barrier she had created.

  He shook his head. “God damn witch,” he said in a guttural voice, but such animosity filled his tone that she knew he wouldn’t leave them alone. He was out for blood, and, if it didn’t come from her, it would come from whoever he attacked next.

  She looked at him. “No witches here,” she murmured. “But I can see that, from your perspective, maybe this is not quite what you thought would happen.”

  He yelled out, “This shouldn’t happen. This is not allowed to happen.”

  She frowned at him. “I think you forgot to tell somebody then.”

  The mocking tone of her voice was grating on him, and he was mad.

  She bent into a crouch, as her karate instructor had taught her. She wouldn’t tell this guy that she was rusty, since her fighting skills were almost nonexistent, but it was all she could do. “Bring it on,” she taunted him.

  “Do you think you’re so mighty? Let’s see,” he roared and raced at her. Only about six feet stood between them, but, before he ever got there, she had her barrier firmly in place, and, once again he hit it with a crushing blow. He stood there bewildered, not knowing how to approach. It was a first for him, and he knew nothing about how to deal with energy work like this that he had never seen.

  She smiled at him. “See? You never should judge a book by its cover,” she stated cheerfully. “You cannot touch me.”

  “No, you’re wrong.” He pulled a second weapon that had been holstered on his calf. With a small snub-nose revolver facing her now, he glared at her. “Not so brave now, are you?” He was chuckling and clearly back in his element.

  She looked at him, seething. “You think that’ll stop me?” she murmured. “I don’t think so.”

  He looked at her in astonishment. “Oh, I think it will.” He spoke as if to an imbecile. “I get that you think that there’s something special about you, but you’re nothing, absolutely nothing.”

  “And you’re just a hired gunman,” she stated. “I suspect if you were to step outside of this building, some stupid ass behind a drone will take you out.”