Chapter 22

Ella breathed in the salty wind and pulled her hair into a tight bun. She was dressed in black, her combat boots chafing because they were so new. Over her black field suit, she wore blue, faded overalls. Cleaning crew, indeed.

Jude had been up at oh three hundred for watch. She’d taken it with him. They hadn’t talked—that’s not what watch was for. But she’d been eased anyway because they were together.

She watched him strap on his guns. Keeper. He was every bit his call sign. He wore a double shoulder holster with a 9mm handgun in each pocket. He had cleaned them earlier and loaded ammunition. Rook, King, and Brody had sat at the table with him doing the same.

Ella had cleaned her guns prior to leaving Port Royal. She’d spent the gut-churning ride in the puddle jumper loading her ammo. As Jude strapped on multiple knives, Ella admired the play of muscle over solid bone. Those arms had held her all night.

She was going to make sure they continued to do so.

She pulled on her own holster, loaded herself down with her weaponry, pulled up the coveralls, zipped them, and cleared her throat.

The men all stopped in the process of pulling on their overalls and glanced at her, questions in their gaze.

“Anna Beth Caine,” she said by way of explaining her interruption.

“The Piper’s daughter?” Jude asked. “What about her?”

“She’s there. Whatever happens today, we don’t leave without her,” Ella explained.

Everyone nodded.

Brody ran a hand over his beard. “You mentioned something about her being a fail-safe?”

Ella nodded. “Yeah, we never talked about that the other day in the war room. Vivi can’t open those last two files on the thumb drive Cameron Caine gave me. I think Anna Beth knows how to crack that code.”

“Do you think that’s why Dresden has her?” King asked.

She shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, we need her. Oh, and again, she’s a person in the hands of an evil bastard,” she finished sarcastically.

“What if she doesn’t want to come?” Brody asked.

Ella huffed. “Jesus, Brody. Did he break your brain in that cell?”

“You’d know better than me,” Brody said with a wink.

“Psshh, you’re an ass.” She glanced at Jude and found him watching her intently.

“We’ll get her,” Jude said as if it were a foregone conclusion.

But Ella knew those were few and far between. They hadn’t even begun this op, and he was giving her assurances.

King’s satellite phone pinged, and he hit a button.

“Good morning, Endgame. Your op starts now,” Vivi chanted. “Ride’s outside waiting on you.”

“You got eyes on us?” Rook asked, strapping his rifle to his back and pulling a skullcap over his head.

“I do. Now get moving. You’ve got limited time to reach Simferopol. Word on the street is that Dresden has a plane being fueled, and he’s pulled maybe fifteen or twenty men in to his property.”

“How do you always know everything?” Jude asked.

“It’s my job,” Vivi said matter-of-factly.

“Touché,” Jude responded.

“He knows we’re coming,” King said on a sigh. “He always knows we’re coming. I’m getting sick of this.”

“He may know you’re coming, but he doesn’t know how. You’ve got the heads-up. You aren’t walking in blind,” Vivi reminded them.

Jude pulled on his skullcap, covering his hair and donning his soldier persona. This was business now. So Ella pushed everything she felt for him to the back of her mind as she shielded her heart.

“Safe, Ella,” he said as he put his rifle over his back.

She held up six fingers.

He smiled. Her stomach settled.

King gave a short whistle and they all fell out, hitting the deck and making their way to the waiting truck.

“Good see you, American,” the man named Fedir said with a grin.

Jude grunted.

Ella nodded and loaded up. King sat beside her in the back. Rook, Brody, and Jude sat across from them. Georgia was in the front seat with Fedir.

Jude’s jaw hardened when he saw the woman. “Told you to head home, G.”

“Told you I have a mission, Jude. Looks like I’m going with,” the woman said, her gaze roving over Jude and then moving to meet Ella’s.

Ella raised a brow and then purposefully looked away. The woman was no threat to her, regardless of what she was trying to intimate. Brody chuckled. “Fish in a goddamn barrel, Keeper. How do you get such pretty women to fall for that ugly mug?”

Jude looked at Ella and only Ella. “I just got it like that, Madoc.” He slid his gaze to Brody. “You need lessons?”

“From your mama maybe,” Brody snapped back.

Jude winced. “Leave my mama out of it.”

Brody made a kissing sound, and for a second Ella was thrown back to the morning she’d been called up for the Beirut op. By the end of that day, she’d been shot and Micah Samson and Nina Lassiter had both been dead.

But maybe not Nina. Maybe, somehow, improbably, Nina was still alive.

Ella remembered the feeling of doom she’d had setting out on that Beirut op. She shivered and glanced at Jude, seeing concern drawing his face into harsh lines. She shook her head and gave him a small smile.

She refused to let that doom back in. She would make sure this op went exactly the way they wanted. Ella rested her head against the wall of the truck and went over the op again.

It took them every last minute of the two hours Vivi had given them for arrival in Simferopol. It took them another thirty minutes to skirt the city and hit the road to Dresden’s house.

“Target is still on-site, Endgame,” Vivi said into their earpieces. “You’ll be there in five minutes. Go to the second gate and let Fedir do the talking. King? I just got word from Knight that he’s on the ground in Simferopol.”

“What the hell?” Jude exclaimed. “I thought he was with Chase and that Moeller chick heading back stateside.”

“They’ve sent Dr. Moeller my way. She should arrive in the States in about nine hours. They are heading your way,” Vivi explained. “It’s an Endgame party, guys. Get ready.”

“Fedir?” King called out.

The man turned. “Yes?”

“Stop the truck,” King ordered.

Fedir put on the brake and turned around.

“We’ll wait for them,” King told his analyst. “We’ll need all hands on deck for this not to go completely FUBAR.”

“Ten-four.” Thirty seconds later, Vivi was back. “They’re two minutes from you. Can you hold?”

King raised an eyebrow at Fedir. “Get out, and act like you’re working on the truck.”

A few cars passed them, but Dresden had eyes everywhere and the repairs needed to look genuine. Knight and Chase arrived, jumping out of their Volvo and into the back of the truck. Chase looked like hell—like he’d been up for days without rest and he was barely holding on. Knight didn’t look much better.

“Let’s move, Fedir,” King demanded as he tossed each new man a pair of coveralls. To Chase and Knight, he simply said, “Sit rep.”

Chase ran a hand down his face. “We were able to catch Black before he left. We got him and Dr. Moeller on a plane, and they’re headed to DC, then Port Royal. Nadege was relentless, Dr. Moeller is a pain in the ass, and I’m ready to kill Dresden.”

“Hooyah,” Jude replied with a grunt.

“Nadege just let her go?” King asked in disbelief.

“Not quite,” Knight said with a grimace. “He lost a lot of people, and finally the bastard ran. It gave us time to get her out and on a plane.”

“She won’t give us any information. She’ll be a tough nut to crack.” Chase’s voice was hard. He finally noticed Ella, and his jaw dropped. “Ella-Bella?”

She hadn’t seen Chase in over a year. He might have known she was alive, but he hadn’t seen her so it was probably shocking.

“Chase Reynolds, as I live and breathe,” she said in a very fake southern accent. Chase would appreciate her effort, being the Alabama boy he was. Ella wanted something to replace that look of frustration on his face.

He laughed, but it was forced. “Damn, girl, I’m happy to see you.”

“No offense, but you don’t look all that happy.”

“Well, I’ve had a rough week,” he said, and it seemed a huge understatement.

Knight snorted. “Good to see you, Ella,” he said with a nod. He punched Jude in the arm, probably bro code for You got her back, Ella thought.

“Chase, Knight, I’ve loaded the op onto your comm units. You’ve got five minutes to read through it,” Vivi stated calmly.

They got busy. Jude and Rook shared a weapon each and some ammo with Chase and Knight.

“Knight, you’re with Rook. Search the house for any intel we can take with us. Keeper, Brody, you’ll hit Dresden. Chase, you’re with me and Ella. We’ll hit the cellar,” King stated.

“No—” Jude began.

Ella silenced him with a look. She knew he wanted to protect her from her memories—from what had happened to her there—but she knew that cellar like the back of her hand. She needed to be the one who went. Her look quelled his instant, protective response.

Then he nodded, as did the rest of the men. Rook and Knight had worked together for so long that they moved as one sometimes. Jude was badass no matter who he was grouped with.

“We’re here, Americans,” Fedir called out, pulling into the gate.

“Chase, Knight, get behind us,” King ordered. They did, and when the guards opened the back door to check them, they saw nothing but men and women dressed for cleaning.

Ella breathed out heavily and thanked God. That could have started everything off poorly.

“Dresden’s pilot has arrived at the airfield. If you’re going to move, do it now, Endgame. You will have a welcoming committee once they realize you’re on-site.” Vivi told them, no urgency in her voice. She was always the calm in their storms. Ella gave thanks for Vivi too.

Then again, they did this for a living. They lived and breathed FUBAR situations. Dresden getting ready to leave could definitely throw a kink in the works.

“He wants her for something big,” Chase said, staring hard at the side of the truck.

“Who?” Jude asked.

“Gabby,” Chase informed them. “Dresden’s been after her for a few years now.”

“Let’s chat later, ladies,” King said quickly. “It’s time to move.”

The truck stopped and they all got out, including Georgia and Fedir. They spread out, grouped loosely but very coordinated. There were no guards posted, which set Ella on alert.

It made no sense. Normally, Dresden was surrounded by guards, and Vivi had told them he’d amassed a lot of men. If he suspected they were coming, had even a hint, she would have guessed he’d meet them with guns blazing. Something was up. Something bigger than they’d guessed. She glanced across the courtyard to Brody, and he nodded as their gazes met, his mind obviously traveling where hers had.

They entered the house and split up. She got one last look at Jude.

“Safe,” he mouthed.

“Six,” she mouthed back, and then he was gone around a corner, out of her sight.

“Let’s move, Banning, Work to do,” King urged. “Where are the men, Vivi?”

“I’m searching my feed. Satellite is getting grainy,” Vivi answered.

King glanced at Ella. “Where are the cells?”

“Follow me,” Ella said, taking the lead. King and Chase followed her.

The house was eerily silent. They met no staff and still no guards.

“Vivi, any intel on guard locations?” Chase questioned the analyst.

“Negative,” Vivi responded. “House appears to be empty.”

“We need to find Anna Beth Caine. She could be in the cellars. Keeper, Brody, we’re headed that way now. You might want to hit the western wing of the house. He’s got rooms there. Dresden also has an exit from the lower level in that wing,” Ella said calmly.

“Ten-four,” Jude responded, his voice very dark and very deep. Soldier.

A shot rang out as Ella peered around a corner of the hallway that led to the stairs to the cell. She dropped to a knee, put the barrel of her rifle around the corner, and fired. The sound of a short scream indicated she’d made a hit. “One down,” she reported.

She quickly glanced around the corner, didn’t receive fire, and felt King move around her, taking point. “Down the hall, last door on the right,” she said over the ear mic.

With King in front and Chase behind her facing the opposite direction, they moved toward the cells.

“Tango,” Chase murmured. The suppressed sound of his rifle thudded behind her, and she kept moving. “Two down,” Chase reported.

King stopped in the hallway, raising his rifle to his shoulder and shooting once. “Three down.”

They moved to the door, not encountering any more fire. King took the stairs, followed by Ella and Chase. She noticed the pall first, normal for the cells, and yet…not.

Then the smell.

Someone had died very badly and very recently. The smell of death permeated the air, and Ella’s skin chilled. Please, not Anna Beth Caine.

She waited for King to give the all clear signal, and then she moved to the first cell. She threw it open and was both relieved and horrified by what met her eyes.

She heard King in her ear, heard Jude and Brody both calling her name, but she was suddenly, irrevocably in the midst of her memories and pain. Everything seemed to fade around her except for the tableau before her.

The chains.

The dirt floor.

The darkness.

Anton Segorski hung suspended from the same bolt in the ceiling Ella once had. He’d been tortured and ultimately disemboweled. Stuffed into the enormous cut in his stomach was money—hundred-dollar bills, a lot of them.

“Ella?” Jude called over the comm unit.

“I’m good,” she whispered and swallowed hard. It took another few seconds, but she got it together.

“Goddamn, who does something like that?” Chase said around a gag.

“Dresden,” Ella said succinctly. “He knew I was coming. This is for me.”

She turned and checked the other cells quickly. Nothing. “He’s got something planned,” she said and ran toward the step.

“Banning!” King called out. “Stop.”

She didn’t. Segorski had been a resource for Dresden. A way to get the Russian prime minister in Dresden’s pocket. Then Segorski had turned on Dresden and paid the price. His presence in that cell was meant as a warning for Ella.

She had to get to Jude. “Jude, what’s your location?”

King grabbed her arm, and Ella turned on him. “We have to find Jude,” she demanded.

“All we’re going to find is a bullet if you don’t slow down,” King told her furiously. “Get your shit together, Banning.”

“Jude, what’s your location?”

Static met her ears.

“Brody, what’s your location?” she tried.

Nothing.

“He’s got them,” Ella said, fear climbing up her throat.

“Team leader? Brody and Keeper found Anna Beth Caine. They handed her off to Rook and Knight and are headed across the property to head Dresden off. Knight and Rook are en route to your location. Brody says Dresden is moving and has men surrounding him,” Vivi informed their team leader.

“Goddamn it,” Chase bit out. “We cannot let him get away.”

“Why don’t we have comm?” King asked.

“Don’t know, could be interference. If you don’t hurry, we’ll lose everything and I’ll be blind,” Vivi reported. “Head to the back of the property. The airfield is about a mile from the house. You need to move now.”

Ella took off after King and Chase. She ran as the cold seeped under her overalls, past her vest, and deep under her skin. Terror shook her core as she searched the large expanse of lawn for Jude. He was her every thought. She couldn’t lose him.

She could see Rook and Knight settled into a depression about three hundred yards from the tree line. The trees formed a natural barrier around the edge of the property and were about a half-mile thick from the road to the lawn. A small plane was parked another four hundred yards or so past them, obviously ready for takeoff.

Men ran toward them from the woods, surrounding the plane. So that’s where his men had been—pulled back, waiting for this moment. As one, they went to their knees and began firing.

Ella dodged, zigzagging her steps and knowing sheer luck prevented a bullet from finding her body. She kept her eyes on her target, that depression where her teammates were, and noticed a woman in between them cowering, her body shivering. Ella reached the depression and went to her knees beside the woman, unzipping her blue coveralls, pulling the material down, and unstrapping her bulletproof vest.

“Is she hurt?” she asked Rook.

“No,” he answered and settled down to reload his weapon. Both he and Knight were firing, but Ella couldn’t tell if they were even making a dent in the wall of men surrounding the plane. Chase dove into the slight depression and asked for a sitrep.

“FUBAR,” Knight replied.

Chase nodded, wedged into position, and began firing.

“Here,” Ella told Anna Beth Caine.

The woman glanced at her, eyes blank, as if there was absolutely nothing going on upstairs. “Anna Beth,” Ella said firmly. “Look at me. I told you I’d come for you, right? Here I am. Put this on.”

Her tone must have gotten through to the woman, because her gaze cleared and she reached for the vest. Ella strapped her in it. “Stay down,” she ordered.

Ella wiggled out of the cumbersome coveralls while searching for Jude. From the opposite side of the airfield, a car pulled up and Abrafo Nadege exited. Gunfire continued to pepper the air around them.

“Son of a bitch,” Chase whispered. “I kinda feel like we brought a knife to a gunfight.”

“Been in worse places,” Knight warned. “Remember Syria last year?”

“Been trying to forget,” Chase replied with a grin.

“Where’s Dresden?” Rook questioned.

“Vivi, I need eyes,” King demanded.

“I’m searching,” Vivi responded in their ears.

Ella lifted her rifle, hunting for Jude and Brody but not finding them.

In the distance, the sound of helicopter blades splitting the winter air bounced off the low-hanging clouds.

“Who is that?” King demanded. “Vivi, who’s in the chopper?”

“On it, Your Highness,” she replied, her voice more harried than Ella had ever heard it.

The helicopter swung down from the clouds, flying low over the trees and raining hellfire on Dresden’s line of men. Nadege ducked behind the car and dropped to the ground. Ella pushed Anna Beth down and began firing.

“No clue who’s in the chopper, Your Highness, but they’re cutting Dresden’s men down,” Vivi reported.

“Let’s move,” King ordered.

As one, they stood and—still firing—began moving forward in the same zigzag pattern Ella had used. Knight grabbed Anna Beth Caine and put her hand on his waist. “Run with me,” he commanded her. The woman nodded and immediately did as he’d ordered. She was holding her own, considering moments ago she’d been Dresden’s prisoner.

He hadn’t broken her, which gave Ella hope for the woman.

Ella fired, and when her rifle ran out of bullets, she pulled her handguns from their holsters and used them. From the air, the helicopter continued to fire, and still there was no Jude or Brody.

King, Rook, and Chase were now engaging men hand to hand. A couple of Dresden’s men were running for the woods, while others fell under the barrage of machine-gun fire from the helicopter. They simply didn’t have a place to hide from the chopper.

The wind whipped Ella’s hair as she ducked and spun under a roundhouse punch from one of Dresden’s goons. She pulled her KA-BAR from its sheath at her boot and came up punching the blade into the man’s chest. He fell, a look of stunned disbelief his final act.

She turned and took a fist to the shoulder before she could duck. She stumbled and shook out her arm before she grabbed her final knife from its scabbard, flipped it, and tossed it directly into the man’s throat.

“Ella, move!”

Jude’s voice. She turned and started to run, but an arm snuck around her throat and hauled her back against a hard body.

“Did you really think I’d let you go, Banning?”

Dresden.

Her heart stopped, then kicked into overdrive. She went deadweight, hoping to catch him off guard, but he laughed and clamped down on her throat harder.

“Take the shot,” she heard King call over the comm units.

“No!” Jude protested.

“Take the shot, Brody,” King ordered.

Dresden lowered his head, tucking his chin between her neck and shoulder and pressing down until he knew no one had a shot without going through Ella’s head first. “Tell them to stand down,” he whispered in her ear.

All around her, action ceased. The helicopter hovered and turned right, disappearing back over the trees.

Ella couldn’t breathe, spots swimming in front of her eyes. But in between the spots was Jude, walking toward them, rifle held at the ready, face promising death.

“Stop, Keeper,” Dresden called out when Jude was about fifteen feet away. The pressure on her throat eased, but a gun pressed into her temple now. “I don’t want to kill her, you know?”

“Let her go, Dresden,” Jude said, his voice low and cajoling. He wouldn’t meet her gaze. He knew. He knew damn well this was it for Ella.

“I don’t want to kill her, Keeper,” Dresden said as he began moving backward, pulling Ella with him. “But I will.”

The plane was only yards away. If he got her on it, she was dead.

“Take the shot, Brody,” Ella said softly.

“Shut your mouth, Banning,” Dresden demanded, and though his words were spoken softly, they were loud in Ella’s ears.

“Don’t,” Jude pleaded. His voice was still low, but it was filled with fear now.

One of them wasn’t making it home today. Ella accepted that and determined it would be her. She’d known this was her probable outcome, and she’d signed on anyway because keeping Jude alive was everything to her.

“Take the goddamn shot, Brody,” she said easily, almost conversationally.

“There is no shot. Stand down, Brody,” King ordered.

Behind Jude, her teammates stood, weapons raised, all aimed at Horace Dresden. She saw Chase, Rook, Knight, and Anna Beth Caine. They wouldn’t leave here without her this time. She knew it. She’d be dead, but they’d take her with them this time.

Dresden continued to move toward the plane. Jude moved as Dresden and Ella did, slow and steady, his gaze never leaving Dresden, his black eyes cataloging the man’s every move.

“I love you, Keeper,” Ella whispered.

Finally, his gaze met hers, and the pain in his eyes skewered her.

Jude threw his weapon down and opened his arms. “It’s me you want, Dresden,” he growled. “Take me.”

Ella felt Dresden’s chest rise and fall. The bastard was laughing. “Oh, I will, Keeper. No doubt, I’ll definitely be ending you, and I won’t harm a hair on your head to do it.”

They were almost to the car that was parked beside the plane.

“Nadege, get on the plane, will you?” Dresden queried sharply.

“Don’t you fuckin’ move, Nadege,” Chase called out, his rifle aimed on the man.

“You think I can’t find Dr. Moeller, Chase? You think you can hide her from me?” Dresden asked conversationally. “None of you can hide from the truth of this. I own you all.”

“Let her go, Horace,” a small voice said from behind King.

Dresden’s spine snapped taut, and his grip around Ella’s throat hardened. Once again, Ella’s airway was constricted, but she didn’t struggle. He still had the gun at her temple.

“Anna Beth, you were never any good at staying where I put you,” Dresden said. “Warren? Take the shot.”

A shot rang out, and Anna Beth cried out, her body bowing at the waist before she fell to the ground.

“She thought I wouldn’t do it,” Dresden said at Ella’s ear. He eased the pressure on her throat. Ella knew her time was limited. “She thought I wouldn’t find her, thought I wouldn’t hurt her, just like your Keeper thinks I won’t cut you down. But neither of them realizes that I tend to get rid of the things that no longer have use to me.”

“Who is it, Dresden?” she pushed from her aching throat.

“You want a name, Ella? You think you deserve a name? You think you deserve something for all the hard work you’ve put in?” Dresden asked with a laugh. “Maybe you do. After all you’ve killed and maimed, and now you’ll die for it.”

“Give me a name. Who pulls your strings?” she asked. “No way you’re the top.”

His grip tightened, and Ella’s vision winked. “I will be,” he said.

“Name,” she forced out.

He shrugged. As if it was nothing to give her this information. “Okay. I’ll give you a name. You can take it to the grave with you…Ricker. William Ricker. You don’t know him, and he can’t be found. And in a few moments you’ll be too dead to do anything about it.”

Ella had no idea who that was. None at all. But it was a place to start. She’d worked within Dresden’s clutches for a year for this single name. Relief and something else flowed through her. She’d call it disappointment. All of this for a single name.

But maybe her team could use that name to dismantle Dresden and whoever he worked for.

“Let her go, Dresden,” Jude called out again, taking another step forward.

“He’s going to kill you, Horace,” Ella whispered.

“And just like you, he’ll fail,” Dresden said with a laugh.

She was watching Jude’s face and saw his eyes widen the split second before Dresden pushed her away. She tried to catch her balance, but the suddenness of his action had her going to her knees facing him. In slow motion, she watched him raise his weapon and fire a single shot. She fell forward, her hands bracing her fall.

“Two birds, one stone,” Dresden said.

His words brought her head up. There was a smile on his face.

It was gone a split second later as a hole formed in the center of his forehead.

He crumpled to the ground. Dead.

Just like that, Horace Dresden was dead.

Jude called her name, his tone agonized, and all Ella wanted to do was comfort him. He was safe. Dresden was dead, and Jude was alive.

She brought her hand to her side and pulled it away as Jude went to his knees beside her. In her ear, she heard rapid-fire commands from King, and she heard that damn helicopter making a return trip.

Who was in that damn thing?

“Ella!” Jude demanded.

“Jude?” she said, a cough rumbling up from her core, pain spreading through her body like fire. There was blood on her hands. A lot of it. Jude pulled her into his lap, and the pain of his movements stole her breath.

She recognized this for what it was. Her ending. “I love you. Be safe.”

“Hold on, Ella. You hold on for me!” Jude demanded.

She couldn’t hold on. Everything faded but the pain. She needed to breathe—God! Why was it so hard to breathe?

“Love you,” she pushed out again. Drowning must feel like this, she thought.

“Don’t, baby,” Jude said, and he was there, holding her now. How could she not feel him? She was so cold and needed his warmth. “Don’t leave me.”

She tried to reach for him but couldn’t make her arms work. So she smiled, and Jude threw back his head and screamed at the sky.

He was alive. That’s all that mattered. One more thing though.

“Wi…Ricker…”

“What?” Jude asked, wiping her face, his own tortured.

She swallowed around her tongue. “Tell the Piper…William Ricker.”

She dropped her arms and stared at the sky. It was done. Ella was done.

A last look at Jude, and then her world winked black.