Dangerously Broken (Aegis Group Lepta Team Book 4) Read online

  They finally reached the cluster of crew and Lepta Team members near the front of the plane. Someone had found a pair of battery operated lanterns and set them up on a piece of what looked to be the tail.

  “Hey, how are you doing?” Melody appeared at Priscilla’s side, resting a hand on her shoulder.

  “I feel like someone rung my bell.” If Priscilla was to self-diagnose based only on what she could feel, she had a concussion and bruising. Otherwise she was fine. Her limbs worked. There were no other signs of injury. “How’s everyone else?”

  “Shaken, but okay. You were the worst.”

  “How?” Priscilla frowned at Melody.

  The light cast a bit of light on Melody’s face. Her mouth was screwed up to one side. A bit of dried blood stuck to her forehead. “Brenden said he elbowed you in the head.”

  “That would explain it.” Priscilla lifted her hand to the side of her head.

  “Circle up, people,” Grant said.

  A few of the flight staff shuffled closer.

  “Best we can tell, ever since we left Mexico City, things haven’t gone to plan. We’re hundreds of miles west of where we should be. Captain says there’s no way the plane could have had a full system failure like it did. And now to top it all off, every electronic device we have is now dead. I don’t believe any of this is an accident.”

  The more Grant spoke the colder Priscilla’s body went.

  “Where are we?” she asked before she could think better of it.

  “Somewhere in New Mexico is my guess,” an older gentleman replied. The pilot?

  Their flight from Mexico City to Chicago would have taken them over densely populated areas. But New Mexico? No way.

  “Are you saying someone intentionally crashed the plane in an area where we’d be stranded?” Priscilla shivered, a chill seeping into her bones, and wrapped the blanket tighter around herself.

  Grant locked gazes with her. He’d wiped up his face, but there were still bits of blood on his mouth and jaw. Busted nose?

  “That is what I’m saying.” He didn’t hesitate or try to phrase his answer gently. It was just out there.

  Someone had crashed their plane.

  There was only one reason she could think of that would make them a target.

  “Oh, God.” She turned, staring at the sand.

  Her stomach knotted up, and she tasted bile. The moment she’d seen those boxes back in Rio, she’d known it was bad. But this bad? And how had anyone known?

  According to Brenden and his team this rescue was a quiet job.

  But someone knew. And they wanted her silenced at any cost. Which included killing a plane full of people.

  “I think that’s something we let the police sort out.” The older gentleman—the captain—had a soothing voice. “The plane will transmit—”

  “That EMP probably killed any emergency transmission,” Grant said. “We have no phones. No black box. No emergency signal. It’s all gone.”

  The world of medicine was cutthroat. Companies developed drugs and patented them with designs on making a fortune off the sick and dying. She knew how it worked, but she ignored it because those same companies allowed her to do good work on their dime.

  But at the end of the day it was all about the bottom line.

  Even her work, charitable though it was, only happened because of the tax write off and the intangible value of mining public good will because they gave out vaccines or medication during times of crisis.

  “We have to get out of here,” she blurted over the captain and Grant.

  The others paused and stared at her.

  “Don’t you get it?” She glanced around, meeting their gazes. “I found out someone is intentionally selling expired drugs in Brazil. Those drugs should have been incinerated, not sitting in a fulfillment warehouse waiting to go to a hospital or clinic or drugstore. Someone knows we found out about their scam and they’re trying to shut us up. I bet it wasn’t the thieves who torched the warehouse...”

  For a moment no one spoke.

  “I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for all of this,” the captain said.

  “What is it? You said there wasn’t an explanation. So what caused this?” She gestured at the dead shell of the plane.

  There had always been stories about people working in pharmaceuticals that went missing. She’d ignored the stories, of course. They sounded absurd. Except now she was living one.

  Priscilla turned around and covered her mouth.

  Most of the drugs she’d seen in that warehouse had been out of date. How did the scam work? Where did the profit go? How much would they make?

  It had to be a large sum of money. Someone who had the power to move product around, use company resources. If she were running a million dollar side business, she’d spend a lot to keep it under wraps. Killing a plane full of people was just part of the job.

  She turned to look at the others, but wound up locking gazes with Brenden. “We need to go. Get out of here now. If they figure out the plane landed, someone could be coming here to finish the job.”

  “We don’t know for sure someone is specifically targeting us,” he said.

  His hesitance in seeing her side stung. She’d thought she could trust Brenden.

  “What other reason would someone have to force our plane out of the air? Or do you think this is a general terrorist attack? If it was, why not a larger commercial flight?” Priscilla threw her hands up in the air.

  “It could be anything,” Grant said. “You could be right. Then again, it could have been a dry run for something bigger. Private planes have less security, so they’d be an easier target for something like a test. Truth is, we don’t know. I agree that we should clear out of the area.”

  “If we do that, how is anyone supposed to find us?” the captain asked.

  “That’s the point,” Priscilla snapped.

  Grant focused on the captain. “Until we know who did this, what they want or why, I’m not willing to put anyone at risk. We should clear the area. At least get free from the crash site. Find a place to wait and see who shows up.”

  “You want us to go out there?” One of the flight attendants spoke up. Her voice wavered and Priscilla knew without looking it was the pretty blonde who wore the spiky heels.

  “No.” The captain faced off with Grant. “We aren’t equipped to survive out there. If we stay with the plane we have shelter, some food and water. Out there we’d have nothing.”

  Priscilla limped toward the lanterns. Her knee throbbed a bit less the more she moved. “If we stay here, we’re begging for something bad to happen.”

  “My team is equipped to handle a lot, but we have our limits,” Grant said.

  The captain shook his head. “We’re staying here. That’s my final decision.”

  “Then are you okay getting yourself killed?” A hand on Priscilla’s shoulder stopped her from going toe-to-toe with the older man.

  “This is America.” The captain stared down at her. “Those things don’t happen here.”

  Priscilla straightened her spine and stared at him. “Well I hate to be the one to tell you this, but bad things happen in this country, too.”

  She’d been held prisoner for weeks in this country. She very well might have wound up killed. If she’d learned anything over the years, it was that monsters were everywhere. No place was safe.

  9.

  FRIDAY. SOMEWHERE IN Gila National Park, New Mexico.

  Brenden followed along behind Priscilla as the team walked single file, picking their way through the dense brush surrounding the crash site. He didn’t like leaving the flight crew behind, but there was no arguing with them. The best they could do was as Grant said. Get to high ground, keep watch, be ready and do their best to protect both their asset and the crew.

  At least they’d been able to get into the luggage hold and retrieve much of their gear. With what they carried with them they could fend off a small army and self-sustai
n for forty-eight hours. When they didn’t check-in tonight and their flight was MIA, Zain would begin looking for them.

  The night air in the desert was chilly. They were still getting a lot of warmth from the rocks and sand. Soon enough that would dissipate and things might get serious.

  He watched Priscilla inch along ahead of him carrying her two boxes despite Grant’s insistence she leave the evidence behind. Brenden wanted to help her, but he had his hands full hauling gear up with them.

  She paused, forcing him to stop while she sucked down air.

  Brenden glanced over his shoulder at Nolan and Vaughn bringing up the rear. “You two go on.”

  The other two men didn’t protest. For now their greatest danger was the elements and their injuries. The faster the guys were able to set up some sort of base camp the sooner they could tend to the rest and prepare for what came next.

  Brenden set the plastic trunk down on top of the brush, crushing it with the weight of the gear. He gestured to the flat surface. “Sit.”

  Priscilla glanced over her shoulder at him. In the darkness it was hard to make anything out, but he didn’t think her expression was friendly. Her need to rest won out, and she set her boxes down then perched on the edge of the crate.

  He knelt at her knee, studying her face.

  “What’d I do?” he asked.

  “What?”

  “You’re pissed at me.”

  “Of course I’m not.”

  “Bullshit.”

  She gripped the edge of the crate and glanced away. The moonlight fell on her face, making her features softer but also highlighting the hard line of her mouth and stony gaze.

  “You wouldn’t even pretend to consider I’m right,” she said. “You all act like I’m crazy.”

  “I do think we were forced down intentionally. We don’t have proof it was anything to do with you.” He braced a hand on the crate and braced his other forearm on his knee. “This is a constantly shifting situation, Pris. None of us can afford to hold on to one idea above any others until we have proof. Our number one priority is still getting you where you need to go, but we can’t just decide you’re a target. Where’s the proof?”

  “The plane going down isn’t enough proof for you?”

  “Proof of what?”

  “That I know about the scam.” She gestured at the boxes. “That I know about this.”

  “But who knows that you know?”

  “Fine. Whatever.”

  “Priscilla.” He moved his hand from the crate to her knee. “I’m not saying you’re wrong. If we’re talking about what my gut says, I agree with you. But I can’t afford to risk your safety only focusing on one thing. And if that means I have to piss you off, okay. Your life is worth more than us being on good terms.”

  “Then why look at me like I’m crazy if I don’t sound crazy?”

  “I didn’t know I was. I’m still on your side.” He squeezed her knee.

  “It didn’t feel like it.”

  What did he say to that?

  Brenden didn’t talk to people who weren’t part of the team. Things had always worked best that way, until now.

  He was the point person for Priscilla. It was a role he’d never filled before and didn’t quite know how to function in this capacity now.

  How the hell was he going to pull this off?

  Brenden pushed up and perched on the edge of the crate with her. While he’d like to hide behind a direct order to do as he said, he knew that wouldn’t work with her.

  “I’m not good at this,” he said.

  “At what?”

  “This. Talking to an asset.”

  “That’s all I am now?” That same irritated tone set off warning bells.

  “No,” he snapped.

  Her chuckle soothed him. The crate shifted with her as she found a more comfortable spot. For several moments they remained like that, quiet, listening to the distant voices above and below them.

  “Normally I’m the background guy you don’t talk to.” He turned his head and found her looking at him. “I’m not good at the talking part, but we seem to be doing a lot of it. I do think you’re in danger and I intend to keep you safe.”

  “Thanks,” Priscilla whispered. “You aren’t a terrible talker, though. You talked a lot last night.”

  He grunted a reply. What more could he say to that? He’d lost himself in the conversation. It was easy with her. He didn’t find himself at a loss for words or with no reply.

  “Maybe I’m just scared?” She sighed and leaned against his shoulder. “I’m sorry. You’re doing the best you can and I’m just...”

  He wrapped his arm around her and gave her a gentle squeeze. Back in Rio, hadn’t he promised her the worst was behind her?

  Brenden had always been willing to sacrifice himself for the job. It was what he’d signed up for. And that meant meeting danger head on. But right now, looking at Priscilla, he knew that vow went deeper. He wouldn’t allow the horrors she’d survived to revisit her now. And he wasn’t lying when he said he thought someone was after her.

  A couple years back he knew one of the other teams had gone up against some sketchy pharma business. He knew from reading the brief on that job that they were facing off with some seriously bad people.

  “You ready to keep going?” he asked.

  “Yeah. Think they forgot about us?” Priscilla stood and stretched.

  She was favoring a knee and her movements were stiff still. She needed real rest and time to recover. If he got his way she’d get all of that in the very near future. But first they had to survive tonight.

  They both gathered up their loads then began following the path the others had taken through and around the brush, ever up the hill.

  The plane had come down, meeting the sharp rise of a rocky hill that slashed into the belly and sheared off a wing. The plane had then briefly taken flight again before hitting the ground and sliding to a stop at the base of a foothill.

  Their best position was to climb to the very top and hunker down, using their vantage point to keep an eye on who or what might be coming to investigate the crash. Brenden was fairly certain they wouldn’t have long to wait. He didn’t like the idea of digging in and waiting for the fight to come to them, but they didn’t have another option.

  Before much longer Melody came back for them carrying one of the lanterns. She took one of the boxes from Priscilla and led the way up to where they’d established a base camp.

  It was about as high up and covered as they could get.

  The top of the foothill had a good bit of flat space with a few rock spires rising up. A couple large rocks created a half circle in which the guys had begun arranging their camp, using the natural formations to shield them.

  It was too bad they’d come equipped for urban retrieval. They didn’t have camping gear beyond a few blankets.

  Brenden deposited the crate in line with the others on the munitions side of things. Riley was already going through and checking weapons. The travel cases would have protected the gear, but it paid to be certain. If Priscilla and Brenden’s gut was right, they could be in for the fight of their life in the very near future.

  Grant crouched over his duffle bag. His laptop and a stack of tablets sat nearby.

  “Anything?” Brenden asked.

  “No. They’re all fried.” Grant sat back on his heels. His hair stuck up on one side.

  “What about our trackers?” Brenden was one of many in the company who had volunteered to have a tiny tracking device inserted under the skin on the nape of his neck. The decision was made after a few too many close calls getting their people back.

  Grant pushed to his feet. “Hell if I know. At this point, our best bet is to wait for Zain to send a team after us.”

  Brenden peered over his shoulder toward Priscilla. Melody was talking to her, taking another look at Priscilla’s injuries.

  Nolan doubled over, hacking a cough into the bushes. That didn’t sound good.


  “Can we wait that long?” he asked Grant.

  “Can we do anything else?” He spread his hands.

  Brenden knew the answer was no. Though most of their team was fine, just a little banged up, they had limited water and miles of desert between them and a road or a town. With no guarantee anyone was searching for the plane, their best chances were to remain close to the crash site.

  He edged closer to Grant before asking, “What’s our defensive plan?”

  Grant glanced around their hilltop hideaway. “Without knowing who we’re up against, how many people they’re bringing, what they’re carrying, best we can do is just prepare ourselves. That’s if we’re actually a target.”

  “What do you think?” Brenden knew what his gut said.

  “It points to Priscilla, but are we being blind if we put all our eggs in that basket? What if it was just shit timing?”

  Brenden nodded. Truth was, none of them could surmise anything about what the next few hours would bring them.

  He found himself watching Priscilla, and while he wanted to tell himself it was because protecting her was his job he knew that wasn’t the whole truth. They’d shared something and to him she wasn’t just an asset. He didn’t know what they could be to each other, but he knew he’d go above and beyond where she was concerned.

  Priscila looked up from Melody and met his gaze. Thanks to the lanterns he could see some of the new bruising and he hated it.

  She was going home, and he’d make sure of it.

  FRIDAY. SOMEWHERE IN Gila National Park, New Mexico.

  Damian hated nature.

  The bugs. The plants. The dirt. It was all of the things he didn’t like rolled into one. But this was where the job was taking them.

  He eased off the accelerator and the all-terrain buggy slowed.

  They’d made it to the park and inside without incident using off-road vehicles they’d picked up from a contact not far away. So far he hadn’t seen any signs of the wreckage, and that was alarming.

  If his coordinates were correct, the plane was only a few miles away.