Crossfire (Book 1) (The Omega Group) Page 11

  Following a vehicle always had its difficulties, but following one at night, Grainger knew, was a whole different ball game. Brake lights all looked the same after a while so he couldn’t afford to hang back and risk mixing up his prey with another vehicle and following the wrong people all night.

  Once the Omega agents turned off the main highway, it became easier for him. Fewer cars on the roads meant a better chance of them spotting his tail, but it also meant that he could follow from a greater distance and not lose them.

  When they turned into an upscale neighborhood near the beach, Grainger turned his headlights off and followed. It looked more and more like these two agents were heading to a vacation house rather than meeting up with their team, but he stayed with them anyway.

  As he watched them pull into the driveway of an expensive ranch style-house, Grainger felt his heart sink. They were his only lead to find the girl and he’d just followed them to their romantic getaway. Daedric wouldn’t accept this failure, and Grainger had no other leads to offer. Resigning himself to the fact that his life was now over, he drove past the house to exit the neighborhood. When he was even with the driveway, he noticed that there were several other vehicles parked there, including one hell of a nice Ducati motorcycle. Definitely not a romantic getaway, he thought.

  Parking his jeep on the closest side street, Grainger watched the front of the house in his rearview mirror. If this really was the Omega Group’s safe house, and if the girl really was inside, he might get out of this whole Daedric nightmare unscathed. Maybe. But he couldn’t afford any more mistakes. He had to be sure. Grainger disabled the interior light and quietly exited the vehicle with his weapons and satchel in tow.

  Chapter 25

  “Someone’s here.” Mirissa didn’t know how she knew it, but she did.

  Just then, the front door opened and two people entered the house. A man, about thirty years old with coffee colored skin and eyes to match, and a petite woman with short, spikey brown hair and bright green eyes that almost glowed. They both looked tired as they made their way into the living room and virtually fell onto the couch.

  “How was your flight?” Myrine asked.

  “Uneventful. The best kind. What’s been going on here? Any new information?” The man yawned as he asked the question, which made Mirissa yawn also. The trend continued as everyone in the room followed suit.

  “Yes,” Myrine started, “but let’s make the introductions first. Orano, Beck, this is my husband, Steve.” All three shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. “And this is my daughter, Mirissa.” Orano’s outstretched hand met nothing but air as Mirissa spun around to look behind her. Looking left then right, she slowly turned herself around and tentatively shook his hand, then Beck’s.

  “Nice to meet you,” she said absently.

  “Is something wrong?” Myrine looked concerned.

  “I’ve just got the strangest feeling that…” Mirissa shook her head and gave them a weak smile. “It’s nothing. I’m just tired.”

  “Mirissa, you are coming into unknown powers. You can’t dismiss anything. What are you feeling?”

  “I can’t really explain it. I’ve got a strong feeling that someone is here. At first I thought it was Orano and Beck, but the feeling just keeps getting stronger. I would swear that someone is right outside the house.”

  Without waiting for instructions, Ken tapped in commands on his laptop computer. The screen filled with a blueprint of the house and grounds. A few more taps on his keyboard and the image moved to the big screen TV so everyone could see. Each room of the house blueprint was outlined in green, with another green line encircling the entire house. The grounds were separated into seven zones—two in front, three in back, and one on each side—all of which filled with green shading.

  “Security is showing no threats. No one unwelcome has stepped foot on the property.” Ken changed the screen to the camera feeds from the yard, scrolling slowly through each one. From every angle the yard was clear.

  “I’m probably wrong anyway. Like I said, I’m really tired and I guess, after today, I’m just jumping at shadows. Sorry for the false alarm.”

  “It’s all right, sweetheart. It’s been a really long day for all of us.” Turning to Ken, Myrine said, “Just to be on the safe side, run a diagnostic on the entire system. I want to be sure we’ll know about any unwanted visitors.”

  Steve joined the conversation for the first time since Mirissa had come back from Tritonia. “Um, this might be a stupid question, but people have been coming to the house all day and no alarms have gone off. Are we sure that your system is even working at all?”

  Myrine smiled. “Our security system is beyond state-of-the-art. It has sensors that are programmed to allow each member of our team access without raising the alarm.”

  “Facial recognition?” Steve asked.

  “No. That’s too unreliable. Our sensors are outfitted with preternatural technology. Each of us gave DNA samples and the system uses them to determine what tribe a visitor belongs to. If it’s one of ours, the alarms don’t activate. If not, all hell breaks loose.”

  Mirissa noticed Greco standing by the kitchen, fidgeting with his fingernails. When he looked up, he saw her looking at him and immediately crossed his arms over his chest. He seemed agitated.

  Her attention was once again drawn back to her mother as she spoke. “There isn’t much more we can do tonight. Julian will let us know when he finds something. Why don’t we call it a night? We could all use the sleep.”

  Heads nodded in agreement and one by one the group dissipated. Mirissa decided the couch looked as comfortable as any bed she’d slept, in so she grabbed a pillow and a blanket from her mother and promptly fell into an exhausted sleep.

  She was once again in the clearing on the island of Tritonia. She and Asteria were sparring like they’d done on her first trip there. Both of them were moving impossibly fast, attacking and defending then attacking again. Then the scenery around her—the trees, the other Amazons, the statue—melted away and became the dojo she’d spent years training in. She was thirteen years old again. Her father sat proudly in the front row of plastic chairs, surrounded by the families of the other contestants. Mirissa bowed to her opponent, a boy of the same age wearing a junior black belt like hers, and the match began. He struck out first, but Mirissa easily blocked his kick. Her roundhouse landed squarely on the left side of his headgear, knocking him to the ground. The look in his eyes told her everything she needed to know. Slow down. Don’t let anyone see how easy this really is for you.

  She turned to look at her father, but he was no longer there. The barn at the Baxter’s farm had replaced the dojo. She was in the ring with Greco.

  Mirissa’s eyes shot open and she bolted from the couch. She had to speak with Greco. Throwing open the door to the den, she grabbed his shoulder and shook him awake.

  Greco rubbed his eyes and pushed himself to a sitting position on the same couch Mirissa had used when she went to Tritonia. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  “How did you get in?” Mirissa was standing over him with her arms crossed.

  “What?” Greco looked like he was trying to fight through the grogginess but wasn’t winning the battle.

  “The house. How did you get in?”

  “Jesus, Mirissa. It’s the middle of the night. Go back to bed.” Greco put his head in his hands, scratching the back of his neck.

  “This house has a preternatural security system that uses DNA to determine if someone can pass. When I had my episode in the kitchen, you walked right in. How did you do that?”

  Greco took a deep breath then exhaled loudly. With his elbows on his knees he turned his head and looked at Mirissa. “Can we talk about this tomorrow? Please?”

  “No. What aren’t you telling me?”

  With one last, defeated breath, Greco leaned back against the couch and motioned for Mirissa to sit in the chair across from him. “I’m not just your Guardian. I’m also
an Amazon.”

  Mirissa’s jaw dropped open as she stared at him. “You’re what?”

  With an annoyed huff, Greco simply said, “You heard me.”

  “But that’s impossible. You can’t be an Amazon. You’re a… you’re a…”

  “I’m a guy. I know.” Greco stood and walked to the small window that overlooked the pool in the backyard. “It’s kind of a long story. Suffice it to say that I was a bit of a surprise to my mother, and all of the other Amazons.”

  “So, that’s why I could go full out when we sparred together? You have the same attributes that I do.”

  “No. I have the same attributes as all the others of our kind, but not you. You are as different from them as I am, just in another way.”

  Mirissa’s voice grew quiet as she stepped over to where he stood. “Why didn’t you tell me? I thought we were friends?”

  Greco turned to look at her. He put his hand on her cheek in a show of affection that was so utterly out of character that Mirissa gasped at the touch.

  “I’m sorry. It was”—he paused, and seemed to be looking for the right word—“difficult for me growing up. My mother didn’t handle it well. She was shocked when her doctor told her she was pregnant with a boy, even considered terminating the pregnancy. My father talked her out of it but he couldn’t change how she felt. She considered me a travesty of nature and had no problem letting me know it. She kept me hidden away from the tribe for years, telling them that she’d miscarried. I guess she was worried about how they’d react.”

  Mirissa watched his eyes as he replayed some obviously painful scene from his childhood in his mind. In the year she’d known Greco he’d never opened up to her about anything, especially not something so personal. Her heart swelled as she looked at him through new eyes. Although she wanted him to tell her everything right away, she could see that it was painful for him to talk about, so decided to let it go. For now.

  “Someday, you can tell me the whole story,” she said. “For now, just promise me that you won’t hide anything else from me. You’re my Guardian and my friend. You can tell me anything. I trust you and you need to trust me, too.” Mirissa gave him a kiss on his cheek and left the room, closing the door behind her.

  ********

  Greco turned back toward the window and considered what had just happened.

  Mirissa had looked hurt when she found out that he’d held back information from her. He’d expected suspicion, disdain, superiority—all of the things he’d become accustomed to in his life—but not hurt. She actually seemed to really care about him.

  Greco wondered how much longer she would feel that way after she learned the real truth.

  Chapter 26

  Grainger was crouched down below the overhanging branches of a huge orange tree in the front yard of a house that was two doors down from his target. His binoculars were trained on the windows in the front and sidewalls of the presumed safe house, alternating between them. Although the landscaping obstructed his view, he couldn’t risk getting any closer. He knew, if it was truly an Omega Group safe house he was looking at, there would be a serious security system protecting it.

  It only took a few minutes for him to ascertain that there were at least ten people inside, but he was not yet able to determine their identities. The windows had sheers pulled across, allowing the images of each person to be seen, but no detail. Although he felt confident in his suspicion that this house was where the girl had been taken, he needed proof before passing that information on to Daedric. He had to be one hundred percent sure, as the consequences of another mistake were unthinkable.

  Silently moving away from his hiding place, Grainger made his way to the back of the house in search of a better vantage point. The landscaping was even denser in the back than it was out front, so he had no choice but to move closer. Using the vegetation as cover, he closed the distance between the two properties, all the while scanning the target house with his binoculars. It had been quiet inside for the last thirty minutes, with everyone retiring for the night. Getting a positive I.D. would be more difficult, but he had no choice.

  As he rounded a large magnolia tree, he caught a glimpse of movement in one of the rear windows of the safe house. Training his binoculars on the source, he watched as a man in his early to mid-twenties stood, staring out at the beach in the distance. He was talking to someone that stood just out of view. Having no other option, Grainger moved even closer, silently praying that whatever security system they had was limited to just their property. Once he was within a hundred yards, he was able to make out the silhouette of a woman standing slightly behind and to the right of the young man. The woman fit the general description of his target—height, weight, and hair—but before he could get a better look, she leaned in to kiss the man on the cheek, obscuring her face to him, and left the room.

  Nothing was going his way today.

  The “caw” sound of a black bird perched just above his head almost made Grainger jump out of his skin. Holstering the weapon that he’d reflexively pulled at the unexpected sound, he turned back to the window only to find it empty.

  He had two options left, neither of which boded well for him. He could call in his suspicions to Daedric and risk his wrath if he was wrong, or he could continue moving his surveillance closer to the house and risk alerting them to his presence. The proverbial rock and hard place took on a whole new meaning to him.

  Taking a deep breath, Grainger made his decision, praying it was the right one.

  Chapter 27

  After Mirissa left Greco in the den, she headed to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. Why had Greco’s true lineage been hidden from her? On her first visit to Tritonia a year ago, Myrine had told her that a male child had never been born to an Amazon. Why did she lie?

  Mirissa’s thoughts were a jumble of unanswered questions leaving her feeling vulnerable and more than a little lost. Opening the cupboard to retrieve a drinking glass, she stopped suddenly as she was overcome once again with the feeling that someone was watching her. Spinning around to check behind her, she verified that she was still alone but couldn’t shake the eerie feeling that someone was there. Walking back into the living room, she booted up the laptop computer that Ken had used earlier, hoping to find the security system program. She would feel a whole lot better if she could just see those zones all lit up in green again.

  The front door clicked almost imperceptibly behind her and Mirissa’s years of training kicked in. Feigning ignorance of the intruder’s presence, she kept her back turned and tapped at the keys on the computer, listening for his footsteps. Once he was within range, she instantly swung around and landed a hard roundhouse to his left shoulder, knocking him sideways. Intending to follow up with a left jab, she stopped herself just before making contact as the unknown man’s eyes locked on to hers. For some reason that she couldn’t identify, she knew that he wasn’t a threat to her.

  “Who are you?” she asked, still poised for a fight. Although she was certain he was a friend, a little caution couldn’t hurt.

  “My name is Phoenix, and we have a problem.” Stepping around her to the computer on the table, he brought up the same security schematics that Ken had earlier and found nothing amiss. “We need to wake everyone up quickly and quietly. There is a man outside watching the house. Don’t let anyone turn on any lights.”

  “I knew it!” Ignoring the questioning look Phoenix gave her at that comment, Mirissa immediately went to the den to get Greco. Once he’d been brought up to speed on their predicament, they went through each room of the house to collect the others.

  A few moments later, the entire group was seated in the living room, most rubbing their eyes, trying to wake themselves.

  “He’s under a magnolia tree in the neighbor’s back yard. He was watching a window at the back of our house through binoculars when my host startled him. He almost shot him before he flew to safety.”

  Mirissa’s look of confusion made Myrine smile.
“Phoenix has the ability to transfer his consciousness to birds. He can hear and see whatever his host bird can.”

  Now that’s pretty cool, she thought. “So, just like we can send our consciousness to Tritonia?”

  “Almost,” Phoenix said. “Except I split my consciousness so that I don’t fully leave my body. It comes in handy.”

  Myrine took over the conversation, assuming her leadership role. “If he was watching the windows, then it’s safe to assume he knows who we are. We’re lucky you got here when you did, Phoenix.” She inclined her head to him to show him her appreciation. “This could work to our advantage. If we can capture him, he might be able to enlighten us as to his boss’s intentions. We don’t have much time, though. His backup could be here any minute.”

  Within moments the group had a plan—one that Mirissa didn’t like.

  Chapter 28

  Finally he was catching a break. His target was once again at the window and Grainger was determined to not waste this opportunity. He needed to confirm her identity once and for all.

  Moving toward the back of the yard to get a better angle, Grainger watched as his target spoke to—no, yelled at—someone else in the room. Her arms were flailing around as she spoke, punctuating whatever point she was trying to make. Someone had really pissed this girl off. Once she’d presumably made her point, she stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Although Grainger couldn’t actually hear her, he’d been on the receiving end of enough tirades like that from his wife that he had no trouble imagining what it sounded like.

  A moment later, the sliding glass door that opened onto the pool deck opened and a still irate girl stomped out, taking deep breaths of the warm night air. Although her back was turned, Grainger recognized the clothes she was wearing as the same ones his men had seen her in earlier that day. Her long brown hair hung loose down her back and swayed from side to side with every angry step she took. Risking a quick glance away from his target, Grainger checked the rest of the windows in the house. No lights or further movement was apparent in any room he could see.