Page 2 of Skull

“So, that is his blood in the hall,” Skull murmured, worry gnawing at him.

Iceman’s mouth tightened. We’ll find out who took our people, and there will be hell to pay.”

“I can’t help thinking this has to do with the Alzate Cartel,” Skull said.

“We dismantled it,” Anna insisted with conviction, though her blinking betrayed doubt.

Skull’s gut churned. “Did we, or did we just think we did? Something else is going on here.”

Anna nodded slowly. “I get the same feeling.”

“Why did you call us all in?” Skull asked.

“We have been tasked with finding and apprehending Jose Molina and Astrid Cristo,” Anna said.

Jose’s betrayal had been the hardest to swallow. He had saved the whole damn team on a previous mission, and he couldn’t reconcile Jose’s actions—saving Astrid Cristo from Alzate had been his main priority, and he’d used Hazard and Leigh as bait to accomplish it but also saved them in the process. The two of them had absconded with a substantial amount of cartel cash and were currently in the wind. He wouldn’t relish hunting Jose down. “If it wasn’t for Jose and Astrid, Hazard, and Leigh would be dead.” Skull reminded her.

“I know, but the Justice Department wants their heads and JSOC has been given the reins.”

“So, we’re going back to Bogotá?”

Anna nodded, her eyes still glazed with shock. “But now, in addition to tracking down those two fugitives, we’re going to actively look for Hazard and Leigh.”

“In Colombia?” Skull asked.

“Wherever they are, that’s where we’re going the moment we know for certain,” Iceman said ominously.

And whoever took them would feel the wrath of Iceman’s retribution, cold and hard, make no mistake about that.

Walker “Hummingbird”Adams hovered around the scene where that cute Hazard and the plucky Leigh had been taken. She and Eva “Strekoza” Tarasova had started this journey, assigned to one NCIS agent, Kai Talbot, and one Coast Guard agent, Davis Nishida. Their only mission was to shadow the two agents to keep them safe from the terrible forces that had run rampant not only in San Diego but also in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Their lives would have been forfeit if it hadn’t been for her and Strekoza. The Alzate Cartel had been working overtime to silence anyone from talking to the feds, but justice wasn’t going to rest for anyone, especially for those whose actions, like eliminating a whole task force, were the acts of monsters.

She hadn’t really known the agents until they were in clear, present danger and the two Shadowguard had to step in. But after getting to know them, Walker felt a surge of pride that she’d helped save them. Normally, she preferred to remain detached. In her line of work, that was safer. Yet these two had gotten under her skin.

The same could be said for the strait-laced Navy SEAL and his lawyer love. It had been fascinating watching them battle their attraction, only to eventually give in, and Leigh’s ordeal in the Darién Gap had been quite impressive. So, to say Walker burned with a cold flame at the thought of them at the mercy of unknown forces was an understatement, and she knew her partner felt the same.

She’d changed out of her white jeans, skimpy top, and fuck-me shoes into a T-shirt and a pair of black cargo pants, a ballcap on her head, and boots on her feet. She was also armed with a knife and pistol tucked into the small of her back. People never realized what they saw until a skilled interrogator asked the right questions, and she had already extracted plenty of information. In her shadowy world, knowledge was power.

The men wore masks, but a woman had noticed a distinctive angel tattoo. The van was gray, but a scrape on the bumper had been white, leading her to suspect it had been painted with water-based paint, then washed off. It had supposedly been headed north toward the airport. Strekoza was already on her way there to check it out. But another witness had seen a white van turn south, where Hummingbird knew there was a small airport. After examining tire tracks, she turned her attention to Cooper Sullivan.

If anyone on the team looked like they belonged in her shadowy world, it was Skully. Her intense awareness and reaction to him were unlike anything she’d ever experienced with another man. She got a shot of humor at the mix of his names, and although he’d told her not to call him that, she got the impression that he rather liked its uniqueness. The humor faded, however, when she recalled the telltale signs of distress, the drinking prompted by whatever was haunting him. It was something deep and meaningful, and she shied away from the soft emotions that bubbled up immediately.

Now his teammate was missing, and regardless of how she felt about him, all her bullshit would have to take a backseat—at least some of it.

Emotions, she knew, always got her into trouble. Yet she couldn’t shake the definitive desire to soothe him, and she wondered, besides Hazard and Leigh’s kidnapping, what else was troubling such a tough-as-nails warrior.

She didn’t normally go for the alpha type. She preferred easy men, she could wrap around her finger, who didn’t ask too many questions or care much about her answers, giving her just the short-term contact she craved. But there was something elemental in the way Skull moved her. His rugged appearance and lack of pretense made him real, compelling, and oh-so-appealing. Yeah, “lord of the underworld” suited him perfectly. He wouldn’t be any old dark minion. No, he would command minions to do his bidding. From his thick, black hair, cut in sharp angles around his face, to those disarmingly seductive eyes that reminded her of dark cinnamon and honey, a mesmerizing natural mosaic. Fringed with long, black lashes, his irises hinted at an introspective, grounded nature, stable as the trunks of ancient trees. She swallowed hard, thinking that there was safety there, too, a refuge from the chaos of the outside world, a shared sense of duty and responsibility. This man took his obligations seriously, and that was something they had in common.

Then there were his flat, sensual lips that had inspired many shameless, wicked thoughts, and when he smiled…wowzer, a knockout. His face was intriguing, with blade-sharp angles like his hair, lean and defined, just like his knee-melting body. Broad shoulders in back, a firm, muscular chest in front, he presented both rangy and dangerous, like a boxer with a narrow waist and hips, his thighs in perfect proportion to the rest of him, all sleek, elongated muscles in contrast to his more heavily muscled teammates.

And the way he handled his military working dog, Bones, was another sexy element. It was as if he had a telepathic connection to the animal, an equal relationship where every move he made was executed with perfection. It was like dark poetry in motion.

Damn, but that man made her shiver every time she looked at him, and in her book, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially since he was a Navy SEAL. All that sinewy, roped muscle was a bonus, yet he would be less likely to demand more from her because he was often deployed. Still, she liked to be in control, and as a warrior, she suspected he did, too. It intrigued her to wonder if he could let go, be submissive, and release all that intense alpha male power. In many ways, Skull scared her, making her wonder what lay beneath that dark warlock vibe he exuded. Could he live up to all that tingling interest?

She walked over to Anna, Iceman, and Skull. “How about you provide backup for me?” she asked. “I have a solid lead.”

Skull gave her a sharp, dark-eyed look that spoke volumes, surprise mixed with a hint of irritation at being caught off guard. That was just another sweet annoyance that delighted her. Catching a stealthy warrior off guard was deliciously satisfying.

Born for this type of work, she hadn’t fully recognized her own special talents until she’d shunned her family. In college, when she was recruited by the company, her family assumed she was pursuing a philosophy degree, something they considered easy but impractical. According to her overbearing mother, she was there only to find herself a wealthy, pedigreed husband who would elevate their family into a higher status, a sort of American Debutante Princess destined for an advantageous marriage. Instead, Walker enrolled in theater.

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