Nate, page 1
Books in This Series:
Radar, Book 1
Legend, Book 2
Bojan, Book 3
Langdon, Book 4
Walker, Book 5
Reid, Book 6
Sanders, Book 7
Nate, Book 8
Royal, Book 9
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
About This Book
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Epilogue
About Royal
Author’s Note
About the Author
Copyright Page
About This Book
Nate is pulled into a mission to rescue a kidnapped woman, being held in Paris. But a normal mission versus one run by Terkel is a whole different story. Nate’s first telepathic communication tells him that this will be like nothing else in his life.
During a layover in Paris, while traveling to start a job in Africa with Bullard, Madeline awoke, tied up in a strange hotel room with another female captive, named Anna. Nate comes to the rescue and shares how he had been called in to locate Madeline, when she didn’t arrive as planned. Yet she wonders if she can trust him, especially when she has no recollection of who kidnapped her in the first place.
When Anna disappears again, Madeline’s even more worried. What are the chances the kidnappers are looking for round two with Madeline as well?
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Chapter 1
Terk sat at the table, his team growing and expanding by the week, it seemed. He needed to get one of those big-screen TVs, like what Ice had set up in her place for their team. It would be great for conference calls or Zoom meetings. He reached for his phone, selected a Contact to call, and put the phone on Speaker. “Riff, what’s going on?” Terk asked. “I thought you were coming back with Sanders and Ania.”
“They’ll be there today,” he replied, “but I got another lead on my fiancée, so I’m taking off to do that.” He hesitated a bit and asked carefully, “You don’t have a job, do you?”
“I do, but it depends on where you’re heading.”
“To the US. The state of Maine to be exact. I need to talk to an old friend of hers. Apparently she spoke to him not too long before she died.”
“You could call,” Terk suggested.
“I know I could, but he’s an old guy, not big on technology, and really not big on strangers. Plus, he seems to have a chip on his shoulder about me.”
“Ah. Do you want backup?”
“No, this won’t be anything physical,” Riff stated, “but I’ll be over there. If you’ve got anything you need me to do while I’m there, you can let me know. I’m always available, but you guys could probably use some peace and quiet for a while.”
“That’s not likely to happen for quite some time,” Terk declared, with a note of humor in his tone. “You know what the world is like.”
“Yeah, it’s a mess, and I’m damn tired of it.”
“I hear you there,” Terk murmured. “Who knows whether we’ll get any calls for assistance or not, but, maybe after you’re done, depending on whatever’s going on, we’ll move you to the next job.”
“What’s that?”
Just then Gage walked in, holding up his phone. “Bullard’s been trying to get through to you, but it keeps ringing busy, so he called me instead.”
“Hang on a minute, Riff,” Terk said, turning to Gage and taking the phone from his hand. “Bullard, you still there?”
“Yeah, I am. I had a new nurse I was bringing over to see if she wanted to do some training here. She landed in Paris and was due to get a connecting flight after spending two days there, but she apparently missed the flight. I checked the hotel, and there’s no sign of her. I want to send a man over, but I’m spread pretty thin at the moment.”
“That’s fine. I’ve got some men who are available, and we are closer,” Terk pointed out. “Is this a case of needing our particular brand of skills or just manpower?”
“I don’t know yet,” Bullard admitted. “One of the reasons why I was looking at hiring her is because she has a reputation for uncanny healing.” He sounded almost lost in thought. “Although that’s not necessarily a your group versus my group thing, I just thought I would check and see if she happened to have some abilities. You know how we could always use that here,” he muttered. “Yet it seems that, as soon as anybody finds out about your group, they head to you.” He sounded frustrated. “I don’t care whether she goes to you or to me. I just want to know that somebody I feel responsible for is safe, and, so far, I haven’t been able to raise her at all. We’ve done some basic research, so I’ll send you the file. If you can give us a hand on this one, I would appreciate it.”
“We got it,” Terk replied. “Riff is heading to the US right now, so that won’t work, but I do have somebody else I was looking at hiring, or at least at testing, so this might be a good opportunity for that.”
“How about I send one of my guys as backup?”
“Sounds good.”
“So you have another new guy who’s doing your work?”
“Maybe,” Terk said. “He’s not admitting to doing this energy work, but he’s an ex-Navy SEAL who’s been working out of Ireland for the last four years. I heard via the grapevine that he had some abilities. He’s not against doing a job for me, but he certainly isn’t being forthcoming about any unique skills I might be interested in.”
“Of course not.” Bullard laughed. “Nobody would because it’ll make him sound crazy. So, give him the intel on the nurse I lost in Paris.”
“I’ll contact Nate and set it up. Send the file. We’re on it.”
Chapter 2
Nate Worthington put away his phone and turned to look up at the quickly changing schedule of flights on the board ahead of him. Most of the flights were delayed now, compared to just ten minutes ago when he had last looked. Seemed Bullard’s man, Garret, was having the same problem, but he would get here when he got here.
As Nate stared out the window, he could see the weather worsening, which wouldn’t help a woman lost in Paris. He walked up to the customer service desk but ground to a halt suddenly, feeling an odd sensation, as if he were being watched. He turned ever-so-slowly and looked around at all the travelers milling about, disgusted due to the changes in the upcoming flights. Yet Nate knew that singular gaze homing in on him had nothing to do with any of these tourists. He stilled and opened his senses slightly.
The gaze remained intense.
Moving carefully, trying not to obviously track this new presence, Nate straightened and looked around casually, noting people still gathered close by. However, this particular energy focused on Nate came from farther away and off to the side. He lifted his gaze over the sea of heads and latched on to a man standing at the edge of the crowd, whose gaze now locked on to Nate’s. The stranger gave a slight incline of his chin in acknowledgment, and then, as if the crowd sensed something going on, it dispersed suddenly. Nate walked toward the man standing there, studying him carefully. Large, powerful, and fairly taciturn, the stranger watched Nate approach.
“I’m Brody. Terkel sent me.”
In those few words, he had apparently conveyed all he planned on saying. He motioned to the exit, as if to say, Come with me. Nate hesitated, but Brody didn’t even pause to look back, just took off.
Nate caught up with him outside. “Where are we going? The flights are that way.”
“Your flight’s been canceled,” Brody stated. “Since time is of the essence, we’ll take a private plane.”
“Yet these flights were canceled due to bad weather, which remains a threat,” Nate shared, while studying this man who appeared to have picked him out of the crowd.
“We can get around that.”
Nate’s eyebrows shot up at that. “Don’t tell me. Terkel’s got somebody who can control the weather now?”
Brody broke character and chuckled. “No, but, man, I wish we could. That would be a helpful scenario.” He appeared amused.
“Maybe, but if anybody ever found out …”
“That’s always the problem, isn’t it?” he muttered. “The more people who find out what we can do, the more problems we have.”
“You seem to be totally okay talking about it.”
“Only with people who are the same as me.” When Nate frowned at that, Brody snorted. “Don’t bother denying it. I can sense powerful energy just as much as you can. You knew I was watching you. You just didn’t know who I was.”
“I’m still not sure I know who you are.”
“Brody,” he stated, for the second time. “That’s all you need to know right now.”
Nate wasn’t sure Brody was correct about that, but it was all Nate would get at the moment. So Nate followed Brody onto the tarmac, then down and around, away from the crowds, even passing equipment stalls, before they came to a private hangar, where a small plane idled.
The pilot stood there atop the steps, his arms crossed, his foot tapping impatiently.
Brody nodded. “I gather we were supposed to leave a while ago.”
“Yeah, the sooner, the better,” the pilot noted.
“It took me a bit to find you,” Brody shared.
“If you’d let me know you were looking,” the pilot replied, his tone mild, “it would have been easier.”
“Yeah,” Brody noted, “but it doesn’t always happen that way.”
Not sure what to do with that exchange of information, Nate remained quiet yet in step with Brody, wondering at an operation like this that had private planes on hand. “Does Terkel always commandeer flights to make his stuff happen?”
“When lives are at stake, yes,” Brody stated, now on board, waving Nate to a seat. “Sit down. I need to talk to the pilot.”
Nate’s eyebrows kicked up at the order, something he wasn’t used to. Yet he took a seat, pondering the sudden turn of events. He had told Terkel that he would make his way over to France as soon as he could. But apparently that wasn’t fast enough. Nate’s phone rang just then, and he looked down to see Terkel’s number. “Are you always this impatient?” he asked, right off the bat.
“No, but, in this case, this young woman came to do a job to help a friend of mine. When she didn’t show up and remains missing, we’re very concerned about her well-being.”
“Of course,” Nate agreed, with a nod. “That is why we’re here, after all. I didn’t know you needed me now.”
“It’s always a case of we need you now,” Terkel replied, humor entering his tone. “The good news is that you have Brody, and he’ll show you the ropes.”
“Sure,” Nate noted, shaking his head. “Do you want to tell me who this Brody is though?”
“You could ask him yourself,” Terkel stated.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’ll get shut down over that one. Is everybody on your team this unfriendly?”
Terk started to chuckle. “Brody has good reason to be as suspicious of you as you are of him,” Terk shared. “So a little trust would go a long way in this instance. Maybe you guys should talk to each other.”
“Maybe,” Nate muttered, “but it takes two to talk.” And, with that, he ended Terkel’s call, which gave him some measure of satisfaction. After all, Terkel had rearranged Nate’s world just now without seeming to give a crap about contacting him and letting him know. Communication was big as far as Nate was concerned, and it was hard to work for people who didn’t understand that.
Almost immediately his brain rattled, and a hard knocking sound followed.
Nate shuddered at the pain, and just then a hand grabbed him by the shoulder. He looked up to see Brody standing there, glaring at him.
“Open the damn door,” Brody declared. “There’s stubbornness, and then there’s stubbornness.”
Nate blinked several times, then mentally heard the click of a door opening, and Terkel’s voice slammed into Nate’s brain. Nate shuddered at the onslaught. “Turn down the damn volume,” he cried out loud.
Immediately the volume eased. Now that you’ve opened up some telepathic communication, we can more easily reach you, Terkel muttered. Keep that damn door open, at least as much as we need to share our thoughts with each other. And, with that, Terk was gone just as quickly as he came.
Nate tried to blink away the pain, as Brody took a seat opposite him in the small plane. Nate wasn’t sure what had just happened. Yet he looked up when Brody spoke.
“Resistance is futile.” And then he laughed as if it were the funniest joke on earth.
Nate glared at him. “I still don’t quite understand what the hell that was.”
“Yet you do understand,” he countered. “You’re definitely in the power grid, the same as I am. You’re probably just not used to being around other energy workers who are just as powerful as you. Or, in Terkel’s case, way-the-hell more powerful. We’ll need whatever rest we can get, so grab it now.” With that, Brody closed his eyes, shutting out all opportunity for more conversation.
Sleep wasn’t easy after what Nate had just experienced, plus his jaw wanted to drop open in shock over the painful telepathy. At the very least he wanted answers. He needed somebody to tell him something.
However, based on this most recent turn of events, he was pretty sure these people thought Nate could figure it out on his own. Truth be told, he probably could. He just didn’t know if he could do it fast enough for this bunch. He felt very much as if he were being graded on a cut-and-dried scale of either pass or fail, and his future depended on it.
*
Brody snapped at Terkel. He’s confused as all hell.
That’s not a problem, Terkel replied, his voice calm as ever.
Sometimes Brody wondered if Terk was normal at all, but they’d been brothers in many ways for so long that Brody never doubted anything this man said or did. Terk always seemed to have such a sense of control that it blew Brody away. On the other hand, Brody felt as if half the time Terk was completely silent or ready to snap at somebody.
It’s all just energy. Remember that you’re still coming back online, still healing, Terkel muttered. You’ve been one of the last to surface, yet you expect yourself to be up and healing faster than everybody else.
I should be, he growled.
You mean because of Clary? Sure, but she’s also had her energies pulled in a million directions, Terkel noted. So, what is he doing right now?
Staring out the window as if his world just blew up.
It did. I didn’t have time to be gentle about opening that door.
No, and you certainly were effective. It’s open, but I can feel his thoughts spinning around, as he’s trying to sort through what just happened.
Terkel sighed. How bad is it? Do you think I need to go in and assess his abilities?
No, I think he’ll be just fine. A part of him remains quite pissed at the whole thing though.
Terkel laughed. Yeah, being pissed is a whole lot better than a lot of other things he could be, so I’m not upset about that. You’ve been running on less sleep than normal, so I suggest you crash while you can. Grab a few hours before you land in the middle of whatever madness awaits you.
I’m working on it, but we’re about to head into a spot of ugly weather.
You’ll be fine, Terkel replied, his voice reassuring. Sleep, and by the time you wake up, you’ll already be landing.
Miffed, Brody didn’t believe him. He stepped back out of the conversation, closed his eyes, opened them one more time to check on Nate, who still stared out the window. Brody took a moment to consider whether to let Nate be, and then, deciding against it, he sent him a direct order. Sleep. It will be easier to deal with it afterward.
Startled, Nate looked over at him. Are you sure?
I am, he declared, plain and simple. We may have been a little rough in opening that door, but now that it’s open, your world will only improve.
With that, Brody closed his eyes, a smile on his lips, and let sleep overtake him.
*
Madeline opened her eyes, then stared around at what appeared to be a hotel room. She was lying on the bed, her hands bound behind her, her feet bound too. Panic set in, only to soon still, as energy washed though her, calming her emotions. Another woman was in the bed at her side. She appeared to be asleep, yet maybe not so much. Madeline studied her roommate carefully, quickly realizing that she was hurting. Madeline instinctively sent healing energy to ease her roommate’s pain.
A few minutes later the other woman moaned and slowly opened her eyes. Then, as if on cue, she panicked as she realized she was also tied up. She tried to twist and get free or at least to be more comfortable, while she cried in muted sobs.
Madeline hated that awakening, that sense of violation and panic, knowing that you were in somebody else’s control, a victim of circumstances. She whispered to her roommate, “It’s okay. Take it easy.”
The woman fell back to the bed and shifted, so she could see Madeline. “Oh my God,” she muttered in a panicked voice. “Are we prisoners?”
Madeline nodded. “We are. I just don’t know why.”
“Neither do I,” she cried out, now in a full-blown panic. “I didn’t do anything.” The woman’s eyes filled with tears, and she whispered, “God, my head hurts.”
“If you can go back to sleep, it would help,” Madeline suggested, her voice low and reassuring. Of course she could also help her more easily if she were asleep or compliant. Right now she was too rattled to do anything to help her.
