Chapter Eighteen

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

AS SOON AS Teagan's feet touched the ground, she glanced around the compound. Her skin itched like mad, a sure sign they were being watched.

She snorted. Of course they were being observed. With a small community like The Brotherhood, the members would be curious about the newcomers being escorted into camp by the militia's leaders.

The enforcer who drove Peters and Richardson to the compound walked toward Seth.

"Bogey at two o'clock," Teagan murmured.

Seth squeezed her hip and stepped partly in front of her.

She wanted to roll her eyes. After proving she could take care of herself, Seth still insisted on treating her like a princess on a pedestal. With her background, Teagan could be classified as a peasant. She appreciated the sentiment, though. It was strange but sweet.

Noah walked up to stand with his partner while Violet stayed beside Teagan.

"And so it begins," Violet whispered.

"The enforcer doesn't look happy."

"We didn't make friends by showing up his teammates. Their egos took a hit."

The enforcer stopped in front of Seth, his eyes icy. "Grab your gear. I'll show you to your quarters, then give you a tour of the compound."

Without taking his gaze from the enforcer, Seth signaled the others to grab their bags. Teagan got her gear along with Seth's from the cargo area and set it by her feet. When the others gathered with bags in hand, the enforcer set off without a word of introduction.

Nice. He'd have to be dubbed Thing 1 until they learned the rude jerk's name.

Seth grabbed his heavy bag and slipped one of Teagan's over his shoulder before pressing his hand against her lower back. The group followed the taciturn enforcer to the back of the compound to a house.

The enforcer unlocked the door and motioned for them to enter the building ahead of him. "Peters said you preferred to stay in one place since you served in the military together. If you don't like the arrangement, we'll find other places in the racks for your team."

"This is perfect," Seth said and held out his hand, palm up.

The enforcer frowned.

When the man didn't move, Seth said, "Key."

A deeper frown. "No one locks their doors in The Brotherhood compound. We're a family and we trust one another."

Seth stared him down until the enforcer dug into his pocket and shoved the key into Seth's hand.

"Mr. Peters and Mr. Richardson won't be pleased."

"Tough. We're not only military, we're also former law enforcement. We don't trust anyone without a long history between us."

Thing 1's jaw tightened. "You aren't military or law enforcement any more. You're one of us, so you'd best get that idea through your heads before you cause dissension in the camp." He stepped closer, his ugly mug too close to Seth. Teagan shifted to better defend Seth if Thing 1 was stupid enough to take him on. "I don't care how special your unit is or what kind of training you've had, Dixon. You put your pants on the same way I do. And by the way, I don't appreciate you embarrassing my friends today. You might have gotten by with it once, but trust me, you won't get by with it a second time. We work together here. No grand standing allowed in the ranks. As far as I'm concerned, you're a group of hired thugs brought in to do a job we could have handled if given half a chance. We'll be watching. If you misstep, we'll scoop you up for punishment."

Ice water flowed through Teagan's veins, although she made sure her facial expression gave nothing away. Punishment? Richardson and Peters hadn't said the word punishment in all the persuasive speeches given to Seth and Noah. Consequences, yes, but not punishment.

She shuddered, memories long buried resurfacing with a vengeance after the mention of that one word. What kind of punishment could those who disobeyed expect?

"You finished?" Seth eyed Thing 1 as though watching a snake.

A slight nod.

"Good. Here's how this is going to go. You stay out of my way and away from my team. If you get in our faces for any reason, you won't like the result. My team answers to me and no one else. Period. I've already informed your bosses about how we work. They accepted our leadership structure. Your friends deserved the embarrassment they got this afternoon. They should have expected that I'd send my men to scout the area before I brought in my entire unit, especially my woman. Your friends should have known they were being hunted and taken evasive action immediately. Instead, they laid in the dirt and trees with their eyes to the scope and forget rule number one in enemy territory. Situational awareness. Your friends are lucky they aren't dead."

Fury burned in the depths of Thing 1's eyes. "You'll pay for what you did."

"So much for this militia being a close-knit family," Noah drawled. "Fair warning, kid. You might not watch each other's backs, but we do. If you make the mistake of taking on one of us, you'll take us all on and lose."

"Let's get on with the tour," Seth said curtly. "I have other things I'd rather be doing tonight with Teagan than taking a tour in the dark because you and your buddies got your feelings hurt."

Thing 1 flicked a glare at Teagan before pivoting on his heel and striding from the house without another word.

Seth signaled the rest of his team to follow Thing 1, then brought up the rear with Teagan, locking the door behind them.

"Think the antagonism was wise?" Teagan whispered.

"We can't appear weak. They'll pick us off and move in for the kill."

A group of men watched their progress across the compound, paying special attention to Teagan and Violet.

Seth noticed the interested looks and wrapped his arm around Teagan's shoulders, tugging her close to his side.

Amusement filled her. "Maybe we should get you a shirt that says ‘She's mine. Hands off.'"

"Only if you wear a shirt that says ‘Seth's property. Touch her and die.'"

She laughed. "Deal."

As more groups of men stopped and stared at her and Violet as they walked through the compound, Seth muttered, "I'm definitely buying those shirts."

"You should order similar shirts for Noah and Violet. He's aggravated with the interest in her."

"Noah," Seth said.

His partner stopped and turned, fury glittering in his eyes. "What?"

"Ice it down."

"I'd like to ice them down permanently," he groused. "What's their problem?"

"Do you see many women walking around the compound?"

"Nope."

"There you go."

"They can't have mine."

Violet's eyes widened.

"Or mine," Seth said. "Even if I don't like it, looking is allowed."

"As long as they don't touch."

"The ladies can take care of themselves if we're not around to run interference."

Thing 1 stopped in his tracks when another man called out to him. So, Thing 1's real name was Jerry. When the other man hurried off, Jerry restarted the tour by taking them to a small building with a red cross over the doorway. "This is our infirmary. Our medic had an unfortunate accident last month and can't continue doing his job."

Jerry flung open the door and motioned them inside the establishment.

Violet walked around the treatment room, opening drawers and cabinets, examining the contents.

The enforcer glared at her. "Why are you poking into every nook and cranny in this room?"

"I'm a paramedic. If I'm going to work here, I need to know where my supplies are located."

Interest flared in his eyes. "No wonder the leaders wanted you to join us so quickly." Jerry shifted his attention to Teagan. "Are you a paramedic, too?"

She shook her head. "Sharpshooter. Military trained." Plus much more training beyond that. Maddox had sent her to PSI to train specifically with Alex Morgan, a world-class sniper. Alex had upped her skills several levels by the time she left the training school. Now, every time she and her teammates returned for training, Teagan always had more one-on-one instruction with Alex. Her instructor was scary good at what he did, and she had the greatest respect for him.

"You any good?" Contempt filled his voice.

Unlike Seth, she wasn't interested in pushing Jerry's buttons yet. "Good enough to get the attention of Richardson and Peters."

"Snipers are thick on the ground around here," he muttered. "Mostly they're a bunch of country boys who like to shoot anything that moves."

Did that include people? "Then I suppose we'll see how I measure up."

He turned back to Violet. "Seen what you need to?"

"For now. Thanks for showing us the clinic, Jerry. You've made my job easier."

Violet's slow smile appeared to unsettle the enforcer. He shifted his stance uneasily, then cleared his throat. "No problem. I'll take you all to the training center next, then make our way around the outside of the compound until we end up at the cafeteria. It will be time for dinner when we get there." Jerry motioned for them to follow him.

Little boys playing soldier was her first thought as they explored the compound. The more places Jerry showed them, the more Teagan's assessment of mediocre training and facilities grew. Fortress training facilities had this place beat hands down. Even the Army training facilities were better than this.

Fortress had world-class trainers. Maddox only hired the best. The Brotherhood's trainers had much work to do to upstage the black ops training teams at PSI.

The only thing she found more than adequate was the stockpile of weapons and ammunition. One thing she could say about The Brotherhood. They had money and didn't mind spending it. The facilities might not be much to speak of, but they didn't skimp on weapons and ammunition. If they used them well was another question, one she'd have the answer to tomorrow.

At last, Jerry led the group to the cafeteria. All eyes in the large room turned toward Teagan and the others as they stepped inside.

Peters approached them, a wide smile on his face. "I see you've finished your tour. Please, join me for dinner."

Seth rested his hand on Teagan's lower back as they followed Peters to his large table. He seated her beside Violet and took the empty seat between Teagan and Peters.

Peters motioned for the server. A young woman hurried to their table with a loaded tray of glasses filled with iced tea. "Bring our dinners, Jillian. My new friends are tired and hungry."

"Yes, sir. Right away."

"Thank you, my dear."

She hurried to the kitchen for their food, and the rest of the occupants of the dining room resumed their conversations. Glances continued to shift their direction as Peters engaged the infiltration group in small talk while they waited for Jillian to bring their meals.

"So, what did you think of our fine facilities?" Peters asked Seth.

"I'm more interested in the trainers than the facilities."

"We have the best of the best."

"You know the type of training we have. Are you sure you want to make that claim?"

"If you want the job as my personal enforcers, you'll have to earn the post."

"How?"

"Tomorrow morning, you'll go up against a group of enforcers."

"Does that include the three men we took down earlier today?" Knight asked.

"It does."

"They'll want payback."

"It's up to you to show them the error of their ways." He turned as Jillian approached with a loaded tray.

Marsh stood and took the tray from her. "Let me help," he murmured.

Jillian blushed. She smiled at Marsh and handed out plates loaded with chicken casserole, green beans, and a salad. "Thank you for the help, sir."

"Call me Andre."

"I'm Jillian." By the time she finished distributing the meals, Peters' smile had faded, and he glowered at Marsh.

Interesting reaction. Was Jillian more than just a server to Peters? If so, she might be a source Marsh could pump for information since it looked as though she liked him.

Peters picked up his fork and dug in. "Eat. We have much to discuss, then I'll let you rest. Tomorrow will be a big day for you."

Teagan's skin prickled at the implied threat.

Peters shifted his attention to Violet. "I assume Jerry took you to the clinic on your tour."

"Yes, sir."

"How did you find our facility?"

"Adequate."

He blinked. "Adequate? Do you have suggestions for improvement?"

"I'll make a list. I can already tell you the supply of stitch kits, antibiotics, numbing meds, and bandages, regular and compression, aren't adequate for what you're doing here. You also need a larger supply of pain meds that should be under lock and key. No medical facility worth its salt should be open for public access at all hours of the day and night. I have to know exactly what supplies are available at any time. If people come in to get medical supplies for scrapes and bruises without my knowledge, I won't have what I need for more serious injuries, and that could cost a patient his life."

Peters stared. "You're correct. That's an oversight on my part, one I'll correct immediately. Thank you for pointing that out."

"I'll also need a key to lock the clinic. If you have other medics on staff, they should have one as well. If you put me in charge of the facility, the doors will be locked at the end of the workday. A paramedic or an EMT should handle any medical emergencies after hours."

"That reminds me of something I meant to talk to you about," Seth said. "I want six more copies of the key to our quarters. My teammates need access to our building."

"We don't lock doors in this compound except, apparently, the clinic."

"You might not, Peters, but we do. Five of us were cops. We don't trust people we don't know. Period."

Color stained the leader's cheeks. "Very well. At some point, I hope your attitude will change about the trustworthiness of our fellow Brotherhood members. In the meantime, go to the machinist's shop in the morning. He'll make copies of keys for you."

At the end of the meal, Jillian returned with a tray loaded with bowls of peach cobbler topped with ice cream. Once again, Marsh jumped to his feet to help the girl with the heavy tray and earned another sweet blush and shy smile.

Man, to be that innocent. Teagan studied Jillian's face, wondering how young she was.

When the group finished their meal, Jillian returned to clear the table.

Peters caught her hand with his and kissed her knuckles. "Will I see you later, Jillian?"

She paled. "If you would like, sir."

"I would." He indicated the used dishes and cutlery. "Finish your duties and come to my quarters."

Fury lit Marsh's eyes as he watched the interaction.

Seth caught his attention and signaled the other detective to stand down.

"Yes, sir." Jillian returned to her task, her hands trembling.

"We're glad to have you and your team with us," Peters told Seth. "I'll be in the training center tomorrow morning at 7:00 to see how you and your group perform against our enforcers. If you're as skilled as I think you are, you will be my personal enforcers."

"We'll be ready." Seth stood and held out his hand to Teagan. The rest of the team stood as well. "See you tomorrow, Peters."

The group remained silent as they trekked to their quarters, but it was obvious Marsh seethed about the situation with Jillian and Peters.

Seth unlocked the door and motioned the others inside. Once he locked the door, he signaled for silence and glanced at Teagan and Violet.

They grabbed their electronic signal detectors and split up to cover the interior of their quarters more quickly. By the time they returned to the living room where the others waited in silence, Teagan and Violet had collected ten listening devices and ten cameras, one for every room in their quarters. Four of the cameras were in the bedrooms, a fact that had Teagan's stomach tied into a knot.

Violet found a large bowl in the kitchen, filled it with water, and they dumped the unwanted electronics into the liquid. "We're clear," the medic said.

"Where did you find the cameras?" Seth asked.

"Every room in our quarters. Same for the bugs."

His jaw flexed. "Including the bedrooms?"

She nodded.

Knight whistled. "Someone in the camp is a voyeur."

"They want to listen to pillow talk," Bowen said, disgust in his voice.

"They won't get it." Noah dragged a hand down his face. "We'll have to check our quarters every time we return. I don't believe Seth's key is the only one to this place."

"We'll rig something up to keep unwanted visitors out at night," Teagan said.

"We'll set up watch shifts in pairs," Seth said.

"Can we talk about what's important here?" Marsh snapped.

"Look, I get it," Seth said. "We all saw how Jillian responded to Peters' order for her to go to his quarters. Unless you want to blow our covers, there's not much we can do."

"You've already made inroads with Jillian," Violet said. "Be her friend, Andre. Persuade her to confide in you. Perhaps you can convince her to leave. If she has a boyfriend here, he might persuade her to go for her own safety."

"You heard the feds. No one leaves this compound voluntarily. The only way out is in a body bag."

She patted his forearm. "I don't know about you, but I'm not planning to leave that way. We can take her with us when we escape the compound or find another way to get her out."

"You know what's going on as well as I do. It was obvious by her response."

"I know, but we can't force the issue."

"I would give almost anything to find out how old she is," Marsh muttered.

"A good topic to slip into a conversation with her." Teagan slid her signal detector into her cargo pants. "Be her friend and gain her trust. We'll do what we can to help while we're here. If we can't get her out when we go, I promise you Artemis or one of the other Fortress teams will rescue her before things go downhill or before the feds move in."

"If she's not a minor, the choice has to be hers," Knight said. "We can't force her to go."

Marsh held up a hand. "Yeah, I got it. Doesn't mean I like it."

"I hate it, too." Bowen sighed. "We see too much of this on the job. Makes me angry and sad at the same time."

The other four cops nodded in agreement.

"You're doing all you can within the confines of the law." Teagan wrapped her hand around Seth's. "That's all you can do." If, however, they worked for Fortress, those bonds would be loosened, at least outside US borders.

Seth squeezed her hand, then turned to the others. "Who's taking the first shift?"

"I will," Marsh said. "I'm too keyed up to sleep, anyway."

"I'm with Marsh," Bowen said. "Who's up next?"

After a short debate, they decided Noah and Knight would take the last watch of the night.

"All right," Seth said. "Teagan and I will take first watch tomorrow night, followed by Noah and Violet. After that, we'll handle watch assignments as we go along."

When everyone agreed to the plan, Seth sent Teagan and Violet ahead to choose a room to share.

Teagan returned a moment later. "Will anyone care if we take the main bedroom with the attached bath?"

Seth smiled. "Can't imagine why you don't want to share a bathroom with five men."

"Ha ha."

"It's fine, babe. I was going to suggest that, anyway. Noah and I will share a room. The rest of you decide who scores a room for himself."

Knight pointed at Marsh. "I nominate him for the solo room."

Teagan blinked. "Why?"

"He snores like a chain saw."

Marsh scowled. "Hey, that's a lie."

The other four detectives laughed. "You know it's true," Knight said. "Why do you think we always had you doing night watch on ops?"

"Yeah, yeah. Give me a break, will you? In fact, just go to bed and get out of my hair."

Everyone scattered to their rooms except Teagan and Seth. Violet went to the main bedroom and closed the door, leaving Teagan to join her when she was ready.

"Care to join me for a circuit around the compound?" Seth asked. "I want a look at the security around the camp at night."

"Sure. I'm betting there won't be much to see, though. I haven't been impressed with what I've observed to this point."

Seth glanced at Marsh. "We'll return soon."

"Watch your backs."

They set a leisurely pace to study the security as they walked the perimeter of the compound. Teagan frowned the further they walked. Too many pools of darkness for good security here. Lighting was sparse. Very few cameras with large blind spots. This was a perfect setup for infiltration if Artemis breached the compound.

As they walked, she and Seth encountered four guards who watched them with suspicion as they passed their positions. No one challenged them or asked why they were walking around at night. They startled awake one man charged with protecting the compound.

If Maddox caught or heard about one of the Fortress operatives sleeping on a job, the operative would be fired immediately. She wondered if this was the quality of soldiers throughout the camp. If so, they were lucky the enemy or the feds hadn't picked them off before now.

Made her wonder if Richardson was in charge of training the guards. If so, he was doing a lousy job. And this was the guy who wanted to take over leadership of The Brotherhood?

Throughout their circuit, Seth kept his hand wrapped around Teagan's. Although he looked relaxed and absorbed in Teagan, his gaze never stopped scanning the area. Neither did hers.

When they finished, Seth paused at the front door of their quarters and bent to brush his lips over hers. "Thanks for coming with me, Teagan."

"I enjoy walking or running." She cupped his cheek. "You understand."

"Yeah, I do, but I was talking about coming on this op with me," he murmured. "You could have sat this one out."

"Not if I wanted to live with myself. We're a team, Seth. We watch each other's backs."

"Still, I value you and your help." Another light kiss. "I trust you, and I don't say that about many people I know."

She smiled. "Good. I feel the same about you."

"Although I'd love to steal a few more kisses, we've given our observers enough for tonight. The rest of the kisses I want from you will be exchanged in private. I don't want our relationship to be on display all the time for the nosy neighbors."

In a house full of operatives on guard all the time, he wanted to kiss her in private? Good luck with that. Teagan very much feared serious kisses would have to wait until they finished this mission. Hopefully, Maddox wouldn't send Artemis out as soon as this op was complete.

Teagan turned the knob and stepped into the darkened living room. Marsh stood beside the large front window, peering outside. "You had two people watching you while you were on the porch."

"I saw them. They monitored us as we walked the compound's perimeter." Seth locked the front door. "Any trouble while we were out?"

"Nope. Just had two watchers keeping track of our quarters in case we decided we wanted to leave the building as well."

"So much for trusting their people." Seth's lips curved. "My guess is Richardson posted the guards to make sure we didn't cause trouble."

"We're the unknowns in the equation. I'd be surprised if he wasn't suspicious of our motives." Marsh glanced at him. "Ready to turn in for the night?"

He nodded. "Come get me if there's a problem."

"Yes, sir."

At the door to the main bedroom, Seth turned Teagan into his arms and kissed her, long and deep. When he finally broke the kiss, his breathing and heart rate were elevated, as was Teagan's. Man, the handsome detective set off fireworks in her bloodstream. "Sleep well, sweetheart. I'll see you in a few hours."

"Are you planning to run before we hit the training center?"

"I hope to. A light workout tomorrow since we don't know what's in store for us."

"Got a feeling it's nothing good. I'll tell Violet about tomorrow morning. You can inform the others about our Dixon PT schedule."

He chuckled. "You got it." Seth nudged her toward the bedroom door. "Come get me if you need me."

Teagan paused and glanced over her shoulder. Guess she hadn't covered her reaction to what she'd seen and heard in the compound as much as she'd thought. With a slight nod, she turned the knob and went inside.