Chapter Seven

CHAPTER SEVEN

A SHUDDER WRACKED Teagan's body as her friend Zane wheeled through the doorway and into the corridor. Not good. If Zane was this worried about a mission, you could bank on this operation going sideways and not in a good way.

Violet pushed back from the table and rose. "All we can do is prepare for the worst and hope for the best."

Noah chuckled. "You sound like a military veteran."

She smiled, neither confirming nor denying his statement.

Seth stood and held out his hand to Teagan. "We need to return to Ardmore and establish our covers as couples before the confrontation with the LT tomorrow morning."

She grasped his hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet as the rest of her teammates stood.

"Let's head to the vault," Iona said.

Noah followed Violet from the conference room. "What's the vault?"

"You'll see."

Artemis and the detectives rode the elevator down to the lowest level of the basement and stepped out into the long hallway with rooms lining each side. Every door was made of reinforced steel and had an electronic lock with two security measures to pass before entrance was approved.

Teagan chose a room at the end of the hall, inputted two security codes and submitted to a retinal scan before the locking mechanism snicked. She opened the door and motioned for Seth to go in first.

He stopped two steps inside the vault as the motion-sensor light flicked and just stared, taking in all the weapons and supplies Fortress operatives routinely carried on missions. "Holy cow, Teagan. Is this the only weapons vault Fortress has?"

"Nope. We have several weapons rooms on this level and another level with as many rooms and weapons as you see here. We also have rooms on the other side of the halls on both levels to store medical supplies."

"Fortress could fight a war and win," he muttered. "You have more weapons here than we do at the station."

Teagan grabbed a supply bag from the cubby against the wall and replenished her supply of weapons. She wondered how shocked Seth would be if he saw the weapons vault at her home. Knowing her cop, he'd probably demand to see her permit for each one. Too bad for both of them, she didn't want a record of her weapons anywhere for someone to access. Didn't pay to let the enemy know your strengths and weaknesses. And she had enemies. All Fortress operatives did. Came with the job.

"How many vaults of weapons does Fortress keep stocked?"

"More than you want to know." She glanced over her shoulder. "We have several black ops teams and actively recruit more each month. We need the supplies."

"Incredible. If another country ever invaded the US, I'll know where to come when I run out of ammunition for my weapons."

She laughed and finished selecting supplies to replenish her stock. Although she felt the need to add more to her stockpile, Teagan resisted. The militia leaders might wonder why she was bringing enough weapons into the compound to start a war if she didn't stop. No doubt in her mind that someone would search their rooms.

When she'd finished, Seth picked up the bag. "Anything else?"

"That's it for me. What about you?"

His head whipped her direction. "Are you serious?"

"We're going on a mission together. If you need it, we don't have time to go through proper channels, Seth. Take what you need."

"Even though I'll be going into this compound as a disgruntled civilian, I'm still a cop. I can't jeopardize any arrests because I didn't follow the law."

Her lips curved at the careful way he'd made that statement. "So, what do you want me to carry that you might have to use if the mission goes sideways?"

He rattled off a list of weapons and ammunition plus a Ka-Bar.

"Good choices." She added his requests to her bag. "Let's get out of here and wait for the others in the garage."

They rode the elevator to the garage level and stored the weapons in the back of her SUV. "How do you feel?" Teagan asked.

"I've been worse."

"Headache?"

"Oh, yeah."

"Did you take the pain meds this morning?"

Silence.

Uh huh. Stubborn man. "Is the pain worse than last night?"

More silence.

Really? He preferred to suffer than take the help offered? She rolled her eyes. Seth was as stubborn about pain meds as Teagan and her teammates. "Is the nausea better at least?"

He nodded.

Well, that was some improvement. When Violet and Noah exited the elevator, Teagan used a hand signal to alert Violet that Seth needed her skills.

Her teammate handed Noah the key fob to her SUV and her Go bag and set her mike bag in front of Seth. She folded her arms. "Which is it? Head or stomach?"

The handsome detective glared at Teagan. "How did you rat me out? We haven't been separated for a minute."

"She didn't have to tell me anything." Violet unzipped her mike bag. "Your face being the color of paste says it all, my friend. So, stomach, head, or both?"

He sighed. "Head."

"When did you take your last pain pill?"

"Last night," he muttered.

"They don't help if you don't take them," she said mildly. Violet handed him two capsules and a small bottle of water. "If you let the pain get ahead of you, it's harder to kill. Just saying, Detective Dixon."

He swallowed the capsules without a word of protest.

The pain must have been bad if he stopped grousing that easily. For all his concern about her, Teagan was worried about Seth's mission readiness. Groups like The Brotherhood took advantage of every weakness and would use any excuse to keep him out of the militia if they felt he couldn't pull his own weight.

"Look, I don't want to get on your bad side this early in our friendship, but I'm going to do it, anyway."

"Would it do any good to ask you to hold the lecture?"

"No. We don't have time for me to play nice. So here goes. I've watched you and Teagan for the past 24 hours. I think you both have powerful feelings for each other, a good thing, since we're going undercover soon. If you won't take pain meds to stay operational for yourself, do it for Teagan. If you go down, she won't leave your side."

Seth frowned.

"Do you understand what I'm saying, Seth?"

"If I'm not fast enough to protect myself, Teagan will do it for me, possibly at the cost of her life."

"Exactly. The best way to keep her alive is to give yourself every advantage. You must be mobile to protect Teagan. Otherwise, she'll lose her life right along with you. I'll be back in a minute." Violet zipped her mike bag again and handed it to Noah. "Don't let them leave without me."

"Yes, ma'am," Noah said. His gaze followed her progress to the elevator. "That is one intense woman," he murmured.

"If you're ever in a situation where you need her medical skills, you'll be glad she's intense and well trained." Teagan opened the passenger door for Seth. "We'll leave as soon as Violet returns."

"About that." Noah turned to his partner. "You heard Maddox. We need to make a splash as soon as we return to Ardmore. Any ideas how we can do that without being too obvious that we want attention?"

"The Ranch," Seth said.

Teagan frowned. "You want to go to a ranch?" How would that help their militia setup?

"It's an exclusive restaurant outside Ardmore. If you're part of the in-crowd, that's where you go."

"Sounds expensive." And exactly the kind of place she avoided like the plague.

"Very."

"No offense, Seth, but you're a cop on a civilian salary. How can you afford a membership to a place like that?"

"Not me. Noah."

Her attention shifted to the detective currently shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "The membership is yours?"

He shrugged. "I dated a defense attorney for a few months last year. She's from old money and bought me a membership for a year. My membership doesn't run out until Christmas. I can bring as many people as I want with me."

"How dressy is this place?"

"Suit and tie for me and Seth. Classy outfits for you and Violet."

Teagan rolled her eyes. Translation? Dresses and heels. Lovely. What a way to start a mission. Good thing Fortress kept her wardrobe well stocked for any occasion. She still preferred fatigues and combat boots.

Seth turned to Teagan. "You okay with that plan? If not, we'll come up with something else."

"If The Ranch is as exclusive as you insinuated, are you sure an appearance there will make a splash? It sounds as though the potential audience will be small."

"The right people will be there. Trust me, if we show up there, we'll be the talk of the town by morning." He cupped her cheek with his palm. "So, are you still game?"

"Oh, I'm game, Seth."

"Should I leave?" Noah asked dryly. "I feel like I'm a third wheel over here."

"Yes," Seth murmured.

"No. Do we need to have reservations for tonight, Noah?" Teagan broke her eye contact with Seth. Wow. Her detective was smoking hot. She'd have to stay focused when they were together in the compound. Otherwise, they could both end up dead.

Seth's partner slid his phone from his pocket. "I'll take care of that as well as lunch reservations."

"Lunch?" Teagan frowned. "Better not be another place requiring dress clothes. I draw the line at once a day."

The detectives chuckled. "The restaurant I have in mind isn't a place that has a required dress code."

"Thank goodness. Don't think I could handle wearing heels twice in a day."

More laughter. As the laughter petered off, Violet exited the elevator with two brown envelopes in her hand.

She handed one envelope to each man. "Your new phones."

"We have cell phones," Noah said.

"Not like these." Teagan plucked the brown envelope from Seth's hand and ripped open the package. She powered up the phone and handed it back to Seth. "Type in your pass code."

Although his eyes narrowed, Seth did as she asked. The screen unlocked. "Do I want to know how Murphy figured out my code?"

"Nope. Pull up your call list."

When he did, Seth's eyebrows rose. "Brent, Zane, you, your teammates, and Noah."

"First names only to protect you and the rest of our support group."

"While I appreciate the cell, it might not help if The Brotherhood compound is off the grid far enough to not have a cell tower within range."

Teagan tapped a button on the side of the phone. "Push this, and your cell phone switches modes to a satellite phone. It's the only way we'll be able to communicate while I'm deployed with Artemis. The phone is encrypted so no one will intercept messages or calls that compromise either of us."

His hand closed around the phone. "It's mine?"

"As long as we're together."

Seth's gaze locked with hers. "If I have my way, Fortress won't get the phone back."

The remaining members of Artemis joined them in the garage with their bags replenished with supplies.

Noah picked up Violet's bag. "Let's get going. Violet and I will lead the way to the restaurant. After that, we'll regroup and set things in motion at The Ranch." He escorted Violet to her SUV and opened her door before circling to the back to store her gear in the storage area.

Noah might not realize it yet, but he was already laying groundwork with the medic. Letting anyone, especially a man, touch her was unusual for Violet. Maybe she was practicing, considering the mission going green as soon as they returned to Ardmore. Then again, maybe not.

"You and Seth follow behind Noah and Violet," Iona said. "The rest of us will bring up the rear. Although I don't expect trouble this early, keep an eye out anyway."

"Copy that." Teagan headed for the driver's side of her SUV. After Seth buckled himself into the passenger seat, she said, "If your headache is gone and Violet approves, you can drive tonight. I have a feeling you're one of those guys who prefers to drive."

"I freely admit I'm a control freak. Sue me."

She laughed as she fell into line behind Violet's SUV. "Figured as much. Do you have combat driving training, Seth?"

"Part of my military training."

Teagan thought about that as their caravan headed toward the interstate. "What branch of the military were in you?"

"Army."

"You weren't just an Army grunt, were you?"

"No."

"Let me guess. You were a Ranger?"

"Yeah."

Of course he was. She should have known. "That made this concussion doubly difficult for you to handle."

"I won't be concussed forever, Teagan."

"Not much longer." She drove in silence for a few miles. "Wonder how long it will take The Brotherhood to approve or reject us as membership candidates."

"With the way this is bound to play out in the press, it won't take long. A week, two at the most." His lips curved. "How can they resist the chance to use me against the establishment?"

She threaded her fingers through his. "Are you sure you want to do this, Seth? It's not too late to back out."

"Yeah, baby, it is. I have to do this. They killed my CI. I'm not letting them get by with it. Not only that, if we don't figure out what they're up to and stop them, they'll kill many more innocent civilians. I can't let them get away with that."

She squeezed his fingers. "I understand. We'll stop them. Together."