Zack (In the Company of Snipers Book 3) (3 page)

“I asked if you heard me.”

The bellowing voice had to be Kevin Carducci’s, as in ATF Director Carducci, the man who’d organized the operation Zack had just bungled. He slipped by the barely open Situation Room door, hoping no one noticed. The last place he wanted to be was where his boss now waged war. Zack had to be in Alex’s office by the end of the nasty meeting, where he fully expected he’d get his ass reamed before he got fired. It wouldn’t be a pleasant meeting, but this one was much worse.

Everyone knew by now. The whole team. He was a screw up. It wouldn’t be so bad, but he really loved his job. Working for Alex Stewart could be a tough row to hoe, but he’d never felt more alive and fulfilled. Heck, most times he didn’t even have to use his weapon. Zack bit his lip and clenched his gut.
Way to go, Lennox.

“I stand by my agent.” Judging by the level of volume from the Sit Room, Alex was giving as good as he got, his voice hard as steel.

“I’m not asking if you stand by your agent. I don’t care if you think they all walk on water. I’m asking if we have an understanding.” Carducci again. Loud. Rude. Arrogant.

Zack grimaced. At least Alex defended him–for now.

“No, sir, we do not.”

“Be careful, Stewart. Small time players have no business in a high stakes game. I can make your life very miserable.”

Zack cringed. Big mistake, Carducci. No one bullies Alex. A chair scraped. Had to be the boss. If he was on his feet, that meant—

“For the last time. I stand by my agents,” Alex snarled.

You tell ’em, Boss.

“Then we’re done here,” Director Carducci snapped.

“No, sir,
you’re
done here. You’ll get no apology from me.” Alex had the nastiest tone when he was pushed too far. Apparently, Carducci didn’t know.

“That’s not mitigation, you arrogant fool.”

“Exactly.” Alex’s tone dropped back to a conversational level. “Now we have an understanding.”

Zack had to give it to him. The man knew when to charge, all guns blazing, and when to calm. Strategies like that tended to pull the rug out from under pretentious men like Carducci; men who thought paid contractors should grovel at their feet. No one on earth was a better boss or a tougher opponent than Alex. That skill was going to work against Zack today. His turn in the barrel was next.

More chairs scraped, and Zack hurried down the hall. He was in enough trouble. No need to be caught eavesdropping. He barely made it into Alex’s office and closed the door, just enough to peek through the crack, when Carducci burst through the Sit. Room doors and stalked to the elevator.

“It’s about time.”

Zack whirled, startled he hadn’t noticed David Tao sitting at the small conference table, his hands folded serenely in front of him. “Damn. Didn’t see you sitting there.”

“I take it the Director is finished with Alex?”

“More like he’s finished with the Director.” Zack dropped onto the chair to David’s right. It was a small, four-man table. No doubt old man Murphy would be joining Alex. He would complete the murder board. Despite the fact that Zack had been in serious military-like situations with these men in the past, situations where shots were fired and men were killed, his gut poured solid acid. This time was different. The career he loved as an undercover operative would die today. It would hurt.

David murmured, “He is coming.”

“And he’s not happy, either.”

David shot him a ‘no kidding’ kind of look, but the door didn’t crash open like Zack expected with Alex madder than hell and ready to hang someone–like him. That could be good. That could be bad. It gave Zack more time to consider the decision that was going to cost him the job he loved. Even now, he couldn’t believe that his saving a girl’s life compromised the ATF Op like it had. The TEAM seemed such a small cog in the wheel.

Suddenly, Vinnie had turned invisible. Dom, too. Word was they’d fled the country when Zack exposed the operation like he did. ATF Director Carducci wasn’t the only one who wanted his head. Oh, no. There were others standing in line, including the FBI and a few local police chiefs. Heck, even the Navy wanted a piece of him.

Zack scrubbed a hand over his head and stiffened his spine. He and David had spent a lot of time together lately. They’d grown close. Then there were Mark and Harley, both overseas on some operation in Afghanistan. He sighed.
I’m going to miss these guys.

The door opened. In walked Alex, powerful CEO and boss, with his sidekick, Murphy Finnegan, ex-Army and damned proud of it. Zack’s heart started a pounding beat. At least his boss hadn’t kicked the door open. He licked his lips and hunkered down, prepared for the bad cop, good cop beat down. He deserved it.
Let it rain.

Alex took the position directly across from him. Not so good. Zack maintained eye contact, or at least tried to. Alex hadn’t looked at him–yet. It didn’t make any difference. All those finely honed “I own this damned business” skills were now directed straight at Zack. He waited.
Might as well get it over with. Let me have it. Then I’ll leave.

Minutes passed while Alex opened his leather planner to yesterday’s two-page spread. Zack noticed the big black X over a good portion of the pages. That’s the kind of guy Alex was. He might keep meticulous notes, but then mark them up in a fit of temper. He might dress the part of a savvy businessman in the expensive gray suit he was wearing, but there was an ex-Marine beneath the burgundy shirt and black tie who could still take a man’s head off at a thousand yards–or less.

The man came out of the 22
^nd
Marine Expeditionary Unit at Camp Lejeune, South Carolina, like Zack had. They’d worked together when Alex was getting his covert op business off the ground. Zack was one of his first agents. That had to count for something, didn’t it?

At last, Alex lifted his eyes. Icy blues speared Zack clean through. A full on body-slam could not have hurt worse. He wilted. He’d disappointed the one man left in the world he truly respected.

“How is she?” Alex got right to the point.

“Dehydrated, malnourished, and frightened.” Zack spoke right up, ready to give his boss every last bit of information in his head. “She’s at Children’s National Medical Center in D.C. Boss, I didn’t have a choice. I–I—”

Alex waved the explanation off with a look of total irritation before turning to David. “What do we know about her?”

Zack clamped his mouth shut. Good. Talking about the girl was a positive sign. Alex had a daughter once. He cared about kids. Good.

“Child Protective Services has taken custody until Immigration and Customs can locate her parents. She’s Chinese, so I was able to talk with her a little, but she’s only around five years old, maybe younger. It’s hard to know for sure.” David pushed several photos across the table as he calmly explained. “She’s very afraid. I couldn’t get much out of her. Different dialects, you understand. I’d be glad to spend more time with her when we’re through here.”

Alex studied the photos David had taken at the hospital. Zack had been there when the poor little gal came to. By then, she was wrapped in heated blankets, had an IV line in her skinny little arm, and Child Services had been called. The pictures showed everything. They also portrayed a lost child with dark, scared eyes.

“Boss, I—”

“Knock it off,” Alex hissed. If looks could kill.

Zack took a deep breath, shut up, and waited.

“So, we’ve got an endangered child on our hands who doesn’t speak English, two gangbangers in a blue cargo van full of bullet holes, and—”

“I’ve got the van on the surveillance video, Boss, and—”

Another scorching look and Zack’s throat squeezed shut. There was no sense in speaking. He was dead. His stupid brain just didn’t understand it yet.

“And we’ve got the duffle bags they carried into the apartment,” Alex snapped at him even as he turned to face David again. “Do we know what’s in those bags?”

“Fur coats. I ran some preliminary numbers. Street value is close to half a million.”

“Furs?” Alex’s nose wrinkled. “That’s an odd commodity for gangbangers.”

“Mother and Ember are working to identify the gang members from the video surveillance Zack mentioned. Metro PD thinks they’re 4
^th
Street Tigers. I’ve got an all-points bulletin out for the van. We’re also checking the local precinct’s theft divisions to see if they’ve got anything on stolen furs or vans.” David’s gaze was as steady as Alex’s.

Zack took another deep breath. He hadn’t expected to still be here, so all the talk about the little girl and the van had to be a good sign. He rolled the knot out of one shoulder. Maybe he wasn’t going to get fired after all.

Alex turned to him. Icy blue had changed to gunmetal gray. Sharp. Cold. Deadly.

“Size it up for me, Lennox.”

Zack swallowed hard.
Size it up for me? What does he mean? What’s he really asking?

“Ah,” he stalled, his mind racing over all possible answers. David had just summed up the whole debacle. What did Alex want, the damned mess tied up with a blood red bow?

“I guess what we’ve got here is a little girl who needed help.” Zack calmed the moment he opened his mouth to speak. This was that rubber to the road moment when a man stood up and took the blame, right or wrong. “If you want someone’s head, it would be mine. I made the call. It’s on me. Yeah, David was senior agent, and he backed me up, but I’m the one who screwed the op. If you’re here to fire someone, I’m your man.”

He blew out a deep breath. These past couple of years would definitely go down as some of his best, but he wasn’t kidding himself. Good reason or not, he’d cost the federal government and Alex a lot of money. Someone had to go down. If Carducci wanted blood on a rock, it might as well be his.

“Carducci wants you fired.” Alex pushed back from the table, his eyes boring through Zack’s head and out the other side.

Zack nodded. He had nothing to say. He didn’t work for the ATF, and he cared less what the pretentious man in the thousand-dollar suit wanted. It only mattered what Alex thought, and right now, it obviously wasn’t much.

Alex turned to Murphy. Both men looked as bleak as the other. “What do you think, Murph?”

Murphy was the definite good cop to Alex’s lethal bad cop. Until now, he’d been quiet. The old guy was in his sixties, thinning gray hair, and the first to admit he wasn’t as smart as the new generation when it came to gizmos and computers and such, but he was a good man. Zack waited on him now.

“I don’t know.” Murphy sighed. “Seems to me we still have an active operation on our hands. I’d hate to lose what corporate knowledge we’ve got just because Carducci’s pissed.”

“I don’t give a damn about Carducci,” Alex grunted.

Murphy’s blue eyes twinkled. Zack held his breath. Were these two toying with him? If so, it wasn’t funny.

“Just so you two geniuses know,” Alex paused long enough to stare him down and keep him wondering. “I got my butt reamed good. You’re off the Espinosa case.”

He liked the sound of those words. Off. Not fired.

“But you owe me. Big time.” Again with the evil eyes. Man, the guy didn’t quit. “You’re both on this little girl’s case. You’d better not screw the pooch, Lennox.”

“Yes, Boss.” Zack took the hit and let another breath of relief whoosh between his teeth.
Hell, yeah.

Alex leaned across the table, his fingers laced together and all those pointed, killer skills aimed right at his trouble-making junior agent. “I’m flying out to the Seattle office for a couple days. By the time I get back, I want everything settled. You locate her parents. You find out why a couple of punks had her in the back of their van, and you find a way to make that little girl happy. I want your written reports on my desk, ready for my signature by Monday.”

Zack glanced at David. Yes, they were both still employed, but damn, it was going to be a busy week.

“Email me a copy of your final reports no later than Friday night. I’ll be home. I’ll be waiting.” Alex glared. He wasn’t finished.

Zack stilled. Here it comes. He braced himself.

“Screw Carducci. I’d have done the same thing.”

What have I gotten myself into?

Zack groaned. He was an ex-Marine sniper. By definition, a man of action. A dedicated covert consultant on The TEAM
,
he enjoyed the people he worked with. Most of the time he could handle any assignment his boss gave him, but this one was driving him crazy. He was used to tracking down twenty-one-year-old babes who wanted a good time. Little girls? Never.

He’d been at it since his boss left for Seattle the day before. So far, every search on a missing Asian girl around five or six years old had proved a dead end. There was no AMBER Alert, no reports of missing children, nothing. He’d barely broadened his search to the international arena when David tapped on his desk.

Zack looked up. “You finding anything yet?”

“No, but I have another idea. Let’s go visit her.” David’s leaning over his desk with an expectant look on his face told Zack plenty. No matter what he said next, he was already on his way to the hospital.

“Why?” Zack pushed back in his chair.

David, another Marine, hailed from the west coast and had served in
The Fighting 13
^th
out of Pendleton, California. The irony of a sniper being a devoted family man and father of four boys never ceased to amaze Zack. Yet that’s exactly who David was, as well as a devout Buddhist. He was as big a puzzle to Zack as were most married men in the office, Alex included.

“There might not be much she can tell us,” David said, “but we need to see how she’s dealing with her strange surroundings.”

“She still stable?”

David nodded. “I’ll drive.”

“Nope.” Zack snagged his jacket off the back of his chair. “Sorry, old man. I’ll drive. I’d like to get there today.”

The playful barb missed David completely.

“So how’s it work?” Zack asked once they were en route. Traffic was light as he maneuvered steadily through the busy D.C. traffic.

“How does what work?”

“You know, the whole Buddhist thing and being a sniper.” Zack had never asked before, but his curiosity got the best of him. Of all the agents on staff, David was the least prone to stress, anger, or emotion. The ability to control one’s emotions was a good skill set for a sniper. It just wasn’t one Zack employed twenty-four-seven. No. His peace of mind came from the sleek, black pearl Porsche he and David were cruising in. Pure pleasure, with four hundred and seventy-five horses under the hood, zero-to-sixty in three seconds if he put his foot in it, and a state of the art CDR audio system.

David owned a Toyota, zero-to-sixty in — what? Five minutes? Even the clothes they wore defined them. David was all business, suited up and professional. Zack wore his usual. Jeans. Golf shirt. Leather jacket. He shot a sideways glance at his senior agent. David was married with a wife, four boys, and a home in the ’burbs. How on earth was that living? Boring with a capital D-U-L-L.

Besides, could Zack help it if chicks liked that he was ex-military and built? He worked out. It showed. He liked that they liked. Plain and simple, he indulged the fairer gender, but he wasn’t stupid. Pleasure in all forms had its place. He just made sure it had enough room when it showed up and it knew when to leave. The biggest lesson he’d brought home from his many deployments around the globe was that life was short. Don’t screw it up.

“Why do you ask?”

“Guess I thought Buddhists were always peaceful,” Zack answered, “like the monks in the temples, all Zenned out or something.”

“Even Buddha in his wisdom understood the need for strong and good soldiers.”

There it was again, an unruffled way of listening and answering that Zack did not have and could not understand. “I guess the key word is good, huh?”

David nodded. “You and I are not like most people around us. We truly understand peace because we’ve chosen to be good soldiers. We know what it means to fight for peace. You’re not so different from me.”

Zack mulled David’s answer over as they pulled into the hospital zone. David made sense, but he was wrong. He and Zack were worlds apart.

After parking at the curb, they entered the hospital, checked with the information desk, and made their way to the third level. An older woman with a touch of gray at her temples opened the door to the girl’s room.

“I’m David Tao.” David extended a hand. “This is Zack Lennox.”

“You must be the gentlemen who found our little girl.” She ushered them in. “I’m Claire Langley, the Family Services child advocate assigned to this poor little girl. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to meet you at the emergency room when you brought her in. I had a very busy day.”

David nodded to Zack. “Zack here is the one who extracted her from the Tigers.”

“Good morning, ma’am.” Zack accepted her handshake, but she didn’t release him. Instead, she clasped his hand in both of hers and pulled him a step closer.

“You’re very brave,” Claire said, her kind blue eyes brimming with tears. “I’m so proud to know there are still good men like you in the world.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He accepted her gratitude, but then she leaned in closer and wrapped her motherly arms around his shoulders. It was enough to make a grown man cry. He patted her back and nodded. Thankfully, she didn’t draw it out.

“How is she?” he asked, to divert Claire’s attention.

The girl looked lost in the big hospital bed. Sad, almond-shaped eyes darted back and forth until David spoke to her with a few words in Chinese. Instantly, she locked onto him like radar, her little lower lip quivering. Zack watched the miracle unfold. The minute David sat on the edge of her bed, the tiny tyke scrambled onto his lap and buried her face inside his suit jacket. Right dialect or not, he must have looked or sounded familiar.

“My goodness. Let me get her back into bed,” Claire fussed. “You don’t need to—”

“I don’t mind,” David interrupted. “I have four sons. Is it okay if I hold her?”

“If you’re sure you don’t mind,” Claire replied. “She’s a darling little thing, isn’t she?” she asked Zack.

“Ahh, yeah. She is.” Who was he to disagree? The little gal was a danged cute kid. She deserved a lot more than a dismal life with a couple gangbangers. He hoped Claire found her a good home. Parents would be nice, too.

David rocked while she nestled inside his arms. He pulled the bed cover up over her to keep warm whatever limbs were not already inside his jacket. She’d calmed and turned into a baby ostrich. David obviously had another talent Zack didn’t.

“What happens to her now?” Zack asked.

“She’ll go into foster care until we can locate her family,” Claire explained. “If we can’t find them, she’ll be available for adoption. She’s a sweet little thing considering all she’s been through.”

“Do we know what she’s been through?” Zack asked.

“For one thing, she’s been drugged. There weren’t signs of sexual assault, but she hasn’t been taken care of. She’s very small for her age and underweight.” Claire had a sappy look on her face watching David. “Mr. Tao, can you get her to talk? I’ve tried, but she seems to relate to you better than me. I don’t think she understands a word I’ve said.”

“Sure. I’ll try.” He tugged the blanket off the girl’s face. She peeked out with eyes that didn’t smile in the slightest, her bottom lip stuck in a pout that made her look too serious for her tender age. He spoke softly in Chinese, but she just stared at him.

“What kind of drugs?” Zack asked, but Claire was no longer listening. Her eyes were glued on the drama between David and the girl. He’d covered her face again with a corner of the blanket. Slowly, he pulled it down over her forehead until just her eyes appeared. Without a word, he repeated the game one more time. Zack smiled. It wasn’t every day he saw his senior agent playing peek-a-boo.

David spoke in the soft musical Chinese language. Very quietly, she answered him back in a soft, two-syllable reply. He smiled and patted his chest, as if maybe he was telling her his name. She reached to touch him, her eyes bright with apprehension as four little fingertips touched his pressed white shirt right where he had just touched. A small word escaped her lips, but the poor thing kept her eyes on him the whole time.

He smiled encouragingly and spoke again. Slowly, she flattened her palm to his shirt, her eyes full of concern for the scary thing she was doing. When he nodded and smiled, she pulled her hand back. Slowly, she reached again, her eyes trained on him.

One more, softly uttered phrase slipped from her lips. He tapped her upturned nose with the tip of his index finger and spoke again. She nodded a quick, scared little nod. At last, her hand was flat against his ribs, but the act of courage proved too much. She whined, pulled the blanket over her face, and grunted until she was once again hidden from view.

Playtime was over.

David wrapped his arms around the tiny human ostrich, his head lowered while he took extra time making sure her feet and arms were covered. When at last he looked up, his eyes glistened. He cleared his throat and secured the blanket again, his hands smoothing over the tiny body latched onto his. Two soft syllables that sounded like “Shay shay,” rose from beneath the covers.

“I asked where her mother is,” he offered hoarsely as he began rocking. “She said, ‘
No mama’.
”

“Oh, the poor little thing.” Claire came to sit at the edge of the bed with him. “Did she tell you anything else? Her name, maybe?”

David cleared his throat and whispered, “Chai Yenn.”

Zack had to turn away. He’d held the baby girl. She needed a mother, damn it.

“She doesn’t know how old she is, but I’d guess maybe five,” David offered somberly. “It’s hard to tell. She’s very thin.”

“I’m so glad you came to visit,” Claire said as she reached for his shoulder. “Maybe now that I know her name, she won’t be quite so frightened of me. You’d be surprised how many little ones like this we’ve had lately.”

“How many?” Zack jumped at the chance to divert the topic. Dealing with lost children was always a heartbreaker.

“Didn’t you know?” Claire asked. “She’s the third in the last month, and they’ve all been Chinese girls. We’re working with several agencies–the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as the FBI. Chai Yenn is in much better condition, but she’s not the first.” Claire shook her head. “Ms. Mei Xing is working with me. She’s from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. I’m expecting her this morning if you’d care to hang around a little longer. You just might catch her.”

“Do we have time?” Zack asked David.

He should’ve known better than to ask. All he had to do was look at the sad but contented face of his friend. David had his arms full of a little girl with no mother. They had plenty of time.