Wraith (Special Forces: Operation Alpha) Read online

  He disappeared inside but Amelia wrapped her arms around herself. She glanced back at the truck then at the house. Giving in, she picked up her purse from the front passenger seat and made her way into the warm depths of the cabin and closed the door.

  After removing her shoes, she followed the sound of cupboards opening until she found Liam in the kitchen. She could actually get a good look at him now and found herself liking what she saw. Though she’d never been attracted to facial hair, but on Liam—every carnal piece of her dusted themselves off and sparked to life. His hair seemed recently cut, and his wide shoulders flexed under his movements. To make it worse, he wasn’t wearing his coat and she could see just how muscular he was.

  “I take it Leonard is dead,” Liam said, dumping some coffee into a filter and closing the maker.

  “Why would you think he wasn’t alive?”

  “He wouldn’t have sent you to me unless he was gone, or something is really wrong.”

  “I don’t know. My father hasn’t been around in over ten years.” Amelia leaned against the doorframe. “Then I get two letters from him in a day, go home to some van parked outside my house and everything inside is either cut or smashed to shit. Then my best friend tells me some cop was asking questions about me. I may not know what’s going on, but this joker wasn’t a cop.”

  “You’re right.” Liam didn’t look at her. He merely kept moving around the kitchen putting together a plate of food then sliding it slowly toward her with a large finger. “Your cell phone?”

  “I turned it off, took the battery out and dropped the pieces in some water at home.” Amelia explained. She made no move for the plate. “He said it could be traced.”

  “Did he send you anything?”

  “Yeah. A new identity, phone, money and your address. What’s going on? How do you know my father?”

  “Eat something and then we’ll make up the guestroom for you,” Liam said. “It’s not much but it will have to do until we have to move.”

  “Move? What?”

  “We’ll need to go.”

  “Go where? Give me something—please?”

  “Your father did a very stupid, stupid thing when you were a baby and now I have to keep you from paying for it.”

  “What does any of his bullshit have to do with me? He hasn’t been much of a father to me after the age of six so why am I in the middle of all this?”

  “Look, I need to do some research and talk to a few people,” Liam said. “It’s to confirm a few things so I can know what I can tell you without facing treason charges.”

  Amelia’s head was spinning.

  Treason?

  What. The. Actual. Fuck?

  Her stomach growled almost drowning out the questions in her head. Still, she walked into the room and picked up the fork on the side of her plate as the wolf strutted in. Jumping, she dropped the fork and he growled at her.

  “Doc, behave.” Liam warned softly.

  “Seriously—why do you own a wolf? Is this even a thing?”

  “I don’t own him.” Liam eyed the pet. “You’re going to have to learn not to be so tense around him.”

  “It’s a wolf. Why do you have a wolf in your house? I’m pretty sure it’s not legal to have a pet wolf.”

  “I’ve had him since he was a pup. He’s my family. Just because he’s illegal doesn’t make him less so. Besides, I don’t want him for his fur and if anyone ever tried, I’d make certain they lived long enough to regret it.”

  Liam left her alone with Doc and Amelia tried focusing on the food in front of her. Suddenly she wasn’t hungry but would kill for some of the coffee he’d been brewing. Searching the cupboards, she found a black mug and rinsed it at the sink. She quickly poured some coffee into her cup before sliding the pot back in before another drop fell through the filter.

  Like a boss!

  By the time Liam returned, she’d gotten through half her mug, yet she was still shivering.

  “You should change,” he said.

  “I didn’t bring…I mean, I didn’t think I would…”

  “Come, I should be able to find a shirt or something. We can hang your clothes by the fire to get them dried out.”

  “Don’t you have a dryer?”

  He eyed her with something akin to incredulousness. “A dryer is not a necessity.”

  “I disagree.”

  If he heard her, Liam didn’t comment. He walked her through the small living room with the unlit fireplace, then up a few steps and down a short hall. He motioned for her to enter the room ahead of him but he stood by the door. “This will be you. I’ll go find you something to put on.”

  Amelia was looking around the room but when she turned to reply, Liam was already gone. “Thanks,” she said to the empty doorway. The curtains had been drawn so she closed them and though she was tempted to bounce on the bed, she remembered she’d been on her back in snow minutes before.

  Liam returned and handed her a shirt. She held it up. “Um…”

  “There hasn’t been a woman in this cabin for over fifteen years,” Liam told her as though reading her mind. “The t-shirt is all I have.”

  “It’s fine.”

  He left her again.

  Gay.

  Amelia sighed. That was always the case—the sexy ones were either married, gay or in prison.

  She checked the hall then closed the door. There wasn’t a lock on it and it slightly unnerved her. Still, she stood behind it, removed her clothes and slipped into the shirt. It had to be one of his—it swallowed her curves and fell almost to her knees. Once she’d changed, she ensured the shirt was all the way down before grabbing her wet clothes and made her way out to find him. Amelia found Liam hunched down before a freshly built fire staring in.

  “I didn’t get to say it earlier but thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me yet.” He continued staring into the flames. “We have a long way to go.”

  Chapter 3

  As Wraith chucked wood into the hearth and lit it, his thoughts were one jumbled mess. Nothing about this sat well with him. He knew, the men after Amelia would not stop and he’d wind up dragged back into the life he’d just sworn to Tex he had left behind. His little stint in Russia told him he’d been way too old for the James Bond bullshit. Aside from his age, Liam no longer had the patience for it either.

  But he couldn’t walk away from this.

  Doc entered the room, his claws sliding across the hardwood, and lay on the floor beside Wraith. The wolf lifted a paw to Wraith’s thigh which always made Wraith smile. For some reason, whenever he was confused about something, Doc seemed to know. Wraith took a moment to rub the wolf’s belly.

  “Yeah, I know,” he said softly as if Doc had asked him a question. “I know I promised. But you have to help those in need, right buddy?”

  Doc playfully batted at Wraith’s hand and he chuckled.

  That was before Amelia’s presence filled the small space.

  When he faced her, Wraith fought to keep his reaction to her dressed in one of his shirts to himself. He knew he shouldn’t stare so he turned again to Doc. But even as he scratched his pet behind the ears, Wraith couldn’t help thinking of the way the white material fell softly against her chocolate thighs.

  “You should get some sleep.” Wraith advised. “It’s too late to do much of anything tonight.”

  “And you seriously think I’ll be able to sleep?”

  “Your mind is all jumbled.” Wraith risked it to look at her again. “I get it. But try.”

  Without another word, Wraith left her with Doc and locked himself in the tiny space he’d added to the cabin to be his office. He inhaled, held the breath, exhaled.

  What did Leonard get him into? And why send his daughter—his curvy, flawless daughter—to Kirkland Lake? Wraith pressed his back against the door and closed his eyes, trying to calm the trembling in his body. Everything from her thighs, to the swells of her breasts peeking out at the neck of his shirt, to the ba
re shoulder where the material had fallen away pulled at Wraith.

  “This is what happens when you go off to live in the woods.” Wraith muttered. “This is only because she’s the first woman to look at you in a long time. Nothing else.”

  Shaking his wrists, Wraith counted three steps from the door then turned left for two steps. He pushed the small sofa out of the way and pulled up the flooring. He knelt and reached into the hole and yanked out a black duffle bag.

  Settling it on the floor, he sat and unzipped it. He pulled out a Glock G43, 9mm handgun and ejected the magazine. It was full. Next was a Glock G26. He ensured it was full and set it gently on the floor beside his leg. At the bottom of the bag were two passports and a hundred thousand dollars. Glancing over his shoulders, he quickly carried the bag to his bed and packed some clothing on top of the money, then set the bag by the door.

  Wraith couldn’t believe he was just jumping right back into the life. When his time on the JTF2 ended, he swore he was finished. Yet, Wolf called and off he went again. After Russia, he once again promised himself it would be the final time. Then, Leonard’s daughter came knocking and he didn’t even think twice. The truth was, Wraith barely knew Leonard. He’d met the man a couple of times through Cookie on Wolf’s team. But it didn’t stop this mess from landing on his doorstep. The promise was between Tex and Leonard. Wraith thought Tex promising was a bad idea. Leonard was the kind of man who didn’t know when to give up. He stuck his nose in places he shouldn’t and damn the consequences. His kind of living had probably cost him his life.

  Sure, Wraith never once thought anything would come of said promise. But in their line of work, anything was possible. He fell into the seat behind his desk and opened his laptop. It took him a bit of work, but he managed to log into a remote server and brought up the chat room. He tapped away at the keyboard, trying to figure out the right algorithms to get a hold of Tex. But the damn hacker set up his location so if anyone tried finding him, it would route them through numerous countries and even then, Tex’s I.P address kept fluctuating. Finally, his old friend’s sleepy eyes filled the screen.

  “Wraith? Is that you?” Tex asked. “Do you know what time it is? I have to be on a flight to Germany tomorrow, man. Gimme a break.”

  “I know, and I wouldn’t have called you this late if something wasn’t wrong. But you will never guess who showed up on my doorstep earlier tonight.”

  “You know I suck at this game.” Tex shifted in his seat and leaned closer to the screen.”

  “Leonard’s daughter.”

  Tex perked up. “Amelia? I didn’t get a heads up from Leo.”

  “Apparently, he sent her to me—which means shit has hit the fan.”

  “No shit?”

  Wraith pressed his lips into a thin line. “No shit.”

  “Have you heard from him?” Tex was busy tapping away at his keyboard. “I figured he’d give me the heads up—you barely knew the guy.”

  “The thought had crossed my mind. But you’re kinda far and she lives here.” Wraith rubbed his eyes. “So, it makes a little sense.”

  “Is she okay?”

  “Yeah. She’s either sleeping or getting mauled by Doc.”

  “Doc’s a good man.” Tex laughed. “He would never do that. Tell me what you need.”

  “They say knowledge is power.” Wraith eased back in his seat. “Find Leonard.”

  “I’ve been trying. His credit cards are silent. So is his bank account. His key card has not accessed his condo and his car hasn’t shown up on any cameras in days.”

  “Then this means…” Wraith’s voice cracked.

  “Yeah.” Tex tuned from his keyboard to level his gaze on him. “I’ll keep searchin’ in the background for him just in case he’s just in hidin’ but I’m not holdin’ my breath. Tell me what you need right now. What’s the plan?”

  “No plan.” Wraith admitted. “Just find me something I can use.”

  “Anything in particular?”

  “Who’s after the Lala now.”

  Tex rubbed his eyes. “Man, I always thought if I never hear that damn name again it’d be too soon. To think a man would bring his child into this mess makes me sick.”

  “I know, but focus.”

  “I am. I’ll hit you back.”

  Before Wraith could say anything else, Tex was gone. Wraith hated when the computer genius popped in and out, but didn’t call back. Instead, he let himself out of the office and wandered through the house. He found Amelia asleep in the sofa in front of the fire with a book lying on her chest. For a moment he watched her, the way the book rose and fell with her breathing. Shaking his head, Wraith grabbed a blanket from the back of the sofa and draped it over her after picking up the book.

  Death of a Salesman.

  Shit—is this mine or hers?

  He set it on the coffee table and watched as Doc stretched himself out in front of the sofa. Wraith knew what the action meant. For some reason, the wolf liked Amelia and he would stay with her. Pressing his lips into a thin line, he turned off the light, ensured the heat was at a tolerable level with the fire slowly dying and made his way to his bedroom. But Wraith knew no matter how hard he tried, he wouldn’t be getting any sleep.

  Most of the night was spent standing at the window. A few times he got dressed and trudged through the almost knee-high snow to the main road. He checked his land around the cabin before returning. Amelia was still asleep. The last time he checked on her before morning, Doc was laying by her feet on the sofa.

  In the wee hours of the morning, his computer chimed and sprung to life.

  “Damn it, man!” Wraith growled. “What’d I tell you about doing that?”

  Tex smiled like a shark. “Not like you’d be busy in the carnal sense. So what else would you be doing?”

  “Smartass.” Wraith muttered irritably. “Do you have something for me or not?”

  “I got a whole bunch of stuff,” Tex said before tapping away at his keyboard. Instantly, his picture slid to the left side of Wraith’s screen and a bunch of information popped up on the right. “Okay. The people who are after the painting are the Russians.”

  “The Russians—who specifically?”

  A picture phased onto the screen.

  “The chatter on dark web says it’s this guy. Vladimir Storogenko. I picked up footage from outside the blackbirds place…”

  “How…” Wraith asked.

  “Now, you should know better than that.”

  “You’re right. I probably don’t wanna know.” Wraith muttered. He should have known better. “Go on.”

  Another set of pictures cropped up onto the screen.

  “These are the guys watching her place. See the tattoo on his neck? It’s the symbol for the Shayka gang from Omsk. They used to deal in petty things—in respects to any other hardcore gangs. But startin’ two years ago they’ve graduated to bigger and better things—murder for hire, serious drugs, guns, human traffickin’.”

  “Which would explain why I haven’t heard about them. They hit the scene after I was out.”

  “Precisely.”

  “It would make sense for Russians to be after the Lala now,” Wraith said thoughtfully. “The last place Hemmingway had it was in Russia. And their leader is this Storogenko guy?”

  “Yeah. You see, none of the Shayka makes a move without this cat say so. If they’re after the Blackbird, it’s on his orders.”

  Wraith rubbed the back of his neck. “What does this guy want with the Lala though? Sure, it’s pricy but it’s not like he’d be able to move it through the black market without setting off a shit load of bells. It’s a liability for anyone.”

  Tex stopped typing to level his attention on Wraith. “Listen man, there’s the black market and then there’s the black market—know what I mean? If he wants to move it and not get caught, he’d be able to move it and not get caught.”

  “I was afraid of that,” Wraith said. “He probably wants it to fund his growing
organization.”

  “My thoughts exactly.” Tex tilted his neck one way then the next. “Listen, I have to get ready to head out. If this guy is after Blackbird, you’re going to need some firepower…whoa! Wait a minute.”

  “What?”

  “You have that look on your face.”

  “What look?” Wraith asked.

  “The one which says you’re about to do something stupid.”

  Wraith smiled. “Nothing stupid. I figure if there’s going to be a war I might as well take it to them. Get this thing over with and get the Blackbird back into her regular life.”

  “You know better. There is no going back.”

  Wraith exhaled long and hard. Tex was right. “I’m hoping, for her sake, you’re wrong.”

  “I’ll get you firepower and a ride to Russia, but I can only get you as far as Chelyabinsk. Once you get there, you’re on your own getting to Omsk and back to Chelyabinsk.”

  “It’ll be fine.”

  “You need papers?”

  “No, not all my old ones were burned my last time in. I don’t know why I hung onto them but, I guess they’re coming handy.”

  “Okay good. I’ll set up a care package for you in Kurgan.”

  “Thanks.”

  “The plane leaves in three days,” Tex said. “Be at the Kirkland Lake Airport at 9 p.m for pick up.”

  “All right.”

  “Hit me up if you need me.”

  Wraith promised he would and after Tex was gone, he rubbed the back of his neck and descended the stairs to the sound of someone in the kitchen. At the door, he leaned his shoulder against the frame, watching Amelia peer intently into a steaming pan. “You don’t have to cook anything.”

  She gasped and spun to look at him, spatula hefted in the air.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  “Morning.” Amelia went back to her pot. “I’m making pancakes. It’s all I could find.”

  Wraith nodded needlessly and stepped further into the room. “I know your father hasn’t been around much, but when he was, do you remember if he mentioned the name Storogenko?”