Renegade's Rose Sneak Peek Excerpt (Unedited)
Book 6 of the Incognito Series
© Karen Wiesner
The Network is the world’s most covert organization with underground headquarters in Chicago beneath a front technology company called ETI. Having unchallenged authority and skill to disable and destroy criminals, the Network takes over where regular law enforcement leaves off in the mission for absolute justice. The price for that justice is high, requiring the life of every man and woman who serves. For them, there is no life and no love, only duty.
Oversight Committee: #1 (1st in Command): Chase Giovanni, Head in Washington, D.C.
Level 1 Operatives:
#2 (2nd in Command) Captain Shannon McKee, Liaison between Oversight and the Network
#3 (3rd in Command): Angelo Pluzetti, Head of Operations
#4 (4th in Command): Captain Ron Blair, Master Strategist
#5 (5th in Command): Roan Emory, Head Team Leader/Mission Coordinator (KIA) ^
#5 (5th in Command): Hunter Savage, Head Team Leader/Mission Cooridinator
Level 2 Lead Operatives:
Jocelyn Dominica, Psychiatrist
Rockwell ‘Vlad’ Vlademar, Weapons Master
Cara ‘Inspector Gadget’ Ross, Technology
Justine Fielding, Comm & Systems Analyst^^
Dr. Celine Savage, Medical
Level 3 Operative:
Lona Reznik, Head of Analysis
Level 3 Field Operatives:
Alpha Team:
Kirsten Ulrick, Leader**
Ashton Barnett, 1st Position**
Beta Team:
Noah Harlow, Leader
Rhiannon Murray, 1st Position
Fiona Verbana, 2nd Position
Level 4 Field Operatives:
Kyle Vincent, Red Team Leader (MIA)*
Dez Luttino, Green Team Leader
Natalie Francis, 2nd Position, Green Team ***
Level 6 Field Operative:
Reb Porter, 4th Position, Green Team ***
* NO ORDINARY LOVE, Book 1 of the Incognito Series
** UNTIL DEATH DO US PART, Book 2 of the Incognito Series
*** BOUNTY ON THE REBEL'S HEART, Book 3 of the Incognito Series
^ DEAD DROP, Book 4 of the Incognito Series
^^ UNDER THE SPELL, Book 5 of the Incognito Series
“We’ve got him,” Hunter Savage said under his breath. Instinctively, his hands clenched in victory. “We’ve got the Black Pope. And he’s mine.”
“Alpha and Beta Teams?” Lona Reznik guessed, knowing as well as he did that only the best would do for this mission.
Hunter shook his head without glancing up at the Head of Network Analysis. “Just Alpha. I don’t want Kovac catching even a whiff of us.”
“I’ll call over to Comm.”
“I want the teams assembled in under two hours,” he said, already stalking away.
“Who do you want reassigned to the Michum mission?” Lona called.
He turned back for an instant, and she said without betraying a hint of emotion, “Justine will ask.”
The thrill of victory brought with it an intense desire he knew better than to indulge.
Later.
“Green Team.”
Trying to tamp down on his growing excitement, Hunter made his way out through the underground compound the Network was headquartered. As the most covert organization in the world, sanctioned by the American government though known only by the highest officials, their primary mission for the past four years had been to bring down their arch enemy—Revolutionary Echelon Defenders.
Little was known about the terrorist group, but their Remote Command Centers (RCC) were heavily guarded and always mobile, to throw the Network off their location. The head of R.E.D. was believed to be a notorious figure aptly named the Black Pope. Rex Kovac. Only the highest level operatives within the group claimed access to him. Kovac had his hand in everything from Mexico politics to banking and sports, and, of course, terrorist activities. As his nickname implied, the man followed his own code of “morality”, requiring that everyone around him do the same. Both worshipped and feared by the people of Mexico, the man’s only Achilles’ Heel seemed to be his scandalous, public affairs with the crème of the crop. His wife, former renowned belly dancer, now a recluse, Tanya Kovac, turned a blind eye to his indiscretions. She’d stood beside him mutely since the two had begun making headlines together.
Captain Shannon McKee and Angelo Pluzetti—the Head of Network Operations and 3rd in Command, waited for him in McKee’s office.
“You got a solid location on Kovac?” McKee, 2nd in Command and Liaison between Oversight in Washington, D.C., said in disbelief.
In the four years they’d been aware that Kovac headed the elusive group, they’d never gotten more than a fuzzy photograph of the man’s back. He was that insulated.
“We’ve verified that Kovac is in one of his secure retreats in Haiti.”
“How accurate is the intel?” Angelo asked.
“Within ninety-nine percent. We’ll get him this time.”
Once upon a time, Angelo had both intimidated and inspired Hunter. He’d been the one to bring him and Celine into the Network long ago…so long ago, Hunter no longer thought about it. But he would never forget. Now that Hunter had moved permanently into Level 1 status, 5th in Command as Head Team Leader/Mission Coordinator, he no longer felt the same intimidation he once had of his mentor. Yet he would always feel grateful to Angelo, who’d believed in him and helped him find the confidence to succeed in a place where only the elite rose to power.
“My team will be mobilized to move out in under two hours. I’ll lead them myself. Our window of opportunity won’t be open long.”
“Kirsten can lead the team. We need you in Comm,” Angelo said.
Hunter shook his head. “I can’t risk it.” There was too much riding on this. If they got the Black Pope…if he did…
“Then I’ll take Comm.”
Hunter nodded toward his mentor.
“How soon can you have the mission parameters established?” McKee asked.
“An hour.”
She nodded. “We’ll be in Tactical at that time then.”
Hunter noted as he left that neither of them tried to remind him what was at stake. Did they trust him to handle this? He’d been only too aware that his predecessor had been called the most dangerous man in the world. The title had fit Roan Emory accurately. But Emory was dead. R.E.D. had put a hit out on him three years ago. In the process of relentlessly pursuing and taking out the Network’s best operative, R.E.D. had nearly disabled them beyond repair.
Hunter was now in the role of the most dangerous man in the world. His superiors had bestowed on him a responsibility he’d taken seriously. He’d been training for this since childhood. He couldn’t fail to recognize his destiny. Since Emory’s death, Hunter had gone after R.E.D. with a vengeance, taking out half of the organization and reducing their power considerably. But not enough. Emory had said it four years ago: Kovac was the key to toppling the organization.
Now Hunter had a chance to do just that. He could prove to himself and anyone who doubted it that he was equal to his predecessor. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, he would earn the title of the most dangerous man in the world.
With the mission briefing completed and awaiting final approval from his superiors, Hunter grabbed a rose from the Psych Department. Jocelyn Dominica, Network psychiatrist, always kept numerous vases of them in the department. With it tucked inside his arm, he headed back to Analysis. The department was buzzing with excitement as they continued to monitor and verify Kovac’s whereabouts in Haiti. Just as he’d hoped, Lona was in her office at the moment.
They’d been together for only a short time now. Last night had been their third spent in each other’s arms. Relationships were forbidden in a place like the Network. Hunter was only too aware that they also remained nearly impossible to continue here. Consequence for getting caught: a bullet in the brain. Yet he’d taken a chance again. Lona was the first woman he’d allowed himself to become involved with since the disastrous Fiona Verbana affair over eight years earlier.
Lona was a slightly older than him, but he’d noticed her dark, sensual eyes, her wit, and the way her smile brought something real to the surface inside him for the first time in many years. The soles of his boots resounding on the concrete, he thought about the first time they’d seen each other in the privacy of her suite above ETI. She’d forbidden all talk of current and upcoming missions or work of any kind, and he’d relaxed in a way he couldn’t remember doing ever. Over the exquisite dinner she’d prepared, they’d spoken of a mutual love for music and personal tastes. Later, they danced, wrapped in each other’s arms as if it was the most natural thing in the world. The scent of her hair had all but drugged him, as surely as the petal-softness of her supple skin.
Would he ever forget the way she’d sighed when he stroked the back of her neck, slid fingers into her hair? The way she turned her face up to him, her mouth slightly open? When he kissed those generous, warm and moist pillows, he knew how right it was for them to be together. They made love for hours, exploring and pleasuring each other until they were both sated for the time being. The next morning, they returned to their duties, professionals who could separate their personal lives from their work. Yet he felt stronger, almost invincible. The same had happened both of the times they spent together since.
Quickly, he reined in the surge of arousal that came with the memory of how wild their lovemaking had been the previous night. Nothing was taboo, nothing was too intimate…
And today he’d found Kovac. He felt truly invincible. Taking the chance again had been worth it.
She looked up expectantly when he opened and closed the door of her office behind him.
“Mission brief complete?” she asked.
He nodded. “Awaiting approval.”
Moving into the room, he rounded her desk, where she stood before the oversized halovideo with the sat scans of Haiti up. Her gaze focused on the rose in his hand. The last thing he expected was her frown. He decided she needed to know his intentions, and he shifted close enough to stroke her face with the rose petals. “After the mission, I’d love to make you dinner in my suite…if you’re free.”
Her frown didn’t lessen. She ignored the rose, her gaze instead meeting his. Her expression was anything but inviting.
Not sure what had her in this mood, he withdrew the flower and dropped it on her desk.
“You don’t know when you’ll return from this mission,” she said in a cold tone.
He shrugged, still feeling invulnerable. “Shouldn’t take too long. We could—”
She straightened her spine, taking a step back from him. “There is no ‘we’. I don’t even know what you’re talking about, Hunter. We’ve been together…two times. It’s hardly—”
“Three times,” he corrected deliberately, reclaiming the step she’d taken away from him. No way would he allow her to forget even one moment.
Her unwarranted attitude forced an edgy uncertainty into him. Was this the same woman who’d lay beneath him, writhing and moaning his name like a liturgy only hours ago? Her dark hair had been in a tangle against her pillow, beads of perspiration between her gently bouncing breasts. At this moment, he could imagine those drops of sweat freezing to ice with her iciness.
Her eyes narrowed. “Where do you think you are, Hunter?”
Was that what caused her complete about-face? She was worried about getting caught by their superiors? McKee was enforcing Network law, but Angelo, Jocelyn, Celine—most of those at Level 1 and 2—overlooked relationships as long as they didn’t affect mission performance and weren’t flouted. As a Level 3 operative, it was more of a concern for Lona than it was for him.
He put his hand on her arm and stroked it. “I’ll protect you, baby,” he promised in a soft tone that matched his caress.
She shook his hand off. “I don’t require protection. I enjoyed our times together, but that’s all it is—time, Hunter. It doesn’t mean anything. Nothing means anything here, except what we do in the pursuit of justice. Your mission is what matters. Or have you forgotten?”
Forgotten? She had the nerve to suggest he’d forgotten his mission? Her cruelty abraded like sandpaper to his pride. She’d said exactly the wrong thing to exactly the wrong person.
Hell, he’d been right eight years ago when he’d been burned badly by allowing himself to feel. To want more than he could possibly expect in a place where there was no life, no love. Only shadows and unsatisfied longing existed here.
He tried to forget over the next half hour, tried not to think of the way her face looked when they lay quietly in each other’s arms, half asleep and content. The way she purred when he woke her by stroking her nipples until they turned to absolutely fierce points begging for his consummate attention. Her husky chuckle when he came up behind her in the kitchen of her suite, removed the dishes from her hands, and pulled her body back into his. When his fingers slid down inside her panties, she’d been waiting for him, so eager, she’d already been half there when she turned right into his kiss. No other woman had ever begged him the way she did, before, during and after. No one made him feel like he was the only man who could possibly satisfy her.
Damn, she was good if that’d all been just an act.
He didn’t want to remember any of her softness that convinced him she was vulnerable to him. That she felt the same things he did. Maybe not love, but enjoyment. Satisfaction. Maybe even peace.
What did I expect? In a place like this? Only my sister Celine is soft and vulnerable. She’s been trained, too, but she’s insular. She doesn’t go out in the field, where it’s absolutely necessary to be in control, disciplined, unyielding. Lona’s inside the compound, but she goes out into the field. She’s the way she has to be to survive…but what the hell was all that if not…a beginning? The start of something that might last, might turn into something more?
“All it is is time, Hunter. It doesn’t mean anything.” None of that meant anything. How could it have meant nothing to her?
Even when it was time to head to Tactical for the mission briefing, his mind wouldn’t let it go. He saw Alpha Team leaders, Kirsten Ulrick and Ash Barnett, secret lovers in the sense that their superiors had never caught them, and he wondered what barriers they’d had to get past to allow themselves to be vulnerable to another. No, the threat of a bullet in the brain if caught only stopped new recruits. Level 4 and higher…they were the best operatives. They knew how to avoid getting caught.
He saw Jocelyn Dominica and remembered what he hadn’t thought about in years. She’d initiated him into his sexuality when he was eighteen. She’d seduced him, over and over, all night, leaving him so exhausted, he hadn’t noticed her departure. When he saw her the next day, he might as well have been dead in her eyes. She convincingly acted like he was nothing more than a recruit, a trainee, an operative, from that day forward to this one. If she remembered their night together, the level of intimacy they’d shared, he’d be surprised enough to fall off his chair.
It’s the kind of men and women the Network trains. They want machines. A machine doesn’t feel anything. I don’t wanna feel anything. Ever again.
When Lona arrived, she deliberately took a chair on the opposite side as he sat at the long, semi-circle briefing table. For a moment of pure insanity, he stared at her and sensed her discomfort. He wanted desperately to bring her to the point where she couldn’t function under his gaze.
But he forced his glare away. Focus on the mission. It’s all that matters.
Hunter picked up the remote control and pushed a button. The halovideo popped up in the center of the briefing table. He keyed the briefing images he needed to brief his team on the Black Pope mission into the console.
Once this assignment is complete, once I have Kovac and my position as the most dangerous man in the world is secure…I’ll be the machine I need to be. Nothing else will matter but my duty to Celine and to the Network.
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