Page 19

Behind him, he could hear a vehicle rev to life. Fuck… Just that could be enough to spook him.

Haven waited, breath held, as he watched the man. The guy was looking just past him, as if looking at the Black Orchid, ignoring the screaming woman. Then his eyes shifted slightly to the left, in his direction. Haven knew then that the soldier was enhanced, because camouflage or no, the guy knew exactly where he was standing.

Then a truck rounded the corner of the huge wedding venue, engine screaming. Haven wasn’t sure who it belonged to, but he could feel Aiden inside, along with another strong aura.

The enhanced soldier spun around and literally ripped the woman out of the van, throwing her easily to the concrete. Her friend screamed and held her phone up, obviously recording. Haven took off after the yellow van, dropping the camouflage to conserve his energy. His legs pumped as he raced across the parking lot.

The truck came up on his right. Haven leaped into the bed, then moved to stand behind the cab. He leaned as the truck screeched around a concrete curb and gunned it for the van. They were nearing the exit to the shopping center.

Closing his eyes, he held out a hand toward the van, throwing energy out. Two Denver PD cars materialized from the left, slamming to a stop in front of the van. The apparitions were incredibly detailed, and it took a lot of power to make two separate cops get out of the cruisers and draw down on the van.

The van slammed on the brakes, then the wheel turned and Haven thought he was going to jump the curb, but the snow was piled there. He would never make it out of the pile. Instead, the driver let the van coast as he jumped out and took off running around the side of the shopping center.

Haven dematerialized the cops and pounded on the roof of the truck, urging whoever was driving to go faster. The running soldier circled around the center, and he was semi trapped. The snowplows had pushed giant mounds of snow to the edge of the parking lot, too big to jump over. The truck revved and drew close enough to the soldier that Haven could jump out and go after him. He chased him down within seconds, and tackled him to the ashy, dirty parking lot.

Pain ripped through his mind, debilitating and sharp, and the guy rolled him over. Haven tried to throw up shields, but he’d already gotten inside, digging through Haven’s thoughts. Opening his eyes, he stared up into the face of his attacker. The guy was about his age, probably, but there was a hardness to his dark eyes. As well as a scar that ran down the left side of his face. One of his hands reached down toward Haven’s weapon.

“American scum,” the man snarled. “Who do you think you are?”

When he couldn’t reach the gun, he drew back a fist and slammed it into Haven’s jaw, but Haven saw it coming. He turned his head just enough that it glanced off his jaw. Haven popped his own fist up into the guy’s gut, but it barely budged him. The guy had about fifty pounds on him.

Then the enhanced soldier got tackled from the side. Aiden immediately had the upper hand and began whaling on the guy. “Why are you after my daughter?” he shouted, but the guy only grinned with a bloody mouth.

“Your daughter, hm? She tastes lovely. So innocent…”

Haven knew he needed to get Aiden off the guy before he killed him. His fists were flying, over and over again, bloody, but the enhanced soldier continued to smile. Aiden reached for his gun.

Luckily, the driver of the truck was the guy with the skull trim, Harper, who towered over them all. Harper pulled Aiden off, then slammed the bloody soldier over onto his face. He zip-tied his hands together, then stood him up with one hand under his right arm. He patted the guy down, removing a 9mm and a six-inch knife from the man’s belt. “So, what are we doing with him?” Harper growled, tossing the weapons into the open truck cab. “You know Denver PD will be here any minute to deal with the women.”

Sirens screamed in the distance. Yep, there they were. Should they let him go with them? The PD probably wouldn’t be able to physically contain him. And they certainly wouldn’t get answers from the trained soldier. “Call Rose,” he told Aiden. “We’ll haul his ass back to Virginia and do a proper interrogation on him.”

Aiden nodded and took a breath, the wild leaving his eyes. Haven understood he wanted to protect Fallon, but if he killed the guy they wouldn’t get anything from him. And they wouldn’t know who was targeting her.

Aiden put his phone to his ear and had a terse conversation. It sounded like he argued a little, before nodding slightly. “Roger that,” he said, before hanging up on the CIA. “Rose is sending a team from the Denver office.”

Haven scowled and turned Aiden away from the soldier who was watching them intently. They won’t have anyone enhanced with them.

No, but they can sedate his ass and ship him back under guard.

Haven didn’t like the idea, but he wasn’t the one in charge. If Aiden and Agent Rose thought sedating the guy was enough, he’d let it go. Once they got back to Virginia they’d have a chance to interrogate him.

Did you notice the accent?

Aiden gave a single nod. Russian, maybe?

Maybe.

Haven was surprised there was only one soldier, though. They were usually sent out as two-man teams…

A chill rolled over him as he looked at the smirking soldier and read him. Had he been caught too easily? Aiden, call Angela right now! There may be another soldier. This isn’t the one who went through the house.

Aiden blinked and immediately speed-dialed his phone. There was no answer. Haven felt the fear that rolled over his friend, and he reached out. “She may just be busy…”

Aiden pressed the button again, but it just went to voicemail.

The restrained soldier chuckled. “Having problems getting through?”

Aiden turned and belted him with a huge roundhouse punch. The man collapsed in Harper’s hold, out cold. Unceremoniously, Harper threw the man in the back of the truck. Haven climbed into the bed as well, to watch him. Then they sped back to the Black Orchid.