Exit Strategy. Shirlee McCoy

beard and balding head that made him look more like a young Saint Nick than the head of a security team. He wasn’t someone to be messed with, though, and Cyrus doubted he was easily fooled. He wouldn’t like that the enemy had infiltrated his team, and that’s what Cyrus was. An enemy to the cause. Whatever that might be.

      “You got everything squared away?” John asked.

      He knew the answer. There wasn’t a doubt in Cyrus’s mind that John had been glued to the security monitor, watching the interaction between his newest security team member and his prisoner.

      “What do you think?” Cyrus asked, because that was his persona—Louis Morgan. Kicked out of the army for bucking authority, a loose cannon who lived by his own moral code. Loyal to whoever paid the most money.

      “Answer the question,” John barked.

      “She’s handcuffed. Don’t know why you’re bothering. Doubt she has more than a couple of days left.” Cyrus shrugged like it didn’t matter, like he didn’t care that an injured woman was being held prisoner in the compound.

      “You think she needs a doctor?”

      “Not my business whether she does or not,” Cyrus responded. “I’m paid to do what you tell me. I did it.”

      The answer must have pleased John. He smiled. Not an easy happy smile. The predatory smile of a killer. “You just keep that in mind, Louie. We’ll both be happier that way.”

      He walked back inside, and Cyrus followed because it was expected. He was on night shift, working until dawn. It was his first all-nighter, and from what he gathered, it meant he was moving up in John’s esteem. No reason why he wouldn’t be. He’d done everything he’d been asked, and his cover story was faultless and foolproof. All the paperwork in order, all the background stuff put in place by HEART.

      “What else do we have on the agenda for tonight?” he asked as he entered the building.

      “We’ve got a shipment coming in at two.” John glanced at his watch. “You’re going to help unload.”

      Cyrus’s pulse jumped. He’d witnessed a couple of deliveries being made, but he had no idea what was in any of the boxes that had been unloaded and locked into storage units at the edge of the compound. He’d asked and been told to mind his own business. He had, because he’d still been searching for Lark, and he hadn’t wanted to get himself into trouble before he located her.

      “You want me to run patrol while I’m waiting?” he asked, making sure to keep his expression neutral.

      “I want you to go back to the trailer.”

      “The one with the woman in it?”

      “What other one have we been discussing tonight?” John responded as he walked into the monitor room. Seven computers. Seven security guards. None of the men looked all that excited to be watching the screens. The way Cyrus heard things, nothing much ever happened at Amos Way. People in the community followed the rules because they wanted to. They’d come to break free of temptation and sin, to aspire to the higher living that their leader preached. That had worked out well for Elijah. Whatever he’d started here in Amos Way, whatever secret he’d hired John and his team to protect, it had been safe for a long time.

      Not any longer, though. Not if Cyrus had anything to do with it.

      “I want you to go back here.” John tapped the screen that showed the inside of the trailer. Lark lay exactly where Cyrus had left her, lying on her back, her hands on her stomach. Only someone who knew she was holding something would notice that one hand was fisted and the other was slack.

      “Why?” he asked, and John frowned.

      “You know what, Louie? I don’t like questions. I like my men to wait for orders and to keep quiet until they get them.”

      “Then maybe you should talk a little faster,” he responded and wasn’t surprised when the bored kids watching the monitors glanced their way.

      “Maybe you should watch your mouth,” John snapped.

      “Sorry.”

      John eyed him for a moment, then nodded. “Good. You need to learn the rules, and you need to follow them. That’s the way things are here. Now,” he said, tapping the screen again. “Back to our problem. The woman took something from Elijah. He wants it back. You want to earn your place on my team, you’re going to get her to tell you where she hid it.”

      “You got rules of engagement?” he asked.

      “Nah. Anything goes. Just make sure you get the information before two. We ship her out when the delivery comes in.”

      Ship her out?

      Was that code word for terminate?

      He didn’t ask. Louis Morgan wouldn’t care.

      He nodded. “You got a place I can question her?”

      “What’s wrong with the trailer?”

      “Too close to the community. I wouldn’t want anyone to hear her scream.”

      John frowned. “I didn’t say torture her. I said question her.”

      Maybe the guy had some morals. Maybe he wasn’t as far down the rung of humanity as Cyrus had thought. “You said no rules.”

      “One rule. Don’t kill her. Two. Don’t bring the community down on our heads. We’re the good guys here, Louie. You gotta keep that in mind.”

      “That’s exactly why I want to bring her where no one will hear our little exchange.” He smiled. “You leave it to me, boss. I’ll get it done.” Happily, because this was the perfect opportunity to get Lark out of the trailer without having the entire security team come down on them both. That would be a good start to getting her out of the compound, but it would only be a start. The compound was almost as well guarded as Fort Knox.

      John hesitated. Then nodded. “Do what you have to do to get Elijah’s property back.”

      “What is it she took?”

      “That’s not something you need to know.”

      “I can’t ask for it, if I don’t know what it is.”

      John scowled, his fingers brushing the handle of his Glock. “You questioning my methods, Louie?”

      “Just trying to get a handle on the mission,” Cyrus responded.

      “She’ll know what it is. Get the information, and there’s a good bonus in it for you.”

      “And a move from the common barracks?” he asked, because he figured John would expect him to.

      “That, too.”

      “Then, I guess I’d better get started.” He stalked from the house without looking back, walked back to the trailer. He’d spent the past few days studying the compound’s layout, memorizing the location and angle of every security camera. There weren’t many places that weren’t under surveillance. The old church was one of them. It was also one of the only buildings that had a computer in it. If he could access that, he could hack into the mainframe that ran the security cameras, cut them off and get Lark out.

       One thing at a time, Mitchell.

      He could almost hear Stella Silverstone’s voice. They’d been on more than one mission together, and she’d have accompanied him on this one if he hadn’t been working for free. She’d offered to go with him anyway, but he didn’t want to owe her. Not the way he owed Essex.

      Not the way he owed Amber.

      He shoved the thought away, refusing to think about the promise he made, the one he hadn’t been able to fulfill.

      He unlocked the trailer door, glanced over his shoulder and saw John slip behind an outbuilding.

      The guy