by Juniper Hart
Her dream flooded through her in a torrent. Something was very wrong.
“Damon?” she demanded, sitting up. Nausea overcame her as she moved but she forced herself into a sitting position on the bed as she stared at him. “What’s wrong?”
He scoffed and held up his hand. Her blood became ice chips as she realized what he was holding.
“What are you doing with my phone?” she asked, trying to muster a note of annoyance into her tone, but the words quivered even to her own ears. She had fallen asleep with the burner beside her and powered on.
What did he see?
Damon stalked closer to her, his eyes flashing with fury as he threw the device onto the mattress beside her.
“I suppose I’m picking up messages for you,” he hissed. “You’ve had a few missed calls and a crapload of texts.”
Oh no. Had it been Lucien, Laz, and Orion?
Her mouth parted, her eyes pleading as she looked at him.
“Damon…” Liv whispered. “It’s not what—”
“My father called several times,” he went on. “His last text is insisting you send him points for extraction. Apparently, he’s getting tired of asking.”
Liv closed her eyes as the world seemed to fall apart around her.
“Damon, I swear—”
“Don’t worry,” Damon interjected, his words cutting. “You don’t have to make yourself scarce. You can have him pick you up here. We’ll be long gone by that time.”
“What?” Liv cried. “Damon, wait!”
Without another word, he spun on his heel and stormed from the bedroom, leaving the tears to spill down Liv’s cheeks for the first time in her life.
17
There were no words to describe what Damon was feeling as he herded the Santos family into Liv’s Kia.
The Damon who had arrived in Bogota almost five months earlier would never have taken the car but he wasn’t the same beast he had been. Moreover, he knew that time was of the essence. It was only a matter of hours before Lucien sent in a team to recover him.
Liv saw to that, he thought bitterly. She was sent here by my father. But how? How did she find me? And why didn’t she call on him earlier?
He brusquely shoved the questions out of his mind. The expression on Liv’s face had told him everything he needed to know and it made him sick.
My father sent her here to seduce me back home. I’ve jeopardized the Sleeper program. I’ve endangered Miguel’s life. How could I have been so blind?
The dull pang in his chest refused to go away, the memory of Liv’s vivid eyes boring into him as they made love, how terrified he’d been when she’d been attacked by Roderigo.
And what was that all about? Why was she running with Los Asesinos?
“Where are we going in such a rush, Damon?” Miguel asked, bringing him back into the car as they sped out of the gated community. “Where is Liv?”
“We’re getting you out of the country tonight,” Damon told him. “I’ve got money and a contact who will set you up with new IDs.”
He again shuddered to remember what he’d done, clearing out the emergency fund that Anatoli had put aside for him.
This is an emergency, he reasoned. Maybe not my emergency but it’s an emergency.
It didn’t matter. After he got the Santos family on a plane, he would need to find a new place to hide out and figure out a way to contact the compound to tell them that the mission had been ruined.
Because I fell for the wrong woman.
His foot fell heavier on the gas pedal and he raced toward Santa Ana where Paolo was waiting to deliver the new IDs for the family. From there, he would take them to Flaminia Suarez Camacho airport. They would take a domestic flight to Cartagena which would fly them directly to Boston. From there, Miguel would have to fend for his family with the remaining money Damon had in the slush account, at least until he could find a way to reach out to them again.
“Tonight?” Ana choked, looking at her children in dismay. “We didn’t bring anything with us.”
“It’s only stuff, Ana,” Damon growled with uncharacteristic harshness. “You have what’s most important right now.”
Ana clamped her lips and nodded, worry clouding her eyes as she looked at her husband, but Miguel was staring at him.
“Damon, what happened?” Miguel asked in a quiet voice.
“Nothing,” he muttered, not willing to divulge what a fool he’d been. “I’m just focusing on getting you out of the country.”
Miguel didn’t push the issue and for that, Damon was grateful.
It was just after ten when they arrived at the airport. The silence had created an ominous blanket around everyone but Damon was thankful for it. His emotions were out of control at that moment, his nerves ready to snap. He was sure he wouldn’t have done well with idle chitchat or putting the Santos’ mind at ease.
“There,” Damon told them. “That’s your gate. You have tickets waiting for you.”
Miguel looked at him, a combination of worry and fear in his eyes.
“How will we reach you once we’ve gotten to America?” he asked. Damon shook his head.
“You won’t. You can’t,” he replied. “I’ll find you.”
“Damon, maybe you should come with us,” Ana said uncertainly but he shook his head.
“I can’t,” he said grimly. “I have matters to attend to back here.”
He paused, allowing his face to soften.
“I’ll see you again,” he promised. “Don’t stress.”
His words didn’t seem to have any positive effect on any of them but it was the best Damon could do. He had no motivational pitches, not when his heart had been frozen by his father’s agent.
“Go,” he urged when they hesitated. “You’re going to miss your flight.”
Begrudgingly, Miguel nodded. Suddenly, four sets of arms embraced Damon at all levels of his long frame.
“Thank you, amigo,” Miguel said huskily. “We owe you our lives.”
“The only thing you owe me is to get where you’re going safely,” Damon replied quietly, emotion filling his throat. “And be safe.”
The family backed away, still staring at him as they moved, but Damon couldn’t bear to watch anymore. He was losing his only real friend in a country that was now filled with endless hostilities.
And all he could do was sit tight and wait it out.
He jumped back into the Kia and pulled out of the parking area, determined not to falter.
You were trained for this, he reminded himself firmly. You were trained to deal with stress.
What he hadn’t been equipped to deal with was heartbreak.
His jaw firmed and he raced the little rental car back into the city.
It isn’t heartbreak, he growled to himself. It was a setup.
He ditched the Kia near Liv’s apartment. Simply being in the winding alleyways sent shivers through him as he thought of all they’d been through over the past few days.
It was all a lie. All of it.
He found himself wondering if Liv had created the entire situation with the gangs to get closer to him somehow. He wouldn’t have been surprised. There was nothing his father wouldn’t do to keep his children under his eye. Leaving so abruptly must have sent Lucien into a tailspin.
There must be a leak at the compound, Damon thought worriedly. If my father figured out where I was…
The pieces didn’t fit well in his mind, coupled with Liv’s pleas that he’d read the situation wrong. But what else could it possibly mean?
Damon checked himself into the Hilton Bogota Coferias and closed the blinds.
Now he had to figure out how to get in touch with the compound.
He could still hear Dex’s words echoing through his mind as he tried to recall every minute of training.
“You’ll be on your own. There is no way to reach out to us. Rest assured, we’ll be checking up on you from time to time but if you’re doing what you’re supposed
to be doing, you’ll never even know we’re there.”
Had they already checked on him recently and been satisfied with his progress? Or was he due for a check-in? Damon had no way of knowing and the thought made him feel more helpless than he’d ever felt in his life.
Pacing around the room brought him no closer to the answers he so desperately needed. Eventually, he flopped onto the bed and pulled out his cell phone. To his astonishment, he had missed calls from Liv. A litany of text messages followed.
Damon please call me. It’s not what you think
Come back home so we can talk about this
At least let me know you’re okay!
Each message angered him more than the last.
Home? You mean my home? So you can call in the cavalry? You care that I’m okay now?
His fingers shook as they hovered over the keypad.
Don’t! Don’t message her back, he told himself. Just walk away before you do any more damage.
But the task was much easier said than done.
Stifling his rage, he dialed out, his head swimming with all he wanted to say.
“Damon! Where are you?” Liv breathed into the phone.
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” he growled. “I’m not coming back there so you can tell my father you failed to find me.”
“I’m not here because of your father!” Liv cried. Damon frowned, hopeful for a fleeting second.
Don’t be a fool. You saw his name and she didn’t deny it, he silently reminded himself.
“Are you saying you don’t work for my father?” he asked quietly. Liv was silent for a moment but the quiet spoke volumes.
“Right,” he hissed. “Stop calling me. I’m not going back with you.”
“Damon, I work for your father but—”
“Then tell him you failed,” he spat. “And tell him that just because he and his cronies in the Cabal have a leak inside the compound, doesn’t mean that they’ll win. There are going to be more of us than there are of them.”
This silence was longer.
“I-I don’t know what any of that means,” Liv muttered. “What are you talking about?”
“Take your acting skills to the next sucker on your list, Olivia. I’ve got to figure out my own extraction plan.”
“Damon, wait! Don’t—”
He hung up the phone and turned it off, grimacing slightly as he realized he’d had it on for far too long.
Liv probably gave him the number and it’s being traced as I sit here doing nothing.
It was time to move again.
He bounced up from his spot and grabbed his jacket, leaving the phone where it was. In his mind’s eye, he envisioned his father’s goons breaking into the room to find it there and the thought gave him a smidgen of pleasure.
“I’m not going back,” he growled aloud as he pulled open the door.
“Hello, dear.”
Damon fell back, disbelief coloring his face as his eyes fell on Anatoli.
“Y-you’re here?!” he choked. The witch-vampire hybrid winked and slid past him into the room. “How?”
“I’m everywhere,” she replied. “Let’s have a chat.”
Dread overwhelmed Damon as he allowed the door to close and followed the Director back into the room.
“We shouldn’t stay here,” Damon warned. “I’ve screwed up everything.”
Anatoli raised an eyebrow.
“Oh?”
Damon nodded and hung his head guiltily.
“The Cabal knows I’m here,” he muttered. “They sent in an agent and…”
He couldn’t even finish the thought, his despair shooting through him like burning arrows.
“Your father?” Anatoli asked. He raised his head and eyed her with disbelief.
“You know my father is part of the Cabal?” he demanded.
“I vet my recruits, Damon,” Anatoli sighed.
“Well, you must have a leak inside your agency because he found me,” Damon said urgently. “And he’s probably on his way here as we speak.”
“Your father doesn’t know about the Sleepers, Damon,” Anatoli said, dropping her small frame onto the foot of the bed. “There’s no leak inside the Cabal.”
“You’re wrong,” Damon said flatly. “I…I’ve made a mistake.”
He took a deep breath under Anatoli’s even stare.
“There was this woman, a demon…”
It was difficult to tell the truth but he knew he owed Anatoli an explanation.
“I just found out that she works for my father, but she’s been with me all week.”
Anatoli eyed him.
“Is that where all my money went? To this demon?”
Damon blinked.
“What? No, of course not,” he said slowly. “Is that why you’re here? Because of the money?”
Anatoli chuckled.
“Dear boy, what did you think was going to happen when you cleared out an emergency account? Of course I was going to be notified.”
Damon realized how quickly she’d come.
She flew in on a dragon, he realized. Maybe Dex.
Alarm prickled through him.
Was this an ambush?
“That money was used to get an innocent bear family out of the country,” he explained as Anatoli waited. “They were in danger because of me too.”
Shame overwhelmed Damon as he considered all that had occurred but to his surprise, Anatoli laughed.
“Well, that’s good,” she tittered. “I thought you were stupid and taking the money to make a break for it.”
Damon gaped at her.
“I wouldn’t do that!” he choked. His eyes narrowed. “How did you find me here?”
The Director shook her dark mane and winked again.
“A sorceress never reveals her secrets, darling.”
She rose from the bed and sashayed toward him, a pensive look on her face.
“That demon really did a number on you, hm?”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said quickly. “I’ve dealt with her. She won’t find me.”
Anatoli cocked her head to the side.
“For what it’s worth, I’m sure that she doesn’t know about the Sleeper program,” Anatoli told him. “If she works for your father and came for you, they found you some other way, although how, I couldn’t imagine. We take every necessary precaution.”
“How else could she have found me if not through the compound?” Damon insisted. “That doesn’t make much sense, does it?”
Anatoli flashed him a half-smile.
“Fate works in mysterious ways sometimes, Damon. Maybe this is all a bizarre coincidence.”
Damon scoffed but as the noise left his lips, he thought about all the times he had fallen onto Liv’s path.
She could have planned it that way, he thought, his mind overloading.
“I wouldn’t worry about it too much,” Anatoli said brightly, nodding toward the door. “It’s time to go.”
“Go where?”
“Back to the compound to start,” the Director replied. “Fern is outside waiting to fly us back.”
So I’m leaving Bogota, just like that. Everything I built here, gone.
He couldn’t even bring himself to think about Liv.
“Am I being decommissioned?” Damon asked, the disappointment almost knocking his breath away.
“In a manner of speaking,” Anatoli replied. Damon froze in place, his eyes wide.
“I’m not going to be a Sleeper anymore? Anatoli, I—”
She held up a pale hand, her green eyes rife with wisdom.
“You’ll be a Sleeper still but not in the traditional sense,” she told him quietly. “Come on. Let’s get you out of Colombia. You’ve had enough excitement for one posting.”
Damon had little choice but to follow her, his chest full of lead.
It was really over now. For days, he had been anticipating the end of the chaos but never had he foreseen that it would come to this.
Now, he was back to where he started and he was more unhappy than ever.
18
“…diminished gang activity across the Colombian front,” Carlton was saying. “Nice job, Olivia.”
Liv raised her head and stared blankly at the team. She had barely heard a word of the meeting, her mind in a completely different country.
“Any other orders of business before we call it a day?” River asked. The men looked to one another and then pointedly at Liv but for once, she had no comment.
She rose to her feet, her body aching slightly as she moved. She had been home for two weeks, the extraction team picking her up from Monserrate in the end. There was no way she was going to allow them to violate the place where she’d spent time with Damon, where she’d fallen in love with another being for the first time in her eternal life.
“You okay?” Anders asked, walking alongside her as she made a break for the elevator. Liv barely acknowledged him.
“Liv?”
“What?” she snapped irritably.
“You haven’t been yourself since you got back from Colombia. What happened over there?”
She looked at him, a mirthless laugh escaping her lips.
What happened? she thought bitterly. Fate showed me my mate and then stole him away from me. That’s what happened.
But that wasn’t fair, not really. How many times had destiny thrown Damon and her together in the mere span of days? All she’d had to do was come clean with him and they wouldn’t be separated right now.
His furious words to her replayed in her mind over and over again but no matter how many times she heard them, they didn’t make sense.
“Then tell him you failed. And tell him that just because he and his cronies in the Cabal have a leak inside the compound, doesn’t mean that they’ll win. There are going to be more of us than there are of them.”
Liv couldn’t reconcile what it meant and she had no one to talk to about it.
“Hello?” Anders grumbled. “Anyone home?”
“Piss off, Anders,” Liv snarled, baring her teeth as the elevator door opened. “And take the next one.”
