Black List: HOT Heroes for Hire: Mercenaries: A Black’s Bandits Novel

by Lynn Raye Harris

  Jace had a nearly uncontrollable urge to apologize right then. He didn’t though. Somebody was watching. And listening. “If you need anything, just say so. Someone will hear you.”

  She crossed her legs and arms and huffed. “Of course they will. Bye now, Andrei. It’s been fun.”

  Chapter Six

  Maddy was trembling when he left the room. She was angry, but she was scared too. Because this was so out of her league. Andrei had grabbed her at Sokolov’s house, bundled her onto a helicopter, and brought her back to the States without a passport. What kind of organization could do that?

  A spy organization, that’s what kind.

  Maddy flicked the channels angrily, finally landing on a Russian language station. There was footage of Leonid Sokolov’s home. A reporter stood outside the gates and talked about a shooting at Sokolov’s fiftieth birthday party. She didn’t say who’d been shot, which meant they didn’t know. Indication that the government was controlling the information. The billionaire was currently in seclusion, and the police were questioning guests. Nobody knew anything, including the identity of the shooter.

  Maddy changed the channel to something soothing. HGTV, where Chip and Joanna Gaines were demolishing the interior of an ugly house so they could turn it into something spectacular for the cute couple with the two-hundred thousand dollar budget.

  Maddy rubbed her forehead. How nice would it be to move to Waco and buy a fixer upper? Just change her life entirely, cut the travel, and spend her days selling artwork at a little gallery of her own.

  Yeah, right.

  Not with Mimi needing care. The bills were too much to take such a risk. Not to mention she’d be too far away to visit Mimi anymore.

  God, she wished she could call Angie. Angie had been her best friend since high school. Angie was no nonsense, organized, and logical to a fault. She took care of Kitty whenever Maddy was traveling. Fortunately, Kitty loved Angie. Other than having to get into her carrier for the short trip to Angie’s house, Kitty was completely content whenever she was with Angie.

  Maddy missed her cat. And her friend. She sucked down sudden tears and gritted her teeth. Not crying. No way. Wasn’t worth it. She’d be out of here soon and these people would be a memory. Had to be because she wasn’t who they wanted her to be.

  Maddy watched television for at least two hours before she dozed off. When she woke, it was to the sound of a door opening. She was momentarily disoriented, but she blinked at the man who’d walked into the room and her memory came flooding back. He was tall, handsome, and had the body of a god. She knew because she’d been pressed to the carpet beneath it.

  He looked different. He no longer wore a tuxedo. This time he had on faded jeans and a black polo shirt. The muscles of his forearms were more exposed than before. He had tattoos, though not too many. Tribal designs mostly. And his biceps were definitely drool-worthy as they flexed beneath the short sleeves of his shirt.

  “You awake, Maddy?”

  She didn’t remember him calling her Maddy before. The sound of her name on his lips dripped down her spine like hot wax. She sat up straight and mentally shook herself. My God, what had the assholes behind the mirror seen while she’d slept? Did she snore? Drool? Lord.

  “I’m awake. What do you want, Andrei?” Don’t ogle.

  He held up a folder. “We have the results.”

  “Oh really? So who am I? Will I be surprised?”

  He snorted. “You really are a firecracker, aren’t you? You know damn well what this says. You’re Maddy Cole, art historian and appraiser. You’re thirty-one, you live in Annapolis in a small house off Back Creek that belonged to your grandmother, and you commute to New York City on a regular basis for your work. Your dad died when you were fifteen, you like Greek food, you have a cat named Kitty—and you broke your arm when you were twelve.”

  Maddy’s jaw dropped by degrees. “You know all that from a cheek swab?”

  “No, I know all that from the public information available on the person whose DNA was on that swab. Maybe consider covering the camera on your laptop and removing the remote treat dispenser for your cat. The camera on that thing is ridiculously easy to hack.”

  “You were spying on me?”

  He stood over her, shaking his head. “Not us. But somebody was. The info is readily available if you know where to look.”

  Anger flooded her. “Where to look?” she parroted. Because what kind of people hacked into a pet camera inside a person’s home and spied on her?

  Bad people, that’s who. She wasn’t naïve, but she was also nobody. Why would anyone want to watch her through her cat’s treat dispenser? She shivered.

  “Yeah, Maddy. Where to look. You think that shit is harmless? Trust me, it’s not. Go home and unplug the dispenser. Put a sticky note over the laptop camera. Don’t buy anything that connects to the internet by voice, and don’t talk about anything you don’t want anyone to know, okay? You never know who’s listening.”

  Maddy got to her feet. Fury swirled in her belly. Her cheeks flamed as the blood pulsed beneath her skin. “Do you think this is right? Watching people without their permission? Listening to their conversations, following them around their home?”

  His eyes flashed. “It depends on the person, doesn’t it? You never know what people are up to.”

  She shook her head. “I’m sure that’s illegal. You can’t just listen to people—record people—without their permission.”

  He took a step closer, his body throbbing with leashed tension. “Yeah, well, when you’re concerned about saving the world, you absolutely can do anything the fuck you want to do in pursuit of that goal.”

  Maddy sucked in a breath. Saving the world? What did she have to do with that? “And maybe you need to be careful that you don’t become the thing you despise. We have rights in this country for a reason.”

  His brows lifted. He hadn’t been expecting that answer. “We’re the good guys.”

  “Are you really?” She shook her head. “Never mind, don’t answer. Am I free to go now?”

  “You are. I need you to tell me everything that happened when you went to your room to get the batteries, and then I’ll drive you home.”

  Her heart leapt at that idea. She swatted it down like a fly at a picnic. “I’ll tell you, but I don’t need you to take me home. I’ll call a taxi. Or an Uber.”

  “ ’Fraid not, Maddy. I plucked you from Sokolov’s place. I’ll take you home and make sure you’re safe.”

  “Why wouldn’t I be safe?” She really needed to tell him not to call her Maddy—but she liked the sound of her name on his lips. He’d spoken such perfect Russian, but his English was perfect too. So perfect she wasn’t certain which country he hailed from.

  “You will be. I’ll make sure of it.”

  The door opened again and the man called Ian entered. He was handsome too, but he didn’t make her heart throb the way Andrei did. She closed her eyes. Neither one of them needed to make her heart throb. Jerks, both of them.

  “Well, Dr. Cole, you were right,” Ian said.

  “Of course I was right.”

  “I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but we did what we had to do.”

  She’d wanted an apology but somehow this one didn’t quite hit the mark. Truthfully, she was no longer interested. She just wanted to go home and take a hot bath. Then she wanted to sink into bed with take-out from her favorite restaurant and binge on television. Maybe Covert Affairs, which was about a CIA agent who went on adventures.

  And had an illicit romance with a rogue agent…

  “I’d like to go now,” she said with as much haughtiness as she could muster. She’d gotten that from her mother so she knew it was pretty good. But inside she was really just a puddle of mush.

  “And you may just as soon as you can tell Andrei everything that happened when you went to your room. But Dr. Cole,” Ian said, “it’d really be in your best interests not to talk about any of this when you return to your
life.”

  She’d thought she was going to call her employer’s attorneys and sue, but she’d realized over the past few hours that it probably wasn’t a good idea. What would she tell them? That she’d been kidnapped by a secret agent and spirited back to the US where she’d undergone a DNA test to make sure she wasn’t this person named Calypso? She’d bet anything that if the attorney’s office called this place, they’d deny everything. And what proof did she have?

  “Who is Calypso?”

  Ian and Andrei exchanged a look. “The truth?” Ian asked. She nodded. “She’s a criminal, Dr. Cole. If you’d been her, you’d be on your way to Guantanamo right now.”

  Guantanamo? That’s where the US sent dangerous terrorists. Not a place she’d want to end up.

  “How do I explain to my employer why I’m home again and not in Russia doing my job?”

  “We’ll take care of it,” Ian said. “Barrington’s will be happy you escaped the situation. Now if you’ll answer Andrei’s questions, he can take you home.”

  “I will do my best. But what about my things? You said you’d have them.”

  “In the car waiting.”

  She shot a look at Andrei. He seemed like the safer of the two of them right now. Odd feeling but there it was. “I’d say it’s been a pleasure meeting you, but that would be a lie.”

  Ian didn’t laugh. “I know you’re angry, Dr. Cole. But I suggest you guard your tongue once you’re home again. Don’t speak of this to anyone. Not even Angie.”

  Daggers of ice pierced her belly. Her heart froze. They knew too much about her. And she knew nothing about them. “I don’t intend to. Who would believe me anyway?”

  “No one,” he said coolly. “No one at all.”

  “I can’t believe you got my things. It’s almost like I was never there.”

  Jace glanced at Maddy and then turned his eyes back to the road. He didn’t know what to tell her. That it was part of the job? That it’s what they did? That BDI made things—and people—disappear when necessary?

  She turned in her seat to gaze at him. He felt the heat of that gaze like a blowtorch. Was she really safe now that they were letting her go? He’d asked Ian if it was wise. Ian said there was nothing else they could do. They’d watch her place for a few days, tap her phones, see if anything weird happened. Unless Calypso or the Gemini Syndicate came after her, they couldn’t justify keeping her from her life.

  Jace got it, but he didn’t like it. Still, orders were orders. He’d drop her off, meet up with the detail watching her place, and then go home and try to forget everything about her before heading off on the next mission.

  He’d questioned her about those moments between when she’d gone to get her batteries and he’d intercepted her in the hallway. She’d spoken to a maid who’d entered the room next to hers, then she’d gone inside to get her batteries. She didn’t know how long she’d stayed before she’d heard the shots, though she swore it was only a few minutes.

  Jace’s dilemma was the maid. Could she have been Calypso? But Maddy didn’t recognize her as the woman in the photo she’d been shown. And there could have been enough time for the maid to retreat and Calypso to enter the room and take the shot. A professional like Calypso wouldn’t need much time to set up, just like she hadn’t needed much time to break down. She could have already been in the room and hidden in the closet when the maid entered. Turning down a bed took no time at all and the maid could have been gone again.

  But if the door was locked when Maddy tried it, why was it open when Sokolov’s security had found it? These were the things that didn’t make sense to Jace, and also the reason he wanted Maddy watched. What if Calypso was waiting for her to be home and unguarded? If she had seen the assassin, then she was the only person who could identify Calypso.

  He shot a glance at the woman beside him. When had he started to think of her as Maddy anyway? He remembered her saying her name to him, telling him that friends called her Maddy. That wasn’t the moment, but somewhere over the Atlantic, that’s when it happened. He’d caught himself thinking of her as Maddy from time to time during the flight. He corrected himself, but it felt right to think of her that way. And then they’d gotten the results, and she’d become Maddy in truth.

  Maddy.

  “So now what?” she asked. “You didn’t get her, and she’s still out there.”

  His gut twisted. Yeah, she wasn’t Calypso. He was relieved and disappointed at once. Calypso was still out there, still willing to kill for whoever offered her enough money to do so. Not that he cared if she wanted to kill terrorists, illicit arms dealers, drug lords, human traffickers, etc. But some of her targets were innocent of those crimes. Some of them were merely people who’d gotten in the way of those who wanted to commit that sort of crime. That wasn’t something he could approve of at all.

  “We’ll get her.”

  “Was she using me, or is it all a coincidence?”

  Jace glanced at her as he turned down one of the quaint streets in Annapolis. He liked this city. He liked coming down here and eating in the restaurants fronting the bay. Liked seeing the Midshipmen from the US Naval Academy in their uniforms as they hung around the harbor on a weekend and caroused. It felt quaint and profound all at once. The most powerful navy in the world, and their academy was in this cute, historic city on the Chesapeake Bay with the tiniest of town squares that fronted the harbor. He liked it. It was very American.

  He was American, but he was something else too. It was the American part of him he wanted to nurture, the Russian part of him he wanted to forget. Guilt was his constant companion, even though he’d been a kid and hadn’t made the choice to betray his country.

  Not your fault, Ian said. Never your fault.

  “Andrei?”

  Jace swung his gaze to her as he came to a stop at a red light. “Sorry. I was thinking. Truthfully, I don’t know. But Maddy, you can’t talk about this stuff to anyone. You can’t mention Calypso or Sokolov or what happened at the party. It’s safer for you not to.”

  “Who would believe me?” she asked with a shrug. “I don’t plan on talking about any of it. Ian said my job was safe—are you sure? I need it, Andrei. It’s how I make sure my grandmother gets the best care.” She dropped her chin. Shook her head. “Before you ask, the house is mortgaged—or maybe you know that. I’ve already tapped it to pay for her room at the Oaks.”

  “It was in the report, yes.”

  There were a lot of things in the report, some of which he was still processing. The part about her father speaking Russian and being involved in more than translating, for instance. He liked how loyal Maddy was to her grandmother though. But it wasn’t something he understood. His parents hadn’t thought about him or his sister when they’d done what they’d done. How much would they have sacrificed for their kids?

  Nothing. They’d sacrificed nothing. No, they’d forced him and Natasha to sacrifice their entire lives for a cause that wasn’t theirs.

  “Is there anything that wasn’t in this report?” She sounded annoyed and tired at the same time. Resigned, maybe.

  “First boyfriend. Wasn’t there.” A lot wasn’t there, but he reached for the first thing he could think of. Just to make her laugh. It worked.

  “Seriously?”

  “Yes, seriously. Wasn’t there. Who was he?”

  She snorted. “I don’t like you—and here you are, making me laugh. I’m not telling you.”

  “Might be important.”

  “It’s not important. You’re trying to distract me.”

  He shot her a grin. “No, it’s not important. And I am trying to make you laugh, Maddy.”

  She frowned, her fine eyebrows drawing low. Her nose wrinkled. He didn’t think she knew it.

  “You know my name. But your name isn’t Andrei. What is it really?”

  His heart thumped. “I can’t tell you. I wish I could.”

  “Are you Russian or American?”

  The million doll
ar question. “Both,” he said before he knew he was going to say it.

  She turned to him. “Really? That’s so cool.”

  It wasn’t cool. She had no idea. “It’s no big deal. I was born in the States. I have a Russian parent.” Parents, actually. Spies. Not that he intended to tell her that. “We moved to Moscow when I was ten. Then we moved to St. Petersburg a few years later.”

  What the fuck are you doing, dude?

  He didn’t tell people these things. Not ever. Yet here he was, spilling his guts to Maddy Cole like she was his therapist or something.

  “That must have been fascinating.”

  “It was certainly interesting.” He turned into the driveway of a small Cape Cod-style cottage and put the car in park. “Here we are.”

  She looked at the house. “I wasn’t sure I’d see it again. When you tackled me, well…”

  “I’m sorry about that.”

  She smiled at him, and his heart flipped. Why?

  “Look, it wasn’t pleasant. But I understand. You’re CIA—or something like that—and you had to do what you had to do. I’m home now, and it’s over.”

  He hoped for her sake that it was. He took out a card and handed it to her. It was a generic card, but the number was genuine. “If you need us, dial that number. Someone will come.”

  She took it, turning it over as she read what was on the card stock. It was basic. Just three words—Black Defense International—and a number.

  Wide green eyes met his. “Is this real?”

  “Yes.”

  She nodded solemnly. “So I guess this is good bye then.”

  There was no need to prolong it. Her house had been thoroughly checked by a team from BDI. Just to be sure. There was nothing in there to hurt her. Nobody was waiting.

  He opened the car door. “I’ll get your suitcase.”

  She exited the car, shouldered her purse and picked up her computer case. He came around the car with the suitcase. “I can take it from here,” she said softly, her gaze dropping from his as he approached.