by Kaylea Cross
But that whole time she’d been looking over her shoulder. Because she’d been afraid of exactly what Amber was describing. Of reprisal from someone within the government.
Her sister continued. “The media only leaked the name of the program and hinted at the corruption going on within the intel community. The public has no clue what really went on. A secret government program that took young orphan girls and turned them into black ops assassins? Assassins responsible for hits on some of the most prominent people and organizations in the world? Hits ordered from the highest levels of our government? They’ll do anything to keep all that from coming out, and that means eliminating us by any means necessary.” She paused. “Including turning us on each other.”
Megan’s insides twisted at the implication in her sister’s last words. Jesus. Is this what Trinity had wanted to tell her? Now Megan wished she’d called her before coming down here. “What are you saying? That the Valkyries killed recently were actually innocent?”
“Most of them, no. But Hannah…” Amber looked down at the ground, exhaled a hard breath.
“Hannah what?” she demanded and took a step forward, afraid of the conclusion she’d just come to. No. No, no, no…
Amber stiffened, her expression turning eerily blank. Ready to attack or defend. Megan recognized it because she’d been trained to do exactly the same when facing a possible close-up threat.
“Is Hannah innocent?” Megan pressed, feeling like her heart was being crushed in a vise.
“None of us are innocent. But…the night before you captured me, I found some intel that suggests it’s possible she wasn’t involved with the plot to set me up. At least directly,” Amber admitted, her jaw and shoulders tight. “I was still looking into it when you captured me.”
Megan dragged a hand over her mouth and chin. “So, is it too late for her?” she asked, feeling numb inside.
“I’m…not sure. I couldn’t find anything on her and I didn’t hear she’d been captured. There’s a chance she might still be okay.”
But she might not be.
It was stupid, but part of Megan had been hoping there might be a chance for her and Amber to reconcile. Somehow salvage their past relationship. Now?
She stared her sister down. “But it’s also possible that you led her enemies right to her, and she never betrayed you? That an innocent person—a fellow Valkyrie—is either dead or being horrifically tortured right now because of you?”
Amber closed her eyes. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “I don’t know, and I can’t verify anything from inside this damn cell,” she added in frustration.
Yeah, well, none of them knew shit about anything right now, did they? “Jesus Christ,” Megan whispered, shaking her head.
“I’m going to find her. I told Trinity and Rycroft I would.”
Megan looked back at her sister. “It’s probably too late. She’s been missing for days now.”
Amber pulled in a deep breath. “I’m the one who put her in danger, so it’s on me to fix this. I’m going to find her. I’m going to make things right. And if she’s been captured, I’ll get her out.”
And what if she’s dead? How are you going to make it right, then?
Megan was too sick to her stomach to respond immediately. Hell, at this point she didn’t even know what to think. She was reeling. In free fall without a parachute and nothing to break her fall. “If they let you out of here, you’d better find her.” A warning.
“I will.”
“And what about me? Was I on your list too?”
Amber scoffed. “You were never in any danger from me.”
“And why’s that?”
“Because you never did anything wrong. And besides, you’re my little sister.”
So reassuring. “What about Chloe? Was she on your list?”
“No. I remember seeing her name in the files I hacked, but no. She wasn’t involved with the op.”
God help her, Megan wanted to believe that. And so she needed to leave because her grip on her emotions was slipping.
“I gotta go.” She turned and strode for the door. Then signaled for the guard and waited, the tension in the cell so thick she could barely breathe.
Seconds later, the locking mechanism clicked free. She stood back so the guard could open the door, analyzing everything Amber had told her. She would call Trinity as soon as she left the building and find out what she wanted. But Megan was going back to the townhouse immediately. She needed to see Tyler and tell him what she’d learned.
The door began to swing open. A hand shot through it.
“Down!” Amber shouted.
Megan dropped to one knee, catching a glimpse of Amber launching off her bunk, and automatically reached for the long-barreled pistol in the man’s hand. The silenced shot was surprisingly loud in the confined space. It buried in the ceiling as Megan wrenched the weapon up and back, thrusting upward with all the strength in her legs.
Another set of hands shot out to help her from behind, the arms sleeved in bright orange. Megan twisted the weapon hard to the right, snapping the guard’s wrist as Amber rammed her weight into the door, slamming it shut on his forearm.
His howl of agony split the air and the pistol clattered to the floor. Megan bent to scoop it up, straightened as he shouldered his way through the opening, a knife in his other hand.
Amber jerked out of the way as the wicked blade sliced downward in a deadly arc meant to cut her throat. She danced back, hands up in fighting position as the man barreled into the cell.
Megan brought the pistol up and fired.
Nothing happened.
As he rounded on her she hit him across the backs of the knees with a roundhouse kick, sweeping his legs from under him. Amber was on him before he’d hit the ground. She locked both hands around the wrist wielding the knife and shoved upward, trying to break his grip. He twisted, snarled as he threw her off him.
Megan lunged. The blade was coming at her. She wrenched back just as it swept past her head, wincing at the burn as it sliced across her upper arm.
Amber let out a feral sound, stepped back and hit him in the jaw with a solid roundhouse. His head snapped to the side as he fell.
Megan lunged forward to grab the knife-wielding wrist. Then she locked her legs around his neck from behind and squeezed, at the same time digging the fingers of her free hand into the brachial plexus at the side of his neck to make his arm go numb. Amber came at him, smashing her fist into his purpling face once, twice.
Bone crunched. Blood spurted.
Finally, he fell limp.
Breathing hard as he keeled over, Megan kept her legs locked around his neck, refusing to let up in case he was playing her.
Amber disarmed him and staggered back.
The knife was in her hand. The cell door was open.
For an instant, she and Megan stared at each other. And for those few endless heartbeats, Megan wondered if her sister would use that knife on her in order to win her freedom.
Amber’s posture relaxed, and she tossed the knife onto the bunk behind her. “He’s out.”
Megan released him and scrambled to her feet, her legs a little weak, and not just from the fight. God, her guard had been down and it shouldn’t have been. Not after what Amber had told her.
Amber reached for Megan’s upper sleeve. “You’re bleeding.”
She pulled her arm away, only now feeling the full extent of the burn along her upper arm where the knife had cut her. “I’m fine.”
Amber’s mouth thinned and she shook her head in disgust. “I swore to myself that no one would ever hurt you again. And yet, we’re not even safe in here.”
The vow stunned Megan, unerringly hitting a vulnerable place inside her she hadn’t even known existed until yesterday. She ran an assessing gaze over her sister. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I’m okay.”
They watched each other in strained silence for a few moments, then finally the sound of ru
nning feet made Megan whirl and slam the cell door shut to protect them from further attack.
By the time she ascertained that the new guards weren’t a threat and got everything straightened out, medics had arrived to look at the attacker. He was unconscious but breathing.
One guard started to cuff Amber. It ripped at Megan’s heart. “No.” She said it so sharply everyone stopped and looked at her. “She didn’t do anything wrong. All she did was defend herself, the same as I did. Don’t you dare put those things on her.”
The guard gave her a wary look. “I’m just following orders—”
“Then I order you to put the cuffs away.”
At that familiar voice Megan whipped around to see Trinity coming toward them down the corridor. Though the woman had only had a couple hours sleep at most, she looked like she’d just left a day spa, hair perfectly styled, makeup flawless, dressed in a sapphire-blue wrap dress and heels.
Her deep blue eyes raked over Megan before shifting to Amber and the unconscious guard on the floor. Then they settled back on Megan. “What happened?”
As she was relaying the sequence of events, the guards began taking Amber away. Megan stopped and instinctively reached out toward her sister. “No, wait—”
Amber caught her hand, squeezed it and gave her a reassuring smile. “It’s okay.”
“No way.” She stepped between Amber and the guards, staring them down. She didn’t give a shit what they thought about it. “They’re not taking you anywhere unless I know you’ll be safe.”
“I’ll make sure she’s safe,” Trinity promised from behind her. “Come on.”
Megan and Trinity flanked Amber on the way downstairs to where a car waited. Trinity eyed Amber warily. “My gut says to cuff you, but I’d rather not. You going to make me regret that?”
“If I’d wanted to escape, I could have earlier,” Amber said wearily.
Megan nodded. “It’s true.”
“Then why did you stay?” Trinity asked Amber.
“You know why.” She glanced at Megan, the show of loyalty piercing her.
“So, you told her everything?” Trinity asked.
Amber nodded. “Yes.”
“Good enough, then. In you get.” Trinity opened the back door and Amber slid inside.
Megan caught her sister’s gaze and another memory slammed into her brain. Of her standing on the front steps of their foster house maybe as Amber drove away in the back of a car.
Amber was twisted around on the seat, staring through the back window. She’d pressed her open hand against it. As if she’d wanted to reach through it for Megan.
Megan forced herself to breathe past the painful image and gave Amber a little smile. “See you soon?”
Amber smiled back, tentative but relieved. “Yeah.”
Trinity shut the back door of the sedan and opened the passenger door in front of it. “I’ll call you once we’re settled in a new facility,” she said to Megan. “In the meantime, get that looked at.” She nodded at the blood soaking Megan’s sleeve through the bandage she held there.
Megan nodded and stood on the curb as the car pulled away. As she turned back toward the building, another car came speeding up the street. She tensed, ready to run, but the car stopped a safe distance away.
The back door popped open and her heart skipped a beat when Tyler jumped out. His gaze locked on her, his face a mask of concern as he raced toward her.
Chapter Seventeen
Ty’s heart was in his throat as he ran toward Megan. It had been stuck there from the moment he’d gotten the message from Trinity saying there’d been an incident at the facility and Megan was hurt.
She hadn’t answered her phone and it had taken him what felt like a fucking eternity to get here. Waking up to find her gone had been bad enough, but this?
From fifty feet away his gaze locked on the blood dripping down her left arm as Megan stood there on the sidewalk, and the smile she gave him hit him like an arrow to the chest.
He ran right up and wrapped her up tight in his arms, careful of her injured arm. “Tell me you’re okay,” he breathed into her hair.
“I’m okay.” She sounded amused.
Fucking amused, while she stood there bleeding from a wound. He dragged in a deep breath and eased his hold enough to look down into her face. “How bad are you hurt?”
“It’s just a scratch.”
Considering the source, he’d take that with a big-ass grain of salt.
He grunted and reached for her injured arm, grasping her elbow gently so he could get a better look. A blade of some sort had sliced through her upper sleeve and into her skin.
He pulled the edges of the fabric apart and removed the bandage to see the cut, bit back a curse at the curving slice that marked her upper arm. It was pretty deep. A hell of a lot more than a scratch.
“Anywhere else?” He stepped back to scan her with a critical eye. She had a bruise forming on one cheek and probably had others hidden from view.
“No, I’m fine. Tyler,” she said when he kept looking her over. He met her gaze. “I’m okay. Promise.”
That remained to be seen. “What the hell happened?”
“Tell you as soon as we get back to the townhouse and I get this thing dressed properly. Is that our ride?” She indicated the car idling at the curb with a nod.
“Yeah. Come on.” He took the bandage from her and pressed it to the wound himself, holding it there as he walked her to the vehicle.
“Wait, how did you find out?”
“Trinity texted me. She said there’d been an incident, you were injured and she was heading there immediately.”
“Oh.”
The driver raised her eyebrows when she saw Megan’s arm and the blood on her clothes. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”
“No. Just back to where you picked me up,” Ty responded, sliding in next to Megan in the back seat.
He kept his arm around her waist all the way back to the townhouse. He couldn’t wait to get her alone, make sure she really was okay and not just putting on a brave front. Then he was going to find out what the hell had happened.
He hadn’t known how to set the alarm so upon arrival he ordered her to stay put and did a quick sweep of the townhouse to make sure everything was secure. Then he towed her into the guest suite bathroom and sat her on the edge of the soaker tub to take her bloodstained shirt off.
“Really, it’s nothing,” Megan insisted, humoring him by staying perched on the tub. “It’s hardly even bleeding now.”
As she said it a fresh rivulet of blood welled up from the wound and dripped down her arm, splattering into the tub. “Pants off too,” he ordered.
“Why? You just can’t control yourself around me?”
“Because I need to see for myself if you’re really okay or not.”
She huffed out an irritated sigh and reached for the button on her jeans. Ty knelt to strip them down her legs, relieved when he didn’t see any more blood. Just a few bruises forming on her hip and back.
“What happened?” He took the medical kit from beneath the sink and found some sterile gauze pads along with some antiseptic wipes and steri-strips. “I woke up and you were gone. Then I got Trinity’s message.”
“I went to see Amber. I wanted to talk to her alone.”
He didn’t like that she’d taken off without a word—especially after last night. Maybe he was an idiot, but he’d hoped last night had shifted things between them for the better. “I would have gone with you.”
“I know. But I needed to do this by myself.”
Ty listened incredulously as she detailed everything she’d learned, followed up with the guard who had attacked them. It made him insane to know he hadn’t been there to protect her. “Was he after her, or you?” he finally asked as he cleaned the knife wound. He hated seeing her hurt.
“Her, I think. Both of us, if he got lucky.”
Well, he almost had, the asshole. “This is pretty deep up he
re,” he said, cleaning the upper portion of the wound where the blade had carved into the meaty part on the outside of her shoulder. She didn’t so much as flinch.
“I feel like you’re always taking care of me,” she said in a wry voice.
Ty looked up into her face, completely unprepared for the gentle smile she gave him, or the way his heart rolled over. He cupped the back of her neck with one hand and leaned up for a slow, hard kiss. “I want to take care of you. But you don’t need me to.”
That was the kicker. The absolute hardest part of this whole thing. She didn’t need him. Not really. And wasn’t that a kick in the ass. How was he supposed to convince her that she should give a relationship with him a shot if she didn’t need or want to be with him?
Megan reached her right hand up to run her fingers through his hair, a fond look on her face. “I want you. I like having you around, which is more than I can say for any other guy I’ve been with. And I love that you can handle yourself in any situation thrown at you.”
Yeah, any one but this. He was at a complete loss as to what to do about her. She’d been trained to be totally autonomous and never rely on anyone else. It was ingrained in her. And yet here he was, hoping she would fall in love with him. “Well, that’s something, I guess.”
Her smile widened. “For me, it’s huge.”
Well then, yay for her. Didn’t make him feel any better about their situation—even though he respected her ability as an operator. If he’d been with her this morning he would have stood guard outside the room while she talked to Amber. He would have prevented the attack from ever happening.
“Hold still. I’m gonna see if I can close this up with some of these strips and save you some stitches.”
She sat there placid as a doll while he applied the strips, pulling the edges of the upper part of the wound together. He applied some antibiotic ointment to the shallower part at the bottom and covered the whole thing with a bandage to keep it clean. “I’m guessing you’re up to date on all your shots?”
