by D. Laine
“Spence called a meeting,” she explained hurriedly.
“For everybody?”
She nodded, and her eyes gleamed with excitement. “That could only mean one thing, right?”
“They found him,” Jake muttered behind me.
“Who?” Thea wondered.
“Lucifer’s vessel,” I answered quickly. “Let’s grab some food to take with us.”
“We’ll save you a seat,” Maria called before she slipped out the door.
Thea, Jake, and I hurried through the line to snatch a handful of food, and were the last ones out the door a minute later. The command center meeting room was packed and overflowing with nervous excitement when we claimed the three seats beside the Chavezes.
Marcus nudged my side once I was settled. “Really think this is it?”
“It must be.” I glanced around the room. A few command agents stood near the door, but I saw no sign of Spence yet.
Someone leaned forward to put his head between Thea and me. “I heard one of the guys from surveillance say they spotted him in Arizona.”
Keith. Or Kent. I never could tell those two apart.
The other Ringer sat silently in his chair beside his brother, watching the door leading to Spence’s office. He didn’t seem interested in all the hearsay until he supplied, “I heard Mexico.”
“He’s not in Mexico,” his brother countered.
“He could be in Mexico. It’s just as likely as Arizona.”
The two of them fell into their usual banter, and I swiveled back in my seat. Thea’s hands fidgeted on her lap, and I scooped one up to lace my fingers between hers. I ignored the knowing smirk I glimpsed on Marcus’s face when I glanced toward the door. Seconds later it swung open, and our fearless leader finally entered the room.
The chatter died immediately.
“I’m sure most of you have heard the news by now,” he started in his no-nonsense, down-to-business tone. “I’m here to tell you that the rumors are true. The surveillance team located our primary target early this morning.”
A few murmurings broke from the group, and Spence rose his hand to order silence.
“We’ve already begun digging up as much intel on the vessel as we can. So far, he does not appear to be anyone of significant standing. He’s a regular Joe—he just happens to be the chosen body for Lucifer.
“The location where he was found appears to be his primary residence for the time. We are in the process of learning everything we can about the location. Once we have the necessary intelligence, we will be sending in a unit to eliminate the target.”
A few whispers rose up around me.
Where was he? How much protection did he have? How many assassins would Spence send? When would we move in?
Questions we all wanted to know, but the boss man only answered one of them.
“We cannot afford to half-ass this one,” he informed us bluntly. “That means all available assassins, save a few to maintain the security of the agency, will be dispatched. You will be told more within the next twenty-four hours, and those selected for the mission will be notified. In the meantime, get your rest. Most of you are going to need it.”
Spence didn’t stick around to answer any questions before he stalked back to his office. The door shut behind him as I turned to share a look with Jake. His brows creased and his gaze flicked to Thea where she sat between us.
“Almost everyone?” Maria hissed behind me. “But what if it’s another failed mission?”
“Then game over.” I didn’t intend to, but my eyes met Thea’s at the exact moment I uttered the words. My own life expectancy was on the line, yet hers was all I could think about.
“We have to go at him with everything we have,” Marcus told his sister. “If he gets away again, it’s all over. We need to stop him now before it’s too late.”
“And if he takes us all out like he did the last few teams who went after him?” Maria wondered.
Thea’s fingers squeezed mine. Not hard. If I weren’t so on edge right, I probably wouldn’t have noticed. My skin felt all twitchy and weird. Noises were louder, lights brighter. I squeezed back briefly to give her some small semblance of reassurance—even if it was false—before dropping her hand into her lap.
“I’ll be right back.” I stood without further explanation. From the look I shared with Jake, I determined he had already predicted my next move—and if I didn’t do it, then he would.
Assassins murmured amongst themselves—some bickering, most celebrating—as I passed by them on my way to Spence’s office. It wasn’t locked, and no one stopped me before I waltzed in uninvited.
Shutting the door behind me to block out the chatter in the next room, I turned to my boss. “Thea’s not going.”
Spence lowered a stack of papers to reveal his tightly drawn lips. “Have you lost your mind, son?”
I overlooked the promise of punishment in his eyes. “She’s not ready. She—”
“Don’t you think that’s a decision left up to the commanding officer?” Spence rose from his chair and his eyes narrowed. “Your commanding officer.”
I nodded once stiffly. “Then I should be confident that you’ll make the right call.” I started toward the door, and stopped when I heard my name.
“Romero,” he barked.
I pulled my shoulders back and turned to face him. “Sir?”
“Barge in here again, and that girl will be the least of your concerns.”
His words weren’t a threat. They were a promise. But I would take whatever he dealt me if it kept Thea out of harm’s way.
“Understood, sir.” I backed out of the door.
Spence wouldn’t do shit to me. I was the best damn assassin he had. Worst I was looking at was kitchen duty—and that was assuming I survived the trip to nab Lucifer’s vessel. That was a trip I would make certain Thea didn’t take, at all costs.
18
THEA
Buried deep underground, it was easy to forget the cruel reality that sullied the surface. The life we once knew was gone, yet it was impossible not to notice the whisper of hope that wafted through the halls of the compound. We still had a chance to get it all back.
Neither Jake nor Dylan had left my side since the meeting yesterday. If it weren’t for the fear of what the next few days would bring, I probably would have told them to leave me alone hours ago. For now, I wanted to be sandwiched between them everywhere I went, getting my fill of them before we learned the details of the upcoming mission.
That was where I was, seated at a table in the mess hall between Jake and Dylan, when that bitch called reality put another fist into my gut.
“Leaving at dawn.” That was all the agent had to say before he skipped off to deliver the rest of the small pieces of white paper in his hands. The same as every person seated at my table now had in their possession—except for me.
“Sure looks like all of us.” Maria swung her gaze around the room with a frown.
“Not all,” I pointed out.
She snorted. “I don’t know why you’re surprised.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? I’ve been training. I—”
“You’re not ready for this,” Maria replied smugly. “Even if Spence thought you were ready, your boyfriend here made sure to inform him otherwise.”
I followed Maria’s gaze to Dylan just in time to catch the grimace disappearing from his face. He didn’t look at me, choosing instead to stare at Maria.
“What is she talking about?” I demanded.
His jaw clenched as Maria voiced her unsolicited opinion. “Why do you think he went into Spence’s office yesterday?”
My eyes remained fixed on Dylan’s profile as he continued to glare across the table at Maria. “Dylan?”
Silence settled over the table as all eyes fixed on the two of us. They waited expectantly for the show to start. If what Maria said was true, it was guaranteed to be an entertaining one—all they needed was some popcorn.
Final
ly, Dylan turned to look at me. “You’re not ready,” he told me quietly.
My jaw hinged open. “You went to Spence behind my back?”
He didn’t even look apologetic when he nodded. “I did.”
“How could you do that? Why would you do that?”
“Thea, maybe—”
I shrugged off Jake’s arm on my shoulder and shot to a stand. “Why did you even bring me here if you never intended for me to be a part of your little assassin group? What was the point of training if I don’t get to use what I’ve learned when it matters the most?”
Jake tried again. “If it wasn’t Lucifer’s vessel—”
“No. I’m not buying that.” I jerked out of Jake’s grasp and backed away from the table. Dylan stood to approach me. I stopped him with a jab of my finger. “Don’t touch me.”
“Will you at least listen—”
I turned, answering his unfinished question with my actions. No, I wasn’t going to listen to his excuses. No, I wasn’t going to understand. And yes, I was hurt and disappointed that I didn’t get a say in whether or not I wanted any part in this mission.
The truth was, I didn’t know if I was ready. I didn’t know what it was like out there. I didn’t know what to expect. They did, and they all seemed pretty damn sure that I wouldn’t be able to handle it.
But it still hurt that Dylan had gone behind my back. I would have rather heard the truth from him than from Maria, that was for sure.
I knew he was behind me. His footsteps drew closer as I hurried down the stairs and through the door to the sixth level. He shoved it open with a muttered curse and trailed after me. I entered my suite and turned the lock before he could follow me any further. A few seconds later, I realized it didn’t matter when he swung open the door that connected me to Jake’s suite.
“Will you stop and listen to me for a goddamn second,” he growled.
“You shouldn’t have gone behind my back,” I snapped.
His lips pressed together. Then, he muttered, “Fair enough.”
“Fair enough?” I repeated. “That’s all you have to say?”
“No, that’s not all.” He took two steps closer. “I have a lot more to say to you.”
19
DYLAN
She stared at me, waiting. For being such a badass assassin, I sure felt like a big pussy.
“I’m sorry I went behind your back,” I started. “I am. I knew you wouldn’t like it, but I also knew you would insist on going. But you can’t go.”
“Because you say so?”
“Obviously Spence agreed with me, or you would have gotten one of these papers.”
I knew it was the wrong thing to say the second the words came out of my mouth. And I really regretted them when she turned her narrowed eyes on me.
“Why did you even bring me here?” she fired. “Why bother training me at all? Why tell me what I’m supposed to be if you weren’t going to let me do anything—”
“Because it’s Lucifer!”
She stopped and blinked at my outburst.
“Jesus, Thea,” I groaned. “What else do you want me to say? I am sorry I went to Spence without talking to you, but that doesn’t change anything. You can’t go.”
“Right,” she muttered bitterly, “because I’m not ready.”
“Because I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if anything happened to you out there.”
She nodded once at the floor. I didn’t look like a nod of agreement though, so I tried a different angle.
“We brought you here because it’s safer. We told you what you are because you deserve to know. I fully intended for you to be a part of our team when we brought you here. But I didn’t know then how much I would come to—”
I cut myself off with a rapid shake of my head when I realized where this new angle was going. What had I been about to say? I ran a trembling hand over my face, and turned away from her, as if that could declutter the tangled web of thoughts in my head—things like “I care for you,” “I want you in my future,” and most shocking of all . . . “I think I’m in love with you.”
I didn’t say things like that.
Then Thea entered my life, and words like that started sprouting in my head like wild flowers in a previously well-manicured lawn. Unwanted. Unknown. Unspoken. Until the day I realized their magnificence. The previously dull yard had been missing something it had never known until her. And it didn’t want to go back to being barren and alone again.
“What?” she demanded.
Glancing over my shoulder, and finding her expectant eyes on me, I knew that I wanted her wild flowers in my lawn. Suddenly, the words were a lot easier to say than I thought possible.
“I fell in love with you, that’s what.”
Her eyes shifted to the ceiling, enabling me to glimpse the sheen of moisture that coated her eyelashes. After a ridiculously long time, her mouth parted to make a noise that sounded like the love child of a sigh and moan. I kind of liked that noise. But I didn’t like the way her head moved side to side with a barely discernible shake.
“Dylan, you can’t—”
“Don’t tell me what I can’t do.” I softened the order with a light chuckle. “I hate that.”
Finally, her eyes darted to mine. “This isn’t a joking matter, Dylan.”
“Does it look like I’m joking?” I took two full steps toward her. I stopped, permitting her a clear view of my face—sans any trace of humor, for what may have been the first time in my life. It felt foreign, but I also recognized that she was right.
Telling someone you loved them wasn’t something to joke about. Not for anyone, but definitely not for me—the guy who thought he’d never utter such foreign words. I was serious as hell, and I made sure she saw it on my face.
“You really . . .” It was a question she couldn’t finish.
And I had a prompt answer. “I sure do.”
Her bottom lip disappeared, sucked between her teeth so hard I saw the blood drain from where she bit down. Another step put me within touching distance. My knuckles grazed her cheek, brushing aside the single tear that slowly rolled toward her chin.
Considering I had never told a girl I loved her before, I didn’t know if crying was a good thing or a bad thing. But she hadn’t kneed me in the junk yet, and I took that as a good sign.
“I’m not used to this, Thea,” I admitted honestly, “and I’m sorry if I’m doing this wrong. But I’m not sorry for the way I feel.”
I lowered my head to hers slowly, taking the time to watch her eyes flutter closed and her lips part in anticipation. I brushed a fleeting kiss to her upper lip, wanting to savor her warmth and softness.
Her breath caught, forcing her to whisper against my lips, “Dylan, I—”
“Don’t,” I ordered softly. “Don’t say anything.”
“But I—”
“No. I don’t know if I’ll be able to leave if you say it now.”
“Then I guess I don’t want you to leave.” She pulled back, breaking contact with my lips. “Before you, I thought I knew what love was. I thought it was always pure and clean and easy, but you . . .” She shook her head and smiled wryly. “You have shown me that it can be messy and hard and still be everything I’ve ever wanted.”
Her arms slipped around me, and I fell into her, pressing her against the wall. I was probably smashing her, but I didn’t care right now.
“I love you, and I want to do this together.” She managed to pull back enough to look into my eyes. “Or not at all, right?”
“That’s not fair,” I groaned. Why had I ever said those damn words? And why couldn’t she forget about them?
“You started it,” she reminded me.
“You’ll be safer here.”
“How do you know that? We walked through hell to get here, but we did it together.”
“Where we are going is worse than what we already went through, Thea.”
“Exactly why I want to go with you. You thi
nk I haven’t noticed the little hints you’re dropping? You want me to know you might not come back, as if that will convince me to stay here. All it does it make me want to go with you more, because you and my brother are all that I have and if you die—”
“You’ll still be okay.”
“Would you be okay?” She countered. “If Jake and I were gone?”
Jesus, she was impossible to argue with. But I would not waver on this, and I suspected there was only one way to convince her to see it from my point of view.
“What if it was Jake or me?”
She shook her head softly. “What do you mean?”
“What if you had to choose? I’m not asking you to do that right now,” I pointed out quickly. “But if you went with us, and shit got bad, and you had a split second to choose between me and him. . . could you do it?”
Her eyes lowered when she realized the point I was trying to make. “You think I would be a liability.”
“If you go, and I hesitate, one or both of you could die,” I finished. “I need to focus on your brother, so that we both get out of this alive.”
She finally got it. She didn’t have to say anything. I saw the understanding flash in her eyes.
“I need you both to come back,” she finally told me. “But at least think about it? For me?”
I understood how hard it would be for her—stuck here and powerless to change whatever happened. I sympathized with that. I really did, but there was no way in hell I was going to let her go.
“I’ll think about it,” I lied.
When I kissed her forehead, I vowed to make it the last lie I ever told her.
20
THEA
I sensed the abandonment the moment my eyes peeled open.
I had no idea what time it was, other than sometime after five in the morning—because that was the time Dylan and Jake had discussed leaving the night before. Pressure built in my chest as my eyes adjusted to the dark.
Dylan’s side of the bed was empty, the sheets cold. Like he had never been there at all.
