She slowed her pace, lengthening the gap between them, but kept Jackson locked in her sights. Her mind spun. What the hell was he doing here? In her city? That couldn’t be a coincidence...could it?
No. She didn’t believe in coincidences. If her old life had taught her anything, it was that nothing happened by chance. Nothing. That bastard was in her city. She’d never once mentioned Omaha to him. Why was he here?
He turned right, hugged the building facades and peered into the stores doubling as fishbowls.
He has no idea I’m behind him. I’ve got you now. Two can play at this game. The thrill of the hunt surged through her veins. She’d forgotten just how much she loved this, lived for this.
She was the huntress. He was her prey.
Should she engage? She could. She was armed.
He took a quick left and disappeared.
Lily sidestepped an older couple who were ambling slower than molasses and followed Jackson into the dark alley. Her senses jumped to DEFCON 1. She slammed to a halt, reached for her gun and pressed herself close to the bricks. Shit.
Her brain registered movement to her left. She pivoted and raised her gun.
“Jackson.”
He mimicked her response and trained his gun on her chest. The last time she’d been in this situation, the man staring her down had tried to kill her. Lily glanced at his weapon and her heart stopped. It was the same gun he’d used to shoot her. With difficulty, she pulled her eyes away from the Glock. Focus, Lil.
“Everyone at 67 thinks you’re dead. Imagine their surprise when I tell them you’re here. In my city.”
Jackson shrugged. “Guess I’m dead no more. Am I, Lily girl?”
The once-intimate nickname rolled off his tongue and made Lily’s skin crawl. How she had ever loved this man was beyond her. She suppressed a shudder. “Don’t call me that. Why are you here?”
“Why do you care?” Jackson tilted his head and studied her. “Miss me?”
A familiar, all-consuming ache reared up and held her heart in a vice. A mixture of rage and bone-aching grief swirled in her brain. Pushing against the inexplicable emotions, she glared at the man she’d once loved.
“Not even for a second.”
“Why are you following me?”
“I could ask you the same question.” She glared at him, put pressure on the trigger of her .32.
He cocked his gun. His face hardened. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Lil.”
The familiar standoff chilled Lily to her bones.
He laughed, though there was nothing light about the sound bouncing off the alleyway. It was dark, and menacing. “I see you’re as feisty as ever. Answer my question. Why are you following me?”
“I wanted to see who was following me on the trail. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be my ex-lover. You know, the partner who betrayed me.”
Her emotions spun out of control. In one breath, she wanted to reach up and snap his neck, and yet, a strange pang in her chest threatened to undermine the past thirteen months of black hatred.
The muscles in his jaw twitched. Lily frowned. She’d known him long enough to know his tells—and that was one of them. “Why are you upset, Jackson?”
“You didn’t see me,” Jackson said, his tone cold as steel. “As far as you’re concerned, I’m a ghost. Leave now, and don’t try to find me. Ever.”
She shook her head. “You know I can’t do that.”
“Why are you always trying to play the fucking hero, Lily? Just for once, can you let a dead cat lie?”
“Sorry, Jackson.” She increased the pressure on her trigger finger.
“So am I.” In a single, fluid motion, his boot connected with her arm.
Her gun went flying, and she lost her balance. Lily scrambled to regain her footing and backed up until her shoulders hit the brick wall. He’d hemmed her in, outmaneuvered her. He pressed the muzzle of his gun between her breasts.
She didn’t move, barely breathed.
“Which has always been your Achilles’ heel, hasn’t it, Lily?” He shook his head, pushed the hard metal deeper into her soft flesh. She resisted the urge to flinch. He leaned his face close to hers. “Why do you always have to be the hero?”
“At least I’m not a traitor.”
Jackson pulled back as if she’d struck him. His jaw twitched. Again. What the hell was wrong with him? Just as quickly, the flicker of humanity disappeared.
Grabbing the front of her throat, he jammed his thumb into the carotid artery on one side of her neck and pressed his ring finger into the other. Lily clawed at his hands and fought. She had ten seconds, tops. Her head grew light, drifting, as she pushed against the advancing darkness she knew was coming for her.
Jackson tightened his grip, leaned close. “I’m a ghost.”
Her vision tunneled and went black.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Wednesday, September 24, 9:00 p.m.
THE WORLD WAS tilted sideways. Lily blinked, then struggled into a sitting position. How was she alive? Why hadn’t Jackson killed her?
Jackson.
She scanned the alley. Of course he was gone. And damn it, so was her gun.
Reaching up, she gingerly touched her throbbing head where her hairline met her forehead and winced. The tips of her fingers were slick. Fabulous.
Lily stood, gave herself a minute to find her balance and made her way back into the crowd, heading toward the one place she knew would be safe.
Ten minutes later, she walked through Ben’s back door.
“I saw him.”
The conversation between Derek, Ben and George ceased. All three men stared at her. Lily stopped short. What was Derek doing here? Better yet, what was George doing here? She shook her head. Not important. What was critical was Jackson. And the fact that he was here.
In her city.
“I saw him,” she said. “I saw Jackson.”
Derek leaped to his feet and rushed to her side. His fingers brushed the hair back from her forehead. Despite her current state of panic, her insides tightened at his soft touch.
“Damn it, Lily, what happened?”
“I’m fine.” Lily waved him off. And she was. The egg-shaped knot throbbed in time with each heartbeat and she needed to get it cleaned, but she’d experienced worse.
Much worse.
Lily couldn’t get her mind off of one fact: Jackson was in her city.
Derek held up his hands in surrender and backed off. The space between them felt cold. Empty. And she hated it. But not as much as she loathed the fact that Jackson had swooped down and screwed with her mind. Again.
“The bastard is here. In Omaha.”
None of the men reacted.
Scanning their faces, Lily recognized the set looks and quickly put the pieces together. They knew. Her blood started to boil. “But you already knew that.”
George didn’t move. Ben nodded.
“Ben. When?”
“This morning. We were read in after you left.”
Lily took a deep breath, trying to calm down, and looked at George. “Is that why you didn’t want me running alone tonight?”
George said nothing, just nodded.
Ben pointed to the chair in front of her. “Sit down and let me see to that.”
“No.” She crossed her arms and tilted her chin up.
She didn’t know what she was more furious about: Jackson being in her city, or the two—no, make that three—men in her life not telling her. She understood Derek not reading her in on everything. She’d known from day one that he held his cards close to the vest, as did she. But Ben? George? They should’ve told her the moment Derek read them in. That she hadn’t seen it coming stung.
“Lily, sit dow
n,” Ben said in his don’t-argue-with-me commander’s voice as he grabbed his suture kit.
Lily couldn’t ignore that directive, or the throbbing in her head.
She sat.
“Did anyone think it a crucial piece of information that might or might not help with this case, or better yet, keep me breathing? Did anyone think it wise to inform me that my traitorous ex-partner was in town?” Her voice rose an octave. “You know, the man who tried to kill me a year ago? Anyone?”
She swiveled around in her chair, cast an incredulous look toward George. Why was he being so quiet? He averted his eyes and hung his head. Serves him right. He was supposed to be protecting her. Keeping vital information from her was definitely not helping that cause.
“Hold still.” Ben dabbed at her forehead with an alcohol-soaked cotton ball. She sucked air between her teeth as he passed the soft ball of torture too close to the open skin.
“Sorry,” Ben whispered before placing the butterfly bandage against her small but nasty cut.
“Why is Jackson here?” Lily asked, looking up. Ben opened his mouth, then shut it. What were they hiding? “Why is he here, and why now?”
Ben pressed his calloused finger against the bandage, securing it against her skin. She winced, then focused on how pissed off she was in an attempt to ignore the pounding in her head. But damn, she needed an aspirin.
“Does it have something to do with the situation at ARME?” Without moving, she threw Derek a searing glare. He was silent. “Is this mission even legit?”
“It’s legit,” Ben said. “I called Director Kennedy myself.”
She pulled back and winced at the sudden movement. Her eyes narrowed. “The director already knows about this?”
“He knows that Jackson is in Omaha, yes.”
Lily pinned Ben with her gaze. “I’ll ask again. Did no one think it prudent to tell me Jackson was here? It’s my ass on the line. No one else’s.”
Derek crossed his arms.
Yeah, you better be on the defensive, buddy.
“It was a need-to-know basis,” he said.
“It was a need-to—” Lily choked on the words. Hadn’t they gotten past that bureaucratic garbage? Clearly not. A deep ache twisted in her gut. “Don’t give me that shit, Derek.”
Silently, George leaned across the table and tapped the thick manila files spread across its flat surface. Lily followed the staccato movements of his finger. The big red letters screamed at her. Classified.
She reached over, ignoring the fire that the subtle movement sent through her head, and grabbed a file, holding it up. “Someone talk. Now.”
Derek cleared his throat. “Jackson contacted ARME about sixteen months ago.”
Her mind rushed to keep up with the information. Sixteen months? She’d been on Derek’s radar for sixteen freakin’ months? She sank back into her chair.
“And that’s our cue.” Ben gathered his first-aid kit. George rose. “We’ve already been briefed. Time for these old men to turn in.”
George walked over and, careful to not touch her newly dressed cut, pressed his lips to Lily’s forehead. She stiffened. How long had he kept this secret from her? He knelt in front of her, forcing her to look at him.
“Don’t be mad. I would never keep something from you if it meant putting your life at stake. I’d die before I let anyone hurt you. You know that.”
Lily stared into the safe, warm face she’d seen day in, day out for the last year, and her entire body relaxed. She knew he’d never purposely keep anything from her or hurt her. She glanced over at Ben and forced a tight smile onto her lips. Yeah, she knew it.
She cradled her hand to George’s cheek. “I know, G. Sorry for freaking out.”
He stood and pressed his lips to her forehead again. “You’re our priority, Lil. Always have been. Always will be. Don’t forget that.”
Lily nodded. George shook hands with both men and left. She waited until Ben disappeared down the hallway and pulled his door shut tight behind him, before turning to Derek. He threw her a cautious smile. She knew George and Ben had her best interests at heart; they’d had her back since she was a toddler.
But Derek? He’d kept Jackson’s whereabouts from her from the beginning. And she was furious about it—rightfully so. And no doubt the man quietly examining her knew it.
Lily chewed her lip and quietly moved through her limited options. Trust him, or don’t. Her bullshit meter hadn’t pinged once with him. And that she could trust.
But now, it was time for the cards to be put on the table.
All of them.
“Start talking.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Wednesday, September 24, 9:20 p.m.
DEREK PULLED OUT a chair and straddled it. I need to get this shit off my chest. He stared at the woman who’d captured him completely, and a sick feeling stirred in the pit of his stomach. She was a trained operative, so keeping vital intel under wraps wasn’t a new concept. But withholding vital intel about her ex-partner—the man who’d betrayed his country and tried to kill her—yeah, that might have pushed the boundaries of what was understandable.
He scrubbed his hands over his face and took a deep breath. Here’s hoping that Lady Luck was on his side. “Like I was saying, Jackson contacted ARME about sixteen months ago.”
Lily nodded, and then her mouth dropped open as she put the pieces together. “The formula...”
“Exactly. From what we can piece together—and it’s shaky, at best—Jackson spoke with Rowland and pitched a hypothetical to him. Rowland promptly locked him down. But only on face value.”
Lily slowly nodded. “Smart. No way he’d show any interest over the phone. Too many potential ears.”
Derek’s lips curved in silent approval. She was handling this information barrage like a pro, but that didn’t surprise him at all—watching the wheels turn in that pretty little head of hers was always fascinating.
“Rowland keeps his hands clean, as in squeaky clean. That call triggered Langley and alerted us to ARME and Rowland for the first time.”
“Unbelievable.” She sank into a chair and stared at something just above Derek’s head. “What are the chances that all roads could lead back to Jackson?”
Derek heard the raw pain in her voice and felt like an ass, but he continued, eager to lay it all on the table. “I was put on him immediately after that call was logged.”
“You were put on—” Lily frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“He didn’t have the formula and, at that point, had only pitched a hypothetical, so our hands were tied. But he’d made his intentions known. I was ordered to watch until Jackson made his move.”
“Then that means I—”
Realization flashed over Lily’s face, and Derek inwardly cringed. Shit. If they could make it past this moment, if Lily didn’t kick him out for not reading her in on the whole case when he’d promised he would, then maybe, just maybe, Lady Luck loved him and he hadn’t completely screwed the pooch with Lily.
He swallowed hard and locked eyes with her, didn’t blink. “You’ve been on my radar for sixteen months, Lily.”
She chewed on her bottom lip, nodding. “So, the running path.”
“I knew you’d be there.”
“Makes sense.” She lapped the kitchen again, then stopped. “Sixteen months, huh. How closely?”
Derek reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. Okay, scratch that. This was the proverbial hurdle they had to get over. He sighed. “Close enough.”
“How close, Derek?”
“I was at Arlington,” he said in a soft voice.
Her eyebrows shot up and she slumped into the nearest chair. “The fake funeral? You were there?”
“I was there.”
* * *
/>
SHE’D KNOWN THE DAY he got the drop on her at the running path that Derek was good. And maybe, if she were honest with herself, she’d known all along that their chance meeting hadn’t happened by chance at all. But damn, she hadn’t imagined he was this good. She couldn’t figure out if she was angry again, or in awe of the man calmly staring back at her.
“How’d I do?”
He pursed his lips and nodded. “I was impressed.”
She snorted. “You didn’t even see the half of it.”
“Oh, no, I saw it all.”
He smiled and rubbed the back of his neck again before looking up at her. Was that a tinge of pink on his cheeks? There was never a dull moment with this guy. The spinning in her head kicked up a gear, as did the systematic throbbing against her butterfly stitch.
“I stayed the whole time, Lil. I’d been read in on the incident. All the intel pointed to Jackson showing up—we didn’t think he’d be able to stay away.” Derek shrugged and grimaced. “We were wrong.”
“Clearly.” Suddenly feeling like a trapped rabbit, she got up and paced the kitchen. She lapped it three times before finally stopping again. She pressed her fingers into the corners of her eyes and took a deep breath. “You can’t use your profiling voodoo on him, Derek. He’s smart and vicious.”
“So am I.”
Her eyes flipped to his face. Saw the strength, the dominance flash in his eyes, and her whole body hummed—and it wasn’t coming from the small cut on her head.
Derek was every bit as alpha as Jackson, and then some. It was no wonder she’d been drawn to Derek from the second she’d laid eyes on him. He was dynamic, and sexy as hell.
“And it’s not voodoo. It’s science,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone.
Lily couldn’t help but smile. “Let’s just agree to disagree on that one.”
“Fair enough.”
The whole conversation was beyond bizarre. In the past two hours, she’d come face-to-face with her ex-fiancé...and learned that Derek had known not only that Jackson was alive this whole time, but also exactly where he was.
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