Driving Force

by Elle James

  “I understand,” Jane said. “If I were them, I too would have great difficulty trusting a stranger. Actually, I wouldn’t have let me inside the vehicle in the first place.”

  Gus nodded. “What she said.”

  “Gus, are you up for the assignment?” Declan asked. “If not, I can assign one of the other guys.”

  “After seeing Jane in action, I know what she’s capable of.” He gave the woman a narrow-eyed stare. “I’ll watch her.”

  Jane gave as good as she got with an equally narrowed glance. “You’ll be bored when you discover that I’m no threat to Mrs. Halverson.”

  “Charlie,” the widow said with a smile. “Call me Charlie. And, Declan, please remove her restraints.”

  Declan frowned, but cut the zip tie binding Jane’s wrists.

  She rubbed at the red marks the ties had made on her skin and nodded toward Charlie. “Thank you.”

  “I get the feeling that being around you will be anything but boring,” Gus said.

  Declan chuckled. “Yes, sir. You’re the right man for this job.”

  Gus wasn’t quite certain why Declan thought it was funny that he was the right man for the job. He took protecting Charlie seriously. If that meant sticking with the black-haired beauty like a fly on flypaper then yes, he was the right man for the job.

  Where Charlie’s instinct was to trust Jane, Gus’s was telling him where Jane went, trouble would follow.

  * * *

  JANE DOE.

  She knew it wasn’t her name, but it gave her hope that it was only temporary.

  When they arrived at the entrance to the Halverson estate, Jane studied the impressive stone fence and wrought iron gate. Yes, she was almost certain she could have gotten in, but she didn’t know what kind of security system the Halversons had in place. She might only have gone two steps before a guard dog ripped her to shreds or a dozen heavily muscled men converged on her, aiming automatic rifles and fully loaded handguns.

  Invading a person’s private residence might not have gotten her invited in like meeting the wealthy widow at a gala. Not that her execution had gone exactly according to her original plan. In the long run, she was here, going in under the watchful eye of her assigned guard.

  Charlie had no idea who Jane was, but her promise to help her find answers was better than being turned back out on the streets where she’d had to steal to survive.

  “I don’t like taking charity,” Jane said. And she didn’t like stealing. “If there is something I can do to repay you, I’m more than happy to earn my way until I’m able to return home.” Assuming she had a home. Hell, for all she knew, she might live in Syria, not the US.

  Deep inside, she didn’t think so. But her memory only went back as far as the beatings she’d endured at the hands of her captors. Anything before that was a complete blank. Why she knew how to speak Russian and Arabic was just as much a mystery to her as her fighting skills.

  The caravan of vehicles drove on the curving road through an archway of ancient oaks. When they emerged from the wooded acres, Jane’s breath caught in her throat at the three-story mansion ahead. They pulled into a circular drive and stopped at a marble staircase leading up to a massive double door.

  A woman and two men emerged and came down the steps.

  Arnold, the driver, parked the limousine and hurried around to open the door. Gus got out and offered his hand to Jane.

  She felt certain she wasn’t used to having a man help her out of a vehicle. Given the dress and high heels, she accepted the hand.

  He pulled her to her feet with enough force she bumped against him.

  Jane planted her hands on his rock-hard chest and looked up into his deep brown eyes, reflecting the light from the front entrance.

  “I’m watching you,” he whispered and then held her until she was steady on her feet before stepping back to offer his hand to Charlie.

  He was gentle helping the older woman out of the vehicle.

  Jane had the urge to plant her foot in his backside. She resisted, knowing it would only buy her a little satisfaction for a short time and make her look bad to her benefactor. Until she got the answers she needed, she had to play nice with the cranky guard assigned to look after her.

  “Charlie, are you all right?” The woman who’d exited the house hurried forward to engulf Charlie in a hug.

  “Grace, of course, I am.” Charlie glanced around at the other men exiting the SUVs. “I take it good news travels fast?”

  “Mack called ahead and let me know what happened,” Grace said. “I knew I should have gone with you to the gala.”

  Charlie shook her head. “I’m fine. I had sufficient backup and a little help from my new friend Jane.” She turned to Jane. “Jane Doe, this is my personal assistant, Grace Lawrence. Grace, this is Jane. At least until we figure out who she really is.”

  Grace shook Jane’s hand. As soon as she released it, she frowned, her gaze shooting to Declan. “I don’t understand.”

  “I’ll explain later,” he said. “Right now, let’s go inside. We didn’t get a chance to eat at the gala and I’m hungry enough to eat a side of beef.”

  Grace stepped back, allowing Charlie to move ahead.

  Charlie led the way into the house, not stopping until she arrived in a large, modern kitchen. “Carl,” she called out, looking around.

  A barrel-chested man wearing a white chef’s smock and carrying a canister emerged from what appeared to be a walk-in pantry. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “We have a lot of hungry people converging on your kitchen,” Charlie said. “What have you got?”

  Carl grinned. “I’m about to pull a ham out of the oven. I’d planned on having ham and eggs for breakfast tomorrow, but we can eat it now. I can steam some vegetables in just a few minutes and toast some baguettes.”

  “Perfect. What about wine?”

  “I’ll get the wine,” Grace offered and headed for a door on the far end of the kitchen.

  “I’ll help.” Declan followed. They descended a staircase that led downward, possibly into a wine cellar.

  Carl grabbed mitts and turned to one of the two ovens. When he pulled the door open, steam rushed out along with the heavenly scent of baked ham.

  Jane’s knees wobbled and her stomach gave a loud rumble. How long had it been since she’d eaten a good meal? She’d scrounged for everything she’d eaten over the past two weeks since her escape from her cell in Syria. While held captive, her meals had been few and inadequate. She’d probably lost ten or fifteen pounds she couldn’t afford to lose.

  While the men shrugged out of their jackets, Carl set the ham on the counter and carved off a stack of slices. “If you’re too hungry to wait for vegetables, you can make sandwiches.” He pulled out a loaf of fresh bread and sliced the entire thing, laying it on a plate beside the ham.

  “That’s what I’m talking about,” one of the men said.

  Charlie laughed. “Don’t worry about the steamed vegetables. Lettuce and tomatoes will suffice. I think we’re all ready to eat now, not twenty minutes from now.”

  “Done.” Carl hurried to the refrigerator, extracted the requisite lettuce, tomatoes and condiments and returned to the island. In less than a minute he had everything sliced and ready.

  Grace and Declan emerged from the wine cellar, carrying two bottles each of red wine. Gus reached into a cabinet and retrieved wine glasses, handing several to Jane before loading his hands with more. They carried them to a huge table in the corner of the kitchen.

  Carl made sandwiches to order one by one, starting with Charlie. Once they had their plates, the men and women moved to the table and claimed seats. Carl brought his own plate and several bags of potato chips and joined them.

  Once everyone had a chance to eat several bites, Charlie went around the table, introducing everyone.

&nbs
p; She nodded toward the brown-haired, blue-eyed man who’d ridden along with them in the limousine. “You met Declan O’Neill at the gala. He’s the leader of my team of former Force Recon marines.”

  Declan gave her a chin lift.

  Charlie nodded to Gus who’d taken the seat next to Jane. “And you met Augustus Walsh who has been assigned to protect you.”

  Jane almost snorted, but held back. Protect her? The hell he was. He was going to keep an eye on her to keep her from hurting Charlie or any of his band of brothers. Jane nodded politely. “Do I call you Augustus?”

  “Just Gus,” he said in more of a grunt than polite conversation.

  Her lips twitched. “Okay, Just Gus.”

  His glare was worth the teasing, making Jane’s smile broaden.

  “Next to Gus is Mack Balkman,” Charlie continued. “He was at the Mayflower Hotel tonight pulling outside guard duty.”

  A man with black hair and blue eyes lifted a hand. “We got caught up in the evacuation of the ballroom and missed the fight.”

  “Jack Snow was outside the hotel as well,” Charlie said.

  A tall man with dark blond hair and gray eyes winked. “Declan says you held your own with two attackers.” He nodded. “I’m impressed.”

  Jane shrugged. “I did what I had to.”

  “For which I’m extremely grateful,” Charlie said. “You met Grace.” She nodded to her assistant and then tipped her head toward a man with brown hair and brown eyes. “Frank Ford was security backup here at the estate, along with Cole McCastlain who works with my computer tech Jonah Spradlin, who isn’t here tonight.”

  The man she’d called Frank Ford gave a chin lift. “You can call me Mustang.”

  The man with the close-cropped hair and hazel eyes Charlie had introduced as Cole nodded.

  “Do you have a different name you go by?” Jane asked.

  “Cole is it,” he answered.

  “Gentlemen and Grace,” Charlie announced, “this is, for all intents and purposes, Jane Doe. Our mission is to discover who she is and help her find her way home.”

  Home. The word filled Jane with warmth and hope. She prayed she had such a place and that a family was there to welcome her.

  Chapter Five

  “You don’t know who you are?” Mack asked.

  Jane shook her head. These former military men had every right to be suspicious of a woman claiming she didn’t know her own identity.

  “How did you end up with Charlie?” Grace asked.

  Jane showed them the tattoo on her arm and explained about the numbers in Hebrew. She ended her life history with, “Now you know as much as I do.”

  “I’m amazed you knew how to read Hebrew,” Grace said.

  “I’ve discovered I can understand and speak Russian and Arabic and that I know how to fight.”

  “I’m even more impressed,” Grace said. “My friend Emily is a Russian instructor and translator. It’s not an easy language to learn. And I can imagine Arabic is even harder.”

  “The question is why she had the longitude and latitude of the Halverson estate tattooed on her wrist,” Declan said.

  “All I can think is that it might have had something to do with my late husband’s secret activities.” Charlie lifted her glass of wine and sipped. “It might be worth a trip to his corporate office to see if he left any files. As for that matter, we can tear apart his home office and see if we can find anything that will help. It’s about time I figured out what he was up to. He kept secrets from me, telling me it was better that I not know some of the things he was doing. He assured me it was all for the good. The good of what, I don’t know. But I trusted him. John was a good man. He only wanted to help people.”

  “Mack and I can go through the home office tomorrow,” Declan said. “I can have Cole go through your husband’s computer.”

  Charlie frowned. “Jonah already has, and he couldn’t find anything.”

  “A second set of eyes might help,” Declan said.

  “I’ll work with Jonah and see if we can find anything,” Cole said.

  “Would it help if I went to your husband’s office?” Jane asked. “Maybe somebody there will recognize me.”

  Charlie tilted her head, as if considering Jane’s request. “That’s not a bad idea. With nothing else to go on, it won’t hurt to try.”

  “Then Jane and I’ll go tomorrow,” Gus said.

  “I’ll go with them,” Jack Snow added.

  “And I will, too,” Charlie said. “You’ll need my permission to get in.”

  “Thank you all,” Jane said. “I don’t know what else to do. For now, I’m completely at your mercy.”

  Grace ran an assessing gaze from Jane’s head to her toes. “I think between Charlie and I, we can come up with some clothes for you to wear until we can get you to a store.”

  “If I can get back to the Mayflower, I left some jeans and a T-shirt in one of the broom closets.”

  “I’m sure by now, they have been discovered and tossed.” Charlie patted Jane’s shoulder. “We’ll take care of you.”

  “As long as I can repay you when I can,” Jane insisted.

  “Sweetheart,” Charlie said, “as far as I’m concerned, I should repay you. Between you, Declan and Gus, you saved me from those men tonight.”

  Heat rose up Jane’s neck into her cheeks. “You don’t owe me anything. I would have done that for anyone under attack.”

  “But it was me, and I’m thankful. The least you could do is let me help you.”

  Though she wanted to refuse, Jane couldn’t. The truth was she needed Charlie’s help. “Okay, but any clothes you purchase, I’m keeping receipts. I’ll pay you back as soon as I can.”

  “Deal.” Charlie smiled. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s way past my bedtime. Good night, all.”

  As soon as she left the kitchen, the others came to the same conclusion.

  “Cole and I are headed out,” Mack said. “We shared a ride earlier.”

  “I’ll be back early tomorrow morning to start sifting through Mr. Halverson’s computer files,” Cole said. “We’ll see if we can find information about his secret operations and our mystery lady, Jane.”

  “I’m out of here,” Jack said. “Let me know when you leave the estate. I’ll meet you at the Halverson corporate offices.”

  “What do you want me to do?” Mustang asked.

  “You can ride along with us and help protect Charlie,” Gus said.

  “Then I’ll be back bright and early.” Mustang gave a mock salute and headed for the door.

  “I moved the vehicles around to the side of the house,” Arnold said.

  “Do you have any clothes with you, Gus?” Grace asked.

  “Fortunately, I brought something to put on besides this rented tuxedo. I didn’t want to wear this penguin suit any longer than I had to. I also have a bag with my workout clothes in it.”

  “Good,” Grace said. “As Jane’s bodyguard, you’ll be here for the night.”

  By the look on Gus’s face, he’d already made up his mind to stay wherever Jane would be.

  Jane shivered at the intensity of his determination to protect Charlie and his team from her. She admired that in the man. He was loyal and true to his friends.

  “Jane, if you’ll come with me, I’ll show you to your room,” Grace said.

  “If Charlie has a suite, that would be ideal,” Gus said. “Since I’m staying with Jane.”

  A shiver of awareness rippled across Jane’s skin. She raised her eyebrows, pretending a cool reserve she wasn’t feeling. “Is that necessary?”

  “Absolutely.” Gus crossed his arms over his chest. “I can’t keep an eye on you if you’re in another room.”

  She lifted her chin. “You’re not sleeping with me.” Her belly tightened. Holy hel
l. What would it be like to sleep with this man whose broad chest and thickly muscled arms could sweep any woman off her feet? Even one as tough as she.

  “Not to worry. I have just the suite you’ll need.” Grace led the way up a sweeping, curved staircase to the third floor. “Charlie keeps these rooms for special guests.”

  “Ones who can climb all these stairs, I hope,” Gus said.

  “Of course.” Grace chuckled. “You and Jane will have the Rumba Suite.”

  Grace opened the door. Inside was a large sitting area at the center and two bedrooms, one on either side of the sitting room.

  “Will this do?” Grace asked.

  “Yes,” Gus said.

  “No,” Jane said. “I’m not comfortable having a strange man in my bedroom.”

  “Oh, he won’t be in your bedroom,” Grace said. “You’ll have one of the bedrooms, and Gus will have the other. You’ll have to share a bathroom and a sitting area. I think this will work out just fine.”

  Jane wasn’t so sure. Considering her situation, and the fact she had no home, no money and no identity, though, she could deal with sharing a suite.

  “It’ll work,” Gus said.

  Apparently, whether she liked it or not, they were going to share the space.

  After a glance around the posh interior, Jane couldn’t complain. It beat the hell out of the filthy dirt floor of the cell she’d been confined to in Syria.

  Jane eyed her guard. If the man tried anything, she had the fighting skills to defend herself. What she couldn’t understand was why she’d ended up locked in a cell, if she could fight like she had outside the Mayflower hotel? Then again, she’d been weak from hunger and beaten pretty badly. For a moment, she closed her eyes and tried to remember anything past the day she’d woken up in that cell. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t drag even a shred of a memory from the depths of her mind.

  “Jane? Are you okay?” Grace asked.

  Jane opened her eyes and gave a weak smile. “I’m fine.”

  “I’ll be back in a few minutes with clothing you can use until we can get you to a store.”

  “Thank you.” Jane walked around the sitting room and into the bedroom on the right.