I moan, causing his fingers to flex on my face and he doesn’t give me a reprieve. Not until we hear a sound coming from our side. “Ahem.”
He lets my mouth go but doesn’t look away from me. “You’d better answer when I call you.”
I have to work for a breath and don’t move because he’s still holding my face. “You don’t have my number.”
“I do.”
I frown. “I won’t have cell service.”
He frowns back. “Then I’ll message. Or Whatsapp you. I’ll figure it out but you’ll know it’s me so you’d better answer.”
He leans in and presses his lips to mine one more time, and dammit, he really smells delicious after a shower.
I don’t know what to say so I mutter, “Noah.”
“I’ll see you soon, Gracie.”
And with that, he takes the cold coffee from the dad and turns, stalking down the concourse in a way that reeks seriousness. He really thinks he’s going to see me when I get back.
“Is that your boyfriend?”
I look down at the little girl who’s cool enough to pull off shades in the airport like a rock star. At this point I’d be lying to myself and everyone else if I called Noah my one-nighter, not that it would be appropriate anyway. Instead, I tell her what I do know. “I’m not sure what he is.”
I take a sip of my steaming coffee and it’s exactly the way I like it. Sweet with a shit load of half-and-half. Then I open the bag and find two breakfast burritos along with a fresh blueberry muffin.
Damn Noah Jarvis.
I have a feeling there’s no way he’s going to leave me be with my memory.
Ugh.
Chapter 4
Don’t Tell Grady
Jarvis
I pull up to the farmhouse and Crew’s old truck is parked out front. He texted me forty-five minutes ago, asking where I was. Apparently, learning that the woman I hooked up with last night is the youngest sister of a man I like and respect has made me lose my mind. I completely forgot about our meeting.
And I don’t forget anything—ever.
Gracie fucking Cain.
I’ve heard of her. I’ve actually heard a lot about her over the years from her brother. Grady’s got a slew of sisters—hell, three hours ago I couldn’t’ve told you how many, but I know now.
Right after I watched her walk all the way to Grady’s house in the dark on the surveillance video, I didn’t even bother getting dressed before pulling up all the information I could find about the woman who might as well have hoodwinked me into the sack, because had I known, there’s no way I would’ve gone there with Grady’s sister, especially the baby of the family.
Grace Abbigail Cain. Age twenty-seven. Lives in Columbus, Ohio. Works full-time as a surgical nurse in the pediatric unit in the biggest hospital in the northern half of the state. She’s a workaholic, logging anywhere between fifty to sixty-five hours a week. She drives an older model BMW that has been registered in her name since the day she turned seventeen.
She’s single—or appears so—and has no children.
That was my first-level search. After I took a shower, my priority was damage control with my boss. My brain circled—scenarios, lies, and stories—trying to figure out how to keep my job and not piss off the man who’s had my back since the day I was recruited to become an assassin for Crew Vega and his outfit.
It would’ve been easy. I’m a sneaky fuck—I have to be to do what I do. This should’ve been a walk in the park, especially if Grace Cain was serious about going our separate ways.
But then I decided to dig deeper. I called Carson and had him run a complete bio for me and added that if he breathed a word of this to Grady, I’d hunt him down and kill him myself.
Her full bio was concerning to say the least and enough to haunt any sane human at the most. It was plainly horrific and there’s not much that’ll get me to bat an eye.
I can’t even try to pretend to walk away. I didn’t want to let her be before I read the bio, but after?
There’s no fucking way I’m going to let her saunter her sweet ass off into the Ugandan sunset and pretend I’m okay with never seeing her again. I have to see her again.
She’s different. She wants nothing more from me than what we had last night, talking about a memory. What the hell was that about?
I’ve never met anyone like her.
And I’ve certainly never had anyone like her, either.
My first order of business after my meeting with Crew is to pack up my shit and book a flight around the world. I can find out where she is, see her, and wait for my next assignment. It’ll be better than being here. Helping with the recruits and kicking their asses might be an entertaining pastime when there’s nothing else to do, but there’s no way I can sit here in Virginia when I can be somewhere else—specifically, Africa—and figure out why the hell she wants nothing more to do with me.
I get out, slam my door, and jog up the front steps. Punching in the long code to open the door, I cross the threshold and turn to the dining room that Crew has made into a conference room.
He’s standing at the head of the long table his wife had moved in here because she said we at least needed a place to sit during meetings.
“Sorry. I had to take care of some things this morning.”
Crew closes the file he’s studying and tosses it to the table. Then he crosses his arms and his sharp, dark eyes angle to me. “Something you want to tell me?”
I rock back on my heels and stuff my hands in my pockets. The man standing before me trained me to keep my fucking mouth shut should I ever be taken prisoner. The less we say the better and it’s been proven if you break the seal, you’ll eventually cave. As a prisoner, you have a better chance to keep any and all confidential information just by keeping your trap shut. Not to mention, I’m not completely sure if he’s talking about Gracie.
Easy choice: I don’t answer.
“The system alerted me at four-thirty this morning that someone was walking on my property. Since I knew you were here, I figured I’d hear from you. But when I didn’t get a call or even a damn text, I dragged my ass out of bed to check for myself.”
The cameras. I had no idea Crew still got the alerts when someone else was manning the camp. I shouldn’t be surprised.
I shrug and stick to my silence because now I’m pretty sure he’s talking about Gracie.
“Does Grady know his baby sister walked through the woods and across the street by herself at that time of night?”
Shit. He knows. And I thought this was complicated enough. I don’t have a choice but to answer. “I watched her walk across on the cameras. Nothing was going to happen to her.”
He shakes his head and sighs. “Of all the women in the commonwealth, you picked up Gracie Cain?”
I’m not about to admit I didn’t know her last name when I took her home. This isn’t my proudest moment. “Don’t worry, it’s all good.”
Crew’s eyes widen. “I can promise you, of all the things this is, good is not one of them. Not when Grady finds out. This will be anything but good and I can’t protect you from his wrath. You might think you know him, but there’s shit you have no clue about and most of it points back to Gracie—”
“I know,” I interrupt. “Even though I just met her last night, I know it all.”
His dark brows pinch. “She told you?”
I cross my arms. “Doesn’t matter how I know. I know.”
He looks to the side and mutters, “Shit.”
“Like I said, I got it covered. Gracie is good, just don’t tell Grady. I’ll figure that out later.”
His eyes cut back to mine. “Like I want to deal with that fury when he finds out I knew about this and didn’t tell him.”
I move to the table and open the file he tossed down. “She’s twenty-seven, not seventeen. She can do whatever the hell she wants without her big brother giving her the green light.” I look back up. “He can’t be happy about her headi
ng to Africa by herself, can he?”
He swipes the file from me. “No, he’s not and did everything he could to stop her. Since you say you know her, then you know. Once Gracie gets an idea into her head, that’s it, especially when it comes to kids.”
“She sure does.” I don’t know shit about Gracie other than every inch of her delicious body and the history I learned on her bio—which is general at best—but I’m not about to tell him that. He narrows his eyes but I don’t give him a chance to say more. “Fill me in and give me my orders. If I have a day or two, I’m making a stop on the way.”
“You’ve got three.” He flips open the file, finally acting like the leader of a top-secret organization and not some mother hen trying to keep peace in the coop. He puts his finger to the paper with pictures of five men. “Despite talks and so-called agreements between this organization and their government, civilian attacks and deaths are at an all-time high. All the intel we have points to this terrorist cell.”
I skim the first page before flipping to the second. “And this group of rogues is connected to the organization that’s supposedly working with the government?”
“The same.”
I flip to the end and read the bios of my targets, muttering, “This won’t be a problem.”
“You can stay at my place in Paris so you’re closer when we get the final intel. I made sure it was free for you. Not sure how long you’ll be there—this one might take a while. Now, on to the part you’re not gonna like.”
I look from the documents to him. Besides the woman I literally just fucked seven-ways-to-Sunday who’s traveling the globe in the opposite direction from me, I wonder what else there could be for me not to like. “There’s more?”
“You’re not working this alone.”
I’m sure my expression is as hard as my tone because he gives me the fucking palm when I bite out, “I only work alone.”
“Usually, but not this time. I’ve already reached out to my contacts in Pakistan. They’re going to hook you up with what you’ll need when you get there and they know the routes you’ll need to enter the country. They’ll help you pick up your target’s trail and find a way to isolate them.”
I shake my head. “No way. I can do this on my own. You know I can.”
“Maybe, but it’ll take a hell of a lot longer and Carson has people who want this done. You don’t have a say this time and you’re the only one I have right now who I trust with this. Don’t waste your breath because we’re doing this my way. I’ve known my people there for years and trust them.”
“Shit.”
“Get over it.” Crew looks me up and down and adds, “Not to mention, you’re going to be moving deep into Afghanistan. You need locals to help you. I know you’ve got this wandering tourist look going on, but you still stick out like a sore thumb.”
“I’m a security consultant, not a wandering tourist,” I correct him of my cover. “Don’t patronize me.”
“Speaking of patronizing,” Crew sits and leans back in his chair, “our favorite asshole found Asa when he was at the store with Saylor the day before yesterday. He asked all kinds of questions about how you two were associated. The guy was lucky Asa had Saylor with him so he didn’t throttle him. But the fact he approached Asa in front of Saylor might’ve been worse. Asa is pissed and ready to bring the guy in, make a point once and for all.”
“Again?” Fuck. Calvin Prosk is a journalist for an independent online news organization. And the unsettling thing is, it seems legit—or legit enough when it comes to reporting. “I have no idea how he caught wind of me. I ran his background and he’s never stepped foot outside of the US. Hell, before he took his current job, he’d never been to the west coast. Carson flagged him. If his passport hits, we’ll know. Do what you want, but I’m not worried.”
“I wasn’t worried ‘til he had the balls to walk up to Asa Hollingsworth and ask what it is you do and how the two of you are associated. It might not be any skin off your back but Asa’s got Keelie and four kids under his roof now. All of them are officially his since he signed the adoption papers for Knox and Saylor right after he said I do last night. He doesn’t take that lightly and neither do I. Shit like this starts out small but can blow up and I’ve got my family—not to mention this entire operation—to protect. By the end of the day, I plan to know every step Prosk takes until he decides to forget your name. I’m putting Ozzie on him. Besides finishing up language school, he’s ready and I don’t want you anywhere near Prosk since you’re the only one he seems to be interested in.”
Ozzie is solid. He’s been training for at least eight months. “I’ll schedule a flight out tonight and wait to hear from you in the next few days. When this is done, I’ll come back and do what I can to get this asshole off our backs. You’ll never have an issue because of me. I swear.”
“I know I won’t. Get this done and get home. You need some time off and didn’t get it this time around like I planned.”
Crew can be adamant about schedules but I might as well live in slow motion when I’m between jobs, so I mean it when I say, “I don’t need time off.”
He pushes the file across the table at me. “This is yours and the rest will be sent encrypted. And I used to think I didn’t need time off and the people I worked for took advantage of that. You work for me—you’ll take time off.”
I can’t argue so I grab my file and turn to leave. I have a bag to pack and a flight to schedule. But I’m not going straight to Crew’s place in Paris—I’ve got a stop to make while I wait for orders.
“Jarvis,” Crew calls.
I stop to look back.
“You fuck over Gracie Cain, Grady isn’t the only one you’ll have to answer to.”
It’s all I can do not to glare at my boss. “The only people I fuck over are the ones you pay me to.”
It’s not like I live out my personal life in front of the men of this organization. They have no idea what I do in the spare time I’ve come to loathe.
His gaze sits on me too long, longer than I’m comfortable with. “Grady did everything he could to try and stop her. But he did get her to wear a tracker.”
At least there’s that and now I might not have to search all over Uganda for her. “Send me the link.”
Another glare.
Finally, he nods.
And that’s all I get.
But I don’t give a shit. Now it’ll be a hell of a lot easier to find her.
Chapter 5
Fearless
Gracie
Unknown Number – How’s Montreal?
What the hell? It can’t be.
Me – Who’s this?
Unknown Number – If you don’t know who this is, that means you’re in the habit of answering messages from strangers. Not a good idea, Gracie.
I stuff my phone in my pocket and decide to ignore him. He somehow figured out my number and I have no idea how he did that without asking Grady. From the tune he was singing before I left DC, he wasn’t excited about my big brother finding out about our night together, so I don’t think he’d pass Grady a note in class asking for my digits.
That means he has other ways—probably the same ways Grady uses to know all the things there are to know about me almost before I know them. It’s downright creepy as shit and I’m over it.
I throw my premade sandwich in my backpack and hope it will keep until I’m on my way to Brussels. I planned on eating something during my layover but I also didn’t plan on such a big breakfast. I snarfed down the burritos and still have the extra muffin Noah shoved into my hand right before he kissed me in front of all the passengers at Reagan National. Not only did the man throw off my equilibrium, making me forget how to say the word no, but he’s also stalking me around the world—on a trip I very much wanted to be an independent woman, do something on my own, and prove to myself I don’t need my siblings holding my hand in a way that’s become suffocating.
It doesn’t matter that my nerves are
a frayed layer of split ends—I need this trip.
Trying to ignore the vibration against my ass, I listen to the couple next to me speak intimately in French. I have no clue what they’re going on about but from the way they’re pawing at each other, I’m guessing it’s not about their electric bill. I should have paid closer attention to my old-hag French teacher freshman year of high school because, by the color of the woman’s flushed skin, I’m dying to know what he’s saying to her.
The constant reminder of Noah vibrates against my ass and I look away from the beautiful, lusty couple. I still have a few minutes until we board. I can’t even read my book because it’s on my phone and there’s no way I’d be able to ignore him then.
Ten minutes pass and closing my eyes to catch a nap doesn’t work.
I finally pull out my damn phone. If I don’t, I’m afraid the vibration might take down the airport. Noah Jarvis is that chatty of a guy.
A slew of messages.
Unknown Number – You’re not the only one on their way out of the country. I got a new assignment and I’m flying out tonight.
Unknown Number – You never know who you’ll run into while traveling.
What? Shit! No. I cannot see him this trip.
Wait. What am I saying? I can’t see him ever again.
Unknown Number – Are you really not going to answer me?
No, dammit. I’m not.
Unknown Number – Gracie, I know you’re still there and haven’t taken off yet. I’ve got your flight numbers memorized and can even see which terminal you’re in.
Ugh. He does know all the things, just like Grady.
Unknown Number – I’m trying to figure you out, Lover. You didn’t even blink at me funny last night before you knew who I was but now you’re afraid to text me?
All of a sudden, those burritos aren’t settling so well. If he only knew what I was really trying to avoid.
Veils: A Killers Novel, Book 4 Page 5
