Charmed: A Masters and Mercenaries Novella

by Lexi Blake

  “She’s been pacing by the pool. She was on her phone for a while. When Jordy walked by, she hid.”

  So she didn’t want anyone to see her. “Are Jordy and Patrick together?”

  “They’re both in the bar, but they’re at different tables. Patrick is talking to another one of the guests, but he’s been off and on his phone. Jordy’s alone and he keeps looking at his watch,” Hutch explained.

  “He told JT he was heading to bed the last time we talked to him.” He’d been one of the last people at the party, and she’d watched him walk out of the bar. Why had he gone back?

  “Sandra and Drake have both exits covered and intend to follow them. I contacted you because I’m worried that the bar is about to close and we’ll need a third set of eyes,” Hutch relayed. “I’m in contact with our friends, but I’m concerned about the assistant. She’s carrying what looks like a heavy bag. I don’t think that was what she was using earlier.”

  Deanna had been carrying a clutch at dinner. It had barely been big enough to hold a mobile and some lipstick. “I’ll shadow her. My room is fairly close to the pool. You stay where you can watch us, and let me know if anything else happens. Including with Drake.”

  She didn’t want him to think he could waltz off with the prototype. She was certain JT would get it back at some point, but only after the US government had studied it and figured out a way to use it, thereby cutting Malone Oil out.

  “Will do.”

  She hung up and reached for the clothes she’d folded earlier in case she needed to slip out. At least she’d prepared for one thing. The rest of the evening she hadn’t thought once about the job. From the moment JT had put his hands on her, all she could think about was him.

  She could get so lost in him. Like her mom had been in her dad right up until the moment he’d walked out on them.

  God, was that what this was about? Not Roger, but her dad? JT was nothing like her handsome, ne’re-do-well father. JT was almost slavishly devoted to his family in a way her father had never been. Even as a youngster she’d known her father wasn’t good for her mother.

  And JT wasn’t good for her concentration. She quickly dressed and checked her gun, easing it into the shoulder holster she covered with a light sweater, and then she was sneaking out.

  She caught a glimpse of JT in the moonlight, his cut chest on full display. He was so gorgeous, so giving. Losing him would kill her. When she’d found out about Roger’s betrayal, she’d thought her heart had been broken. She couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to lose JT. Her heart wouldn’t merely break. It would shatter into a million pieces, and there would be no putting it back together.

  She shook off the thought and strode to the outer room, picking up the small earpiece she’d placed on the bar and settling it in. She touched it.

  “Sandra, can you hear me?”

  “Loud and clear.” Sandra’s voice was in her ear.

  Nina brushed her fingers through her hair, hiding the earpiece in case she ran into anyone. She’d seen a couple of vending machines near the pool. She could fake that she’d gotten lost looking for them. “Do you have eyes on Jordy?”

  “I have eyes on everyone I need to have eyes on,” Sandra replied. “He’s getting fidgety. Jordy, that is. Drake is proving to be perfectly patient. He’s outside, and from what I can see, he hasn’t moved a muscle. He’s good at blending into the background. Patrick has no idea he’s being watched.”

  That was a skill that would help the kid enormously at the Agency. “I’m going to try to do the same with Deanna. Let me know if anything changes.”

  “Will do.”

  Nina pocketed her room key and slipped outside. The hallway was quiet at this time of night, though it was brightly lit. It reminded her of how she was used to working in the shadows.

  She strode down the hall and moved into the stairwell. The lift would be easier, but it was also more unpredictable. She’d taken a tour of the grounds when they’d gotten in so she could familiarize herself with the place. The pool was at the eastern end of the building. It was a huge space, with a large infinity pool overlooking the ocean.

  She jogged down the four flights of stairs and slipped outside, the sounds and scents of the ocean seeming to take over all her senses. Without the music that played in the pool area during the day and long into the night, the sound of waves crashing against the beach became the night’s soundtrack. Warm wind caressed her skin and she once again wished she was here for the normal reasons. If she was simply here to relax with her boyfriend, this would be one of the most romantic spots in the world, with the moon shining down and the air soft around them.

  But a voice in her ear reminded her that she wasn’t here for any of those reasons.

  “Jordy is on the move,” Sandra said in her ear, her voice barely audible, which made her think she was being super cautious. “He started for the path that leads to the beach, but he saw me. I fucked up. He turned and walked the other way.”

  “Patrick is finishing up his last drink, and it looks like he’s going to try to get laid,” Drake said. “I think he’s a bust. I’ll try to see if I can follow Jordy. Sandra, switch with me and make sure Patrick goes back to the hotel.”

  “I’m moving into position,” Sandra replied.

  “Drake, if you take the path to your left, you’ll move in behind Jordy.” Hutch’s voice was perfectly calm, though Nina knew they were moving into a danger zone.

  Chaos was the enemy.

  She strode quietly down the path that led to the largest of the pools. She stopped at the edge of the patio, keeping behind the big bushes that surrounded the space, giving it an illusion of privacy. Deanna was pacing, staring down at her phone as though it was some kind of a lifeline. She had a big beach bag on her shoulder, and she’d changed from her cocktail dress to black jeans and a T-shirt, trainers on her feet and her hair in a ponytail.

  She looked like she was ready to run if she needed to. In the short time she’d known Deanna, the woman had always been dressed in a completely professional way, even in a casual setting.

  Then again, she also hadn’t seen Deanna looking anything but confident, and that was not how she looked now. She put the phone to her ear.

  “Jay? Yeah, I’m going to do it.” She was quiet for a moment. “I know. I know. I don’t care. He owes me and I’m going to collect. After this, there won’t be any way I don’t get what I want. I’m done playing by his rules.” She went silent again. “I don’t care what he thinks about it. He can fire me. I’m done waiting. Like I said, if this doesn’t work, nothing will.”

  Shite. She moved back and touched her earpiece. “I think I’ve got our traitor. It’s Deanna.”

  “I haven’t been able to dupe her phone yet,” Hutch admitted. “So I don’t know who she’s talking to, but she’s moving. She just hung up and she’s walking your way. Nina, she’s going to see you.”

  Nina moved in between two high bushes. They were covered in fragrant flowers and provided adequate concealment. And scratches to her arms, but it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle. She pushed her body further back and went completely still.

  “I’ll be careful,” Deanna was saying as she walked by. “It’s okay. I’ve got a gun. I’ll use it if I need to.”

  And now she had to deal with an armed Deanna.

  “Nina, you’re in the clear,” Hutch said. “But she’s not going where I thought she would. She’s moving back toward the main building. Stay out of sight. I’ve got her on camera.”

  Nina moved out of the bushes and back onto the path, adrenaline starting to thrum through her system. This was going down here and now. They had apparently been wrong about the beach, though.

  “Hey, my guy is about to get into a cab,” Drake said.

  “No problem,” Hutch replied. “I rented a motorcycle. Sandra’s got a key and it’s in the parking spot right off the main lot. The cab will have to stop at the main gate to the resort. I’m in control of that gat
e. I’ll keep you close. You okay following him on your own?”

  “I can be there in two minutes,” Sandra replied. “Patrick has his tongue down this chick’s throat. I think it’s safe to say he’s going to her room for the night.”

  Nina didn’t like the idea of letting one of their suspects go, but she also didn’t like Drake being out on the island without backup. The only thing worse than him betraying the team would be getting himself killed. “Sandra, go with him.”

  She didn’t like the feeling in the pit of her gut. Something was going on here and she was missing it.

  “I’ll keep eyes on Patrick,” Hutch assured her. “Nina, Deanna’s going into the hotel and she’s heading for the elevator. Her room’s in the other wing, so we know she’s not going there. There’s only one elevator working right now. You’ll have to take the stairs.”

  She slipped through the door to the building and immediately into the stairwell. “I’m going to level three. Tell me when she gets out of the lift.”

  She jogged up the stairs, wanting to be somewhere in the middle.

  “Hey, Nina, give me a second. I’ve got the cab coming through for Jordy. I need to make sure they don’t leave too quickly. Sandra is almost to Drake.”

  “I’m good here,” she replied.

  She took a deep breath and waited. The lifts had been slow earlier in the day. Even if Hutch missed Deanna getting out of the lift in real time, there were enough cameras covering the halls that he would be able to tell where she was going.

  It was going to be all right. If Deanna disappeared into a room, they would stake the room out.

  She would because Sandra and Drake would be following their other suspect. Did she want to split them up like this? Hutch would come running if she needed him to, but it could take him valuable minutes. Hutch seemed to think the spy wasn’t on property, but there were any number of ways for a smart operative to sneak in.

  She had to make sure they couldn’t sneak out again.

  She waited, every muscle in her body tense.

  Maybe she was getting too old for this because a nice desk job seemed perfect right now. No one would wake her up in the middle of the night and drag her out of a warm bed so she could stand in a creepy stairwell waiting to see if someone would start shooting at her.

  What was she going to do about JT? Was she really going to walk away? She couldn’t stay, and she wasn’t sure some weird long-distance thing had any shot of working.

  What was taking Hutch so long?

  “Nina, we have a big problem. Two, actually. Someone’s piggybacking my feed from the outside. It’s a pro because I should have caught it hours ago. That’s how good this job was. I wouldn’t have caught it if I hadn’t needed the computer to deal with the gate. Someone else is watching.” Hutch sounded breathless.

  Fuck. It had to be the spy. “You said we had two problems.”

  “Deanna went to the fourth floor. She’s got JT.”

  Nina’s heart threatened to stop and she began to run.

  * * * *

  JT felt the moment Nina left the bed, but he remained perfectly still, determined to not blow this again. He knew there was only one reason she would leave the room and that was to work. Her cell had buzzed. Someone on her team wanted to talk.

  She didn’t need him trying to play the white knight. She was a professional and he would let her do the job.

  Still, as he heard the door close his stomach was in knots. He slid out of bed and jumped into the shower. He wouldn’t sleep until she came back.

  Helpless. He felt completely helpless, but it was also the first time he’d had to lie here and pretend like she wasn’t going to do something dangerous. Maybe he was looking at this the wrong way. So much of life was about adjustment, and he hadn’t had time to adapt. He just had to get through about a hundred nights of praying no one shot the woman he loved and then he would be used to it.

  He turned off the shower and grabbed a towel. He would never get used to it, but maybe he would be better about hiding how worried he was. He would find a way to put her at ease.

  For now, he would make a pot of coffee and sit up waiting for her.

  She might be mad, but he wasn’t going back to bed. They would have to find a compromise because he couldn’t let her go.

  He pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt and thought seriously about going down to the gym. He had a key. Maybe he could run his worry off.

  But he quickly discarded the idea because she would want to talk to him if something had gone down tonight. He was the client in this case, and he might have decisions to make.

  About people he’d known for years. He made his way to the coffeemaker and started a pot. It was still nauseating to think someone so high up in his organization could betray the company like this.

  Deanna would be the worst. They weren’t friends. They didn’t hang out, but he had relied on her for years. He’d made sure she was the highest paid assistant in the business.

  Although he couldn’t help but think about what she’d said when he’d hired her.

  I’m not going to be an assistant forever, Mr. Malone. You will promote me and I’ll be running part of this company in five years.

  That had been seven years ago.

  Was she doing this because he’d passed her over for a promotion? When the position had come up, the timing couldn’t have been worse. There had been some chaos in his office and he couldn’t let her go. He’d promised her she would get the next job.

  Was she tired of waiting? Had she found another way to get everything she wanted?

  It was hard for him to believe, but he had to consider it.

  There was a knock on the door and he hurried to open it because it was likely Nina. She’d probably forgotten her key in her need to rush out. He swung it open and then realized he was a dumbass.

  “JT, I’m sorry to wake you up so late, but we need to talk.” Deanna was standing in the hallway.

  A chill went over him. Had he been a fool all this time? Why the hell would she turn up at his door at two thirty in the morning? “Talk about what?”

  She swung her head back and forth, looking down the hallway. “Can I come in? It’s important. There’s something going on that we need to talk about.”

  Fuck. Nina was going to kill him but he wasn’t sure what he could do since Deanna strode right in, brushing past him in her normal brusque manner.

  “What do we need to talk about?” He closed the door behind her but not before flipping the security latch out so the door wouldn’t lock. He didn’t want Nina to have to use her key. She would see the door was open and know something was wrong. She would be on her guard.

  She set her bag down on the table near the bar. “First of all, you’re an asshole. Second, where’s your girlfriend?”

  He put his hands on his hips and faced her. He wasn’t about to tell her the truth—that he had no idea where Nina was but he kind of hoped she was riding in to the rescue right now. “She’s asleep and she’s not my girlfriend. She’s my fiancée.”

  Deanna’s eyes rolled. “We’ll see about that. We all know how good you are at keeping your word when it comes to promotions.”

  So she was pissed. Was that the reason she’d decided to betray him? Was she about to offer him a deal? His mind was racing. How should he handle this? Should he go along with her until Nina came back? He could play this role if he had to. The key was to not let her see him sweat. “What’s going on, Dee?”

  “How much do you really know about her?” Deanna’s face had gone stony.

  “Enough. If this is about trying to get rid of my fiancée, you should leave.” He was going to feel like the biggest idiot in the world if he’d worked with her all this time and never seen that she was crazy about him. He knew he wasn’t the world’s most self-aware human being, but he should have seen this coming. She hated every woman he went out with. He’d written it off because she hated a lot of people, but now he had to consider the fact t
hat he’d been wrong. “Deanna, you have to know nothing is going to happen between us.”

  Her eyes widened. “What?”

  That should be his question. What was she playing at? And why was she pulling this stunt now? “I know you set a private investigator on her. You’re not going to find anything that makes me turn from her to you. I don’t have those feelings for you, Dee. I’m sorry. This is never going to happen.”

  “This?” Deanna’s face had gone a bright pink, but he wasn’t sure it was embarrassment. It looked more like rage, but then lots of emotions looked like rage on her. “This meaning a relationship between you and me that I am supposedly desperate for because no woman in the world could possibly not want you?”

  Definitely rage, and he might have been mistaken. “Now, Dee, maybe you should…” Nope. He wasn’t saying calm down. Calm down was bad. Saying the words calm down never actually calmed any woman down. “Talk about this some more. I might be under a mistaken impression.”

  “Mistaken? About what exactly? Were you confused because I did my freaking job? Do you honestly believe I’ve worked my ass off out of love for you? Because I thought you would one day look at me and realize I’m the love of your life? You’re confused because I was fucking good at my job and that must mean I’m desperate for some man, any man. Because that’s obviously the only reason a woman would ever do her job.”

  “Well, you did spend a whole lot of this week trying to get me away from Nina.” He wasn’t completely insane. She’d done a lot to try to come between them.

  “Yes, you moron, because I think she might be dangerous,” Deanna bit out. She shoved her hand into her bag. “I can’t believe you haven’t seen what the hell was going on around work, but then you don’t see anything, do you, JT? As long as your calls are answered and someone’s doing all the inane work so you can climb oil rigs, you really don’t care.”

  He was starting to get annoyed. “I never meant to take you for granted. You’ve been an excellent assistant, despite the fact that you don’t mind insulting the hell out of the boss apparently.”