by Lora Leigh
“TRAVIS GATHERED most of the information over the past few months.” Raisa spread the hard-copy files and maps out on the long kitchen table two days after Lilly had arrived.
Lilly had spent most of her time at the farmhouse sleeping. The headaches were bad; the shots Shea had given her had barely touched them. It had taken the medic more than twenty-four hours to find a combination of medications that would help and to acquire them.
She was finally headache-free, though, and able to figure out exactly what was happening to her, and to her life.
“Here’s what he’s been working on.” Raisa drew her attention back to the table. “This is the warehouse where you were shot six months ago.” She pointed to the top of a warehouse across from another unmarked warehouse. “You were parked here.” She pointed to the Land Rover parked between the two warehouses. “The shot was fired perfectly, but you turned at the last second. That’s all on video but we can’t access the video file from here yet.”
“We’re still uncertain why you were targeted or by who.” Nissa Farren, the communications whiz kid of the group, turned from her equipment to look at the rest of them. “Travis has been running down leads the past few days—that’s why he’s not here. We didn’t expect your mother to try to have you committed. But never fear, Black Jack will take care of everything.”
Black Jack. His code name. She was Night Hawk. She was part of a group of women trained to provide backup and distraction on missions conducted by the male counterparts of an elite covert operations group. The name of which the other women still refused to give her.
“It seems Black Jack can take care of everything,” she murmured.
“Travis and the others are our big brothers,” Shea Tamallan said, her smile somber as she looked at Lilly. “They’ve always watched over us, along with Santos.”
“And Rhiannon?” she asked. “What about her?”
Nissa shrugged. “Rhiannon is harder to figure out. I’ve been working with her for a few months longer than you were with us. None of us have ever figured her out. She’s very compassionate, but she’s also very by-the-book. It makes it harder to work with her.”
“She would have never approved our deployment,” Shea stated. “She and Santos argue often over us, and the missions we’re given. They didn’t want you returned to your family, but Elite Command needed you for this mission.”
“How nice,” she murmured. “But Santos has always watched over us, right?”
“It’s hard to explain without telling you more than we should,” Raisa stated soberly. “We have to be careful, Lilly. And you especially have to be careful. If there’s the least suspicion that you know as much as you do, then Elite Command will have no choice but to order your death. They can’t afford the risk to the other agents.”
There was a lot of information she still didn’t have, but she had acquired much information in recent days. She knew she had been specifically trained to work with a certain group of agents. A group Travis was a part of. The call-girl cover had been created to keep them above suspicion as agents, and the troublemaking personas were intended to allow them to move freely as needed and to lend them an air of danger that made it logical for them to be in the company of the agents they were trained to provide backup for.
“What information do we have, if any, on the latest attempt?” Lilly asked.
“We have the explosives cap and the fluid,” Raisa said. “Both of which were used in the bomb makeup and have been used before. Surprisingly enough, your father was tracking the maker of that bomb before he died. It’s the same bomb tied to an explosion at one of his offices four months before his death.”
Lilly nodded. “I remember that. It happened around four in the morning, so no one was hurt, thank God, but we never did find out who was behind it. We couldn’t even figure out why they would have wanted to do it.” She shook her head. “it’s just an office building. There was nothing to be gained from blowing it up.” A frown creased her brow. “So whoever blew up Father’s office in London used the same bomb to try and blow me up here in Maryland?”
Shea shrugged. “We’re hoping that Travis’s trip to England will shed some light on all of this,” she told her. “We need to wrap this up, hopefully—in Santos and Rhiannon’s opinion—before you remember anything about the six missing years. They truly wanted you to have the chance to return to the family you missed so desperately once they were ordered to allow it, Lilly. We all wanted that for you.”
Because they had all lost so much as well. Family, friends, careers, and lives, as they continued to fight for a world that didn’t give a damn about them.
Lilly turned away from the table and paced over to the window. “When does Travis return?”
“We believe he flew in before dawn this morning. He’ll be debriefed on his mission, which normally takes close to twelve hours, then Jordan should release him. He’ll come looking for you.”
“Does he know where I am?”
Shea nodded. “I left a message on his cell phone. I asked him to call with an update, which isn’t unusual in itself.”
She gripped the phone in the pocket of the light hoodie she wore. The girls had made her turn it off, telling her that she could be tracked if it was active. It was how they had found her. She knew they were telling the truth, but…
But if Travis did call her, she wouldn’t know it. Wouldn’t be able to hear his voice.
She raked her fingers through her hair and turned to the window again. Waiting. Watching.
Travis hadn’t called Shea yet. Why hadn’t he called?
“You know, it’s so odd to see you without those Glocks you wear on your thighs.” Nissa gave a light laugh as Lilly ran her hand to her thigh. “Would you like to have them?”
Lilly turned to her. “You have them?”
Her smile was wide, bright. “We have some of your things here. We brought them just in case you needed them.”
Nissa rose from her chair and motioned Lilly to the back of the house. The bedroom she went into was the one she shared with Shea. The two half-beds were placed on opposite sides of the wall. One side of the room was neat as a pin. The other side, as though an invisible line ran through it, was a complete shambles.
Of course Nissa moved to the messy side of the room.
“Here you go.” She pulled a large bag from the nearby closet and tossed it to the unmade bed. “Two changes of clothes, your guns and knives, and plenty of ammo. There’s also an unregistered sat phone, but please don’t call Travis yet. There’s also cash, credit cards, a few disguise aids, and some fake IDs. Everything a girl needs to survive in the deep dark underground.”
Everything she needed to survive, but not to live.
“You were ordered to contact Santos and Rhiannon if I called, weren’t you?” Lilly sat down on the bed, pushing the mussed blankets behind her as she began to go through the bag.
“Of course.” Nissa shrugged. “At least that’s what their commanders told them to do. Santos’s exact words were, ‘We were told to order you to do this’.” She laughed. “We rarely pay any attention to orders from Command.”
“And if Santos had given the order himself?” She looked up at the other woman.
Nissa shrugged again. “We would have ignored it. Lilly, we only have each other to depend on. One of these days you might be covering my ass again with that rifle of yours. I don’t want you pissed off with me if that day comes.”
“Where’s my rifle?” She remembered it now. The lethal sniper rifle that she had used to cover the asses of the agents she worked with. There was another in her storage shed, but it wasn’t her favorite.
“That I don’t know.” Nissa shook her head. “Santos retrieved it from the Land Rover when you were shot. I haven’t seen it since.”
But…There was another safe house, she thought as yet another piece of memory broke free. And that safe house was fully stocked.
“Company’s coming. Move!” Shea yelled from the
kitchen.
Lilly moved. She didn’t stop to question anyone or ask for directions. She grabbed the holster and pouch of clips before racing to the next room and the window that looked out on the driveway.
She had time to buckle the belt and strap the holsters to her thighs. She checked the Glocks quickly, shoved the clips in and stood ready.
“No one called and warned us of a visit.” Shea raced into the bedroom and slapped a comm device in Lilly’s hand. “If we’re attacked, get out, hit the woods, and head for Friendly’s Tavern. Know where it is?”
Lilly nodded. “I know.”
“Someone will be there.”
Shea raced from the room as Lilly slid the device in her ear.
“Comm check,” she murmured.
“Comm check,” each woman answered in reply before Nissa reported. “We have a van moving in, dark panels, dark tint. Looks like we have a masked driver. Be prepared to jump and run. We don’t fight this out unless we have no other choice.”
Lilly pulled the Glocks from their holsters.
Her jaw tightened as the van moved slowly into view. She watched, silent, eyes narrowed as it came to a stop behind the Taurus.
A second later, all hell broke loose. The back doors flew open as four dark figures raced from the back, two from the doors, and all began firing.
The Taurus exploded.
The house shook, windows imploded, and shards of glass rained around Lilly as she tore through the bedroom for the back door, joined by the other four women.
“Stay to the trees!” Shea ordered her as they moved out the back door at the same moment the front door burst open in a rain of fire. “Run!”
As Lilly and the other women raced for the tree line only feet away, Lilly saw the shadows moving there. Dark, masked, though diffrent from the others. Her guns cleared her belt as she ran, keeping the trees between them. Suddenly those dark figures rushed past them.
“Take cover!”
Travis.
Lilly stared, shocked, into his furious eyes as he paused to bark at her. “Stay back with the others! Cover our asses and make sure no one gets hurt.”
He shoved a rifle at her.
It wasn’t her custom-made rifle, but it was close enough.
Lilly holstered the Glocks, grabbed the rifle then ran up the rise to a tree that would give her the best possible view. As though she’d been born to climb, she shimmied up it as Nissa followed her.
“Spot,” she ordered the other woman.
“I’m an excellent spotter,” Nissa answered as they moved into position. “You have ammo for that bad boy too in your bag.” Nissa nodded to the bag Lilly had slung over her shoulders.
Lilly took aim.
“Our boys have the narrow gray stripes on their shoulders,” Nissa hissed. “Don’t hit one of them. We enjoy the hot, lurid fantasies we have about them. Even though most of them are married now.”
Lilly gave a quick smile, then braced the rifle on a limb of the tree and took aim.
“They have a sniper at three o’clock. Looks like a spotter searching for you, sweetie.” Nissa pointed out the slightest disruption among the branches at the three o’clock angle.
Lilly aimed, checked the wind, calculated her distance and fired.
The first body fell. With the second shot his spotter followed suit.
As she narrowed her eyes and surveyed the trees for an additional threat, the whiz of a bullet slamming into the tree next to her head had Lilly freezing.
She calculated the direction, checked the distance, and waited.
“Where is he, Nissa?” she growled. “Sometime before he takes our heads off.”
“To the right of the first, third tree, halfway up at the seven o’clock limb. He’s going to be hard to hit with this wind, though.”
“See his spotter?”
“Haven’t seen him. Caught a leaf trembling at nine o’clock, though, if you want to take a chance.”
“I’m feeling lucky.”
She found the position, watched the leaves, and took the shot.
The body fell, but she didn’t track it—she watched the seven o’clock limb, waited, caught a gleam of black, and took the next shot. Another body fell as she quickly swung the rifle to the battle raging in the front yard. Somehow snipers had been in place before the attack. Someone had sent ten men to take out four women. They should have sent more.
She had taken out the snipers while the team below made quick work of the assailants that had rushed the house.
Below, the four shadows with their little narrow gray stripes were kicking some serious ass. Within minutes there were only two left, lying flat on the ground, hands raised in surrender as the dead bodies were being gathered.
Lilly watched as the team worked with perfect precision while the four women covered their backs. This was one of the reasons they existed, what they had been trained for.
She and Nissa watched for snipers, while the two women on the ground kept the perimeter clear and watched for any breaks or surprises.
“We have a clear.” Raisa’s voice came over the link. “I repeat, we have a clear. Two live ones on the ground. Stay in place and I’ll bring you your masks.”
Lilly and Nissa waited until they saw Raisa below them. Jumping to the ground, they took the dark masks, pulled them over their heads, and tucked their hair beneath.
“Stay clear of the live ones,” Raisa told them. “Black Jack and Live Wire want a clear field with no distractions.” She looked amused. “Live Wire seems to think you might be a distraction for Black Jack. Now, what would give him that impression?”
Lilly shook her head, her lips thinning. “They weren’t here to take out Live Wire, they were here to kill me. I think I have the right to know why.”
Moving quickly to the front of the house, the rifle cradled in her arms, Lilly strode straight to where the two men were restrained and laid out in the grass.
The four men standing over them moved aside as she came closer. Staring into the dark, furious gazes, she handed her rifle to Travis, reached down and, with a quick jerk, revealed their faces.
She wished she hadn’t.
She stared into faces she knew. Into the eyes of men who had been hired by her father. Men she had known before her “death.”
“Do we need to interrogate them?”
Her head jerked to Live Wire. Jordan Malone.
She gave a quick nod. She didn’t remember the rules, but she knew not to speak, not now, not here. They knew her, knew her voice, knew their target. She wasn’t taking chances.
Jordan jerked his head to Travis. “Get out of here.”
She backed up, still staring into the malevolent gaze of the bodyguard she knew as Ritchie. He wasn’t one of her mother’s most trusted, but he was still a part of the Harrington staff and had been for years.
The other, Samuel, was also well known. He’d been hired by her father and well trusted. He’d flirted with her several times. Laughed with her mother, played poker with her uncle.
“Ritchie James and Samuel Mayes,” she murmured to Travis. “Bodyguards working for my mother and uncle. I need to see the others.”
Travis nodded, his body language showing his fury as he led her to the others and quickly stripped off their masks.
She stared at them icily.
“We have files on them,” Travis said quietly. “Enemies, Lilly. All four of these men were with a private mercenary group we went against in Berlin three years ago.”
“I know them.” She heard the complete emotionlessness of her voice, felt it inside her. “But not from Berlin. In the past six months I’ve seen them either speaking to Desmond, Isaac, or one of the other bodyguards. This was an orchestrated hit. I was set up.”
“We don’t have reports on them,” he stated quietly. “We’ve been watching the family. We’ve not seen them or we would have put a better circle of security around you.”
She shook her head. “It would have been easy for them t
o get past you. One at a time, coming in quietly. They met inside the house here or in England. I saw this one.” She kicked the balding blond in the shoulder. “This one was at the hospital several times when Desmond’s bodguard Isaac came in.”
Travis lifted his hand and motioned one of the others over.
“Burn the bodies,” he ordered them. “We need to interrogate the other two, but get a team in to clean this mess up. Let’s keep this quiet. I’m sure Lilly doesn’t want to deal with her mother’s concern over a hit when she returns to the house.”
Lilly turned to him in shock. “Are you crazy? Do you know what she’s planning? I’m not going back to the house. She’s having me committed, Travis, and Harrington bodyguards just tried to kill me.”
A hard, cold smile formed on his lips. “Does she know what I have planned, sweetheart?” he asked her. “Trust me, neither she nor Ridgemore will dare to defy me once I show up with you. And this time, trust me, I won’t be leaving until this is settled, baby, and you’re safe.”
Her lips curled mockingly. “Strange you say that.” She stared at him now, so damned happy to see him that she could barely stand it. So furious that she hadn’t been able to find him, that he hadn’t been there when she needed him. “You didn’t tell me you were leaving.”
His eyes narrowed on her. “I left security.”
“I didn’t need your damned security,” she hissed as she moved closer, staring up at him, her body shaking she was so damned mad at him. “I needed to know you would be gone. I needed to know to watch my own ass while you weren’t here.”
“You should know that anyway.” He reached out, grabbed her arms and jerked her closer. “I left security, Lilly. I would have never left you unguarded.”
“Then where the hell were they?” Her finger stabbed into his chest. “What am I supposed to do, damn you? Kill the whole fucking family while I’m waiting on your damned security? Or just hope for the best as the guys in white suits drag me off?”
“No one would have gotten you out of that damned house. I had men in place. If you had given them time, they would have gotten you out and gotten you to safety.”
“Well, excuse me for not twiddling my thumbs while I wait on you to take care of poor little ole me.” She tried for American Southern, it came out rather mangled. She blamed it on her anger. She was certain she had pulled it off before.
