SLEEPER (Crossfire Series)

by Gennita Low

  “Yes, and so in the last couple of months, she was almost incoherently fanatic to Hawk, Brad, and me,” Amber said. “She started accusing us of not acting fast enough, not caring about the girls’ safety enough…nothing satisfied her, not even when Tatiana started talking again. Hawk was the one who got through that girl’s wall of silence, yet Lily went off on him as if what he’d done had damaged the girl worse. I should have wondered about that more.”

  Reed wanted to go after those bastards. There must be a place in hell for people who would abuse victims a second time. And the thought of Lily…he clenched his jaw in anger.

  “Amber, there was no way you could have guessed what was happening to Lily,” Nikki said gently. “Reed, did you notice any of the same hostility when it came to discussing the girls’ present problems?”

  “No.” Thank God, no. He’d kept an ear open for unusual outbursts or even the accusations that Amber had brought up. Lily hadn’t shown any sign of that behavior. She was upset and afraid, but so damn brave about it he felt like a cad for doing his job. “I made a suggestion and she’s agreed to let me do it my way.”

  “What’s that?”

  “As you know, she wanted me to basically be the one to take her in for the reward money. I told her since those girls were her number one reason she would consider taking such a risk, we should take care of that problem first.” He paused, knowing that his own proposal was going to be controversial. He looked at the portrait of his father. “I’m getting the passports and transporting the girls out. This way, she’ll see I can be trusted. Also, with them out of the way, she has nothing to lose. GEM can make a deal with her—the weapon device for…whatever she wants.”

  He wanted to say freedom, but that would clue the others in on how personal this had become for him. He needed permission to do this and didn’t want his motives—that it was important to ease Lily’s worries—to be questioned. To him, it was a matter of priorities—take care of what was important to Lily first, then go from there.

  “And after that?” Nikki prompted.

  Of course, to GEM and to his commander, Admiral Madison, their number one priority would be to get the device out of anyone’s hands. However, Reed didn’t see any point in forcing Lily to tell. It would destroy the fragile thing growing between them and he didn’t want that to happen. Now it was up to him to strike up a delicate balance between his duty and his heart. He would accomplish what he’d set out to do—get that device and deliver it to GEM. He also knew he would have to bring in Lily as well, for her sake. GEM had promised Amber Hutchens they would help her friend.

  “I’m hoping she won’t put up a fight when I tell her the truth.” To Reed, Lily was fine the way she was, but he knew if she even half understood what the CIA had done to her, she was probably living in constant fear, wondering whether she would be reactivated. Hell, he would go crazy if it’d happened to him. He added, “Trust is important to her.”

  “She trusts you enough to believe you won’t dump the girls and run off with the money,” Nikki pointed out.

  That had been on his mind too. “She’s very close to giving up,” he warned. “I think she’s hoping everything will turn out fine after she’s gone.”

  “Like I said before, you’re her last hope, Reed,” Nikki said, “but she hasn’t thought things through. What’s going to happen when she gives herself up to these people?”

  “I think she knows,” Reed said grimly. It wouldn’t be hard to get her to tell where the weapon was hidden. Gunther Galbert was probably the one who had activated her in the first place. He would know how to put Lily under his control again. “I’m not going to allow that to happen.”

  Not a snowball’s chance in hell.

  CHAPTER 17

  Over the next few days, Reed quietly retrieved files from his accounts and portfolio, something he’d not done in years. It felt natural to help Lily as much as he could. He’d never transferred such a large amount of money before. As a Vincenzio, he had a sizable bank account open in his name, but for years he hadn’t checked how much was in there. He’d known it was substantial. His father had given his brothers and him a small percentage of Vincenzio holdings when each of them had turned twelve.

  When he was a kid, he’d dipped in and had had more than most teenagers. He’d been able to afford almost anything without asking his parents to buy it for him. He’d never known how privileged he was till he started surfing and met the kids on the beach. Most of them had worked so they could buy the cool surfing and body boards they’d cherished. Reed still had the first board he’d actually worked for when he’d applied for a job at Arch’s surf shop.

  Reed looked at the numbers on the computer screen. He’d always known he was wealthy or at least well-to-do. His father’s hotel empire was very successful. The stocks Reed owned brought in good dividends without any of his input. But he’d never thought of it as his own money.

  Since leaving home, he’d started his own savings, his own life. He returned home for visits, that was all, and participated less and less in the family affairs. Much to his father’s disappointment, he supposed. After all, his two older brothers had settled into the hotel business and branched out from there after their wild days.

  Of course, his own savings wouldn’t cover a portion of the expense of purchasing illegal passports and the cash it was going to need to cover transportation of a bunch of girls. He had to smile wryly. Hadn’t Arch told him that he would need all that money some day?

  Hey, he gave it to you, didn’t he? So it’s yours. Keep it, dude. You’re gonna use it for something special one day.

  “Right again, old man.” Lily was special. He couldn’t let pride stand in the way. He would deal with the repercussions later. GEM had wanted to take the girls in and move them legally, but that wasn’t what Lily would want. He knew she’d become suspicious and worried. No, this way she would see the girls off with her own eyes. He’d said there were people who would take in these girls once they were out of the country; he would have her contact them and start arranging things the way she’d always had. This way she would be hands-on and in control of the process. Perhaps then she would see he had no intention of hurting her.

  He let himself out of the office. One more errand and he would go back up to the suite. He wondered what Lily was doing. Perhaps she’d called Tatiana with the news they would all be going back to their respective countries soon. He wondered what she would say if she knew about his background. They’d only been enjoying each other the last few days and he hadn’t given her a chance to question him.

  “Sir, your father called about three hours ago. He told me the moment you’re out of conference you’re to call him immediately,” Petr said, looking up from his paperwork. “Shall I connect for you?”

  Reed had left specific instructions not to be disturbed while he was in the office. “All right.” He’d put it off long enough. “Call him.”

  “Here you go, sir.”

  Reed took the receiver from Petr. “Hello, Father,” he said. “How are you?”

  As always, his father got straight to the point. “Mylos, I’ve a suspicion your mother has gone there to see you. She heard that you’re staying at the suite and she’s disappeared this morning. She’s been waiting impatiently for your call this past week.”

  Shit. “When?” Reed asked.

  “She should be waiting for you in the suite. You really should’ve called. She’s off her medication again. I found some pills this morning hidden in a wad of tissues.”

  Double shit. “I’ve to go, Father. I’ll talk to you later.” Reed hung up without waiting for a reply.

  His mother. Up there with Lily. Not a good thing.

  * * *

  Lily felt like screaming. How could she have missed all the clues? If she’d stayed there, she would have bloodied him. And that would have made his mother even more hysterical than she was already. An American. A swimmer. A sharpshooter. That tan on that beautifully sculptured body.
She accelerated onto the freeway, stepping hard on the gas pedal.

  A Navy SEAL.

  She’d known it was his mother the moment the petite woman had walked into the suite. The dark blond hair, high cheekbones, clear gray eyes that darted around the room before resting on hers—they were the same as Reed’s.

  Then she’d started questioning Lily nonstop about where “Mylos” was, why hadn’t he called, who she was, before Lily realized that “Mylos” must be Reed himself. The woman had never stopped to give Lily a chance to reply, though.

  Reed’s mother had sounded and acted overwrought, to the point she’d broken down in tears when she’d found out that Reed—Mylos—hadn’t been hiding from her, that he really hadn’t been in the suite. It was then, when she’d gone into a long, rambling speech about his having joined the SEALs to get away from her, that he could have a nice job at any of the hotels his father owned, that she missed him so much, everything had clicked into place.

  The hotel…the suite. The “friend” who owned the penthouse was Reed’s own family, probably his father. When they’d walked through the hotel lobby a couple of times, she’d noticed a few speculative glances from the staff, but she’d assumed it’d been curiosity about guests staying on one of their luxury floors.

  She’d needed to get away. There had been something clearly wrong with Reed’s mother, though. The woman hadn’t even noticed when Lily had gone into the bedroom to change back into her clothes.

  Lily gripped the steering wheel tightly. Stupid, stupid, stupid. There was only one conclusion she could come to now that she knew Reed was also a Navy SEAL. He was, no doubt, working with Hawk McMillan, the only other SEAL she’d met. Hawk had been looking for a certain weapon a few months ago in Macedonia, and since she was the one who had stolen the item, she now knew exactly what Reed—Mylos Vincenzio, she corrected herself dourly—was after.

  “He and quite a number of other people,” she said aloud grimly, checking the rearview mirror. “Let’s face it, Lily Noretski, you’re a very popular chick.”

  There were cars behind her, but when she slowed down, they went around her, speeding past. She didn’t see any vehicles following closely.

  Disgusted, she smacked her hand against the steering wheel. She’d really fallen for his cock-and-bull story about being a gunrunner wanting a new life. He’d probably been following some script to slowly gain her trust so he could get his hands on the weapon.

  “And then I’m off to jail.” Or worse. Much, much worse.

  But her alternative was the same. She knew Reed didn’t work for the people who had put out a reward for her or he wouldn’t have saved her all those times. Nor did it make sense he would take her to that hotel when she’d almost drowned. No, he and Hawk were part of some other agency. Either way, everyone was after her, and she was running out of time and places to hide.

  She swerved the car down the exit ramp and came to a stop at a shopping center close by. She rubbed her eyes wearily. She needed to think this out.

  Was everything a lie then? He’d been so tender these past few days…her hands fisted at the memory of him touching her, kissing…stop it! The bastard is a lying son-of-a-bitch!

  But you were lying too, another voice in her head reasoned. He also saved your life, remember? He’s like Hawk, a SEAL. You’ve seen how good Hawk was to Amber.

  “Amber,” Lily muttered. She was really slow today. If Reed was part of Hawk’s outfit, then Amber would be in this too. She drummed her fingers on the car seat. Amber and Hawk probably viewed her as a traitor, but Amber and she had been partners for four years, moving the girls they’d helped to safe locations. One thing she was sure of: Amber would never hurt the girls.

  She started the car again. She was tired of running. She wanted to look her old friends in the eye and tell them her side of the story. Maybe they would forgive her a little for what she’d done to them.

  Then there was Mr. Mylos Vincenzio. She wondered what he was thinking right now. No doubt he would be upset. He’d taken a big chance taking her to that hotel. She wanted to ask him why he’d done that. She frowned. The more she thought about it, many of the decisions he’d made had been really risky. He could have taken her anywhere that first night, but he hadn’t. He’d let her drive off on her own. Well, not really…he’d followed her everywhere. But what had he been doing that for? It just didn’t make sense.

  She wanted to hear his reasons. Most of all, she wanted to hear from his lips everything that had happened was just a lie. She was so tired of all the deception—her own, especially. Then she would clear everything up all at once.

  After that, she would cut him up in tiny pieces, the lying bastard. Her lips twisted wryly. She hadn’t felt this “normal” in months. If nothing else, Reed had given her back herself for a while. Being with him had made her realize her sense of self-worth was almost nil, that she hadn’t been able to commit herself to anyone because she hadn’t been able to trust them.

  Lily frowned. She’d trusted Reed. And she had felt so safe when she’d been in his arms. How could this man do all that when so many had failed?

  * * *

  It took forty-five minutes for Reed to calm his mother down and get Petr to call his father to pick her up. He knew he could follow Lily with the locator unit, but he didn’t want her to be too far ahead. It took another ten minutes to have someone sent up to sit with his mother while she waited for her ride.

  He felt like hell for doing that to her. He hated to see his mother cry, always had, but she’d cried so damn much that it’d taken years before he’d realized it’d just been another way for her to manipulate the people around her. Everyone felt sorry for her and that was what she wanted.

  He took his pack with him. From the unit, he could see Lily was on the freeway, meaning she was heading out of town. Probably running from him as fast as she could. He didn’t blame her.

  He slammed the car door. It was strange how events had piled up to be against him lately. His parents always spent winter, especially near the Christmas season, at their Manhattan penthouse. They liked the holiday season there, with the usual social rounds of seasonal parties his mother adored. So why the hell were they over here?

  He turned on the engine. SNAFU—situation normal all fucked up, as they said in the Navy. His teammates would joke and warn him he was getting too damn complacent in civilian clothes.

  Anger wouldn’t solve anything right now. He’d to get to Lily and somehow make her listen to him. That was, if she would even let him near her. He flipped the locator open, then pressed on the GPS button to get a visual.

  He frowned. Lily was heading the other way, back toward the city. Had she forgotten something? The woman was always doing the unexpected. Was she coming back to him after all?

  Yeah right, back to you.

  He ignored the dig at himself as he concentrated on the locator for a few more seconds. He could sit here and wait until she reached the closest exit and turned back into town.

  His cell rang. It was Nikki’s secured number, not the one he’d hoped for.

  “Reed here,” he answered.

  “Reed, code red.”

  That meant things had changed and he needed to bring Lily in. “What’s the problem?” he asked. SNAFU.

  “Gunther Galbert’s people have found Lily’s hideout,” Nikki told him. “The girls are being transported right now to another facility.”

  Reed stilled. “Is this confirmed?”

  “It’s reliable information. You’ve to get Lily before they get her.”

  He looked at the unit in his lap. Lily was about ten minutes away from the hotel. “Where are we to meet you?” he asked quietly. “It might be difficult to convince Lily how I got this information. I think my cover’s been compromised.”

  There was a pause. “Is she with you?”

  “Not at this moment,” he said, “but very soon. Let me talk to her first, and then I’ll get back to you.”

  “ASAP, Reed.”
<
br />   Lily was going to have questions and he didn’t have a lot of time to convince her to trust him. He especially hated the fact he’d to tug on her emotional strings to get her to do what he wanted. Everybody had been doing that, taking advantage of her. He didn’t want to do it too.

  He got out of the car and waited where she would see him the moment her vehicle turned into the garage. He wondered why she’d turned back around.

  The sound of a car entering echoed through the garage and he straightened from his stance. His blue vehicle came around the corner, its headlights turned off as it slowed down to stop nearby.

  He stayed where he was as Lily climbed out. She came up to him, her face set, her dark eyes searching. He could see the anger and hurt, yet there was something else there. Without saying a word, he reached out, threading his fingers through her short dark tresses, holding her face still for his kiss.

  Her mouth opened, giving him access. It reassured him somehow, knowing that part hadn’t changed, at least. She still wanted him.

  “There’s nowhere to go, really,” she said simply.

  He was part of the reason why she was being left with fewer and fewer options. It was what had to be done to make her come out in the open, to force her to make a move. Yet, he didn’t want her to feel that way. He wanted her to know she could always come to him, but this wasn’t the time or place to tell her that. He kissed her again and reluctantly let her go.

  “I owe you an explanation, I know,” Reed said, “but we need to go now. I just got word those after you have gotten to Tatiana and the others.”

  “What? But you said you talked to her just two days ago.” Her voice was a shocked whisper. “How…”

  He would have done anything to take away the fear in her eyes. “They traced it from a call you made. That’s all I know. Right now we know where the girls are. We’re sending in an extraction team.”