by Lexi Blake
Ezra was completely still, not a muscle moving except his jaw as he spoke. He was a tightly coiled cobra and Kayla wondered if he was about to strike. “Funny, I think Ten Smith is pretty happy now.”
Levi was as loose as Ezra was tight, as though he deeply enjoyed the tension. “Don’t let your name get too close to Smith’s right now. With everything going on, you don’t want to be associated with Smith’s crew. You’ll be painted with the same brush and it won’t go well for you. I hope Big Tag is as loyal to you as you’re being to him because I’m worried you’re going to need a job one of these days.”
It was time to pop the testosterone balloon. Kayla leaned forward, speaking to Levi in low tones. “No one is going to need to pull me out so stop threatening him.”
“Oh, sweetheart this is about far more than you.” Levi glared at her. “Has he told you?”
“Told me what?” She wasn’t about to give the dude up. Ezra was the only one she could trust on that side of the op.
Levi looked between them like he couldn’t quite trust either of them. “Were you aware that we believe someone is interested in continuing Hope McDonald’s work?”
It didn’t surprise her at all. The fact that it had taken this long for the Agency to identify someone was the surprising part. “Interested? I would assume that’s pretty much every military in the world. They would never admit it, but the idea of creating super soldiers with no loyalties except to the teams they work with would be intriguing.”
“See, now you are being naïve,” Levi replied. “And you’re not thinking outside a narrow box. Her work is about more than soldiers. The time dilation portion of her work alone could be worth billions. Think about how it could be used. We would no longer need prisons. A prisoner could serve years in the blink of an eye. Minutes would pass in the real world, but with the right drugs and computer simulation, fifteen years complete with all the memories of confinement would live with the prisoner forever. He would come out the same age he went in, but with the wisdom of all those years.”
“It sounds like torture to me.” She didn’t like the almost admiration in Levi’s voice.
“Then you’re not listening closely enough,” Levi complained. “What about the twenty-five-year-old who gets a disease we can’t cure? He can live a life with that technology. He can have a whole life, memories that no disease can take from him. This technology can give us the one thing in the world there’s never enough of. Time. A doctor working on a cure for cancer can have more time to research, to push the boundaries of his mind. Think about what we could do.”
“We could torture our enemies without laying a hand on them,” she replied. Did he honestly think this wasn’t something that kept her up at night? She lived with the men McDonald’s drugs and therapies had damaged. She knew how ruined they were. Not that he knew that little fact of life, and she didn’t want him to. “We could throw out the justice system and put a potential criminal under the influence to find out anything we wanted.”
“And that’s wrong?” Levi asked with a sigh.
“It’s a slippery slope.”
Levi huffed, a sound that let her know he thought she was foolish. “Almost all technology is and yet I would bet you wouldn’t get rid of the Internet or your car.”
“Why are you telling me this? It has to be classified.” She would completely understand if Ezra had told her, and she was fairly certain this was the second piece of intel he’d meant to give her, but Levi tended to toe the company line. If a piece of information was classified, even if it could help one of his field agents, Levi Green would keep that shit tight. Why was he opening up now?
“Because if those underground fuckers get to this tech first it could hurt our country,” Levi said, fire in his voice.
She was well aware that Ezra was now the spectator, his eyes shifting between the two of them. “Again, not understanding why you’re telling me.”
“Tell me you don’t know where those boys are.” He stared at her like he could see through to her soul. “Ezra was allowed to talk to a few of them a couple of months ago. He claims he’s not sure where he was taken, but I have my ideas.”
Yes, this was the second thing Ezra had wanted to tell her. The Agency was getting angsty about the Lost Boys. She’d known the CIA and several other intelligence groups—not to mention countless big pharmas—wanted a crack at testing her boys, but up until now they’d been fairly quiet about it. She’d known at some point that would change. Apparently they’d reached the tipping point.
“Boys? Are you talking about the men McDonald experimented on?” She gave him her best dumb girl look. “I’ve met a couple. Why would I know where they are? I hope they’re back with their families. That’s a partial lie. I do know where Theo Taggart is, but then so do you.”
Levi sighed and a look of disappointment crossed his face. “Yes, I thought you would say that. I know why Taggart wants to protect those men, but eventually someone will come for them. I think he would want it to be his own country. Those men hold the key to breaking open everything McDonald was working for.”
“Slavery? Loss of home and family?” Ezra finally spoke.
“It doesn’t have to be that way.” Levi pushed his chair back. “But it might be if it falls into the wrong hands, and whether Taggart likes it or not, he can’t hide those boys forever. Someone will find them, and then the blood that spills will be on everyone who hid them from the Agency. It’s time to pick a side. War’s coming and it won’t be pretty. I hope you two don’t choose poorly. I’m going to meet with Riley. Kayla, think about what I said. I know you have influence. Ezra, I have to go. Can I trust you to bring her up to speed on how we want her to handle Hunt, or are you going to hold her hand and commiserate on how rotten a boss I am?”
Ezra didn’t look up at him. “I think I can handle it.”
Levi sighed and sent her a sad smile. “I’m sorry, Kay. I know I’m being a dick, but this is important. And someday, you’ll tell me about that tongue thing. This dude’s a total prude. See you soon and take care of yourself.”
He walked off in the direction of the parking lot.
“Being a dick is that guy’s natural state,” Ezra said under his breath.
So much of this crazy op fell into place. “You’re here because you’re worried Levi is going to use this op to get me to talk. I won’t. You know how I feel about those boys.”
She loved Tucker and Owen. Cared about all of them. They’d started out as strays who needed shelter, but they were part of the team now. And she didn’t let her team down.
“Watch out for him. Don’t underestimate Levi Green. He wants to move up and he knows if he can bring in one of McDonald’s victims, it will help. The Agency wants that tech and they’ll do a lot to get it. The only thing that’s saved Theo Taggart is his last name.”
“Big Tag would burn it all down if they took his brother, and he wouldn’t believe that there was an accident or that Theo walked away,” she warned.
“They know it. Believe me, I’ve explained all of that. Theo Taggart is safe, but the rest of them aren’t. Owen Shaw is safe because he’s known to the British government. We can’t take a known British citizen in for experimentation without causing an international incident, and MI6 can’t because they won’t piss off Knight. But that leaves a bunch of boys with no protection beyond what McKay-Taggart gives them. At some point, Knight has to think of his own team. It won’t be merely the Agency or MI6 or even MSS who comes after them. When rogue elements get involved, all bets are off, and The Garden won’t be as safe as you think it is.”
The Garden was filling up with happy couples. Damon and Penny, Nick and Hayley, Brody and Steph. There were two kids living there now. Oliver and Nate. She could imagine Nick and Hayley wouldn’t be far behind in the procreation game.
Would those kids be in the line of fire? Could she live with herself if one of those babies got hurt?
“Hey—” Ezra leaned over, his expression softenin
g. “I’m not going to let it get there. I know I’m barely hanging on to this job and that my connection with Taggart and Ten Smith doesn’t help, but I still have some influence. I have people on the inside who I believe when they tell me they’ll give me a heads-up. I promise I’ll do everything I can.”
“Does Damon know? Big Tag?”
“Ten Smith knows. I can’t get too close to Dallas right now,” he explained.
But if Ten knew then the rest did, and if Big Tag thought someone was coming after his family, well, she hoped the Agency or whoever it was went quickly and without too much pain. “I would hate to be here if I was needed in London.”
Ezra shook his head. “I think the fact that you’re here and McKay-Taggart is helping out is the bridge we need. Right now everyone’s playing nice and I want to keep it that way. I’m working on pinning down the rogue group that’s taken up McDonald’s cause. I’ll find them and take them out, and then we’re all back to players with too much to lose. That’s the way I like it.”
The Agency would be predictable, as would the other intelligence groups. It was the rogue nations, the anarchist groups, the criminals who wouldn’t care that they could destabilize the fragile peace they lived in that she feared.
So she would do her job. The wavering had to stop. Her London family was at stake, too. She had to do her job so Ezra could do his and keep Levi Green in line.
“What do you need from me?” She shoved aside all those dumbass girlie feelings about Josh. She couldn’t be his girl. It was time to be Knight and Taggart’s operative again.
Ezra sat back and went over the plan.
* * * *
“So how’s it going with Kayla?” Jared asked, looking out over the dungeon floor. “It’s been two weeks and you seem to smile more. It kind of scares me. Are you doing that because it’s good between the two of you or because you’re thinking up ways to murder me for talking you into this crazy plan?”
Josh chuckled at the thought of finding somewhere to bury Jared. It would have to be a decent-sized hole because the man was jacked. He was taking his workout routine to the limit. Josh hoped that was all about the upcoming movie they were set to film and not about the new woman in their lives. More than once, he’d found Jared working out on his balcony while talking to Kay as she sat on theirs. Suspicions. He hated them. “It’s good, man. We’re getting along okay.”
Okay might be putting it mildly, but he wasn’t one to overshare.
The truth was it was going so well, he kept waiting for the rug to get pulled out from under him, and that was where all those nasty suspicions came in. He glanced over at the hallway that led from the dressing rooms to the dungeon floor. She would walk out here any minute wearing her corset and tiny thong, her feet in ridiculous heels that he’d had wound around his neck far too often in the last two weeks. He fucked her in the morning, going straight from his room to hers the minute he woke up. If he’d slept too long, he had to go find her, always sitting on the balcony, watching the ocean as high tide brought the sea to their doorstep. He would drag her back to her room like a caveman. He fucked her every night, taking her hand after dinner or when they came in from whatever event they’d attended and leading her up to either the playroom or her room, or when he couldn’t stand another minute, he’d picked her up in the front hall, pressed her against the wall, and shoved his dick inside.
He was drunk on sex and her submission and her weirdness. Yeah, she was weird as fuck, and damn but that did something for him.
“I like her. I think she’s awesome. The way she took out that drone with a baseball was amazing,” Jared said with a chuckle over the low thud of industrial music.
“Yeah, that made the news. Fuckers managed to get just enough footage to see her face,” he admitted. The footage had come out right before they’d left for the club. One of the big tabloids had posted it on their website. The photographer was suing, yadda yadda. He didn’t give a shit, but it was going to put her squarely in the spotlight and he didn’t like that. “And they got your face, too. Did I thank you for providing the baseball?”
Jared grinned, either not hearing the edge to his tone or completely ignoring it. With him, it could be either. “You’re welcome. I thought about doing it myself, but I kind of wanted to see what she could do. Your girl is solid, man. That was a fastball for the ages.”
And one that put Kayla squarely on the press’s radar. For two weeks, she’d managed to stay in the background, walking into restaurants with Shane or Dec, who would deliver her to a private room. There were plenty of photos of him meeting superproducer Sullivan Roarke at Nobu, but not a single one of her. He’d considered it a real accomplishment. “You know they caught you tossing that to her from across the balcony. How often do you meet her out there in the mornings?”
Jared’s brows rose. “I work out in the mornings, Josh. You know that. You used to come over and work out with me until you started needing a ton of beauty sleep. I talk to her because it would be rude not to. She’s out on your balcony. I’m on mine. Am I supposed to ignore her?”
He hated this feeling. Yeah, this was the shoe that would eventually drop, his gut-churning possessiveness. It was why he tried hard not to get this way about people. Still, he didn’t seem to have control of his mouth tonight. “Is that really the reason you spend so much time with her? You’re trying to be polite?”
“I like her. She’s crazy. She talks to the dolphins and she’s got this seal she’s decided is her friend,” Jared said with a long sigh. “How am I supposed to ignore that? I find her highly entertaining and she’s given me some good tips. Do you know what we talk about?”
He could only guess. Jared would be “talking” with his shirt off. He never wore a fucking shirt when he worked out. “Your abs?”
“Sarah. We talk about Sarah and the fact that she’s never going to forgive me,” Jared explained.
“That doesn’t sound like Kay,” he murmured, feeling like shit. This was what his inner caveman did. He fought when he didn’t have to. He was constantly looking for the battle, for the next person who would try to take his stuff and leave him with nothing.
Inner caveman? Fuck. That was his inner street kid.
“Oh, Kay thinks I can get her back, but she’s optimistic about a lot of things,” Jared replied, seeming to settle, as though he knew the danger had passed. “She thinks I should throw it all away for love.”
“What?”
“She thinks I should walk away from the Hollywood thing and move to Dallas and spend all my time trying to win back a woman I haven’t even slept with,” Jared admitted. “It’s funny but talking to Kay made me realize I’m never going to get that woman. She saw me at my worst, and that’s all she’ll ever see. She’ll see my best friend trying to kill her and me begging and pleading. She’s not going to see me as a man again.”
“That is absolutely not what Kayla would have told you.” Because Jared was right. She was incredibly optimistic. She was a weird combination of Disney princess and superhot assassin chick. There was a small part of him that wanted to see what she would do and say if he walked her down a red carpet full of reporters. Would she simply smile and wave and act the part? And how would she answer the age-old question every woman got on that carpet?
Who are you wearing tonight, Ms. Summers? Ryan Seacrest would ask, shoving a microphone in her face.
Well, Ryan, tonight I’m wearing something I got in Beverly Hills, a shit ton of diamonds, two SIG Sauers, a couple of blades, and a butt plug my Master gave me for being a brat. Thanks for asking.
Yeah, he wasn’t sure Hollywood was ready for his girl yet.
Jared waved him off. “Nah, she says shit about how I can bring her around. But the last time I managed to get Sarah to talk to me she told me the only shot I had with her was if I happened to be the last man on earth, and then and only then would she consider seeing me again, and only because she was a very social person and would be lonely. So, I think that sums it u
p. It’s time for me to move on. Time to forget about her. Hey, there are lots of fish in the sea.”
A sub walked up, tray in her hand. He couldn’t remember her name, only knew she was a fairly recent addition to the club. There was a collar around her throat, but no charm or mark of possession that told him who she belonged to. So she was working. “Can I get you anything, Sirs? Water or sodas? Or perhaps you would like a scene partner for the evening? I am available.”
He bet she was. “I’m taken for the evening, but thank you for the offer. This guy here has nothing to do. What do you say, Jared?”
Jared’s eyes widened in what could only be described as pure horror as he took in the petite blonde with her perfect tits and an ass to die for. Yeah, he was totally ready to go girl fishing. He was looking at the sub like she was a snake about to bite.
“Christine, I think Master Jared would prefer to be alone for a bit,” a deep voice said.
He turned and a large man stood to the side, his leathers clinging to muscled hips. He had on a leather vest and a frown that would have sent any sub scampering off.
“Yes, Master Riley.” And Christine did exactly that. She practically ran back to the break room, her heels click clacking across the floor.
Master Riley. The new Dom in Residence. He was basically The Reef’s hired gun. He was the one who would vet new members, open and close the club, oversee the subs who worked here, and generally keep everyone in line. He’d been hired by the board. Normally Josh would have had a vote, but he’d been on set during a particularly grueling shoot and had allowed Jared to vote for him.
Josh didn’t like the new guy. Not that Riley had done anything, but there was something about him. Riley watched him in a way he didn’t the others. Maybe that was simply the price of fame and shit, but he wasn’t sure.
And given what he was going to have to do tonight, the last thing he wanted was someone watching him with suspicious eyes.
He had to get away from his bodyguards, and that included Kayla. He had to do it all so he could pay off his blackmailer. One million dollars four times a year. Winter. Spring. Summer. Fall. Just like clockwork, he paid for the privilege of keeping his past firmly in the past.
