by Lexi Blake
River screamed her husband’s name as they started to haul him out. “Let me go with him. I did it, too. I did all of it. I was with him.”
Jax looked back, a desperate plea in his eyes. “Owen, please.”
This was another part of their code. Owen had on a proper kilt this time and he looked somewhat primal as he wrapped an arm around River and hauled her over his shoulder. Rebecca was crying, too, as River fought to stay with her husband.
It was too much. Too much emotion. Too much fear. Too much guilt. His system threatened to shut down.
Rupert’s men flanked out, some of them going toward the elevators. They would find Nick and Hayley in their cozy apartment, likely wrapped in each other’s arms. They would find Walt in the lab either working on some project or trying to dominate the world via video game. Steph, Brody, and their son, Nate, were out for the evening. They would return home to a different world.
He’d brought it all down on their heads.
“The way’s clear. We need to move.” Nina was back and she wasn’t alone.
“Tucker, don’t you take another step near that fucking door. I already lost one of you tonight. I didn’t get to Jax in time.” Ezra was with her, a grim look on his face. He stared at Solo. “You were in the sauna? You okay?”
She nodded. “Beck, I’ll fix this, but I can’t do it if they haul me in, too. An American agent on British soil…they won’t believe I was here visiting friends.”
“Then you come with us and when we’re safe, I expect you to do what you have to do to protect Jax,” he said. “But now we need to move. The tunnels are clear.”
He hadn’t even known there were tunnels. He’d lived here for almost two years and no one had mentioned there were escape routes. Of course, they hadn’t exactly needed escape routes until the Lost Boys had shown up since they hadn’t been engaged in criminal activity before that.
Was he going to bring the whole company down?
“This tunnel leads to a parking garage in the financial district,” Nina explained. “Damon has a small flat there and a car we can use. But we have to move now. We’ve got two go-bags. Ezra picked up his and there’s always one in the tunnel.”
Solo frowned. “Mine is upstairs, but I’ve got a couple of guns and my secure phone with me.”
“Where’s my mom and Vi?” Roni stepped forward. “I can’t leave without them.”
“Ian has them. We split up when we realized what was going on. They’re in a secure location, but he can’t get here,” Ezra said. “He’s holed up with them and when it’s safe, he’ll follow. But we have to go now.”
He had to leave his brothers to the wolves? He had to leave his daughter behind?
Ezra stepped in front of him. “I know what is going through your head, but you cannot help Jax. We gain nothing by giving you up. They’ll take him anyway, and they’ll take Veronica. They’ll use both of them to get you to do anything they ask. We’ve got to figure out if you stole that intel.”
“I did.” He sounded hollow to his own ears. “I know I did. I can see the thumb drive in my hand.”
When he closed his eyes and thought about it hard, he could feel it there, feel the morning sunlight on his face, the hint of a breeze that had run through the city that morning. He’d walked down the street with a spring to his step because it was almost over.
“Then we’ll find it and we’ll bargain with it,” Ezra said, jarring him out of his thoughts. “But we can’t do any of that if they catch us. The only thing that will happen is they take the two of you into custody, and we will have absolutely nothing to bargain with.” He pointed to the frosted glass doors. They shuddered as someone on the other side tried to open them.
“Mr. Knight,” Rupert was saying, “I’m going to need you to open these doors.”
“Tucker, should we open the doors?” Roni stared up at him. “If you think we should talk to them, I’ll come with you.”
Like River had tried to go with Jax. The trouble was Jax had earned his wife’s loyalty. All he’d done so far for Roni was leave her alone and pregnant, and now he’d managed to separate her from their child.
They were going to have to run through London’s underground like rats in a maze, and Roni didn’t even have a pair of shoes.
All because he’d been impatient.
He glanced at the monitor and sure enough, the man outside the door now had several friends who looked ready to break it all down. He didn’t have a choice. He had to put her first. He leaned over and shoved his arms under her knees, hauling her against his chest. He might have put her in this position, but he could make sure she didn’t have to walk the path alone.
“Lead the way.” He carried Roni toward the back of the hall where Damon proved he was always prepared.
As Tucker followed Ezra into the dark tunnel, he vowed he would find what they needed.
Even if it killed him.
Chapter Nine
Roni looked around the gorgeous country home three days later and wished she could enjoy it on an aesthetic level. She knew she should appreciate the stunning ceilings and the stained-glass windows, but all she saw was a million ways they were unsafe.
The smell of coffee permeated, hitting her nose and reminding her that she had barely eaten in days, much less had a decent cup of coffee.
But then what mother ate when she didn’t even know where her child was in the world?
She stopped just before the hallway opened to the large great room. She could hear the sound of people talking. Ezra. And Nina. They were saying something about how no one seemed to have followed them, and Ezra had reprogrammed the security cameras to watch all the possible entrances. They’d even placed some new ones to watch the woods around them.
“Hey, I was going to see if you wanted some breakfast. Nina’s making omelets.” Tucker walked out from what appeared to be the kitchen. “I know it’s been rough these last few days, but this is a safe place.”
It had been beyond rough. First there had been the harrowing escape through London’s underground tunnels. Despite the fact that Ezra and Nina had promised her no one would be able to find the hidden door unless Damon talked, she still had held on to Tucker like a lifeline. All through the long trudge below, he’d carried her and she’d watched over his shoulder for signs that they were being chased. Every footstep Tucker had taken had put distance between her and Violet.
They’d made their way to the small flat that served as one of McKay-Taggart and Knight’s safe houses. They’d stayed in the tiny one-bedroom flat until late last night when Ezra and Nina had decided it was safe enough to move to this massive house in the English countryside. She’d been told it was owned by a member of The Garden and was as safe as they could be.
“Have you heard anything about Violet and my mom?” It was all she’d been able to think about for days. She hadn’t seen or talked to her baby since they’d fled The Garden.
The half smile that had been on his face faded. “I checked the message board we’re supposed to use. Ian’s got them on a plane back to the States.”
“Without me?” They were going to be so far away. She’d never spent so much as a night away from Vi until two days ago, and now there would be a whole ocean between them?
Tucker’s voice dropped low as though he didn’t want the rest of them to hear what he was saying. “I would do anything to get you on that plane. Anything. Say the word and I’ll turn myself in.”
That was the problem. There wasn’t anything to do. She took a deep breath, trying to quell the emotions welling inside her. She knew they’d done what they had to do, knew Tucker giving himself up wasn’t going to help, but it didn’t fix the anxiety and fear festering deep down in her gut. “No, of course not. That’s absolutely not an option.”
Nina’s head popped around the corner. The former Interpol agent looked far cheerier than she had the last few days. “Hey, we have actual food that doesn’t have to be reconstituted with boiling water. Do you want any
veg in your omelet? I’ve got onions, tomatoes, and spinach to go with some lovely ham I intend to thank Clive Weston for the next time I see him. Truly the aristocracy lives so much better than the rest of us.”
Weston. He owned the house they were staying at and she’d heard it mentioned he was some kind of earl or something.
“I don’t know that I want anything.” She wasn’t sure she could eat.
Tucker frowned. “Come on. At least you can have some toast. You need to keep your strength up.”
That was funny because she wasn’t sure she’d shown a lot of strength the last few days. She’d cried and felt sorry for herself. She’d asked endlessly about her daughter, but not about anyone else. These people had been kind to her, but she’d been caught up in her own misery.
He turned and followed Nina into the ultramodern kitchen. The rest of the house looked like Downton Abbey, but the kitchen was sleek and technologically advanced. There were big windows that let in the light. The kitchen felt normal and that made her wary. Solo was pacing outside, walking back and forth in front of the windows, her cell phone to her ear and talking animatedly. Again, normal. Normal scared her right now.
“Shouldn’t she be inside?” The first day, she’d gotten a massive lecture on why she couldn’t leave the flat.
Ezra glanced up from the laptop he’d spent endless hours on the last few days. It was supposedly secure and their only line of communications besides two burner phones they were only to use in extreme emergencies. She’d thought her life in Germany had been restrictive. Her mother had nothing on Ezra Fain. “She’s under the awning. See how she stays close to the house? She’s doing that so she can’t be picked up on satellites. She knows what she’s doing. Trust me. If there’s one person in the world who knows how to take care of herself it’s Kim Solomon.”
Nina sighed as she flipped over an omelet. “I could be back at The Garden, but no. I had to go downstairs after a workout to grab a water because I was too lazy to stock my flat. Listening to the two of you bicker has been a life lesson, I tell you. How did you ever stay married for years?”
The faintest hint of a smile hit Ezra’s face. “Because when she’s good, she’s really good.” He seemed to shake the feeling off. “It will be better now that we’ve got some room. We won’t be on top of each other all the time. How are you this morning, Veronica? Did Tucker fill you in on what happened last night?”
She was hungry for all the details. “He said Ian moved Vi and my mom. They’re on a plane now? Will he tell us when they land? Is he with them?”
Tucker nodded. “Yes. He got them from London to Dublin. I have no idea how, but he’s got connections. They’re going out on a private plane his sister-in-law sent. They’re going to land at a private airfield in New York and stay with Drew Lawless. That’s Case’s brother-in-law. Ian will go on to Dallas, but he’s got bodyguards in place and a whole legal team waiting to see if anyone shows up on Drew’s doorstep. They’re safe, and Ian’s going to find a way to let them call you.”
It was far better for them to be on US soil. They had rights in the US they didn’t have here.
Tucker stared at her for a moment. “I’ll ask him to send the plane for you in a day or two.”
“I don’t think that’s a great idea,” Ezra said.
“For me? Not you?” She kept her attention on Tucker. He would be safer in the US, too.
“I can’t leave. I need to be in Europe. There’s every probability that I’m going to go to Paris as soon as Ezra and Nina decide it’s okay to go,” he explained. “I’ll make sure you’re safe first. Did the clothes fit?”
He was good at deflecting from the real point. She’d learned that over the last few days. That first night he’d held her while she’d cried, but then he’d slept in the living room, offering the bedroom to her and Nina and Solo.
She would rather have been on the couch with him. The previous night he’d tucked her into bed after the long drive and told her he needed to talk to Ezra. It had been hours before he’d crawled into bed and he’d seemed so intent on not waking her, she’d pretended to sleep.
He was feeling guilty. He thought he was the reason they were all in this position. She wasn’t stupid. It was there in his every gesture, in the way he fell over himself if she wanted so much as a glass of water. She knew what his problem was. The trouble was she felt guilty, too, and she hadn’t been handling it well.
“I don’t know that I should leave you,” she said. “Especially since it puts our daughter in danger again. I don’t know what I would do if I led them straight to the safe house. They’re looking for me. Asking about my mom and Vi was incidental. They’re safe. You’re not.”
“Neither are you.” He put a hand on the table as though he needed it for balance.
This was the other thing that had been happening. He was getting sicker and sicker.
“Is it another headache?” She moved to his side.
“It’s nothing.”
That was what he’d been saying for days. She’d missed the signs that he wasn’t well. She hadn’t noticed Tucker wasn’t eating until the night before when he’d refused the sandwiches Nina had made.
She tried to move in, but he dodged her, keeping the table between them.
“I think I should go lie down. I didn’t get much sleep last night. Tell Solo I’ll be ready if she needs me.” He strode out of the kitchen.
Her heart sank. He was drawing away from her, and she might have missed her shot to keep him close.
“No matter what he says, he’s not okay.” Nina put a plate in front of Ezra. “Watching Jax get taken into custody gutted him. It’s what they’ve been desperate to avoid.”
“Yeah, well, knowing he’s the reason his daughter is in hiding can’t have been good for his state of mind,” Ezra added.
“It wasn’t his fault.” That was the one thing she was sure of.
Ezra took a drink of his coffee. “Actually, when you think about it, it’s Solo’s fault. If she’d left you alone, Kronberg probably never comes after you.”
Nina’s eyes widened in what couldn’t be mistaken for anything but righteous indignation. “You’re the one who asked Solo to find her.”
“No, I didn’t ask Solo for anything,” Ezra said with a shrug. “This is one more of her crazy stunts to try to prove to me she’s changed. It happened to also lead to us being on the run and Jax in jail. That’s how it goes with Solo. Everything she touches tends to turn to shit.”
“I’m trying,” a soft voice said.
She turned and Solo was standing there, her cell peeking out of her pocket.
Ezra frowned and hopped off his barstool, flipping his laptop shut. “You always do, Kim. And it always ends up going wrong. I’ve got a secure call with Damon in five. I’ll be in the office. Thanks for breakfast, Nina.”
Nina looked back, one hand on her hip. “Not that you actually ate it.” She sighed. “I don’t know why I try.”
“I’ll take it.” Solo slipped into Ezra’s seat and picked up the fork he’d left behind. “I’ve been living off scraps with him for years. Roni, I’m sorry. I was glad to hear Ian thinks he’s got a safe spot to stash your mom and daughter. The Lawless building is secure and Drew Lawless has enough government contacts that the Agency will think twice about even approaching him.”
That was good to know and even more reason why she shouldn’t go. If they were safe, going to the States could only give the Agency or any of the intelligence groups a reason to think about upsetting the balance. And Ezra was wrong. “I don’t blame you.”
Solo smiled faintly. “It’s okay. Beck can blame me enough for both of you.”
“Why do you call him Beck?”
“Because that’s his name. Becket Kent. Ezra Fain was his half brother. He was on a special operations team and he died on a mission I sent him on over Beck’s very vocal objections.” She said the words without a hint of emotion. As though she’d been over and over them so often, she
couldn’t quite feel them anymore.
Guilt. It seemed to be a thing today. “Well, I don’t blame you for coming to find me. I know it might have been the catalyst that started this fire, but I think it was always going to start.”
“Has anyone considered the fact that it’s not Veronica that upset the fragile balance?” Nina asked, setting a tray of toast on the island.
“But they raided The Garden only a few days after I showed up,” Roni pointed out.
“It takes more than a few days to plan something like the other night. I should know. I’ve been involved. It would have taken a while just to get MI6 and German intel on the same page.” Nina sat down beside Solo. “I think the turning point was when the lads broke into Kronberg. That was when Kronberg realized they were sitting on a bomb that hasn’t gone off yet, but it will. I think having Tucker walk back into that building is what made them move and fast. The fact that there was an Agency team there would have been icing on the cake.”
Solo held up her fork. “Then see, still my fault. Although I would like to point out I was hauling in a rogue agent.”
“And you coordinated with BND?” Nina looked expectant, though it was obvious she knew the answer to the question.
“No,” Solo admitted.
Nina pointed her way. “See, there it is. But then Ezra wouldn’t have either. It’s the nature of your job. Secrets and obfuscation. I worked in a far more transparent place. I like the world better in black and white. But that’s neither here nor there. The point is the lads woke this particular sleeping beast. Not Veronica. Levi Green pushed them to do it. So I say we stash the guilt and deal with the problem head on.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do,” Solo said. “Now that we’re here and have some space, I have a plan. But I need Tucker for this plan, and that means he can’t make himself sick.”
