“They seem to be ahead of us at every step.” Alexa’s shoulders sagged with disappointment. “Maybe we should grab these guys while we have the chance and hope they’ll narc on Bekas.”
“You know as well as I do they’ll kill themselves before they turn on each other,” Xander said, softly closing the door behind him. Alexa had hardly heard it opening.
“We’re going to get him,” Jake insisted.
“He’s right, Alexa. We always get our guys, yeah?” Xander tossed his earpiece on the desk by Seth’s laptop.
“And what do we do if Reza doesn’t go to the casino tonight? Or if Gregov stays in the room while Reza leaves?”
“We’ll keep following these guys until we can make our move. Hopefully tonight.” Xander placed a large hand on Jake’s shoulder. “How are you holding up, mate?”
Jake was staring at Jason’s head like he was willing it to self-combust. She couldn’t help but like the feeling of being protected for once. Not that Xander and Matt didn’t look out for her, but that was different. Jake had a strength that lit a fire in her belly. She wanted to get lost in his muscular arms, to let someone else take care of her.
What would it feel like not to be this strong, tough woman for five minutes?
Just five minutes. She didn’t want to give up her own strength altogether, but five minutes would be relaxing.
Okay, so maybe ten would be a little better.
It’d be nice to enjoy a sunset every once in a while. Or have a cocktail at the beach without worrying that the world might explode.
“I’m fine,” Jake said. “I didn’t recognize the man in the images with the shooter. Sorry.”
Alexa blinked a few times, forcing herself to look away from Jake’s arms. When she swept her gaze up his chest and to his face, she found his eyes focused on hers, and her breath hitched.
“Okay. Maybe it will come to you.” Xander folded his arms. “We’ll monitor the cameras to see when Gregov leaves, and we’ll have Alpha team in place to follow him. I’ll call Beta team back to keep an eye on Reza.”
“Who is going with Jason to upload the malware?” She looked over at the man who made her blood ice cold.
“Me,” Xander answered.
Alexa went for her jacket and slipped it on. She couldn’t stomach being in the same room as Jason. “Do you need me right now?”
“No. You guys go get room service or something and stay put for now. And Alexa, be careful. We don’t want Gregov recognizing you from Munich,” Xander ordered.
“Let me know when Gregov is on the move,” Alexa said. As she went to the door, she could feel Jake at her heels.
Neither of them spoke as they left in a hurry, and then crept inside the side entrance of their hotel, and took a set of stairs to their room. Once there, Alexa dead bolted the door and faced Jake, dying to let the words fly loose. “I really am so sorry you had to meet Jason.” Her eyes wandered to Jake’s hands, which were clenched at his sides.
“What did he do to you, Alexa?”
Alexa hung her head and pressed her fingertips to her temples. She looked up when Jake’s hand swooped next to her, his palm pressing against the wall. His eyes were dark, and a swirl of pain showed in the lines of his face. “Tell me, Alexa. Give me permission to put this guy six feet under after this is all over. I’ll kill him with my bare hands.”
And he could, too, couldn’t he? The prominent veins in his forearm attested to that.
But she didn’t want to think about Jason or her past. Right now, she just wanted to lose herself in Jake’s arms, to use those hands for passion, instead of anger.
She wanted to will away the evil in the world and bury him deep inside her until she was screaming his name.
Jake had so many sides: humor, strength, conviction. Love?
And rules, she couldn’t forget. The man outside the hospital room back in London—the dark-haired guy with blue eyes—he’d said Jake was a rule follower.
Maybe Jake wasn’t being serious about killing Jason. Or maybe he truly had forgotten who he was. It was crazy to think that he’d gone from a man unable to kill a spider to a man telling her he wanted to murder her ex-boyfriend. Was he changing for her? Or was he trying to adapt to this new world he’d woken up within, where he remembered fragments of his past as he tried to negotiate the present?
“Jake?” His name was like a hiss from her lips as she lifted her chest and rolled her shoulders back.
The back of his hand caressed her cheek, and the desire in his eyes seemed as strong as her own. She glanced down between them and saw his hardened length pressing against his jeans. “Maybe I can tell you about Jason after . . .?”
He arched a brow as his hand slipped down her throat and to the leather collar of her jacket. “After what?”
She roped her hands up to his neck and brought her face close to his. “After this.” Her lips found his, and he groaned against her mouth. His hand gently tugged at her hair as he moved a few steps back.
She gasped as Jake swept her into his arms. “Put me down. You’re injured.” Her palms went to his chest, but he only looked at her with gleaming, brown eyes.
He ignored her protests, nipping at her lip with his teeth as he carried her into the bedroom. She wanted to holler at him for being so completely daft, but she could barely remember words under the heat of his stare.
He gently set her on the bed, and he went for the button on his jeans. He stood there for a moment, the button undone, the zipper still up—just studying her with hooded eyes.
She wanted to cry out for him to come to her—she needed him, and she rolled her tongue over her lips, wetting them as he shoved off his jeans and boxers and stepped out of them.
His hard, beautifully sculpted body was on display for her, and she wanted to run her hands over the curve of his muscles and plant kisses everywhere.
Jake gripped his shaft, and his mouth tightened as he swallowed. “Your turn,” he said in a throaty voice.
She sat upright and removed her jacket, then tugged her sweater over her head. She unsnapped her bra, freeing her breasts and started for her jeans.
Jake moved on top of her in one quick movement.
And when his mouth came down over her belly button, she knew she wouldn’t be capable of surviving another day without Mr. New Year’s Eve.
But a sharp blitz of pain in her chest reminded her of how impossible that could be.
Chapter Twenty-One
Jake pinched Alexa’s nipple; then his hand glided down her core to her thighs, where it teased her sensitive flesh. “You make me forget all the crazy shit.” He could lie next to this woman and be forever happy. He didn’t need anything else. But that was nuts—how long had he known her? His strong feelings for this woman were insane, and yet, he couldn’t resist them.
She moaned and covered his hand as he slid his finger up and down her wet center. “You ready to go again?”
“Not quite. But it feels like you are.”
A lazy smile stretched across her face, and God did he need that smile right now.
“We’re out of condoms,” he said with a well-intended pout. “I might have to get you off with my mouth, instead.” He winked. “Lucky for you, that suits me fine.”
“Mm. But we’re in the middle of an OP. We can’t screw all day.” Amusement flickered in her cheek. “Well, maybe we can until Xander calls.”
He laughed. “That’s my girl.”
Shit, she’s not mine. Not yet, at least. And maybe never . . .
He felt her stiffen at his words, and her thighs squeezed, locking his hand between them. “Jake?”
“Yeah?” He retracted his hand.
“Well, maybe we should take a few minutes to talk about what happened earlier.”
Jason? Even thinking the man’s name heated his blood. Jake hardly recognized the pacifist he’d been when younger. Now, he wondered if he really would grab Xander’s 9mm and shoot that motherfucker, Jason, in the chest. What is wrong
with me?
“I’m kind of worried about what thoughts might be brewing in that head of yours, and I’m thinking I better just be straight with you, yeah?” She was on her side now, head propped up in her hand, mirroring him. Their naked bodies were so close.
Maybe she should cover her incredible tits when she told him about her ex?
“Um . . .” he started.
Would he really ask her to hide her body? No, he didn’t think so.
Alexa’s hand grazed down the center of her chest to her stomach, and his cock hardened in response. Fuck me. But then her fingers settled over her scar, and he noticed her brows pulling together as she looked down at the marking on her skin. His lungs deflated.
Did Jason do that to you? Anger burst through him, and his fingertips curled into his right palm.
“I was on an OP over seven years ago. We were in Copenhagen tracking down a terrorist cell. It was only my second mission in the field. I was in the surveillance van while my team went after the target.” She sucked in a deep breath, and it was then that she reached for the creamy silk sheet and pulled it up over her breasts. “I was watching when everything went down—they were ambushed. I rushed from the van clutching my gun, prepared to die if I could save my teammates.”
Jake reached for her hand when she placed it between them on the bed. He gave it a squeeze, offering her as much support as he could. He understood all too well the pain of reliving the past.
“My teammates were dead by the time I got there, and only one guy was still inside—he came out of nowhere and swiped at me with a steak knife. We were in the kitchen of an empty restaurant—a front for illegal activity. The knife sliced my side, and then the man pinned me to the ground, trying to cut my throat.” Her eyes flashed shut, and Jake was so grateful that she was alive right now to tell him the story.
“The guy wasn’t big. Thank God. So, I fought back. He couldn’t get my gun from me, and we struggled . . . and I killed him.” Her big hazel eyes were open and on Jake now. “So, I know what it’s like to be the only one to survive a mission. It’s horrible. I should have been in there with them. I should have died, too.”
Her eyes became glossy, like greenish-brown crystals. “That was the only time I’ve had to kill. And it was Jason’s fault.”
He held her gaze, attempting slow and deep breaths to maintain his cool. He was dying to pull her into his arms and tell her she didn’t need to say anymore if it would hurt too much, but he knew that she needed him to just listen right now. Still, seeing her hurting was worse than any remnants of pain from his abduction.
“Jason and I were dating before I was recruited to MI6. We met at a tech conference in Dublin. He was passionate about computers, and so was I—we’d been dating maybe six months when I was hired.” She pulled her hand from Jake’s and sat upright, clutching the sheet tight to her chest as she leaned against the headboard, and Jake followed suit.
“What happened?” he finally asked.
“I’d been an agent for a few months when I was assigned to the case involving that Danish terrorist cell. We’d pegged the terrorist group for an explosion in Liverpool, and we learned the leader was in Copenhagen. We just needed more evidence, so we went after him in Denmark. But the guy knew we were coming. There was a hacker that MI5, GCHQ, Interpol—hell, everyone in the U.K.—had been trying to track down for years. Terrorists and criminals hired the hacker to watch out for them electronically. To keep track of the agencies and monitor our activities. For a hefty price, of course.” She stopped talking for a moment. He could see the pull of anger in her face and the tenseness in her shoulders.
“Jason?”
She gave a soft nod. “After we were ambushed in Copenhagen, we realized this hacker—this no-name arsehole—had probably tipped off the terrorist cell.” Her arms lifted and her hands darted to her temples. “I was dating Jason while hunting the son of a bitch down. Completely unaware it was him that got my teammates killed.” Then Alexa was on her feet, standing naked in front of the bed with a hand over her mouth.
Jake quickly stood, ignoring the flash of pain in his hip. “Shit, Alexa. I don’t even know what to say.” He knew what he wanted to do, though. Now, more than ever, he wanted to kill the SOB.
“He didn’t know I was MI6. It was hard for me to believe at first, but he was as shocked as I was when we went in for the capture. I mean, I thought for sure he’d been using me, but it was just a massive coincidence. Some feckin’ coincidence!”
Jake wrapped his arms around her hips and tugged her body against him. She pressed her face to his chest and remained there for a few minutes. Not crying, just breathing.
Thinking, maybe. Blaming herself, probably.
He could understand, for sure.
“Why the hell is he working with you guys?” Jake finally asked.
She reached for her underwear off the floor and slipped them on. “He had an insane amount of intel on terrorists all over the world.” Alexa shook her head as if disgusted.
The agency had made a deal with the devil.
“In exchange for the intel, and for cyber assists when needed, they put him in a very comfortable prison—a mansion in London. It’s guarded at all times, and he can’t go anywhere in the city without security, but still . . .”
“Fuck me. That’s so messed up.” Jake rushed his fingers through his hair and looked down at the carpet.
“Tell me about it,” she grumbled. “Any time the agency brings him in, I always steer clear and ask to be reassigned from the mission.” She grabbed Jake’s white T-shirt off the chair by the bed and put it on. “This is the first time I’ve been in the same room with him since we first interrogated him.”
“God, Alexa.” He braced his hands on her forearms as their eyes met. “I’m so sorry.”
“He let my team members go in to die by helping the terrorists. I should have died, too. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t relive that night. So, when I say that I understand what you’re going through—”
He pulled her back into his arms, pressing his chin to her forehead. His hands wrapped around her waist.
Alexa stepped back from him a few minutes later, rubbing a hand over her cheek. “You feel like a rest? I’m exhausted, and tonight will be . . . well, you know.”
He nodded. “Sure.” He put on his boxers and got into bed. She stretched out next to him, and he banded an arm over her hipbone and pulled her back flush against his chest, holding her tight.
“This feels right. Just like last year.” Her words floated to his ears, and the hairs on his arms rose.
“Kiss me one last time, Jake,” Alexa had said.
“No, but I’ll kiss you for now—until next time . . .”
Jake’s eyes screwed tight as he clung to this memory of him and Alexa. When had it happened? It was confusing.
But he was too exhausted to hold onto the memory, and he didn’t want to make sense of it right now. So, he focused on Alexa in his arms, rather than what happened last year. He embraced the moment since he never knew how long it would last.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Gregov has a room on the fourth floor. He’s due to check out tomorrow,” Xander said. Alexa and Jake had just arrived, freshly showered.
“Did he keep his audio jammer on?” she asked.
“We got the code. Saw the bastard punch it in myself when he tucked his computer into the safe twenty minutes ago . . . right after we got Gregov on camera leaving his room, heading to his own suite,” Xander said.
“Thank God. And where is Reza now?” It was almost ten p.m., and twilight had given way to utter darkness. Of course, Barcelona was only just starting to wake up for the night.
Xander looked over his shoulder at Randall, whose dark brown eyes shifted to meet Xander’s. Randall nodded. “Reza just entered the casino.”
“And Gregov?” Alexa asked.
“Still in his room. He actually flew in from Istanbul under a different name,” Randall said
.
Alexa sat on the sofa, wanting to stay as far away from Jason as possible. He was leaning against the breakfast bar in the kitchen, his arms crossed, his eyes pinned to her. It made her skin crawl. And she didn’t have to look at Jake to know how he was feeling. His anger radiated off him like the heat of a summer day on the Mediterranean. Waves of tension speared the room, its silent vibrations ebbing back and forth between Jake and Jason with increasing intensity.
“You think Gregov met with Bekas?” she asked, pulling her attention back to the mission.
Xander reached for his 9mm, tucked it into the waistband of his pants, and then slipped a black blazer over his shoulders to conceal the weapon. “We have agents scrubbing traffic cameras all around Istanbul to see where Gregov was before he came here, and whom he met with there. Hopefully we’ll find a connection to Bekas.”
If only Parliament had given them the go-ahead to capture Bekas and his men a year ago . . .
“If we’re going to do this, we need to get it done now. You ready?” Xander was eyeing Jason. How the man could work side by side with that monster was beyond her.
“Not going to wear a vest?” Alexa swallowed, pushing thoughts of Copenhagen out of her head, the story entirely too fresh in her mind with Jason there.
Xander’s lips curved down as his shoulders arched up as if she were being ridiculous. “It’s a quick in and out. We’re good.” Xander flashed her a smile to comfort her, but it didn’t do much to adjust her nerves down to the fine tune of normal. Not even close.
“You in place, Alpha team?” Randall waited for the bug in his ear to respond. Then he nodded at Xander, giving him the go-ahead. “Beta team is outside the hotel,” Randall added.
Alexa slipped next to Seth at the table and studied the screen of her laptop, which was already hacked into the hotel’s surveillance cameras. “I’ve got you,” she finally said to Xander, hoping she came across confident.
“Jake, why don’t you come with us?” Xander asked, now standing near the door.
Surviving the Fall Page 18
