by Jade Dean
Growing tired of being the object of an unknown person’s scrutiny, she put her compact away and walked quickly towards the subway across the road. Pausing for traffic, she waited for a break and ran across the road and descended the stairs. Catching the first train to arrive, she worked her way to a mostly empty carriage. Moving to the far end, she took a window seat facing the door that she’d just come through.
Her E-reader was the size of a paperback and hid all but her eyes when she took it out of her purse and pretended to read. The door opened a few moments later and a man entered. His eyes searched the carriage and settled on her. She didn’t try to hide her shock when he smiled and she recognized her pursuer.
He walked through the carriage and sat in the vacant seat beside her. “Hello, Abby.”
Studying Ryan’s now blond hair and blue eyes, she had to admit that she liked this look better than the dark hair and eyes. “How did you manage to find me?”
“I snooped in your purse while you were in the bathroom in Rio and memorized your address,” he confessed. Ryan wasn’t sure if Abby was happy or angry that he’d stalked her. Her expression was inscrutable. “I’ve been watching your place for a couple of days. I wanted to speak to you, but I didn’t want to endanger you. I thought talking to you somewhere private would be safer than knocking on your door,” he explained.
“It’s good to see you again, but why did you track me down?” Part of her was elated that he wanted to see her, but another part was dismayed. She’d tried so hard to put him out of her mind and now he was back again. Gone were his filthy T-shirt and camouflage pants. In their place was a dark suit and light blue shirt, complete with a black tie. He could easily blend in with the many businessmen that worked in the area.
“I had to make sure you were ok.” Studying her eyes, Ryan saw her doubt. “I put you through a situation that would have broken most people.”
Abby frowned, unsure of what he was talking about. “You saved me from being raped and murdered by those two men, Ryan.”
Looking down at his feet, he shrugged. “I could have let you go instead of taking you with me.”
“But that would have compromised your identity.”
Looking at her, he frowned. “Yes, but it was a pitiful excuse for what I did to you.”
Abby felt the heat rising in her face as she thought of the pleasure that she’d felt each time he’d put his hands on her. “You have nothing to apologize for.” He looked down again and she touched his shoulder. “It really wasn’t as bad as you think it was.” That was a massive understatement, but she wasn’t going to tell him just how much she’d enjoyed being his captive. Not now that she knew he had a wife or a girlfriend.
“Are you sure you’re ok?” Ryan asked. She nodded, but avoided his gaze. He wanted to talk to her some more, but he knew it would be best if they never saw each other again. He’d satisfied himself that she’d made it home in good health and now it was time to leave her alone.
“Did you find Montoya?” Abby asked as she sensed that Ryan was about to stand.
Ryan shook his head regretfully. He’d searched for Diego’s mansion for several weeks before finally giving up. It seemed that he wasn’t meant to kill the man who had destroyed his life after all. “He’s still out there somewhere.” He had the note in his wallet as a reminder that he had unfinished business with the outlaw leader.
“You’ll find him one day,” Abby said with quiet confidence.
“I’d better go,” Ryan said, but made no move to leave. She wore a white blouse and tight jeans that hugged her curves. The pendant he’d given her was nestled between her breasts. The golden lioness seemed to stare at him mockingly.
Abby leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “It was memorable meeting you, Ryan. I’m glad you tracked me down, but I’m fine. You don’t owe me anything and you don’t have to worry about me.” She wanted to tell him not to feel guilty for coming so close to cheating on his partner. If she’d been the lucky Miranda, she’d have been royally pissed if she’d found out what he’d done to her. It was best not to mention it at all.
Knowing it was high time for him to leave, Ryan nodded. “Goodbye, Abby. Stay safe.”
Smiling, Abby nodded as he stood then turned and walked away. It was pathetic, but a small glow of happiness had settled in her stomach. Ryan had been concerned about her to the point of following her to Washington to check up on her.
Her glow quickly faded when she stepped off the train at the next station. The hairs on the back of her neck instantly informed her that she was under surveillance again. This time the watcher wasn’t friendly. She was also fairly certain that there were more than one pair of eyes on her.
Schooling her expression to neutrality, she headed for the stairs as two men in black suits and nearly invisible earpieces stepped off the train and followed her. Escape plans ran through her mind. The agents obviously didn’t want any witnesses, or else they’d have arrested her immediately.
Reaching the street, Abby walked towards a narrow alley. As expected, the two agents followed her. Turning to confront them, she readied herself for action. She didn’t recognize either of them and they weren’t from her former agency. Before she could ask them who they were, one pulled a weapon and fired. Pain flared in her neck and the ground rushed up to meet her as darkness closed in.
₪₪₪
Chapter Seventeen
Getting off at the next station, Ryan quickly headed for the street and skidded to a stop when a black SUV pulled up in front of him. Two men that he knew well flanked him before he could run. The door was opened by someone inside the vehicle and one of his former colleagues nodded at the door. “Get in the car, Ryan. We’ve been ordered to bring you in unharmed.”
Furious with himself for being caught so easily, Ryan did as ordered and climbed into the SUV. Another familiar face waited within, one he was even less happy to see.
Aaron Swift smiled at his former subordinate, but his light gray eyes remained flat and cold. “Ryan, it’s good to see you again.”
“I wish I could say the same,” Ryan replied as the other two agents climbed inside. He’d trained these men himself and knew he wouldn’t be able to subdue them both. Neither had drawn their weapons, but they hardly needed them. Dale Jackson and Josh Doran were two of the best men from his old unit. Jackson was a talented sniper and Doran was an expert at hand to hand combat.
Aaron was a different type of agent. He was Trevor’s right hand man and was technically higher up on the ladder than Ryan. Thirty-seven years old, he had brown hair and an ordinary face and was becoming soft around the middle. Lifting a pen was his idea of exercise.
“What have you been up to since you walked away from your job?” Aaron asked with a hint of smugness. Ryan had always been Trevor’s favorite due to his skills as a covert operative. With all of his talents, the great Agent Sheldon had been caught without any fuss whatsoever. The capture had been almost disappointingly easy and without drama. He’d expected at least some blood to be spilled during the process.
“A little of this, a little of that,” Ryan said glibly. “How did you know I was in Washington?”
“Trevor was very upset with you for leaving without warning. He arranged for surveillance of the major airports everywhere in the country. We were alerted as soon as you arrived in Washington.”
Trevor Watts was the type of man who could hold a grudge for life. Ryan shuddered to think what he had planned for his runaway agent. He should have known Watts would still have him flagged as a person of interest at the airports. He also should have worn a disguise before heading to Washington. He wished he could blame his disappointment on failing to kill Montoya for his lapse in planning.
A voice tried to whisper that thoughts of seeing Abby again had clouded his mind, but he dismissed it before it could form. He’d made sure she was safe and that was the end of it. He could bring her nothing but trouble if he continued to check up on her. His blood ran cold at how clos
e she’d come to being drawn into his personal problems again. If Swift got his hands on Abby, she would be in danger again just for being associated with him. The danger would have come from her own government this time rather than from Brazilian criminals.
It took them half an hour to reach their headquarters, which didn’t seem to have changed at all in the time that he’d been gone. It was in a nondescript building not far from the heart of the city. To the untrained eye, it looked just like any normal office building. Even on the inside it didn’t look much different from what a visitor would expect. Not unless they found their way to the cells in the basement levels.
The SUV took the ramp down to the undercover parking area and darkness closed around the vehicle. Ryan pondered trying to escape as he was escorted from the car into an elevator. If the agents flanking him hadn’t been two men that he considered to be friends, he’d have tried it. Trevor had chosen wisely sending them to bring him in. His boss knew he wouldn’t want to hurt them.
Instead of going up towards the offices, they headed to the lower levels. Ryan’s heart began beating faster as they stopped on the lowest level. He’d been down here many times to question prisoners and now he was the one being imprisoned. While he hadn’t legally committed a crime that his ex-boss was aware of, they obviously considered him to be the enemy and were treating him as such. Two agents that he didn’t know took over from Jackson and Doran, who remained in the elevator. He was glad neither of them would be forced to torture him. It would have been harder on them than on him.
Flanked by the new men and with Swift at the rear, he was led down a series of hallways. Trevor waited in a large room that contained a single metal chair. The walls, ceiling and floor were glaringly white. Ominous metal restraints would soon be clamped around his wrists and calves. A prod in the lower back with a gun had him walking forward. It was useless to prolong the inevitable, so he took a seat and placed his arms on the rests and his calves against the legs. The restraints clicked shut at the flick of a switch on the wall behind him.
“Ryan, it’s good of you to visit Washington again,” Trevor said as he came around the chair to confront his former employee. A couple of inches taller than Ryan, he was sixty and had white, thinning hair and shrewd green eyes. “I assume you have been tracking Diego Montoya during your absence?”
Ryan gave a single nod. “You assume correctly.” He was surprised at how civil Trevor was being. He’d expected accusations and anger rather than politeness.
“Was your unsanctioned mission a success?” Trevor’s tone was steady, but tension showed in his clenched fists. His daughter had suffered terribly due to Montoya’s orders and he had a personal interest in the answer.
“Unfortunately, no.” Ryan’s disappointment was almost as profound as Trevor’s. “I came close, but missed the kill shot.”
“That is very disappointing,” Watts said tightly. “Was it worth throwing away your job and your life only to fail?”
Thinking about the small amount of time that he’d spent with Abby, Ryan hesitated before answering. “Not really.” But it had been close to worth it.
“Who is the girl?”
Blinking at the unexpected question, he tensed. “What girl?”
“The one you were watching in the park. The same one you spoke to on the train.”
“She’s no one important.” Sweat tried to gather on his forehead and he willed it away, keeping his expression neutral.
“I find that difficult to believe.” Trevor watched his former employee closely, knowing he was lying. He knew his agents well, especially Ryan Sheldon. He’d been the best and he’d thrown it all away for a chance of revenge. It was a double betrayal that he’d ultimately failed at his task.
Motioning for Swift to take over the questioning, Trevor stepped out of the way and moved behind the chair to observe. He needed to know who the girl was and whether she was a liability to his agency.
₪₪₪
Chapter Eighteen
Regaining consciousness, Abby remained still and kept her breathing even. If she was being watched, she didn’t want her captors to know that she was awake. She remembered being shot in the neck with a tranquilizer dart and then blacking out. With her eyes closed, she listened intently and heard no sounds of movement or anyone nearby. Her right cheek was sore and would undoubtedly be bruised after she’d landed on her face. She’d fallen unconscious so quickly that she hadn’t had a chance to break her fall.
She opened her eyes a fraction and saw a white ceiling overhead. Carefully glancing around, she determined that she was alone in the small room. She lay on a narrow cot with a thin, uncomfortable mattress. Apart from a toilet and basin, the room was empty. A metal door with a barred window was the only way out. The floor and walls were as white as the ceiling, which gave the space a clinical vibe. This wasn’t a hospital room at all. It was a prison cell.
Sitting up, Abby’s head spun from the residue of whatever drug the agents had used to knock her out. Whoever they were, they weren’t from her agency. The Black Squad didn’t drug people. They killed them.
It didn’t take a genius to guess that her kidnappers had something to do with Ryan. The irony of her situation almost made Abby smile. She’d feared being caught by her own people but had instead been snared by someone else’s. Ryan had to be somewhere in this building and she figured he was also being held as a prisoner. She assumed that his boss had had him under surveillance and she’d been brought in for questioning after being seen with him. It would be vital for her true identity to remain unknown. If Logan Matthews caught wind that she was being held by another agency, he’d do everything in his power to gain custody of her. She didn’t have to feign a shiver at the thought of what he’d do to her.
Tottering over to the basin, she drank some water and splashed some on her face to help wake her up. Apart from feeling a slight nausea and the bruise on her cheek, she was physically unharmed. Thankfully, the drug was already fading from her system. She’d been unconscious for an hour, according to her watch. God only knew how Ryan was faring. If he’d been captured by her team, he’d have been in small pieces by now.
She sat on the cot with her back against the wall and waited for another fifteen minutes before someone finally came for her. Hearing footsteps approaching, she brought her legs up to her chest and prepared to put on the act of her life.
Cowering when the door opened, she stared at the black suited agent fearfully. “Who are you? Where am I?”
“On your feet,” he responded without answering either question. A couple of inches shy of six feet, his hair was black and his eyes were a cold, pale blue.
“I know my rights,” she said as she stood. “I want to make a phone call.”
The agent smirked as he took her arm. “We’re not the police, Ms. Parker. You have no rights in this building.”
They had her purse and they knew her name and address. That didn’t particularly concern her. Abby had had many identities during the past decade and she could change herself into a new person at any time. It was sad, but she could walk away from the life that she’d created without a second glance.
“I don’t know who you are, but you can’t just kidnap innocent people off the street!” she said, knowing full well that he could because she’d done the same thing herself many times. No one had ever lived to complain about the treatment that they’d received at her hands.
“Shut up and walk,” he said tonelessly. His grip on her upper arm was tight enough to leave bruises as he walked her down a series of hallways.
Abby could have broken free at any time, but chose not to. She had no idea where she was or what was the quickest way to escape. More information would be necessary before she took drastic steps to free herself.
She saw no exit signs during the journey, just more hallways and doors with barred windows. They finally stopped at a door and the agent knocked. The door was opened immediately and she was pushed inside.
Ryan tens
ed when the door opened and he tried not to react when Abby was marched inside. Another new agent that he hadn’t worked with before had his hand wrapped tightly around her bicep. He wore a cruel smile that still managed to leave his eyes expressionless. Trevor’s standards had slipped since during the past year if this was the kind of people that he now employed.
“Ms. Parker,” Swift said and pointed at Ryan. “How do you know Agent Sheldon?”
Blinking in convincing astonishment, she shook her head in bewilderment. “I don’t know him at all.”
Swift nodded at the dark haired agent and he slapped Abby across the face. Ryan noticed the brief flare of rage in her now stormy gray eyes. “Try again, Ms. Parker,” Aaron sneered. “We saw you together in the park and on the train. Tell us how you know each other and you’ll make this a lot easier on yourself.”
Catching Abby’s eye, Ryan gave her a nod.
Interpreting that as encouragement to tell them the truth, she touched her now bruised left cheek and noticed the smirk on the agent that had hit her. “I was with a group of tourists in a small village near Rio when we were surrounded by armed men. Two of the men were about to drag me away when Ryan stopped them. He pretended to claim me and took me back to their compound. He kept me safe for four days and then made sure I returned to my hotel room unharmed.”
Swift stared at the young woman incredulously. The story was the same one that Sheldon had told them, but he didn’t believe it. There had to be more to it than that. They were working together and he wanted to know what they were planning.
“We did a background check on you, Ms. Parker,” Swift said and watched her carefully for a reaction. “We found something very interesting. Abigail Parker didn’t exist twelve months ago. In fact, there’s no record of you anywhere before that time.” Staring into her eyes, he silently dared her to lie to him. “Who are you and who do you work for?”
