No Remorse_A Manhunters Novel

by Skye Jordan

  If this didn’t tease Hix’s attention from the members of her team who would be attending tonight, nothing would. This was the best she’d ever looked, from her hair, artfully curled and collected in a sexy, messy bun by a stylist a few storefronts down from the dress boutique, to the heels with straps across the top of the foot ending in one simple bow at her ankle. She was glad she’d gone for charcoal and not black for the outfit. She liked the way it offset her black hair while still allowing her eyes to pop.

  The knock on her door made Everly’s heart jump.

  “Time to go, ladies,” Hix called.

  “Daddy!” Bella ran in from the adjoining room and straight to the door.

  Everly slipped her phone into another elastic holster, this one lower on her right thigh. The tactical blade was a nice backup weapon, but if she could only have one, she preferred her Heckler and Koch. This was the longest she’d ever gone without carrying her own weapon in close to fifteen years.

  Memories of her rough childhood clashed with Hix greeting Mirabella at the door. He dropped to one knee and scanned his daughter as if she were every bit the princess she appeared to be tonight. No one had ever looked at Everly like that. She’d never had a father in her life, and her mother was always too distracted or consumed with her own problems and emotions to see straight. And here Bella had two families fighting over her.

  “Oh, wow,” Hix said, sliding his hands down her arms. His eyes danced with so much love, it made Everly’s stomach clench. “Baby, you look like an angel.”

  She’d never given it much thought, but seeing him on his knee before his daughter, every ounce of focus dedicated to Bella and only Bella, Everly knew this was exactly how a child’s life was meant to be—filled with pure love and never-ending awe.

  She just had to find a way to convince Roman and Gianna of that. She refused to consider what she’d have to do if she couldn’t. If they ordered her to go ahead with the mission as planned.

  Bella spun in a circle, grinning. Her champagne tulle skirt billowed out, and the sequins on the pinkish-gold bodice sparkled.

  Hix laughed, resting his forearm on his thigh as he soaked in the sight of her. Everly was wondering what it must feel like to be Bella right now—basking in a loving father’s admiration. He wore a black suit with a crisp white button-down. His dark hair was still damp from the shower, but he hadn’t shaved, leaving his jaw the slightest bit rough. Everly’s body responded with the same yearning she’d experienced when he’d held her against him in the plane hours before.

  Everly could tease a good game. This certainly wasn’t her first time playing the distraction in an undercover op. The difference here was that she wanted to sleep with her mark. She’d been lucky to have numerous buffers to keep her from having to make good on her flirtation. And she wanted this charade to end before she had to make that fateful decision.

  If she slept with Hix, she wanted it to be out of attraction, not duty.

  Bella skipped to Everly and took her hand. “I pick Everyee’s dress, Daddy.”

  Hix pried his gaze away from Bella and looked at Everly as if he’d just remembered she was there. He pushed to his feet in a slow, fluid move. And the look on his face gave Everly a glimpse into Bella’s world. He was just as taken, just as impressed as he’d been with Bella. Only there was an edge of something more there too. Something smoldering and hungry.

  “Oh, Bella, baby, you did an amazing job.” He thumped an open hand against his chest as he met Everly’s gaze. “You are…stunning.”

  The joy swimming inside her made Everly feel oddly juvenile. And vulnerable. Both intensely uncomfortable emotions, but ones that didn’t feel quite so dangerous with Hix.

  Bella ran out the door and through the house, the tap of her sparkling Mary Janes echoing off the marble. Hix approached with his gaze sweeping her in a way that made her feel wildly feminine from the tips of her manicured toes to the roots of her coifed hair. When he came within reach, she slid her hands down the lapels of his jacket while keeping him at arm’s length. Tonight was going to be hard enough without their wicked attraction blurring the lines.

  “Don’t you clean up nice?” She ran a thumb across his jaw. “I like the scruff. Takes the edge off all this polish.”

  He wasn’t listening. His mind was somewhere far, far away. By the heated look in his eyes, that somewhere involved naked bodies and lots of action. He slid his hands up and down her arms, warming her skin. “Jesus Christ,” he murmured. “It’s going to take all my brain power not to trip over my explanation of proprioceptors, exteroception, and interoception tonight.”

  Everly laughed. “Already lost me, handsome.”

  “Fancy way to understand eye-to-hand coordination. Makes me sound smarter than I am.”

  His gaze finally returned to her eyes, and the hunger there was so obvious, a spark of fear sizzled across her ribs. If Roman or Gianna saw that look, they’d think she’d slept with him. Gianna would think she was compromised and demand she be pulled from the operation. And if that happened, there was no telling what would become of Hix and Bella.

  “Do you think anyone would believe food poisoning?”

  His question came from so far out in left field, Everly frowned with a shake of her head. “What?”

  He lifted a hand to her face, his thumb sliding over her cheek. “Food poisoning,” he repeated, “as an excuse to stay home with you.”

  She covered his hand, reminding him, “And Bella.”

  A pained smile crossed his face before he closed his eyes and laughed. “Right. Bella.”

  “Tonight, you should probably pretend I’m not there, you know?” she said. “I wouldn’t want anyone jumping to conclusions that could reflect poorly on you or Bella.”

  “I don’t give a shit what anyone—”

  She pressed her fingers to his lips, smiling. “Hix, please.”

  He pulled her hand away. “Only if you’ll stop calling me Hix, like one of the guys.”

  She bit the inside of her lip, reminding herself to watch for those ingrained patterns that could expose the truth of how she’d spent the last decade of her life, with a band of brawny, brawling, badass brothers. But it only took one look at the heat in Hix’s eyes for an overwhelming sensation of femininity to wash over her. “Deal.”

  He took one last sweeping look, his hands sliding down her arms. “Man.” He groaned and shook his head hard, like he was clearing it. Then took her hand. “Ready to do this?”

  She nodded, and he turned toward the door, then turned back. “You’ll need your phone. I want to stay in contact.”

  Just like that, his tactical side flipped on.

  “I have it,” she told him.

  One dark brow lifted. “Where?”

  Grinning, she slowly slid the hem of her dress up her thigh, revealing her phone in the elastic strap.

  “Holy shit.” His gaze returned to hers, fiery. “That has to be the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  You oughta see me with a Desert Eagle .50 caliber in a thigh holster came to mind. What she actually said was “Found it at the boutique with the dresses.” She started through the door before they ended up locking the damn thing and falling on the bed. “Let’s go.”

  10

  Everly sighed in exasperation, pulled her heels off, and followed Bella onto the sand for the third time in the last twenty minutes. She took Bella’s arm and steered her back to the stone patio where guests chatted.

  “Bella, that’s the third time I’ve asked you not to go on the sand.” She sat on the edge of a deck chair and slipped her heels back on, retying the straps. Then she stood, faced Bella, and lowered to a crouch. “Sweetheart, if you do it again, I’m going to have to put you in a time-out, and you’ll miss all the fun.”

  “Okay,” she said with a pout.

  “These might help.” Decker’s voice pulled Everly’s gaze up. He held a canvas bag.

  Everly stood to look inside and found several toys. She sighed in
relief. “This is perfect. I don’t know why I didn’t think to bring any,” she lied. She knew exactly why she’d forgotten, and his name was Austin Hix.

  She pulled out a spinner toy and offered it to Bella. Thrilled with the toy, Bella sat beside Everly, who looked up at Decker. “That’s the first time she’s sat down since we got here. My feet thank you.”

  Decker smiled. “I’ve been with her since she came home with Hix. I’ve had to learn how to entertain her over the last year. Everyone’s had a pretty steep learning curve.”

  “Mr. Hix sure seems to handle her like a pro.”

  Decker nodded. “I admire the hell out of the guy. I can’t say how I would have reacted to the news that I had a daughter the way Hix did.”

  Everly had been fascinated by Decker’s file. He was a career military guy, with eighteen of his twenty years devoted to army special forces.

  “I doubt that,” she said, smiling. “You seem like a good guy, despite our rocky start.”

  He chuckled. “I’ve been meaning to ask you”—he glanced at her with one of those how-you-react-to-this-will-tell-me-something laser looks—“why aren’t you using the Wi-Fi at the house?”

  She smiled. “Maybe our rocky patches aren’t over yet.”

  “I’m just doing my job.”

  “At Hix’s direction.”

  “He is my boss.”

  She sighed and shook her head. “Considering how suspicious you both are, I’m surprised it’s taken you this long to ask.” She crossed her arms. “Tell me this. Would you care why I’m not using the house internet if you were able to hack into mine?”

  “Probably not.”

  She just held his gaze for a long moment. In anticipation of just this situation, she’d already formed an answer. But even though they had the right and the sense to track her and question her, it was becoming tedious.

  How she longed for the “get in, shoot to kill, get out” days.

  “I have an international internet service,” she said.

  “I know that. The question is why?”

  “Because wireless internet service is always sketchy in Third World countries. I move around too much to depend on one cellular service, so I make phone calls via internet. I’m sure you can see how problematic that could be if I depended on a poorly operated service provider.”

  “But why don’t you use the one at the house when you’re there? It would certainly save you money on your internet bill.”

  She shrugged, smiled. “I have a prepaid, unlimited plan.”

  He clasped his hands behind his back and rolled on his heels.

  “Did you serve with Hix in the army?” she asked, steering his mind elsewhere.

  “Five years. One of the best soldiers I’ve ever known. It’s too bad he had to leave when he had so many good years left.”

  “Had to leave?” she asked. “Was he pushed out?”

  “Oh, hell no. They begged him not to go. But once he knew about Bella, nothing was going to keep him away from her.”

  Everly exhaled, relieved to hear her own assessment of Hix had been accurate.

  She glanced around the patio, which was filling with guests. “I didn’t expect so many people.”

  “Companies need courting before they spend millions of dollars.”

  “Who all is here?”

  “Titus Security brought five of their top executives,” he said, surveying the crowd, “and another twenty of their employees who are going to take part in the training. They were all allowed to bring their significant others. Add in our security guys and members of the teams coming in for training on our end, and yeah, we’ve got quite a crowd.”

  A crowd perfect for her teammates to slide right into. Roman and Gianna had already penetrated the group, strolling arm in arm among the guests. Everly knew Ian had been dispatched to watch the beach because there was a chance Decker could identify him, but she saw two other Manhunters threading through the crowd—Granger Smith and Anders Sterling. They’d both been on the operation in Syria with Everly just before she’d been dispatched to Costa Rica. The men easily melted in with the other badass military attendees, dressed well and hoping to look civilized. Just like her.

  “Mr. Hix told me about the four men he hired locally for added security,” she told Decker. “He said he would introduce them to me tonight, but he was swept away by the CEO as soon as we got here. Can I meet them? There are a lot of rough guys here. I’d like to know which ones are ours.”

  “Of course. Grab Bella, and I’ll find them. Two are here, inside the event, the other two are stationed outside, one at the entrance, one on the beach.”

  Everly tried to take Bella’s hand, but she kept pulling out of her grasp to play with the toy. “Jeez, I can’t win here.” She bent and lifted Bella into her arms. “Precious, you need to listen to me tonight.”

  When she came up beside Decker, he said, “A lot of activity always distracts her.”

  “I’m going to have to keep an extra tight eye on her.”

  “We’ve all got eyes on her too.”

  She smiled at him. “That’s good to hear.”

  The more security there was, the less likely her teammates would be to contemplate an extraction. Roman had told her there was no definite plan in place—they were still investigating Everly’s suspicions about Paige Seaver—but they’d told her to be ready for anything. While distractions could aid in an abduction, she doubted it would be a smart tactic here. There were so many highly trained people together in one place, this had powder-keg implications for the Manhunters. And she had no doubt Austin would put every one of these men—his own and Titus’s—into action if Bella went missing.

  Even deep in conversation with several different men, Hix had a dime on Bella. Everly watched him put eyes on her every two to three minutes.

  Decker approached two young men, early twenties, one Hispanic, one Caucasian. Both wore suits and the telltale plastic spiral of a communication device over their ears. Decker introduced them, and both men, Ramon and Eric, greeted Everly with a cool professional air.

  “Everly.” Hix’s voice drew her attention, and he waved her over.

  “The master calls,” Everly told Decker with a grin. “Thanks for your help.”

  “My pleasure.”

  Everly walked toward Hix while speaking to Bella. “Your daddy wants to introduce you, Bella. Do you remember what we do when we meet new people?”

  “Yeah.” But she didn’t look up from the spinner.

  “Decker put sour gummies in the toy bag for you.”

  Her head snapped up, gaze focused. “He did?”

  “Yep. You can have one every time you meet someone politely.”

  “’Kay.”

  Austin extended his arm as they approached, sliding it around Everly’s shoulders and drawing her and Bella toward him in a way that felt both sweet as hell and inappropriate at the same time. Especially when she knew her boss and colleagues were watching so closely.

  He introduced them both to Mr. and Mrs. Connelly, owners of Titus Security Group, and when he didn’t remove his arm from Everly’s shoulders, she shifted out of reach, repositioning Bella at the center of the group so she could shake hands with the couple.

  After the little gummy-inspired imp stole their hearts, Everly left them to their conversations about their grandchildren and hit up all of Austin’s security team, collecting coins for the fountain with the promise of more pineapple empanadas next Sunday. If she was still with them next Sunday. When she had a fair sum of change jingling in her palm, Everly made her way to the fountain and sat on the edge with Bella.

  While Bella was busy thinking up new wishes for every coin and tossing them into the water, Roman and Gianna approached Everly.

  After glancing around for security, Everly said, “Who are you two pretending to be?”

  “If asked by someone from Titus Security,” Roman said, “we’re part of Austin’s team. If asked by Austin’s men, we’re part of Titus
Security. No one has taken a second look at us.”

  Everly nodded. “On the way here, Alpha told me he hired four local guards in addition to the four he brought with him.” They’d nicknamed everyone in an effort not to draw attention to their conversations if someone picked up a familiar name. Austin was Alpha, Decker: Hos, security: Goons one through three. But that would have to be extended to Goons one through seven now. “He has a team of a dozen active-duty-on-leave military guys flying in from all over the place for the training. I’m not sure how many are here tonight. Any news on Grandma?”

  “Our geek is drilling into the judge. Not the easiest or fastest thing to do.”

  Sam was always the geek. Everly had no doubt that hacking into legal files, backgrounds, known associates, and financials of someone like the judge who ruled in favor of Seaver would not be easy.

  “But he’s already found a long-standing association between the judge, his wife, and the Seavers,” Gianna added.

  Bingo. She experienced a surge of vindication but didn’t gloat.

  “I was talking to Hos,” she said, looking at Gianna. “He describes Alpha as one of the best soldiers he’s ever known. Have you looked at his file? He was special forces for eighteen years. He’s got an exemplary record and a dozen metals. One of those, the Medal of Honor.”

  The Medal of Honor was the highest achievement available in the military, reserved for service men and women who had performed acts of valor.

  “I read it,” Gianna said.

  “No one with that kind of record works for a criminal.”

  “Not true,” Gianna countered. “He works for one right now.”

  Everly’s gaze shot to Roman. “We should back out of this and let them be. Little Red Riding Hood couldn’t be any happier.”

  “She could be safer,” Gianna said. “We’ve looked up his travel. He’s taken her to no fewer than six countries over the last year, all of which carry risks to Americans.”

  “Look around,” Everly told her. “The only person who’s got better security is the freaking president.”

  “Yet, here we are.” Gianna’s gaze drifted to Bella. “I could take her right now.”