by Lexi Blake
She carefully read the ID. It looked real. A hollow opened in her gut. Could this be happening again? “I don’t believe you.”
This was some kind of trick because she couldn’t go through this again. But then hadn’t she been waiting for the floor to fall out from under her since the moment she’d woken up and he’d been gone? Maybe she’d been waiting for it since the second she’d realized he “wanted” her.
“I’ll show you his arrest warrants,” the man replied, a humiliating sympathy in his eyes. “Or you can keep going down the road you’re going down and face the consequences. Shouldn’t you know what they are?”
“Consequences?” Should she run back to Jax? Beg him to tell her this was all some mistake? He had warrants? For what?
She might think this was some play by her ex-husband, but he was sitting in a jail cell. He didn’t have any money left to hire a hit man. He wouldn’t know Jax’s name.
But this man obviously did. She handed him back his very official-looking badge.
“The consequences are far-reaching, and they affect more than you.” He held his hands up. “I’m not here to hurt you. I promise. I’m the only one willing to tell you the truth.”
“Jax told me what he’s looking for.” And he’d told her it could be dangerous.
“But he hasn’t told you why,” the man pointed out. “I’m sure he gave you some story about how he’s filming urban legends.” He studied her intently. “Or perhaps he’s trying to expose some environmental issue that no one knows about. Ah, that’s it. Clever, but then he’s working with the best. Ezra Fain isn’t who he says he is either. He’s a disgraced CIA operative who’s willing to start a war that could burn us all down. I’m here to stop it and you’re the only one who can help me.”
She stared at him for a moment.
He stared back. “I’m also the only one who can keep you out of jail.”
Did he know about the money Jax had stolen? It was sitting in her bank account. It would look like she’d taken it.
What would she have given for an authority figure to have shown up looking for Matt before he’d taken everything from her?
“Who are you?” She couldn’t seem to wrap her brain around what he was saying. It wasn’t possible.
“You can call me Mr. Green,” he said solemnly. “Or Levi, if you prefer. Please come with me. I can save you a lot of trouble.”
She glanced back and realized she knew nothing about her lover.
It was stupid. She should run back to Jax, but the weight of her own history made her turn.
She walked straight over to where Ty was sitting. “I need a favor.”
Ty looked up, his shoulders straightening. “Of course.”
She pointed back at the man who claimed to be a CIA employee. “I’m going to leave with that man. His name is Levi Green. If he murders me, memorize his face.”
Ty’s eyes widened. “Whoa, are you sure?”
She had to come up with a good reason on the fly or Ty would insist on going with her. “I’m planning a surprise for Jax and he’s going to help.”
Ty grinned. “Because he got you Buster? I should have known you would feel the need to pay him back. What are you doing? Setting up something hot?”
She smiled, praying it reached her eyes. “Something like that. I’ve talked to Mr. Green on the phone before, but a girl can’t be too careful.”
“Well, he’s probably been caught on the security cameras. He’s pretty stupid if he’s planning on hurting you,” Ty replied, nodding over at Green, who gave him a jaunty wave and didn’t try to hide his face.
“I’m sure it will be fine. I’ll be back in a while.” She turned and walked to where she’d left Green. She’d done everything she could to be safe, but she had to know. “I’m ready.”
She followed Levi Green out of the bar and worried her world was about to crumble around her. Again.
Chapter Twelve
Jax sat in the back booth at Trio, watching River dance with Robert and Owen. They were grooving to a fast beat, River moving with perfect grace. Jax had already figured out he was a terrible dancer, but he did like swaying with her in his arms. What he didn’t like was the new information they’d discovered about their would-be kidnappers.
“I think they were working for someone inside the Agency. From the information Robert was able to get us, we’ve identified all three. They were mercenaries. They offered their talents on the Deep Web,” Big Tag said, his voice low. “My working theory is someone from the Agency hired those assholes. They had a private plane waiting and the flight plan indicated they were going to a facility in Mexico City.”
“I happen to know Levi Green has ties there.” Ezra nodded. “I knew they would come at us one way or another.”
Tucker took a sip of his beer. “If they come for me, I’ll go with them. I’ve got a subcutaneous tracking unit in my butt. It might help to know where they’re set up.”
They all had trackers. Every man who worked deep cover for McKay-Taggart and Knight had them.
Big Tag snorted, a sound he managed to make authoritative. “Someone might think you’ve got a martyr complex. And if it’s the Agency, they will pull that tracker out of your ass long before they take you to their leader. The Agency has a big book on me. I assure you, they know I microchip my operatives. If they come for you, I expect you to fight like hell. But damn, leave one of them alive, unlike Jax there.”
He held his hands up, offering his only defense. “I only killed one of them. Someone else took out the other two.”
Ezra nodded. “Yes, and that’s what worries me. We knew the Agency would come. I’m more interested in the identity of our helpful sniper.”
Jax had been thinking about it all afternoon. He’d gone over it in his head again and again. They wouldn’t stop coming after him and at some point, they might get River. “I caught a glimpse of the dude. He moved fast. I think he was using the eighteen-wheeler as cover. My question is how he knew to be there at all. I think he might have been following those guys.”
“Why?” Dante asked, sliding into the booth. He’d left Sasha at the bar where the man was downing vodka and talking animatedly to Alexei in rapid-fire Russian. It was good to know someone could put a smile on Sasha’s face. “Why would this man follow hired thugs and then not take you out when he has the chance? He didn’t try to kidnap either of you. It makes no sense.”
That fact had been bugging him all day. “I don’t know. Maybe he wasn’t ready to make a move, but he wasn’t willing to give up the prize to someone else.”
“Did you see a face?” Big Tag asked.
He shook his head. “I saw a shadow. It all happened very quickly and then I had to deal with River. I thought about going after him.”
“How can you be sure it was a him? We can’t assume we know anything at all about this person.” Big Tag leaned over. “I want to rerun all the background checks on River’s employees.”
He hadn’t considered that it could be a woman. Tag was right. That was a mistake. In his world, women could be as deadly as any man. And the idea that Tag brought up made his stomach clench. “You think we should be worried about River?”
“Not River,” Tag replied. “Henry thinks River is exactly who she says she is, and I trust his instincts. He’s not sure about the others. He hasn’t spent much time with them.”
Ezra nodded in agreement. “I want to interview them all personally. I haven’t met this Heather person. I personally have my questions about both Andy and Ty.”
“Ty spent time in Virginia.” Dante had helped with the background checks.
“He went to college there.” Jax didn’t think there was anything sketchy about Ty. He’d grown up in the area, was childhood friends with River.
Dante shrugged. “The Agency recruits from colleges from time to time. It would have been easy for him to make some contacts. There has to be an insider. Otherwise, how would they know where you would be?”
“A
ndy’s been trying to get River to rethink working with us.” She’d told him about her conversation with Andy when they’d taken Buster out earlier that afternoon. “He’s been on her about it for days. He’s telling her not to trust us.”
And River hadn’t listened. River had chosen her lover over her friend and employee. She’d chosen the lover who was lying to her. How would she feel if she learned the truth? How would she feel if she knew he was taking her into something more dangerous than she could imagine?
Tucker sat back. “I’ll watch him. I’ll tail him for the time being, see where he goes and who he talks to. I’ll try to dupe his phone.”
“Not you. He knows you,” Dante said. “Sasha and I will follow him for a couple of days and we’ll keep track of him while you’re in the woods. Although I would much rather follow the woman. Heather is quite lovely.”
“I’d just like to meet the woman,” Ezra admitted. “She’s conveniently gone any time I go to the office.”
“They don’t spend a ton of time in the office when they don’t have to.” Jax couldn’t believe it was Heather. “She’s nice. She’s the reason River gave me a second chance.”
Heather had walked him through everything. She’d been the one to find Buster and the one to tell him where River would be that night.
“She could have motives we don’t understand because we don’t know who she really is.” Big Tag had his phone out. “I’m going to have Hutch run everything again on River’s whole staff. I don’t like the fact that those mercenaries knew where you were going to be. River decided to go shopping this morning. It wasn’t planned.”
He didn’t like it either. God, how would River take it if Heather or Andy were CIA plants? Both had been hired in the past year. They could have been embedded because of Henry Flanders’s former life as John Bishop. The Agency would want someone watching him in an attempt to figure out if he was a threat. Or someone could have been playing a long game of chess, positioning pieces in anticipation that Ezra would make this move. Or perhaps they were here to make sure no one got into The Ranch.
He didn’t like any of those choices and hated the idea that River was going to get hurt. “I think we should find another guide.”
Tag cursed under his breath. Dante sighed. Ezra simply rolled his eyes.
Only Tucker backed him up. “I think Jax is right. This is too dangerous. She doesn’t know what she’s getting into.”
“She knows a hell of a lot because Jax’s dick told her,” Tag retorted. “Your dick got us into this. There’s no going back. The fact that those three assholes tried to take you today makes it even more important to get into that facility and try to find any scrap of intelligence we can. Or do you want to live in The Garden for the rest of your life? I love a good dungeon, man, but not even I want to be stuck in one twenty-four seven for the rest of my life.”
He’d considered it, but she was more important. “I’m not willing to put River at risk.”
Dante stood. “Then you should have thought about that before you started fucking her. If she won’t go, I’ll walk into those damn woods myself. We’re close and we’ll never get closer. I’m not going to allow your cock to fuck this up for the rest of us.”
Well, it was good to know how Dante felt.
Robert moved in as Dante stalked off. “What’s he so pissed about?”
Ezra stood. “He’s pissed because Jax has decided to tank the op.”
Robert’s eyes widened. “What? No. Not when we’re so close. There could be a cure in that research.”
“There’s no cure,” he shot back. Robert was being naïve. “McDonald didn’t want a cure. She wanted soldiers without conscience, without any kind of loyalty except to her. She wanted to build us from nothing. She was never going to say ‘hey, you’ve done your share, here’s your history back.’ When she was done, she would have had one of us put a bullet in the subject she was finished with. She wasn’t ever going to waste time on something she wouldn’t use.”
“And if her notes have something that leads to figuring out who we are?” Robert’s eyes held a hint of desperation. “Our histories could be there.”
“I don’t think we want to know who we were,” Tucker replied. “I know I don’t.”
“Well, I do,” Robert shot back. “Even if it’s bad. I want to know. I want to remember my mother and father. I want to know if anyone ever loved me. We can protect River but if you won’t go, I will. I’ll go all by my fucking self.”
Well, he was pissing everyone off, but he had to think about River.
Tucker put a hand on his shoulder. “I understand. You have to watch out for her. When you care about a woman, you take her safety seriously. Robert’s being a hypocrite. He wouldn’t even allow Ariel to come with us.”
Robert snorted derisively.
Ezra leaned over. “I understand why you’re scared, but this is going to happen one way or another. You can be with her in those woods or you can leave her out here in Bliss alone.”
Tag’s eyes were steely as he looked at Jax. “I think what Ezra is trying to say is she’s on their radar now and there’s no going back. It’s precisely why I thought this was a bad idea, but I do get it. If my Charlie walked in, it wouldn’t have mattered how dangerous the situation was. I would have taken her because you get one shot. You need to make a choice. Do you want to be her man or do you want to play it safe? You can get her off their radar, but it’s got to be public and nasty.”
“What do you mean?”
“He means you have to break up with her because someone is watching us,” Robert replied. “You have to let everyone know she means nothing to you. Otherwise she’ll always be in danger.”
“Or you love her enough to take the risk,” Big Tag said without an ounce of his usual sarcasm. “Women are funny creatures. When they love someone, they tend to risk everything. Most of the women I know would rather go down with their man than live a safe life without him. We’re trained to sacrifice, but if a woman loves you the last thing she wants you to do is sacrifice her.”
“But how will you feel if you get her killed?” Robert asked, his voice tight with emotion.
“She can get killed without you,” Tag challenged. “Not a damn thing about this life is guaranteed. Whoever is watching us might not care that you break her heart. They might decide she could know something and off her just in case.”
“Or you could realize that you barely know her.” Ezra seemed taut, like a bowstring pulled tight, ready to go off. “You could be logical and choose your job because you don’t know this woman. She could choose her job over you. Very likely she would. She could be using you for any number of reasons. We’ll take care of her out in the field. Unless you choose the first option and break up with her tonight. We’re in a public place. Pick one of the single women here and fuck her. That’ll end the relationship and let every person here know you don’t care about River. I don’t think they’ll come after her. She’s got people who care about her and they would ask questions if she disappears.”
He didn’t want another woman. He was worried he might never want anyone except River again. “I couldn’t do that to her.”
She’d been hurt too many times.
Tag nodded. “Good. Then we’ll proceed, and you can make the decision at the end of this which way to go. If you decide to stay here with River, Henry can watch your back. You can watch his. Honestly, I’m worried about him now that the Agency knows he’s alive.”
Stay here with River? Was that worth taking a chance with her life? Or should he utterly ruin the trust she’d placed in him? Wasn’t it better to be alive and hollow than dead? Surely she would move on.
Or would she? How many times could she get kicked before she stopped getting up?
Or he could tell her everything and show some trust in her. But that would mean betraying his brothers.
“Trust your instincts, Jax,” Big Tag encouraged.
“My instinct is to tell her the truth.�
�
Ezra’s eyes closed. “You can’t.”
“He can if he’s careful about it,” Tucker offered. “The bad guys already know everything about us. Why are we hiding it from people we care about?”
“Because again, we can’t trust her staff.” Ezra stood up. “We can’t trust her. I’ve lost everything because of a woman before and I assure you I didn’t think she was capable of doing what she did when I met her. I took one look at that woman and thought the whole world revolved around her. She was the sun in my fucking sky and she took everything from me. Ian, did you think Charlotte was dangerous when you met her? Did you think she would blow up your career?”
The faintest hint of a smile crossed Tag’s face, like he was remembering something private and precious. “Oh, yeah. I knew my baby could do some serious damage from the moment I met her. Hurricane Charlie rocked my world, and not always in a good way. I loved her anyway. Look, man, I don’t know what this chick from your past did to you, but after everything these men have been through, if they’ve got a chance at something resembling happiness, I say take it.”
“Let’s talk about it.” Tucker sent him an encouraging smile. “I’ll go grab Sasha and Dante and we’ll order a round of beers and figure this out. I’ll let Owen know what’s going on and he can distract River for us. There’s not as much at stake for him. He knows who he is. I don’t have a problem with her knowing what happened.”
“I don’t either, but I think we should still go forward with the mission. I think if she’s in, she’s in. You’ll hurt her far more if you break her heart. Let her make the decision,” Robert said.
Jax stared at him. Tucker was right about Robert’s hypocrisy.
Robert shook his head. “It’s not the same. Ariel doesn’t love me. We’re not going to be together. I can’t ask her to risk anything.”
Tag made a vomiting sound. “I need another beer. Where’s Mel when I need him? I would like to be abducted by aliens now, please.”
“You’re the worst about this,” Ezra pointed out. “You are the most gossipy asshole I’ve ever met.”
