“No. And that’s an order, soldier,” Saint said firmly. “You kill him, I’m gonna shoot you.”
They piled from the van and rushed into the building, overwhelming the security measures inside. Cameras and keycard elevators were child’s play for them, and they defeated those easily. Half the guys peeled off and took the stairs while Sky piled into the elevator with Saint, Wolf, and Easy.
They burst onto the eighth floor and rushed to the door of Carr’s apartment, flanking either side of the door, backs to the wall. Saint knocked on the door like he was a neighbor coming for a visit. They waited, listening. There was no answer and Saint nodded, giving them permission to breach.
Wolf and Easy busted the door open. The entire squad rushed into the apartment, fanning out to check all the rooms. They tore open drawers, doors, and looked under beds. There was no sign of Carr. And no sign of Martin’s laptop.
“Goddammit,” Saint said when they converged on the living room again. “Where the fuck is he? The tracker hasn’t moved from this apartment.”
Wolf went over to one of the barstools pushed up against the counter in the kitchen. Carr’s jacket—the jacket he’d worn last night when they’d tagged him—lay over the chair, neatly folded. There was a note. Wolf read it aloud.
“Nice try, suckers.” He turned the paper over. “That’s all the fucking thing says.”
“How the hell did he know?” Saint asked. “I mean, I could see if he changed jackets or something, but he knows we tagged him. Wolf?”
Wolf shook his head. “Man, I was subtle. I know I was.”
Something was working its way free in Sky’s brain. Something important. His heart hammered and sweat popped out on his skin. He didn’t know what it was, but he had to talk about it. “What was his plan if Bliss didn’t eat the ice cream? He needed to eliminate her because she was the only one who could tie him to the theft of the files. So how was he planning to do it?”
“Inject her?” Wolf asked. “He could have had a syringe maybe.”
“Yeah, and risk Bliss crying out and drawing attention to them?”
“No,” Easy said. “Not injection. He sent Mayes and Gilbert, right? He could have sent them again—her place blew up that night, remember?”
It had, but that was a scattershot approach. Almost as if Carr hadn’t planned it himself. Sky had watched enough of the video of Robert Mayes in her house to understand he was the kind who harbored grudges. And he had a Rambo complex a mile wide. Mayes had probably set the explosion for no other reason than to hit back at her where he thought he might hurt her the most.
Sky shook his head, concentrating hard. “Bliss ate the ice cream and Carr knows it. But if she hadn’t, he’d need to find her—so he tagged her. But they never touched. He gave her ice cream, but he didn’t shake her hand or reach across the table to touch her.”
They stared at each other, all of them thinking about that night.
“The envelope with the money,” Wolf said, snapping his fingers.
Sky stared at him. “We checked it. There was nothing there… But there had to be, right? He tagged a bill in that fucking envelope.”
“Could be,” Saint said. “But maybe she was tagged in the Metro—she said somebody grabbed her. They could have put a tracker on her then.”
Sky’s blood ran cold. The CIA had access to wafer-thin trackers that adhered to skin or clothing—or money—same as HOT did. If Carr had tagged Bliss, and he must have, it could be on one of the bills. Or somebody had tagged her clothing in the Metro. Hell, maybe they’d done both. Either way, she was being tracked.
“The envelope,” Sky said, beginning to feel a little desperate. “Did we confiscate it?”
Saint shook his head. “Seemed like she earned the bonus, so no.”
“Her bag—it was in her bag.”
The last place Sky had seen that bag was on a chair in the hospital waiting room this morning. Miranda had brought it over because it was presumably filled with Bliss’s things. And now it was in her room at Riverstone.
Sending a beacon straight to William Carr.
Bliss felt like hell. Her head was a giant ball of pain. Her throat felt like she’d swallowed razor blades. Tubes emerged from her body. Liquids flowed into her veins, chilling her. Machines beeped and whirred, and the lights disturbed her even though she could tell they were turned down low.
“Hey, honey,” a voice with a Southern lilt said. The pretty kind of Southern lilt, not the hillbilly kind like she had.
“Hey,” she scratched out, turning toward the sound. Her vision was still blurry, so she couldn’t make the woman out.
“I’m Miranda McCormick. I’m a friend of Sky’s. How are you feeling, sugar?”
Sky had a friend who sounded like sugar and sunlight spun together? Such a pretty drawl, like this woman was pure class. If she looked the way she sounded, Bliss was going to be jealous. “I feel terrible.”
“Well, that’s to be expected. You were very sick.”
“Am I gonna die?” Bliss asked. The woman came into focus. She was standing near the bed, blond hair cascading over her shoulders, Barbie-doll features utterly perfect. Envy twisted inside Bliss’s heart. And jealousy. Such jealousy. Why hadn’t Sky mentioned this woman? Was she an ex?
“No, sugar, doesn’t look like it. They say you’ve got a ways to go, but you’re recovering just fine.”
“What happened?”
“You were poisoned. But you’re over the worst of it. Thank God.”
Poisoned? How? Who? She needed Sky. He would explain everything. All she remembered was feeling suddenly ill and unable to hold it in.
“Sky… Where is he?”
“He got called to HQ. Work to be done, but he’ll be back.”
Bliss stared up at Miranda’s golden perfection. “Are you dating Sky?”
Miranda’s eyes widened. Then she laughed and squeezed Bliss’s hand. “Oh honey, no. I’m married to the handsomest HOT operator in the world, though I’m sure every wife thinks that. Cody was here, but he had to make a phone call. He’ll be back.”
Bliss shifted in the bed. Everything hurt. She was still tired, still sore. Her belly hurt, and the thought of food made her want to heave.
“I brought your bag. It’s on the chair over here. When you feel up to it, you’ve got a change of clothes in there.”
“Thank you.”
“Baby, we’ve got to get going.” It was a male voice. One Bliss hadn’t heard before.
“She’s awake, Cody.”
“Oh, hey,” he said, coming over to stand beside Miranda. And he was handsome. Maybe not as handsome as Sky, but definitely easy to look at. “I’m Cody, though the guys call me Cowboy at work. I’m not on Hacker—er, Sky’s—team, but we work together sometimes. I understand the boss man hired you, so I’m sure I’ll see you at work.”
“Don’t tire her out,” Miranda said gently.
“Yeah, sorry,” he said. “We have to get going, but Brooke Sullivan—that’s Saint’s girl—is on her way over here to sit with you until Hacker gets back.”
“Thank you,” Bliss said. She sounded like a three-pack-a-day smoker her voice was so hoarse. Mostly she just wanted to close her eyes. Maybe she could sleep these aches and pains away. Maybe when she woke up again, Sky would be here and all would be well.
“You take care, honey,” Miranda said. “We’ll see you later.”
“Bye,” Bliss managed before her eyelids drooped closed again. She didn’t know how long she slept, but when she woke, the room was still. Except for the sounds of machines beeping and whooshing. Her head still hurt, but not quite as badly. She didn’t know how much time had passed since Miranda and Cody had been there, or even if Brooke Sullivan was in the room. She turned her head, searching the corners. She was alone.
The door opened and a nurse walked in. He was male, wearing dark blue scrubs and a surgical mask, and he walked over to examine her tubes. He took out a syringe and attached it to the port where me
dicines were introduced. But he didn’t push the plunger. Instead, he pulled the mask down.
“Hello, Briar Rose.”
Her heart skipped a beat before starting to race out of control. “Jones?”
“That’s right.” He shot a look over his shoulder and then back to her. It wasn’t a nice look. “I need to know who else you gave my files to.”
She couldn’t think. “I… What?”
“The files I hired you to steal. How many copies did you make? And who did you give them to?”
She dredged the recesses of her brain, looking for a lie he would accept. But she was weak and in pain and she didn’t know how to lie right now. Or what he really wanted. “I didn’t make any copies.”
“You’ve been on a military base, Briar. Are you seriously trying to tell me you didn’t give those files to anyone there?”
Bliss swallowed. Her head hurt. Her throat ached. She couldn’t think fast enough to talk herself out of this. “I didn’t make copies.”
He frowned down at her. “You were on a base and now you’re in a hospital that treats special operators and agents who get injured in the line of duty. Who did you make a deal with, Briar Rose?”
“My ex-husband,” she forced out. Her tongue felt so thick. “He’s in the military. He was helping me after my house was broke into. That’s all.”
Jones leaned forward, outrage written on every feature. His hand didn’t leave the syringe. “Did you give him the files?”
“I…” What could she say? What did he want to hear? She didn’t know.
“You know what? Fuck it. I’m sorry, Briar, but this is the way it has to be. I’ll deal with the fallout later.”
“No, please, Jones—”
He pushed the plunger all the way in.
The guys drove straight to the hospital. Jake “Harley” Ryan rocketed right up to the ambulance entrance and slammed the brakes. Sky didn’t wait for him to stop as he shoved open the door and hit the ground running. He didn’t know if anyone was behind him, and he didn’t care. He flew down the halls, nurses yelling, people screaming in surprise, his booted feet pounding the polished tiles. Then he skidded around a corner and there was Bliss’s door. He sprinted for it, slamming it open, his heart in his throat as he did so.
A male nurse stood at her bedside, removing a syringe from Bliss’s tube. He jerked his gaze to the door, dark eyes widening. Then he pocketed the syringe and cleared his throat.
“She’ll sleep well now,” he said, starting around the bed.
“Sky!” Bliss cried weakly. “Help!”
That was all he needed. He bolted toward her as the nurse dropped his head and attempted to sprint out the door. Several things hit Sky at once.
One, this guy didn’t belong here. Two, he was the man from Pentagon City, which meant he was William Carr. Three, Carr had pulled a syringe from the injection port on Bliss’s tubing. Four, Sky had to stop Carr and find out what he’d done to Bliss—but first he had to take care of her, which meant Carr might escape. Sky didn’t care so long as he saved Bliss.
He aimed a punch at Carr and knocked him against the wall as he leaped to Bliss’s side. “Sorry, baby,” he said as he took hold of the tubing and yanked the needle from her arm. It wasn’t how he’d wanted to do it, but just unplugging the tubing wasn’t going to be enough. What if whatever Carr had given her was in the needle by now? He had to get it all out, and now.
Bliss screamed in pain. The sound would forever be imprinted on his brain as he turned and launched himself at Carr. Carr scrambled up and toward the door. It burst inward before he could reach it. Saint and Wolf filled the frame, looking pissed as hell and ready to chew nails. They grabbed Carr and subdued him as Sky pressed the code button on the wall.
“What did you give her?” he demanded. Bliss had already lost consciousness. His heart was a wild thing in his chest as panic threatened to take over. He couldn’t lose her. Not forever, which is what this would be.
“I didn’t give her anything,” Carr spat out.
Saint knocked him against the wall.
“This can go easy or hard, man. Tell us what you used and we might take your cooperation into account.”
Carr was defiant—and then he seemed to fold in on himself, as if he’d realized there was no way he could keep all the balls juggling in the air. “Doesn’t matter. My life is over at this point—and my boy’s too. Why shouldn’t hers be?”
Sky started for him, determined to choke the life right out of the motherfucker. Wolf spun Carr around and smashed him against the wall, kicking his legs apart and pressing the barrel of his pistol to the man’s temple. Saint went for Carr’s pockets. Took him all of half a second to pull out a vial and syringe.
“Fentanyl,” Saint said.
The medical crash team burst through the open doorway and ordered everyone out of the way. Sky backed up, but he didn’t leave the room. Saint and Wolf dragged Carr away, but not before Saint handed over the vial and syringe to one of the nurses.
“Holy shit, if he gave her that much…,” one of the doctors said.
Sky’s blood beat so loud in his ears that he didn’t hear the rest of what was said. Twice now Carr had gotten close enough to Bliss to kill her.
This time he might have succeeded.
Chapter Twenty-One
When Bliss woke, the first thing she noticed was that it was sunny out. The second was that her head didn’t hurt. Nor did her body. Not the way it had anyway. She blinked at the white ceiling, listened to the beeps and whirrs of the machinery, and feared to move lest she discover something hurt after all.
There was a sound to her left, and she turned to see what it was. Her heart skipped a beat. Sky leaned back in the recliner by her bed, eyes closed, a couple of days’ worth of stubble on his face. He was dressed in his Army Combat Uniform with the digital camouflage, broad arms crossed over his chest.
She lay there and drank him in, her heart swelling with all she felt. She’d dreamed about him. So many dreams. Some good, some bad, but always he was there by her side. Standing between her and the monsters who would claim her. She knew it wasn’t the reality of who they were together, but it was a comforting thought.
She would never forget the stark terror she’d felt when Jones had pushed the plunger on whatever he was injecting into her and then the elation a moment later when Sky burst through the door. All she’d been able to do was scream for help.
Tears welled. A sob shook her. Sky came instantly awake, the recliner dropping as he shot toward her bedside.
“Bliss? You awake, honey?”
She nodded. Tears leaked down her cheeks. “S-s-s-sorry.”
Sky wiped her tears with a tissue he grabbed from the dispenser on the bedside table. “It’s okay, Bliss. Shh, baby. I’m here.”
“You saved me,” she said. “I thought it was all over.”
His jaw appeared to harden. “But it wasn’t. You’re here. And Carr—Jones—isn’t going to hurt you again.”
She became aware of how icky she felt. Like she hadn’t showered in days. Her hair, her teeth—oh God, what must he think?
“I want a shower,” she whispered. “And maybe a bagel.”
Sky smiled. “You can have anything you want. You want me to go get that bagel for you?”
She lifted her hand, both happy and surprised that it obeyed her, reaching for him. He twined his fingers with hers and she took deep, steadying breaths. “I do—but I don’t want you to leave me either.”
“Then I won’t.” He reached for the call button with his other hand, and she felt the heat of a blush slip across her cheeks. She hadn’t thought about the call button.
A few moments later, the door opened and a nurse appeared. She smiled broadly. “Well, my goodness. How are you feeling this morning, Miss Bennett?”
“Like I want food and a shower,” Bliss said, happy that her tongue wasn’t thick in her throat anymore.
“Well, that is excellent. Maybe let’s start wi
th the food, hmm?”
“She’d like a bagel,” Sky said, grinning. “Do you have any of those?”
“We sure do. Anything else? Coffee?”
Bliss’s stomach rebelled at the idea. “Apple juice?”
“Coming right up. Sky?”
Bliss was a little surprised they were on a first-name basis, but maybe she’d been here awhile.
“Can I get some coffee, Frances?”
“I’m sure you can. I’ll put in a request.” She came over and checked Bliss’s vitals, holding her wrist for a moment to take her pulse. “Well, everything seems good. You’ll have to wait a bit for that shower, okay, but we’ll make sure it happens this morning.”
“Okay,” Bliss said. She hated feeling so weak she couldn’t take a shower on her own, but she knew she needed the assistance.
“I can help her,” Sky said. “Just tell me what we need to do.”
Frances seemed to consider it. “Let’s get the food in her, and then I’ll unhook her so you can do that—if she agrees, of course. Sound good?”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
“Okie dokie then. Miss Bennett, you think on it and let me know.”
Frances left the room, and Bliss nibbled the inside of her lip. “Are you sure you want to help me take a shower? I mean, it’s not going to be sexy or anything.”
Sky didn’t look fazed. “Bliss, you’re sexy no matter what—but yeah, I want to help you and no, I don’t intend to grope or ogle. That’s not what this is about.”
She dropped her gaze. “I’m disgusting right now.”
“No, you aren’t disgusting.” He put a finger under her chin. Forced her to look at him. “You’re just about the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.”
She didn’t know what to say. “What happened, Sky? How did I get here?”
He sucked in a breath and squeezed her fingers. “Baby, it’s a long story. But Jones—his name is William Carr, by the way—put ricin in your ice cream. He had Martin poisoned too. Robert Mayes injected Martin, and he died a lot faster. But Carr put yours in the ice cream. Fortunately, the dose you ingested wasn’t quite enough to kill you.”
HOT Secrets Page 19
