Three days might be enough time.
“What are you thinking?”
“I’m not sure yet. Let me talk to a few people. I might have a way to slow the Red Brotherhood down and give us all a little more time.”
“Okay,” she said cautiously. “Keep me posted.”
“I will.” His throat closed, and a dozen different emotions, most of which he never let in, bombarded him from every side. “Thanks, Dani. I don’t know how to . . .”
“You don’t owe me any thanks,” she said softly.
But he did. He owed her that much and more. And they both knew it.
“You know I’d do anything for you, Landon.”
He knew that too. Though why he’d never understand. He just hoped he didn’t let her down.
This time he hoped he didn’t let her or Olivia down.
“This is the stupidest idea,” Eve said, watching with her arms crossed over her chest and a worried expression on her face as Olivia tugged on a dark wig and ball cap.
“Danica said the tag will stay active for up to three days outside the body.” Landon handed Olivia a light jacket but didn’t meet her eyes. He hadn’t told her she had only two weeks before her organs started to shut down. Couldn’t bring himself to think about that happening. All she and the others knew was that there was a chance the amino acid strand could turn unstable at some point, but he hadn’t elaborated on when that would happen. If he thought too much about that . . .
Yeah, if he did he might lose it. And right now he had to keep it together for Olivia’s sake.
“That won’t give us a ton of time,” Marley said, pulling her blonde hair back into a ponytail, then dropping to a chair in the living area of the safe house as she tugged on Olivia’s white Keds. “But it’ll confuse the Red Brotherhood enough so they’ll have to split their focus.”
She was dressed in capri jeans, a white T-shirt, and a thin sweater, as Olivia had been dressed when she’d come to see Landon in Barcelona, and without the glasses, from a distance, Landon was pretty confident no one would be able to tell the difference between the two women.
“Can Crossler create the serum in that time frame?” Marley asked.
Landon sure the hell hoped so. They all thought they were working against the clock before the tag in the blood sample they’d drawn from Olivia’s arm expired. He knew differently. “Yeah. Should be enough time.”
Dressed in jeans and a white button-down, Ryder stepped into the room with a black duffel slung over his shoulder. “I’ve got the jet fired up at the airstrip and a second in the hangar on standby.”
“Good.” Landon turned Ryder’s way. “We’ll wait until Marley’s plane is in the air before we take off.”
Ryder frowned as he leaned over and unzipped the duffel so Landon could see inside. A host of weapons filled the bag—two SIG Sauer P220s, a Glock 17, an M4A1 carbine rifle, M67 hand grenades, flashbang grenades, smoke grenades, and extra ammo. “I got everything you asked for. I’m still not wild about this plan of yours, though. You’ll be sitting ducks until Crossler gets the serum right.”
Landon pawed through the bag, then zipped it back up and tossed it over his shoulder. “I know how to hide. I also know the area. Those fuckers don’t. We’ll be fine.”
“I agree with Ryder,” Eve said, dropping her arms. “Archer and I are going with you. You need more eyes.”
“Eve,” Olivia cut in. “We’ll be fine.”
“No.” Landon didn’t bother to glance at Eve or Olivia. “By now they know exactly who Olivia is. They’ll expect her sister to stay with her. You go with us and they’ll know Marley’s plane is just a decoy.”
“Landon’s right,” Marley said, pushing to her feet and tugging on a UK Wildcats cap so her ponytail stuck out the hole in the back. “Our goal is to draw their eyes away from Olivia. We stick to the plan and everything’s smooth as silk.”
“I still don’t like the idea of Marley being used as the decoy,” Ryder said. “She’s more valuable here with me tracking the Red Brotherhood and figuring out how the DIA is or isn’t involved.”
Landon glanced at his watch. They were running out of time. They didn’t have hours to stand around dickering out the details. Dammit, they’d already been through them a dozen times. “Marley’s the only one who can pull this off.”
“Why not dress Eve up like her sister?” Ryder asked.
Marley cut a glare toward her boss. “Eve has to go with us. Haven’t you been listening? They saw her in Sardinia. They know Eve won’t leave her sister. Get real, Jake. I realize you don’t want me participating in any of the ops, but this is about as tame as it gets. Get on a plane, get off the plane. Piece of cake. Besides, you’ll have Hedley here. He can help you track down info on the Red Brotherhood.”
Landon caught the clip to Marley’s voice. It irked her beyond belief that Ryder never let her work in the field. He also saw the flash of irritation in Ryder’s eyes. His boss knew as well as anyone that nothing ever went as planned, but Landon didn’t have time to stress over what was happening with the rest of the group. He needed to get Olivia to Dani so the girl could neutralize that damn amino acid before it did irreversible damage.
Ryder narrowed his dark gaze on Marley. “You and I need to have a few words.”
Marley rolled her blue eyes.
Archer stepped into the room carrying a small red cooler. “Hedley’s got the car out front ready to go. Second vehicle’s in the garage.”
Landon breathed a quick sigh of relief. Finally, they could get this show on the road. He reached for the keys Archer held out. “Thanks.”
Scowling, Ryder cut his glare from Marley and glanced at his watch. “Okay, it’s oh-eight-thirty. I want a status report from each of you by ten-hundred. Stone and Bentley are en route to Crossler’s location to secure the area. Miller, as soon as I have confirmation on their arrival, I’ll let you know.”
Landon nodded. He glanced toward Olivia. Her eyes were huge as she looked from face to face. They hadn’t spoken privately since he’d noticed the spot on her arm, nor had he asked how she was doing since he’d relayed his abbreviated conversation with Dani to her and the group. He knew she had to be freaking out, but he couldn’t worry about that now. All that mattered was getting her where she needed to go and keeping her safe, and if that meant locking away every single emotion he’d had for her since the day they’d met, then that was exactly what he needed to do. Because giving in to those emotions had made him weak. And weak hadn’t just put her in danger, it was going to get her killed if he didn’t pull his shit together.
“You ready?” he asked her.
She nodded. “Yeah. As ready as I think I’ll ever be.”
At least that made one of them.
Olivia’s nerves were strung tight as a drum.
Her fingers tightened around the armrest of her chair on the private jet Ryder had arranged. They were still parked in the hangar, but the doors were now open, and bright morning sunlight filtered into the enormous building. The plane rumbled, telling her the engines were coming to life. She glanced past the leather seats and fancy interior toward the open cockpit door where Landon was leaning against the wall, quietly speaking with the pilots.
Were they talking about the radioactive substance in her body? She tugged off the dark wig and tossed it on the ground at her feet, then fluffed her hair and swiped a hand across her brow, still having trouble believing that one. She didn’t know a thing about science, but Eve, Zane, and even Ryder all obviously believed it was possible. She felt totally fine, though. Pulling her sleeve back, she glanced down at the black spot on the inside of her arm. It hadn’t changed shape or color since last night. It was highly possible they were all totally overreacting. No one had even tested her blood, for crying out loud. How could they know what was going on inside her body?
Because this is the
kind of crazy world they live in, a voice in her head whispered. Because this is the shit spies and terrorists and people like Landon do best.
Her gaze drifted back to his broad shoulders and muscular body in the jeans and gray T-shirt he wore, blocking her view out the windshield of the posh plane. He hadn’t said more than two words to her since he’d forced her out of bed and told her to get dressed, and a big part of her was frustrated by that fact. She’d felt closer to him last night than she ever had, and she knew he’d felt it too. Then all this had happened, and he’d totally pulled back. He was a complex blend of emotions and duty, and she was so frustrated with this two steps forward, one step back dance they seemed to be doing, she wanted to scream.
Just frickin’ talk to me. She thought about yelling the words, but stopped herself. She knew he was stressed. She knew he was in black ops mode, working like hell to get her help, and her flipping out wouldn’t help matters. But dammit . . . she was freaking out. It was all she could do not to keep thinking about what kind of damage something radioactive was doing to the inside of her body. Was it too much to ask that he show her a fraction of the compassion he’d shown her last night?
Don’t think crazy thoughts. Stay calm. Everything’s going to be okay.
She repeated the words in her head as the plane rumbled forward, and she gripped the armrest at her side. They moved toward the hangar doors. Landon closed the cockpit door and headed in her direction. But he didn’t look up, didn’t make eye contact. Just dropped into the seat next to her, reached over and yanked on her seat belt until it felt like it was cutting off her blood flow, then buckled his own.
“Marley’s plane just lifted off,” he said, still not looking at her. “The signal won’t split until we’re a good five miles apart.”
Growing more frustrated by the minute with his blasé attitude, Olivia glanced out the window as the jet left the hangar and headed for the runway. Her mind drifted to the blood sample she’d given, which was now stored in that cooler Zane had been carrying. As long as the radioactive amino acid in the sample was transmitting a signal, the people following them wouldn’t be able to figure out which plane held the real her. It was still dangerous, though. The Red Brotherhood or whoever the hell those people were would probably send thugs after both of them.
“I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
“Eve and Archer know what to do. They’ll make sure Marley’s safe.”
Olivia was confident Eve knew how to take care of herself, but she didn’t like the fact her sister’s life was now in jeopardy because of her. And she had a feeling Jake Ryder wouldn’t put up with anything happening to his assistant either.
She wondered about that relationship. Wondered if there was something going on between them or if she was just misreading the situation. Glancing toward Landon, she was about to ask, but noticed his head was leaned back against the headrest, his eyes were closed, his hands crossed over his abdomen. He looked to be on the verge of relaxing, but his jaw ticked beneath the scruff on his skin, and she quickly sensed the stress and worry radiating off him.
If there was one thing she knew about the man next to her, it was that he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. He felt responsible for what had happened to her. But this wasn’t his fault. And even though she was stressed to the max, she trusted that he’d keep her safe. She’d always believed that, right from the first moment they’d met.
She laid her hand over his against his abdomen, then squeezed. “Everything will be fine, right?”
For a heartbeat, he didn’t answer. Then the plane’s engines roared, and the jet rocketed down the runway. Without opening his eyes, he moved his—and her hand—to the armrest between them. “Sure. Yeah. Absolutely.”
But there was a hint of something skeptical in his words. A whisper of doubt she caught loud and clear. And it caused tiny warning signals to blare in her head.
He pulled his hand out from beneath hers, placed his on top, and held her trapped between the cool armrest and the warmth of his skin until the jet’s wheels lifted off. They climbed into the air in silence, and as they passed through the wispy clouds, she wanted to ask what he meant, what he was thinking, but something held her back.
Was there more he wasn’t telling her? She replayed everything he’d said since he’d hung up with Danica Crossler, every conversation they’d had since last night, but came up empty. If there was something else going on, if there was something he was keeping from her, then she had every right to know.
A bell dinged, indicating they’d passed ten thousand feet, and Landon quickly let go of her hand, unlatched his seat belt, and moved toward the back of the plane.
Confused, Olivia turned and watched him go. He headed into the galley, reached for a glass, and poured a generous shot of amber liquid.
He was drinking. Whiskey, it looked from here. Marley had said he never touched the hard stuff.
Stomach swirling, Olivia unlatched her seat belt and gripped the back of the captain’s chairs as she made her way down the aisle toward him. “Landon, what’s going on?”
“Nothing.” He downed the shot, then poured himself a second. Her gaze darted to the bottle. Definitely whiskey. Jameson.
Bullshit it was nothing. And she was tired of being treated like an afterthought. “Either tell me what’s really going on, or I’ll have them take us right back to Naples.”
“You won’t do that.”
The calm timbre to his voice only set her more on edge. She watched as he downed the second shot. And the way he still refused to look at her, the way he was acting like all of this was no big deal, shot her temper right through the roof. “Watch me.”
She turned for the cockpit, but he caught her arm before she got two steps away. “Stay away from the pilot, Olivia. Just sit down and stay out of trouble.”
“Why? Does he know what you’re not telling me?”
Landon dropped his arm as if just touching her burned his fingertips and frowned down at her. “I’ve told you everything.”
“No, I think you’ve told me what you want me to hear. I know when you’re hiding something, and you’re definitely doing it now. This concerns me. I have a right to know what’s really going on.”
A vein in his temple pulsed. “It wouldn’t concern you at all if you’d listened to me and stayed the hell away like I tried to get you to do for months.”
Her eyes widened. “So this is all my fault now?”
“Yeah,” he said, his face growing taut, his jaw hard. “It is your fucking fault. There’s a reason I never went to visit you. A reason I told you we needed to stop freakin’ texting. Because you’re not tough enough to deal with the shitty world I live in. If you’d stayed in Idaho where you belong, none of this would have ever happened.”
Disbelief whipped through her. Where she belonged? He hadn’t actually just said that, had he? “I think I’ve proved I’m plenty strong. News flash, Landon. I don’t have to kick someone’s ass to be able to deal with what’s going on.” She nodded toward the open whiskey bottle on the counter. “You’re the one who’s obviously got coping issues here. Not me.”
She moved for her chair, but he blocked her. “I didn’t ask you to go to Barcelona. I didn’t ask you to fucking follow me.”
“Oh, so now I’m the pathetic puppy dog? You’re the one who followed me last night, or did you forget?”
“No, I didn’t forget. Just as I didn’t forget it was a mistake. I shouldn’t have gone after you last night. Hell, I shouldn’t have opened the hotel room door in Barcelona when you knocked. No, what I should have done was just fuck that woman I took back to my room and forgotten about you like I planned.”
A sharp pain lanced Olivia’s chest, and the air left her lungs, as quick as if he’d punched her. She took a step back, away from him, and every muscle in her body flared as if it were suddenly on fire.
&n
bsp; “Well,” she managed when she could find her voice, “I’m sorry I got between you and some random slut. I’m sure you and the venereal-disease-wielding terrorist would have been perfectly happy together. Maybe if you go back to Sardinia, you can find the bitch.”
She shoved past him, this time pushing her arm and shoulder into him hard enough to knock him out of her way, and marched toward the cockpit. She was happy when he didn’t try to stop her. Happy when the door handle turned and she moved into the brightly lit space without him following.
The pilot—she couldn’t remember his name—turned and looked up at her. “Ms. Wolfe. Anything I can help you with?”
She glanced from the pilot to the navigator, who was also looking at her with a curious expression. She’d never been in a cockpit before. On commercial—normal—flights they kept them locked off. But then nothing about her current situation was normal, now was it? “No. Not really. I was just wondering how long our flight time is.”
The navigator checked his charts, then looked back at her. “ETA is roughly eight hours. Sit back, have a drink, maybe watch a movie, and relax. We’ll be wheels down before you know it.”
Relax. Right. Like that was possible. Olivia clenched her jaw and drew a calming breath, refusing to go back into the main cabin just yet. He wished he’d fucked someone else? He wished they’d never met? Suddenly she was wishing the same damn thing.
She glanced toward the jump seat to her right, then to the pilot. “If it’s okay with both of you, would you mind if I sat up here for a while and watched? Aviation totally fascinates me.”
The pilot lifted his brows. “Bores the shit out of me, but sure. Have a seat. My name’s Tony, this is Ben. We’re always up for an attractive woman’s company.”
Olivia pulled the seat down and moved the straps out of the way, then sat. See that? Fuck you, Landon. She didn’t need him. She didn’t need anyone.
Son of a bitch . . .
Landon dropped his head, leaned back against the seat behind him, and rubbed a hand over his face. As if he hadn’t already fucked things up enough, now he’d made Olivia feel like shit.