Running his fingers through his hair, he fought to drag his mind away from the scenario where he was fucking the hell out of her, and back to the subject at hand. Keeping her alive until he figured out who had known she was alive and where to find her.
“Someone may be watching you, Tey, that’s why I didn’t want the lights on,” he said, “you’ve had a tail on you for nearly a week now, and they have orders to grab you as soon as possible.”
He watched as she glanced quickly away before her lashes drifted down for a second in weary resignation.
“I had a feeling I was being watched. Stalked.” The acceptance in her voice only shocked him further. Hell, she was setting records tonight.
Surely she hadn’t continued to hang around without contacting him when she knew her identity was compromised? The very thought of it had his entire body tensing in amazed anger.
“You know you’re being watched and you’re still here?” A slow, burning anger began to simmer inside him. It was no longer a suspicion she was being watched, she was confirming it. “You didn’t contact me, or head to one of the safe houses. Why?”
He believed in contingencies in all things. There were six safe houses set up across the nation, and in each of them were hidden weapons, cash, vehicles, and the ability to create new identities until they could contact other members of the team.
But had Tehya taken advantage of them? Had she even tried to cover that very delectable ass of hers?
Her eyes widened in mock surprise. It was a look that made his hands itch to paddle that delectable ass. “Why, Jordan? Because I’m not running anymore. If I had called you or gone to a safe house then I’d be running the rest of my life. I’m tired of it.” The last was said with such exhaustion that Jordan felt his throat tighten. She shook her head then rubbed her hand at the side of her face in a gesture of aching vulnerability. “I’m just tired of it, Jordan. I want it to end, one way or the other.”
His arms seemed to ache with the need to pull her into them then, to comfort her. How the hell was he supposed to handle this? How was he supposed to make sure she was safe when keeping emotions in check was suddenly so much harder to do than it had been before?
Damn her, she made him feel things, made emotion surge through him as he fought to keep his shields intact. She was the only person, man or woman, who could touch his soul.
“Pack a bag.” He wasn’t arguing with her now. Her life was too important to him. He would have to figure the rest out later. “We’ll argue over what you will or won’t do later, once we’ve stashed you somewhere safe. But you are leaving, Tehya. Either willingly or slung over my shoulder, tied and gagged. Make your choice now.”
CHAPTER 2
“Stash me somewhere safe? Don’t I feel important?” she said as she turned away from him, and the lost-sounding loneliness that echoed in her voice had his fingers curling with the need to pull her to him.
For a moment, her delicate face reflected an inner sorrow he didn’t know how to deal with. But as quickly it was gone, and she was turning to face him fully, her expression filled with feminine determination.
“I guess you better tie and gag me then, Jordan, because you’re not stashing me anywhere.”
Son of a bitch, he hadn’t expected such stubbornness from her. He knew she could be stubborn, just not with him.
“Do you know who’s watching you?” he asked. Wondering if she suspected and if it would even make a difference to her, or if she suspected and her stubborness stemmed from that.
Her lips tightened, her dark green eyes shadowed. “I assume it’s one of Sorrel’s associates or one of his former enemies.” She surprised him once again with her answer. “Strange, isn’t it? The bastard’s dead and he’s still haunting me.”
“We didn’t expect this, but we were prepared for it,” he reminded her somberly, hating the dark pain reflected in her eyes now. “That was the reason we staged the deaths, hoping it would put an end to the occasional searches Sorrel’s enemies have arranged over the years. Somehow, someone figured it out and contacted one of Sorrel’s former associates, Ira Arthur with a message that your death was staged. Someone managed to track you down and is in the process of proving your identity as Tehya Fitzhugh. You know how dangerous that could be.”
He’d pulled every trick he knew out of his hat to protect her before she had left Texas. How the hell anyone could have proved Tehya wasn’t dead was beyond him.
She stared back at him, her expression so still and calm that for the first time since he’d met her, he couldn’t gauge her emotions or her thoughts.
“You’re not certain I’ve been found, then?” she asked, her voice guarded.
He gave a hard shake of his head as he stared back at her incredulously. “Tehya, it seems pretty fucking definitive to me, baby.”
“You said they were in the process of proving my identity.” He could see a fragile glimmer of hope in her eyes, and the knowledge that he was going to have to extinguish it made him clench his fists even as a part of him fought to allow her to keep that hope.
“And how long do you think it will take them to prove you’re Sorrel’s daughter once they find you and grab you?” The thought of it was so abhorrent he had to force the words past his lips.
“There’s no verification of who’s searching or why?” she pressed. She lifted her hand to nibble at her thumbnail thoughtfully.
“That rumor was enough,” he stated tightly. “You admit it yourself, Tehya, you know someone’s been following you.”
“I’m not certain,” she said, her hand dropping as she bit her lower lip instead. “None of my security systems are showing anything. I’ve caught no one following or watching me. My damned neck just itches.” Her tone was irritated. “It could just be paranoia and coincidence, too. You know how former operatives can get, Jordan. They see shadows where none exist.”
“It’s enough for me, Tehya.” Her instincts were so finely honed to survival he wouldn’t dare ignore them. “I don’t believe in coincidences, and we both know your instincts are too damned good. And you’re forgetting, sweetheart. I slipped right in tonight.”
“But you know the system.” She waved it away. “I’m just so used to running that I’m paranoid.” She gave her head a hard shake. “I need a drink.”
Stepping in front of her Jordan stopped her. “No system is fool-proof, Tehya. Even yours.”
“Neither are rumors,” she informed. “Now, excuse me, I really need that drink.”
She walked from the bedroom as though they were discussing nothing more than the weather. Leaving Jordan to follow her in frustrated anger.
“Dammit, Tehya, we need to get out of here. I have a team together and a private plane waiting at BMI to get you back to base. I’ve convinced Killian Reece to let you in on the new Ops team—”
“Oh hell, no.” Her head shook emphatically as she stalked away from him. “I’m not going back. And I’m sure as hell not working for Killian Reece.”
Damn her.
Jordan clenched his teeth as he followed her to the living room, watching as she strode to the small wet bar on the far side of the room.
The teakwood bar sat next to French doors that led to a spacious, secluded patio outside.
She poured a drink, no doubt the whisky she preferred, then slapped another glass on the wood and poured another, for him, he presumed. He was going to need it.
“How did you convince Killian Reece to take me on?” She flashed him an irritated look. “And why would you? He lumps me right in there with Sorrel, and hated me just as much as he hated Sorrel for the death of his wife.”
For a second, Jordan remembered the reason Killian hated Sorrel. Why he refused to trust Tehya. His wife racing through the rain, escaping the warehouse, a young child in her arms as her blond hair flew out behind her. A child Sorrel had had kidnapped with intentions to sell her on the white slavery market.
There had been gunshots, fury, and disbelief as Jordan watche
d Catherine Rhyan’s eyes widen when she fell, her only thought to protect the child in her arms and the unborn child in her womb even as she bled out before their eyes.
Sorrel had killed her, but it had been Catherine’s decision to enter that warehouse without backup just as it had been Jordan’s responsibility to protect her anyway. Nowhere in there could any blame be attributed to Tehya and Killian fully admitted to that fact.
“Killian doesn’t blame you, Tehya, and he’s as concerned as I am about this situation. You’ll be returning to base.” He had to push the words between his teeth as his irritation threatened to explode into anger.
“I won’t return to base, Jordan.” She gave a brief shake of her head again before downing the whisky without a grimace. “It’s going to end here, one way or the other, if I’m even being watched. Until I know for certain, I’m not going anywhere.” Weariness flashed across her expression. “I’m tired of running.”
It would end in her death. Jordan stared back at her for a moment, at a loss how to handle her.
“How did you find out I was targeted?” she finally asked. “I felt as though someone’s been watching me for weeks. Was that you, or someone else? Because if it was Sorrel’s associates or his enemies, I would think they’d have made a move by now.”
The thought of someone stalking her sent ice chilling through his veins. But she was right. If she had been found, it didn’t make sense they would wait around as they had. “It wasn’t anyone I sent.” Damn, he’d hoped John had gotten the information before she had been found. “One of John’s contacts got in touch with him with the information that there was a rumor Tehya Talamosi wasn’t dead, and certain parties believed she had been found. That contact was aware of your location as well as your new identity.”
He could still remember the pure terror that had flooded his system at the thought of one of Sorrel’s partners, or possibly his enemies, getting his hands on Tehya.
“And here I am.” Her arms spread mockingly before dropping to her sides. “You’ve warned me, now you can leave.”
He almost laughed at the response. “Do you really think I’m going to leave you here alone?”
What the hell would make her even entertain the thought that he would allow her to face this alone? That any of the former team she had been a part of would allow it.
“I don’t know, Jordan, it’s been nine months,” she stated, the mockery thick in her voice. “You don’t call, you don’t visit. That makes me think you wouldn’t give a damn either way.” Her eyes widened. “Oh yeah, that’s right, you’re just here to escort me to the plane. You’ve pawned me off on someone else.” He caught the hurt brewing inside her now and frowned back at her in confusion.
“I’m not part of the Ops anymore, Tehya. Killian has control of the base, not me. He’ll make certain you’re protected—”
Expressive green eyes flashed furiously.
“Fuck you, Jordan, and fuck Killian. I don’t need your help. You couldn’t call, you couldn’t care less until you thought the identities of the others were at risk. Admit it.” Anger glittered in her brilliant green eyes and flushed her face.
“Bullshit.” He was almost yelling back at her, completely losing the calm he had maintained over the years. “I’ve done nothing but worry my ass off since the second I woke up and realized you’d left base without so much as fucking saying good-bye. Now this? Fuck, Tehya, I’m not worried about the identities of the others in this situation because it doesn’t apply. They are not at risk. You are, dammit.”
“Why lie to me?” she snapped as she moved around the bar to face him furiously. “All you had to do was call the cell, Jordan, at anytime. I was always here. Not a single call from anyone since I left, and I’m supposed to believe you’re so damned concerned about me now? I don’t think so, stud. The most any of you are worried about is your own damn asses evidently.”
His hand shot out, gripping her arm, as she moved to pass him. “I’ve been calling that damned satellite phone for over a month, every day straight, and in the nine months before that I called more than a dozen times. Kira has been trying to contact you since you left. I don’t give a damn what you believe, but it’s your fucking ass we’ve been worried about.”
He watched her eyes narrow, her lips thin. “No one has called me, Jordan. I’ve kept the phone on me night and day just in case, and trust me, I checked it for calls, messages, and texts, and they weren’t there.”
The rough, aching vein of pain in her voice had him stilling and watching her closely. She was hurt. He could see it in her eyes, hear it in her voice. The thought that none of the team had contacted her in all this time had hurt her. And he couldn’t blame her.
“Where’s the phone?” But he knew damned well and good he had called her a dozen times or more before the information had come in that she was at risk. And he sure as hell knew he’d been calling almost hourly until he stepped into her home. That didn’t count the number of calls Kira and Bailey had both made.
He watched the suspicion darken her eyes before she moved her hand behind her and a second later pulled the cell phone free from her back pocket.
She slapped it into his hand.
“I’ve checked the security on it weekly,” she informed him. “Nothing’s come up, so no one has tampered with it. I carry the damned thing with me and use it for business, so I know you haven’t called.”
She had a computer program that the phone plugged into. The computer ran through the phone’s programs for any hidden trackers or cyberbots that could have found it.
Jordan popped the back of the sat phone, knowing something was wrong somewhere. If her security program had come back clear, then that left only one other answer. Someone had done something before it left base with her, after the more secure Elite Ops information had been erased from it. It was the only way it could have been tampered with and only a select few had the ability to do it.
“Kira and Bailey both called you the first week after the group disbanded and left messages,” he told her as he popped the battery from the phone to check the only vulnerability left. “I called the morning you left to chew your ass out for leaving without saying good-bye.” He flicked her a look that promised retribution for that little trip.
She ignored it.
Clenching his teeth, he turned his attention back to the phone.
He found the problem in less than a minute.
It looked innocent enough. No more than a small metal prong among several others, yet appearing oddly out of place, set within the small programming section of the internal security chip located just beneath the battery pack.
Jordan pressed the tip of his nail against the prong he knew shouldn’t be there, breaking it off.
Pulling his own phone from the clip at his side, he found and pressed the button preprogrammed for her number. A second later, the phone rang.
Tehya stared at the phone as he flipped it closed, cutting off the call, and held his hand out, the little piece of metal lying in his palm.
“It’s been receiving calls,” she said faintly, but she wasn’t doubting him. Jordan had no reason to lie to her.
“It’s an additional tracker. It allows the master program to track all calls, messages, and e-mails in or out. It can also be preprogrammed to re-route specific numbers or e-mails,” he said. “The tracker is used on phones given to assets and contacts rather than operatives, though, and placed in phones belonging to suspects or marks if possible. It shouldn’t have been on your phone.” It was only used with those whose trust was in question. Tehya’s trust was never in question.
“Then someone at base messed with it,” she guessed, that ache in her chest tightening further at the suspicion as she accepted the phone when he handed it back to her. “Now, who would have done that?” she asked mockingly. She could only think of one person who could believe she was capable of betrayal.
Killian and his team had been at the base several times before she and Jordan had lef
t. It had been their job to clean their sat phones of the agency protocols, e-mails, or mission notes before returning them. Only Killian’s team and Killian himself had had the opportunity to tamper with the phone.
Jordan sighed. “It was developed specifically for the Ops by our techs. No other agencies have anything like it.”
“Well, then, that tells me something, doesn’t it?” It told her she was no safer at base than she would be here. Hell, Killian Reece would feed her to her enemies a piece at a time if he could, which meant she was safer taking care of herself.
“I’ll know who did it,” he told her, his voice icy cold. “I promise you Tehya, I’ll get to the bottom of it.”
As far as she was concerned, she knew exactly who had done it. There was no getting to the bottom of it. Only one person would have been capable of distrusting her to that extent.
“I think we’re both well aware who it was. Why the hell do you think he agreed to have me at base? So he could destroy me and made it stick. Not out of friendship for you, a sense of decency, or anything else.”
“I’ll find out.” His voice couldn’t have gotten any harder.
Tehya gave a small, almost silent snort. “And you think I’d be safe there, do you? Killian and I understand each other, and you keep refusing to believe it. He hates me. I stay out of his way and understand that he’ll always place Sorrel’s sins on me.”
She actually liked Killian Reece. He was hard-core, stone-cold, paranoid, and damned dangerous. He was the perfect commander for the new Elite Ops team. And she knew, in his position, she would have felt the same. She respected the hell out of him, but she was well aware of the fact that he saw her as the enemy. She would have seen him as no less if positions were reversed.
Sorrel had murdered Killian’s wife and unborn child; there was no way in hell Killian would ever trust the bastard’s daughter.
“Tehya, you can’t stay here,” Jordan stated simply. “You know yourself what could happen if it’s Sorrel’s enemies that are after you. If it’s his associates or allies, then it could be far worse.”