Black Jack (32 page)

freely as needed and to lend them an air of danger that made it logical for them to be in the

company of the agents they were trained to provide backup for.

“What information do we have, if any, on the latest attempt?” Lilly asked.

“We have the explosives cap and the fluid,” Raisa said. “Both of which were used in the

bomb makeup and have been used before. Surprisingly enough, your father was tracking the

maker of that bomb before he died. It’s the same bomb tied to an explosion at one of his

offices four months before his death.”

Lilly nodded. “I remember that. It happened around four in the morning, so no one was

hurt, thank God, but we never did find out who was behind it. We couldn’t even figure out

why they would have wanted to do it.” She shook her head. “it’s just an office building. There

was nothing to be gained from blowing it up.” A frown creased her brow. “So whoever blew

up Father’s office in London used the same bomb to try and blow me up here in Maryland?”

Shea shrugged. “We’re hoping that Travis’s trip to England will shed some light on all of

this,” she told her. “We need to wrap this up, hopefully—in Santos and Rhiannon’s opinion—

before you remember anything about the six missing years. They truly wanted you to have the

chance to return to the family you missed so desperately once they were ordered to allow it,

Lilly. We all wanted that for you.”

Because they had all lost so much as well. Family, friends, careers, and lives, as they

continued to fight for a world that didn’t give a damn about them.

Lilly turned away from the table and paced over to the window. “When does Travis

return?”

“We believe he flew in before dawn this morning. He’ll be debriefed on his mission, which

normally takes close to twelve hours, then Jordan should release him. He’ll come looking for

you.”

“Does he know where I am?”

Shea nodded. “I left a message on his cell phone. I asked him to call with an update, which

isn’t unusual in itself.”

She gripped the phone in the pocket of the light hoodie she wore. The girls had made her

turn it off, telling her that she could be tracked if it was active. It was how they had found her.

She knew they were telling the truth, but . . .

But if Travis did call her, she wouldn’t know it. Wouldn’t be able to hear his voice.

She raked her fingers through her hair and turned to the window again. Waiting. Watching.

Travis hadn’t called Shea yet. Why hadn’t he called?

“You know, it’s so odd to see you without those Glocks you wear on your thighs.” Nissa

gave a light laugh as Lilly ran her hand to her thigh. “Would you like to have them?”

Lilly turned to her. “You have them?”

Her smile was wide, bright. “We have some of your things here. We brought them just in

case you needed them.”

Nissa rose from her chair and motioned Lilly to the back of the house. The bedroom she

went into was the one she shared with Shea. The two half-beds were placed on opposite sides

of the wall. One side of the room was neat as a pin. The other side, as though an invisible line

ran through it, was a complete shambles.

Of course Nissa moved to the messy side of the room.

“Here you go.” She pulled a large bag from the nearby closet and tossed it to the unmade

bed. “Two changes of clothes, your guns and knives, and plenty of ammo. There’s also an

unregistered sat phone, but please don’t call Travis yet. There’s also cash, credit cards, a few

disguise aids, and some fake IDs. Everything a girl needs to survive in the deep dark

underground.”

Everything she needed to survive, but not to live.

“You were ordered to contact Santos and Rhiannon if I called, weren’t you?” Lilly sat down

on the bed, pushing the mussed blankets behind her as she began to go through the bag.

“Of course.” Nissa shrugged. “At least that’s what their commanders told them to do.

Santos’s exact words were, ‘We were told to order you to do this’.” She laughed. “We rarely

pay any attention to orders from Command.”

“And if Santos had given the order himself?” She looked up at the other woman.

Nissa shrugged again. “We would have ignored it. Lilly, we only have each other to depend

on. One of these days you might be covering my ass again with that rifle of yours. I don’t

want you pissed off with me if that day comes.”

“Where’s my rifle?” She remembered it now. The lethal sniper rifle that she had used to

cover the asses of the agents she worked with. There was another in her storage shed, but it

wasn’t her favorite.

“That I don’t know.” Nissa shook her head. “Santos retrieved it from the Land Rover when

you were shot. I haven’t seen it since.”

But . . . There was another safe house, she thought as yet another piece of memory broke

free. And that safe house was fully stocked.

“Company’s coming. Move!” Shea yelled from the kitchen.

Lilly moved. She didn’t stop to question anyone or ask for directions. She grabbed the

holster and pouch of clips before racing to the next room and the window that looked out on

the driveway.

She had time to buckle the belt and strap the holsters to her thighs. She checked the Glocks

quickly, shoved the clips in and stood ready.

“No one called and warned us of a visit.” Shea raced into the bedroom and slapped a comm

device in Lilly’s hand. “If we’re attacked, get out, hit the woods, and head for Friendly’s

Tavern. Know where it is?”

Lilly nodded. “I know.”

“Someone will be there.”

Shea raced from the room as Lilly slid the device in her ear.

“Comm check,” she murmured.

“Comm check,” each woman answered in reply before Nissa reported. “We have a van

moving in, dark panels, dark tint. Looks like we have a masked driver. Be prepared to jump

and run. We don’t fight this out unless we have no other choice.”

Lilly pulled the Glocks from their holsters.

Her jaw tightened as the van moved slowly into view. She watched, silent, eyes narrowed

as it came to a stop behind the Taurus.

A second later, all hell broke loose. The back doors flew open as four dark figures raced

from the back, two from the doors, and all began firing.

The Taurus exploded.

The house shook, windows imploded, and shards of glass rained around Lilly as she tore

through the bedroom for the back door, joined by the other four women.

“Stay to the trees!” Shea ordered her as they moved out the back door at the same moment

the front door burst open in a rain of fire. “Run!”

As Lilly and the other women raced for the tree line only feet away, Lilly saw the shadows

moving there. Dark, masked, though diffrent from the others. Her guns cleared her belt as she

ran, keeping the trees between them. Suddenly those dark figures rushed past them.

“Take cover!”

Travis.

Lilly stared, shocked, into his furious eyes as he paused to bark at her. “Stay back with the

others! Cover our asses and make sure no one gets hurt.”

He shoved a rifle at her.

It wasn’t her custom-made rifle, but it was close enough.

Lilly holstered the Glocks, grabbed the rifle then ran up the rise to a tree that would give

her the best possible view. As though she’d been born to climb, she shimmied up it as Nissa

followed her.

“Spot,” she ordered the other woman.

“I’m an excellent spotter,” Nissa answered as they moved into position. “You have ammo

for that bad boy too in your bag.” Nissa nodded to the bag Lilly had slung over her shoulders.

Lilly took aim.

“Our boys have the narrow gray stripes on their shoulders,” Nissa hissed. “Don’t hit one of

them. We enjoy the hot, lurid fantasies we have about them. Even though most of them are

married now.”

Lilly gave a quick smile, then braced the rifle on a limb of the tree and took aim.

“They have a sniper at three o’clock. Looks like a spotter searching for you, sweetie.”

Nissa pointed out the slightest disruption among the branches at the three o’clock angle.

Lilly aimed, checked the wind, calculated her distance and fired.

The first body fell. With the second shot his spotter followed suit.

As she narrowed her eyes and surveyed the trees for an additional threat, the whiz of a

bullet slamming into the tree next to her head had Lilly freezing.

She calculated the direction, checked the distance, and waited.

“Where is he, Nissa?” she growled. “Sometime before he takes our heads off.”

“To the right of the first, third tree, halfway up at the seven o’clock limb. He’s going to be

hard to hit with this wind, though.”

“See his spotter?”

“Haven’t seen him. Caught a leaf trembling at nine o’clock, though, if you want to take a

chance.”

“I’m feeling lucky.”

She found the position, watched the leaves, and took the shot.

The body fell, but she didn’t track it—she watched the seven o’clock limb, waited, caught a

gleam of black, and took the next shot. Another body fell as she quickly swung the rifle to the

battle raging in the front yard. Somehow snipers had been in place before the attack. Someone

had sent ten men to take out four women. They should have sent more.

She had taken out the snipers while the team below made quick work of the assailants that

had rushed the house.

Below, the four shadows with their little narrow gray stripes were kicking some serious ass.

Within minutes there were only two left, lying flat on the ground, hands raised in surrender as

the dead bodies were being gathered.

Lilly watched as the team worked with perfect precision while the four women covered

their backs. This was one of the reasons they existed, what they had been trained for.

She and Nissa watched for snipers, while the two women on the ground kept the perimeter

clear and watched for any breaks or surprises.

“We have a clear.” Raisa’s voice came over the link. “I repeat, we have a clear. Two live

ones on the ground. Stay in place and I’ll bring you your masks.”

Lilly and Nissa waited until they saw Raisa below them. Jumping to the ground, they took

the dark masks, pulled them over their heads, and tucked their hair beneath.

“Stay clear of the live ones,” Raisa told them. “Black Jack and Live Wire want a clear field

with no distractions.” She looked amused. “Live Wire seems to think you might be a

distraction for Black Jack. Now, what would give him that impression?”

Lilly shook her head, her lips thinning. “They weren’t here to take out Live Wire, they were

here to kill me. I think I have the right to know why.”

Moving quickly to the front of the house, the rifle cradled in her arms, Lilly strode straight

to where the two men were restrained and laid out in the grass.

The four men standing over them moved aside as she came closer. Staring into the dark,

furious gazes, she handed her rifle to Travis, reached down and, with a quick jerk, revealed

their faces.

She wished she hadn’t.

She stared into faces she knew. Into the eyes of men who had been hired by her father. Men

she had known before her “death.”

“Do we need to interrogate them?”

Her head jerked to Live Wire. Jordan Malone.

She gave a quick nod. She didn’t remember the rules, but she knew not to speak, not now,

not here. They knew her, knew her voice, knew their target. She wasn’t taking chances.

Jordan jerked his head to Travis. “Get out of here.”

She backed up, still staring into the malevolent gaze of the bodyguard she knew as Ritchie.

He wasn’t one of her mother’s most trusted, but he was still a part of the Harrington staff and

had been for years.

The other, Samuel, was also well known. He’d been hired by her father and well trusted.

He’d flirted with her several times. Laughed with her mother, played poker with her uncle.

“Ritchie James and Samuel Mayes,” she murmured to Travis. “Bodyguards working for my

mother and uncle. I need to see the others.”

Travis nodded, his body language showing his fury as he led her to the others and quickly

stripped off their masks.

She stared at them icily.

“We have files on them,” Travis said quietly. “Enemies, Lilly. All four of these men were

with a private mercenary group we went against in Berlin three years ago.”

“I know them.” She heard the complete emotionlessness of her voice, felt it inside her. “But

not from Berlin. In the past six months I’ve seen them either speaking to Desmond, Isaac, or

one of the other bodyguards. This was an orchestrated hit. I was set up.”

“We don’t have reports on them,” he stated quietly. “We’ve been watching the family.

We’ve not seen them or we would have put a better circle of security around you.”

She shook her head. “It would have been easy for them to get past you. One at a time,

coming in quietly. They met inside the house here or in England. I saw this one.” She kicked

the balding blond in the shoulder. “This one was at the hospital several times when

Desmond’s bodguard Isaac came in.”

Travis lifted his hand and motioned one of the others over.

“Burn the bodies,” he ordered them. “We need to interrogate the other two, but get a team

in to clean this mess up. Let’s keep this quiet. I’m sure Lilly doesn’t want to deal with her

mother’s concern over a hit when she returns to the house.”