Deceived (29 page)

Sarah shook her head. “No, it's time.”

He nodded, but didn't release her, didn't move out of her arms.

Finally, she forced herself to pull away. “And then what?”

His brows lifted. “Sorry?”

“Then where are Eli and I going?” she asked. “I'm assuming your commander has some ideas about that.”

His head bobbed in a nod. “I'm sure he does. But what
you
want is all that matters to me.”

She swallowed hard, knowing exactly what she wanted. “Well, if your offer still stands for Eli and me to stay with you for a while . . . to try to figure things out . . . then I think that might be okay.” His head came up at this, his expression so intense, Sarah wondered if she'd misspoken. “I mean, if that's still okay with you. Because I don't want to impose or push this on you if you have any doubts—”

He cut off her words with a hungry kiss. And when her towel fell away, Luke made it very clear where he stood on the issue....

Stone gripped Allison's hand tightly in his own as the guards led them down the stone steps that took them deep into the bowels of the abandoned observatory. They shoved him to his knees in the center of the torch-lit chamber. He could sense the presence of the others who lingered in the shadows, but did not see their faces. Never had. Their identities were secret to everyone except his grandfather.

“Forgive me,” he pleaded, his voice echoing eerily. “I've failed you, failed my father, failed our family name.”

“You don't deserve the power that has been granted you,” his grandfather hissed, stepping into the light. “You are a
disgrace!
”

The man's robes of authority billowed out behind him as he stormed in agitated indignation within the secret chamber while his cloaked minions looked on in silence.

“You were given
every
opportunity to succeed, Jacob!” he continued to rage. “Had you not interfered with the faithful's plans to extract the child, we would now have in our hands the most extensive wealth in the world and the knowledge we needed to eliminate every last Templar who has pledged allegiance to the Alliance. But your ego has once again cost us all I've worked for!”

“All
you've
worked for?”

Stone's gaze snapped up to see his lovely Allison standing beside him, her hands clenched into fists at her sides, her porcelain complexion flushed an alluring shade of pink in her indignation. “Ally, darling, don't—”

“What exactly have
you
done?” she spat at his grandfather. “The agreement was that you would seat him as the head of the Illuminati—the One True Master—if he did your bidding. That was what you promised me.”

Stone blinked at her, startled by her harsh words. How long had she known the truth of his mission? How long had she been secretly urging him on at every turn, seeming so eager to please, so compliant and meek? Was it
all
an act? Was there anything genuine?

“Now, you who sit in judgment of Jacob,” she raged, “declare him a failure, a disgrace, when all he has ever done has been to promote your agenda? To see you rise to glory at the expense of
his
blood and tears? You are
nothing
without him.”

“You forget yourself,” his grandfather barked.

Allison threw her head back, ignoring him, and squatted down before Jacob, her ice-blue eyes drilling into his with strength he never knew she possessed. “Get up,” she ordered. “Get on your feet.”

“Allison,” he pleaded softly, “
please
. You'll get us both killed.”

She gripped his chin, her fingers squeezing to the point of pain. “You kneel before no one, Jacob,” she hissed. “You've worked too hard for this—
we've
worked too hard for this—for you to give up. Get. Off. Your. Knees.”

Jacob felt his chest swell with hope. Sweet Jesus. With a woman like Allison at his side, he would be unstoppable. He slowly rose to his feet, his gaze fixed on Allison for a long moment, and took her hand, linking their fingers.

A slow, seductive smile curved her lips, and she turned to face his grandfather. “Now,” she drawled. “I believe we have a few new terms to discuss.”

* * *

The members of the Grand Council all looked as if they'd just sucked shit through a straw. Will stood at ease, his hands clasped behind his back, waiting in respectful silence.

Finally, one of the council members cleared his throat. “It seems we've underestimated Commander Asher's previous claims.”

“Indeed,” the high commander drawled. “And what do you suggest? That we run around with our hands in the air screaming in panic? We have nothing more to go on than a dead man with a tattoo and a greedy, duplicitous politician. Neither are particularly rare.”

“Both Stone and Evans were burned by the Alliance,” Will reminded him. “You have to admit—”

“I don't have to admit anything, Commander Asher,” Will's grandfather interrupted. “Until we have more concrete information, I see no reason to assign resources to a further investigation.”

“You stubborn jackass,” Will spat. “You'd rather put everything we've worked for in jeopardy than admit you didn't destroy the Illuminati as our history would have us all believe?”

“That will be all, Commander Asher.”

“Sir—”

“Thank you, gentlemen.” The screen went dark, leaving Will standing in the center of the room, dumbfounded by his grandfather's stubborn pride, which kept him from admitting that he'd made a mistake, that he'd failed to take down the Illuminati as he'd claimed. Was he truly that afraid to see the truth? Did he think he'd be ousted from his position as high commander? Or was there a darker, more sinister reason for his resistance?

Will rubbed the back of his neck, trying to work out the tension. There was no way his grandfather could be in league with the Illuminati. It simply wasn't possible.

But even as he thought it, the years of denial and refusing to look further into Will's suspicions about his father's death made him doubt. But he knew that if he was ever going to get the Grand Council to wake the fuck up, he needed proof they couldn't explain away—regardless of where that proof led them.

He heaved a harsh breath, then placed a call, knowing there was really only one person he could trust to look into things for him and keep it quiet. “Jack, I have an op for you. This one's personal.”

“I'll be out here if you need me,” Luke assured Sarah as she lingered outside her father's hospital room door. He'd insisted on coming with her to the hospital to offer his support. She'd tried to assure him that she'd be fine, but considering it had taken her until the next day to work up the nerve to finally make the trip, she was now glad that he was there.

She nodded, then took a deep breath and let it out slowly before pushing open the door. The room was quiet except for the rhythmic beeping of the monitors and she'd nearly turned to leave when she heard her father inhale sharply.

“Sarah.”

She swallowed hard and came toward the hospital bed, barely recognizing the man who lay there. He had a lot more gray in his hair than the last time she'd seen him. And the stress of his ordeal had taken its toll. But the strength and will in his eyes were still there when he looked at her.

“Hi, Dad,” she said softly, emotion making her voice quaver.

“My sweet girl,” he murmured, his lips trembling. “Please forgive me. I was an idiot in so many ways. I never should've said the things I did when I found out about you and Greg, and—”

“I'll forgive you,” Sarah interrupted. “But it's going to take some time. I won't lie. You all kept so much from me. . . . I'm going to need a while to sort through everything. But I want to move forward. I want you to know your grandson.”

Her father nodded. “I understand.”

“But I need to know why you put Eli at risk, Dad,” she insisted. “Why make him your successor without our knowledge?”

He closed his eyes for a moment. “I wanted to leave Eli a legacy. I wanted to make amends for the mistakes I'd made. It turns out this was just one more in a very long list. I trusted the Grand Council. I trusted Jacob—”

“Jacob?” Sarah interrupted.

Hal sighed and took her hand, giving it a squeeze. “No one has made any accusations. But he was the only other person who knew I'd made Eli my successor. If the traitor isn't among the Grand Council . . .”

Sarah felt her knees turning to jelly and had to sit on the edge of her father's bed. Jacob? Could it be true? Was what Evans had told her accurate? She hadn't believed him at the time, but now she regretted not telling Luke and Will about the information Evans had relayed to her. Was he the one who'd been behind all of this? The man who'd been like a brother to her almost her entire life . . . ? It was just one more deception. Sarah's entire life was shifting like quicksand, the foundation of everything she'd ever believed crumbling.

“I've been told that all the treasure has been moved elsewhere now, so at least that part of the information is no longer valuable to anyone.”

“What else did you have embedded in Eli's mind, Dad?” Sarah demanded.

He heaved a sigh. “Sarah . . . there are things I know about the Alliance, about artifacts and assets that we hold that could utterly devastate the world's balance of power if someone were to get his hands on them.”

“Then he'll never be out of danger, will he?” Sarah asked, fear making her chest go tight.

“Not unless we remove the memories,” her father told her. “It's a slow process when done correctly to prevent any lasting side effects. And he'll be out of danger as soon as I name a new successor.”

Sarah pressed her lips together and nodded. “When can we get started?”

* * *

Luke knew he was over an hour late for that night's meeting with his commander. Finally being able to reconcile with her father and getting his assurances that soon Eli would no longer be in danger had given Sarah the peace of mind she'd needed, and the light-hearted, playful spirit he'd seen glimpses of had been too goddamned adorable to resist that night after Eli had gone to bed.

He had to force the grin from his face when he entered the situation room, knowing he was about to catch hell from a roomful of pissed off Templars, but he couldn't bring himself to give a shit. Not when the reason for his being late had everything to do with making love to Sarah.

But when he entered the room and found no one but Will sitting at the conference table, he frowned. “Where's everybody?”

Will met his gaze, betraying no emotion at all. “Dismissed about an hour ago. Have a seat, Rogan.”

Luke took a chair several down from Will, steeling himself for an ass-chewing. But his commander merely regarded him for a moment before announcing, “We've confirmed the identity of Eric Evans—the real one—and have sent the preliminary report to the high commander along with the photos I took of Evans's tattoo. And Finn was able to pull info from Evans's phone that indicated he'd been in contact with Jacob Stone. We don't know the extent of Jacob's involvement, but it's not looking good.”

Luke frowned. “This is gonna crush Sarah.”

Will shrugged. “I'm going to have Finn and Jack do some more digging. Jack and Jacob were old friends, so he's furious. I'm holding off breaking the news to the Blakes, though, until Hal is a little stronger. This is going to hit them pretty hard.”

Luke nodded, waiting for the rest of the shit to hit the fan.

Will glanced at his watch. “I know it's late, so I'll keep this short.”

He slid a single sheet of paper across the table to Luke.

Luke's brows came together. “What's this?”

“The agreement for your leave of absence,” he told him.

Luke shook his head. “Sorry? I thought I made it clear that I was resigning.”

Will leaned back in his chair. “And I thought I made it clear that I'm not accepting your resignation. It's bullshit. So you're taking a leave of absence to figure your shit out. Spend time with Sarah and Eli. Sort out what's going on there. And then you can get your ass back to work. As it turns out, there's a pending merger between two major Canadian corporations that could benefit from the Alliance's guidance. The global market needs this one to go through. I want you on it in January. Can't guarantee Canada in January is going to be a picnic, but you'll be a short plane ride from your haven. Or your house here on the compound. Wherever you and Sarah decide you want to settle.”

“Commander—”

“And in March I have a field op in Argentina that's going to require your particular talents,” Will continued, “so block that month off on your schedule. I'll send the preliminary intel after the holidays so you can get up to speed.”

“What are you doing, Will?” Luke asked, confused.

“I'm doing you a favor,” Will told him.

Luke studied his commander for a long moment. “Why?”

Will's face clouded for a moment, his eyes taking on a hint of sorrow before his mask of stoicism fell back into place. “Because I wish someone had done the same thing for me.”

“What's the Grand Council going to think about this?” Luke pressed.

Will shrugged. “Don't give a shit. I think it's time to make a few changes within the Alliance, Luke. This is just one of them.”

Luke turned his gaze down to the document before him, reading over it quickly, his mind racing. He had no fucking clue how things were going to turn out with him and Sarah. But he had the chance to find out. And that scared the hell out of him.

A light scraping on the table brought his eyes up. Will had slid a pen toward him.

“You owe it to yourself and to Sarah, Luke,” his commander urged. “Don't walk away from the love of a woman like her. It might not come your way again. Trust me.”