Dying Commitment (Lucky Thirteen) (2 page)

A fresh wave of anger flowed through my body. He’d never get that chance again. Next time I saw him, we’d be on equal footing, right before I put a bullet between his eyes.

A message popped up on the bottom on my screen. I didn’t recognize the handle, so I clicked on it. It was a new account. The hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention. I opened the message, expecting another lonely asshole to proposition me. But that wasn’t what it was.

Hey, sweet pea.

Ice sliced through my chest. There was only one person who’d ever called me sweet pea.
Please be someone else. Please be some moron trying to be all suave and shit and not who I think it is.

I heard you survived. I’m glad.

I’d hunted for signs of where Jack had ended up. He’d all but vanished off the face of the Earth after he’d shot me. And now, after five years he was seeking me out? Why?

No thanks to you. What do you want?

I hear you’re looking for me.

The finality of the sentence grabbed me and squeezed.

I paused. Where in the world… I couldn’t let this pass me by. He was connected, likely hacking a server or two to connect to me. I grabbed my work laptop and booted up my tracer program. I didn’t have long.

I typed into the PM window on my personal laptop.

What gave you that idea?

Call it a hunch.

I started the program on my work laptop, watching as it traced the signal. Another message came through.

It’s been more than five years. You need to give this stupid search for me up.

Yeah… I don’t think that’s going to happen. You shot me.

“Come on, you stupid tracer. Work.” It had isolated Europe, but it wasn’t getting any closer.

Don’t make me have to do it again, sweet pea. That was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.

Yeah, you were super torn up about it while you let me bleed out on the floor.

There we go… down to the western French border. Come on…

Let it go.
Revenge does not look good on you
.

No.

Let it go? Did he know me at all? My program beeped. I had it. Valonia, somewhere in the capital city of Ville Couronne. My program couldn’t get closer than that, but that was a good start. I grinned to myself. This had to be the most fortuitous day ever. I found Jack.

The account logged out and the connection severed.

“Count your days, Jack. I’m coming for you.” I logged out of the game and leaned back, crossing my arms. I wasn’t sure how he got into my game, or why he thought that was the best way to get a hold of me. How did he even know that was me? Maybe he’d seen me play it back when we were having sex together. There had been a few sleepless nights when I’d played the game while he was asleep in the bed.

It was another example of me being too trusting. I’d thought he was asleep. He’d watched me play the game, knew my character. He could have been any one of the guys I’d partied with on the game or ones I’d killed on the PVP server. How long had he been watching me there?

I almost wished I was back with Dylan in that moment. I’d played the brave agent with Jack, but the truth was, he always made me feel vulnerable. He had ripped me raw and that wound never really healed. Dylan made me feel safe, comforted. It was such a marked difference between the two.

I stopped. Was I really comparing Jack and Dylan? The idea just made me squicky. There was no similarities between either. Even sex with them had been different. I stood up, slamming my personal laptop screen shut. No. I was not going to go there.

I needed some closure. That’s what had to happen. I had two hours before work. If I got dressed and packed a bag, I could be in Master Chief Collins’ office in an hour. I could take off for a couple weeks and find Jack once and for all… and finish this. End this stupid vulnerability he curated inside me. I could move on. I could be normal again, and quit looking over my shoulder all the time.

I went back to my bedroom shortly after that, and dug out my duffel bag. Jack was somewhere in Ville Couronne, living it up, the traitor. I was going to find his ass, and pay him back for the two bullets he left in my body.

CHAPTER TWO

Cadence

Dylan was already there when I showed up to the San Diego office. Of course, he’d actually slept some. I’d been up the rest of the night after Jack contacted me, making plans and getting ready to leave. There was only the matter of Stephen Collins to work out. He could always tell me no, I couldn’t take a leave of absence, and then I’d have to leave anyway. I would hate having to quit Lucky Thirteen. It was the first place since the NSA that appreciated what I brought to the table, and they didn’t look down on me because of my gender, or pity me because of Jack Allen.

The layout of the office meant I had to pass by the common room where most of the guys spent the majority of their day avoiding work. It was but a stone’s throw from the armory or the yard where the vehicles were stored, so it was the perfect place to hang out during the day. Even I spent some time in there when I needed to stretch. But usually, I stayed in my little cubicle, playing with my computers.

The bad thing about the common room’s placement was that I had to pass it to get to my office or Stephen’s. So, I zeroed in on my target, Stephen’s office, and studiously tried to ignore everything else. And I was concentrating so hard on avoiding everyone else that I almost ran into the team’s field leader, Eamon Murphy.

“Whoops, sorry,” I muttered, sidestepping to avoid bumping into him.

“Hey, Cadence. I’ve got that file on the fourth Giroux vault you wanted. The one with the antiques.”

“Oh, thanks, Murphy.” I took the folder from him. I’d forgotten about that. In light of the contact with Jack Allen the night before, tracing the origins of antiques to where they’d been stolen didn’t seem quite as important.

There were a series of vaults, loaded with Giroux money and information. Addison Hardy had briefly been involved with Alex Giroux in a romantic fashion—another reason why romantic entanglements were… entangling—and she had the location of twelve of them. We’d raided every single one over the last year, and were cataloging the contents still, hoping to find something that we could use against Alex Giroux. I opened the folder and thumbed through it briefly. I could do this anytime. But I had a lead on Jack himself.

“Addison’s wondering if you’re coming to dinner.” I looked at Murphy, blinking. I’d almost forgotten he was there for a moment. He smiled uncomfortably. “I know you prefer to keep your distance from us…”

There was that word again. Distance.

Why would he ask me to come? I never went to team functions. That wasn’t my schtick. They were the team. I was the add-on that helped them with the technology.

“…but you are part of the team now. And it’s Chris’s send off party.”

Oh, man.
Please don’t give me the puppy dog eyes that say
I lost my best friend.
I can’t handle that right now
.

“Uh…” I paused. How did I answer this? “Party?”

“Yeah, it’s just a couple hours.” Uh-oh. The eyes were starting to go Puss-in-Boots on me… Blinders. I needed blinders.

Remember the mission
.

I was going after Jack. I couldn’t stay for a
party
.

“When?” Was I seriously asking? I wasn’t going to go. I never went.

“Um… Tonight.”

“Oh. Well…” I bit my lip. “I might be leaving town tonight.” Crap. Why did I say that?

“Oh, well, if you happen to be around… You should come. Chris would like to see everyone, I’m sure.” Shit, there were the eyes. I was screwed.

Awkward. “I’ll… think about it.”

“Fair enough. Addison said she’d love to see you again, too.” Murphy’s soon to be wife—their wedding was in what, like three weeks—had taken an interest in being friends with me. If I had been one to actually make friends, I’d have tried harder.

“Yeah, that would be good,” I said, deadpan. I said goodbye to Murphy and continued to Collins’ office. I paused outside his office. I couldn’t hear anything from him within, but I was sure he was in there. I blew out a breath and knocked.

~*~*~

As I entered the office, I couldn’t help but see why Stephen Collins was the boss. Or one of the bosses. There was an officer that stopped by every few months, but he didn’t really play an active role like Stephen did. And he had this air of authority about him, and all the guys on the team adored him, respected him.

“Hey, Cadence. What can I do for you?” Stephen asked, setting the stack of papers aside.

I sat down in the seat across from him and leaned my elbows on the cool desk. “Something has come up.”

“Oh?” he asked, turning his full attention on me. He had a curious expression on his face, combined with a little hint of amusement. I wondered if he every took anything seriously.

“Yeah. I need to take a leave of absence.”

“I see,” he leaned back in his chair. “How long?”

Now that was a good question. “I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “It could be days, weeks. I don’t know.”

“I really could use you here right now. Giroux Enterprises is getting more aggressive.They’re moving fast.”

“I know.” I nodded. “I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”

“This doesn’t have to do with Urban, does it?”

“What?” My face burned.

“Well, I know you two have been close for a while.”

The idea that Bambi could alter any decision I made for myself didn’t sit right with me. The very idea was ludicrous. “This doesn’t concern Dylan Urban. This is about me.”

I fell silent. I wasn’t sure how much I should tell him. When I’d told the NSA what I wanted to do, they’d put me on restriction and made me see a psychiatrist. I couldn’t afford for Lucky Thirteen to do that too. I had to be out there. But Stephen had always been honest with me. I felt I owed him that much. “It’s about Jack Allen.”

“Your old partner?”

I nodded. “He contacted me. I have to find him.”

“It could be a trap. Something to lure you in.”

“I realize that. But he’s unfinished business. I have to do this.”

“And if I say no?”

Please don’t say no
, I silently pleaded with him. “I’d rather you didn’t, Stephen.” I spoke slowly, professionally, so I wouldn’t give myself away.

“You’d go anyway, wouldn’t you?” Goddamn it. I hated that he knew me so well.

“I’ve spent the last five years of my life thinking about finding him. About finally confronting him.” I swallowed. “I have that chance. I could find him. I could end it.” Even as I said the words, I wasn’t sure I meant that I could kill Jack. I was so pissed at him, so ready to get my revenge on him, but I wasn’t sure if his death would give me that peace that I craved.

“You don’t strike me as a killer, Cadence.” Stephen said quietly, his low voice full of sadness and pity. He couldn’t know how it felt to be betrayed like I had. To let someone in so close, to trust them, and then watch as they walked out of my life and left me dying.

“I didn’t used to be,” I replied. I lifted my eyes to his. “People change.”

He nodded. “Yeah, they do.”

““Jack is embroiled in the very center of Giroux Enterprises. Take him out and Giroux loses a big part of his business.”

“How so?”

“Jack is well-known now, especially now that Giroux is in charge of the whole business. He’s Alex Giroux’s enforcer. His personal assassin. He sits in Alex’s back pocket. Getting him would go a long way toward bringing Giroux down.”

“I won’t play stupid and think that you’re doing this just help our mission.” Stephen leaned back in his seat. For a dude in his thirties, Collins was a decent-looking guy, maybe even hot, according to many women. But I couldn’t see him as anything but the guy who saved my ass after the NSA dumped me. His hair had already started to gray a little on the sides, but you really couldn’t tell since he cut it so short on the sides.

“You’re right. I’m not. I want to be the one that takes Jack Allen down. I haven’t been able to find him for years and now I’m so close. Please, Stephen. Let me do this.”

He sighed, and leaned back, frowning. He crossed his arms over his broad chest and blew out a long breath full of frustration. “All right. I’ll give you two weeks. You be back here and ready to work on the vaults after that.”

It wasn’t ideal, but it couldn’t be helped. I knew he said it out of friendship. He’d given me a chance when the NSA said they were done with me. I nodded. “Thank you, Stephen.”

“Don’t thank me. I’m not done yet. You’re going to have someone with you. And don’t argue with me.” He stuck his finger up at me. “If you’re not back by the end of two weeks and I haven’t heard from you, I’m sending my guys to find you. And they will bring you back, whether you want to come or not.”

I did not want company on this, especially since I was going to burn Jack as soon as I found him. I was good at what I did for the NSA and I didn’t want some self-righteous former SEAL telling me I was doing my job wrong. I opened my mouth to protest but he waved me off. “Cadence, you’re treading dangerous waters. Jack Allen burned you. What makes you so sure he isn’t trying to do it again?”