Overnight Male (22 page)

But when she’d discovered the existence of her sister six months ago, Lila had begun to reconsider all that. Because it was then that she’d realized she
wasn’t
alone. There was someone else in the world to whom she would be connected forever, whether she and Marnie met again in person or not. And then, when they had met in person…

Well. Lila had begun to rethink everything after that initial meeting with her sister. Who she was, what she was, the purpose of her life…and, inescapably, OPUS’s place in all of it. Because OPUS was responsible for much of what Lila, and her life, had become.

They had known about Marnie—and Lila’s father, too—years before Lila found out about them. Yet they’d never told Lila about her family’s existence for fear that it might take away some of her edge. They’d worried that if Lila had someone to care about in the world, someone who would care for her in return, it might make her less willing to take risks, might make her more tentative, might keep her from being the superagent they wanted her to be, the superagent she’d in fact become. So they hadn’t told her about Marnie and her father. By the time Lila had discovered their existence, her father was dead. And when she’d realized what OPUS had done, what they had denied her, it had pissed her off. Badly.

But the funny thing was, they were right. Since she’d learned of Marnie’s existence, Lila
had
lost her edge. No, not lost it. Abandoned it willingly. The presence of someone else in her life to care about, who cared about her in return, did indeed make a huge difference. And it wasn’t just Marnie she was thinking about.

Joel turned away from the front door as that last thought uncurled in Lila’s head. Before he could say a word, and not questioning why she did it, she launched herself at him, looping her arms around his neck and covering his mouth with hers. He didn’t question why she did it, either, just roped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, kissing her back with equal fire, equal passion, equal…affection.

They moved more slowly when they made love this time, taking longer to arouse and pleasure each other, as if they both knew they did indeed have more time. And although Lila still wasn’t convinced of that, although she was still completely uncertain how things between the two of them would play out—or maybe it was because of that—she didn’t try to hurry them along. When they made love again, the desperation and voraciousness that had been present the first time was gone. It was almost as if they wanted to get to know each other better this time, as if it were important they learn about each other’s wants and desires and preferences.

Afterward, they fell into a seamless slumber in Joel’s bed, with Lila wrapped in his arms and her entire body curled into his. Her last thoughts before sleep claimed her were mostly about how good it felt to share a bed with someone else, and how nice it felt to share the night with someone else, and how much she looked forward to waking up in the morning and sharing a day with someone else, too.

So it was with some surprise that she awoke in the middle of the night instead. Especially when she realized she and Joel were no longer alone.

As she jackknifed up in bed, she clenched the sheet to herself with one hand and switched on the bedside lamp with the other. It took only a second for her eyes to adjust to the light that spilled into the room, so she immediately saw Adrian Padgett squinting back at her. Never before had she seen him in such a state. His khaki pants and navy polo were rumpled, his face was unshaven, his hair was uncombed and faint purple crescents smudged both eyes. He looked exhausted and flustered and…scared, she marveled.

In spite of that, “You know, a forty-watt bulb is plenty sufficient for a bedside lamp,” he said by way of a greeting.

The young woman standing beside him was bothered by the light even more than he was, to the point of holding a hand in front of her eyes to shield them from the glare. But that wasn’t why it took a moment for Lila to recognize her as Iris Daugherty. It was because she looked nothing like the young woman Lila had come to know. The black clothing had been replaced by generic student wear of blue jeans and a slouchy blue sweater, the black cosmetics and facial jewelry were gone and her hair had been dyed a pale blond. The transformation should have made her look more fragile and less intimidating than the Goth wear. Instead, her strength and conviction were almost palpable now.

Joel was a little slower to wake than Lila, since even after a week of being in the field—had it really been only that long?—he still wasn’t accustomed to being in a position of having to be on constant alert. But when he finally pushed himself up in bed and nudged his hair out of his eyes and realized what was happening, he, too, snapped to attention, tugging up his side of the sheet, too.

“What the hell…?” he demanded.

Okay, so maybe he still hadn’t quite realized what was going on, Lila thought. ’Cause it was pretty freakin’ clear to her. They’d been caught not with their pants down, but with their pants off, something that didn’t happen to even the greenest OPUS agent. Something that never would have happened to Lila, either, she thought, if she’d been focused on her professional duties instead of being sidetracked by all the developments in her personal life. It was becoming more and more apparent that she couldn’t have both. OPUS was right. Having people to care about in her life prevented Lila from doing her job. She was going to have to make some decisions. Soon.

For now, however, for obvious reasons, she did her best to focus on the job. Her eyes never leaving Adrian’s, she finished the question Joel had begun, “What the hell is going on, Sorcerer?”

Adrian expelled a weary-sounding sigh. “Oh, come on, Lila. After everything we’ve been through together, don’t you think you could call me Adrian?”

“All right. What the hell is going on, Adrian?”

He hesitated only a moment before announcing, “I want to turn myself in.”

She actually chuckled at that. “No, really. What the hell is going on?”

He draped an arm around Iris and pulled her close, but there was something in the gesture that made Lila think it wasn’t because he was trying to protect her, but because he needed her physical nearness to sustain him. Iris in turn wrapped an arm around his waist and leaned her entire body into him, as if she were perfectly willing to give him such sustenance. It was the weirdest thing. Had Lila not known better, she would have sworn it was Iris, not Adrian, who was the stronger of the two at the moment.

“I want to turn myself in,” he said again.

He actually seemed serious, Lila marveled. He honestly seemed to be turning himself in. She looked over at Joel, who looked back at her, clearly as skeptical as she. Then they both turned back to Adrian. “You really want to turn yourself in?” she asked.

“I really do.”

“Just like that?”

He nodded. “Just like that.”

“No threats to do anyone bodily harm?”

“No.”

“No shoot-outs?”

He shook his head.

“No car chases through the city?”

“I’m afraid none will be necessary.”

“No explosions?”

“Not a one.”

She gaped at him. “Well, that sucks.”

He shrugged again. “What can I say, Lila? Cinematic spectacle is not my forte.”

“Well, it’s not mine, either, but come on. No agent worth her salt likes to just have the bad guy show up in the middle of the night and turn himself in. It’s embarrassing.”

He smiled. “Face it, sweetheart. I’ve eluded OPUS for too long. This is the only way you’d ever bring me in. But look at it this way.” He hurried on when she opened her mouth to object. “I won’t tell you the name of my contact in the organization, and when you finally figure out who it is, perhaps that person will lead you on a merry chase, and you’ll have more gunfire, squealing tires and exploding buildings than you can shake a stick at.”

“We already found her,” Joel said.

Which was true. Once Joel had called the home office and given them the information about the files on Chuck and the others, they’d located Adrian’s source within moments. Then they’d called Lila and Joel back with the ID before they even left the hotel.

Adrian seemed in no way surprised by the quickness with which they’d worked. Though he did seem genuinely regretful. Somehow, though, Lila got the impression it was as much because he’d dragged someone else into his schemes as it was that she had been caught. “I guess I should have realized you would. She’s a nice girl, though. You shouldn’t have any trouble getting her to talk.”

From what little Lila had heard, his contact actually did sound like a nice girl. A young woman in the research department who’d been with OPUS for almost five years and should have known better than to get mixed up with Adrian. But then, Lila had seen for herself how persuasive—and seductive—the guy could be. Nice girls were generally the most susceptible to him, which was probably why she’d never been swayed to the dark side herself. Iris, too, was a nice girl who had succumbed to him.

Although, looking at the two of them together now, it was almost the other way around. As if Adrian had been the one to succumb to Iris. As if Iris was
so
nice, some of it had inevitably rubbed off on Adrian. Who would have thought that that was what it would take to undo the guy? Someone whose goodness completely overshadowed his badness.

“I want to turn myself in,” he said for a third time.

“We both do,” Iris added.

Adrian’s face—his whole body, in fact—went soft at her words. Soft, Lila marveled. Adrian Padgett. Because of a nice woman to whom he had succumbed.

When Adrian spoke again, it was with significantly more emphasis. “As I said, I
want
to turn myself in. We both do. Unfortunately, we can’t.”

Okay. All right. It was all making sense now. Lila should have seen this coming from a million miles away.

“Stop jerking us around,” Joel said. “Just say whatever it is you need to say. Don’t play games with us.”

When Adrian replied, he spoke not to Joel, but to Lila. “I assure you, I am finished with games. For good. I truly would turn myself in, if circumstances were different. But it’s not just me I have to worry about anymore. There’s someone else I worry about now, too. Even more than I worry about myself.”

Lila didn’t need to ask who.

“For extremely good reasons,” Adrian continued, “Iris has to stay in hiding. For the rest of her life. And although she’s done a very good job of that for eight years, I’m better at it. Between the two of us, she’ll stay well hidden forever. She’ll stay safe.”

“And so will you,” Lila said pointedly.

He dipped his head forward in acknowledgment of that. “I don’t blame you for thinking I have only my own interests at heart,” he said. “But neither do I care that you think that. I know, and Iris knows,” he added, pulling her closer, “what the truth of the situation is. It benefits us both to disappear,” he agreed. “But believe me when I say it’s no longer my interests that mean the most to me.”

Lila wasn’t sure if she’d ever believe that. But there was definitely something different about Adrian. Something that hadn’t been there before. Something that made her think that maybe, just maybe, he was telling the truth.

“You may disappear,” Joel said, “but you’ll always have people looking for you. OPUS will never rest until they have you behind bars.”

Adrian continued to look at Lila when he replied. “I was hoping perhaps if I gave OPUS what they wanted, they might leave Iris and me alone. For good.”

“But it’s you OPUS wants,” Lila pointed out.

“Perhaps,” he said. “What I think OPUS wants even more, however, is the little project I’ve been working on most recently.”

Something hot and heavy hummed in Lila’s midsection at the words. “The virus?”

“The virus.”

“You actually built it?” she asked.

“I didn’t,” he admitted. “Hobie built the framework, then he and Iris filled it in and nearly finished it. They hit a small snag, but Iris has been working nonstop to get it working. An hour ago, she finished.”

“It works?” Lila asked.

This time it was Iris who replied. “It’ll work,” she said. “Obviously we didn’t test it, but…” She nodded with all confidence. She spoke with even more as she added, “If it’s unleashed, it will be absolutely devastating. But here’s the thing. I altered some of the programming to allow the user better control of it. It can wipe out as much—or as little—as the one who sends it out into the world would like to wipe out.”

“Just think,” Adrian added. “Whoever has it in their possession could use it to cripple just about any enemy to the country they’d like. Even those pesky third-world terrorists who rely on computers to get so much done. The Office for Political Unity and Security would have a
very
powerful weapon on their hands, one that wouldn’t physically harm a soul.
If
Iris and I turn it over. And we’ll only turn it over if they promise to pretend we no longer exist.”

Lila wasn’t sure what to say in response to that. So she said nothing. Neither did Joel. When she looked over at him, though, she could see he wasn’t sitting there idly. He had one of those looks on his face that indicated he was giving great thought to something. So she said nothing that might distract him.

When neither of them replied to his proposed bargain, Adrian spoke again. “So what do you say, Lila? Iris and I are forgotten in exchange for the virus.”

“They won’t go for it, Adrian,” Lila told him. “You’ve done too much damage. You’re responsible for a man’s death.”

His eyebrows arrowed downward at that. “I never intended for anyone to be killed,” he said softly.

“But someone was.”

“It was a terrible mistake.”

“It was an execution. An execution that never would have happened if you hadn’t deliberately leaked classified information to the wrong people.”

“Had I known what those people were capable of, I assure you, I never would have said a word. If I could take back what I did, I would. But I can’t. I can only say that I never intended for anyone to be harmed. I’m greedy, Lila, not vicious. But even my greed has its limits.”