The Gemini Deception (41 page)

Shield got up as well and stood in front of her. “Someone of my caliber would what? What do you think my caliber is?” She was tired of people measuring her worth by her money.

“You have a name, money, stature.”

“So?”

“So, I’m not Carmen or Thomas. I can’t measure up to them.”

“Carmen was a lying, deceiving bitch who was with me for my money and vineyard,” she explained, a bitter taste in her mouth from the memory. “I met her in her uncle’s restaurant, where she worked as a waitress. She and her husband—who I knew nothing about, but was the master of their twisted game—tried to make me give up half my property.”

“What? How?”

“She never said she was married. She said she’d always been straight but had fallen in love with me. I believed her and fell hard for her and her stories. We lived together for four years, and I loved her, trusted her, and never had any reasons to look further. The next year, she started talking about signing over half of my property, putting the vineyards in her name because we’d been together for five years and she felt she deserved half of everything as my partner for her support.”

“And you did it.”

“Almost. I came home one day and found her in my bed with some guy who turned out to be her husband. Both of them had been living on my money for years. Every cent I gave to Carmen—all the money she’d ever asked for, for trips while I was away for work, expensive clothes, you name it—she used to support her husband and build up a pretty good savings.”

“What did you do?”

“I told them to keep the money, but if I ever saw them anywhere near my property I’d shoot them. Haven’t seen them since. That was three years ago.”

“So, aside from being an evil conspirator out to help a villain take over the world…you also think I want to use you for your money.”

Shield looked away.

“Well, that’s just great. If it makes you feel any better, I’ll soon be going off to jail and will never see you again.” Wagner walked over to the chair with her clothes and felt to see if the T-shirt was dry. “I need to get some sleep. My shoulder hurts and I’m exhausted, as I’m sure you are.”

Ryden flipped the shirt to let the other side dry, then did the same with the hoodie. Then she stared into the fireplace, opening the blanket slightly to let the heat reach her skin. Although she felt safe with Kennedy there, she wished more than ever she could be alone. She could understand and accept Kennedy’s anger when it had to do with lying about who she was and what she had been asked to do. But she refused to deal with the accusation of being a gold digger.

Money had never been important to her. She’d spent just about every extra dime she’d ever made on shelters and animals. Ryden figured they needed it more than she did, and half the time she wasted what money she did have on her. She either lost it somewhere between cushions or cab seats or forgot and left it in a pocket and the washing machine destroyed it. What mattered were her wax creations and privacy. “We should stay in here with the fire. You can have the couch. I’ll sleep on the floor,” Ryden said, without turning around.

“No.” Kennedy’s voice came from right behind her.

She was so startled, she whirled around and almost collided with Kennedy. “I don’t mind the fl—” She inhaled sharply when she saw the look in Kennedy’s eyes. Dangerous but not threatening. Hungry but not angry.

“No, I don’t think you’re after my money.” Kennedy stood so close Ryden felt her breath with every word spoken.

“G…good, because I don’t give a damn about how much you earn, Kennedy.”

“Good. And my name,
Ryden
,” Kennedy stressed her name provocatively, “is Harper.” Her gaze never strayed from Ryden’s eyes.

“I know.” She couldn’t stop looking at Kennedy’s mouth.

“And no, I don’t think you’re evil or deliberately hurt anyone.”

“When did you change your mind?”

“When you took that bullet for me.” Kennedy ran one finger up Ryden’s injured arm, caressing it lightly and slowly under the blanket. “That shot was meant for me. If you hadn’t shoved me, it could’ve gotten me in the heart. You didn’t know I had a vest on.”

“I saw him aiming at you.” She was surprised to be answering coherently. Kennedy’s eyes and touch were mesmerizing and put her completely off balance.

“I’m grateful you did.”

“So, are you okay with the couch?”

Kennedy ignored her question and surprised Ryden with one of her own. “What do you feel right now?”

Ryden swallowed hard. She was breathing even harder. “My stomach, it’s fluttering.”

“Mine, too.” Kennedy licked her lips and Ryden’s whole body reacted.

Contrary to anything she’d ever done, she let the blanket fall from her shoulders and placed her hand behind Kennedy’s neck. She pulled her close and, with their mouths touching, said, “I want…” Then she kissed Kennedy softly on the lips and pulled back.

Beneath her hand, she felt Kennedy shiver. As she ran her fingers through Kennedy’s hair, she was filled with an excitement and aggression she’d never known before.

Kennedy gently placed her arms around her waist and pulled her close. She felt dizzy with desire, the pain a distant memory.

“Tell me,” Kennedy whispered.

“I want to kiss you so much I can’t feel my shoulder.”

Kennedy looked from her mouth to her eyes. “Show me, Ryden.” She sounded breathless.

Ryden involuntarily moaned before she pulled Kennedy’s mouth to hers. She kissed Kennedy slowly, licking and sweetly biting her lips, and when their tongues finally met, both moaned in unison. Ryden had never kissed anyone so thoroughly, so passionately, and had definitely never wanted so much to rip someone’s clothes off to feel every inch of their beautiful body.

As though her hand had a will of its own, her fingers threaded through Kennedy’s hair, stroked her neck, then caressed a lazy path down her back, where she felt Kennedy’s muscles tighten at her touch. “This is crazy,” she said in Kennedy’s mouth, unable to let go of those lips. “I don’t want to stop kissing you.”

She felt Kennedy smile against her mouth. “I don’t want you to.”

She attacked Kennedy’s mouth again and sucked her tongue. She moved her hand from Kennedy’s back to her ass and Kennedy moaned.

“Yes.” Kennedy encouraged her, her voice a hoarse whisper.

Ryden pulled their pelvises tighter together, massaging Kennedy’s ass as they kissed.

“You’re driving me crazy,” Kennedy said. “If we don’t stop, I’m going to—”

She didn’t wait for the rest. She grabbed Kennedy’s hand and brought it to her breast. “Touch me.”

Kennedy cupped her breast and Ryden threw her head back, so overcome with ecstasy she saw stars behind her closed eyelids. In a heartbeat, Kennedy unclasped Ryden’s bra and gently caressed her nipples. Men never touched her like this; their fumbling efforts were always abrupt and brief, and her breasts were often an afterthought, a short, unsatisfying prelude to what they really wanted. She was melting under Kennedy’s hands. She almost screamed in pleasure when Kennedy pinched her nipples. “I need your mouth there,” she managed, her heart pounding in her ears.

Kennedy kissed her fiercely once more before she bent to kiss her breasts.

She ran her hands through Kennedy’s hair as Kennedy massaged and licked her nipples. The stimulation was so intense she was rapidly nearing climax. “Harder. Please, Harper.” She lightly pulled on Kennedy’s hair.

Kennedy sucked hard on her nipples.

“Oh, God. I’m…please, don’t stop.” This was another new moment for Ryden. She was about to come, and Kennedy had never even gone under her belt. Was that possible?

“Come for me.” Kennedy sucked one nipple as she massaged the other.

“I want to.” Ryden’s legs trembled, her stomach tightened, then her whole body spasmed as a powerful orgasm shot through her. She would have dropped to the floor if Kennedy hadn’t held her tight. Out of breath, she rested her head on Kennedy’s shoulder. “I didn’t know that was possible.”

Kennedy laughed. “Are you all right?”

“Embarrassed, but yes. I’ve never come with anyone, let alone without…”

Kennedy squeezed her tight, mindful of her shoulder. “Don’t ever feel embarrassed for who or how you are.”

Ryden looked at her. “I don’t want to, not anymore.”

“How’s your arm?”

“Okay, I think, but—”

Suddenly, Kennedy froze and placed her finger over Ryden’s mouth. “Chopper.” She pointed up.

“Helicopter?” Ryden whispered. “Your people?”

Kennedy grabbed the shirt and hoodie off the chair and thrust them toward her. “They would’ve called to say they were coming. Get dressed.”

Shield grabbed the Walther from the table and killed the lights. She wanted to berate herself for letting her guard down even for a moment, but she couldn’t regret the past few minutes and the way Ryden made her feel. “There’s a bucket in the kitchen. Fill it up and extinguish the fire,” she told Ryden as she went to the window to try to locate the chopper. She saw a pair of searchlights from above, scanning the terrain southeast of the safe house.

“They can’t possibly know where we are.” Ryden awkwardly poured water over the fire, one-handed. It sizzled and sent out a cloud of steam as it died.

“We have to get out of here.”

“Go where?”

“Jack wasn’t kidding. This TQ will do anything to find us.”

“Jack? Is that the woman who helped us?”

Shield nodded.

“How can they know we’re in this cabin? There are plenty of other houses not too far from here.”

“And I’m sure they have orders to search them all.”

“This hasn’t been used in years.”

“And they’ve probably seen the smoke,” Shield pointed out. “The pilot’s already informed TQ’s footmen of the location. It won’t be long before they storm through the door or blast the place.” She went to the back door and peered out through the small window. “Let’s go.” She gestured to Ryden.

She held Ryden’s hand as they dodged the searchlights and made it across the open field that separated the safe house from the massive park.

“You okay?” Shield asked when they stopped for air well into the tree line.

“Yeah, don’t worry about me. I’ve been through worse.”

“Sure you have,” Shield replied dubiously.

“Hey, I outran every foster-brother bully and their idiot friends. You think some guys in the sky can catch me?” Ryden cradled her arm, the discomfort evident in her voice.

“Gotta hand it to you, Wagner. You don’t take anything lying down.”

“Yeah, well.” Ryden huffed. “It’s the new me. I never appreciated myself or my life until I almost lost them both.”

“We need to make it to the highway and find a phone.”

“Your boss?”

They both looked in the direction of the house when they heard loud voices.

“No one here, but the fire is fresh,” a man shouted.

Shield grabbed Ryden’s hand again and they took off, heading south through the park. They’d run for quite a while before Ryden pulled her to a stop.

“I can’t…” She paused, taking big gulps of air. “My arm is bleeding badly and I can hardly breathe.”

“We have to keep going,” Shield said. “They’re behind us. It won’t be much longer before we’re at the highway.”

“Why don’t you—”

She could hear the fear in Ryden’s voice. “The new you, remember?”

Ryden hesitated a few seconds. “You might have to carry me,” she said, and took off ahead of Shield.

They reached the highway at the southern edge of the park just as the first sliver of dawn appeared on the horizon. Shield cautiously checked both directions before she pulled Ryden out of the brush. A familiar neon logo beckoned. “There’s a gas station half a mile down the road.”

They stayed close to the trees, and twenty minutes later, Shield entered the gas station first with her head low to check for cams. When she saw none, she went back out to get Ryden. The lone attendant, a teenaged boy, barely glanced their way. She told Ryden to wait in the back of the store, out of sight, while she went straight to the pay phone.

“I need Pierce,” she told the facilitator on duty.

“He’s on his way to Washington, but Grant will take it.” He put her through.

“Why’s Pierce going to Washington?” she asked Joanne as soon as she came on the line.

“Rothschild and TQ are the same person,” Grant replied. “She has an address there, where he thinks TQ is holding Jaclyn. He’s going there to find her.”

“Alone?” Shield asked, surprised. “She’ll kill him on the spot.”

“Lynx and Arthur are with him.”

“Still not enough. She has more soldiers than the U.S. military.”

“He won’t listen.” Grant practically screamed her frustration. “Any news from your side?”

“We needed to abort the house. They found it.”

“We have a working safe house in Washington, at 1650 Corcoran Street, but that means going back.”

“We’ll have to risk it. I need a place to leave Wagner.”

“And yourself,” Grant said. “Call me when you get there.”

“Where’s Pierce landing?”

“Andrews.”

“I’ll meet him there.”

“Shield, you—”

“Pierce is going to need all the help he can get, and…” Shield thought back to the woman who’d saved her life. “I owe Jack a favor. I’ll make sure Wagner is safe, but I’m going to TQ’s with him.” She hung up and walked over to the young pimple-faced clerk who was manically texting on his cell. “I need you to call us a cab.”

“Lady, you’re in the middle of nowhere.”

“Now,” she said ominously.

“Okay, chillax.” He put the cell down and dialed for a cab on the landline. He mumbled the address and hung up. “Dude said it could take up to thirty.”

“We’ll wait outside.”

Twenty minutes later, the cab arrived, and Shield went back into the gas station. The clerk sat smiling as he texted and never even looked up. She checked the slim pickings behind him hanging off the wall. “I want condoms.”

The boy finally took his eyes off the phone and looked from her, to Ryden, waiting outside. “Rrrright,” he slurred. “You sure?”

“The black ones at the top,” Shield answered stoically.