Black List: HOT Heroes for Hire: Mercenaries: A Black’s Bandits Novel

by Lynn Raye Harris

  But then wasn’t that what Maddy did too? She worked a lot, took every job they threw her way, and didn’t have much of a social life. She told herself it was about Mimi—and it was—but the truth was more complicated than that. She worked out of fear—for Mimi, for herself, for what life could bring when you weren’t vigilant.

  She talked to Angie a bit longer and then they ended with a promise to get together for lunch this week. Maddy went into her bedroom and changed into her pajamas in the bathroom. When she went to close the blinds, there was a woman pushing a stroller along the sidewalk. Maddy didn’t recognize her, but the neighborhood was getting gentrified and new people were moving in all the time. Paying a premium for the land, too. One day, Maddy would have to give in and sell even though the idea saddened her too much. This house was the last link she had to her childhood and her family. If she sold it, what then?

  Maddy returned to the living room and flipped on the TV. Out of habit, she turned to the Russian language news station to see if there was anything new on Leonid Sokolov or the shooting at his home. The media had been utterly silent on it after the first night, and tonight was no exception. Whatever had happened, they were done with it.

  She considered more Covert Affairs, but decided that what she really needed was a dose of HGTV. Watching people flip houses was entertaining and exciting all at once. There was a marathon of Fixer Upper, her favorite remodeling and decorating show, so she pulled up a blanket and settled in for the night.

  She was just starting to doze off to the sound of Chip Gaines’s voice when her phone dinged with a message. She pulled it up—and her heart rocketed into outer space at the number on her screen: Jace.

  Jace felt like a voyeur. Here he was across the street, watching Maddy’s house, peering at her through the blinds—wanting to shout at her to close them until she finally did—and listening to her phone conversations with her friend. BDI hadn’t tapped her phone, but a special listening device aimed in the right direction caught everything she said—and everything Angie had said to her.

  His gut had clenched at the part where she’d said she would have let him screw her against her car. He’d been both thrilled and disgusted at the same time. Disgusted with himself for spying on her, not at her for saying it. If anything, he’d wanted to rewind the day and make it happen just like that.

  Colt was with him tonight while Ty had the evening off. Brett had left earlier to do something for Ian. Colt was watching John Wick on Netflix and cheering Keanu Reeves as he battled his enemies. Jace had been listening to Maddy’s call and trying not to hang on her every word.

  But fuck that shit because she was off the phone now and he wanted contact. So he’d picked up his phone and texted her. In Russian, just to test her. She spoke it well. Did she read it equally as well?

  Her reply was swift. Who is this?

  Jace frowned. Seriously? I gave you my number today.

  She sent back a laughing emoji. I’m kidding. I know it’s you. How’s it going? Kidnap any innocent women tonight?

  Damn, she was hardcore. Not tonight. Yet….

  Night’s early. You’ve got time.

  He wished he could see her. Wished he could see the expression on her face and divine her mood. If she hadn’t just been telling her friend she hoped he’d call, he might think she was pushing him away.

  Not tonight. Too much trouble.

  I had fun today, Jace. Thanks.

  You feeling any better tonight?

  I think so. I know it’s part of the journey. One day she won’t know me at all.

  I’m sorry.

  Not your fault. Why are we texting? Can’t you talk?

  He glanced at Colt. Then he stood and headed for the back door. “I gotta make a call,” he said.

  Colt grunted. “Yeah, fine.”

  Jace went out the back door and stood in the growing darkness, listening to people in a yard nearby argue about something he couldn’t quite hear. He dialed Maddy’s number. She answered on the second ring.

  “This good enough for you?” he asked.

  “Hello to you too.” There was silence for a moment. “We could keep texting, but I have to backspace and retype half the words. Talking seems easier. Unless you’re on a mission or something.”

  “I wouldn’t be calling you if I were.”

  She sighed. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. If you’d rather text, it’s fine.”

  “I wouldn’t rather text. I just didn’t want to call you without texting first.” He frowned. God he was so out of his element here. He usually seduced a woman into bed, gave her a good time, and walked away without a second thought. “I’ve been thinking about how we said good bye.”

  “Have you? I haven’t given it another thought.”

  He snorted. How could she be so cute and interesting—and why was he intrigued this much? Ian said it was because her dad had been a spy and she didn’t know it, which paralleled his life until age ten. It was more than that, though. “Liar.”

  “Fine, you caught me. I’ve thought about it a lot. I even thought maybe the whole thing was a set up, and you and Ian still need something from me.”

  “It wasn’t a set up,” he swore—though guilt pricked him anyway because he still wasn’t telling her the full truth. We’re spying on you, Maddy. Hoping you aren’t in danger but also hoping Calypso shows up. “I broke the rules to be with you this afternoon.”

  He could hear the hitch in her breathing. “You did? Why?”

  “Didn’t I already tell you? I want you.”

  “But why? I’m nobody special. You meet far more interesting people in your line of work, I’m sure.”

  He walked over to the side of the house. Around to the front. Stared across the road at her cute little house with gray siding and blue shutters. The front door was a bright, happy green. Light glowed softly behind the closed blinds. He could only imagine where she was in there. What she was doing.

  “You are special, Maddy. And you’re beautiful. I like you.”

  “I like you too. I shouldn’t. I really shouldn’t after Russia. But I do.”

  “I’m one of the good guys, swear to God.”

  “A good guy who tackled me, shot at me, and cuffed me to a plane seat.”

  Jesus. It was a wonder she was even speaking to him. “For which I am profoundly sorry. But I thought you were someone else. Do not repeat that name over this line,” he added.

  “Is someone listening?”

  He loved how she leaped to the logical conclusion. It wasn’t that he thought she wasn’t smart enough to do so. It was simply that most people didn’t consider all the ways in which they could be spied upon.

  “Probably not. But some names are volatile and bring attention.”

  “Kind of like Beetlejuice, huh? Say his name three times and he’ll appear.”

  Jace was confused. “Wait—isn’t that a star in Orion?”

  “Oh my God, you’ve never seen the movie?”

  “I don’t even know what you’re talking about.” American pop culture escaped him sometimes.

  “It’s a movie about ghosts and demons and the afterlife—but it’s a comedy. You should watch it sometime.”

  “Maybe we can watch it together.”

  “Maybe. Mimi loved it. We watched it every Halloween. It was just scary enough without being terrifying when I was a kid.” She paused. “So you still haven’t found her, huh?”

  She meant Calypso. “Not yet. We will.”

  “I hope so. She sounds like a terrible person.”

  “I don’t know if she is or not.” Ian probably wanted to hire Calypso if he could find her. Jace didn’t think it would happen that way, but Ian never wrote off anybody until he had to. Jace was a prime example of that. If not for Ian, who knows where he’d be right now. Dead, probably. “But it’s best if we don’t discuss her anymore.”

  “Trust me, she’s a bad person if how you treated me when you thought I was her is any indication. Bu
t fine, I’m done talking about her.”

  “Good.” He didn’t think her curiosity was at an end, but he was relieved she didn’t want to talk about Calypso anymore. He could hear the back door open and he knew Colt was looking for him. If Colt had checked the listening device at all, he knew Maddy was on the phone. But did he know who she was talking to? “Something’s come up, Maddy. I have to go.”

  “Okay.”

  He heard the doubt in her voice. She still didn’t trust him. Not that he blamed her. “Meet me for lunch again tomorrow.”

  “When?”

  “One o’clock. Same place.”

  She didn’t say anything for a long moment. “I’ll be there.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Patience was a virtue, or so they said. Calypso wasn’t sure she believed it was a virtue so much as it was absolutely vital to her profession. It wasn’t satisfying to pull the trigger too soon—metaphorically speaking since she didn’t only use guns to eliminate her targets. No, it took time to do the job properly. Time and planning.

  And sometimes there were rewards for patience. Huge rewards. This time was going to be one of them.

  She ditched the stroller she’d stolen off someone’s porch in a yard the next street over and kept on walking. If she’d popped Madeline Cole too soon, she wouldn’t know about the men who watched over the art historian from the house across the street. She also wouldn’t know that one of those men was someone she’d been searching for for years.

  He was there now. In that house, unsuspecting. She could kill him before he even knew he was in danger. She’d have to kill the others as well, but she didn’t mind. Still, where was the fun in doing it now? The reward?

  No, it would take patience to do it right.

  To make him pay for what he’d done.

  But she would. She always did.

  Maddy didn’t know why she was doing this. She parked her car in the garage, then got out and made her way toward the restaurant where she’d lunched with Jace yesterday. She hadn’t heard from him again other than a text that said, See you at one.

  So here she was, striding into the restaurant—which was more crowded today—and waiting for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. The hostess looked her up and down. “Are you Maddy?”

  “Yes,” she said, closing her umbrella since it was drizzling outside and dropping it into the designated spot at the restaurant entrance.

  “Your lunch companion is already seated. Please follow me.”

  Maddy tried not to be nervous as she smoothed the fabric of her dress and followed the hostess. Oh God, why had she worn a dress anyway? She was trying too hard. It was lunch, not the symphony. If she could have turned and left without Jace seeing her, she would have. But he was right there, waiting. He stood as they approached. He was wearing jeans and a button down shirt today, and he looked utterly delicious. Her heart throbbed as he smiled. He took her hand and the world melted away. The hostess disappeared—or at least Maddy didn’t see her anymore—and Jace leaned in for a kiss. Her brain tried to process everything that was happening but all it did was short circuit. Their lips met and she sighed.

  The kiss didn’t last long, plus it was chaste. Jace pulled away first, then helped her into her seat. She plunked into it because her knees were weak. Then she pasted on a smile even though she felt like an idiot. “Hi,” she said.

  “Hi,” he replied, sinking down opposite her. “You look gorgeous today.”

  “So do you.” Maddy stared at his handsome face for long moments. Then she shook herself. “What on earth are you doing to me? I shouldn’t even be talking to you, yet here I am.”

  His expression didn’t change, but she thought his eyes looked bleak for a second. “If you’re uncomfortable with me, you don’t have to stay. I’ll understand.”

  Maddy bit the inside of her lip as she picked up her menu. She could feel him watching her. Waiting. “I shouldn’t have said that. The truth is I couldn’t stop myself from talking to you if I tried. And I don’t want to try.”

  He reached across the table and threaded his fingers through hers. She looked up into glittering eyes that made her heart skip. “You need to know that it’d probably be safer for you to walk away.”

  Her heart kept on skipping. “Oh, you mean safe like I was before I met you? Because apparently I wasn’t, was I? That shooting at Sokolov’s the night I was there was no accident.” She shook her head. She’d had time to think about everything and she knew that whoever was out there, whoever this Calypso person was, Maddy had been chosen specifically because of her job and her resemblance to the assassin. So she could get into Sokolov’s party and eliminate her targets. “Why didn’t she kill me so she could use my credentials to get into the party? That’s what I don’t understand.”

  “She had a way in already. Had to, right?”

  “Yes. But why involve me at all if so?”

  “Maybe you were her back up plan.”

  Maddy blinked. “Wow. I hadn’t thought of that. I guess it’s a good thing she didn’t need me then.”

  “You might have also been her way out. If we had you, we wouldn’t keep looking for her. And we didn’t.”

  “But how could she have known I’d be in the right place at the right time?”

  “I doubt she did. But she probably had a plan to make sure you were where she needed you to be.”

  Maddy thought back to the moments leading up to the shots. “I keep thinking about the maid. But she didn’t look anything like the photos you showed me—or anything like me. She had short black hair, for one thing. She was white, pretty, but I think it would be kinda hard to mistake me for her. She was shorter than I am, heavier. And her chest was, uh, larger.”

  Bobby from yesterday arrived and Jace let her go. “Well, hello again, you two lovebirds. What can I get you to drink? Another bottle? Same as yesterday or something different?”

  Maddy held up her hand. “Oh, no wine for me today. Just water.” She wanted to keep a clear head. She was already out of her depth with Jace, and she wasn’t adding wine to the mix.

  “Very well, madam. Sparkling or still?”

  “Sparkling, please.”

  “And what will sir have?”

  “Sparkling water sounds great,” Jace replied.

  “Fabulous! Now let me tell you the specials, and I’ll be right back in two shakes to take your order.”

  After Bobby named all the specials and disappeared, it seemed suddenly quiet and awkward. Maddy pulled in a breath and tried to focus on the menu.

  “You seem nervous,” Jace said with a frown. “Is it what we were just talking about?”

  Maddy thought about telling him yes, that was exactly it. But she didn’t. She opened her mouth and the truth came out. “I am nervous. I haven’t, uh, been involved with anyone in years now. Not that we’re involved, of course. But I don’t know what I’m doing or if I should even be doing it. I also know more about you than I would if we’d met at a party or in a bar. And what I know is kind of frightening, I guess—which does relate to what we were talking about in a way. What happened at Mr. Sokolov’s was terrifying.”

  Jace nodded. “I get that, Maddy. I appreciate the honesty, but I am who I am. That’s not going to change. I have a job to do—an important job—and I’m going to keep doing it. You need to know that.”

  “I know.”

  “The way I see it, you have two choices. Keep going or walk away. I won’t stop you if you walk away.”

  She really should get up and leave right now. It would be so much easier. Just walk away and not get involved. But she also knew she wasn’t going to do it. Yet. “I don’t think I want to.”

  “I’m glad to hear it. But if at any point you change your mind, all you have to do is tell me.”

  Bobby returned with their drinks and took their order. The restaurant was hopping today, but they were in a secluded corner. Jace sat with his back to the wall and Maddy got the impression, even when he was looking directly
at her, that he was also scanning the restaurant for threats. If someone came inside with mayhem on their mind, Jace would take care of business and put a stop to it.

  “How’s your grandmother today?”

  Maddy swallowed the lump in her throat. “She’s okay.”

  “Did you go see her again?”

  “No.” She swirled her finger along the edge of the glass. “I don’t want to confuse her too much, so I don’t go every day. But I called to check on her. The nurse said she was fine. Playing cards in the common room and hoarding chocolate kisses. She was talking about her granddaughter today and how proud she was of her. Of me.”

  God, it hurt to talk about this stuff, but she felt like he really wanted to know. And she was just emotionally raw enough to take advantage of that.

  “That’s good, right?”

  “It is. She’ll probably always remember she has a granddaughter—but she won’t remember me. She’ll think of me as a shy fifteen year-old who came to live with her when my dad died.” She shrugged, even though it hurt. “I’m trying to learn to deal with it. Mimi won’t forget me. But she won’t know who I am when I visit her. And as painful as that is, I still have to go see her.”

  He seemed troubled. “I’m sorry it’s difficult for you.”

  “Thank you.” She sipped her water and smiled as brightly as she could. “So tell me something about you.” She knew his parents were dead because he’d told her so, but she didn’t know much else about him.

  “There’s nothing to tell.”

  “I don’t know… it seems as if you live a very interesting life. You said you’d lived in St. Petersburg. How long were you there?”

  “Until I was conscripted into the Russian army at eighteen.”

  “Oh my goodness. I didn’t realize.”