Protective Measures

by Maggie K. Black

  “All good,” she said. It was all so simple. Foolproof even. Just a couple short hours and then she’d be wrapping up a job well done and it would be over. She and Leo would say goodbye. And she’d be tucked away in a poutine restaurant with Alex, drowning her heartache in greasy fast food.

  “Copy that,” Alex said. “I’ll be waiting here for you, monitoring your earpieces and the security cams.”

  Leo looked at her. “Ready?”

  To go walk into a fancy gala, hang on his arm and pretend they had the kind of relationship she wanted but could never have? How could anyone ever be ready for that?

  Yet, she nodded. “As ready as I’ll ever be. I agree, it should be a simple mission.”

  And she was determined to keep it that way.

  They left Alex behind in the van. Their footsteps echoed in the dark empty parking garage. They walked side by side, silently, so close their hands almost touched. They reached the delivery door. Leo eased it open and then held it for her to walk through. Then he covered his microphone.

  “You okay?” he whispered.

  She looked up at him and smiled. “Yeah, I’m good.”

  He leaned close. “You know, when I met Samantha she seemed so perfect for Josh. But I still can’t imagine Theresa marrying a bodyguard like your brother.”

  She laughed softly and covered her own microphone in return.

  “Josh and Samantha are both analytical introverts,” she said. “Don’t feel guilty about interrupting the tail end of their honeymoon, because I’m sure there’s nothing they’d find more romantic than quietly working on intel together. But Alex and Theresa’s relationship is gloriously messy. They’re definitely opposites. They joke that she’s the brain and he’s the brawn. She’ll be thrilled to know he’s the one tucked safe in the van tonight and I’m the one heading into the party with you.”

  His smile deepened and warmed something inside her. “I’m glad you’re the one heading into the party with me, too.”

  “Okay, guys.” Alex’s voice crackled loudly in her ear. “The venue manager has confirmed that the last of the food deliveries came through over an hour ago. Interior hallways are clear. Security is on the door upstairs. You shouldn’t run into anyone.”

  They walked down a long utility hallway. Bare bulbs hung from the ceiling ahead. Pipes ran down the side of the walls. She gave a quick wave to the security camera as they walked past.

  “Hey, sis,” Alex said. “I see you. When you hit the end of the hallway, turn right and head up three flights of stairs. Then you’ll reach a landing. There will be a door to your left.”

  She smiled under her breath. She could remember as much from the schematics from their planning back at the hotel. Silence pressed around them filled only with the sound of their footsteps, the gentle thrum of the furnace somewhere in the distance and the water gurgling in the pipes. They turned the corner, found the stairs and started climbing.

  “I’m sorry this isn’t a more glamorous way to make an entrance,” Leo said.

  “You kidding?” Zoe said. She grinned. “It’s a well-known fact that secret entrances like this are what all the cool celebrities use to sneak in and out of places like this.”

  They reached the first landing. His phone buzzed. Leo raised the phone and frowned.

  Her eyes glimpsed the screen.

  Sorry I’m going to be a bit late tonight. But very worth it. Big package for you. Have your wallet ready. Killian

  Killian Lynch? Since when was he texting Leo?

  “What was that about?” she asked. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help but notice that text was from Killian Lynch. I didn’t realize you two were on speaking terms.”

  Leo frowned. “Don’t worry about it.”

  Except he looked really bothered by it and this was Killian they were talking about.

  “I am worried about it.” Her hand brushed his arm. “He’s the same odious, dishonest, despicable blogger who posted those pictures of us that he got from who knows where. I don’t like him and I don’t trust him.”

  “You don’t have to trust him.” His face set. “Just stay out of our way and watch my back if he comes over to talk to me.”

  Her feet stopped halfway up the staircase. “Please tell me he’s not your informant.”

  “I honestly don’t know,” Leo said. “Even if I did, I wouldn’t be able to confirm it. But if not, he can help me figure out who took those pictures. I’ve agreed to meet him tonight. He wants to strike some sort of deal. I know we said that the informant could be some white hat, vigilante hacker like Seth Miles, trying to save the military from criminals in its ranks. But that’s wishful thinking. He could just as easily be a selfish, media star wanting to make some quick money.”

  Her hands grabbed the railing and suddenly she realized her arms were shaking. Maybe she’d been a bit of a chicken and not told Leo about what had happened between her and Killian in the past. Maybe she’d hoped he’d stay true to his promise to never search her name online and read her past bad press, and that he could walk out of her life at the end of this mission with his image of her intact and unblemished.

  It had never once crossed her mind that Killian could be his informant and the person they’d been trying to connect with all this time. Leo kept walking, like she hadn’t even stopped, and she found herself hurrying to keep up with him. They’d reached the final landing. Just one more flight of dingy stairs and they’d reach the ballroom level.

  “Wait.” Her hand landed on his arm. “I told you, I have a history. When I was a teenager I was kicked off my sports team and suspended from competing for elbowing someone—”

  He stopped. “And I told you I don’t care about your past—”

  “It was Killian Lynch,” she said. Leo froze. His face went carefully blank. She kept talking, quickly. “I know this is really bad timing, that you’ve been trying for days to meet with your informant. I respect that. But I need you to hear my story. Please.”

  “Okay,” he said. “Talk.”

  She took a deep breath and let the words come out in a rush.

  “Killian was a creep,” she said. “It was worse than I let on. He would whisper offensive and gross things in the girls’ ears for fun, trying to get a reaction out of us. Subtle stuff to make us feel worthless. My coach told us to hold our heads high and ignore him. But one day, when I was getting ready to compete, he leaned up behind me and whispered something creepy in my ear and something inside me snapped. I spun around with my elbow high and it caught him in the face. I didn’t mean to strike him. I just wanted him to back off. I didn’t even know the cameras were rolling.”

  Leo leaned back against the railing. “And that’s why you stopped competing?”

  “The competition was delayed on the spot,” she said. “Can you imagine the chaos of a top male competitor getting a bloody nose from a girl half his size on live television? I was suspended from the team immediately. Killian pushed his case in the press that I didn’t deserve to represent my country on the national stage. He said I needed to be taught a lesson. Privately the coach said I was unlikely to make the team again when my suspension was over. So I quit and switched to noncompetitive mixed martial arts. It didn’t have the same profile on the national stage. But I preferred it that way.”

  She felt so stupid and small. How could she have lost her temper like that and accidentally elbowed someone in the face when the cameras were rolling?

  Leo didn’t answer. He walked back down to the next landing and somehow she knew that he needed her not to follow him. For a moment she wondered if he was going all the way back to the van. But then he stopped. His hands gripped the railing. His gaze rose up the staircase to the ceiling high above them and she could see him praying under his breath. Then he looked back up at her, with a look so calm and inscrutable it was unnerving.
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  “Well,” he said. “This is unfortunate, hopefully it won’t complicate things, if he does indeed turn out to be my informant. If you give me a minute, I’m going to go make a phone call.”

  “Guys,” Alex said. “I’m really sorry to interrupt, but we have someone coming your way and fast.”

  Even as he spoke, they could hear the footsteps pelting down the hall toward them. She spun around. A man in a tuxedo and shaggy blond hair was barreling down the hallway toward her. It was Jason. She could hear Alex’s voice in her ear and Leo yelling something below her. Her hands rose in front of her face.

  Jason barreled into her, bodychecking her like a linebacker.

  She flew backward down the stairs.

  TEN

  Leo’s heart stopped as he saw Zoe tumble backward down the stairs. She cradled her arms around her head to protect herself as she fell. He ran up the stairs toward her. She hit the landing and groaned.

  “Zoe!” He was at her side in a moment. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

  She pulled herself up onto her hands and knees. “I’m fine.”

  Leo paused. Jason stood at the top of the stairs, his eyes wide, like he was caught on the knife’s edge between fight and flight. Then Jason spun around and pelted down the hall. Leo turned back to Zoe. She’d already grabbed the railing and hauled herself up to her feet. Everything in his heart wanted to stop the mission and hold her. But his mind was shouting that she was his bodyguard, his backup on this mission and his second pair of eyes. Not his to sweep into his arms and hold there. It was time he started acting like it. “Are you sure that you’re okay?”

  “Yes.” She gritted her teeth. “I’ll be sore but nothing serious. I’ve definitely seen worse.”

  “Okay, good.” Leo raised his cuff link microphone to his mouth. “Alex, Zoe is down. It’s a minor fall, but she might need backup. I’m going after Jason.”

  Then he sprinted up the stairs taking them two at a time, without letting himself look back. Leo ran down the hall. He could see Jason ahead of him, his tall lanky form sprinting down the hallway with the speed and skill of an athlete.

  “Zoe!” He could hear Alex in his earpiece. “What’s going on? Talk to me. I’ve got eyes on Leo chasing someone but I can’t see you.”

  “It was Jason.” Zoe was panting. “Our fake cop from the parade. He knocked me down a few stairs.”

  Jason reached the end of a hallway and disappeared around a corner. Leo’s footsteps sped up.

  “He what?” Alex’s voice rose.

  “I’m fine!” Zoe said. “I’m a bit sore. Nothing serious.”

  Alex blew out a hard breath. “Leo left you and went after him alone?”

  “Because I’m fine.”

  Leo rounded the corner and paused. The hallway was empty. Four doors lay ahead in two different directions. He raised his microphone to his mouth. “Alex, I need your help. I’ve lost him.”

  “Hang on,” Alex said. Leo heard typing. “He cut through the kitchen and entered the ballroom. If you take the second door on your left you should be able to cut him off. It’s pretty crowded, but I’ll keep scanning for him.”

  “Got it,” Leo said. He slid the door open a crack, looked in and blinked. The grand, sparkling opulence of the ballroom was such a stark difference from the gray, utilitarian ugliness of the hallway it was like opening a portal to another world. The room was huge, with sweeping alcoves and tall pillars, making it impossible to scan the whole room at once. People in tuxedos, gowns and dress uniforms rustled past, seemingly blind to the tiny crack he’d opened between the one world and the next. “I’m about to go in. Once I enter the party I’m going off the mic unless it’s urgent.”

  “Understood,” Alex said.

  “Commander, do you want me to join you?” Zoe asked. He could hear her running down the hall.

  “Negative,” Leo said. “The sight lines in here are terrible. I suggest you take a different entrance and scan the room from the other side. The top priority tonight is making contact with Killian. After that, I’ll be looking for the informant if it turns out not to be him. Having you by my side will make that harder, and honestly, if I’d realized the kind of past you had with him, I wouldn’t have agreed to having you in on this mission. As it is, I think I’d be better off handling this alone. Sorry to change the game plan, but I’m taking this solo. Please keep an eye on the room, but just keep your personal distance. Okay?”

  A long pause stretched down the earpiece that seemed to take forever. Then Zoe said, “Understood.”

  Leo switched off his microphone, straightened his uniform and stepped into the room. Immediately the glamour and buzz of the party enveloped him. Chandeliers glittered above him like stars. A tall dais stood at one end with a microphone and podium. He allowed himself to be swept along by the current of people as he moved through the room, nodding his head to people he knew and to those he didn’t, exchanging quick words of small talk and moving on, all while his eyes scanned the crowd. Alex and Zoe had gone silent from his earpiece. But still, the memory of Alex asking Zoe if he’d really just left her there in the staircase and run after Jason pricked like a knife tip against the edges of Leo’s heart. He couldn’t tell if it was coming from Alex’s tone or from Leo’s own conscience. Why? If Alex or Josh had fallen down a few stairs, nobody would’ve thought twice if Leo had gone chasing after a criminal alone. And he could think of at least a dozen strong women he’d served with who’d have expected him to do exactly the same if it had been them—and none of them held a candle to Zoe’s strength and grit.

  Then why did leaving her there bother him so much?

  He kept circling, nodding, smiling and waving off the small, complicated-looking foodstuff that the waitstaff kept offering him. Then a flash of purple caught his eye, making his footsteps stop in their tracks. It was Zoe. She was on the opposite side of the room, her slight and stunning form somehow seeming to stand all alone in the mass of people swirling around her, as if Leo was seeing the entire world through a camera and she was the only thing in focus.

  His phone rang. He answered it. “Hello?”

  “Hello, Commander Darius! It’s Killian Lynch!”

  The Irishman’s voice boomed down the line, and suddenly Zoe’s story filled his mind. Was Killian Lynch really his contact? Was he carrying secret intel about drug smuggling routes? Did he know the identity of who’d had him under surveillance? Leo couldn’t see anyone else it could be. Yet the thought of handing over money to someone who’d treated Zoe that way grated something deep inside him. The whole reason that Leo had been brought in to this mission was to be a calm, steady, impartial conduit and bridge. But he’d never dreamed of being in a situation like this.

  Guide me, Lord, what do I do? I despise this man for what he did to Zoe. But he could have information that’s vital to international security. If I can’t set aside my heart for the sake of duty, what kind of man does it make me?

  “How’s the charity auction going?” Killian asked.

  “Fine.” Leo’s eyes scanned the crowd. “Are you here?”

  “No, but I will be soon.”

  “And you’ve got something for me?” Leo asked.

  “Boy, do I ever,” Killian said. “Pulled some pretty big strings and downloaded it from a very private source. Prepare to have your mind blown. By the way, I’m so sorry about that article I published about you and Zoe Dean. I hope you’re not offended. I’m just doing my job and did my best to make you look good.”

  Leo’s jaw clenched. All he had to do was get through tonight, be polite and then he could put this whole mess behind him.

  “Tell me honestly, though,” Killian continued. “Off the record. No spin. Just one guy talking to another. You and Zoe Dean aren’t really involved, right? You aren’t really dating her?”

  His
eyes dragged him back to where he’d seen Zoe standing just moments before, but she’d disappeared into the crowd.

  “No, Zoe Dean and I are not dating,” Leo said. “Not at all. We met at the castle gala and escaped the fire together. She is the friend of a friend of mine, and we’ve stayed in touch. But that’s it and I’d appreciate it if you’d stop harassing us. We are not romantically involved. Please just kill the story.”

  “Knew it!” Killian’s laughter filled the phone, loud and braying. “Listen I’ve known Zoe from a long way back and I’ve got her number. I know what kind of person she is—”

  “Hang on,” Leo cut in. “You might want to check your tone. I’m not saying I don’t have a good deal of respect for her—”

  “But it’s not a romance. Got it. Leave it to me. Consider the story killed.”

  The phone went dead.

  Leo stared at his phone. He’d never heard Killian talk like that, and what made it all the worse was the implication he somehow thought he and Leo were on the same side. His jaw set. No, this would not do.

  That settles it, Lord, I can’t let this man get away with disrespecting Zoe. I need to have her back. But I can’t let Admiral Jacobs down, either. Guide me, please. I need Your wisdom.

  He ended his prayer and took a deep breath. He’d done two circuits of the room and was no closer to finding Jason or anyone else in The Anemoi. Or in being approached by anyone else who could be his informant. He’d probably played it alone for too long and needed to reconnect with Zoe and Alex. He’d made a knee-jerk reaction to take it solo that he was already beginning to regret. He stepped back into the relative privacy of the wall, activated his microphone link and held his phone to his mouth as cover. “Zoe? Can we meet by the dessert table in five? I think we need to regroup.”

  But any answer Zoe gave was suddenly swallowed up by the sound of people clapping as a loud wave of applause swept over the room. Nigel had stepped up to the podium. He welcomed the crowd and launched into his opening jokes. Leo slid his phone back into his pocket and waited.