by Cynthia Eden
The bullet didn’t hit her. The bullet didn’t hit her.
He grabbed her arms and yanked her away from the still-open door. He held her close, his grip probably too tight, but he didn’t care, and he backed down the hallway as fast as he could.
“What in the hell was that?” Mac snarled.
“That...” Celia huffed out a hard breath. Her body was tense against Sullivan’s. “That was someone who wants me dead. And that bullet would have hit me if Sully hadn’t called my name.”
And in that last instant, she’d turned back. She’d moved back toward him. The bullet had missed her head and hit the door.
Too close. Too close.
“This is a county facility!” Mac’s grating voice seemed to echo around them. “To attack here...this guy is freaking insane.”
Insane...or just very, very determined to take out his target.
And now Sullivan realized just why Porter had been killed and left at McGuire Securities. “The shooter knew we’d come to look at the body. He wanted to draw you out so he could—”
“Try to kill me?” Celia finished. She glanced up at Sullivan, her dark lashes making her blue eyes appear even brighter. “Yes, I figured that out, too. Right after the bullet nearly lodged in my head.”
It was hard to breathe. She can’t die. “You’re not running from me,” Sullivan rasped.
Mac was on his phone. Probably getting all his cop buddies ready to search the scene out there. The shooter had missed, though, and Sullivan was betting he wasn’t just going to sit around while the authorities closed in. No, he’d flee, for the moment.
And then come back for another attack.
“You’re not running,” Sullivan said again. “You’re going to tell me exactly what’s going on. Why you’re on some nut job’s hit list... And then we are going to stop him.” He’d let her down once before. He’d be damned if he did it again.
Chapter Four
The McGuire ranch.
Celia shivered a bit as Sullivan’s car headed down the winding drive that led to the main ranch. She’d never been out to the ranch. Never met any of Sullivan’s family—well, except for Mac. Mac knew plenty of her secrets.
But after the shooting, Sullivan had insisted she head out to the ranch. And after her discovery about Porter’s identity and that near bullet to the head, she’d needed a safe haven.
Havens didn’t get much safer than the McGuire ranch.
She knew all about the dark history of that ranch. Years ago, Sullivan and his brothers had all left home—they’d gone out, trying to save the world, in their own ways.
Grant McGuire, the eldest brother, had been a lethal Army Ranger. Davis and Brodie—the twins—had both excelled as Navy SEALs. Mac...he’d been Delta Force, as cold and deadly as a man could be. Then Sullivan, the youngest of the brothers, had signed up to be a marine.
She’d tapped into their files during her time at the CIA. She’d read accounts of their dangerous missions. She’d been impressed—and a little awed—by all that they’d accomplished.
At the CIA, she’d actually been the one to suggest recruiting both Mac and Sullivan. Their exploits had caught her attention. She’d been the one to bring Sullivan into the nightmare... It was my fault he was taken.
Her fingers twisted in her lap. Yes, she’d been the one to do all the digging into Sullivan’s life. She’d been the one to first put him on the CIA’s radar.
It started with me.
They drew closer to the ranch. The sun had risen and she easily saw all the vehicles parked there. The whole family had obviously gathered for this meeting.
They’re not here for me. I’m just the tagalong. They’re all gathered to learn about the past.
Sullivan was going to share the information she’d given to him about his mother. The McGuires would continue their search for justice.
While I hide.
Oh, how the mighty had fallen.
She exhaled slowly and peered up at the house. It had been rebuilt, rather extensively, by Brodie and Davis. She really knew far too much about the McGuire family. But learning about them...it had been almost a compulsion for her.
Because of Sullivan.
While Sullivan and his brothers were out protecting the world, evil had come to the ranch. Sullivan’s mother and father had been gunned down in their own home, and Ava—the baby of the family—had been forced to bear the brunt of the tragedy. For years, rumors had swirled that Ava had even been involved in their deaths.
She hadn’t been.
She’d been a victim.
There are so many victims.
Sullivan braked the vehicle near the main house. He killed the engine and turned his attention toward her.
“Thanks for giving me a place to stay,” Celia said softly. “I won’t be here long. I just need to pull some intel together and then I’ll be—”
“I’ve already told you.” His voice was a rough growl that made goose bumps rise on her skin. The rather good kind of goose bumps. “You’re not running from me again.”
I didn’t run before.
Her gaze slid from his and headed toward the house once more. A man had just come out. Like Sullivan, he was tall, with dark hair and broad shoulders. “What are you going to tell them about me?”
“What do you want me to tell them?”
Her index finger tapped against the side of the door. “Do they know you were married to me?”
“No.”
That hurt. But she wouldn’t let him know that he’d just ripped into her heart. She forced a smile to her lips and turned toward him. “Of course they don’t. It was really just a brief thing. A mistake easily forgotten.”
His eyes narrowed.
“I don’t think they need to know anything about our past.” Maybe her words came too quickly, but she was suddenly desperate to get out of that car and put some distance between them. “Just tell them I’m a client. I can even pay you, if you want. Make it legit so you don’t have to lie to your family.”
“Celia...”
She shoved open her door and bolted from the vehicle. Mac had followed a bit behind them, and she heard the approach of his car. She was pretty grateful for his timely arrival. Mac had always been a friend to her.
She could really use a friend right now.
Sullivan slammed his door and hurried to her side. She stiffened her spine and glanced up at him with raised eyebrows. All in all, it had been one heck of a night, and the morning wasn’t looking much better for her.
He never told them about the marriage. In case there had been any doubt, now she knew with certainty—he really hadn’t cared about her.
“While you talk to your family, I just need a quiet place to make a phone call.” She’d picked up a burner phone before they’d left the city. The cops—and Mac—had searched for the shooter, but he’d been long gone. She’d had to watch from the shadows while that search was conducted. She hadn’t wanted to talk with the cops. That would just have been a complication she didn’t need.
That shooting had been too close for comfort. Another step forward, and I would have been gone.
So maybe her night hadn’t been as bad as it could have been.
“I want you with me.”
The dark-haired man on the porch had been joined by another guy—a guy who looked exactly like him.
The twins. And they were both staring at her a bit suspiciously. Wonderful. If they knew that she had a man gunning for her—literally—she was sure they’d look even less welcoming.
Hello, there. My name’s Celia. And I just brought death to your door. Oh, yes, they’d love her.
She just knew how to make a killer first impression.
Sullivan’s hand reached for hers. Instinctively, she stepped back.
Pain flashed on his face.
Join the club, buddy.
“Celia?” Sullivan whispered. “What’s wrong?”
She started to bite her lip but then thought—why? There
was no need to hold back any longer. She had nothing to lose. “Oh, let me see... I just found out that the man I married decided I was so beneath him that he never bothered to tell his family about our wedding. I mean I get it,” she snapped, anger pulsing through her. “You thought I was part of the group that set you up. I wasn’t. I went in to save your ungrateful butt, but you wouldn’t listen to me.”
A car braked behind her. She looked back and saw Mac.
She didn’t calm down. “Mac knew the truth. He never thought I was some terrible double agent out to kill you.” Her heart was about to burst out of her chest. “Why could he trust me?”
Mac was climbing from his car now and closing in.
“Why could he,” she pushed, “but not you?”
“Because I was a fool.”
That answer just wasn’t good enough. She looked back toward the porch. At his brothers. The family she was supposed to just meet with a fake smile. “I can’t do this.” Not anymore. Wasn’t that why she was getting out of the game? Leaving the CIA? Because she was just done. “I’m going to the guesthouse.” She spun on her heel.
“You...know where it is?”
She laughed and glanced over her shoulder. “Hi, there,” she said with a little wave at Sullivan. “I’m CIA, remember?” Well, ex-CIA. “It wasn’t exactly hard to research your family and home. So, yes, I know about the guesthouse. And I’m heading there.” Not into the fire of his home with his family. “When you’re done...hell, don’t come to me, okay?” She turned and focused on Mac. “After your family talk, will you come and get me?” Mac owed her. She’d helped him and his bride-to-be, Elizabeth. And that case—well, it had been the final straw for her.
“What’s going on?” Mac wanted to know.
She could only shake her head. She’d just been pushed too far. Too hard. Her life was hanging in the balance, and Sullivan—
Will the pain ever stop?
Sullivan reached out and locked his fingers around her arm. She froze. Her frantic gaze met Mac’s.
His jaw hardened. “Let her go, Sully,” Mac ordered.
“You want to stay out of this,” Sullivan warned him. “This is between me and Celia.”
“No, it isn’t. Because she’s my friend. She has been, for a long time.”
She kept her expression schooled to show no emotion.
“Let her go,” Mac said again. Then, voice lower, “Sully, can’t you see that you’re hurting her?”
And instantly, Sullivan let her go. She marched forward, moving almost woodenly. She’d gotten maps of the property before. She knew where the guesthouse was located. But, despite her words to Sullivan, she didn’t head there. Instead, she walked toward the bluff that overlooked the nearby lake.
One step. Then another.
She didn’t look back at Sullivan.
* * *
SULLIVAN COULDN’T TAKE his eyes off Celia. “I didn’t mean to hurt her.”
But he had. Her eyes had swum with tears. He didn’t think that he’d ever seen Celia cry, but she’d just come very, very close.
Mac moved directly into his path, blocking Sullivan’s view of Celia. “I don’t know what in the hell is going on between you two...”
Neither did Sullivan. He knew what he wanted, though. Her.
“The family is waiting,” Mac said. “Give Celia time alone. Give her space.”
She’d had space from him—for years.
But he nodded grimly and turned back toward the main house. Brodie and Davis were both there, glowering. They did that a lot, so their expressions weren’t particularly surprising. No one spoke until Sullivan reached the porch steps.
“Want to tell us,” Brodie asked quietly, “just who that pretty redhead is?”
“A client,” Sullivan replied, voice curt. That was the story Celia had said to give, but...but she flinched when I told her my family never knew about the marriage. He hadn’t told them because talking about Celia had just hurt too much.
From the corner of his eye, he saw the swift glance that Mac gave him, but his brother didn’t call him a liar.
“And why is your client...I mean, our client,” Brodie amended, “walking around the ranch on her own?”
“Because Celia needed a safe place to crash,” Mac quickly told him. “And we knew she’d be safe here.”
Unable to help himself, Sullivan’s gaze once more sought out Celia. The sun was hitting her red hair, bringing out the fire there. She was so achingly beautiful to him. Even more than she’d been years before.
Would he ever look at her and not crave?
No.
Sullivan cleared his throat and tried to focus on his brothers. “I’ve got news on our mother.”
“The rest of the family is waiting inside,” Brodie said. “I gathered them all when I got the call from Mac.”
Davis was silent. Silent and staring after Celia. There was curiosity in his expression and...suspicion.
“You got a problem?” Sullivan snapped at his brother.
Davis slowly turned his head toward Sullivan. “She seems familiar to me.”
“I don’t know why she would. I doubt you’ve ever met.” But...uncertainty stirred though him. Many SAD operatives came from military backgrounds. Only Mac knew that he’d committed to that unit. Secrecy had been required, but...
What if Davis was involved with SAD, too? What if Sullivan wasn’t the only one keeping secrets?
“Ava and the others are waiting inside,” Brodie said. “Don’t you think they’ve waited long enough?”
Sullivan nodded and climbed up the steps. But at the threshold to the ranch house, he hesitated and glanced over his shoulder. Celia had paced toward the bluff. The wind tossed her hair.
I have waited long enough for the thing I want most.
* * *
CELIA PULLED OUT her burner phone. She dialed the contact number for her ex-boss, her fingers moving quickly, without hesitation. She’d have to make the call quick because she knew exactly what sort of technology was out there. She couldn’t risk someone triangulating the signal from the phone and coming after her.
But she also needed answers.
The phone was answered on the second ring.
“You’ve got the wrong number,” a gruff voice said instantly.
“No,” she replied, “I don’t.”
“Celia?”
“Hello, Ronald.” Ronald Worth had been her supervisor at the agency from the first moment she walked through those gleaming doors. He’d weathered many storms with her and she’d certainly never expected this, not from him. “Want to tell me why I’m on the kill list?”
“Celia, where are you?” A heated intensity filled his words. She could picture him in her mind. He’d be in his office, hunched behind his desk, his brow furrowed as he stroked his chin.
“I’m on the run—where else would I be? I mean, when another agent comes gunning for me, it certainly becomes obvious that I’m not exactly on the team’s roster any longer.”
And if she was being targeted by her own agency, there was only one man who could have ordered that hit. The man she was speaking with right now.
“You aren’t on any kill list!” Ronald blasted. “Celia, you said you wanted out, so I started the paperwork for you. New name, new place. You know how the deal works.”
Yes, she did. She also knew how things worked when agents were being eliminated and not retired. “I didn’t sell secrets. I never turned on anyone.”
“Celia, I swear...we aren’t after you!”
“Then why is Porter Vance hunting me?”
Silence.
She only had a few more minutes. There was no time to waste with silence. “I’ve known for a while that something was going on,” she continued, her voice stark. “My computer files were hacked. My home— I could tell when someone had broken in.” And she’d tried to figure out who was after her. But then things had changed... Mac had called her in to help him on the case in North Dakota, and Sulliv
an had come back into her life.
And my life imploded.
“I’m being targeted by my own team. After all my years of sacrifice. After all the work I did for you...why?” She deserved an answer.
“I’m on your side,” Ronald said. “Believe me. Trust me.”
She laughed.
“We have to meet, Celia. There are things going on that you don’t understand. When you hooked up with the McGuires again, you set off a chain reaction...”
“And you knew all about me hooking up with them?” That would explain Porter’s presence at McGuire Securities. Ronald had sent him after her. And Porter had just waited to attack, like the good killer he was.
Is that all any of us are? Good killers?
“I found out something...dammit, I wanted to tell you in person,” Ronald groused. “But you didn’t come back to the office.”
No, she hadn’t. Because she’d realized she was being hunted. In their business, when the Agency turned on you, you ran.
A TV show had been made about an agent who was betrayed by his agency. There was a reason that show had been called Burn Notice. When the agency decided to target you, then you truly were burned.
“You’re still tied to him.”
She had no idea what he meant. “This call is over.”
“No, wait! Listen, listen! You aren’t being targeted by the agency. You’re being targeted because of your connection to Sullivan McGuire.”
She hesitated. It was a trick. It had to be. All signs pointed to the threat coming from the CIA, but...
Maybe Porter was at McGuire Securities because of Sullivan?
No, no, that—
“I didn’t want to say this on the phone, but—you’re still married to him, Celia.”
That wasn’t possible. She’d signed papers. Talked to a judge and—
“The divorce wasn’t legit. You’re still his wife. The man has powerful enemies. You know that. Enemies that would do anything to control him. To stop his investigation into his parents’ murder. They’re trying to send a message to him by hurting you. That’s why you’ve been targeted. That’s why your files were hacked. Yeah, yeah, I found out about all that—not because I’m the one doing it, but because I’m trying to protect you.”