by Cynthia Eden
His gaze slid from Mac to Davis. “About all of you. They taunted me. Said that they’d take me out with a bullet at the end, just the way my parents had gone out. But first, they wanted information. Intel on covert missions I’d worked, that you’d all worked. They planned to use me in order to get to all of you.”
Davis sighed. “And you thought Celia was the one who’d served you up to them.”
“She was supposed to be on that plane with me, but at the last minute the plans were altered. Instead of traveling over with me then, she was coming two days later.” Though now he was so grateful for that change. Because if she’d been taken, too...would Celia be dead? “And the other agents—the ones who’d turned—they’d been working with her far longer than I had. She was close to them. They told me...my captors said everything she’d done was part of a setup. Even marrying me was just a ruse so that I’d trust her and be ready to follow any order she gave. Like a lamb to the slaughter.”
“And you believed them?” Davis asked quietly.
“Not at first. But when you go days without food or water and the jerks start slicing you open and they keep playing videos...recordings of Celia talking about her plans... Hell, at first, I knew those recordings had to be fake. I knew it. I knew her!” His hands had fisted. “But I went a little crazy after a while. When I was sure no one was coming for me, it got harder to think straight. I was so angry. At the captors. At myself. I wasn’t going to turn, no matter what they said, so I had to use that rage to help me stay alive.”
Mac rose and came toward him. “You know that’s part of the interrogation techniques they use. They want to break you down. Because when you give up your hope, you have nothing left.”
Celia was my hope. “I needed her too much,” he said again. “I realized that in the pit. The way I felt for her—it scared even me. I didn’t think it was normal. I wasn’t normal. And when I got out, I still had so much anger in me.” Now he would confess his darkest shame. “I was afraid I’d hurt her. I had to send her away from me.”
“What?” Davis demanded, voice sharp. “Sullivan, hell, no, you—”
“You didn’t see me back then. I stayed away. I thought...” He swallowed the lump in his throat. “I thought they’d succeeded, you see. That they had broken my mind. I was too dark. Too dangerous. The way I felt about Celia...it wasn’t safe for me to be near her.” Because love could become a dark and twisted obsession. And if he’d ever hurt her...
“Post-traumatic stress,” Mac said. “Damn, man, I didn’t know it had gotten that bad. You should have told me...”
More like post-traumatic hell. “I crawled my way back.” Moment by moment. “But yeah, Davis, to get back to what you said before about me calling for her... I talk in my sleep. I call out for her. I have night terrors and flashbacks and sometimes I wonder if it will ever end.” He drew in a shuddering breath. “But I’ve tried living without her, and it sucks.” No other way to describe it. “The need is still there. The yearning for her. Only her. I thought it would go away. It didn’t. But I have control back. I’m not going to that dark place, ever again. I can be the man she needs.”
Mac locked his hand around Sullivan’s shoulder. “You should have told me this stuff.”
“We all were going through enough...with our parents and Ava.” For a while, he’d worried that Ava might hurt herself, too. She’d been in so much pain. “I was just trying to make it through the days and nights.” His brothers had said they’d seen him withdrawing. It had been true. He’d had to withdraw in order to survive.
Sullivan shook his head. “That’s it. My screwed-up, twisted past.” He inclined his head toward a watchful Davis. “I want to be better, for her. I want to be the man she deserves now. She came to me for help, and you can damn well bet that is exactly what I’ll give her.” He’d give her everything he had.
“So you trust her...completely?”
“Yes.” Said with no hesitation. “So even if your contact—”
“Monroe said that he’d only trust a few people to watch his back, and Celia would be at the top of his list.”
Sullivan nodded. “And does he know who is after her? Have they recently worked any missions that put a target on her?”
Mac’s hand tightened on his shoulder. “Celia didn’t tell you that?”
“Celia hasn’t told me much at all about her work with the government.” Probably because she was protecting the other agents. “She just said she was getting out.”
Davis sighed. “If we’re going to help her, she’ll have to open up about her past, too. You think she’ll do that?”
He wasn’t sure. And he wasn’t going to push her too hard. “She’ll share what she can.” To him, it was as simple as that. “She’ll—”
His phone rang. Frowning, Sullivan pulled the phone from his back pocket. Unknown caller. He started to just ignore the call, but a tightness in his gut made him answer. “Sullivan.”
“McGuire...” a man’s voice drawled. “The deadly ex-marine. It’s been too long.”
“Who in the hell is this?”
“You aren’t doing Celia any favors by staying close to her.”
He listened carefully to the caller’s voice. Arrogant tone. Faint drawl.
“Do you remember me?” the voice pushed. “Once upon a time, you worked under my command.”
The voice finally clicked for him. “Ronald Worth.”
He saw surprise flash on Davis’s face.
“Celia wouldn’t listen to reason, so I hope you will,” Ronald said.
It was no surprise that the guy had managed to get his number. The fellow no doubt had plenty of strings he could pull. Accessing a private number would be all too easy for a man like him.
“We need to meet,” Ronald said bluntly. “Just the two of us. There’s a lot you don’t know about, and I don’t exactly feel comfortable sharing over the phone.”
“Because you think someone could be listening in?”
Ronald laughed. “I don’t trust anyone these days. Friends can turn on you in a blink. So can family. But that’s a lesson you already learned, isn’t it?”
His brothers moved closer as Sullivan swiped the button on his phone to turn on the speaker. “Why do you just want to meet with me?” Sullivan asked. “Why not Celia?”
“Celia has already thrown away her career for you,” Ronald said. “Do you really want her to lose her life, too?”
His fingers tightened around that phone. “Did you just threaten her?”
“No, son, I’m the one working desperately to keep her safe. She’s got hunters on her trail because she doesn’t have agency protection any longer, not officially. What she has...that’s me. That woman has been like a daughter to me, and the last thing I want is to see her dead.”
“That’s the last thing I want, too.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have pushed her to go digging into the past.”
Sullivan frowned at that response. He hadn’t asked Celia to—
“Now the target isn’t just on the McGuires. It’s on her.”
Suspicion gnawed at Sullivan’s gut. There was just something about the guy’s voice. “You know who killed our parents, don’t you?”
“I know you shouldn’t have pulled Celia into this mess.”
“You bastard...” Had that man known the truth all along? “Tell me.”
Fury was marked on Davis’s face, too, a fury that matched Sullivan’s. If Ronald Worth knew who’d killed their parents, why would he have kept silent for so long? Why not come forward?
“You have no idea the players who are involved in this game,” Ronald stated flatly.
“It’s not a game. It’s our lives.”
More laughter. “You think that by keeping Celia at the ranch, you’re keeping her safe?”
Ice slid through Sullivan’s veins. “How do you know I’m at the ranch?” But hell... “You triangulated the signal, didn’t you? Is that why you called? To find out where I was?�
� And he’d just given up the fact that Celia was with him. He should have known—
“I’m not the threat,” Ronald snapped. “I’m the one trying to help. Now if you want to learn more, you’ll meet me. Just you. Slip away and leave Celia with your brothers. They can keep guard. Come to see me, and I’ll tell you everything I know.”
“You’ll tell me who’s after Celia?”
“I’ll tell you the names of the men who killed your parents.”
Go, Davis mouthed.
Mac nodded grimly.
“Where?” A flat demand from Sullivan.
Ronald rattled off the address.
And that ice just got thicker in Sullivan’s veins. “You’re already down in Austin?” Where another ex-agent had been killed just hours before? No way was that a coincidence.
“I’ve been trailing Celia. I lost contact with her after she left North Dakota. She has to come in, before it’s too late.”
Sullivan was starting to think it already was too late.
“Can you meet me in two hours?” Ronald pressed.
“Yeah, I’ll be there.”
“Good. Remember, come alone. You’re not going to want anyone else to hear this...”
Did the guy think he was a fool?
The call ended.
Sullivan stared at his brothers.
“All right...” Mac sighed. “So what’s our plan of attack?”
Chapter Seven
She was alone in the bed. Celia knew she was alone even before she cracked open her eyes. She felt cold, and she knew that Sullivan had left her.
Slowly, she stretched, aware of a few aches and pains in all the right places. She was naked and the sheet slid over her skin as she sat up. The sun still shone brightly through the window, so she knew a lot of time hadn’t passed.
I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I never fall asleep that way...not with someone so close to me.
But she’d felt safe in Sullivan’s arms, and it had seemed so very natural to just close her eyes and drift away.
And just where had Sullivan drifted away to? She rose from the bed, pulling the sheet with her. “Sullivan?” Celia called, but he didn’t answer her, and it only took a few moments to realize that he’d left the guesthouse. Pursing her lips, she went back to the bedroom. She eyed her clothes, scattered on the floor, then moved to the closet. A search through the boxes in there revealed some old jeans and a T-shirt. Very close to her size, a little too tight in the rear, but they’d work. She figured the clothes must belong to Ava or Jamie.
Now to find some shoes...
A few minutes later, she’d pulled a pair of tennis shoes out from beneath the bed. Those shoes would be so much better than her heels. She’d have to remember to thank those ladies later for the items they’d left behind.
Dressed, she hurried toward the front of the guesthouse. She’d go out, find Sullivan and then...then she had to figure out her next step. She certainly wasn’t going to sit back and hide at the ranch. Hiding wasn’t her style. Never had been. She’d contact Ronald again and figure out if he was telling the truth about the agency. Maybe...could another traitor have infiltrated their unit? The same way a traitor had gotten inside when Sullivan was taken before?
It was possible, even with all the vigorous screenings that were in place. Some people were so very good at lying.
She opened the door. Hurried outside. She’d turned toward the main house when she saw Sullivan and Mac heading in the direction of the cars. For an instant, she stilled.
No, he wasn’t just planning to leave without telling her. Was he?
But Sullivan didn’t glance her way. He jumped into the car, his movements too quick and tense. Mac followed, riding shotgun.
Those men needed to think again. She wasn’t the left-behind type.
Her pace picked up until she was nearly running. Her instincts were screaming at her.
Sullivan cranked the car.
Oh, no, you don’t.
She put herself in front of the vehicle, blocking his path.
Instantly, the engine died and Sullivan jumped from the car. “Celia!” Her name sounded like an angry snarl. Funny, earlier it had sounded like a caress. But that had been when they were in bed together, and obviously those moments had been fleeting. “What in the hell are you doing?” he asked.
“Getting your attention,” she answered immediately as she braced her legs apart. “You didn’t seem to notice my approach, so before you went roaring out of here, I thought I’d stop you.”
“You jumped in front of the car!”
She smiled at him. “There was no jumping. Just stepping.”
“I could have run over you!”
“No.”
He gaped at her.
She glared back. “Where are you going?”
Sullivan glanced over his shoulder, looking toward Mac. Mac had climbed out of the car and was watching them with a tense expression.
“I have a meeting,” Sullivan said, his voice still gruff. “It shouldn’t take too long. I didn’t want to disturb you, because I knew you had to be dead on your feet.”
As if he wasn’t? “Who’s this meeting with?”
His lips thinned. A total sign he didn’t want to tell her.
“Sullivan?” she prompted.
His hands curled around her shoulders.
As if a little touch from him was going to distract her. “No secrets, remember?”
He swallowed and his Adam’s apple clicked. “I remember.”
And that’s why you were trying to sneak away? The guy had a whole lot to learn about not keeping secrets.
“I was told to come alone,” he said.
Mac was shotgun. That hardly qualified as alone. She lifted one eyebrow and tried not to tap her foot as she waited.
“Ronald Worth.”
Her jaw almost dropped. “My boss? You’re going to meet my boss?” Or rather, her ex-boss. Celia’s stomach knotted. “Why?” And why wouldn’t she be included in that meeting?
“Because he knows who killed my parents. The guy called me. Set up a meeting.” He looked at his watch. “I’m supposed to be there—alone—in the next hour.”
This wasn’t right. And it was making zero sense to her. “How would he know who killed your parents?” When she’d first started digging into Sullivan’s past, it had been Ronald who told her there was nothing to find. He’d been the one to say she had to stay out of that old investigation.
Not our area. He’d said that curtly. And yes, she knew the CIA didn’t normally get involved in domestic situations—their targets were more internationally focused, and the Special Activities Division had certainly been targeting international groups who were hostile to the US. So much counterterrorism work had been going on with her unit, but...
But I know how the government works. One agency scratches the back of another. She’d wanted to pull in help from other agencies to unravel the mystery of the McGuire murders.
Ronald hadn’t helped her. In fact, he’d ordered her to stand down. Only now he was calling up Sullivan? She didn’t like that setup. Not at all.
“He gave me the meeting location,” Sullivan said. She realized he hadn’t answered her question. Probably because he didn’t have an answer for her. “The guy is down here, in Austin. Did you know that?”
No, she didn’t. “I don’t trust him.” It hurt to say those words, but they were the truth. “He shouldn’t have contacted you.”
“He said you wouldn’t listen. That he’d tried to warn you, but you kept digging.” Sullivan tilted his head as he studied her. “You were digging for me, weren’t you?”
Obviously. “You needed closure. It was the only thing you ever seemed to really want—the truth about your parents.”
He shook his head. “That’s not all I want.”
Her gaze slid to Mac, then back to Sullivan. “Why weren’t you taking me with you?”
“Because I don’t trust the guy, either. I think it’s some kind
of trap. Maybe a straight setup. And I didn’t want you put at risk.”
She didn’t deny that it could be a trap. With Porter dead and Ronald already on the scene, suspicion was heavy within her.
“Mac will watch my back,” Sullivan said. “He’ll be there to—”
“Ronald never goes into the field alone. He always has backup, too.” Only she was usually that backup. Until she’d started branching out more in the last year. Making her plan to leave the agency behind. “You need me.”
“I need you safe.”
She shook her head. “I’m not the type to sit on the sidelines. You know that about me.”
“Yes.”
Resolutely, Celia nodded. “Then it’s settled. Mac and I will both be your backup.”
He didn’t move.
So she just went around him and headed for the back of the vehicle. But before she could reach for the door, he’d raced after her. Sullivan caught her wrist in his hand. “I’m fine with any risk that comes my way,” Sullivan said gruffly. “But I am not fine with risking you.”
Sweet. But... “I’m not yours to risk, Sully. I’m my own person. I make my own decisions.”
“You were hunting to find the truth about my parents—that’s what put the target on your back, Celia. That’s what Ronald said. I did this to you.”
“Have you noticed,” she murmured, “that you and I play the blame game? I thought it was my fault you were taken, that I should have seen the enemy sooner. And now you... You’re trying to put any threat I face on your own shoulders.” She shook her head. “We’ve got to stop that. Let go. Bad things happen in this world.” She could hate them. She could rage against them, but they happened. “Maybe we should just focus on stopping those bad things now.”
He didn’t let her go. “I don’t want anything bad happening to you.”
She stepped closer to him. Her body brushed against his. “Then maybe you should watch my back while I watch yours.” Because she wasn’t letting him go out to this meeting without her. She knew Ronald. She’d seen him in the field plenty of times.