by Lora Leigh
“You should see yourself,” her mother sneered. “You’re at the edge of violence and unable to control yourself in the least. I’ll be damned if I let you destroy yourself or the Harrington name further.”
“That’s enough, Angelica.” Lilly swung around to face her uncle as he glared at her mother, the battle of wills heating the foyer with tension.
“You know it’s the truth as well as I, Desmond,” Angelica snapped. “Harold spoiled her atrociously. She believes she can do whatever she chooses now and embarrass her family. She’s not some common little whore ripping around the countryside. She’s related to the Queen, for God’s sake.”
“I’m sure the Queen really doesn’t give a damn what I’m doing at this moment or any other,” Lilly snapped back. “I do know I’ve had enough of this conversation.”
Turning from her uncle and her mother, Lilly headed for the winding staircase.
“Dr. Ridgemore will be here tomorrow to speak with you.” Her mother’s words had her freezing in her tracks. “Please try to look presentable, if you don’t mind.”
Lilly turned and looked at her uncle. “Are you going to allow this, Uncle Desmond?”
His expression was filled with disbelief as he stared at Angelica. “Hell no, I won’t allow it.” He glared back at his wife.
“You think you’re the only one who has the right to make a decision here.” Angelica’s head lifted arrogantly. “Jared can overrule you, Desmond, as you are not her legal father, and I promise you, he will.”
Jared. Her brother. Oh God, the brother she had known and loved all those years ago would have never allowed her mother to do something so heinous.
“We’ll see about that,” Desmond said. “I’ll call Ridgemore myself, Angelica. You don’t have the power to stand against me on this.”
Angelica was nearly shaking with rage as Lilly quickly moved up the stairs. Her voice lifted furiously.
“You think I have no power? Do you believe I will spend my life arguing with you over that child’s destructive tendencies? I’ll be damned if I will. She will learn to behave like a lady once and for all. Nothing else will be acceptable.”
Lilly knew she had to get out of here.
She hurried to her bedroom and the large walk-in closet. There, she jerked the hidden backpack from inside one of the heavy pieces of luggage she had stored it in and threw it to the side. Pulling a change of clothes from the racks, she quickly dressed in jeans, a T-shirt, and hiking boots. She threw a light leather jacket over the backpack, slung the strap over her shoulder, then went quickly to the balcony.
Within seconds she was over the railing and hurrying toward the garage. But rather than enter the cavernous parking area, she moved past it, sprinted into the heavy foliage surrounding the stone wall, and within minutes was jumping lithely to the sidewalk beyond.
She had no idea what the hell was going on, but one thing was certain—she had seen too many of her former friends become casualties to their parents’ determination to force them into a certain mold. They had married men they hated because of the threat of disinheritance or worse. They had turned away jobs, turned away friends.
Nowadays such enforced confinement was supposed to be illegal. Yet it wasn’t. Lawyers and doctors conspired with parents. They drugged, rehabilitated, and mercilessly berated young women, and sometimes men, until they did as they were ordered. Until they became robots no longer searching for happiness but seeking only to stay out of that brutal, medicated environment.
Fear sent a chill of horror racing up her spine at the thought. She had to get away. She had no vehicle, and it would take forever for a cab to arrive.
Before she knew what she was doing she dialed a number. She stared at the phone, listening to it ring. Who the fuck was she calling?
“Where are you?” The young feminine voice was cautious.
Lilly gave her the location quickly.
“Get out of sight. I have a tracking beacon on your cell phone, leave it active. Someone will be there soon. Disconnect now.”
The line went dead.
Lilly flipped the phone closed before ducking behind a stone fence, using the hedge that bordered a vacant property for cover. And she waited.
She glanced at the phone and the number she had dialed. She had no idea who it was, but she recognized the voice on the other end. It was familiar. It was someone she could trust. She hoped.
God, where was Travis?
She tried his cell phone number again. His house number. Voice mail was the only option she was given.
“Travis. Help me,” she whispered into the phone.
She had no idea who was coming for her or how much they could be trusted. All she knew was that at this point, she would prefer to fight her way free of terrorists than to go against her mother and Dr. Ridgemore.
Cynthia Danure, the stepdaughter of one of her mother’s friends, had told Lilly years ago exactly how she herself had ended up under Dr. Ridgemore’s care. How her mother had assured her he was just there to talk to her. He had come with several assistants and a medical van. Cynthia had been taken away sedated and hadn’t returned for six months. By then, the young man she had been in love with had been framed for stealing and incarcerated in a prison for two years.
The young man had been bright, with big dreams and a will to see them through, but he’d been unfortunate enough to be stubborn. He’d gone looking for Cynthia, certain his lover wouldn’t simply run away.
Lilly wouldn’t be caught in that trap. She had no idea how firmly Desmond would stand up to her mother, or whether her mother was right when she said that Desmond couldn’t stop her. She knew she was being betrayed by her mother and her brother. Whatever they were after, whatever they had in mind for her, it was definitely something she couldn’t survive. Something she wouldn’t allow.
The phone rang. The display showed the number she had dialed nearly twenty minutes before.
“There’s a white Ford Taurus pulling around, Lilly,” the voice on the other end informed her. “Get in the car.”
She waited until the Taurus eased in closer, then stepped from behind the bushes and ran for the passenger door. The car didn’t stop. The door flew open, though, and Lilly jumped inside, slamming the door closed as the vehicle accelerated.
“Well, it’s bloody damned time you remembered us, bitch.” The bright smile, dark brown eyes, and easy affection on the other woman’s face at least gave her a measure of hope that she hadn’t stepped from the frying pan into the fire.
Lilly sighed heavily. “I’m going to assume I know you. And I’ll assume I’ve not just fried my ass by calling. But could you please at least give me your name?”
The other woman’s wide, almond-shaped eyes became wider, gleaming with concern as she shot Lilly a quick look.
“Raisa McTavish,” she introduced herself. “Code name Raven. We’ve been waiting for your call. I assumed all your memories had returned when you contacted Shea.”
Lilly shook her head before checking behind them quickly.
“We’re not being followed,” Raisa assured her. “Besides, Nissa is behind us a fair ways to ensure no one even tries. So, what made you desperate enough to remember the number if you haven’t remembered us yet?”
Lilly pressed her fingers to her forehead and fought the pain building there. “I have no clue. I haven’t been able to contact Travis and things were getting a bit insane in the Harrington household.”
Raisa gave a light laugh. “Your mother is such a witch. I never understood how a person as compassionate as you actually came from the same genes.”
“Perhaps Father diluted them.” The pain was beginning to build. Lilly had never seen her mother as an evil person until now.
“Well, your father was definitely a hunk,” Raisa purred. “For his age, he was damned fine-looking. It was a shame he died. You once said he taught you most of what you knew.”
“He was a good man.” He would have never betrayed his children. N
ever would he have suggested for a second that Lilly be committed for opposing him, or for seeing Travis. He would have raged, given her the cold shoulder, perhaps disowned her. But something so cruel as to have her placed in an asylum? He would never have done such a thing.
“So what’s the wicked witch of the Thames up to?” Raisa continued good-naturedly. “I imagine she’s screaming bloody raging murder over your association with Travis.”
Lilly shook her head as she swallowed against the pain building in her head. “She’s not raging. She’s trying to have me committed instead.”
Silence filled the car. Several more turns were made before Raisa blew out a hard breath. “Do you remember your cousin Elizabeth? She was committed just after your death.”
Lilly lifted her head and stared back at the other girl, horrified. “Elizabeth was a child.”
“Fourteen when your aunt and Angelica went against her father to have her committed for claiming her brother’s wife had tried to touch her. She was in Ridgemore’s establishment for over a month before you managed to find a way to get in to check on her but you couldn’t get her out. They had her for two years before she was released. She hasn’t been the same since, you told me once. You secretly checked on her often.”
Her cousin Beth? Little Elizabeth, who had been such a gentle, sweet child. A vague disassociated memory eased through her mind then. Little Beth, medicated, staring at Lilly vacantly. How she had wished she could have helped her.
Lilly swallowed back the bile rising in her throat. She shouldn’t be so shocked, she thought. Perhaps a part of her had always known how her mother was. That was why she had been so close to her father. He had protected her against her mother’s rages when she was much younger.
Lilly wanted to wipe the image of Beth out of her mind, but it refused to leave. She had slipped into the clinic and tried to speak to her cousin. She remembered that. She had sat with the girl, whispered her name, and Beth had stared unseeingly at the wall.
When Lilly had turned her face to stare into her pretty brown eyes, a single tear had run down Beth’s cheek.
She had been placed in the clinic because the bitch her brother had married had tried to molest her, and Lilly remembered that she hadn’t doubted it was the truth.
Lilly had known the woman Beth’s brother had married. She had been a perverted little tramp who hid behind polite smiles and innocent protests. She had done as her parents wished to their faces, and behind their backs had lived a life that would have given her father a stroke and her mother a nervous breakdown.
Lilly reached up and rubbed at her head. The headache was growing progressively worse, each new memory, no matter how slight, sending shards of pain ripping through her head.
“Where’s Travis?” she finally forced herself to ask. “I’ve been calling his cell for days.”
“Travis is OTC,” Raisa stated as they pulled into a winding gravel road. “He was called out the other day. He contacted us when he left and we’ve been on watch since. We didn’t expect you to call, though.”
“On watch?” Lilly asked, shaking her head. “Why you? What about the team he’s with?” And she knew there was a team.
Raisa frowned at her. “Do you remember anything?”
She shook her head. “Bits and pieces.”
“Damn. That sucks,” Raisa murmured sympathetically. “That’s okay, darling. You’re back with your sisters now. We’re here to help. And ‘on watch’ means we were watching the house at night, keeping our eyes open for any bad guys that might be coming your way and following up leads on who blew up those lovely cycles Shea souped up for you. She’s rather upset over that. Said she was castrating the bastard who did it the moment she knew who it was. Travis’s team has been watching out for you as well, but Travis knew we wanted to be a part of this.”
A face flashed in her mind. Long blond hair, dark blue eyes, a sad face, a melancholy air. Someone who had been horribly hurt. She had cried once in the dark. She had whispered someone’s name over and over again. Shea. Shea Tamallen.
Lilly shook her head, grimacing at the increased ache in her head. It was becoming agonizing. The pain in her temples was beginning to radiate through the rest of her head.
“Here we are. Home sweet home.” The Taurus pulled up in front of a charming two-story farmhouse. Rosebushes grew along the side of the wraparound porch while tall oaks and pines sheltered the house on three sides.
“Nice,” she whispered, forcing the words past her numb lips.
“Let’s get inside, see what’s up with your mother.” Raisa opened the door and jumped out. “Come on, we have something for that headache too. I know it has to be a bitch—your face is nearly white.”
Lilly stepped slowly from the car.
She knew where she was. She remembered the house. She had been here before. She had hidden here before. It was a safe house, but for what?
“Come on, Night Hawk, let’s get you all better.” Raisa steadied her by gripping her elbow and leading her to the house.
God, she needed Travis. She needed to know what the hell was going on and she needed a sense of balance. She could trust him. She might want to trust the overly cheerful, willful woman leading her to the steps, but she had no idea if she could.
She knew Travis would protect her. Right now, she didn’t have a chance in hell of protecting herself.
The front door opened and two other women stepped out. They all ranged between the ages of twenty-six to perhaps twenty-eight. They stared at her with eyes that were too knowing, too filled with secrets and shadows.
They were her sisters. Not by blood, but by war. And they had a pact.
Travis stepped off the plane to see the black SUV that pulled up on the darkened tarmac. As the vehicle came to a stop, Jordan stepped out of the driver’s side and watched silently as he moved across the distance to the vehicle.
“We have a problem.” Travis threw his pack into the back of the vehicle and turned to face Jordan.
“What kind of a problem?” His stomach was clenched, a sense of foreboding raging through him as he stared back at his commander.
“Lilly’s disappeared. She left the estate twelve hours ago and hasn’t been seen since. Her family is searching for her, but no authorities have been called in as of yet. Santos and Rhiannon are screaming at Command to pull in unit four to find her, and Command is refusing to answer the summons.”
Travis froze. “What do you mean, missing?”
“She walked out of the house and disappeared. The last time she was seen she was arguing with her mother over you. Wild Card was in house at the time and reports Angelica has made arrangements to have Lilly committed to an asylum in the south of France because of her refusal to stop seeing you.”
“Fucking bloody bitch!” Travis quickly circled the vehicle and jumped in on the passenger side as Jordan put it into gear. “Any leads?”
“All we know is that her family hasn’t found her,” Jordan reported. “Things went from bad to worse real fucking fast, Travis. We’ve contacted Senator Stanton but he’s refusing to give us any information on any damned thing. Command is silent. The only response Santos and Rhiannon have had is to take care of their own housecleaning. And I’ll be damned if I like the sound of that.”
“Have you heard from Elite Two?”
Travis needed his cell phone. The sat phone had been damaged just after arriving in England. Lilly would have called.
“MIA,” Jordan responded. “They can’t be found.”
“That’s not unusual.” Travis stared straight ahead, forcing himself to be patient until he could retrieve the cell phone. Lilly would have left a message. He knew she would.
“Give me a break here, Travis,” Jordan grunted. “I’m not Santos. I know how close this unit is to those girls. You know where they are, and I bet you anything they know where Lilly is. Thing is, if she doesn’t contact myself or her commanders soon, if she doesn’t make the right moves, then her mother will have t
he power to get her committed, just as she wants to do. She’s already making arrangements to have the case heard in England. And we both know how that goes.”
“She’ll make contact,” Travis informed him. “I need a cycle and a communications helmet as well as my cell phone. Keep Santos and Rhiannon in the dark until I find out what the hell happened. I don’t want to spook Lilly or the girls.”
Travis shook his head. “The girls are watching her, Jordan. If they had her they would have contacted.”
Jordan shot him a surprised look. “You’re certain?”
“I’m positive.”
There was a chance she had made it to the safe house she owned. He would look there after contacting the girls and learning what they might know. He was praying they were with her.
“Wild Card didn’t follow her when she left?” he asked.
“No one knew she was gone until it was too late.” Jordan shook his head. “We have a serious situation here, Travis. An Elite Op on the run, her memories compromised, her ability to protect herself hindered.” His voice became angrier. “And didn’t I warn those fucking fools this would happen? The minute Lilly stepped out of line, her mother was ready to ship her ass to Ridgemore. Exactly where we can’t risk her being.”
The drugs and advanced shock therapy Ridgemore would use could possibly destroy Lilly. The psychiatric drugs Ridgemore was known for could be disastrous.
It was a problem Jordan had indeed warned Elite Command of. Angelica Harrington’s circle of friends knew only one way to deal with children determined to lead their own lives. That was by enforcing their wishes through restraint and drugs.
It was no damned wonder those same kids were becoming drug addicts, and many of them were eventually taking their own lives.
“I’ll find her.” He would find her, or there would be hell to pay.
CHAPTER 16