by Lora Leigh
As Noah drove to their destination, Jordan let his fingers play with the curls that cascaded over the arm wrapped around her shoulders.
He’d managed to get a painkiller in her by lying and telling her it was an antibiotic. The dosage had been more than enough to knock her out and force her to rest during the drive. There wasn’t a chance in hell she would have taken it otherwise. Tehya detested taking pills for any reason. Even the brutal headaches she often suffered were simply dealt with rather than drugging up, as she called it.
She would be madder than hell once she awoke, though. The last time he had slipped a painkiller into her, she had suffered from a brutal headache that lasted more than a week. That last day he’d gone to her suite to check on her and found her nearly incoherent with pain. At that point he had simply had enough.
But she had awakened without a headache. She’d been mad enough to throw a glass at his head, but she had been refreshed and clear-eyed rather than weeping in pain. It was a choice he made easily. Especially this time. What he saw in her eyes made him insane. He had to find a way to force her to rest.
Force her to close those haunted emerald eyes and ease the pain that filled them. Force the ragged, uneven breaths that were holding back sobs to even out.
She was breaking his heart.
From the moment those wide eyes had met his as they realized someone was attempting to gain entrance into the house, they had shattered with the knowledge that her security was being stolen.
Knowing she had been found, knowing someone was following her, wasn’t nearly as destructive to her as the attack on her home. What they had done to her tonight, Jordan could easily kill over. The men who had violated her home had damaged it so severely, that they might have irreparably damaged the roots she had finally found the courage to put down.
“We’re ten minutes out,” Noah said quietly. “Nik is texting Kell Krieger.”
Jordan gave a brief nod. “I want to get her to the Four Seasons. We can’t layover at the senator’s place. The risk to Kell’s family is too high.”
“We haven’t been followed,” Micah protested irately. “Damn, has Tehya’s lack of confidence in me, fucking affected you too, Commander?” There was no heat in his voice, but there was definitely irritation.
“Would you bet Risa and your children’s lives on it?” Jordan asked him. “Would you take us into your home if you had any other choice?”
Jordan stared into the rearview mirror, watching the former agent’s expression. He knew Micah’s training, and he knew they weren’t being followed. That didn’t mean they couldn’t be tracked.
Micah grimaced. “Four Seasons,” he stated.
“I thought you’d see it my way.” Jordan nodded. “Our only contact with Kell or Senator Stanton will be no more, no less, than required as a close acquaintance and business associate unless we have no other choice. Our first contact will be made at the party tomorrow night.”
“Mikayla has Tehya’s wardrobe nearly completed. She was able to use the sizes from the weekend attire she made for her just before we disbanded.” Nik was proud of his wife, a successful dressmaker whose name was increasingly being shared among the elite as “unique” and a “must-have” when it came to their social attire. Fortunately, with the additional seamstresses she’d hired, she was able to get the dresses Tehya would require completed quickly.
Jordan gave a short nod as he forced himself not to hold Tehya too close. He wanted to pull her close enough that she melded with his flesh. That he could heal her pain simply by wishing it done. Damn, he couldn’t bear what he knew tonight had done to her.
“Stanton and Krieger are going to require updates as well as mission planning,” Noah said quietly. “Arranging that could be difficult if we’re going on acquaintance only and using your real identity.”
Jordan gave a shake of his head. “We’ll invite them to lunch at the Four Seasons to discuss various business concerns Kell and I share. We can take care of everything there.”
“We’ll need to come up with explanations for our presence as well,” Noah reminded him.
“We weren’t expecting this, and you didn’t plan for it.” There was an edge of smugness in Noah’s tone.
“Don’t bet on it,” Jordan snorted. “When we arrive at the Four Seasons, contact John and Travis; they’re already there and you’ll find our suites are waiting for us.”
Nik chuckled lightly. “Haven’t you given up trying to catch him without a plan, Noah?”
Noah snorted. “Not in this lifetime. One of these days, I’ll catch him, though.”
Jordan’s lips quirked at his nephew’s response, but Noah wasn’t kidding. He’d been trying to catch Jordan without a plan for as long as he’d been walking. Thankfully he just hadn’t been around to see the effects when Jordan overlooked an angle. There was a reason he was so fucking careful.
“I wouldn’t bet on that,” Micah chuckled. “Hell, you’re just like him, Noah. We all are since working with him. One of these days it will be our kids trying to catch us without a plan.”
Noah and Nik both responded with amused groans, but Jordan couldn’t regret the training he’d drilled into them for so many years. Even Tehya hadn’t escaped, and the proof that she had listened lay in the carefully packed emergency bag she’d had ready when it came time to run.
Just as Noah had proved himself when he contacted a nearby retired Special Forces commander and two of his men to move into the apartment over his garage and watch over his home and family on the small rise next to it. And the others had made arrangements for their families as well. Just in case.
“Make sure the men we hired to cover Grandpop, Sabella, and Grant are in place,” Jordan told his nephew. “I don’t expect trouble there, but I’d rather be safe than sorry once we begin flushing out whoever is giving the orders here.” Contingency plans, back up positions. He was accused often of being a paranoid son of a bitch, but that was preferable to the alternative.
“We’re moving up on the Four Seasons,” Micah said as he maneuvered the Hummer through the streets toward the exclusive hotel.
“Contacting John and Travis,” Nik announced, his harsh voice darker, deeper than normal as he glanced back at Tehya sleeping in Jordan’s arms.
She was like the kid sister of the unit, Jordan knew. During the months they had been out of touch with her, they had tried to maintain their distance, believing it was what she wanted.
None of them had ever imagined that Killian had used the time he had been at the base, before the group had disbanded, to reprogram her phone.
The satellite phone and the Viper had been “gifts” from the Ops that would allow them to always be in contact with her. Just in case their identities were cracked or the team were somehow threatened.
“Travis and John are taking care of camera surveillance at the hotel while Lilly and Bailey are running interference,” Nik reported as he held his phone to his ear. “We’ll pull up to the rear entrance where Lilly and Bailey will get you to the suite without being seen. Micah, Noah, and I will take care of the Hummer and collect another secured vehicle.”
Jordan gave a tight nod before maneuvering Tehya carefully in his arms, wincing at her mumbled moan.
The small, drowsy whimper pierced his heart. The painkiller he had given her was a powerful one and still, the pain had slipped past it enough to pull a low cry from her as he moved her.
“In ten, Jordan,” Micah advised him. “Ten, nine, eight…”
At one, the vehicle slowed to a crawl as Jordan pushed the door open and stepped from the vehicle with Tehya in his arms.
Lilly Harrington Caine, Travis’ wife, was at the door, swinging it open as Jordan rushed past her. Just inside, John Vincent’s wife, Bailey Seaborne, a former C.I.A. agent waited patiently.
“We have twenty seconds on surveillance interference,” Bailey told him quietly. “We’re using the staff elevator.”
They stepped inside the open elevator as Lilly fo
llowed then quickly inserted an electronic key, overrode the normal controls, and hit the button for the top floor.
“You have the Presidential,” Bailey told him. “John checked you in night before last. Micah, Nik and Noah have the attached suites on each side. We’ve received the intel on the attack on the house via Commander Reece and we’ll have that to you as soon as John and Travis return.”
“Reece?” Jordan questioned roughly as he shot her a furious look. “And how the hell did he get anything on it, let alone intel?”
Bailey gave a brief shake of her dark head. “I have no idea. But he was in contact with your backup team within seconds of them going in and coordinated satellite and strike intel with them. He wants contact ASAP and he’s questioning his exclusion from the Op.”
“Fuck him,” Jordan muttered as the elevator slid to a halt.
“This way.” Lilly, moved quickly along the thickly carpeted hall to the open double doors of the suite just above the elevator hallway entrance.
She closed the door as he stepped quickly inside the room and headed to the bedroom at the far end of the suite.
“A physician has been contacted,” Lilly informed him. “He’ll be here within the hour and slipped in as well.”
Jordan stepped into the bedroom and headed for the large bed across the room
Cloud soft, gleaming white, the comforter had been stripped back to reveal a protective covering that had been placed to keep the blood from the silk sheets below.
Laying Tehya on the bed carefully, Jordan drew the serviceable sheet at the side over her.
“She’s sedated,” he told Lilly as she stood at the end of the bed, her dark, moss-green gaze concerned as she watched Jordan lay Tehya down carefully. “It’s only a flesh wound, but…” He wiped his hand over his face. How the hell was he supposed to tell her that he just couldn’t bear to see the pain in Tehya’s eyes any longer?
He was a hardened soldier, but Tehya just did thing to his heart.
“But she breaks your heart when you have to look in her eyes and see the shattered dreams,” Lilly stated softy, her aristocratic face drawn into an expression of concern and sympathy. “I completely understand why you would sedate her Jordan. It’s likely the only way she would have slept.
“Is everyone aware of what she does to me?” he smiled with an edge of self mockery. “And here I thought I was hiding it.”
Lilly’s smile was gentle, soft. “Everyone but Tehya, I would guess,” she said. “And I believe she has a problem seeing beyond her perceived beliefs of why she isn’t good enough for you to see the truth of what you do feel. Besides, being Sorrel’s daughter is a tremendous burden to her. She’s terrified it will become a burden for you as well.”
Jordan shot her a sharp look.
“She knows being Sorrel’s daughter isn’t something I give a damn about.” He shook his head faintly. “There has to be another reason why she was so determined run.”
Lilly gave a bitter snort of laughter. “No, Jordan, trust me, once you accept that you came from pure evil, getting past it is never easy. If I hadn’t had Travis to keep me centered when I learned that lesson, I might not have survived.”
Lilly had been forced to face the fact that her own mother had considered her flawed, broken. And that she had carefully planned her own daughter’s murder.
“Contact Travis and John, make certain everything is going as planned,” he ordered her as he looked around the room, searching for anything that would indicate a problem. “And tell him I want the Intel Reece provided, ASAP.”
Lilly had begun to give a quick nod when Bailey stepped into the room.
“John and Travis are here,” she told Jordan. “The doctor’s ETA is twenty minutes. He’s being met by Nik, Micah, and Noah. They’ll escort him through the rear entrance and up here.”
Jordan glanced down at Tehya, hating like hell to leave her alone.
“Go, I’ll sit with her,” Lilly told him as she moved to the comfortable recliner next to the bed, and smiled back at him. “I promise, she’ll be fine with me.”
He knew she would be, and it wasn’t as though Tehya’s problem was life-threatening. Still, pulling away from her and stalking into the main portion of the suite was nearly impossible.
When she awoke, she would be groggy and pissed the hell off. And strangely enough, he wanted to ensure he was the one with her. The only one to watch out for her until she was feeling herself again.
As he stepped into the combined living and dining room, John and Travis turned from their discussion, their gazes flickering in concern to the open bedroom door.
“She’s still asleep,” he answered the unspoken question in their eyes. “Fuck, I knew it would happen, I just didn’t expect it so soon.” Travis raked his fingers through his dark blond hair in frustration. Jordan almost wished he could just tone down whatever he was feeling to that level as well.
“Always plan for the worst,” Jordan sighed. “Though to be honest, I didn’t expect it to happen this quickly myself.”
“The backup team we were lucky enough to have in place in Hagerstown did manage to get a few prints,” John injected. “As soon as we have a hit on those from our contact at the FBI, maybe we’ll have a better idea who or what we’re looking for.”
“Remnants of Sorrel’s organization,” Jordan informed them. “I’m almost certain of it. I just can’t figure out why, after all these years. What kind of threat does she represent that has someone going to the trouble, not to mention the expense, of launching such a search and attempted capture of her?”
As Jordan spoke, Travis shot John a hard look.
John grimaced at the obvious message in the other man’s gaze.
“I know you wanted Killian excluded from this,” he said as he reached to the table for the heavy file. “A courier dropped this off about half an hour before your arrival. Evidently there has been some movement over the past few years to reorganize and revive Sorrel’s operation.”
“By who? And why do they need Tehya to do this?” Son of a bitch.
Tehya was right. Somehow Sorrel was reaching out from the grave to haunt her.
“According to the information Killian has managed to pull together, whoever’s behind it believes Tehya is a key to the funding the operation.” John moved to the table and pulled out the chair in the front of the file.
Casting a quick glance to the bedroom door, Jordan followed.
“Here’s the will Tehya’s grandfather, Bernard Taite, left before his death.” A stack of legal papers was pulled from the file. “According to this, if Francis Taite, or one of her children, were ever found, then their inheritance would be incredible. The Taite main estate, which is currently occupied by his brother, Stephen Taite, and his family, would be immediately turned over to the heir. That includes two large estate homes, four guest cottages, various cars, limos, servants, jewels, you get the picture.” John waved his hand to the will.
“The Taites are one of the richest families in France,” Travis picked up. “They’re related to both the French and English crowns, with Stephen Taite holding the position of not just the third cousin to the king but also included on his board of advisors.”
“How much would Taite industries pay to have their heir back?” John asked. “Better yet, how much would any or all of them pay to see her disappear forever?”
“How much would she be worth if she could be brainwashed to obey the whims of her captors instead, if they had managed to capture her that night?”
The sun was rising beyond the narrow slit of the heavy curtains across from the table.
Travis sat back and stared at the will for long moments.
“As the legal heir to the Benard Taites fortune, the amount would be more than I want to sit and figure up for them.”
Neither did Jordan, but the amount would be enough to make any man risk the attempt.
“Any word in there concerning who contacted Arthur and Tenneyson concerning the true de
tails of Tehya’s death?”
John picked up the papers in the file and rifled through them for a moment before pulling the printed report free.
Jordan accepted the page, his gaze moving to read the detailed report, as a frown pulled at his brow.
“Origination, Hagerstown, Maryland,” he murmured, then looked at each man. “Did you track the number?”
“The number went back to here.” Travis pulled the report free.
The number had originated from Room 714 of one of the better hotels in town.
“At the same time, Tehya was registered there while she was having interior work done on the house.”
“The caller didn’t reveal her location, though why he bothered to keep it quiet made no sense,” John grunted. “Because they revealed her name.”
“Be too helpful and you can sabotage yourself,” Jordan pointed out. “The caller gave just enough information to ensure the story was checked.” He tapped his finger against the file. “How did Killian acquire the information?”
“He sent a four-man team to Afghanistan after you discussed returning Tehya to base. He asked that you contact him concerning that, by the way,” Travis stated mockingly.
Jordan gave a quiet snarl of disgust.
“Yeah, that’s what we thought, too,” John approved. “But he had a team still working this. They’re currently in France attempting to put together a list of known associates for Ira Arthurs and Mark Tenneyson. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
Jordan shook his head before leaning back in the chair and glaring at the curtains covering the windows across from him.
Some habits were impossible to break. He still kept the blinds pulled securely in his apartment in Texas. He had noticed, though, that Tehya kept the curtains over the kitchen sink open. She had been attempting to break the habit.
“You won’t find the person behind this on any list,” he finally told the other two men. “If Arthurs, Tenneyson, or anyone else sent after her knew who they were working for, then their name would have already shown up.”
John’s muttered curse just about summed it up.
“Travis, pull together our contacts in France,” Jordan ordered. “What I want to know is, who among the elite moneyed set had ties to Sorrel that weren’t found until after his death. Anyone related to him who would have the means to pull this off, or anyone among his social set who could reorganize the business or revive it. I’m betting we’d find the name on that list.”