by Nana Malone
I still had no idea what she was talking about.
“Let's just pretend I didn't bloody see a thing, okay? For just a minute. I don't even know what I saw. Whatever you think I saw, I didn't. All I want are answers. That's it. Is that so hard?”
“Is that so hard? Do you understand how naive you are? You whine because your parents died. But didn't I give you a family? Didn't I give you a sense of belonging?”
“You did, but I can hardly forget them.”
She laughed again, and it was a brutal sound. “Don’t you understand? I gave you the tools to be great.”
“And I'm appreciative, but tell me the truth.”
“The truth would be a long time coming.”
And then just as I was about to turn, something hit me on the back of the neck, and my vision went black.
* * *
Marcus
My heart thundered in my ribcage. Behind me, Rhodes took out two more.
“Thanks,” I muttered into the comms.
“Been looking out for your arse for a long time.”
“It's a fine arse too.”
He laughed.
“Addie, you're on the front of the house. Move.”
Oh God, oh God, oh, God. Please, please, please. Please do not let this go bad. She'd taken a risk by coming here, but one that she thought was the right one to take. I wasn’t so sure.
Addie came from around the side of the house. “Agents down. One in the corner. No Lyra.”
Then I saw the taillights of a car speeding away. What the hell? Where had the car come from? No one had left the house.
Was it possible there was a tunnel in a place like this? I tapped the comms. “Lyra, come in. Lyra, come in.”
But there was no response.
No. No. Bollocks, no.
I tried again. “Lyra. Come in, Lyra.”
But nothing again.
Addie shook her head. “I've been through the whole house. She's not in there.”
The car was a quarter of a mile down the street and gaining speed.
I glanced back at Rhodes. Then I started sprinting.
He muttered a curse and came after me. “Mate, listen. She's long gone. We have to find her another way.”
“No. That bitch has her.”
Addie ran after me too. She wasn’t as fast as Rhodes was, but boy she was quick. “He's right. She's going to kill her.”
Rhodes clamped a hand on my arm. “They have their vehicle. Ours is parked two miles out.”
I tried to shake him off. “Is she tagged?”
Addie had her phone out and was checking.
She shook her head. “No. Roz might have swept her.”
“Fucking hell. She hasn't activated the GPS pin in her boot?”
Addie shook her head. “No, not yet. But she’s smart.”
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” I jammed my hands through my hair. “We did all this so that she'd be safe. And what? We just failed?”
Addie’s face crumpled and her body sagged, but she was tossing her head back and forth. “No, no, no. Lyra's smart. She has to bide her time.”
I mumbled. “Or Roz will strip her and then we'll have no idea where she is.”
Addie cursed.
“Give me something. Anything,” I begged.
But neither of them had anything to give. Just a whole pile of nothing.
“Nobody?” I said desperately.
Addie clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Lyra will wake up. If Roz has her, she wants her for a reason. Look, I'll go back to The Firm and grab any information I can. If Tyler was protecting her, he must have stored more information somewhere. I'll find it and bring it to you. Roz is smart, but Lyra is one of the best we have. She's going to be okay.”
I slid my gaze over her. “No, there is no 'she'll be okay.' None. I told her I'd protect her, and I failed. Just like before.”
I’d lost her. And worse, we never had a shot at succeeding. We'd been fucking sitting ducks the whole time, and we’d walked right into a trap. I had looked Lyra in the face, and I'd lied to her. I’d told her I would protect her, and I failed to make that happen.
Chapter 15
Marcus
When we returned to the safe house, there was no consoling me. I was going after her, period. Never mind that I had no idea where she was. She hadn't activated her GPS, and time was ticking.
All I knew was that I wanted to grab as many weapons as I possibly could, take a team back to Roz’s, and go over it with a fine-tooth comb. Then I’d use any scrap of evidence to go and find Lyra.
I knew those feelings well. They’d accompanied me for a solid year after Simone. That insatiable need for revenge. Except this was worse. This feeling, overwhelmingly, was worry. What if I was too late? What if she was already gone? What if I never told her how I felt in so many words?
I’d made a pretty hefty raid on the armory at Exodus before returning to the safe house. Rhodes sat on the coffee table and watched me as I organized the guns and ammo I’d picked up. “You recognize we know nothing about where she is, who exactly has her, or what the situation is, right?”
I glowered at Rhodes. “I'm going after her.”
“With what? What information?”
“I'm going to The Firm.”
Rhodes stared at me incredulously. “What?”
“Whatever information I need is in that building.”
“You're mad.”
I shrugged. “Yeah, maybe.”
“No, this is utter madness. Look, Addie is going to find the information. Lyra’s gone for now, but we will get her back.”
“I'm just supposed to stand around and wait for something to happen?”
“Sometimes, that's what you have to do.”
I shook my head. “No, I'm not accepting that.”
“But that's delusional, mate.”
“Maybe, but that's what we’ve got going on,” I said stubbornly.
“Bullshit.” He tried to shove me toward my couch.
I got in his face. “What, you're going to stop me?”
Rhodes glowered at me. “I'm not going to stop you. We just need to think this through. You're not thinking clearly right now. You're a smarter agent than that.”
“You don’t get it, mate. This is my fault. We were unprepared. I let her talk me into that crazy idea. I knew it was a bad call, but I let her have her way. That's on me. I should have just tossed her over my shoulder, caveman style.”
My best mate stared at me. “I know that's what you wanted to do. But think it through. There is no way on this green planet that Lyra would have let you do that. It's not on you. She's a skilled agent. She knows what the fuck she's doing.”
“Oh yeah? Then why isn't she here?”
“Look, even the best agents have shit go wrong. What, you're going to act like none of us have ever gotten in a bind? Think, man. I know you want her back. I get it.”
“Do you?”
“Yeah, I do actually. But we're going to do this by the book. Which means no going rogue.”
“Fuck you.” I tried to shove past him.
And my best mate from the first day of SAS training blocked my path. “Sorry, it's not going to happen.”
“Are you out of your fucking mind?”
“Possibly. I am well aware that you would very much like to eat me for breakfast right now. And I'm sorry, but I can't let you do this. Mate, I know you want her back. I understand. I'd like you to have her back so you’ll stop acting like a crazy person, but you can't do this. You can’t just bulldoze your way into The Firm.”
“Watch me.” This time I did bump him. But I saw that he had an ace in the hole as soon as I opened the door to leave.
I found Michael waiting for me outside with four agents flanking him. He said, “Are you going to tell me where the fuck you're going with all my weapons?”
I turned back to Rhodes. “Did you do this?”
“Marcus, I'm not saying we're not going to get her, I'm just say
ing we're not going to do it this way.”
My best mate had betrayed me.
* * *
Lyra
I woke up with a bitter taste on my tongue and my mouth feeling like I'd been chewing on a sweaty jockstrap. It took me several long seconds to realize that something was, in fact, shoved into my mouth. And then I coughed as I tried to expel it. When I spat it out, I gagged at the bitter taste of it. Oh God, I'd been drugged.
The effort to pick up my head was astronomical, let alone open my eyes. Forget the eyes. I didn't have to see for now. I just needed to get some kind of bearing on what was up and what was down. Breathing. I could focus on breathing. That's all I needed to do. In and out. No more acrid smell. No more bitter metallic taste.
“Ah, my darling girl, you're finally waking up. I was worried that we'd overdone it with the dosage.”
Roz.
The kick of fury was so swift. Suddenly, I could keep my head up straight. Funny what a great motivator anger was.
“Uh-uh-uh. Easy does it. I had to give you a strong enough dose so you wouldn't see where we were. You've been out for seven hours now.”
I tried to make my mouth move, but it wouldn't. It took a long moment for the brain to give the command to my lips and my tongue. And when it finally did, it came out sounding like, “Shlmshslmshlsh.” I was cold too. Especially my feet. Had they taken my boots? That meant no GPS.
Roz laughed. “Ah yes, don't worry love, you can curse me out later. It's going to take a moment for the effects of the drugs to wear off. But I will unblindfold you. I need you to hold still now. I don't want to rip out any of that beautiful hair of yours.”
Footsteps approached, and I tried to focus on whatever was coming. I figured Roz knew better than to come near me. I actually had better control of my limbs than I was letting on.
Subterfuge 101.
Always appear weak and helpless when you can. It makes people want to help you. And especially for someone like me, a young black woman, people are not inclined to help straight away unless I appeared helpless. Lost. Easily manipulated and malleable.
It was one of the first lessons she'd taught me. And I hadn't forgotten. When the blindfold was ripped off, it did catch in my hair. I wanted to yelp, but again, all I managed was, “Ughh.”
“You fool, I told you I don't want to hurt her.”
When my head lolled back into place, I finally tried the all-important open-the-eyes trick, because God, I just needed to see what the hell was going on. I peeled open my eyeballs one by one. The grit in them forced me to blink several times. Oh, God. Where the hell was I?
It was dark. Maybe underground somewhere?
“Ah yes, that's my bright girl. Trying to find out where you are. Honestly, I have to remember that I trained you myself.”
I glowered at her.
“You can back off, Frank. She's not going anywhere. And she can't hurt me.”
I tried to move my limbs, but she was right. I was tied down. Not that I really expected not to be, but I was still annoyed by it. “What do you want?”
“Sweetheart, you recognize that I have firmly restrained you for your own good, right? It's not my first choice, but you are a little too touchy. So until you can calm down enough that we can talk, I needed to be careful.”
“I have never done anything to you.”
“No. I'm not saying you have. Look, Lyra, you're like my own child. If I'd ever decided to have one, I would have wanted her to be just like you. God, you are so much like your father. You are strong and capable. And I just can't help but to be proud that I had a hand in that.”
I narrowed my gaze at her. Enough bullshit. “What do you know about my father?”
She watched me carefully. “Okay, look, I wasn't entirely honest with you because those were my orders, darling. I was told not to tell you, so I didn't. But I have always regretted it. Honestly, you are such a good agent. Obviously, that's training. But you did have a natural aptitude. Your father was an excellent agent. One of the best. He trained me.”
I frowned at her. “Lies.” I was getting better control over my mouth.
“It’s true. You were recruited because of who your father was. Also your mother, I suppose.”
I went from only ever having seen my parents happy and in love, gardening and taking me to school plays and dances, to watching them die, to now being told that they were agents. It was too much to process. “No, I don't believe you.” My words were still slurred.
“I'm not lying. Their code names were Rogue and Renegade.” She rolled her eyes. “I mean, honestly, it's a bit on the nose, if you ask me.” I didn’t want to believe her, but the way she said it rang true. “He was one of the best. I was devastated when he died.” The bile rose up in my throat. That part was a lie. I could tell from the way she said it.
“It's just, you know, he said he loved your mother. But he and I had an undeniable connection. There was a mission once where we had to play husband and wife. Our tension was palpable. And still, he chose your mother. I will never understand that man. He could have had me, but he chose wrong.”
“So, what? You punished him because he chose my mother?”
“I wasn't punishing him. I just wanted him to see me. See what we could be together, but he kept choosing your mother.”
I watched her out of the corner of my eye as she paced back and forth, and I took the opportunity to evaluate the room we were in. It actually looked kind of like our interview rooms. “What is this? An interrogation room?”
“No, darling. Of course not. Honestly, if it were up to me, I would just release you. But we need to talk first and come to an understanding.”
“Fine, you're telling me my parents were these great agents. I wish I could believe you.”
“Oh yes. If you could have just seen them in action. Even your mother. I'll be generous and say how good she was. See? I can be magnanimous.”
I scowled at her. She was leaving something out. Most of this was true, but something wasn't right.
“When they died, I knew it was what your father would have wanted. For me to look after you.”
I clanked my cuffs. “You call this looking after?”
“Ah, I know that it's not orthodox, but Lyra, you know I could never hurt you.”
“No, you just send other people to do your dirty work.”
Roz sniffed indignantly. “I did. I panicked. And you know what? That wasn't fair. I recognize that perhaps that was not the best way of dealing with the scenario.”
“When did you come to this realization? When you tried to have me killed at the weapons auction, or when you sent a hit squad to my apartment?”
“Look, I didn’t want to have to be the one to tell you. It wasn’t me who you should worry about. It’s Marcus.”
“Just tell me the truth.”
She sighed. “I know our trust is broken, but just know that I'm trying to look out for you. I'm trying to take care of you. I don't want you hurt. And this game that we're all playing, it's dangerous. I know it's hard to know who to trust, but Marcus Black is not a man you can put your faith in.”
“Says the woman who tried to have me killed,” I muttered.
“Love, Marcus Black has been surveilling you.” Behind her was a large screen. She popped up pictures of me going to and from my apartment, to and from work. “For months now, before you were even matched on your little dating app.”
I frowned. Some of the angles were taken from my apartment. But when? Had he been watching me before or after we’d been matched? “I don’t believe you.”
“I knew you would say that. Well, let me tell you about Marcus Black. He is the number one hitman for Exodus. He has had over a hundred and thirty-two kills. I mean, you've got what, fifty? And that was because our missions are to protect people.”
I squirmed. “I don't keep count.”
“Oh, well, The Firm does, love. I mean, he's just awful.”
“How do you have his kill list?”
“You think we haven't been trying to stop Exodus for years now? We keep very close tabs on them. I don’t blame you for being curious and having your little friends try to hack us. Just know that I am trying to keep you safe. It’s what your father would have wanted.”
“You keep saying that my father would have wanted this, my father would have wanted that, but I think he would have wanted me alive, too.”
She frowned. “Sometimes we have to do hard things to protect the ones we love.” She kept putting up more photos. Me in the gym, me going to and from work, and all those photos were taken from the front of our apartment building.
My brain tried to do a quick analysis. Addie hadn't been over much since Marcus and I were matched. So, if there were photos of her and me together, then maybe Roz was right. Maybe Marcus was one of the last people that I should trust.
Chapter 16
Marcus
“You want to do what?”
I glowered at Michael shortly after he and the agents he’d brought along dragged Rhodes and I back to Exodus headquarters. “I'm going after her. I don't need your permission.”
He lifted a brow. “On the contrary, you don’t do shit without my explicit say so.”
“Fine. In that case, all that PTO you've been begging me to use, I'll just use it.”
He sighed. Maggie crossed her arms and glowered at me. “So that is what’s been going on in the last several days? You went after a director of The Firm without backup?”
“Yes.”
“You didn't call in the team?”
I inclined my head toward Rhodes, who just stood with his back at the door, arms crossed, glaring off into space, his jaw a wall of granite. “I called him.”
Michael said, “While he's very good, he's hardly a full team.”
“This has nothing to do with Exodus. I didn't want to potentially endanger any agents and start a war,” I said.
“Too late now. We’ve been at war with The Firm. You just escalated it. I’ll need to take this to Command.”
“Do what you want, but I’m going to get Lyra back.”