by LENA DIAZ,
Her eyes looked haunted as she swallowed. “I was devastated, both by his death and his deception. But I couldn’t just ignore what we’d had together. Whether I meant anything to him or not, he’d meant something to me. I had to . . . I needed . . . closure. I went to the funeral they held in that open field where they hold all of the services here, at the other end of the graveyard, behind you.”
She waved, but he didn’t dare turn around to see what she was talking about.
“I stood far back, so I wouldn’t intrude,” she continued. “But Thomas’s sister still noticed me. I think she was . . . curious . . . and tried to find out who I was. I took off, never saw her again. But that wasn’t the end of it. I remembered later that I’d heard the Hightower name before, before Thomas was killed, when I didn’t even know that he was lying about his last name.”
He frowned. Mason hadn’t told him this part. “Where had you heard it?” he asked softly.
“At EXIT. It was really late, and I was in the parking lot heading to my car. I heard voices, two men talking beside a truck a few aisles over. I wasn’t trying to listen, but I heard Thomas’s name—the fake name that he’d given me—and I froze. They mentioned my father, and the name Hightower. It didn’t make any sense that night, and I felt guilty eavesdropping, so I quietly hurried to my car. A few days later, Thomas was dead, and I saw his picture on the news and realized that Hightower was his real last name. And I remembered the conversation in the parking lot.”
“Did you ask your father about it?”
“I did. He was angry that a man I’d been dating was killed. And he was shocked on my behalf that Thomas had lied about who he was, about being married. He claimed not to have any idea who might have been in the parking lot and why they were there. I believed him because I wanted to believe him, because I needed to believe him. But months later, I heard him on the phone with our IT guy. And I knew . . . I knew something wasn’t right.” A tear spilled down her cheek, and she impatiently wiped it away. “That’s the day I started those boards.”
He braced himself against her tears, against feeling sorry for her. She didn’t deserve his sympathy, not when she was aiming a gun at him. “What’s the point of all of this?”
“I’m a good person, Jace. I follow the rules. I pay my taxes. I obey the law.”
“Except for the one that says not to point guns at people?”
She frowned. “I’ve never hurt anyone. Ever. I’m a good person. Even if my father isn’t.”
“On that we agree.”
“Damn it.” Her knuckles whitened around the grip of the derringer. “I’m trying to make a point here.”
“What is the point? Why did you really bring me here?”
“I brought you to the cemetery because I thought . . . I hoped . . . that I could show you those little tombstones and make you see a side of my father that most people don’t know about. I wanted you to know how deeply he has loved, and lost. I wanted you to feel some compassion.”
He took a step toward her.
She shook her head violently. “No. Let me finish. I could see in the mausoleum that nothing was getting through. You’re never going to have empathy for my father. But I thought, maybe, if I bared my soul, if I told you everything that I knew, that you might have empathy for me.”
She waved toward the tombstones beside her. “I’ve lost everything. My mother, my brothers . . . Thomas. And even if my father isn’t the person that I thought he was, that I wish he could be, I can’t bear to lose him, too. If you ever hold my father’s fate in your hands, and you can’t show mercy for his sake, please, please, show mercy for mine.”
He clenched his jaw. “In other words, you’re trying to manipulate me. You want me to feel sorry for you, and because I feel sorry for you, you want me not to hurt your father.”
“Yes.” Her voice was bleak, bitter. Honest. She slowly turned the gun around, offering it to him.
He lunged forward and grabbed it. But when he hefted the derringer, he realized it was light. Too light. When he saw why, he stared at her, stunned. “It’s not loaded.”
“Of course not. I would never point a loaded gun at you.”
“Ah, hell. Now why’d you have to say that?” He cursed himself for a fool and pulled her to him, crushing her against his chest. She let out a soft cry and tightened her arms around his waist. As she soaked his jacket with her tears, he brushed his hands through her soft, silky hair, whispering nonsensical words of comfort. And it dawned on him, that in spite of everything, he trusted her. And she trusted him.
Which wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
He’d made a vow, sworn his allegiance to his band of brothers. He’d promised to keep their secrets, to keep their very existence a secret. And he was honor-bound to keep trying to find a way to bring Cyprian and his empire down.
But where was the honor in destroying EXIT if an innocent woman was destroyed in the process?
The whole reason that the Equalizers were going after EXIT was because it had strayed from its original charter of protecting innocents. How were the Equalizers, how was he, any better than Cyprian Cardenas if they were willing to sacrifice Melissa to achieve their goals?
He had to talk to Mason. He had to make him see that what they were doing was just as wrong as what EXIT was doing. Somehow, he had to convince the Equalizers to trust the daughter of their enemy.
Chapter Ten
“W hat the hell were you thinking?” Mason Hunt swore through the phone.
Jace winced and shifted his stance on the sidewalk. When Mason had picked up on the first ring, Jace had been relieved, hoping that meant Mason was back in town now, and they could work as a team. But that wasn’t looking very likely at the moment, at least not the team part. Mason was royally pissed.
At Melissa’s questioning look from inside the café, he smiled reassuringly. She smiled back and took another sip of her broccoli cheddar soup.
“I was thinking that my cover with Melissa was blown, and I had two choices: give up, or devise a new plan, another way to get into EXIT. I found another way.”
“The hell you did.” Mason swore again. “Look. I know she’s beautiful—”
“That’s not why I agreed to work with her.”
“I’m sure you don’t think that’s the reason, but can you absolutely swear it wasn’t a factor? If she weren’t so sexy, are you certain that you wouldn’t have told her no?”
He’d like to think he wasn’t that shallow, that he’d still have agreed to help a woman in need in spite of her looks. But, of course, he couldn’t swear to it. Which was Mason’s point.
“Arguing over this isn’t going to change anything,” Jace said. “What’s done is done.”
“She’s probably using you, to see if you’re working with anyone else. You know that, right? How much have you told her about us?”
Jace gritted his teeth. “Not one damn thing. I wouldn’t tell her about the Equalizers without your approval. She doesn’t even know our team exists. She thinks I’m calling an old Navy buddy to see if he can help us out. Look, I just want to arrange a meeting. Let me bring her in to meet you. I can blindfold her and make sure she can’t tell anyone where home base is. Just because the original plan failed doesn’t mean the mission is over. The goal remains the same—to make sure that no more innocent people die at the hands of EXIT’s corrupt leadership. If we all work together, we can still accomplish that goal, in a different way.”
“Your goal. Not our goal. Not anymore.”
Jace grew still. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that we almost lost a man. Yes, Ramsey’s already up and around, joking and pretending he’s not in pain, as if his injuries weren’t serious. But you and I both know he would have died if it weren’t for you. You saved my best friend’s life. And you’ll always have my gratitude for that. But that gratitude doesn’t extend to putting the rest of the team in danger unnecessarily.”
“The team won’t be in dan
ger. I told you that I’d blindfold her. It’s just a meeting, Mason.”
“A meeting where you reveal to a Cardenas that the enforcers that Cyprian thinks have gone dormant, given up their fight, are actually actively recruiting. If he finds out that we’ve organized into a counteragency, and that we’re ramping up for an all-out war to bring him down, he’ll throw everything he has at us. We’re not ready for that. He could decimate us before we even have a chance. So, no, it’s not just a meeting. Don’t worry about your mission anymore. It’s officially canceled. You’re out of the Equalizers.”
“Mason, you’re overreacting. There’s no reason to—” The line clicked. The call went dead. Jace kept his face carefully blank in spite of the urge to shout. He didn’t want to alarm Melissa. Which, of course, lent weight to Mason’s belief that his attraction to her could be clouding his judgment.
He’d hoped the Equalizers would agree to meet with her and decide for themselves whether her stated desire to stop EXIT’s abuses was legit. And then, if they agreed she could be trusted, he’d know that he hadn’t completely lost his ability to judge someone’s character. Then maybe they could work as a team, including Melissa, to get this job done.
But there was no chance of that now. As far as Mason was concerned, Jace no longer existed. Because Mason didn’t trust him. That stung. Jace had never, not once, been disloyal to a teammate—be they a Navy SEAL, bodyguard, or an Equalizer—and he never would. But he couldn’t turn his back on someone in need either. And Melissa definitely needed his help.
Tarek and Sebastian had acted suspicious of him yesterday. And they’d also acted suspicious of her, especially Tarek. That innocent comment her father had thrown out about not realizing she liked eggs had Tarek suddenly watching Melissa with extreme interest. Had he mentioned his concerns to Cyprian? Was her father suspicious of her, too? And there was still the driver of that van to worry about. What was his connection to Melissa? Would he try to go after her again?
With all of those concerns, and all of those players in the mix, he was completely on his own. No backup. No teammates to help him. No sounding board for any decisions. He blew out a breath in disgust. Hell, this wasn’t the first time he’d been in enemy territory with no one to rely on but himself. He’d make this work. He had to. Or Melissa would pay the price.
He put his phone away and headed into the diner.
Her welcoming smile faded as he sat across from her. “I have a feeling that call didn’t go as planned.”
“Not exactly.” He took a sip from his water glass and scanned the café. It was only eleven in the morning, too late for breakfast, too early for lunch for most diners. Aside from a couple of teenagers who’d obviously ditched school and were whispering in the first booth, he and Melissa were the only patrons. Which was why he’d chosen this place for their meal.
He shoved his half-eaten burger and fries away since they were mostly cold now anyway and rested his forearms on the table. “We’re on our own.”
She nodded, not looking surprised. “Is it because of me? Your friend doesn’t trust me?”
“He’s . . . cautious. Don’t worry. I’ve got a Plan B. I’d originally hoped to use a job at EXIT to sneak into the computer room. I’d directly access EXIT’s mainframe to get around any firewalls and security algorithms. But I can’t do that now, not after the way Tarek and Sebastian were acting yesterday. They’d never let me out of their sight.”
“What kind of information do you want?”
“Personnel files from the enforcement arm of the company, files that won’t be kept on any human resources database. We need to establish all the players, get logistical information, mission details. The more we know, the better prepared we’ll be to come up with a plan to dismantle the company from the inside out.”
“Can’t I get that for you? No one would question my going into the computer room.”
He shook his head. “No way. Your father’s assistants are just as suspicious of you as they are of me. We can’t risk it, even if you could figure out how to get past the tour layer into the enforcement layer. It’s too dangerous.”
“Then what can we do? What’s Plan B?”
“Your father.”
“Okay. So, what, you want me to sneak into his office while he’s in a meeting? See if he has any of these files that you want?” She smoothed her jeans. “I’ll have to go home and change first. He’d throw a fit if he saw me at the office in denim.”
“You’re not going to EXIT.”
She paused with her diet soda halfway to her lips. “I’m not?”
“Your father is from a different generation. He’s old-school, pretechnological age. I’m betting that he keeps physical backups of key files, paper copies. And I’m also betting that he wouldn’t store them with the tour company’s backups. He’d keep them somewhere else, completely separate, somewhere he has absolute control. A place where he’d never expect anyone to look for the files, so he won’t have the types of security they have at EXIT.”
She frowned. “And where would this amazing place be that my security-paranoid father wouldn’t keep as secure as EXIT?”
“His house. Should be easy to get in because you probably have a key and his alarm code. Just like he has yours. But there aren’t any security guards, or nosey executive assistants around.”
She shook her head. “No, no, no. Working together to find the truth is one thing, but snooping through my father’s home is unnecessary and disrespectful. Not happening.”
“Are you going to tell me that in all the time that you’ve been working on those boards, you’ve never once searched a medicine cabinet in his house, or thumbed through a file on his desk?”
Her cheeks flushed. “That’s different. I didn’t bring someone with me, someone who’s his enemy.”
“Have you already changed your mind about finding the truth?”
“Of course not. I just think there has to be a better way. I’m happy to take you to the office. But I’m not taking you to my father’s home. That’s his sanctuary. It would be a terrible violation of his privacy. It would be the ultimate betrayal, disloyal.”
He tossed his napkin on the table. “Then I guess we’re done. I’ll take you back home, we’ll say our good-byes, and call it a day. I’ll get that bodyguard company I mentioned to send someone over.”
She grabbed his arm, her dark brows an angry slash. “Knock off the threats and bullying tactics. Okay, I’ll do it. But I don’t like it. When do you want to go?”
Jace knew an awful lot about Melissa and her family, including the people who worked for them: the housekeeper she shared with her father, Cyprian’s cook, his chauffeur. He knew their schedules, and already knew that right now would be the perfect window of time to go to the house. But since she’d be furious if she knew that he knew all of that, he played dumb on the details.
“What time does Cyprian get home?”
“Six thirty or seven most days.”
“Where’s his house?”
“Twenty minutes outside of Boulder, on the opposite side of town from my house.”
He glanced at his watch. “If we leave now, we can be in and out long before he gets there.”
“You want to go now? Right this minute?”
“Are you finished eating?”
“Yes.”
“Then why wait?”
“Fine. But we’ll have to think of an excuse for going over there when he’s not home. Silvia will be there, of course. Richard arrives around four, I think. Before you ask, Richard Kellar is my father’s chef, has been for years. He doesn’t live at the mansion anymore. He has his own house and a catering business downtown. But since my father fronted him the money for his business, and refuses to let Richard pay him back, Richard still cooks him dinner every night before he goes to the restaurant. Dinner’s always in the refrigerator, ready to be reheated when my father gets home.”
Jace tapped his fingers on the table, thinking it through. “Do you eve
r go to your father’s house when he isn’t there?”
“Rarely, like if I need to get something out of the attic. I’ve got a lot of old files up there, archives from EXIT from before I bought my house.”
“Where does your father keep his files?”
“I assume in his home office. It’s on the first floor. It’s always locked. And, no, I don’t have a key and have never been in there without him.”
“Locks aren’t a problem for me. Getting into his office without the housekeeper seeing us is the concern. But we’ll figure that out once we arrive.”
She didn’t look happy about his plan. In fact, she looked downright miserable. But she was going along with it anyway, and she’d agreed quickly with little convincing. That surprised him and had him feeling uneasy. Trust could only go so far, especially when family ties were involved. He would do well to keep Mason’s warnings in mind, just in case Melissa’s guilt over essentially betraying her father won out over her desire to right the wrongs he’d done.
She signaled the waitress to bring their check, then frowned. “I just realized I ran out of the house so fast earlier that I didn’t get a chance to grab my purse. I don’t have any credit cards with me.”
“We’re not paying with credit. That leaves an electronic trail. Cash only, from here on out.”
“Why would an electronic trail matter? We’re just having lunch.”
“You also told your admin that we were visiting EXIT outposts today. Are any of them near this diner?”
She slowly shook her head. “No. No, they aren’t. But neither is my father’s house. I’m sure he’ll find out about our being there, eventually, even if Silvia or Richard don’t tell him. For one thing, I’ll have to shut off the alarm to get inside. He’ll know the alarm was turned off.”
“I agree. But since you’ve been there before to get files out of the attic, that’s the excuse we can use this time, too. We don’t have an excuse for being at this diner, which just happens to be the first decent restaurant on our way into town from the cemetery. We don’t want anyone knowing any of our movements if we can keep them secret. It gives us more options if we need to make up cover stories later.” He tossed a couple of twenties onto the table. “Time to see if you have any burglary skills.”