by Kaylea Cross
“I’m not as thrilled as you about it, since I’m the one left dealing with cleaning up the mess you guys left in Damascus,” he said in a wry voice. “It’s not easy protecting your identities when you leave a body count like that behind.” He angled the umbrella to cover her better, placing his body between her and the wind. “Got a call on my way over, so there’s been a change of plans. I’m flying to London right now to meet with MI6 and see if I can smooth things over there.”
“Right now? You could have just called and diverted there. And what about—”
“Oh, almost forgot. Brought you something.” He turned toward the plane.
Another male silhouette appeared in the doorway, a duffel in hand. Broader than Rycroft’s. Then the man stepped into the light and Trinity’s breath caught, happiness flooding her. “Brody.”
Her fiancé grinned and jogged down the stairs as she rushed for him. He caught her to him with a groan, lifted her off the ground with his powerful arms wrapped around her back. “Surprise,” he murmured. “Guess this means you’re glad to see me?”
She hugged him tighter, burying her face in his throat. He smelled incredible. Like evergreens and Brody and…home. “I’m so happy you’re here.”
Her throat tightened, a telltale burn pricking the backs of her eyes. She didn’t care that Rycroft was right there watching, didn’t care that she normally wasn’t this emotional or demonstrative in front of others. They’d barely seen each other over the past few months and she’d missed him so damn much through the craziness of this whole thing.
Brody chuckled and set her on her feet but didn’t let go, upping the pressure of his arms. “Glad to be here. I missed you.”
“Missed you too.” Oh, dammit, she was going to cry.
“Okay then,” Rycroft said in amusement behind her. “You’re in good hands, so I’ll be off to London now.”
Winding her arms around Brody’s ribs, she leaned her head on his shoulder and aimed a wobbly smile at Rycroft. He liked the world to think he was a heartless bastard, but she and a few chosen others knew better. He’d made this happen for her. “Thank you.”
One side of his mouth kicked up. “Welcome. Contact me when you leave the manor. Briar and Georgia are heading here from Atlanta as we speak. I’ll be in touch when I know more.”
She nodded, stood there pressed tight to her man as Rycroft jogged back up the steps and started to raise them.
“I know I’m asking the impossible, but tell everyone to behave,” he called down.
“No promises,” she answered, all giddy and warm in spite of the cold rain and wind. She smiled up at Brody as they turned for her vehicle. “I can’t believe you’re here.” There was so much she hadn’t been able to tell him about what was going on. But she wanted to.
He hugged her to his side, carrying his duffel over one shoulder. “Lucky for me, I’m on the end of a really short and extremely well-informed grapevine, so I heard all about what’s happening from DeLuca, then Rycroft.” He gazed down at her, his brown eyes somber. “There’s no way I would let you face this alone.”
She didn’t need his protection, but him coming here and offering it willingly meant the world to her. “I love you.”
He stopped and gazed down at her, uncaring of the rain soaking his hair and shoulders. “I love you too.” Cupping her cheek in his hand, he kissed her.
Trinity took his bearded face in her hands and poured all her emotion into it, her heart full enough to burst. Even with her unconventional and ugly past, this incredible man loved her. Loved her enough to have her back and fly halfway across the world even when it placed him in harm’s way.
Enough to want to spend the rest of his life with her.
The solid gold ring pressed into her finger as she held him, a symbol of his promise and commitment. But him showing up tonight was more testament of his love than any ring or vow could ever be.
Deep inside her, those old insecurities she’d carried throughout her life—about her not being whole, not being good enough for someone like Brody—suddenly seemed to weaken. The ever-present fear of rejection and abandonment receded. Because tonight had given her the proof she’d needed to accept what Brody had been telling her all along.
He wasn’t ever going to wake up one morning and decide she was too much trouble. That her past was too much for him to handle. Or that he deserved a better life than she could give him.
“So,” he said, holding her close as they approached her vehicle. “What have you guys been doing to fill your time out here in the idyllic English countryside?”
She laughed softly at his teasing tone. “You’d be surprised.”
He gave her a knowing look. “Doubt it.”
That made her smile. The man knew her too well. And she was worthy of him, no matter what she’d done, or what dangers they had to face going forward. They belonged to each other. Trinity would take on any threat, take any risk to ensure she spent the rest of her life with this incredible man at her side.
Including setting a date.
“Where to now?” Brody asked as they got into the vehicle.
“To pick up Kiyomi at the manor.” Trinity was sorry to end her friend’s time with Marcus, but there was no help for it. “It’s time to move on.”
Chapter Seventeen
Janelle grabbed her bags and rushed out of the rental house to the SUV idling in the driveway, excitement fizzing inside her like the finest champagne as she approached the trunk of the vehicle.
This was it. After years of waiting and planning, this was finally it.
She tossed her gear into the back then slid into the front passenger seat with her cell pressed to her ear. “You’re certain?” There could be no mistakes. They had only one shot at this. In order for this to work, both operations had to take place simultaneously.
“The drone captured three separate vehicles leaving between midnight and six this morning. And when we checked the entrance off the east side of the property, we found the tire tracks. It has to be them.”
Janelle shut her door and motioned for the driver to move. “You’re positive Kiyomi’s still there?”
“Unless she was hidden in the back of one of the vehicles. The cameras our team posing as the construction crew installed identified Kiyomi in a vehicle with Laidlaw yesterday afternoon, and she hasn’t been seen since.”
It would have to do. Janelle couldn’t afford to wait now. She had to act. “I’m en route with team alpha.” Her best unit, though not nearly the caliber that her operatives would be after she’d finished the next phase of her new program. Her objective wasn’t possible without Kiyomi, however. She was the blueprint, the inspiration behind everything. “Is bravo team in place?”
“They reached the meeting point ten minutes ago. No sign of Amber or Megan yet.”
“I’m almost sorry I’m going to miss the reunion.” But her top priority was waiting for her at Laidlaw Hall.
Today would erase her past completely and give her the future she’d always dreamed of.
****
“Stop picking.”
Megan rolled her head from side to side and shot an annoyed look at her sister beside her in the backseat as she lowered her hands into her lap. “I can’t help it.” It wasn’t that bad. Most of the raw spots and scabbing around her nails were from the other night when they’d realized Kiyomi was missing.
“Yes, you can.” Amber kept clicking away on her keyboard, doing whatever it was she was doing.
“I’m nervous. Aren’t you nervous?” About meeting the woman who had abandoned them so long ago. And she was also sad. Leaving Marcus behind had been hard.
After saying a perfunctory goodbye she’d snuck out the back like a coward so he wouldn’t see the tears in her eyes, afraid she would break down and embarrass herself if she’d lingered. If it had been that hard for her, she couldn’t imagine how devastated Kiyomi must be right now.
“A little. But you don’t see me picking all around my n
ails until they bleed.”
She gave her sister an annoyed look. “It’s my one flaw, Amber. Can’t you just let me have my one flaw?”
Her sister looked up to arch a brow at her. “Only one?”
Ty swiveled around in the front passenger seat to give them a hard look. “Am I gonna have to come back there and break you two apart?”
“No.” Megan huffed and tucked her hands beneath her arms to resist the urge to keep picking. Thank God he and Jesse were going to be with them—nearby at least—during the meeting, or she would have been twice as nervous.
What if this person wasn’t even their aunt? They’d only agreed to this meeting because the timing suited them, and it would be quick. The whole point was to find out if it was her, and if so, find out exactly why she’d dumped them into the system rather than become their guardian. Anything else was a bonus, though if their aunt had dreams of spending Christmas together, she could fuck right off.
Ty reached a long arm out and squeezed her knee. “Hey. It’s gonna be okay, dimples.”
A tiny smile tugged at the edges of her mouth. She loved it when he called her that. “Yeah.”
He grinned and turned back around to face front. “Jesse and I’ll be there through the whole thing, and the others will be nearby just in case. If the meeting turns to shit, you just pull the chute and leave.”
“What if I want to punch her?” There was a good possibility she might.
“No punching. Just walk away.”
“Easy for you to say,” she muttered.
After their second cousin had so helpfully interfered in all of this, they were taking every precaution for the meeting. Chloe, Heath, Eden and Zack were stationed two blocks away from the meeting point in case their paranoia was justified and this proved to be a trap of some sort. Having the other four as backup was overkill on top of having Jesse and Ty close by, but so be it.
“Okay, she got my message saying we’re going to be a bit late,” Amber said, still typing. The excuse gave them more time to watch the meeting point before approaching it. Just so there weren’t any last minute surprises when they went in.
Megan had lost track of the things Amber was working on at once. “And?”
“She said it’s fine and she’ll see us when we get there.”
A second later Amber suddenly stopped typing and stared hard at the screen. Megan glanced at her, worry bursting inside her when she saw her sister’s deep frown. “Something wrong?”
“I don’t… No,” she said slowly, then shook her head. “Nothing. Just ignore me.”
Megan scowled and punched her sister in the shoulder. “Don’t scare me like that.”
Ignoring her, Amber went back to typing. Currently she had three different screens open on Lady Ada, one of them searching up and comparing words from various sources.
Megan had no clue what network Amber had hacked into out here as they drove, but then she didn’t understand most of what her sister did with her tech. And in her opinion, it was a sign of just how desperate they were to discover who the Architect was that Amber had resorted to trying linguistic forensics as a tool to crack the mystery. It might have worked to bring the Unibomber down, but that didn’t mean it would help in this case.
All too soon they neared the outskirts of Coventry. Jesse pulled off the motorway and drove past the café Amber had chosen for the meeting. It was in a busy area close to several hotels, about a thirty-minute drive from the conference their aunt was attending in Birmingham.
“Busy place,” Jesse commented as he slowly drove past, giving them a good look at what they were dealing with.
Megan counted about a dozen bistro-style tables set out on the sidewalk. Only a handful were occupied, and no one sitting at them made Megan’s internal radar ping.
Jesse continued to the end of the block and made several turns in quick succession to make sure no one was following them. “See anything?” he asked Ty.
Ty checked his mirror again. “Nope. We’re good to go.” He got on his phone and called Zack to let the others know Megan and Amber were about to go in.
Jesse turned right at the next corner and pulled to the curb in front of some row houses. “You taking Lady Ada with you?” he said to Amber in a dry voice as Ty hopped out.
“No. So guard her with your life while I’m gone.”
“My life,” he agreed solemnly, taking it from her. Amber leaned between the front seats to kiss him, then got out.
Megan climbed out with fake glasses on and her hair tucked under a knit cap. She and Amber had disguised their appearances a bit to make facial recognition harder when the CCTVs in the area picked them up.
Shutting the door, she faced Ty. He was so damn good looking, he distracted her all the time. “Okay, wish us luck.” This was it. She just wanted this done with so she and Amber could lay this part of their past to rest and get on with the mission.
“You won’t need it, but good luck anyway.” His face softened with an easy smile. “Don’t worry. Jess and I’ve got your backs.” He drew her close to kiss her, then lowered his voice to a sensual rumble that made her toes curl in her boots. “Hurry back, Mrs. Bergstrom.”
It sill sounded weird, but she was grinning like an idiot as she walked up the sidewalk with her sister.
“Wipe that lovesick smile off your face and focus,” Amber said.
She shoved her hands in the pockets of her leather jacket, her weapon a comforting weight at the small of her back. “I am focused. I can smile and still be focused.” And she’d smile about her husband if she damn well wanted to.
They approached the café from the west, walking up the alley beside it. “We still good?” she murmured so Ty and Jesse could hear via her earpiece.
“Affirmative,” Ty answered.
“Mmm, I love it when you use military speak.”
Amber jabbed her with an elbow. “Now’s not the time.” She pulled her phone from her pocket to study it, probably having received an alert of some sort from her laptop.
The café was in view now. Megan studied the sidewalk again as they approached, searching for someone who resembled her hazy memories of Aunt Jane. She should be here by now.
“Oh, shit,” Amber breathed. She stopped, staring at her phone.
“Oh, shit what?” Megan demanded, drawing up short beside her. They were almost at the doors now. She cut a glance around them and then across the street, searching for possible threats. Nothing jumped out at her.
Then she met Amber’s gaze, and Megan’s stomach dropped as she watched the blood drain from her sister’s face. “The profile’s a match,” she said, her gaze fixed on the glass front door of the café as she scanned the interior.
Ice slid down Megan’s spine. “A match to what?”
“The Architect. Linguistic forensics identified her education level, where she went to school. It all matches what we thought Aunt Jane’s should be.”
Megan’s pulse thudded. “You sure?”
“The word untenable. It’s not common. Using it in everyday language would stand out.”
Megan’s heart thudded faster. “The Architect used it in the conversation with Rahman.”
“Yes.” Amber’s eyes were full of a terrifying mix of anger and fear. “And Lady Ada just found it in the court documents. Jane used it to explain why she couldn’t take care of us. ‘The situation is untenable,’ she said in her original statement.”
Megan stared at her, unease tying her insides into knots. “Oh, shit. You mean…”
Amber nodded, her green eyes stricken. “Lady Ada projects it’s a 95% probability that Aunt Jane’s the Architect.”
Shock reverberated through her. Megan whipped around to scan the people around them with new eyes. Her gaze halted on two new guys across the street with faint bulges beneath the arms of their jackets. Shiiiiit. “It’s a trap.”
“Get behind cover,” Ty said urgently in her ear, having heard everything.
Before either of them could m
ove, the café door opened and an employee came out. The young girl looked around, spotted them, and started toward them. “A gentleman just asked me to deliver this to you,” she said with a smile, handing over a folded piece of paper.
Megan grabbed it and read the note typed inside it, delaying her innate instinct to run.
Sorry I couldn’t make it, but tell my sister I said hello when you see her.
The horrifying words played through Megan’s mind, too terrible to comprehend. Their aunt was the Architect, and she’d been planning this all along—planning the moment she could isolate and kill them so she could go after Kiyomi.
She started to crush the paper in her hand. A red laser dot appeared on the back of it.
“Get down!” She grabbed Amber, wrenching her off her feet and reached for the closest table, overturning it. They dove behind it a heartbeat before a bullet punched through it, spraying slivers of wood.
People gasped and screamed, overturning chairs as they bolted. In the confusion she and Amber scrambled behind a large concrete planter and drew their weapons. “Contact, your one o’clock,” she said.
“Megan! What’s going on?” Ty demanded.
“Under fire. Two shooters,” she answered, ducking as more shots struck inches above their heads, this time spraying bits of concrete and dirt.
“Hang tight,” Ty said curtly. “We’re coming.”
“How far away are you?”
“Two minutes.”
In two minutes they could be dead if there were more shooters coming. “They gotta be moving toward us,” she said to Amber over the chaos and noise around them. “We can’t sit here.”
Amber nodded, face set. “Head south. I’ll cover you.”
“You mean you’ll be right behind me.”
“Yeah.”
She pushed out a breath and shifted her grip on her weapon. The instant she left cover, she needed to identify the shooters and neutralize at least one of them. “On three.” She counted down, tensed, then burst from cover.