Endgame

by Mia Downing

  Aaron wrapped his arms around her as her legs turned to spaghetti, and she just swam around the bowl in her mind, in the tomato sauce. Aaron, her punk. Her only reason to live.

  “Love you,” she whispered. And went under.

  ****

  “Aaron, get her in before she draws attention,” Chase ordered as Aaron fought to balance Charlotte’s unconscious form against the side of the SUV.

  “What the hell?”

  “Put her in the fucking truck, now,” Chase growled under his breath.

  An older couple was staring from the sidewalk, whispering.

  “My wife,” Aaron lied. “She’s pregnant and passes out instead of barfing. She just needs to rest.” He kissed her check, panicking as he shoved Charlotte into the rear of the vehicle. He slid in and slammed the door, heart racing faster than the speed of light. Chase jumped in the driver’s side and pulled out into traffic.

  Aaron wanted to toss his cookies. Shit, he’d just been an accessory to kidnapping his girlfriend. He’d already been an accessory to her learning tons of shit she had no right to learn. Now this.

  Aaron leaned forward. “What the hell. Frenemy, dude. That’s what you are.”

  “She’ll thank me later. She needs to reset.”

  “Reset? You don’t drug people to reset them.”

  “You do with Charlotte.” Chase studied her in the mirror. “I need her to be quiet in the car.”

  “You carry drugs and not handcuffs? A gag?”

  “You take what you can get.” Chase adjusted the rearview mirror so he could glare at Aaron better. “I need her out and I need to talk to you.”

  “Then you say, ‘Aaron, could I have a private word with you?’ And I say, ‘Sure, Chase.’ And we go to another room while Charlotte powders her nose. You don’t knock her out.” This couldn’t be happening, could it? But it was, because here she was, on his lap, unconscious.

  Chase shrugged.

  Aaron lost it. “This is a bad, fucking B movie. My brother is a hostage disguised as me, my Danger Girl is unconscious at the hands of her devil incarnate boss, and no one is calling cut to the scene.”

  Chase laughed. “Danger Girl? I wouldn’t say that in front of her when she’s conscious.”

  Aaron adjusted Charlotte’s head so she lay on his lap in a better position. Her blonde hair fell onto her cheek, and he brushed it aside, taking comfort in the softness of her skin under his fingers. It was weird, brushing away blonde hair.

  “I know you think I’m a monster for this, but I have no choice,” Chase said. “I can’t have her trying to kill me while we’re rescuing your brother. I know you don’t get it, but she won’t be angry when she wakes up. I need her to be clear. Cold, hard, and mean, like she’s been trained.”

  Jake. Aaron pictured him tied in a chair with not even a bead of sweat on is brow. Jake was ultra cool. He had been a bad-assed superhero even before he was a spy, but now he seemed larger than life, twice as bad-assed, despite being in on betraying Charlotte. Hell, he had betrayed Charlotte. “You said Jake was fine. What proof did they give you?”

  “I video conferenced with him. He was pretending to be you, all sissy and whiny because that’s who John thinks he has—you.” Chase glanced at him in the rearview mirror. “Baby cowboy has borrowed a pair of Danger Girl’s balls, it seems.”

  Thank God, Jake was okay. At least one thing was going right.

  Aaron noticed the car wasn’t heading away from the airport. Chase was looping around. “So what’s the plan?”

  “The plan is for you to board a plane back to L.A. A ticket is waiting for you, and here,” he tossed a paper over the seat, “is your flight info.”

  “I’m not going anywhere.” Aaron sailed it right back.

  “You will go. You are nothing but a distraction, do you understand? Nothing. She needs you to go home so she can finish this.”

  Charlotte must have transferred her freight train anger to him before she went under, because Aaron felt the sucker firing up in his gut. Smug asshole thought he owned her. She was no longer Chase and Jake’s pet. She was his.

  “Nothing? Really? Let’s discuss that. I remember her saying you’re motherfucker number three. And I recall she said she loves me. Seems you’re closer to nothing than I am.”

  Chase laughed. “The shit I gave her would make an elephant drunk text a lion and a crocodile for a ménage before it went under. She doesn’t love you.”

  Aaron wasn’t buying that she didn’t love him. He knew Charlotte. “You know how I spent last night? I cleaned up your mess because you blew her world sky high. She doesn’t trust you anymore. So I’m not going anywhere, not when she needs me to help her stay sane to rescue my brother.”

  “Do you know what an endgame means, Aaron?”

  Fuck these people and their endgame. “Yeah. I do. And in case you haven’t noticed, her endgame has changed. You failed to inform her of the change in players. So she has cleared the board and set up brand, spanking new pieces.”

  Chase sucked in a breath. “Is she thinking of running? Because that’s not an option. Not if you want a big brother.”

  “Do you know Charlotte? Really know her? Running was never an option. She still wants to kill John. She’s scared shitless. She has no clue how she’ll face him. But she’ll do it, because it’s her ultimate checkmate.

  “But you—you are motherfucker three. You are a lousy friend and spy and couldn’t lie to her about Jake. Now he’s motherfucker four. She will go down in a blaze of glory and kill all of you, no questions asked. That is her endgame.”

  Chase didn’t look fazed. “I’ll get her back in the game. She’ll be fine.”

  “Really? Because you were the man who held her when she cried five years ago? It’s not enough. She hates you enough to kill you. She just tried, for Christ’s sake. You need me. I’m the man who held her last night, before and after her nightmare. I’m the man who had to tell her maybe you had a hell of a good reason to betray her, to make her what she is now, able to face John.”

  That got Chase’s attention. He held Aaron’s gaze for a long moment in the rearview mirror. But fuck if Aaron could read what the man was thinking.

  “You want to know what she’s most afraid of? Not the dying part. She’s good with the dying. She is afraid that you, motherfucker number three, won’t be pleased with her. So I took care of that, too. She knows I’m proud of her no matter what happens. She doesn’t need you. Not anymore.”

  “She’s worried about what I think. That I won’t be pleased with her?” Chase actually looked…upset.

  “Asshole, yes. She was. Probably still is, but I’m trying like hell to hold her together. Do you understand how badly she hurts?”

  “Yes.” At least he had the decency to look sorry. “I knew going in this would happen. I did what I had to do.”

  “Then don’t be an asshole. I’m staying.”

  Chase sucked in a long breath. One filled with unease and probably a zillion emotions that—God forbid—he reveal. Chase blew his breath out, weighing things in his mind, no doubt. Jake vs. Charlotte vs. Endgame. Which would win?

  “You can stay. But you have to sell what I have planned.”

  Aaron shouldn’t feel relieved. No way was he leaving anyway. But Chase’s permission eased a bit of tension. “What’s that?”

  Chase’s eyes glittered with renewed purpose in the rearview mirror. “The plan is for me to escort Danger Girl to the party and get Jake back. Take down John. You’re staying home to keep Tia from killing someone, because that’s her goal. Then you go back to California. Alone.”

  “I’ll sell the party, but Charlotte’s not going without me.” Aaron leaned back against the leather seat. “I’m not going anywhere without her. I don’t like your endgame or hers. I foresee she will do what she has to do and she will live. For me.”

  Chase pulled over into a desolate parking lot of an abandoned car sales place. He put the SUV in park and turned, his arm over the seat,
to glare at Aaron. “Okay, so this is when I step in with ‘the chat.’ You ready for ‘the chat,’ Aaron?”

  How he had the balls to stare this guy dead in the eye, he had no clue. But he did. Charlotte would be so freaking proud. “I don’t need your advice.”

  “I think you do. Because we have a huge problem here. Huge.”

  “You’re just pissed because she doesn’t need you.”

  Chase gave a low, sardonic laugh. “You think you can love her? Let’s say she does make it out of this. How long before she gets made by some other thug and is killed on your arm?”

  “She can’t have that many people after her.” Stupid, stupid words. He knew that.

  “She’s not a preschool teacher. She’s a fucking spy. She’s an assassin, Aaron. That’s her job. Did she tell you that? Because that’s who you’re fucking. A cold-hearted killer.”

  Pain seized his heart, hearing the words he knew. “You made her that. Abigail wasn’t a killer.”

  “Yes, and I did it for the reasons you said—to face John.”

  “If she kills John, it’s over. She doesn’t have to kill anymore.”

  “Your head seems to be mighty thick, so I’ll use small words. She is a killer, and she has a whole list of people who would just love to know she’s Aaron James’s girlfriend. So Charlotte will die…where? Your bed, your car, on your arm? That’s what you want?”

  “She can quit.”

  “She can’t quit. They’ll put her in jail. Your sweet Danger Girl ended up killing a bunch of people by withholding information that would have saved her and them. So the deal was, she gave ten years of service, or they toss her away for life. She’s five in.”

  She’d hinted they wouldn’t let her go, but Aaron hadn’t wanted to believe. “If she kills John, wouldn’t that be payment in full? She could have plastic surgery. I don’t have to take her everywhere with me.” But fuck Chase, he was making sense. Aaron fought it. Hard.

  Chase gave a sharp laugh. “Like the powers-that-be are going to allow that. I have bosses, too. My boss makes me look like Santa Claus and would send his son’s girlfriend off to die, no problem. So me, facing him, to set Charlotte free so you can eventually ditch her for some starlet? Not happening.”

  Aaron ran a finger over her perfect lips, parted in sleep. “I wouldn’t ditch her. Ever.”

  “Oh, you’ll ditch her. I know her, and I know you. She’s not an easy woman, and you’re a prick.”

  That right there made him furious. They’d set Charlotte up to be a killing machine, never taking into consideration that she was a woman first. That she needed to be touched and loved, just like them. “You don’t think she’s lovable.”

  “I think what you see and who she is are very different. She’s very special, Aaron. Too special for you.” Chase glanced at her, and his expression changed just a little. Maybe he felt something for her. “I can’t take the chance of you seeing her as I see her, because judgmental you will bolt. Your opinions have done enough damage in the past. She doesn’t need that from you.”

  “You don’t know me or how I feel about her.”

  The look Chase shot him was one that made him feel like dirty laundry on the side of the road. “I know enough about you to know you’re bad for her, and it’s not because of your career.”

  “She’s taught me a lot in a week. I’m not the same man.” Yes, she’d accused him of being judgmental, too, and maybe he still was. Aaron stared down at her, smoothing her hair. He loved every facet of her, woman and bodyguard. Damaged, mean, brittle, funny, brave. So brave not to run, because if they had changed places, Aaron would have found an island in the Pacific to live on and ditch all this shit.

  Yet, Chase’s words bothered him for other reasons. “Is that why you hate me so much? Because of what Jake had to say? Ryan? Corey? Paul, maybe?”

  “This discussion isn’t about how I feel about you. It’s about Charlotte and what I’ll do to protect her.” But the shift of Chase’s shoulders told Aaron the man knew a lot, being Jake’s friend.

  “I fail to see how you’re protecting her since you’re handing her over to John to get my brother back.” Aaron’s jaw clenched out of frustration.

  “Enough.” Chase tapped the back of the seat with his fingers to get Aaron’s attention. “You love her? Really love her?”

  “Yes.” God, yes. He closed his eyes and sank the despair down to his toes.

  “Look at me.”

  Aaron glanced up. Chase stared at him a long time, unreadable, unemotional and then said, “This is what you’re going to do if you love her. You are going to convince her to save your brother’s ass. You are going to sell attending John’s party. You are going to sell me as her escort because she will die if I don’t go. I can give her a fighting chance. You with me so far?”

  “Yes.” Impossible sales. He had a better chance of selling her an igloo in Texas.

  “Listen close. This is the most important part. When you have accomplished that, you will kiss her cheek, say goodbye, and you will walk away and let me handle whatever happens.”

  Aaron wasn’t walking out on her, not when she needed him. He’d be there for her, somehow, and he’d hold her so the last thing she saw was how much he loved her. Not Chase, not Jake. Not that asshole, John. “No.”

  “Yes. And if she’s somehow able to make it out of this mess alive, you will never, ever contact her again. Spies and actors don’t mix. Texas oil and European sparkling water—that’s what you two are. Do you get it?”

  He still didn’t believe if she lived there still wouldn’t be a chance at a future. Somehow, he had to get her through this party. That’s what he would focus on—tonight. He’d worry about tomorrow when she lived. “What are her chances? Jake’s chances?”

  “Jake—good. Her—slim.” Chase hesitated. “John wants her dead, Aaron. This is why I’ve been point blank with her from day one about this being a suicide mission. That’s why I trained her to kill, so someday, she could kill the man she once loved.”

  That’s what Aaron had guessed. “She’ll fight. If she knows she has something to live for, she’ll fight.”

  “She can’t fight.” Chase’s face lined with sadness as he shook his head, his first real emotion of the afternoon. “Do you know how evil this man is? He’s the former head of an organization that killed, raped, and pillaged whole villages in Africa over drugs and the sex trade. That’s just what he did to everyone else.”

  “He wasn’t nice to Charlotte either.”

  Chase shook his head. “Just be glad she doesn’t remember doomsday or anything around it. John was cruel in more ways than you can ever imagine. There are reasons why a person’s mind shuts down. Hers couldn’t take any more.”

  “The nightmares…”

  “John did that to her, not a hit man. John beat her almost to death and killed her baby. And more. So much more.”

  An icy calm seeped over his nerves, the anger freezing over into something cold and determined that Aaron never believed he had in him. In that moment, he knew he could kill John for her. “I want in.”

  “You have no training, and the orders are very specific. It’s his way or Jake dies.”

  No way in hell was she facing that evil alone. “This party…who was invited?”

  “Charlotte and her two men. Well, Abigail. John contacted Reese last night, after you left. So Reese set him up with me.”

  That made sense. “You couldn’t negotiate something different?”

  “No. I broke a lot of rules, and this is our only choice. It doesn’t help that we’re going in under the radar. My boss doesn’t know Jake is a hostage. This is me and Charlotte with whatever IT can send us in the short window of time we have when that asshole sends me an address.”

  “Oh.” Aaron thought for a moment, a plan forming. “If Jake is me, then I’m going to the party as Jake.”

  Chase shook his head. “Char will worry about you the whole time. I can’t let you come.”

 
Aaron didn’t take orders from motherfucker number three. He had to find a way to get into that party so he could be there at the end.

  As ever the excellent actor, he sighed. Stared longingly at Charlotte—that part was easy—crossed his fingers behind his back, and said, “Okay.” And he vowed to say penance for that lie, too.

  “Good.”

  Aaron smoothed Charlotte’s hair again and looked around. “Where are we going?”

  “To my house.”

  His head snapped up. “Oh no. You want me to sell this? I can’t do that with Tia crying and Kate glaring. Charlotte will go off the deep end. You can take us to her apartment. Drop us off, let me sell her whatever shit you want me to sell her. Pick her up when you need to have a meeting about this. Party is when?”

  He could see Chase was buying into the lie. “Party’s at eight. We’ll meet at six-thirty.” Chase glanced at the slumbering Charlotte. “She’s going to wake and go from groggy to fuck you in sixty seconds. I suggest you have a game plan.”

  Aaron was already making plans of a different sort. “I can handle her. She’s my Danger Girl.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Charlotte woke in her own bedroom, in Aaron’s arms. Which was nice, but surprising, because she shouldn’t be here, she didn’t think. She struggled for memories. Airport, attacked Chase, spy juice. No, she shouldn’t be here. Aaron should be on a plane, and Chase should be here, looming over her like death warmed over.

  Aaron must have felt her stiffen as she collected her bearings. He smoothed her cheek and dropped a quick kiss to her lips. “Hey, baby. Welcome back.”

  She groaned and stretched, her muscles moving in slow motion. The drug made one feel this way, like they were underwater and everything, even blinking, was a huge effort. Great when you used it on the bad guys. Not for her. “I hate spy juice.”

  “I bet you do.” Aaron frowned. “You don’t look very lively.”

  “I was just drugged. I shouldn’t be lively.”

  “Motherfucker three said you’d go from groggy to fuck you in sixty seconds.”

  “He was yanking your chain. He has a warped sense of humor.” She tried to swallow away the metallic taste in her mouth. “The welcome good-guy side effect of spy juice is that you come out slow. Slow and no longer angry, or whatever you felt. They lace it with something that deadens all that and makes your victim very compliant.”