by Michele Hauf
“You must be mistaken,” he said. He’d never been given her name, so he was not sure how to address her. “I was in Helsinki a few days ago. Are you sure? You didn’t give my box to someone else?”
Her shaking head batted the gold dangles against her hair. Now she wrung her hands together. “It was you. Very sure of that. Same face. Same voice. Same yellow tie.”
Jack stroked his tie. Someone had been here, impersonating him? He didn’t have to think long to land a guess on the ECU. If they had suspected he’d go AWOL, he would not put it past them to make that escape as difficult as possible.
“Show me my box,” he insisted.
With a nod, the woman scampered out of the room. And Jack ran his fingers along his jaw. “Fuck.”
* * * *
Saskia walked out of the hotel and turned into an alleyway. She’d managed three hours of sleep. She felt rested, but couldn’t wait to really sleep.
Yet she was in London for one reason, and if she didn’t get on that man’s ass immediately the trail would go colder than Helsinki in January. Not that she had a trail. She was waiting on Chester to return with information about Jack’s family. He’d said a name… Jonny. Could be a brother. Would Jack stop in to visit him? Had they a job planned? She had to cover every angle.
As she turned the corner to head down the street, a man assaulted her, clasping her about the shoulders and whipping her body back around the corner into the alleyway.
But she didn’t fight.
“I found you,” she said, unable to hide a smile at seeing Jack again. Even if he had slammed her against the wall so hard her shoulder blades tingled.
“If that’s the way you want to play it.” He dangled before her what looked like a dog collar with a thumb-sized black box attached to it. “Will you wear this?”
Saskia assessed the collar, and could only come up with one result. “Is that a signal blocker?”
He nodded. “Made it myself. Just for you.”
“Aw, a gift from my guy. It’s not exactly a fashion statement.” She gazed into his eyes, which held hers as if a vice. A clutch she didn’t mind at all. So maybe there was something undeniable between them. “Go for it.”
He wrapped the leather strap about her neck, placing the GPS-blocking device at the back, closest to the chip embedded at the base of her skull, then fastened the clasp in the front of her throat.
“Kinky,” she offered.
The man’s smirk stirred her thoughts to visions of actual kinky foreplay. “You into that stuff?”
She waggled a brow at him. “I’m into anything you’re willing to try.”
“Let’s start with this.”
And then he kissed her. Hard. And claiming. There was no way she was going to struggle free from the sensuous attack that she wanted more than she needed to breathe. He tasted like whiskey, and she was all right with that. Wrapping her legs about Jack’s hips, the movement pushed his shoulders against the brick wall. His grip on her ass squeezed, pulling her tight against him.
The man kissed like he walked through the world. With confidence and a certain power that no one would take for granted. And she matched his greedy want with the same clinging, demanding need. If she never got another kiss from this man, she felt sure her world would crumble. Something about him, the compelling need to always be close, tight and inside him, would not allow her to relent. They belonged together. But in a weird way that defied tenderness and cuddles. Rather, they smashed together and clung with a vengeance.
So when he broke the kiss and forced her down from the cling she felt as if the world had suddenly been pushed off its axis. It took her a moment to gather her equilibrium and look to him questioningly.
“I saw you board the plane. Was too busy pushing down the whiskey to settle my nerves to approach you.” He grabbed her hand and started walking swiftly down the block. “I have things I want to tell you,” he said. “But I need distance from where you’re staying.”
She agreed. The ECU probably had cameras on them right now. Not even probably, but surely. She swept her gaze about the building fronts and the traffic signals, spying the CCTV cameras that were everywhere. Chester at headquarters could access those cameras with an ease that made her head spin. And he was surely already aware that her GPS was being blocked, so that would put up an alert on his end as well.
Jack tugged her into the lobby of another hotel scattered with frothy green plants. They walked swiftly past the reception desk, angling down an aisle that passed a restaurant boasting hand-fed veal, and a few boutique shops whose windows glittered with rhinestones and platinum. They exited another door that was on the opposite side of the block where they’d entered. He was weaving and she followed.
Ten minutes later, after twists, turns, and a double back, Jack slowed his pace. The neighborhood was less city and quainter, yet the vehicles were BMWs and shiny SUVs, so Saskia guessed it was an elite neighborhood. They entered a deli advertising vegan meats. One side of the small shop featured half a dozen tables set in the hazy winter sun beaming through the windows.
Jack nodded she go find a table and he went to the counter to purchase coffee.
Saskia sat at a table away from the front window that looked out to the street, in sight of another CCTV camera. She scanned the menu above the deli counter, curious about what, exactly, was a vegan meat. Wasn’t that an oxymoron? And not at all appetizing.
She tugged at the dog collar. It wasn’t tight, but the new leather did itch. She’d keep it on. For Jack. Because right now her alliances held a sharp split and sat at opposite ends of the scale from one another. The ECU had been good to her and she had no reason to betray them. And yet Jack. Well…Jack. She wanted to do right by him. This was the first time she’d felt inclined to help another person because she trusted him. Trust wasn’t an easy thing. Her and Jack Angelo? That felt comfortably easy.
He returned to the table with two coffees and a dessert bar topped with a froth of chocolate frosting. But Saskia was suspicious. The signs on the walls warned her to be cautious. She leaned over and sniffed at what looked luscious and gave off a strong cocoa scent.
“What’s wrong? You don’t like vegan food?” Jack asked.
“How can meat not be meat?” She prodded the chocolate frosting, then licked her finger. Tasted like chocolate. “Is this vegan too?”
“I believe so. No milk products used. Give it a bite. Because when I get into it there’s going to be no more sharing.”
Taking a bite, she had to admit it wasn’t bad. Certainly not cardboard.
“It’s not the cinnamon buns from Helsinki, that’s for sure.” She pushed the plate toward Jack.
He made good work of the treat in three bites. And for some odd reason, the sharing of the treat seemed to bond her closer to him. It was silly thinking. Swooning teenager stuff. But she’d never had such a feeling about a man before, so she went with it.
Careful not to catch her chin in palm and gaze doe-eyed at him from across the table, Saskia propped her elbows on the table and spoke in low tones. “So? You wanted to tell me something? Because even if they can’t track me, it’s only a matter of time before they mark my location by the cameras. Chester Clarke is the one who arranged my hotel stay. There’s not a step I’ve taken since landing in England that hasn’t gone remarked by the ECU.”
“I know that. And yes, I’m risking my safety coming to you. I had to do it, Saskia. I…couldn’t walk away from you like that.”
The schoolgirl inside her swooned. But she maintained a calm façade, nodding he continue.
“This is what you need to know. I had to go AWOL for my family.” He hunched forward so their faces were close and their conversation was private. A lunchtime crowd had started to file in and the noise in the deli had increased, which disguised their words well. “My brother specifically.”
She’d bee
n right to suspect he was here for his family. Saskia wondered what Chester had found. But maybe Jack would fill her in now.
“My brother is in deep shit with a dangerous bunch. They’re no Russian mafia but they won’t blink an eye to cut off fingers, hands, or even heads. I’ve got less than twenty-four hours to come up with a million pounds to save him from getting decapitated.”
Saskia spread her fingers about her neck, just below the leather collar. Decapitation was a very distinct threat.
“I used this assignment in Finland to visit the surgeon to have my chip removed,” Jack said. “Only, I didn’t expect that the ECU would be one step ahead of me. How could they know I’d plan to go off the grid?”
Saskia shook her head. “I don’t have that intel, Jack. And trust me, I’d tell you if I did.”
“I believe that. They know too much. But that can only mean they have information about my brother and his situation. They have to. Are they involved? Is this some kind of test? They are arseholes, if it is. But it doesn’t matter. I’m here to save Jonny. Family first. Always.”
Saskia nodded, bleakly wishing she’d had such a family to stand up for, criminals or not.
“You have a means to get the cash?”
“That’s the problem. I was feeling confident after the flight landed, until I arrived at the—you don’t need to know the location. My stash that I put away before I was sent to jail? It’s gone. Someone who looked just like me took it all two days ago. I think the ECU got to it. I was counting on that to get Jonny out. Now I’ve got to swindle the big bucks. A million in less than twenty-four hours? It’ll never happen. I might have to go in big guns blazing and take everyone out to save him. But I don’t want to do that. I just…” His sigh rippled down Saskia’s spine. His angst was apparent. “I can’t do that anymore, Saskia. It’s not me.”
Gentleman Jack had become the epitome of the moniker. And in his line of work, that wasn’t optimal. Saskia laid a hand over his on the table. “I have some money, Jack.”
“I can’t take your money.”
“You can. It’s like yours. A secret account that I put together before the ECU found me. My rainy-day stash. It’s all online, but I can liquidate it quickly.”
He swiped a hand across his jaw and looked aside. His eyes tracked to the camera outside and across the street. She knew exactly what he was thinking. They couldn’t stay here much longer and remain out of the ECU’s view.
“How much you got?” he finally asked.
“Enough to cover your brother’s ransom. I can have it in about…” She worked the angles she’d have to go through to gather the money from the various stashes she had all over the world. “Ten hours? I’ll have to go online and move things around.”
“I need cash.”
“It’ll result in cash. Promise.”
“It’s too risky for you. The ECU will know your every move.”
“Not if I keep the kink collar on.”
He smiled at that. “Why are you doing this? If you do this, Saskia, you can’t turn back. You’ll be as much an ECU target as I am.”
She sat back. Why was she offering to sacrifice the freedom she’d earned and had never thought she’d want to lose?
Did she love the man?
No. Love wasn’t that easy or quick. Was it?
The two of them felt comfortably easy.
“I don’t know, Jack. Maybe I just want to help. Maybe I want to be something more than the chick in the costume who does what she’s told. Maybe I like you a little more than I should.”
He clasped her hand and leaned across the table, compelling her to move in closer until their foreheads touched. “I can’t promise you anything,” he said. “I don’t know what tomorrow will bring. I don’t even know what the next hour will bring.”
“I get that.” And if she jumped, she’d not surface the same person in the same situation or the same comfortable lifestyle. Ever. And that thrilled her beyond belief. “Let’s do this. I just need a safe, quiet place with a laptop and a wifi connection.”
“My family has a safe house in Brixton. We’ll hop a cab.”
“Really? The cameras will pick up our every move.”
“We’re leaving out the kitchen, and, you won’t be looking like yourself when we do.” He nodded over his shoulder and the first person Saskia noticed was an elegant woman in a fur coat with her gray hair pulled up to reveal diamond earrings.
“You think so?” she asked.
“I’ll distract her. There’s another reason I’m called Gentleman Jack. Niles would be jealous.”
He tugged his suit coat and adjusted the yellow tie. His wink was devastating to her swooning heart. And Saskia suddenly felt one hundred percent sure she’d made the right decision.
Chapter 21
It hadn’t taken more than a few sweet words to get the elegant woman to trade her coat for Saskia’s and to give up her heels. Saskia emerged from the bathroom looking like half a million bucks. And Jack had procured a knit cap and left his suit coat behind, tucking his tie in a pocket. It was warmer in London but only by about thirty degrees. He was still going to feel the chill.
And he did as they exited through the kitchen and out the opposite side of the building.
“Where we headed?” Saskia asked as they ran down the alleyway.
“Brixton,” he said. “Instead of the cab, we’ll catch a bus.”
“Really?”
He smiled at her sudden surprise. Surely the woman had had to flee tricky situations before. As he emerged from the alley he thanked a god he wasn’t sure had ever had his back for the double decker that was just starting to leave the stop. He tugged Saskia along and they made the bus much to the shouts of the driver that they couldn’t enter while he was moving.
As he sat on a seat at the back and twisted to scan the surroundings, Jack noticed Saskia tapped her ear. “I thought you said you weren’t in contact with them?”
She wore an earbud issued by the ECU. The only way to communicate beyond cell phones. It also had a tracker, yet the jammer she still wore should block communications.
“I got a buzz,” she said, and then paused as she was obviously listening to someone through the ear piece. “Chester,” she mouthed to Jack.
“Shite, the blocker isn’t working. Take out the earpiece.”
She put up a palm and listened to whatever was being said in her ear.
And Jack clenched his fists. He didn’t deal with Chester Clarke too often, despite knowing that Clarke was stationed somewhere here in London. Jack preferred to deal with Kierce Quinn, a much younger, though still adamantly cocky young gent who could speak in bits and bytes.
“I am on the job,” he heard Saskia say. “What are you telling me?”
Jack would give his right leg to be in on this conversation. If she didn’t relay it to him, he was out. It was the wisest choice. Right now, all he could be concerned with was Jonny. With or without Saskia’s offer to donate the cash he needed.
She nodded. Looked to Jack. Her eyes didn’t convey anything to him. The bright red lipstick she had borrowed from the woman in the deli had smeared just a little on the corner. Still, she looked amazing.
Jack looked away. Eyes on the surroundings, he reminded. Keep alert. Suddenly Saskia joined him on the bench and sat close, leaning in to speak, “I’m off your case. They’ve officially marked you AWOL.”
“I got that. Now what?”
“I’m still on the heists. Chester tracked the first dignitary who died of poisoning and they sent out an agent to interview his wife. She gave some damning information about a man connected with the Russian bratva. Confirms our suspicions.”
“So Clive really does work for the mafia.”
“Yes. The ECU needs me to lure him out so we can bring him in and extract a confession.”
“W
e don’t know where Clive went.”
“Apparently, he followed me or you here.”
“He’s in London? The wanker.”
“Headquarters thinks he’s on our tail.”
“No. We’re clean. I’m sure of it. Save for the bloody earcom you’re wearing.”
“I do work for the ECU, Jack. As for Clive, I didn’t notice him on the flight. And I’m guessing you weren’t in top form to have a look around in first class.”
Jack gaped at her but she was right. He’d been a nervous mess.“We’re getting off at the next stop,” he decided. Though their destination was still on the other side of the Thames. “We go on foot from here. And with better disguises. Unless…”
He waited for Saskia to confirm what he suspected. That she was out now. Her alliances had to remain with the ECU. She couldn’t risk helping him any longer.
“I’m good,” she said. “I told Chester to keep an eye out on CCTV for Clive and alert me when he had him. Until then, I’m my own agent.”
“What did he say about the GPS blocker?”
“He’s knows I’m with you. The earbud doesn’t have GPS. And I’ve been ordered to take the blocker off.” She tapped the front of the leather collar and shrugged. “My fingers are too cold right now. Can’t operate the complicated mechanism. This is our stop. Ready?”
Yes, he was.
* * * *
Saskia noticed that Jack had a manner to him when walking out in the open on the sidewalks. His head was constantly shifting side to side, his eyes sweeping the area. He seemed to have radar for each and every CCTV camera. They were few and far between in this neighborhood that edged the Thames River. They’d just passed through a marketplace busy with people, which had relaxed Jack’s shoulder. An asset always felt better in a crowd. Easier to go unnoticed. Yet also a challenge if they were trying to track someone.
Having abandoned the fur coat for a cheap slicker a few blocks back, Saskia had pulled her hair back and pinned it up. Dark sunglasses and the bright red lipstick gave her a trashy look that had gotten more than a few glances from the yuppie crowd in the marketplace.