Once again, before she could answer, he said, “That’s not up for debate. I have to know that my operatives are mentally tough enough to handle what’s expected. You’re no different. If you can’t agree to that, then we need to scratch the entire thing.”
Jamie wasn’t going to argue. The sessions had helped. Four days a week for the last two months, she’d been in therapy. The nightmares had lessened considerably. Her therapist, Dr. Sophia Schooner, would attest to her progress. Whether she would agree that Jamie was mentally sound enough to be an LCR operative was another matter. But having convinced Noah McCall, Jamie was sure she could convince anyone of anything.
She nodded. “I’ll have Dr. Schooner get in touch with you.”
“Does McKenna have any idea what you’re planning?”
“Not yet. I didn’t want to mention it before the wedding.”
“Tell her before she and Lucas leave for their honeymoon. I’m not going to proceed further until she knows.”
As much as she dreaded that moment, Jamie agreed. She wouldn’t keep the truth from her sister.
Noah stood. “As soon as you speak with her, have her call me.”
Recognizing dismissal, Jamie got to her feet. “Thank you, Noah. I’ll make sure you won’t regret it.”
His expression not changing from its grimness, he walked her to the door. “Once we’re set with McKenna’s and your doctor’s approval, I’ll have Dylan contact you.”
The heart that had just settled into a normal rhythm went through the roof. “Dylan?”
“Yes, he’ll be your trainer.”
“But … I thought … I mean, isn’t he too busy?”
“No, he’s one of LCR’s best trainers. He’ll get you prepared.”
Noah opened the door for her, and Jamie, stunned into silence, wordlessly walked past him.
Dylan was going to be her trainer? The man who acted as if he couldn’t stand to be in the same room with her? The man she couldn’t stop thinking about?
Oh sweet heavens, what had she gotten herself into?
Noah closed his office door. Took a lot to surprise him, but Jamie had achieved that and then some. Actually, it wasn’t surprise as much as shock. No way in hell had he ever anticipated that she would ask of him what she was asking. What he’d told her was true: LCR had many operatives who’d come to them through successful rescues. But most of them had arrived with a gritty toughness. Just how tough was Jamie? He would soon see.
She not only looked a lot like her sister, McKenna, but she obviously had the same strength and determination to overcome huge obstacles. Only McKenna was a trained operative; Jamie was an elementary school teacher. Could she be trained to be an operative? Maybe. But no way could she handle the job she was proposing. And no way could he allow it.
Though he’d tried to downplay it, she was right about Reddington. He was still waiting to talk to the prosecutor, but last night’s email from her had offered little hope. Even the police chief, who’d been a supporter in the raid to rescue Jamie, had backed down and apologized to the bastard. The officer who’d been shot during the rescue was on an extended leave of absence. Convenient as hell.
Noah understood revenge. He’d felt that need himself. But if what Jamie had overheard while she was in Reddington’s house was correct, any kind of revenge or personal vendetta had to be wiped out by the sheer necessity of stopping Reddington from what he’d been getting away with for years. LCR would do whatever it took to get the evidence to put him away. That couldn’t include involving one of his victims.
He wasn’t proud of what he was about to do. Rescuing and protecting innocents had become his way of life long before he’d created Last Chance Rescue. And the phrase “It’s for your own good” never made anyone happy. With Jamie, he had no choice. After what she’d been through, it was understandable that not only would she want revenge, but she’d also want to be involved in seeing it come to fruition. Letting her sacrifice herself in the process wasn’t something he was willing to risk.
Picking up the phone, Noah punched a speed-dial number.
“Savage,” a deep male voice answered.
“Can you come to the office? I have an unusual assignment for you.”
“Be there in about an hour.”
Noah replaced the phone and released a resigned sigh tinged with sadness. No, he wasn’t proud of his plan, but damned if he would do anything else. Now, on to the hardest part of all: convincing Dylan that he was the man for the job.
two
One month later
West Virginia mountains
Booted feet propped up on the wooden rail, Dylan took a giant swallow of his first cup of coffee for the day. The steam bathed his face in warmth, then threatened to freeze as he lowered his hand.
Going to be a cold one today … highs in the mid-teens. A few feet of snow already blanketed the mountains. More would arrive before tomorrow morning, cocooning the cabin in for a good week, if not more. Jamie had better arrive before the big snow hit or she wouldn’t make it at all. And that would be just fine with him.
He took another gulp of coffee and reviewed the plan that he despised but had taken on because he agreed with McCall—there was no other way.
His mind went back to the day he’d entered his boss’s office and gotten the worst assignment of his life. Anxious to get back to work, he’d been feeling almost good for a change. Despite his encounter with Jamie at the wedding, he’d been all set to put that behind him. She would forget about her hurt feelings once she got back into a normal routine and would probably never think of him again—which, he’d told himself, was what he wanted.
When McCall had told him about Jamie’s intent to go after Reddington, that good feeling had crashed to the ground like a giant meteor.
He’d stared at McCall in disbelief. “Did you tell her that LCR would do this without her help?”
“She’s insistent that she’s going to do it on her own if we don’t help.”
Unable to sit still, he paced around McCall’s office. Incredulity and fury bubbled, threatening to explode. “I can’t believe you’re letting her call the shots.”
“I’m letting her think she’s calling the shots. Big difference.”
The grim tone in McCall’s voice told Dylan that the man didn’t like it any more than he did. Returning to the chair he’d jumped from moments ago, he leaned forward. “You think she has something on Reddington she hasn’t told you about?”
“Yeah, I do. Or at least information on getting inside his walls. We already know it’s going to have to be an inside job. If she’s got an inside edge, we need to know what it is.”
Dylan snorted his disgust. “The man knows what she looks like. How does she expect to fool him?”
McCall shrugged. “She made a good point that Reddington didn’t see her after she healed. Her face was so swollen from the beating she got before he purchased her, she was unrecognizable.”
“That doesn’t mean he hasn’t seen her since. Hell, for all we know, he’s got people following her, making sure she doesn’t cause him more trouble. And what about Reddington’s son? I know he saw her after she healed.”
“Lance Reddington has been sent away to live with a distant relative. I’m assuming Reddington did that to get him away in case any charges stuck.”
“And that’s for sure not going to happen?”
“Reddington’s deep pockets bought his way out.” McCall lifted a shoulder. “Jamie’s right. The only way to get to him is to obtain irrefutable evidence of his slave-trading market.”
“You got a plan to do that?”
“I’ve got three investigators working night and day. The info’s coming in at a snail’s pace, though. If we try to get inside without being assured of a good cover, we’ll fail. The man will be on the highest alert for a while, so we’re going to have to go slower than I’d like. He knows we were involved in Jamie’s rescue, and he knows our reputation for going undercover to bring monsters l
ike him down. He won’t trust anyone new for a while.”
“What about that kid who helped us get inside Reddington’s house?”
A small smile twitched at McCall’s mouth. “Raphael just received a full scholarship to a university in the States. He won’t be available to help.”
Already knowing the answer, Dylan said, “Your doing.”
“Yeah. The kid won’t stay out of it, and I can’t let him risk his life again. We were damn lucky he didn’t get caught before. After the hell he’s been through, Raphael deserves a life free of danger. Not that he was all that happy about it, but I promised him that if he still wants to work with LCR after he graduates, he’s got a job.”
Dylan had met Raphael Sanchez only one time, and that had been right after LCR operative Cole Mathison had been rescued. The kid had been abducted, just as Cole had, and even while incarcerated, he’d done everything he could to help Cole escape. Raphael had spunk and then some.
“He’s going in the middle of the semester?”
McCall shrugged. “He’s going to get his apartment set up, find a job, and then start next fall.”
Though Dylan agreed that Raphael shouldn’t put himself in danger again, having no easy way inside Reddington’s organization was problematic. It was going to take time and finesse. “When we do find a way to get in, I still want to be the one to go.”
“When we find it, the job’s yours. For now, you’ll have your hands full with this new assignment.”
McCall was right. Saving Jamie from herself might be the toughest assignment he’d ever been given. Staying away from her while being with her wouldn’t be easy, either.
“Does Jamie know I’ll be her trainer?”
“Yeah. She had an unusual reaction.”
Yeah, he could only imagine. Diplomacy wasn’t a skill he’d ever acquired; every time he opened his mouth around her, he offended her in some way. Yesterday, he’d decided the best thing he could do was to just stay away from her completely. And now look what he was about to do.
The meeting ended abruptly with Dylan getting up and going to the door. “I’ll wait for her to contact me. Maybe she’ll change her mind.”
McCall’s expression had been one of doubt—for good reason. Jamie would be arriving very soon. And it was up to Dylan to not only train her to defend herself but to make her realize there was no way in hell she would ever be qualified to go undercover after Reddington.
The crackling of gravel underneath heavy tires gave him his first warning. Training day had finally arrived.
Jamie rounded yet another ice-slicked, jagged curve. She’d started out early this morning from the hotel, nervous but sure of her course and what lay ahead. And now, three hours later, with those jittery nerves on edge, she was questioning if she would even reach her destination alive. Learning to drive in Louisiana didn’t exactly prepare one for driving on mountainous snow-ridden death traps.
She’d called Dylan when she’d gotten in last night, and in his usual blunt manner, he had given her the sketchiest of directions. She’d gotten the point: if you can’t find your way, how the hell do you expect to do this job? So she’d taken the directions, planned out her course, and felt confident. That is, until she’d hit that first patch of ice and slid to the edge of a mountainside. As Aunt Mavis would’ve said, that had taken the starch right out of her bloomers.
Despite the near-death experience, she found the scenery almost overwhelming in its beauty. She’d lived in Nebraska until she was fifteen, and then Louisiana after that. She’d never imagined anything so awe-inspiringly vast or stunning. With the steering wheel twisting in her hands as she hit another patch of ice, she added “deadly” to the description.
Silly, but she had thought explaining her plan to McKenna would be her toughest challenge. Having just saved her little sister from death or worse had definitely brought out McKenna’s protective instincts, but when Jamie had told her, her only response had been to ask how she could help.
And when McKenna asked how she could help, she’d meant it. Her sister had told her that the self-defense part would be the easiest to learn. McKenna had shared some stories with Jamie that had not only shocked her but had put her even more in awe of her sister. And Lucas, bless him, had showed her a few lethal moves. Between the two of them offering their help and advice, she’d come away feeling more confident. Yes, she knew she had a long way to go before she was ready, but she was on her way. And she anticipated surprising the hell out of Dylan.
Dylan. How could a man so damn good-looking be so damn infuriating? When he’d rescued her, he’d treated her with the utmost gentleness. His behavior since then had waffled between sarcastic and mocking to downright rude. Why did he treat McKenna like a sister and Jamie like the enemy?
Was he disappointed that she wasn’t more like her sister? Even though she and McKenna could pass for twins, much of their resemblance stopped there. McKenna walked with an air of self-confidence; Jamie faked much of hers. Her sister never seemed to lose her cool and rarely said anything inappropriate or silly. Jamie often used sarcasm as a defense mechanism and could be a smart-ass on occasion. And Aunt Mavis had told her more than once that she could stick her foot in her mouth faster than anyone she’d ever known.
Admittedly, Jamie hadn’t had the best of luck with handsome men. Her ex-husband had been all looks and no substance—something she’d learned only a few months into their short marriage. Jamie had stubbornly hung on, determined to make it work. Finding out about his affairs had hurt, but the beating she’d received when she’d demanded a divorce had been the final blow—literally. Much to his surprise, it had landed him in jail.
When she’d returned to Baton Rouge a few months ago, she had surprised him once again. He had apparently been under the assumption that the matter was settled. He’d spent only a few days in jail and hadn’t expected to have to do more. Jamie, along with her savvy attorney, had seen to it that he spent more time behind bars. He was out of jail now, and it was her sincere hope that she never saw the cretin again.
She rounded another curve and blew out a giant, tension-filled sigh of relief. The rusted mailbox at the edge of a gravel road had the correct address. A glance at her watch told her she was going to be ten minutes early. Satisfaction and an odd tingle of anticipation at seeing Dylan again caused her to overshoot the turn. Cursing breathlessly, Jamie twisted the steering wheel and started up the long, winding, steep drive. Five minutes later, when no house had yet come into sight, she wasn’t feeling quite as smug. Dammit, where was the—
She almost missed it. Snow-laden and deeply hidden within the forest, the cabin looked as if the giant trees were part of it. Such a strange house should have been ugly, but somehow, it wasn’t. There was an old-world charm in its weathered wood and giant wraparound porch. The man lazed back in a chair on that porch, with his size 13 boots propped up on the railing, took much of that charm away.
Shifting the SUV into park, she took a shaky, bracing breath. One hurdle out of the way—she had arrived. The second hurdle, much bigger than the first, gazed down at her with that infuriating blank expression he seemed to save especially for her.
The next few weeks were going to be tough, but she’d been through much tougher ordeals than anything Dylan Savage could throw out at her. With that comforting thought, Jamie grabbed her purse and opened the door.
She put her feet on the ground and stood. The dark expression on Dylan’s face was as unmoving as his body.
Longing to erase that look, she felt the need to say something smart and clever. Her mind scrambling for something brilliant, she opened her mouth and said, “I’m here.” Clever and brilliant were apparently beyond her.
Jamie took a step toward the porch and felt the world tilt as her feet slid on a patch of ice. A small shriek became a large yelp when strong hands gripped her waist and pulled her against a hard body. She looked up at the too handsome face and breathed, “How’d you get here so fast?”
Gre
en eyes blazed down at her. “I was on my way down when you made your graceful exit.”
With anyone else she would have laughed and made a similar comment, but Dylan’s mocking amusement irritated her. Pushing away from him, she found herself in the same predicament, with her feet again sliding. This time she grabbed the car door and held on.
“You’re going to need sturdier shoes.”
She looked down at her simple, pretty flats and sighed. He was right. She also needed to get over this useless resentment she had toward this man. So what if he treated her like a cross between an irritation and an amusement? She was here to learn how to defend herself, and he was going to teach her. Being her best friend wasn’t a requirement.
“I have better shoes in my luggage.”
“Let’s get your luggage.” He looked up at the sky. “Winter storm’s rolling in … it’s about to get cold.”
Since it was barely in the teens, she really didn’t want to know what “cold” meant to him. She watched as he lifted a large duffel bag and a suitcase from the backseat and turned to the house.
“I have another one in the trunk.”
Without turning, he grunted and said, “Be careful bringing it in.”
Figuring she was lucky he was helping at all, Jamie opened the trunk and pulled one more bag out. She slammed the trunk and turned, letting out another shriek when Dylan was there once again.
“How the hell do you move so fast?”
He took the bag and said, “Better get ready to learn how to move just as fast.”
“Not sure that’s possible.”
“Too bad. Moving slow will get you killed.” And with that, he turned his back on her and headed into the house.
Dylan dumped the last of Jamie’s luggage in her room. He hadn’t said anything about the amount she’d brought with her. Apparently, she believed that she was going to be here for months, and that a large wardrobe would be required, too. He didn’t plan for her to be here for more than a couple of months, if that, and sweats and running shoes were the only clothes she’d need.
Sweet Revenge Page 4