Thankfully, giving them both a break, Serena appeared beside them. “Hey, Aubrey, mind if I pick your brain a minute?”
“Sure.” She stood and then turned to Liam. “Thank you for letting me go on this op with your team.”
“Not a problem. Hope you got something out of it.”
She didn’t move for several seconds, just continued to stare at him. Her eyes bore into his, and he could swear she was trying to communicate something to him. What, he had no clue. Finally, she gave a little nod of her head, straightened her shoulders, and walked away.
Serena gave him a disapproving frown and then moved away, too. Yeah, he was batting a thousand today.
Liam turned back to the window and looked out into the darkness again, his thoughts grim once more. Maybe he needed to take some time off. Go see his family back home in Missouri. Go fishing. Climb a mountain. Anything to get away from this gaping hole that used to be his heart.
* * *
Aubrey made it back to her seat with as much dignity as possible. Everything within her felt numb. While she answered Serena’s surprisingly simple questions about where she grew up and her family, her eyes kept veering toward the man in the front row of the plane.
He’d told her to forget about Syria.
Should she have forced the issue? Just come out and asked him? Why hadn’t she? It was either a yes-or-no answer. How hard was that? Impossibly hard, her mind whispered. Because if she asked and he denied it, then he would be lying. Or would he?
Exhaustion weighed on her like a lead blanket. She was running on fumes and those were almost gone too. Her brain felt like mush, and more than anything she wanted to find a private place to cry her eyes out.
“Your bio said you went to the University of Connecticut.”
She shook herself out of her brain fog. “Yes. It’s where I got my undergraduate degree.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t go to New York University. They have an excellent visual and performing arts program.”
“I actually did go there for a short time.”
“Really?”
“Yes…I…” No, she would not go down that road. “It just didn’t work out, so I stayed out a semester and then enrolled at UConn.”
She sent another glance toward Liam, then returned her attention to Serena. “Why the interest in where I attended college?”
“Just part of our records. We have a file on everyone associated with OZ.”
In her blurred, stressed-out mind, it made sense, so she continued to answer the seemingly innocuous questions never once considering there was another reason for them.
Her eyes shifted to the man in the front row again. Why didn’t she just go up to him and blurt it out? What was wrong with her?
“Hey.” Serena snapped her fingers in front of Aubrey’s face. “You okay?”
“Yes…sorry. Did you say something?”
Serena glanced to where Aubrey’s eyes kept straying. “You seem very interested in Liam. Is there a reason?”
“No, I just…” She gave herself a mental kick. “The rescue was a success but he acts as though it wasn’t.”
“He’s not generally an ass. He’s just going through a rough time right now.”
“Why’s that?”
Serena stared at her for several seconds before giving her the oddest answer she could imagine. “He gave up on a dream today.”
Before Aubrey could explore further, Serena stood. “I’d better go check and make sure Sean hasn’t eaten his weight in peanuts. Get some rest.”
Leaning back in the seat, Aubrey tried to do just that. But her eyes wouldn’t leave the man in the front row. What dream had he given up?
Unable to keep her eyes open any longer, she closed them and felt herself drifting. A part of her brain told her not to sleep. It wanted to stay awake and dwell on the man only a few yards away.
Exhaustion won. As she entered into the twilight phase of sleep, Liam’s voice echoed in her mind, Forget about Syria.
Her soul whimpered, No.
Chapter Twenty-Six
St. Augustine, Florida
Aubrey sat in the backseat of the rental car as they drove through the quiet streets. No surprise they were deserted, as it was just after four in the morning. Eve had told her going in at this time would give her a better opportunity to not be seen. And apparently for the foreseeable future, that’s what needed to happen.
She was being taken to a safe house. How they’d managed to find one in such a short time frame wasn’t something she was going to ask. Probably just as well since she doubted either Eve or Gideon would tell her anyway.
She was grateful for the protection—really she was. If Lawrence Medford had been murdered because of his involvement in her project, then she definitely needed help. However, she had the distinct feeling that Eve and Gideon weren’t all too thrilled to be in charge of protecting her.
They had been professional and polite, but not especially friendly. She was being treated as a job and that was exactly what she was.
Silly, really, but she missed the warm companionship of Serena and Jazz. They’d both hugged her when she’d left OZ and told her they hoped to see her again soon. She hadn’t had the heart to tell them that that wasn’t likely. If she decided to scrap the project, there was no reason for any further contact.
No further contact. Was that really how she was going to leave it? Why hadn’t she just come right out and asked Liam Stryker if he was Lion? Even if he’d said no, at least she could know for sure. Instead, she was stuck in limbo, not knowing and hating herself for not having the courage to ask. She had always, always, prided herself on being the kind of person to take the bull by the horns and not back down. It was how she’d lived her life since returning from her ordeal in Syria. So why when it came to the most important moment in her life had she chickened out?
The car turned onto her street and Aubrey roused herself from her self-castigation. She was exhausted and even though she’d be sleeping in another strange bed for a while, she looked forward to being able to do that. In the past three days, she’d had minimal sleep and multiple shocks. Those fumes she’d been running on earlier no longer existed.
Gideon pulled into the drive and glanced over his shoulder. “Can you get what you need in half an hour?”
“Yes. It won’t take long. I just need some more clothes and a few personal items.”
“Okay. Hang back while we check things out.”
She looked at her house, which looked the same to her. She saw nothing to indicate any trouble. The two-story white clapboard house was almost twenty years old and a little outdated, but she’d fallen in love with its giant porch, black shutters, and large overhanging eaves. The pool in the back had been another selling point. It was the first home she’d ever owned. She’d spent half her savings updating the interior and making it a peaceful retreat. Her heart was sad that she might have to move out and find something new. But this trouble wasn’t going to go away overnight.
If the people who’d bugged her house had been watching, they knew she had taken her research with her. There was no reason for them to search again. But if they had killed Lawrence Medford, then someone could be waiting for her to come home.
Both OZ operatives stepped out of the car, and though they were discreet, she noted they’d both pulled their guns. Tension zipping up her spine, she held her breath as they went up onto the porch.
Eve peered through the window of her front door and said something to Gideon. He nodded, and then they held their guns up at the ready. Something was definitely happening.
Opening the door, she whispered, “What’s wrong?”
“Stay there,” Eve said.
Gideon turned the doorknob, and she was about to call out and tell him she had the key when she realized the door easily swung open. Someone had broken into her house again.
Her heart pounding, Aubrey ran forward. There were no sounds, nothing to indicate danger. Using her phone’s
flashlight to brighten the darkness, she went up the steps. Her foot had barely touched the front porch when she noted that whoever had broken in this time had left her a message. An unmistakable one.
Stunned, she stopped at the front door and took in the devastation. Everything was destroyed. Sofa and chairs were upside down, ripped to shreds. The legs of her chairs had been broken and sawed off. Even her throw pillows were in tiny pieces, with foam and feathers floating in the air from the breeze of the open door.
Eve appeared at the entryway of the living room. “I told you to stay in the car.”
Ignoring Eve’s ire, Aubrey said, “Is every room like this?”
“Yes. Your clothes have been shredded, too.”
She told herself these were material things that could be replaced, but she did have a few sentimental items she never wanted to lose. Even without asking, she knew they’d been destroyed, too. Why would the photos of her parents and her beloved doll collection escape the wrath?
Gideon appeared beside Eve. “All clear.” He sent a sympathetic glance toward Aubrey. “I’m sorry. I don’t think you’re going to find anything to save.”
“She’ll deal,” Eve said. She sent Aubrey a telling look. “Won’t you?”
The words and look were exactly what she needed. Anger replaced shock and sorrow. “Yes, I’ll deal.”
They didn’t stop her as she went from room to room. Nothing had been spared. Even the hand towels in the guest bathroom had been shredded. Whoever had come through here had one agenda—total destruction. They had succeeded.
She saved her bedroom for last. What had once been a place of solace and comfort was now a garbage dump. Sheets, pillowcases, curtains were all shredded and piled on top of a ripped-open mattress. The four-poster bed that she’d purchased right after she’d gotten her first paycheck from the one and only TV show she’d gotten a part in, had been sawed in two.
She turned and noted that her clothes from both the closet and her drawers were all in a pile in the middle of the floor. They were torn and ripped, and on top of that pile were her dolls. Her dad had given her one each year for her birthday. He’d gifted her the last one the week before he died. All twenty-one of them had been decapitated, their body parts broken and cracked.
Refusing to give in to the grief of that one sight, Aubrey straightened her shoulders. In an instant she reversed any indecision about continuing the project. No way were they going to stop her. Nothing and no one was going to defeat her. The perverted bastards would not win.
If they thought they could keep her from making her film, they were wrong.
Gideon stood at the bedroom door. “Your car…” he said.
She didn’t even wince. “I’m assuming it’s totaled?”
“That’d be my guess. Bastards took a sledgehammer to it.”
If she didn’t cry about her dolls, she refused to shed a tear over her ten-year-old Mazda RX-7. Yes she’d loved it but so what? Everything else she’d loved was gone, too.
“We’ll get someone in here to clean this mess up. Doubt they left fingerprints but you never know.”
“What about my gun?”
“What gun?”
She went back to the foyer. The table with the hidden compartment was turned over, but didn’t look broken. Stooping down, she turned it around, and was relieved to see the wood was intact. She pressed the hidden release button, and the compartment opened, revealing her handgun.
“That’s handy,” Eve said.
Standing, she held the gun steady in her hand, oddly comforted. Was it a coincidence that the only item undisturbed was a weapon? She didn’t think so.
She took one last look at the destruction. “I’ll need to call my insurance agent.”
“You can do that tomorrow.”
“All right.” Aubrey turned toward the front door. “Thank you.”
Without a backward glance, she went down the steps and back to the car. The contents of the duffle bag she’d carried to Montana and the gun in her hand were all she had left. That didn’t matter. She would replace what she needed. For now, she wanted to get someplace alone and lick her wounds.
And then, dammit, then she would get back up and go at these people full force. They thought they had defeated her. Little did they know they’d only made her more determined.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Montana
OZ Headquarters
Sitting in Ash’s office, Serena chewed on her bottom lip as they waited for Liam to arrive. She had come to Ash yesterday and presented her findings. He had been full of questions, and she had managed to answer most of them. Yes, there were still holes. And no, she wasn’t completely sure of her theory but there were way too many coincidences to ignore.
The conversation she’d had with Aubrey on the plane had given her the insight she’d needed to probe deeper. There’d been only small clues before, but that fifteen-minute discussion had created a framework for the puzzle. She had spent the last two days filling in those pieces. She wasn’t there yet, but it had been enough to come to Ash and tell him her theory.
He’d been surprised and more than a little intrigued.
Ash had placed a call to Kate and had gotten more information. That, with what she had, almost sealed the deal. Now, to present the information to Liam and let him decide what he wanted to do with it.
It infuriated her that she hadn’t picked up on this from the beginning. Years ago, when Liam had asked for her help in identifying the woman he’d known only as Cat, she had done her best. There hadn’t been much to work with. She had taken all the information he’d given her, optimistic that she would find her. She took pride in her ability to dig up intel no one else could find. She had been a star at her previous job. If there was a secret to be found, Serena was the one given the task. No one was her equal.
Leaving the State Department had been a little scary for her. There, she had been comfortable and secure in her value. But when Sean had told her about OZ and invited her to come over, she hadn’t hesitated. Not only would she be working with the man she loved, she would be given carte blanche to delve deeper into secrets than she ever had before. She hadn’t regretted her decision one moment. OZ’s funding was phenomenal, her intel team was second to none, and she actively participated in the missions. Instead of handing over intel to someone else who would use it to save a life or stop an atrocity, she got to do that herself.
Then Liam had asked her to find Cat. Serena had taken on the task with her normal confidence. She knew her stuff. But every clue and lead he’d provided had fizzled out and died, going nowhere.
Was she seeing things that weren’t there simply because she wanted them to be true? For years, she had watched Liam grow grimmer and grimmer. With each rescue, lives were saved, but the one that Liam wanted to save the most was never there.
She hated seeing the disappointment on his face, the despair. Sean had told her she took too much on herself, and though she knew he was right, she couldn’t stop feeling guilty. This was what she did. How could she not find this one person?
This time the clues were too numerous to ignore. Not just the facts she now knew, but also the less obvious ones she had witnessed and ignored until they’d practically slapped her in the face.
“You’re nervous.” Ash made the statement as if surprised.
“I am. If I’m not right…”
“But if you are right…”
The smile he gave her was all she needed. She took a breath. Yes, if she was right, then she would have given peace to the man who’d saved her husband’s life.
Other than the basic details, the guys rarely talked about their time in Syria, which was understandable. Pain that deep could be shared with those who’d experienced the same thing, but to an outsider, even a beloved spouse, there were some things never mentioned. It was only by chance that she’d learned that Liam had stepped in front of a bullet meant for Sean. If he hadn’t been there at that exact moment, her husband, the love o
f her life, would be dead. How could she not want to give him peace?
“Before Liam gets here, there’s another matter we need to discuss,” Ash said.
Just one look at her boss’s face told her what he meant, and though she wanted to deny its existence, she couldn’t. She had known this day was coming.
“Is it time?” she asked.
“Soon. I got the word yesterday. We need to be prepared for the fall-out.”
Prepared? How could she prepare for the tsunami that would happen? She could only hold on for dear life and pray that it didn’t destroy them.
“Just let me know what you need me to do.”
Compassion glimmering in his eyes, Ash nodded. He knew exactly what she feared. She knew he feared it, too.
Hearing a noise coming from the front part of the house, Serena returned her focus to the here and now. If there was one thing she’d learned in her life, it was to celebrate the victories. Giving Liam what he wanted most in the world definitely counted as one.
He stomped through the door of Ash’s office, a scowl on his face. “This better be good, Ash. I was ten minutes away from getting on a plane to Canada.”
“I think you’ll be glad you stayed.” Giving her a nod, Ash said, “All yours.”
Serena watched Liam turn in surprise. He hadn’t seen her sitting on the sofa.
Taking a breath, she came forward and sat in a chair in front of Ash’s desk. “I need you to hear me out before you say anything. Okay?”
His brow furrowed in confusion, Liam dropped into the chair across from her. “You know I’ll always listen to you. What’s up?”
“There are a few things about Aubrey Starr I think you should know.”
Still looking puzzled, Liam shrugged. “Okay. Like what?”
She laid out the facts. “She’s thirty-one. When she was nineteen, she attended New York University, where she studied drama and acting. But she was only there for one semester. She didn’t go anywhere the next semester. Then, the next year, she enrolled in and eventually graduated from the University of Connecticut.”
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