Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Jake was done playing games with the fucking Brothers of Sin. At the first opportunity, he stopped the car and bought a new burner phone. The burner he’d been using at the compound was powered off and stashed in the Faraday bag.
He wasn’t taking a chance powering it up to call Ian Black, and Eva didn’t have a phone because she’d left hers behind in the mad dash to escape the compound.
When he had the burner ready, he called Saint and told him what had happened. In turn, Saint would inform BDI and General Mendez.
He’d given Saint his coordinates and asked he not share them with anyone outside their team. There could be a leak somewhere in the chain, and he wasn’t taking a chance. The broader the ripples in the pond got, the more likelihood of information being compromised.
He drove for hours, Eva asleep beside him, heading north and east toward Virginia and the place he knew she would be safe. The day dawned cloudy and wet, with rain falling steadily and casting the world in gloom.
Eva woke, studying the landscape before turning to him. “Nice day, huh?”
“Beautiful. I ordered rain just for you.”
“Thanks so much.” She smiled. “Actually, I kind of like rainy days. Reminds me of when I was a kid and Mama would let me sit in her lap and put a blanket on us while she read me a book.”
“What kind of book?” He wanted to keep her talking. Not for any reason other than he liked hearing her voice.
“Whatever she was reading, usually. If they were steamy romance novels, she censored those bits. I heard a lot about dukes needing to marry, and ladies who dressed like boys to escape one situation or another.”
“Sounds fun.”
“It was.” She sighed. “I miss her. And I miss Heather. I wonder a lot about how different life would be if Heather had never met Brandon.”
He reached over and gave her hand a squeeze. “I know you miss them, and I’m sorry. I wish your sister had never met Brandon either.”
She nibbled her lip. “Do you know how it happened? You were there at the time, so I thought maybe….”
He glanced at her. “No, I’m sorry. All I know is he brought her back to the compound one day. Don’t know how he met her, but he was obsessed with her. I remember that. Your sister was pretty in a sweet way, nothing like the kind of women he usually went for.”
“She was pretty. When I look back with all these years of hindsight, I realize she was rebellious, too. Mama wanted her to get a nursing degree, get a good job, but Heather wanted to have fun. I guess Brandon seemed like fun.”
“He could be charming when he wanted. Watched him with women back then, and he always scored. I don’t mean with women in the club, but ones he met elsewhere. He never had trouble getting into their panties.”
Eva shuddered. “Ugh. I get it, but I’ve hated him for so long I can’t see it.”
“It’s okay. You don’t have to.”
She was silent for a while. When the landscape started to change, she turned to him. “Where are we going?”
“Somewhere safe.”
“But you aren’t telling me where?”
“Virginia. The mountains.”
“Oh.”
By the time they reached the hunting cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains, it was nearly dark again. He pulled into the garage and shut off the engine. They climbed out and went inside the house. He didn’t have to clear it because he knew no one was there.
Eva stood in the living room looking cold and miserable.
It had been warm in Georgia, but driving into the mountains where it was rainy and cool had dropped the temperature considerably.
It occurred to him that he should have stopped and bought her a coat, but he’d been so focused on getting her here that he hadn’t thought about it.
They’d still been in Georgia when he’d gotten the burner, and that had been a quick transaction at a gas station.
He picked up the quilt draped on the back of the couch and handed it to her. She covered herself but she still shivered from time to time.
“I’ll make a fire,” he said. “It’ll be warm soon.”
“Thanks. Where are we? Is this a BDI safe house?”
He looked up from the fireplace and the kindling he was currently stacking in the firebox. “This is mine. A retreat from the world when I need it.”
He’d never brought anyone here before. This was his sanctuary, his place to regroup whenever he had time off between missions.
It was a couple hours from DC and HOT, but it might as well be on another planet.
Which was precisely what he needed from time to time.
He’d saved every spare dollar he had, every bit of combat pay, and he’d bought it a couple of years ago.
Eva looked around the room with its warm wood walls and sparse furnishings. He couldn’t tell what she thought, but he wished it was daylight so she could see the view. Tall windows looked over a valley dotted with fall leaves.
But she’d see it tomorrow morning, so he’d have to be patient.
“It’s lovely,” she said. “Homey.”
“It’s not much different from the last place.” He continued stacking wood, though he was pleased she liked it.
“I think you’re wrong. It’s very different. That place was sterile.” She strolled over to a stack of books on the sofa table and ran her finger over the spines. “This has your personality stamped on it.”
“Those are just books, Eva.”
She picked one up. “Tying flies? Trout fishing? No, you’re interested in these things.”
Well, yeah, he was. Fishing was peaceful.
“What are you interested in?” he asked as he finished stacking the wood over the kindling and reached for the lighter he kept on the mantel.
She didn’t say anything and when he turned to look at her after lighting the fire, she was biting her lip and blinking. Blinking back tears?
“I don’t know,” she said on a whisper.
He went and pulled her into his arms, hugging her tight. He couldn’t stop himself from stroking her hair as he tried to comfort her. She didn’t fight him. If she had, he’d have let go instantly.
But she hugged him back, enclosing him in the quilt with her.
“You’ve spent so long training yourself to be the woman you needed to be that you’ve forgotten the woman you were. But she’s in there, Eva. You know she is.”
“Yes, she is. I’m just not used to thinking about her anymore.”
“Don’t you think maybe it’s time you start?”