Chapter Five
Outside of Winchester, Virginia
“You need stitches,”
a voice was saying.
Devi tried to follow it, but she was so tired. The voice sounded far away. She was warm and cuddled up against something. Where was she? What happened?
“I don’t need stitches. It’s a nothing wound. I barely notice it. We’re going to look after her first. She hit her head or something. I’m not quite sure. She was out by the time I got to the basement.”
That deep voice. Zach Reed. The man she hated for what he did to her and her family. The man she couldn’t forget.
Her life was shitty because of that man.
Her life had become bodyguards and sympathetic looks and nights spent sitting up pissed at him. Wondering why he’d had to pick her.
She knew why. Someone had told her why he’d selected her as his next scheme, but she couldn’t remember. It was something about her family.
“I told you she’s fine,”
the feminine voice said in a British accent. Not a posh one.
“I checked her out before I gave her the sedative, and don’t yell at me. I have to get us all the way across the bloody Atlantic, and I can’t do that if she’s screaming. She can scream all she likes once we’re on the plane, but until then I need her quiet. We’re only supposed to be a party of two, you know. The plane was gassed up and checked out for two. Lucky for you I bet she weighs one fifteen soaking wet.”
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t avoid it, but you should have known I didn’t want her drugged,”
Zach said.
Drugged. Yeah, that was what she was. Nice and drugged. It would be so easy to go back to sleep. Or was she already asleep?
She thought about opening her eyes, but she didn’t.
“Why would I have known that? Up until tonight I thought she was nothing but a girl you played at a club with,”
the woman shot back.
“I thought it was best no one knew how I felt. Lace, you have no idea what those drugs could do to her,”
Zach accused.
“I know they’ll keep her calm until we can figure out where to stash her. Don’t you get mad at me. I did not expect you to show up with a girl,”
the angry Brit said.
“Besides, it’s a light sedative. She’ll likely be in and out of consciousness, but she won’t scream and try to get away. I promise she doesn’t have a concussion. She’ll be fine when she wakes up, but you’ll be dead because of that knife wound.”
Knife wound? Who stabbed him? Had she stabbed him? She’d dreamed about stabbing him and tossing him in a shallow grave.
She missed him so much.
“I’m not going to die. It’s superficial,”
he replied.
“A couple of butterflies will close it.”
“Well, the butterflies won’t stop the infection you likely got from moving through those tunnels.”
The other woman’s voice held a bit of distaste.
“You have no idea what’s down there.”
She felt arms squeeze around her and realized they were moving. In a car or something, and she was on Zach’s lap. Oh, she could smell him, feel the warmth of his body.
“I know Huisman was keeping a stash of stuff. I’m pretty sure some of those boxes were weapons. I gave Coop a heads-up, but I’m worried the fire will take everything out,”
Zach admitted.
The woman he called Lace was quiet for a moment.
“Did you open the boxes? Get any footage of what was in them? Perhaps collect a couple of samples?”
It was Zach’s turn for a pause.
“I had to get her out. That fire was going, and no one was putting it out. I doubt Cooper had a chance to get down there.”
“So what you’re saying is even if by some miracle the fire doesn’t destroy what could have been incredibly valuable intelligence, the Agency now has it. Not your old boss but his boss,”
she pointed out in a terse tone.
“Yes. I know what a fuck-up it was, but I wouldn’t take it back. I couldn’t leave her there,”
Zach insisted.
Leave her? He was talking about her. The “her”
in question was Devi Taggart. What had happened? Everything was fuzzy. Her brain was on the fritz. She might be dreaming this. She dreamed about Zach all the time. Dreamed about him not turning out to be the biggest mistake of her life. Dreamed that he’d come home when he was supposed to, and the betrayal was actually the dream and she needed to be way less insecure because they were perfect for each other.
“Zach?”
Devi managed to say his name. It felt weird. She had to concentrate to talk.
“Sweetness?”
He gently smoothed back her hair.
“Thank god, you’re awake. You’re safe. You’re in a car, and we’ll be on a plane in an hour. What’s important is that you are safe and you’re going to stay that way.”
She understood nothing except he was here and he shouldn’t be. He ran. He hadn’t come home from Canada. He had taken off and was now AWOL, and every intelligence group in the world might be hunting for him because he betrayed his team.
“How are you here?”
“That is a long story and one I’ll tell you when we get to the safe house and I’m sure we’re secure,”
he replied, his voice a low rumble.
A huff came from the Brit.
“It’s secure. I told you. It’s safe as houses, and no one will think to look for us there. I’ve been working on our cover with the locals. Though I would like to point out there were only supposed to be two of us, and I’m going to need a cover for her.”
“She’s my girlfriend. That’s all they need to know,”
Zach shot back and then his hand was on her hair again and she fought the urge to sigh at his touch.
There was something so wrong with that statement.
“Not your girlfriend.”
He sighed, and she felt his weariness.
“You sleep. You’re okay, and I’m going to make sure you stay that way. When you wake up, know I’m going to take care of you. I promise.”
Take care of her. It was all she wanted from him. Zach was the one, but he’d been gone for so long. Something played at the back of her sedated brain, but it didn’t seem important now.
“You should have told me you were extracting a Taggart,”
Angry Brit said.
“Why does it matter that she’s a Taggart?”
Zach asked, a bit of suspicion in his tone.
“They’re trouble for us, and you know it,”
she said after the slightest hesitation.
“You should have told me this was your plan. I’ve trusted you with my life for a while now, Zach. This feels like you don’t trust me.”
“I do, but I didn’t know I was going to do it until I was there,”
Zach shot back.
“I planned to let her uncle take her, but it’s obvious to me he can’t handle her. We’ll have a talk about that.”
Bodyguard. She’d had a bodyguard. She hated having a bodyguard. Not Landon in particular. He was an okay guy. He was even attractive, and she’d thought seriously about trying to wipe Zach from her memory with him.
She couldn’t do it, so she acted out. She acted rebellious and gave Landon the slip, and something terrible had happened and that was why she was in this car with the man of her nightmares.
“You still should have told me, and you shouldn’t have carried her like that when you’ve got a hole in your side,”
came the reply, and Devi felt the vehicle turn.
“Lucky for you I’ve got a kit in the plane. I’ll stitch you up before we go.”
“Lucky for me you found a damn plane,”
Zach muttered.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. It was a gametime decision. I appreciate you coming all this way for me. I know how hard that must have been and what strings you’re having to pull to get me out of the country.”
“It wasn’t that hard.”
The Brit’s voice was softer now.
He was leaving again? Thoughts seemed to flow in and out. Time, too. For a moment she remembered standing in the private terminal with him, their arms around each other. Saying good-bye had been hard, but she’d loved showing him off to her family, letting them know she’d snagged that gorgeous, funny, amazing guy.
“You just got here.”
She didn’t feel good. Well, maybe she felt too good. She couldn’t tell. One second she wanted to wrap herself around Zach, and then she thought she would puke and then her head was pleasantly floaty.
What the hell had happened?
“I know,”
he replied, his voice going low.
“And I’m not letting you go this time. I should have done this weeks ago.”
“Done what?”
She managed to get her eyes open, and he was every bit as gorgeous as she remembered. Except worse for the wear. He had a cut on his cheek. Not deep, but a bit bloody. His face was still lovely. Like a model but rougher, his life experience showing in the lines of his face, the hard, chiseled jaw. She liked to kiss him there.
They’d been together for a week. How could it feel like a lifetime?
He looked down at her with such tenderness. Such softness, like he’d missed her terribly and only now felt right again.
“Kidnap you.”
Not what she expected to hear. And the words reminded her that something was wrong with this scenario. Something beyond the blood and drugs and obviously annoyed British lady.
Zach had betrayed his team. Her family. He’d lied and nearly gotten Kala killed.
She hated Zach.
She loved Zach.
How was she here with Zach? She wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near Zach for multiple reasons, the chief one being she wasn’t about to be that pathetic girl who let a man walk all over her and then ask for more the minute he seemed sweet again.
She tried to shake her head.
“Let me go.”
He sighed.
“I can’t. I did it once. I don’t have it in me to do it again. Devi, it’s going to be okay. I’m going to keep you safe.”
“She’s probably confused.”
Angry Brit sounded less ragey.
“She’ll sleep soon. You can tell her now, but you might have to tell her again. I gave her enough to keep her out for a couple of hours once she stops fighting it. Taggart, go to sleep. Trust me. There’s nothing luxurious or fun about the flight we’re about to take. I wish I could be sedated.”
What was Angry Brit doing with Zach? Realization flooded her. It was a tale as old as time. She should have known the liar would also be a cheater. Of course she would have to figure out who he cheated on since it sounded like he knew the Brit pretty well. Devi could be the other woman.
“Tell your girlfriend I’ll stop fighting when hell freezes over.”
“There she is,”
Zach said with what sounded like affection.
“There’s my fierce baby. She’s not my girlfriend, Devi. Her name is Lacey Rook, and she’s been helping me for over a year now. She has connections I need to find what I’m looking for, and we’re getting close. I’ll explain it all to you when we get where we’re going. I promise I won’t hold anything back this time.”
Liar. He was a liar, and she shouldn’t be cuddled against him. She tried to get her arms to move but they wouldn’t.
“Where am I? What happened?”
Kala. It came flooding back. Kala was in trouble. She had been with Kala, and her cousin was in serious trouble with that French man. What was his name? House something. Had they fought?
Her head felt so heavy.
“Don’t worry about it, sweetness. I’ll tell you everything when you wake up. I promise.”
“Liar.”
She managed to push the word out of her mouth.
Another stroke of his hand over her hair, and damn but that felt nice.
“Yes. I’m a liar, but I’m never going to lie to you again. You’ll understand when I tell you everything.”
“Kala.”
Her cousin. She’d been drugged, too. And that man…that awful man had promised to torture her. But she saw another picture of Kala in her head. One of her brilliant, brave cousin trying her hardest to make her limbs work, trying to save them both.
“She’s fine. Cooper got her. I’ll tell you the whole story when we get where we’re going,”
he replied.
Kala was okay. She could breathe a little better. Cooper had her. He would take care of her.
“Home. Go home.”
Though she couldn’t sort through it all right now with the drugs in her system, she knew she’d been through something traumatic, and she wanted her mom. She wanted her dad.
There was sympathy in his eyes as he stared down at her.
“I’m afraid for now your home is with me. There’s no way Huisman doesn’t know about you now. None. That bitch who took you would have told him everything.”
A vision of a dark-haired woman in her forties came over Devi. She had definitely fought with that woman. What was her name?
Why couldn’t she remember anything?
Why did it feel so good to be in his arms? His hands on her body.
Tired. She was so tired.
“Just rest,”
he said.
“It’s going to be okay.”
It wouldn’t, but there was nothing else to do. The drugs were winning, and she gave in to the velvety darkness.