Chapter 14 #3
“We’re the sharks, bro,” he said with a laugh.
“Nah, we’re the SEALs,” Liam replied, and their banter had her smiling.
Smiling. I’m smiling right now. She touched her cheeks, shocked by the warmth there. “And you’re still SEALs, aren’t you?”
Liam glanced back at her. “Of course.” He smiled. “You don’t ever stop being a SEAL.”
That wasn’t what she’d meant, and he knew it, but she wouldn’t push. One thing was for damn sure: the rumors floating around the upper echelon of Washington were true: there really was a top-secret black ops group working for the president. And these guys sure as hell were it.
She swallowed the lump the size of a boulder. “It’s really Blane?”
She could practically hear Jessica’s nod over the speakerphone. “I’m doubting it’s a massive coincidence that his company received a shipment of the same batch of bugs.”
Sam shifted her gaze to Liam as he pulled the SUV to the side of the road and began inputting a new address into his phone’s GPS.
“That’s Emily’s place.” She pressed a hand against the back of Asher’s seat.
“Blane’s at her place right now?” She thought about the text she’d gotten from Emily that morning.
Emily’s brother had been picked up by Secret Service and taken to the president an hour ago.
Emily must have skipped work since Jake had flown in from London. “What if he hurts her?”
“Based on our intel, this guy just influences policy decisions in D.C.; he’s never actually hurt anyone. Plus, he has no way of knowing we’re on to him,” Jessica explained.
She tried to let Jessica’s words reassure her, but still, Emily was alone with the guy responsible for having bugged her apartment. And, oh God, he’d spied on her in her bedroom. Her stomach wrenched at the reminder.
“We need to find out who the hell hired this guy,” Owen said, and his voice sounded almost hoarse, as if a brush of anger had painted strokes inside his throat, clenching his words.
“And we’re sure he’s at Emily’s apartment?” Sam asked again.
“Traffic cams picked up his plate. He’s still parked outside her building,” Jessica answered. “Be safe. Call me when you have news.”
“Always, Peaches,” Asher said. Then the call ended, and an eerie silence claimed the vehicle.
“Are you guys carrying?” Sam asked as they neared Emily’s townhouse.
Owen looked over at her and gave a curt nod. “We’re strapped. Don’t worry.”
She hadn’t remembered seeing him hide a weapon beneath his clothes that morning, but he was a covert operative, so of course, she wouldn’t have noticed.
These guys were probably trained to blend in, but hell, there was nothing ordinary about the muscled men in the car with her, especially Owen. Since meeting him last week, he’d somehow managed to remind her that life could be so much more, more than she’d ever thought it could be.
I want you to have everything in life. I want you to be so happy your cheeks hurt from smiling. Her mind kept replaying those words, spoken during a Skype call from Brad when he had been deployed. The message now had her tensing from head to toe.
Owen’s knuckles tapped at the side of her thigh a second later. “You good?”
Her thoughts rattled around in her head for a moment, before she could finally look at him. “Nervous,” she said softly. “I don’t want anything happening to Emily.” Or you.
“What’s the plan?” Asher asked once they’d parallel parked in front of Emily’s townhouse.
A memory popped to mind. “Emily has a gun. It’s in her bedroom safe.” She unbuckled and looked expectantly at Owen.
“Good to know. Do you think she gave Blane the code?”
“I . . . I don’t know.” She pursed her lips in thought. “I still can’t believe this is happening.”
“I need you to try and hold it together, okay?” He pointed to her purse, sitting on the floor by her heels. “Call Emily. Tell her you’re outside, and you need to come in to talk to her.”
She nodded and retrieved her cell.
“Try to determine if Blane can overhear your conversation, and if not, tell her we’re all coming in,” Owen told her.
She squeezed her emotions down her throat, and when the line connected, her eyes fell closed. “Hey,” she said as casually as possible when Emily picked up. Emily was okay. Thank God. “Is Blane around?”
“In the shower. Why?” Emily was quiet for a moment, and Sam mouthed shower to Owen.
The four of them stepped out of the SUV, and Owen motioned for her to stay sandwiched between him and Asher. Liam trailed behind them to the door.
“Can you let me in?” she asked Emily, the phone trembling in her hand. Somehow, she felt like she was betraying her friend. “I’m outside. It’s important.”
“Um. Yeah.” Through the phone, she could hear the sound of the chain being slid from its lock a few seconds later.
“I have Owen with me, and his friends,” she sputtered, right before the door opened.
Emily’s eyes widened in surprise, and she nearly dropped the phone.
Sam sidestepped Owen, needing to get to her best friend. “Is Blane still in the shower?”
“Uh.” Emily blinked. “Maybe.” Her focus drifted back to Owen and the other two guys. “What’s going on?”
“Blane sent the photo. He’s been spying on me.” Sam swallowed. “They need to talk to him.”
Emily’s face blanched, and Sam could tell she was on the brink of denying the possibility, but when her eyes swept to Sam’s face, she took a breath and stepped out of the way.
It was the kind of trust only a best friend could give, and Sam was grateful. “I’m sorry,” Sam mouthed as the three men moved past them and entered the foyer of her townhouse.
Emily slowly shut the door and tucked her phone into the pocket of her long pink silk robe. “He’s in the shower upstairs.”
“In your bedroom?” Liam asked, and she nodded.
Owen looked at the stairs before glancing at Emily. “Does he carry a gun? Or know the code to your safe?”
“No.” She cupped her mouth and leaned against the interior wall as her eyes lifted to the flight of stairs off to her right.
“Stay here,” Asher said. “We’ll be down with him in a minute.” Liam and Asher moved so quietly up the stairs, she could barely hear them creaking in the twentieth-century historical townhouse.
Owen pointed to the hall, which led to the living room and kitchen area. “Come on.”
Sam reached for Emily’s elbow and guided her, knowing her best friend was shocked at the moment.
“I don’t understand.” Emily hunkered down on one of the couches and pulled a pillow to her lap.
Sam sat next to her and gently squeezed her forearm. “This whole thing is such a mess. I’m so sorry you got dragged into it.”
“Get your fucking hands off me!” a man shouted a moment later.
Sam jumped in alarm at the thuds pounding above her.
“They’re fine. Don’t worry.” Owen gave a reassuring nod, and a moment later, Asher and Liam came into the room. Between them stumbled Blane, dressed only in boxers. Blood trickled from his lower lip.
Emily gasped and clutched the pillow tighter.
“What’s going on?” The man’s gray eyes darted around the room. He looked even more frazzled than Phillip had earlier.
“Sit.” Owen issued the command and pointed to the lone leather chair opposite the couch. “If you move, they’ll shoot you in the kneecap.”
It was the first time Sam had noticed a drawn weapon.
Asher held a silver and black gun. She wasn’t sure what kind it was, but God . . . everything just suddenly felt a hell of a lot more real.
Blane lifted his hands as he walked to the chair and sat.
Mr. Drago. Maybe Blane wasn’t Russian, but now her nickname for the guy was fitting, particularly if he was taking money from someone to try and block her efforts to effect peace between Ukraine and Russia.
Blane gripped the arms of the chair. His calf muscles tightened as his toes dug into the carpet beneath his feet. “Emily?” He took a ragged breath.
“Don’t act like you don’t know why we’re here.
” Owen glanced at Sam before moving past her to confront Blane.
“You started dating Emily to get close to Samantha. You used her. You tried to buy off Sam’s intern, Phillip, and when you couldn’t, you had to take care of the job yourself. ” He paused. “How am I doing so far?”
Emily scooted closer to Sam. This must have been unbearable for her. She’d been sleeping with the asshole.
Sam couldn’t take her eyes off the bastard, though. She wanted to slug him across the jaw herself.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Blane lifted his palms, but Owen rushed toward him, yanked him by the arm, and pulled him to his feet.
Owen’s back and neck tensed as he gripped Blane’s jaw, squeezing. “Don’t lie to me. We know it was you, but we want to know why, and we want to know who hired you.”
When Blane didn’t respond, he let go of him and shoved him back into the chair.
“I promise. I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Blane rushed out.
Owen peered over his shoulder. “Liam, could you take Sam and Emily out of the room, please? Upstairs?”
She didn’t want to go.
She wanted to see the truth spill from his lips.
But Emily—she’d leave for Emily.
“What the hell is going on?” Emily covered her face once they were in her bedroom. Liam stayed in the open doorway on guard, probably half-listening to whatever was happening downstairs.
The sudden crash from below had her cringing, but he didn’t move a muscle.
Sam moved toward the bed and then noticed the rumpled comforter that lay along the edge.
Awkward.
Emily and Blane had probably just recently had sex. Why’d this have to happen?
She couldn’t tell her friend too much, especially with Liam in earshot.
“You were right about the picture and my proposal. I think someone hired Blane to force my hand. He pursued you to get to me, and then he copied your key to my place.” She squeezed her eyes closed, hating this moment.
“He put a camera in my bedroom and a bug in my smoke detector, too.”
“Oh, God.” Emily wrapped her arms around Sam. “I’m so sorry.”
“No, this is my fault. I brought you into all of this.” She gulped. “And now you and your brother—”
“I’m going to kill him,” Emily growled and pulled away.
Liam held up a hand and shook his head at her fierce approach. Shoulders slumped, she faced Sam again. “Are you okay?”
“Don’t worry about me.” Sam stepped over Blane’s strewn clothes, her stomach roiling at the sight, and reached for her friend’s arm. “We’ll make him pay for this.”
Emily softly nodded, still in a daze.
They sat back on the bed and remained there in silence, because, honestly, what was there to say at a moment like this?
“Liam! I need your help!” Asher’s voice rang through the stairwell, and everything inside of her went numb.