Chapter 1 #2
Ash tore his gaze from the confounding woman and locked his attention on the road. But staying focused on driving didn’t mean he wasn’t rolling around facts in his mind.
She wasn’t afraid. Or surprised. She definitely wasn’t just an accountant.
And he had a feeling that bringing her to base wasn’t going to provide answers. It was going to raise way more questions.
* * * * *
Ellory had expected chaos when she arrived at the bank. Shattered steel. Federal agencies tripping over each other.
What she hadn’t expected was to be escorted out, hooded and driven away by a man who hadn’t spoken a word in five minutes. Oddly enough, she wasn’t afraid. Mostly, she was annoyed she hadn’t worn a lighter sweater because the hood made her hot.
Reaching up, she adjusted the hood.
“Don’t take it off.” His gruff tone would rattle most people. Ellory wasn’t most people.
“This is breathable, right?”
He grunted. A second later, she felt cooler air blowing straight at her as he adjusted a vent.
Another few minutes passed with only the whir of air and the hum of tires on pavement filling the dead air.
“Is the silence part of the experience?” she asked.
He didn’t respond.
“Do you always go quiet when you can’t see someone’s face?”
He issued a snort. “Do you always talk this much when you can’t see one?”
She didn’t have an answer for that.
It felt like he sped up and when he took a corner, she had to brace herself in the seat.
“Do you always take corners that fast?” She curled her fingers tighter into the seat.
“You can’t be a backseat driver if you can’t even see the road.”
She prickled at his statement but drew in as deep a breath as possible when the hood didn’t allow much air to enter it. She reminded herself she was the epitome of calm. It was her job to be.
What felt like hours later but was probably much less, she felt the SUV slow. They stopped and then rolled on again.
When they parked, her driver spoke. “Keep the hood on. I’ll get you out.”
She gave a sigh of acquiescence and waited. She heard the door open. When he touched her arm, she felt her body go stiff at the way he didn’t just latch on to her arm—he wrapped his long fingers around it gently and guided her to the ground.
Setting her high heels firmly beneath her, she let him lead her across an expanse of ground. The air changed when they entered the building.
“Can I take this off now?”
He didn’t answer at first. Was he studying her? She swore she felt his stare on her, too intense.
“Fine.”
She reached up and tugged off the hood, her eyes barely focusing on the man’s insanely broad chest. When she smoothed a hand over her hair, her gaze collided with his.
Deep brown eyes, almost black, framed by dark lashes that made his stare feel impossible to escape.
From somewhere in the building came the echo of voices.
He twitched his head. “This way.”
As composed as possible, she followed him to a room with screens and an enormous conference table.
Her first thought was that the men were all huge—not only muscled but chiseled from granite like the one who brought her here.
A tall man standing in front of the wall monitor fixed her in his stare. “My name is Constantine. I’m in charge here. You can call me Con.”
She dipped her head in acknowledgement and opened her mouth to introduce herself, then she spotted a familiar face at the table. “Oh. Hi, Opal.”
The black-haired woman smiled. “Hi, Ellory.”
The air was sucked out of the room.
“You know her?” Con asked.
“Ellory has high clearances. She’s good. You can speak freely,” Opal responded.
The men traded looks, and Ellory experienced that same prickle that meant someone was staring at her. When she looked up, the man who brought her here was watching her without pause, a crease between his black brows.
“So it was a waste of time putting a hood over her head,” he said without looking away.
Con gestured for her to sit.
She sank to the nearest chair and crossed her legs. “My name is Ellory Carmichael, and I know why you brought me here.”
Again, silence. Everyone clearly wanted to know why she was brought here, but no one was willing to speak up. Opal leaned over to whisper something to the beast of a man beside her.
A chair grated across the floor and the guy who brought her to the base dropped into it, his gaze direct. “I think we’d all like to know what’s going on.”
Con cleared his throat. “Ms. Carmichael is here to assist us. She is privy to information about Cipher.”
She wiggled in her seat to get more comfortable. This would be fun. “Daniel Sheen.”
Total silence met her use of the terrorist’s real name.
The black-eyed man’s eyes flickered over her face. “You said you’re an accountant?”
“No. I’m The Accountant. And you are?”
The crease between his brows deepened. “Special Operative Angelo Ash.”
“Pleasure,” she breezed out, using all the manners her momma taught her, before getting down to business. “I can provide insights into Daniel Sheen’s life. What do you want to know?”
Con appeared amused. “Whatever you can share with us will be welcome, Ms. Carmichael.”
“Ellory.” She flattened her hand on the table.
“Daniel likes to order Chinese food on Sundays. There’s a long receipt trail to restaurants all over the world.
” She slipped her gaze around the table, past Opal, who gave her a nod of encouragement, then finally landed on Ash again. Special Operative Angelo Ash.
She pulled in a breath and went on. “He’s a bit of a philanthropist too.
He supported Doctors Without Borders and even funded an entire new medical center in the South.
” She was getting warmed up now. “He bought thirteen new properties in the course of three years. He even bought a blow-up doll once…”
Dead silence. She swore she heard birds chirping outside the mansion.
She directed her attention to Con again but her gaze was once again pulled back to the one man staring at her like she was an endangered species in the local zoo.
“Daniel has payments moving out of his accounts to various organizations. Some we know are linked to purchases of explosives or people who build computers.”
All eyes were on her. Ellory was used to attention like this, but she wished someone would speak.
Finally, Con gave her a solid nod. “We’ve got the right person on our team now.”
Ash’s head jerked around, and he fixed his stare on Con.
“Sophie?” At Con’s beckon, a pretty brunette drifted forward from her position by the big screen.
“Can you see Ellory to a room? She’s going to be staying with us for a while.”
Ellory nodded and pushed away from the table. As soon as she gained her feet, she heard a low noise coming from the area where Ash was sitting.
Sophie reached her side, a smile on her face. “Let’s find you a room.”
The woman waited for her to catch up and turned with a smile when they got outside the room. “Welcome to the team. You must be a little confused.”
“Oh. No. Not at all.” She’d done this sort of thing a time or twelve.
Sophie only gave her a quizzical smile and led the way down the hallway. The floors were marble and the walls blocked out into spots where photographs or art could go, but the walls were left bare.
“I’m Sophie. Resident cryptologist.”
“What an exciting career.”
They turned down another long hallway and stopped at a door.
When Sophie swung it inward, Ellory drank in the tall windows and a neatly made bed in shades of blue with plump pillows and even a throw blanket at the foot.
Not the kind of space she’d expected for a hidden military base, but it warmed her nonetheless.
“I’m guessing that Ash took you out of that bank in a hurry and you don’t have any belongings with you.”
“You’re right.”
“Don’t worry. There are enough women living here that we can crowdsource a wardrobe.”
Ellory issued a quiet laugh. “That would be appreciated.”
Sophie’s gaze flicked over her more closely. “You’re about Opal’s size. And mine.” She gave her a warm smile. “I’ll be right back.”
True to her word, Sophie returned within minutes, arms loaded with folded clothes—soft sweaters, jeans, a package of new underwear and even sleepwear. Opal entered behind Sophie sporting a warm smile.
Sophie turned for the door. “I have something to do. I’ll see you at dinner, Ellory.”
“Thank you for everything.”
She left Ellory and Opal alone, and they stared at each other for a beat.
“I was surprised to see you here.” Ellory didn’t have many people she’d call friend, but Opal was one of them.
“Ditto. I haven’t seen you for so long.”
“Since that thing we were both working on. You’re working with the team now?”
If Opal was surprised that she knew anything about the special ops team or the base she’d just been dropped into, she didn’t let on. But their ability to adapt to anything—and quickly—was one reason why they’d become fast friends.
“Yes, I’ve been here about six weeks.” She glanced at the stacks of clothes on the bed. “This should keep you in clothes for a while, but if you need anything else, Sinner can help.”
She cocked her head. “I think I need to know a guy named Sinner.” She’d met enough grumpy guys named Ash.
Opal laughed. “You’ll meet him. He’s my other half.”
Her lips curved in genuine delight. “Then I’m happy for you, and now I really need to meet him.”
“You can meet him right now. He’s making pizza. I actually came to see if you’ll join us.”
She was used to getting tossed into a lot of new situations, and this was just one more in her long career.
Opal led her to the patio and an outdoor kitchen that was loud in a way that the rest of the house wasn’t.
Voices overlapped and someone was arguing about toppings.
The scent of baking cheese made her mouth water.
As she stepped onto the patio, she felt it again. The weight of a stare on her.
Before she even glanced up, she knew that the quiet, dangerous man who’d watched her so closely—at the table in the bank, in the SUV and in the war room—wasn’t finished assessing her yet.
He wasn’t watching her like a threat to be neutralized. He was watching her like a problem he hadn’t yet decided how to solve.