Chapter 7 #2
“And what, Lila didn’t matter? Her life wasn’t as important as some bloody hot head who got himself in trouble…again?”
El cocked his head as he studied Ian. “We both did after I was rescued, but according to Lila, it had nothing to do with that.”
“And do you think for one minute that she would let you think that it was your fault even if it was?”
El blinked. “Dude, what the hell?”
Exactly. What. The. Hell. He was acting territorial and protective of a woman he barely knew. People were stalking her, there was more than one person who wanted her dead for some reason no one could explain, and people took her for granted. It made Ian want to smash something.
“Not to interrupt Ian freaking out about his woman, but we’re gonna need to get her some place safe,” Jenner said.
Ian glanced at the former medic. It figured the one person who had the least amount of experience in this kind of situation was keeping his head on straight. But a combat medic was probably used to going with the flow.
“When can she travel?” Ian asked.
“I think she should wait at least until the day after tomorrow.”
He was afraid of that. “Not tomorrow?”
Jenner sighed. “If she had had a cat scan or even been checked out by a doctor, I wouldn’t hesitate. But concussions are finicky bitches.”
“And that’s a problem,” El said. “If they have linked the two of you together, they are going to be watching your house.”
“We’ll need a private flight, or some kind of way to get her to Oahu without going through any security,” El said. “We can see if we can use the Dillon jet. If that doesn’t work, I have someone I can talk to.”
Of course he did. El’s family was loaded, so he probably had several friends who owned their own private jet.
“And you’re gonna have to call Luc. I know Conner and him are going to want to talk to you about this.”
Yes, that was a conversation he knew was coming.
Conner and Luc knew that she had hacked into certain aspects of their tech, so that was going to be an issue.
Normally, he wouldn’t bother with them, but this was different.
If someone got the drop on her, she was in trouble.
Staying on her own wasn’t an option. She needed a secure location, so he would have to get her into a safe house while they figured this all out.
“You two need to get out of here.”
Both men looked at each other, then back at Ian.
“No,” they said together.
“It will look odd to anyone watching me if you are both here all the time. Dad is different, although, I would rather he would leave too.”
“Not bloody likely,” his father muttered.
“But if I’m being observed at all, they will think it’s odd that you two are here all night.”
“If they have been watching you, then they know she is here,” El said. He glanced at Jenner. “Wanna pull watch duty?”
“You don’t have to do that,” Ian said.
“Yes. I do. You’re right. Maybe this has to do with her family. Maybe this has to do with her. Or maybe, both Eden and I exposed her. If she doesn’t know, how can we? I mean…she’s smarter than all of us put together.”
He nodded and looked at Jenner. “I appreciate it.”
“You got it,” Jenner said. “Can’t have the guardian angel of Dillon Security getting hurt again.”
“Guardian Angel?”
“That’s what a few of the operatives have started calling her.”
“I call her the Barracuda.”
“Come on, I’ll take first watch,” El said.
Jenner nodded and followed the former spy. “Is there anyone who works for Dillon who isn’t a spy?”
“Sure. Emily isn’t and you know Aaron isn’t. Oh, and Miko, but then she can dig into your head.” Miko Andersen was a new hire and had been one of the top profilers for the FBI.
He dismissed the men as he turned toward his bedroom.
“Son, do you need me to help keep watch?”
He glanced over his shoulder. “No. I’ll watch her tonight. Then if needed, I’ll have you watch her tomorrow since you won’t go to hotel.”
“Not a chance.”
He nodded. “The guest room is ready for you.”
Ian made his way back to the bedroom and settled into the chair by the bed.
In sleep, she seemed so sweet, but he knew better than that.
He knew that she had more than one trick up her sleeve.
He had to do his best to make sure she didn’t try to escape.
He wouldn’t make her a prisoner. Well, he might have to.
She rolled over to her side and hummed.
“Ian,” she murmured, her voice throaty and full of need. Of course, his entire body came to life with just that. She said his name in that sexy voice, and his blood heated.
He leaned forward to watch her. Her eyes flashed open. They were unfocused.
“Ian. You need to be safe.”
He blinked at the abrupt action. “Lila?”
“The people. They are after you.”
She reached out for him and took his hand. “Ian.”
God, the way she said his name in that tone was probably going to be the death of him. It sunk into his soul.
“Everything’s fine, Lila. I’ll keep watch.”
Her body relaxed and her eyes closed. “Good, because I really like you.”
Then, her breathing evened out. With a sigh, he settled back in the chair once again and waited.
She slept for what seemed like forever. Or it did to Ian. He did just as he had been instructed by Jenner. Once an hour, he roused her from sleep to make sure she was still doing okay. She had been grumpy each time.
Ian poured himself another cup of coffee. There was a good chance he was putting his health at risk with the amount he had drank since morning, but then, he couldn’t let himself fall asleep.
“I can sit with her, son.”
He knew his father had been there. Sam Smith might have been a spy and moved with little to no sound, but he had trained Ian.
He turned to face his father. The years had been good to Sam Smith.
Losing his wife to cancer, then finding he had a secret daughter hadn’t been easy.
The transplant he’d had almost two years ago hadn’t been the easiest on any of them.
Sam might not look young, but he definitely looked good for his age.
“I have to work out where we are going to hide her. I also need to figure out if this last attack was due to her being burned, or if this was because of us.”
He cocked his head to the side as he studied Ian. That look told him that his father was going to play dumb, although he knew that Sam was anything but.
“Us?”
“You, me. She seemed very interested in keeping us safe. And she is right. There were more attacks on me these last few months. I don’t know what it means, but I do know that Dillon has been probing things.”
“You didn’t tell me.”
He would roll his eyes, but he knew his father hated that. “I would have if they found anything. I have been dealing with a few problem clients, mainly because my partner is good at dealing with them.”
“And then there was the attack in Vegas.”
He nodded. “It made sense that the bastards were hired by Russians.”
“You aren’t sure though, are you?”
He shook his head. “Just something felt off. I haven’t had a hit in years. I left the Double E well before I left MI-6. Russian agents would stick out more here than they would in England.”
“But not in Vegas.”
That was true. Lots of Russian oligarchs loved Sin City.
“Are we going to talk about it?”
“What?”
“Your connection to Lila.” He shook his head. “Still can’t get used to that name.”
Sam smiled. “Her full name is Delilah, but she hates that.”
“You went to pick her up?”
He nodded. “You know that I owed Judith my entire career in MI-6. She trained me, believed in me, and, well, made sure I got all the prime assignments. Then she did the same for you. Not the training, but I know she had a hand in your career a bit.”
“Really? Why?”
He shrugged, settling his weight against the counter and crossing his arms. “Judith didn’t trust people for obvious reasons. She could trust me. She also thought that I would be a good pick for her daughter.”
He had just taken a sip and promptly choked on it. “What?”
His father’s mouth twitched. “She thought we should date. She was trying to keep her daughter in England, but we saw each other more as siblings than anything else.”
“So you never dated?”
He shook his head. “She had met Micheal through some joint assignment. They were both built to be analysts and connected on that level.”
There was a tone in his voice that caught Ian’s attention. “You didn’t like him.”
“No. There was something off about him. He didn’t like the friendship I had with Eloise. I know that MI-6 made him a good offer to work for them, but he insisted they go back to the US. I have always thought that he did that because he was convinced that he would be considered better at the work.”
“So, he thought because he was an American, they would pick him over her?”
His father sighed. “Yeah, and I felt bloody guilty after both of them died. I just didn’t like the fact that my friend was all the way across the ocean.
Then they were both gone, as was Adam. When Judith asked me to go retrieve Lila, I was on the next flight out.
Poor girl. She was the only person at the funeral, besides agents.
She was ordered not to contact her friends. ”
His chest felt funny, as if something heavy was sitting on it. He couldn’t imagine losing your entire family, then being cut off from your safety net. He’d lost his mother when he was younger, but he had his father, then soon an annoying half-sister. Plus, he had always had his mates.
“What about the other side of her family? Her father’s parents?”
“He was an only child and his parents were gone. Also, after what happened, there was no way Judith would have let Lila stay anywhere but by her side. And effectively, they made her disappear from the databases. Everyone assumed that she had died with her parents and brother. The CIA was very careful about that.”
“I need to wake her up again. You should get some sleep. We’ll probably head back tomorrow.”
“My ticket isn’t until next week.”
“Dillon got a private jet from a friend. We didn’t want to use the Dillon jet because that might send a signal out.”
“Okay. Make sure you sleep a little too.”
“I will.”
He watched his father walk down the hall to the guest room. It was renovated, although the bathroom left a little to be desired.
Ian stepped into his bedroom and instantly noticed the bed was empty. Panic hit him hard, then he noticed the bathroom door was shut. The toilet flushed and then the sink water came on. He drew in a deep breath, trying to calm his heart rate. She opened the door and came to an abrupt stop.
“What’s wrong?”
“I walked in and you weren’t here.”
“I told you I wouldn’t try to escape again.”
“You aren’t being kept a hostage.”
“Sure feels like it.” She climbed into bed. “I heard you and your father talking. Was it about me?”
He pulled the sheet up further because, Jesus, the woman had on a shirt that clung to her body. She had a fucking concussion, and he was thinking about how much he would like to slide his hand up under her shirt…then follow it with his mouth.
Even as his dick pressed against his zipper, he ordered his body to stop responding to her.
“What’s that look for? Did he say bad things about me?”
The worry in her voice caught his attention and tugged on his heart. That was a funny thought because he was often accused of not having one.
“No. He said nice things about you. Mainly about your mother.”
Her mouth curved. “She was brilliant.”
“So you didn’t fall far from the tree?”
She shrugged but said nothing else. He brushed her hair away from her face.
“We’ll be going to Oahu tomorrow.”
She shot up in bed. “What?”
“We need to get off this island.”
“They will be watching the airport and since we have no idea who they are, it makes it impossible to look for them.”
“Delilah—”
“Don’t call me that. I hate that name.”
“Your grandmother called you by it. Did she pick it?”
She shook her head. “No. My father did. She was just formal. No nicknames for her.”
“I’m assuming she didn’t like being called Memaw Judy?”
She threw her head back and laughed. The sound warmed that heart people said he didn’t have. He had a feeling she hadn’t had a lot of reasons to laugh lately.
“At first, she didn’t, but then…she really warmed to it.”
“But you don’t like your full name?”
“Think about having a name like that when you’re in school. It was…I just didn’t like it.”
He knew there was another story there, but he didn’t push. She had been through a lot in the last twenty-four hours.
“We aren’t going to use an airline. I called in some help and got us a private plane.”
“They will watch for Dillon planes.”
He cocked his head as he studied her. “I know how to do my job. Trust me.”
For a long moment, eyes ping ponged back and forth as she held his gaze. She was assessing him. When she finally nodded, he let loose a breath he didn’t know he had been holding.
“Good. Now, get some sleep. We can worry about who tried to kill you tomorrow.”
“You promise no one will get hurt here.”
She grabbed his hand and held on so tight he was sure it would cut off the circulation.
It was an insane worry for her. Ian, El, Jenner, and his father were all trained operatives.
Yes, his father was older, but he could still handle a gun.
If anyone showed up, they would probably be able to handle them.
As he studied her, he realized that she wouldn’t rest until he assured her.
He gave her a nod. With a sigh that was filled with exhaustion, she settled against the pillow. He watched as her breathing evened out, and he could tell she had finally fallen asleep.
He looked down. She was still holding his hand.