Chapter 11
Eleven
Ian was losing his patience. He was known for it, and when he had been part of the Elite Eight, he’d had a reputation as being stalwart.
He stood his ground, waiting hours, sometimes days, for his target.
Lately, though, that well-known patience seemed to be tied to a woman who was now looking at him like he had lost his mind.
“What the hell?”
All he had told her was that he wanted her to sit on the floorboard of the SUV just like she had on the way from his house to the private airfield. And worse, every time she used that tone with him, it made him want to kiss her.
“It’s the smart thing to do,” he said.
“This is why I shouldn’t be here. I’m a target and, therefore, I put a target on your back.”
They had been lucky to land at Dillingham Field.
It was a smaller airfield on the other side of the island; one used mainly for hang gliders.
The traffic would be on the lower end this time of day, and there would definitely be less people there.
Also, their safe house was in a forested area near the North Shore, not too far from the airfield.
It made it easier to get there without detection.
“Seriously, get in the SUV and get on the floorboard.”
Her nostrils flared as her face flushed, and, dammit, even that turned him on. The woman was starting to work on his last nerve, and he was getting hard for her. She flounced away slipping into the SUV with a grumble.
He had never wanted a woman more in his life.
“It’s all show you know?”
Ian drew in a breath, ordered his dick to behave, and glanced at Stryker. “What?”
He motioned with his head and while Ian didn’t like being out in the open like this, he decided to indulge the man. Stryker had allowed them to use his plane. He stepped closer.
“She’s trying to protect you, but part of it is for show.”
He took a couple of seconds to study the man. There was nothing but sincerity in his eyes.
“You know this how?”
“I know her. Not personally, but she’s a legend in the business. You don’t think someone with a genius IQ could have figured out a way to escape from you? I would bet that attack scared her more than she’s letting on.”
“Again, you know this how?”
Devon glanced over at a parked convertible with a woman sitting in the driver’s seat. Her long chestnut hair was dancing in the wind.
“Experience. Those smart ones are a pain to capture and convince you’re worth their time, but the payoff is amazing.”
“I’m not trying to capture her.”
His mouth twitched. “Sure, Mix.”
The fact that he knew Ian’s nickname didn’t surprise him. Stryker had a close connection to his boss, so he’d probably told him. Still, it irritated him.
“Thanks for the use of the plane.”
“Anytime. And I mean it. I want that meeting with your woman as soon as this is all cleared up.”
“She’s not my woman.”
“Like I said before…sure.”
Then Stryker turned and headed off to the woman.
She had waited until he started in her direction before she slipped out of the car and hurried over to him.
As Ian watched the couple embrace, he found himself feeling envious.
Having someone waiting for you to return.
What would it be like to have a woman waiting for you?
“Gee, I would think sitting on a tarmac would be dangerous, but sure, I need to sit on the floorboard for protection.”
She said it just loud enough for him to hear. He wanted to laugh at her sarcastic tone. More often than he wanted to admit, he had to fight laughing at her jokes. Especially the ones she made at his expense. Furthermore, she was right. He needed to get his arse in gear and get her to safety.
Once he slipped into the SUV, he realized Aaron Daniels was their driver. Aaron was another Dillon Operative. The former MMA fighter was the epitome of the strong, silent type.
“Hey, Aaron. Thanks for the pickup.”
“Don’t thank me too fast. Em is going to meet you at your apartment.”
Emily Daniels, the person he called to help them find Lila, and a pain in his ass on a regular basis. Also, sister to Aaron.
“Why?”
He shrugged as he put the car in drive.
“I think she wants to meet Lila.”
This was starting to get annoying. Why did everyone want to meet the woman?
And would he ever get her alone with all these people popping up out of the woodwork?
Ian understood the situation. Most people in the world would never hear of Lila, but people in the security business had been whispering her name for years now.
When she had been burned, she’d become more of an urban legend.
The thing he was sure government agencies used to scare their agents, and every hacker and coder relished.
“If the windows are tinted so dark, why am I down here on the floor?”
He let down his window. “Because we are going to be seen driving with just five men in the car.” She was behind his seat, so she punched it.
“You suck.”
Again, he felt his mouth twitching. How did she always seem to make him want to smile?
“Delilah, he’s just trying to keep you safe,” his father said.
“Oh, I know he thinks he is. What he doesn’t seem to understand is just who we are up against. And I told you to call me Lila.”
Okay, he shouldn’t be so damned jealous of the relationship his father had with Lila.
It didn’t seem like they had seen each other in years, but…
it still chafed. The most disturbing thing was that he knew his father wasn’t a romantic rival.
His father had been a bachelor for years but was now in a committed relationship with Mari.
Besides, his father had never taken up with a woman young enough to be his daughter.
But Ian still was jealous for some reason.
“We’re going to drop my father off, then drive around for a bit, doubling back to make sure we don’t have a tail.”
“You don’t need to drop me off, son.”
“It will look better.”
El was seated across from him, with Jenner in the front passenger seat.
He felt their silent judgment. He rolled his shoulders.
This is why he was a much better assassin.
You tended to work alone, or if it was a situation for a sniper shot, with a spotter.
A team was great, but it also made him itchy.
“Whichever one of you has thoughts on this, please, tell me.”
“I think we should drop you off at your apartment. It would make more sense than just driving around,” El said.
His heart clutched at the idea of leaving Lila. He didn’t want to be far from her. Even thinking it caused his lungs to seize up.
“I said I didn’t like that idea.”
“It’s actually a better plan, Mix. You can meet us at the house. They won’t think that you would leave me in the car,” Lila said.
He knew they were all right, but the idea of being away from her was sort of freaking him out.
When did he become so damned attached to her?
It had been less than forty-eight hours, and he was having a panic attack because they would be apart for a couple of hours?
Totally out of character for him. Sure, he had kissed her. Once. That was it.
Of course, it was the best bleeding kiss of his life.
In all his years, he had never been that turned on by just a kiss.
He was getting hard just thinking about it.
This kind of infatuation made him feel as if he were some kind of teenager with his first crush.
It was embarrassing, but he wasn’t sure what to do about it.
Actually, Ian wasn’t sure he wanted to do anything about it.
He sighed. She was right and maybe a little distance would be best. “Fine. We’ll drop Dad off and then me. I’ll meet up at the safe house.”
He just hoped he wasn’t making a big mistake.
“You can sit up now,” El said.
“Why now?”
“We’ve made it onto the private land that surrounds the safe house.”
She pulled herself up and the first thing she noticed was the forest. She had never been one for the outdoors, but in the last couple of years, she had gained an appreciation of outdoor activities.
Mainly because she would sometimes have to hide out in whatever she could find which included tents and caves.
Caves were not her favorite thing in the world, but she had enjoyed camping. This would be one place to hide.
“This is a new one,” she said. Not a question because she had hacked into the Dillon mainframe and stayed at some of their houses and apartments.
Oh, shit. She was about to come face to face with two men who would probably not be happy about her slipping into their safe houses.
She’d tried to leave them cleaner than when she’d shown up, and she only used the facilities, i.e.
, the beds and showers. It was hard to get clean when you were on the run.
The forest started to thin out, then it was like a massive house seemed to rise up out of the ground.
Large trees lined the driveway, and even more massive trees seemed to give the home a lot of cover.
The driveway had lights on both sides. Normally, she would freak out about that, but truth was, with the massive house, most people would expect lighting like that.
“Interesting. Good cover.”
She felt rather than saw Jenner’s gaze landing on her.
“Yeah, it’s one of the reasons Dillon bought it.”
“Cool. Coverage is so important here. I think a lot of people forget that.”
Especially in Hawai’i. It was easy to hang glide through an area while looking for someone. With the massive Banyan trees, the house wasn’t completely hidden, but it would be difficult to judge what was happening.
Asian in design, the house had dark wood accents, a sloped roof, and wrap around lanai. Flowering shrubs intermingled with small ornamental trees. There was a large koi pond off to one side. A set of stairs led up to the covered lanai. At the top of those stairs stood two unsmiling men.