Chapter 12 #2
He shrugged. El never sugar-coated anything. Not for her or anyone else. It was one of the things she had liked about him. Now she wasn’t so sure.
“No,” Miko said. “This was different. If you go all the way back to your family’s murder, it was from a distance. Bombings are very impersonal.”
“It felt personal to me.”
Miko’s face softened as she studied Lila. “I can only imagine. What I mean is that someone wanting you to be abducted…that’s much more up close and personal.”
“They didn’t do it. It sounds like they hired someone,” Aaron said.
Miko was shaking her head, even as some of the pieces of Lila’s warped puzzle started to come together.
“Someone was hired to bring her to their boss. If they wanted to do it at a distance, they would have a bombing again. Or…they would have hired an assassin. Why would he or she want to see her?”
“First, we need to assess if they are after her because of her mother’s work or her grandmother’s work,” Luc said.
“Mother’s,” both Miko and Conner said. The two former FBI agents shared a smile, but Miko’s faded fast as she looked at Lila again.
“We can definitely look at your grandmother’s work, but no offense, most of the people out for revenge due to your grandmother’s work are dead and buried. There is a chance that your family’s murder gave that secondary thrill to our perpetrator.”
Lila nodded. “There are a few children around, but I doubt it has anything to do with my grandmother. Truth is, there are a lot of people who don’t make the connection.”
“Well, we can definitely go to them as a second string, but my gut says it was your mother’s work, or possibly your father’s. Were they both working on the same thing?”
“Yeah. Mom was lead, and section chief, but they were both obsessed with crypto. They warned it could be dangerous to national security. Some of these people are in question because of their work for and with the CIA, as I said. The rest are terrorists who were the early birds to grab up those crypto worms.”
“And you’re sure this other guy you mentioned…Viktor Romanov…he isn’t part of it?” Conner asked.
Lila had forgotten to mention him to Ian so he was probably going to complain about that.
She nodded. “He doesn’t exist. I think he might be legend someone created and used to divert attention from someone.”
“So, let’s set that aside for a moment.”
“Why would we do that?” Jenner asked. He had been the quietest in the group.
“Because, if we can figure out why the attacks changed, it might help us whittle down the list,” Miko said, her exasperation easy to hear.
It was odd, but there was a bit of tension between Miko and the other team members, but Lila got it.
Miko was a profiler, the top in the US, and a person like that freaked people out.
They were probably worried she would profile them.
She probably did, just like Miko was profiling Lila.
Before they could explore that, another beep sounded and Luc looked at his tablet.
“Ian and Emily are here.”
Soon, there was a clatter of Ian and Emily Daniels walking in.
“I’m just saying that whoever is driving picks the music, Mix. You need to suck it up.”
“I did not want to hear you singing Sabrina Carpenter at the top of your lungs.”
Her heart jumped into her throat and her hands immediately started to sweat. What the hell? She had never really reacted to a man like that. Just the thought of seeing Ian again had her entire body overloading.
“I hit every note perfectly. I’ve been trained.”
Their easy camaraderie made Lila’s stomach turn over. She didn’t know what this was, but she definitely didn’t want the two of them that close. In fact, it was taking all of her control not to go over there and pull Ian away from Emily.
She blinked. Oh…that wasn’t good. So, they’d shared a kiss. He had probably already forgotten about it. There was no reason to feel slighted by his relationship with Emily.
Ian stepped into the room with a tall, attractive woman. She knew most of the people at Dillon and Emily Daniels was no exception. She handled a lot of their research but also went out into the field from time to time.
Lila glanced at El, who sat up straighter. Yep. That hadn’t changed. She knew her old friend had a thing for the woman, but he refused to admit it.
Lila shared a look with Eden, who rolled her eyes. Yeah, his twin knew about his infatuation.
“You look horrible,” Ian said.
She tore her attention away from Eden. “Excuse me?”
“You look like shit. You need a nap.” Ian crossed his arms over his chest. He really had the most amazing forearms.
What the bloody hell was wrong with her? She was going on about his forearms? She only had one defense, and that was to be an ass.
“You sure do know how to sweep a girl off her feet.”
“Children,” Conner said. “Miko was going to give us an assessment.”
Instead of taking any of the remaining seats away from her, Ian sat down next to her on the small loveseat. This close, she could smell him, and that same yummy scent that clung to him filled the air around her.
Miko’s gaze ping ponged between the two of them, but she said nothing. There was no doubt in her mind that the profiler had a lot to say about this.
“Well, our problem is the change in MO and why now? Have you discovered anything of value lately that would cause someone to attack you?”
“No. Actually, I feel like I’d hit a plateau.”
Miko pursed her lips. “So it must be something that happened a while ago. You’ll have to figure out what you have uncovered, if anything, in the last six months.”
The truth was, she had stopped obsessing as much about her own issues because of outside forces. The twins had needed her a few months ago to help with a threat to Eden. Plus, there seemed to be weird threats coming after Ian. That seemed to take up most of her time these days.
“Why is the change in MO so important?” Eden asked.
“If you look at the pattern Lila has established, this person was probably involved in more than just her family’s death.”
“So, the person who killed my family isn’t the person who sent people after me?”
“I didn’t say that. I meant that the direct attack is new.”
“Not that new. I mean, they never cornered me in a house, but I have had four close calls in the last six months.”
“What the fuck?” Ian exclaimed. “You never told me about those.”
The anger in his voice confused her, and she knew that he rarely swore around women. “It was just a few run ins, and people who made me feel uncomfortable.” She shrugged. She didn’t know how to share…not since her grandmother had died. “Ask the twins. I have a suspicious mind.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better that you were attacked and didn’t tell me?” His voice had lowered in a threatening manner, deepening along the syllables. She was sure most people would feel threatened by it, but she was turned on. Her entire body seemed to vibrate.
“You do have a suspicious mind, but it’s rarely wrong,” El said, tearing her attention from Ian. Eden was nodding.
“Listen, I have had a lot to handle the last few months. I had to help your sister, and Jin. Then, the twins had their mess to deal with. And since someone seems to have a hard-on for you, I’ve been tracking that.”
“There is no one after me.”
Idiot man. She opened her mouth to refute his stupid comment, but Miko interrupted her. “You think there’s a threat against Ian?”
She turned her attention to the petite woman.
Miko was so well put together, and Lila admired her perfect makeup.
Her grandmother had tried her best to teach Lila about makeup, but Lila could never really pay attention to it.
She would start applying blush or mascara, and she would never finish.
She figured walking around with no makeup was better than having half her face done.
“I do. He has had more than one run-in on his job. Then there was the threat in Vegas.”
“That turned out to be nothing.”
“Nothing? So it wasn’t an old informant who wanted to ensure you never spoke about him?”
Vladimir Duchovny was an oligarch who had no loyalty to Russia. His loyalty is only to his bank account. He sold out the Russian government, helping Ian take out a Russian arms dealer. Since Ian had left MI-6, Duchovny had been after him.
“We took him down.”
She sniffed in his direction, then looked at Miko. “Yes, he does have threats. It’s odd how many of his jobs have gone off the rails in the last three months.”
It had started with that hit in Vegas. Since then, there had been one FUBAR situation after another. Just like with Rachel or Raquel or whatever the fuck she was calling herself today. That should have never happened.
“So, the change in MO might have to do with your connection with Ian?”
“I don’t have a connection to Ian.”
Miko sighed. “His father brought you to your grandmother after your family’s murder. Then, you have been watching out for him. Someone might have picked up on it.”
She sat up straighter and there was a slight twinge in her stomach.
“I did this to Ian?”
“I wouldn’t put it that way, but it’s one possibility. I want to go back to your close calls—as you call them.”
“Okay.”
“Did you recognize the person?”
She shook her head. “I never saw them. Well, except of the guy who attacked me yesterday. Or was it two days ago?” She shook her head. Not important. “All the others…I didn’t know if they were real threats or not.”
“Is there anything else? Or can this wait?” Ian asked as she settled deeper into the sofa. “Lila needs some rest.”
“I can keep going.”
“No,” Miko said. “You’re recovering from a concussion. You do need your rest.”
She would never admit out loud that she was relieved to have a break, but she was.
“Okay, if you’re sure.”
“Yes. Your brain got banged, so pushing it right now would be a mistake.”
Well, she could do with a break, especially from Ian. But, of course, he decided to foil her plan to escape from him.
“Miko, I need a word before I go,” Conner said.
“Of course.” She looked at Lila. “Even if you don’t go to sleep, take a break and let your brain rest. You’ve been through a lot in the last few days.”
She nodded at the woman. “Thanks for your help.”
“Happy to help,” she said.
Lila watched Conner follow her out of the room, knowing that they were going to talk about her and her situation. It made her feel itchy. Like one of those kinds of itches you got beneath the skin, and you had no idea why.
“What is going on in your head?”
She blinked and looked at Ian.
“None of your business.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Delilah.”
She felt her eyes narrow as she studied him. She wanted to be furious with him, but she couldn’t. Not when she saw the strain in his expression and she knew she was the cause of it. She opened her mouth to apologize, but he ruined it with his next comment.
“I am in charge of you and you’ll just have to deal with it.”
His jaw flexed, his nostrils flared, and he vibrated with anger.
He thought he was taking over her life and he wanted a fight?
It. Was. On.