Chapter 10.

strike two.

Lilly stood in Travis's kitchen, her arms folded across her b.r.e.a.s.t.s as she leaned back against the counter, one ankle crossed over the other.

She lounged, she thought, and she watched.

She especially watched the black-garbed, black-masked men that moved through the garage and the house. No law enforcement personnel were present. The situation was being carefully contained.

And that didn't surprise her. She was standing back, munching on a stalk of celery, watching, waiting, thinking.

This was the third attempt on her life. First, there had been the night her father had been killed, then a gunshot to the head, now her motorcycle. And it wasn't just any motorcycle either. That had been her baby even if she couldn't remember where she had gotten it from.

Lifting the celery stalk to her lips, she bit off another piece and listened to it crunch.

"Someone didn't know what the h.e.l.l they were doing," a dark, slightly accented voice said.

Lilly turned her head to stare at the figure that entered the room. Black eyes, a peak of black hair beneath his mask. He was foreign.

It was becoming a game to stand, to watch, to let knowledge roll through her mind.

He was Maverick. She couldn't remember the name he went by, the ident.i.ty he used, or the agency he belonged to but she knew the code name.

"That, or they didn't have the time they needed to wire it right." Wild Card. Deep, dark navy blue eyes. He was different, she thought, different from the others somehow. He wasn't a killer. He was a hero.

But did that make the others killers?

No, not killers, but they were harder, more lethal, for some reason.

But once upon a time, Wild Card too had been a killer. Now, he was a lover, a man who returned to home and hearth every chance he had.

Maverick had changed over the years as well. Just as Heat Seeker had. Heat Seeker was watching her now, his dark gray eyes thoughtful, intent. As though he saw more than she wanted him to.

Could he see that she knew things she was aware she shouldn't know?

"It's been a h.e.l.l of a few months for you, hasn't it, Lady Harrington?" he asked, his voice low, dark, and a bit amused.

"Seems so." She popped the last piece of celery in her mouth and crunched before smiling tightly.

His head gave a small nod of sympathy. "Seems a shame. What could a pretty woman like yourself have done to p.i.s.s someone off so bad?"

She swallowed, then inhaled slowly, evenly. "Perhaps it was because of my vocation," she suggested with an edge of mockery. "A jealous wife perhaps? Who knew the life of a high-priced wh.o.r.e could get so dangerous?"

Silence filled the room. Every man there stilled, turned, and leveled their gazes on her.

Even Travis. His gaze was dark, his jaw tight as she straightened and moved across the kitchen.

"I need a ride home," she informed him. "I have a party to get ready for, as do you."

She stopped in front of him, and for a second, just a second, her body became sensitized, her heart raced. She had been so close in that d.a.m.ned garage. So close to losing more of herself than she already had. She was losing more of her soul, each time he touched her. Her heart was already gone. It belonged to him, but now, she was risking the rest of her spirit to him.

For what?

What was she risking herself for? The man who loved her, or the man who would end up betraying her?

"Nik?" She spoke to the bodyguard as Travis stared back at her silently, warningly.

"Yes, Lady Lilly?" He was forever reminding her of her t.i.tle.

"I need a ride to the house, please. It seems Travis is a bit tied up for the moment." Her head turned, her gaze going unerringly to the intense blue eyes and commanding stance of the masked figure that stood on the other side of the room.

He hadn't spoken much, and never in front of her.

Live Wire. His code name hinted at the dangerous personality she could be dealing with.

"Take her home, Nik," Travis ordered, but his gaze never left her.

As she turned back to him, their eyes locked and emotions surged and twisted between them enough to make her chest tight, her heart heavy.

"I'll be early," he warned her. "Make certain you can find a private spot for us to discuss this."

Lilly shrugged. "Never fear. I'll just have the butler show you to my bedroom. It doesn't get much more private than that, does it?"

She strode from the room, to the far hall and then out the side entrance of the house that they had fallen through as they escaped the explosion in the garage.

She needed to get away from the eyes watching her, the hidden thoughts, the suspicion. As though they were watching, waiting, poised to punish her for remembering whatever she had forgotten.

Memories that she hoped returned soon. The dual personalities were beginning to get on her nerves.

Travis turned back to the men in the kitchen as the masks came off and he faced the team that had come running at the first word of increased danger.

Jordan, John, Noah, and Micah watched him as he pushed his fingers through his hair and blew out a hard breath.

"That was Night Hawk," John stated, his voice decisive. "You know, come to think of it, I haven't seen much of the woman you described as Lady Victoria Harrington, Black Jack."

Neither had he.

Once, he had belonged to England's high society. London was his playground, royalty were his peers. He had drunk, partied, and done business with the world's most elite social set.

He'd been the last of a family line that had been incredibly frugal with the inheritances that had been pa.s.sed down. They had been built upon, saved, h.o.a.rded. Until Travis. Until he'd lost everything because of the deception of a faithless woman.

Travis had known Lilly then as Lady Victoria Harrington. He'd danced with her at parties, and fought against whatever it was that had drawn him to her at the time.

She had been so young, so innocent. Even then he'd found it hard to believe that her father was allowing her to partic.i.p.ate in his activities with MI5.

"No, she's no longer Lady Victoria," he said, as the others continued to watch him expectantly. "Six years as a black op, living a double life, she's not the young girl she was anymore."

"Santos and Rhiannon are going to be at the party," Jordan informed him then. "I'll be there, as well as Ian and Kira Richards, and her uncle Jason McClane. You better get a handle on her before she enters the fray, Travis. Because the woman I just witnessed is a clear product of the Elite Ops. No one would mistake her for a silken-handed member of aristocracy, nor would they mistake her for a call girl. She was too d.a.m.ned tough."

"She was surrounded by the team she has been able to trust for six years," Travis argued.

"Even more than her own team, Elite One was home to her, Jordan."

"Elite One has been home to all those girls," Maverick pointed out. "That doesn't change the fact that they're not a part of Elite One, Travis. She's an agent without backing now, which means her commanders are going to be hot to cover their own a.s.ses."

And that was d.a.m.ned hard to believe, of Santos especially. The commander had babied those girls since they had walked onto his base. Rhiannon not so much, she was cooler, but she had always seemed concerned, at the very least.

"Elite Command can't risk exposure. Santos can't risk lying to them," Jordan continued. "If she breaks, then it falls at his feet. We're responsible for our agents, no matter which commander they're working with at the time."

"You would turn on us that easily, Jordan?" Nathan asked, though they all knew the answer.

Jordan would give his own life before he'd turn on the men he commanded.

He shook his head as he rubbed the back of his neck wearily with a tight grimace.

"This isn't about me, Noah." Jordan finally shook his head. "It's about Lilly and Elite Ops.

If she doesn't hold the cover and accept the background the investigator reported, then we're all f.u.c.ked. Think about that. Remember what I told you earlier. If the Ops falls, we're all dead." He looked to Noah, Maverick, and John. "We fall, and our families will fall with us, when our enemies strike. I don't think that's a chance any of us want to take."

And it wasn't a chance Lilly would take. She would never risk those she had fought with, especially the girls she had worked side by side with for the past six years.

"I'll head to the Harrington estate," Travis told Jordan. "I'll meet with her and see how things stand after this little explosion. My own personal opinion based on watching her during training and over the years she's fought beside us is that at the moment, Lilly's coming to terms with the instincts she didn't know she had. She doesn't have the memories, Jordan, but she does have the instinct and intuition we taught her to listen to. We can't take that from her, it's too ingrained."

"Get over there." Jordan nodded. "I'll run interference. I have to report the explosion, but I think I can cover her reactions to it. One thing is for d.a.m.ned sure, this isn't going to help the situation."

But then again, there wasn't much that could help things now. Lilly had a killer after her, and whoever it was, they were slick. They weren't experienced, he had to give them that.

Experience, professionalism, and she would have already been dead. A trained a.s.sa.s.sin would have taken her out with the bullet, and even barring that, there was no way they would have screwed up the explosion on the cycle.

"We need to get backup in order to protect her," Noah suggested. "This is the third attempt on her life, Jordan. The next one could kill her."

"I've already requested the backup team and have been denied," Jordan informed them, his jaw tightening. "The risk is too great. If she's going to survive outside the Ops, then she has to do it on her own."

"That wasn't Senator Stanton's decision," Travis growled. "He wouldn't have voted for that."

"All decisions made by Command are unanimous," Jordan reminded him. "It doesn't matter how he feels personally. How we all feel. The Ops has to be protected, Travis, at all costs."

Even at the cost of their agents' lives.

Travis shook his head at the thought. A part of him understood, but a part of him didn't understand a d.a.m.ned thing about it.

"Your agents are the Ops, Jordan. Perhaps you should remind Command of that."

He turned and left the kitchen to make his way to the bedroom. His formal wear was waiting in plastic on the king-sized bed.

He picked up the bag and threw it over his arm, checked the contents quickly for everything he needed, then grabbed the overnight bag sitting on the floor.

Striding from the house minutes later, he headed toward the back of the property and the rough-hewn shed that sat next to the back drive. Security was still active, ensuring no one had gotten to the vehicle. Deactivating the security, he raised the bay door and stepped in beside the black Viper parked there.

Sleek, powerful, like the bike that had just been blown to h.e.l.l, the sports car waited like a faithful lover. Running his fingers up the side, he pulled the keys from his pocket and unlocked the car, opened the door, then slid inside.

Three strikes. This was the third time someone had tried to kill Lilly, and he was getting ready to lose his patience. He didn't know what the f.u.c.k was going on, but he was ready to find out.

And he intended to show Lilly's family, and their particular little social set, just how he would ensure her protection.

Lilly knew when he entered the bedroom.

She'd left instructions with the butler, knowing her mother wouldn't be finished dressing before Travis arrived. She and Desmond were in their suite on the other side of the house, and their house guests were similarly ensconced in their suites and preparing for one of the major business events of the year.

It was one of the smallest events, but over the years, it had become one of the most exclusive. Business deals were made or broken at this event. Company profits could be tripled or, with a spoken word, sent to h.e.l.l.

It was also one of the social events of the year. For two days the women vied to wear the finest clothes, to ensure invitations to their own events, or to attend the events considered the most exclusive among this particular set.

It was a f.u.c.king b.i.t.c.h-fest was what it was.

Lilly kept her back to the door as the draft blown in from the hall receded, signaling that Travis had closed the door without so much as a click of the lock.

Turning to him slowly, she saw that he wore the same clothes he'd had on during the explosion. The faintest hint of dust and smoke wafted to her sensitive nostrils as she nearly smiled at the sight of a smear of soot just over his left eyebrow.

"The shower is through there." She nodded to the open doors to the bathroom. "Make use of it if you like."

He dropped the bag to the floor and laid the plastic-covered evening clothes over a chair by the door, then stared at her silently.

Vulnerability hit her like a punch to the gut. She could feel it washing through her system, tearing at the confidence she felt she had never had trouble keeping intact before.

Her fingers tightened on the belt of her robe as he stepped closer, his hands pulling at the bottom of his t-shirt and tugging it over his head before dropping it to the floor.

He paused then, sat on the end of the bed, and within seconds had the heavy boots off his feet.

"The butler turned his nose up at me," he drawled in genuine amus.e.m.e.nt. "I have a feeling he didn't think much of my dirty clothes."

"You arrived in a Viper, though." She shrugged. "His favorite car. He'll forgive you for a little soot and dirt."

"Ahh." He nodded. "So all I have to do is arrive in the correct vehicle?"

"Pretty much," she agreed. "Since I had your limo and your driver, I wondered how you would get here. Where did you have that baby stashed?"

"A small shed in the back," he informed her as he straightened, standing in bare feet as he dropped his socks to the floor beside the boots. "I see you've had your shower."

She touched her hair self-consciously. "I have to get ready. Hair, makeup, all that c.r.a.p. It takes a while."

She couldn't believe she felt so d.a.m.ned vulnerable. Where was the smooth, confident woman she had been hours before? Why in h.e.l.l did everything inside her seem to melt when Travis got that look in his eyes, the one that a.s.sured her he was thinking of doing some very naughty things to her body?

And he was doing this while standing there in bare feet with a bare chest, the soft mat of hair that sprinkled across his chest inviting her fingers to touch and explore.