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“It seems Black Jack can take care of everything,” she murmured.
“Travis and the others are our big brothers,” Shea Tamallan said, her smile somber as she looked at Lilly. “They’ve always watched over us, along with Santos.”
“And Rhiannon?” she asked. “What about her?”
Nissa shrugged. “Rhiannon is harder to figure out. I’ve been working with her for a few months longer than you were with us. None of us have ever figured her out. She’s very compassionate, but she’s also very by-the-book. It makes it harder to work with her.”
“She would have never approved our deployment,” Shea stated. “She and Santos argue often over us, and the missions we’re given. They didn’t want you returned to your family, but Elite Command needed you for this mission.”
“How nice,” she murmured. “But Santos has always watched over us, right?”
“It’s hard to explain without telling you more than we should,” Raisa stated soberly. “We have to be careful, Lilly. And you especially have to be careful. If there’s the least suspicion that you know as much as you do, then Elite Command will have no choice but to order your death. They can’t afford the risk to the other agents.”
There was a lot of information she still didn’t have, but she had acquired much information in recent days. She knew she had been specifically trained to work with a certain group of agents. A group Travis was a part of. The call-girl cover had been created to keep them above suspicion as agents, and the troublemaking personas were intended to allow them to move freely as needed and to lend them an air of danger that made it logical for them to be in the company of the agents they were trained to provide backup for.
“What information do we have, if any, on the latest attempt?” Lilly asked.
“We have the explosives cap and the fluid,” Raisa said. “Both of which were used in the bomb makeup and have been used before. Surprisingly enough, your father was tracking the maker of that bomb before he died. It’s the same bomb tied to an explosion at one of his offices four months before his death.”
Lilly nodded. “I remember that. It happened around four in the morning, so no one was hurt, thank God, but we never did find out who was behind it. We couldn’t even figure out why they would have wanted to do it.” She shook her head. “it’s just an office building. There was nothing to be gained from blowing it up.” A frown creased her brow. “So whoever blew up Father’s office in London used the same bomb to try and blow me up here in Maryland?”
Shea sh
rugged. “We’re hoping that Travis’s trip to England will shed some light on all of this,” she told her. “We need to wrap this up, hopefully—in Santos and Rhiannon’s opinion—before you remember anything about the six missing years. They truly wanted you to have the chance to return to the family you missed so desperately once they were ordered to allow it, Lilly. We all wanted that for you.”
Because they had all lost so much as well. Family, friends, careers, and lives, as they continued to fight for a world that didn’t give a damn about them.
Lilly turned away from the table and paced over to the window. “When does Travis return?”
“We believe he flew in before dawn this morning. He’ll be debriefed on his mission, which normally takes close to twelve hours, then Jordan should release him. He’ll come looking for you.”
“Does he know where I am?”
Shea nodded. “I left a message on his cell phone. I asked him to call with an update, which isn’t unusual in itself.”
She gripped the phone in the pocket of the light hoodie she wore. The girls had made her turn it off, telling her that she could be tracked if it was active. It was how they had found her. She knew they were telling the truth, but . . .
But if Travis did call her, she wouldn’t know it. Wouldn’t be able to hear his voice.
She raked her fingers through her hair and turned to the window again. Waiting. Watching.
Travis hadn’t called Shea yet. Why hadn’t he called?
“You know, it’s so odd to see you without those Glocks you wear on your thighs.” Nissa gave a light laugh as Lilly ran her hand to her thigh. “Would you like to have them?”
Lilly turned to her. “You have them?”
Her smile was wide, bright. “We have some of your things here. We brought them just in case you needed them.”
Nissa rose from her chair and motioned Lilly to the back of the house. The bedroom she went into was the one she shared with Shea. The two half-beds were placed on opposite sides of the wall. One side of the room was neat as a pin. The other side, as though an invisible line ran through it, was a complete shambles.
Of course Nissa moved to the messy side of the room.
“Here you go.” She pulled a large bag from the nearby closet and tossed it to the unmade bed. “Two changes of clothes, your guns and knives, and plenty of ammo. There’s also an unregistered sat phone, but please don’t call Travis yet. There’s also cash, credit cards, a few disguise aids, and some fake IDs. Everything a girl needs to survive in the deep dark underground.”
Everything she needed to survive, but not to live.
“You were ordered to contact Santos and Rhiannon if I called, weren’t you?” Lilly sat down on the bed, pushing the mussed blankets behind her as she began to go through the bag.
