Thank God Alex knew her well…and loved her. By the time she’d stepped out of the shower, there was a cup of coffee waiting next to the bathroom sink.
“You look tired, babe.” Alex stood behind her, capturing her eyes in the mirror as she applied makeup. He kissed her neck next to the mandatory tight bun of hair. “I thought you went back to sleep after the nightmare.”
She smiled at him as she smoothed in her foundation. Unsure if she was pale because she’d thrown up that morning or if she’d spent so much time inside lately that she’d lost any coloration. “I did, but my stomach was upset again this morning. I’m worried that perhaps I went back to work too soon.”
“Isn’t your next appointment with Dr. Tobias at the end of the week?”
“Yeah. I’ll talk to him about it then.” She sucked in a deep breath and applied a little more blush. “Are you sure you have time to drop me off this morning?”
“Babe. I’m the boss. For you, I make time.” He kissed her neck once again. “How about we run up to the Smith Mountain Lake house for the weekend? The whole team and significant others. You’ve been away from them too long and you need some girl time. I feel like cooking on the grill, waterskiing, cruising around the lake looking at the stars.”
“Alex, that’s a wonderful idea.” She finished the last of her makeup, turning to him with hope. “Would you mind setting that up? I hate making personal calls from work because I know I’m being watched every minute and my calls aren’t private.”
He smiled and gave her a peck on the lips. “Sure. Now, I’m starving and Griffin is cooking breakfast. Let’s go.”
When Katlin touched her still queasy stomach, Alex suggested a bagel with her second cup of coffee.
As they stepped out into the common area, she was verbally attacked by Lei Lu.
“You’re not going to believe what I found.” Her friend dragged her over to the dining table and indicated the chair next to where she’d been sitting, laptop open.
“I’ve got you covered.” Alex took her empty mug and headed to the kitchen. “Deal with that.”
“Okay, show me what you’ve got.” Katlin sat down. “Please tell me you found where Jack ordered the video.”
“Oh, sister of my heart, that took me all of ten minutes. Then I found the good stuff on him. How does murder-for-hire sound? And I’m not sure what other laws he broke since he hired a terrorist to kill military men.”
Everyone in the open concept area stopped and stared at the two of them sitting at the large dining table.
“Are you kidding me?” Grace scooted over to them, still in her pajamas, and took the chair on the other side of Lei Lu.
“Sweetheart, my fucking genius. Please tell me this is not going to get you arrested.” Henry moved behind the three women and was quickly joined by Griffin and Alex.
Lei Lu patted Henry’s hand which was on her shoulder. “You should know by now, I’m better than they are. I didn’t leave any trace.” She turned to Katlin. “How you can legally retrieve this information, I’m not sure, but I can give you its location on Homeland’s system.”
“We’ll figure that out, just tell me what the hell you have.” Katlin knew she sounded rude, but wanted her friend to move on.
When Lei Lu glanced first at Alex then held her hand over hers, Katlin knew she wasn’t going to like the next words.
“Jack had Ty killed.” Lei Lu squeezed her hand tight. “Stay with me.” Using her mouse, she highlighted several lines of code. “This is where Jack hunted for, and found, a double agent in Afghanistan.” A few clicks later, she highlighted more lines. “This is where he transferred one-hundred thousand U.S. dollars to that terrorist.” One click later, she highlighted again and looked up at Alex. “And this is where he gave the man the coordinates of your rendezvous point and mission objective.”
But her teammate wasn’t done. Lei Lu clicked to the next screen. “Days later, Jack’s assassin came back for more money. In this communication, our terrorist claims he lost nearly a quarter-million dollars because he couldn’t take the heads of the SEALs proving to the Taliban that he and his band of mercenaries took out a whole SEAL team. He demanded more money and Jack paid him.”
“Now, see this line of numbers? That was the Cayman Island account they used to do business. His terrorist wasn’t very smart. He never moved the money into a personal account. But Jack did. Three days later, this account was emptied. It took me about half an hour this morning to follow the money, but guess where it ended up?”
“In an account with Jack Ashworth’s name on it.” Griffin offered.
“No, but it did pass through one of his accounts.” Lei Lu stared at Katlin.
“Oh, please, don’t tell me he put it in one of my accounts.” Fuck. That would make Katlin look as though she had her husband killed. She already carried around enough guilt for falsely accusing him of an affair hours before he left on that mission.
Lei Lu grinned knowingly. “He put the money into the foundation that you created for the children of Tyler’s SEAL team.”
Katlin’s stomach roiled.
“Excuse me.” She bolted from the table and just made it into her bathroom in time before she started throwing up again. She was thankful her hair was pulled tight at the nape of her neck. She wasn’t sure she’d have the strength to hold it out of the way.
Katlin didn’t know how to feel about that money. She’d created it for the children and now it was covered in the blood of their fathers. On the other hand, it was also an excellent place for it but she would never thank Jack for the donation.
Alex kneeled, handing her a cool washcloth and a bottle of cold water. Another reason she loved this man. He took wonderful care of her.
Standing, she first rinsed her mouth then moved to the sink and brushed her teeth before gargling with mouthwash. When she finally looked at Alex, he was pale.
Oh, fuck. He’d been there, in the firefight that followed the ambush of Ty’s team. Katlin wrapped her arms around him. Alex had just been told his best friend had been murdered…by Jack.
Most likely because of Jack’s obsession with her.
“I’m so sorry, Alex.” She repeated the words over and over again as she rubbed her hand up and down his back.
“I’m going to kill that fucker.” Alex said in a low growl.
“That’s always an option but I’d rather not visit you in jail. Let’s put him in prison for treason.”
“Ye of little faith. I’d never be caught.” Alex threw his arm around her as they joined their friends in the dining room.
Two hours later, Katlin’s head was still swimming with everything Lei Lu had revealed that morning. All the compiled information had been sent to General Standish and her Uncle Tom. Hopefully, there was enough there for Jack to be convicted of something that would put him away for years.
As she started the third set of videos for the day, someone cracked the door open and slid in. When Katlin raised her eyes to greet the newcomer, her doppelgänger was the last person she expected to see.
“Ni—”
The woman who looked more like her every day put her finger over her closed mouth and shook her head then pointed to a camera in the corner as she crouched down. Her fingers flew over her phone.
Nikkole finally stood. “There, I disabled the audio and video in here. We only have a few minutes.” Her eyes scanned Katlin up and down. “I heard a rumor that Jack Ashworth tried to implant embryos that he’d fertilized into you. Is it true?”
Katlin took a deep breath and let out a slow, controlled sigh. She hated rumors, especially when this one was true. At this point, Katlin didn’t give a shit if people knew what Jack had tried to do to her. “Yes. While I was in a medically induced coma. Several years ago, I had reproductive problems and had my eggs harvested. They were supposedly stolen and sold on the black market. Jack found them, bought them, hell, for all I know he could’ve stolen them. But they were my eggs, fertilized by Jack, that he tried to have implanted in me. Why do you ask?”
“Is it possible there are more of your eggs out there?”
Her question made Katlin sit up in the chair. “Guardian Security backtracked the ones he was going to use to the fertility clinic and retrieved what was left.”
“But there could be more of your fertilized eggs out there, right?” Nikkole kept pressing the issue.
“Yes, it’s possible,” Katlin admitted.
“Fuck.” Nikkole started to pace the small space. “I knew that motherfucker would fuck me over. It’s always been you.”
Katlin slowly moved her hand toward the small of her back where her pistol was available for easy access.
“Nikkole, tell me what fucking Jack did to you this time?” Katlin didn’t want the woman’s anger targeted at her. Did she dare share with Jack’s known fuck-buddy? On the other hand, perhaps Nikkole could be handy.
When the other woman whipped around and slapped her hands on the desk, glaring at Katlin with eyes identical to her own, Katlin slipped the gun out of its holster. The sound of Nikkole’s rapid breathing was absorbed by the small room.
“Take a deep breath, Nikkole, and talk to me. I might be able to help you. There are a lot of things happening in the background around here. Maybe you can help us, too.”
She blinked. Then Nikkole let out a heavy sigh. “Katlin, I think Jack still has more of your eggs.”
Katlin stood at that declaration. “What gave you that idea?”
Nicole stepped back and leaned against the wall as though she needed support. “He offered me a hundred thousand dollars to rent my womb long enough to have his baby.” Her jaw quivered. “Then he was going to take my baby away from me. I could never see it again. He said no part of that baby was mine. He already had growing embryos that they’d put into me.”
She lifted off the wall and started pacing again. “Oh, but he was making me one hell of a deal. I can have a house or condo the whole time I was pregnant. He’d cover all my expenses.” She stopped in front of the desk and sneered. “I could keep working here as long as I wanted unless it affected the baby. Or, I can quit as soon as I sign the contract.” She threw her hands up in the air. “Did I tell you one of the best parts? I could never tell anyone that I was carrying Jack Ashworth’s baby.”
She looked away blinking. “I’m such a fucking fool. When he first asked me, I thought he was asking me to marry him.” She wiped away the tears streaking her cheeks. “I would have, you know. Married him. I’d do anything for him.” She ran her hand in front of her body from her head down toward the floor. “I’ve already done more for that man than any woman should be asked to do. And what do I get for it? The privilege of carrying your baby.”
Katlin felt like she’d been punched in the gut. She collapsed into the chair. “No. No!” She flew around to the opposite side of the desk and took Nikkole by the shoulders. “We can’t let him do this. We cannot let Jack get away with this.”
Katlin dropped her hands and started pacing the same track Nikkole had made. “What can we do? How are we going to stop him?” Katlin stopped in front of Nikkole. “And I’m talking about stopping him, forever. You mentioned the contract. Was it something in writing, or was it just going to be a verbal agreement?”
Blond hair went flying as Nikkole shook her head. “Oh, no. He had a ten-page contract drawn up with my name already filled in.”
Katlin smiled at her mirror image. “Nikkole, don’t fuck with me. Are you willing to help me take Jack Ashworth down?”
“Absolutely. That man has shoved me to the lowest level possible for the last time. What do you need from me?”
“We need to go to lunch, with my favorite aunt and uncle.” Katlin didn’t want the woman out of her sight until a plan was solidified. She didn’t trust Nikkole Chernakov one inch.