Frustration and disappointment rivaled for position as Ty rode down the elevator beside Megan in silence. He’d been a soldier for most of his adult life. He was used to receiving dismissals. But not from a woman he was falling in love with.
He checked his phone on the way down. Sure enough, there was an email containing his plane ticket.
“Is it there?” she asked.
“Yep. Flight leaves at 08:00 hours from Heathrow.” Which meant he’d have to leave the townhouse by 05:30 at the latest.
That left them with just over fifteen hours together. Fifteen hours to win her over and change her mind.
They might have officially dismissed him, but that didn’t mean he was done protecting Megan on his own. Or that he was giving up and getting on that plane in the morning.
They stared at each other as the seconds seemed to slip faster through the hourglass. “I didn’t expect it to happen so fast,” she said.
“Me neither.” She’d told him to go. Was that really what she wanted? He didn’t buy it. She was trying to protect him. From pain and hardship. He was almost certain of it.
The elevator stopped and the doors opened at the lobby. Trinity was standing near the reception desk with Georgia and Briar. She looked at him. “Alex says you’re leaving us.”
“Looks that way.” He wasn’t in the mood for small talk at the moment. All he wanted was to get Megan alone so they could talk about them. He didn’t want to get on that plane in the morning. Hell, he didn’t want to leave her, period.
Trinity stepped toward him and offered her hand. “Thanks for everything.”
He shook it. “My pleasure.”
Trinity switched her attention to Megan. “Amber’s safe in her cell. She asked for you.”
Megan’s gaze sharpened. “Did she say why?”
“Nope. But if anyone can get her to talk about what she knows about Hannah, it’s you. You up for giving it a shot?”
Megan looked up at him, regret clear in her eyes, then back at Trinity. “Yeah. I’m good.”
His heart sank a little. He curled a hand around the upper part of her uninjured arm. “Can I talk to you for a minute? Alone.”
He led her to the other side of the lobby to a leather couch set near the exterior wall for some privacy. The other three Valkyries watched them for a moment, then dispersed. Except for Trinity, who leaned against the desk, apparently waiting for Megan. But she wasn’t staring at them, giving them at least the illusion of privacy.
“I know the timing sucks, but if I can get anything useful out of her, I have to try. It might save Hannah’s life,” Megan said to him.
“I get that. But you shouldn’t go in there alone. You still don’t really know if you can trust her.”
“I trust her. And she’s the best shot we have at finding Hannah.”
“You don’t know her anymore. Who’s to say she won’t try to manipulate you to get what she wants? I’ll go in with you. Or at least stand guard outside to prevent another insider attack.”
“No. If she’s going to give me anything, it’ll only happen if it’s just her and I.” She pulled her arm free of his grasp but took his hand, her hazel eyes earnest. “I have to do this. But I’ll make it as fast as I can. Because I want to…”
“You want to what?”
“Have as much time with you as I can before you go.”
She was seriously just going to sit back and watch him leave. He pushed out a frustrated breath. “What if I didn’t go?”
Sadness filled her expression. “It might give us a few more days together. Weeks, maybe. But with you off the team now, I’ll be leaving the moment we get intel on Hannah or one of the others, and you’d have to stay behind.”
“I’ll figure it out.” He hated being sidelined but he’d handle it if it meant being with her when she came back.
“Ty.” She bowed her head, her hand gripping his tight. “It doesn’t matter what we want, or how much we wish things could be different. It’s never gonna happen.”
“The hell it won’t. You don’t know that.”
Her gaze came up to his, bright with pain she’d never let him see before. “Yes, I do. And deep down, so do you.”
He shook his head. “I’m not giving up.”
She let go of his hand, looking tired all of a sudden. Pale. Heartsick. “I can’t talk about this right now. I need to see my sister.”
He folded his arms to keep from grabbing her. To keep from kissing her senseless, or shaking some sense into her. Maybe both. “Yeah, she’s your sister, but that doesn’t mean shit at this point. She’s lied and manipulated her way this far, and she’ll do or say anything to cover her own ass. You can’t trust her. Think.”
“I am thinking,” she fired back, those gorgeous hazel eyes blazing. “You weren’t there this morning. You didn’t see what happened or what she did. She had all the time in the world to use that knife on me. She could easily have attacked me while I was fighting with him. But she didn’t. She protected me and then surrendered.”
“She protected herself.” Ty threw up his hands. “God, I can’t believe I even have to say this, but seriously? I know you want to believe her, and I know this has all been a hell of a shock for you, but make sure your head’s on straight before you go down there.”
“I need to see her. Alone.”
A muscle jumped in his jaw as he stood there watching her. After the attack this morning he wanted to be at her side wherever she went. But his toes were already flirting with the line she’d drawn in the sand. His fiercely independent Valkyrie didn’t need him and if he didn’t respect her abilities and let her handle this, he’d lose her for sure.
It was tearing him in two. “I won’t let you put yourself in danger like that again. Not for her.”
Her expression closed up, telling him he’d gone too far. “Lucky for me, that’s not your call. I don’t answer to you just because we slept together.” She turned to brush past him and he had to force himself to stay still, suppressing a growl.
He shoved out a ragged exhalation. Fuck, he’d screwed this up so damn bad. If this was the end, he didn’t want to spend the remainder of their time together fighting. “Wait.”
She stopped, shot him a glare over her shoulder.
“I’ll stand outside the room. At least then I’ll know there won’t be a repeat of this morning.”
Some of the anger bled out of her expression. “Thanks, but I’ll be fine. She’s my sister.” She turned and headed for Trinity.
Yeah. That’s what worried him.
****
Trinity eyed her on the way to the elevator. “Tyler looks pissed. Everything okay with you two?”
It made Megan squirm inside to have someone ask her something so personal. “Yeah.”
“Okay. By the way, what Amber told you about your childhood, the recovered records and your history, it’s all true. We think she’s right about being set up, too. The files she so graciously recovered for us proved it,” she added in a dry tone.
Megan drew in a relieved breath. “That’s good to know.”
“Yeah. But she’s still not giving us anything on Hannah or the other missing Valkyries.” Trinity swiped a key card in the elevator’s security system and pressed the button for the second floor underground.
Out of habit, Megan paid close attention to all the details, just in case. Location of any security cameras she noticed. Number of guards. The schedule she’d glimpsed at the reception desk showing when the next shift change happened.
“So, Tyler’s leaving tomorrow, huh?” Trinity asked.
Megan cut her a sidelong look. “Yeah.”
Trinity nodded, her gaze on the electronic panel giving the floor numbers as they descended. “You okay with that?”
“Doesn’t matter if I am or not.”
She looked over at her. “Why doesn’t it?”
You know why. “Because.”
But then Megan’s gaze dropped to Trinity’s left hand, to the sparkly diamond ring on her third finger. And dammit, she wanted to know how Trinity had done it. How she’d managed to move past everything she’d been taught, everything she had been, and found a man she loved and trusted enough to spend the rest of her life with.
“You’re engaged,” she said.
“Mmhmm.”
Even after this op, even though they shared so much with their training and past experience with the program, they were little more than strangers. Megan didn’t know anything personal about her, and she wanted to. “What’s your fiancé’s name?”
“Brody.”
“Where did you meet him?”
“At the end of an op. I was running for my life, actually.” She glanced down at the ring, her fingers fiddling with it. “He’s a sniper on the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team.”
Sounded like a great story. And it made so much sense that Trinity would fall for someone with that background and level of training. “When are you getting married?”
Trinity stilled for an instant, then went back to watching the elevator display in front of her. “We haven’t set a date yet.”
“Oh.” Something in her tone was off. “How come?”
One side of her mouth turned up in a sardonic smile. “Same reason you’re afraid to risk a relationship with Tyler, I guess.”
Megan’s cheeks heated. “I’m not afraid.”
Trinity locked her gaze on Megan’s. “We’re all afraid of falling in love. It’s our biggest battle.”
Her heart thudded painfully in her chest. “But you did it. You love him, right?”
She faced front again. “More than I imagined I was capable of. And in case you’re wondering, no, it never gets any easier. Risking that part of us we were trained never to reveal to anyone. Trusting that we deserve something real. But it’s worth it. So you might want to think long and hard about that before you let Tyler go.”
“I didn’t let him go,” she muttered. “He was released from his contract and he’s off the team. Rycroft’s sending him home and I have to focus on Hannah and the others.” It hurt to even say it aloud.
“Ah. Okay, then.”
The elevator stopped and the doors slid open, saving Megan from making any response. But Trinity’s words echoed in her mind as they passed through a guarded security door and turned left down another hallway.
Megan counted the guards, made note of the cameras and other security measures she could see. Her back was up. Ready for any new threat.
“Here we are,” Trinity said, stopping at a cell door on the right. “Not as high tech as the last place was, but it’s secure enough for the time being.”
Megan memorized the code Trinity typed in. “I’ll be out here in the hall if you need me,” she said to Megan, and stepped aside as she opened the door.
Amber sat up on her bunk as Megan entered, her face relaxing with what appeared to be a genuine smile. “I wasn’t sure you’d come.”
Megan spread her arms out. “And yet here I am.”
“How’s your arm?”
“It’s okay.” It ached and stung, but it didn’t hurt half as much as the pain in her chest. And the scar it would leave was nothing compared to the mark Tyler would leave on her heart.
There was a small table with two chairs in the middle of the room. She bypassed it, choosing to sit on the bunk a few feet from Amber. “I still can’t get over how eerie this all is. Every time I see you, I pick out something else in how we resemble each other.”
“Same.” Amber drew her knees up and looped her arms around them, her chocolate-brown hair draped over one shoulder. “I’ve been trying to remember everything I can from when we were little. Do you remember the tire swing in the backyard? Dad hung it from the old oak tree.”
“No.” She imagined it, though. Had they been happy? She wanted to believe that.
“We shared a room together.”
She mirrored Amber’s posture, looping her arms around her updrawn knees. “We did?”
“I had the top bunk because you were afraid of going up and down the ladder.”
Megan scowled. “I’m not afraid of heights.”
“Well, you were little,” Amber said with a grin.
Something warm and light spread through her chest. Even with the temptation of Tyler waiting upstairs, Megan couldn’t have stayed away from her sister.
Amber was her sister by blood, not just by creed or the brands on their hips. And no matter what suspicions Tyler or anyone else had about Amber, her sister had protected her today.
Megan got right to it. “What about the oath we all took?” Loyal Unto Death. “It doesn’t mean anything to you?”
Amber didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “It does. And I followed it until it was used against me.”
“And now?”
“Now my loyalty is to me and those I want to protect. Like you, and the remaining Valkyries. I get to choose my own path now. The government doesn’t own me anymore.”
The fierceness in her tone and the somber expression in her eyes squeezed at Megan’s heart. “Maybe we can be part of an extended family one day. With the others we save.”
Amber inclined her head. “Maybe.” She shifted, resting her head against the cinderblock wall. “So, what’s the scoop with you and Tyler?”
Megan blinked at the abrupt change in subject, and couldn’t help but grin. Until the cautious conversation with Trinity on the way down here, she’d never had a girl talk before. It felt so great to be able to talk to another woman about certain things.
She wanted to be able to open up and share thoughts and hopes and dreams and… Even fears and insecurities she wasn’t supposed to have. It would be amazing to do all of that with Amber. To be real sisters and not just in name or by shared genetics.
Though the vulnerability made her heart pound, she womaned-up and took the risk. “He’s leaving in the morning.”
Amber frowned. “So you two aren’t…involved?”
She hated the warmth that rushed into her cheeks, but she couldn’t help it. “We kind of are.”
Her sister raised her eyebrows. “Kind of? You either are, or you aren’t. And you definitely look like you are.”
“Okay, yeah, we are.” She picked at the edge of her front hip pocket rather than at her fingers. “But I don’t know what to do about it.”
“Ah.”
Megan was insanely curious about her. “Have you ever…gotten involved with someone?”
“Once. A few years ago.” Amber’s eyes took on a faraway look. “It didn’t end well. But that was my fault, not his.”
“What happened?”
“I got cold feet and took off. It didn’t feel right, and I told myself I was protecting him by leaving.”
“Oh.” Wow, that sounded familiar. “Did you love him?”
Amber’s smile was sad. “I thought I did, but the truth is, I’m not sure what love even looks like.” She paused, searching Megan’s eyes for a long moment. “Do you ever wonder if you’re… broken?”
Megan swallowed. “Yeah, all the time.”
“Me too.”
She exhaled, a smile tugging at her lips. “Glad it’s not just me.” Amber smiled back, and Megan felt the first link in the long lost bond between them join back together.
“God knows I’ve made a lot of mistakes.” Amber’s gaze turned intense. “I want to find and recover Hannah and the others.”
“What if Hannah’s not innocent?”
“Then I turn over my evidence against her and let Rycroft handle the rest.”
Good answer.
“I want to be part of getting them to safety and helping set them free to live the lives we’ve all secretly dreamed of and never believed we’d get the chance to have. And after that…”
Megan leaned forward, hanging on every word. “What?” she whispered.
Her sister’s green eyes hardened like shards of jade. “I want to find out who started the Valkyrie Program and bring them and that entire inner circle down.”
Megan held her breath, her heart racing. God, she wanted those things too. The need for vengeance pulsed inside her, demanding she bring those responsible for so many others’ suffering to justice. And if meting out that justice meant killing…
So be it. We are the choosers of the slain.
Amber’s gaze was earnest as she continued. “Look what they’ve taken from us. Look at all the lives they’ve destroyed. We’ve served our purpose and been cast aside. And now they want us all dead to cover up their sins.”
It was true. “The situation’s so much more complicated than I realized.”
“I want them to pay for what they did,” Amber said in a hard whisper.
A chill crawled across Megan’s skin at the venom in her sister’s tone. But the desire for vengeance burned the cold away. “I do too.”
Amber reached out and gripped Megan’s hand, her expression both pleading and sincere. “I can find Hannah, I swear. Do you believe me?”
“Yes.” Maybe she was crazy, but hell yeah, she believed her sister.
“But I have to act fast. You have to make them let me go.”
Megan sat there unmoving for several moments, weighing her options and the costs. She and Amber wanted the same things. They all wanted this threat hanging over them to be gone. And Amber was right. She was probably their only chance at finding Hannah before it was too late.
If it wasn’t already too late.
The plan that came to mind was risky, however. They had no clue who was watching their every move and listening to every word they said.
She squeezed her sister’s chilled fingers, decision made and a plan already in mind. Rycroft and Trinity would never let Amber go. So Amber was going to have to get out of here on her own.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Megan promised.
The way their grasped hands were positioned was close to what Megan needed but not exactly right. There were two cameras in the walls near the ceiling: one at the front of the cell and one near the back.
She maintained her grip on her sister’s hand and shifted them up a few inches, blocking any view someone might have of the pocket on her outer thigh closest to the wall.
Amber remained motionless, watching her, as if she sensed something important was about to happen.
“Tell me more about what you remember from when we were kids,” Megan said, putting on a soft smile and acting for the cameras while she held her sister’s hand.
Amber didn’t miss a beat. “We had a cat named Squishy. And he hated everyone except Dad.”
While Amber spoke, Megan used all her sleight of hand tricks and skill to reach into the outer thigh pocket for her burner phone, pulling it free. Moving only her eyes, with lightning quick glances down at the keypad and tiny motions that gave nothing away, she typed in a brief message.
Make security cams go down @ 11.
Amber kept her gaze on Megan’s as she told more stories—whether they were real or made up, Megan didn’t know or care. All the while, Megan slowly eased the phone across the plastic-covered mattress, keeping it between the wall and her thigh, safely out of sight.
Amber’s fingers touched hers. Closed around the phone and began sliding it back toward herself as she talked about Squishy the cat and other things from their childhood that had been lost to Megan.
As soon as Amber had the phone, Megan released her sister’s hand and eased back to drape her forearms across her upturned knees, her posture and expression utterly relaxed.
They shared a smile as Amber finished her story, then her sister’s expression turned serious, her gaze delving into Megan’s. “Lima uniform delta,” she murmured, using the phonetic alphabet.
A thousand needles pricked the backs of Megan’s eyes at the acronym’s meaning. “Lima uniform delta.”
Loyal Unto Death.