Chapter Eighteen

 

Taylor followed Julia Ennis through the lobby, a low level of anxiety coursing through her mixing with the adrenaline she hoped she wouldn’t need.

The truth was she should have been prepared for this outcome. Julia was the only ex-Agency operative they knew of. Likely not the only, but it made sense to send her in to deal with the recruitment of a new Agency contact. She knew the language, so to speak.

So far they’d done nothing at all that made her feel like they were trapping her. They were walking ahead of her, giving her every chance to leave if she wanted to. In some ways, she felt silly even wanting to run since they were being so deeply unthreatening.

Which could be the point.

She glanced up at the security camera and then pulled the hat over her forehead in case Julia or John looked back. They were both excellent at avoiding the cameras, but now she thought Julia’s sunglasses had some kind of tech in them since she’d briefly taken them off outside and then made sure they were securely on again before they entered the hotel.

What kind of tech did a Consortium operative get? Likely way better than government agents.

The good news was she had four guys on her side, and they would all be watching those CCTVs, and they now knew where she was and who she was with.

She wanted Drake to be one of those men, but she trusted Kyle and Brad and Jax and Tucker. It was going to be okay. She would get in, steal something that didn’t matter, and get out. Drake and Kyle would have good intel on Julia, and she could be done with the op.

One hour tops and this would all be over and it would be fine. Drake would be pissed but the anger would truly be fear, and she would let him top her until that fear subsided.

The lobby was still filled with people milling around.

“The conference is having a big party in the ballroom,” Julia said as she walked around the elegantly appointed lobby, sticking to the outer edges. “It’s two floors up from here so we’ll avoid that entirely. We’re going to take a service elevator to where we need to go. John, my darling boy, please take out the CCTV there and on the fortieth floor.”

They turned down a quiet hallway, the lights dimmer than they’d been before.

John had his cell in hand and pressed a few buttons. “Cams are off now but they’ll show the loop I locked in earlier today, so we’ve got an hour.”

Jax would likely figure out something was going wrong. He wasn’t planning on taking control of the cameras, but he would notice someone else had.

“Oh, I won’t need an hour,” Taylor promised. “It shouldn’t take more than ten minutes to download Dr. Walsh’s laptop.”

John frowned as they made it to the service elevator. “Uhm…”

“Of course,” Julia assured her. She slipped the glasses up on top of her head, pushing her hair back. “I’m glad Cleo went over that with you. And we’ll get to that but first I need to take you up to meet my boss.”

A cold tendril of fear crept up her spine. “Your boss?”

She shrugged. “We all have one. Mine’s just been around longer than most.”

Her gut tightened. “I don’t like surprises.”

Julia chuckled. “Well, then you should probably get out of the spy game because let me tell you, sister, it’s one surprise after another. Like we’re a whole industry that runs on shocking the fuck out of people.”

“I get shocked all the time,” John agreed as the elevator doors opened and he hopped inside.

Out of the corner of her eyes she saw something moving in the background.

“You get shocked because you lack imagination,” Julia shot back as she entered the elevator.

“I do not,” John argued.

They were distracted enough that Taylor felt comfortable glancing over to her left. She saw Brad with his back against the wall. His whole body was tight, as though he wanted nothing more than to join them on that elevator.

She wasn’t alone. Brad understood the plan was going awry, and he would watch to make sure he knew exactly where she was going. He would work with the other guys to keep an eye on her.

She could do this.

She put on a breezy smile and got on the elevator.

“I have a great imagination,” John was insisting.

“He doesn’t but he’s attractive and excellent at what he does, which is anything I tell him to do.” Julia reached over and hit the button for the fortieth floor. “If you work hard and prove yourself to the group, you’ll get one of him, too. Think of him like a coworker and a party favor all at the same time.”

John snorted. “Party favor. I do like to party.”

Julia leaned over. “They’re pretty and flexible morally, but loyal enough to trust. I like to think of the men of the group as golden retrievers who’ve been taught to kill.”

“I tend to work alone,” Taylor replied because it seemed like Julia wanted to make this a whole discussion. She could do that. Any information Julia wanted to give would be helpful.

“That’s such an Agency thing to say,” Julia replied with a sigh. “Come on. You’re failing the ‘would be fun to kill people with’ part of this test, and for me that’s really a thing.”

“Somehow I doubt you have a lot of girlfriends.”

“Well, other women don’t like me. I can’t imagine why. It’s probably because I’m too honest with them. And I sleep with their husbands sometimes. Usually that’s because they’ve either been mean to me or I like them and I need them to see that their husbands are cheating jerks,” Julia said with a sigh. “You have to find the right partner. Too many women find the first man to pay attention to them and give it all up. You have to find your soul mate.”

A groan came from John’s throat.

“I didn’t think spies got soul mates.” Taylor was starting to understand that Julia Ennis was batshit crazy.

“Then you probably haven’t met yours.” Julia’s boot tapped against the floor of the elevator.

“Don’t get her started on soul mates.” John shook his head. “Her ex tried to kill her but she thinks she can fix the relationship.”

“I think that true love is worth a little work,” Julia corrected. “I’m not some delicate flower who wilts the first time something goes wrong.”

“He shot you.” John seemed to be more of a realist.

“And he didn’t do a good job of it. I’m alive and stuff. He was angry. He didn’t truly want me dead.” She waved off the whole Kyle-tried-to-kill-her thing. “And now he’s punishing me, but we’re working our way through it. He’s gotten rid of the ridiculous doll he’d been playing with, and soon we’ll meet up and have an actual adult discussion.”

She talked like they’d had nothing more than a minor argument and it could be easily handled. She didn’t understand how much Kyle loathed her.

Would Kyle try to kill her tonight? Suddenly she was happy Drake wasn’t around because he should be able to avoid the scene that was going to happen.

God, this woman had killed her father and she was thinking about how to protect her boyfriend.

And that is how it should be, dushka. Life is for the living. The best revenge is to live and love and have a happy life.

Her father had never said those words to her, but she heard him in her heart. It was like he was standing there with her, giving her his strength.

She didn’t have the advantage with John here or she might pull her Glock and deal with the Julia situation once and for all. It was odd that she didn’t feel the rush of emotion she thought she would. If she killed Julia, it would be to help Drake and Kyle. It wouldn’t be for her father. He didn’t need that from her. He needed her to be happy, to have the life she wanted. To marry Drake and have children and tell them stories of the grandfather who would have loved them so well.

“Constance here doesn’t have a boy toy,” Julia said as the elevator was starting to slow down. “It’s a good thing. The group I work for prefers single women. I think part of the reason we all get Johns is for stress relief. Sorry, buddy. I don’t mean to call you a walking vibrator, but if the shoe fits…”

“Hey, I’m good at my job and I like sex. Sex and violence work for me,” John admitted.

“Like I said, I prefer to work alone,” Taylor lied. She would be doing a lot of that in the next few moments.

“Good, because we are looking for a self-starter,” Julia announced. The doors opened and she strode through. “I think that should be part of our ad. Evil organization looking for self-starter to terrorize the world for profits.”

John followed her but Taylor stopped because they weren’t alone. There were two women dressed in dark suits standing outside the big double doors to one of the suites on the floor.

She started to back up, to get in the elevator again because her every instinct was telling her something was wrong.

Julia stopped and glanced back, one brow arching. “Something wrong?” She seemed to understand. “Oh, the guards. It’s cool. They’re with us, though they are also a bit on the grumpy side. What is it with personal security details that they have to be so grumpy? Smile a little. Don’t you know how pretty you could be if you would smile more?”

“Fuck you, Lizzy,” the first of the guards said, revealing she wasn’t merely with Julia. If she knew Julia’s code name, she was with The Consortium.

The other one chuckled. “I don’t know. I think she’s got a point. Who’s the new girl?”

“Cleo was recruiting her,” Julia said. “She’s with the Agency. I’m giving her an audition tonight. Everything’s in place?”

“As far as I can tell,” the guard said and looked down at her watch. “I think I’m going on my planned break. Sheila will be here if you need anything. Your friend should be here soon.”

“Excellent.” Julia nodded Sheila’s way as the other guard headed down the hallway and disappeared. “Keep an eye out. I’ll be right back. I need to make sure everything is ready for Constance’s first mission. We need to get her out of here before the party downstairs breaks up.”

Good. They were getting this thing moving. Drake would get back from his meeting anytime now and then she had to hope Damon Knight could convince him to wait patiently for her.

“Okay, lock down that elevator to anyone who doesn’t have the right code. I’ll be back.” Julia slid a key card over the lock and the door came open.

Taylor barely got a glimpse of a marbled foyer when the door closed again.

She felt awkward. This was not how she’d seen the evening going. Something was off, and she wasn’t sure what.

Why would Julia be in such a high-profile room? The point of spying was to blend in.

John stepped back, pulling his cell out and putting it to his ear. “Yeah?”

He walked a little distance from her.

“Chill, new girl,” the guard said. “We’re alone on this floor. There are only four rooms, and three of them are controlled by our group. The fourth is being monitored, and if the ambassador and his wife decide to leave the party, we’ll be informed. You can relax. This is going to go off without a hitch.”

She wasn’t so sure about that. “I don’t suppose you want to tell me what ‘this’ is?”

The grim-looking guard shook her head. “Nope. She looks all sophisticated and civilized, but I’ve seen what she can do. Daddy raised a psycho, if you know what I mean. Follow her orders, get into the group, and once they trust you, they’ll let you work alone. This is all a test. You have to survive her first. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s not the one who took out Cleo herself. That one lives for the kill. Me, I just like the paycheck.”

The door came open again and Julia stood there. “Come in. We’re ready. Your audition begins now.”

“This isn’t Dr. Walsh’s room,” Taylor said.

“And this isn’t Cleo’s mission anymore,” Julia countered, her expression more serious than she’d seen all night. “Stay or go, Constance? If you walk through here, you’re committed. I can’t let you know the truth about my plans and walk away, so you’ve got like ten seconds to think about it.”

“Hey, we might have a problem.” John’s voice had dropped to a whisper. Taylor had to lean in to hear. “And it’s likely on its way here.”

Julia’s breath hitched as though she’d gotten news and she wasn’t sure if it was good or bad. “Which problem?”

“Not the one you want,” John returned. “One of the programs I’m running identified him on CCTV coming down the street about ten minutes ago.”

Julia’s eyes narrowed. “Then we should work fast, and you should make sure he doesn’t get up here. Constance, it’s time. Stay or go?”

She had to figure out what Julia was doing because she was almost certain they were talking about Drake. Brad knew where she was, and the whole building was being monitored, so if Drake did walk in, they would know it. He would have backup.

She stepped forward. “I’m in.”

Julia nodded as John pushed the button for the elevator and gave the guard some instructions.

Taylor walked through the door and felt the whole world shift because the last thing she’d expected to see was Senator Samantha Radcliffe still in her cocktail dress from the party, asleep on the couch.

“For your audition, I’m going to need you to kill my mother.”

 

* * * *

 

Drake hit the lobby with Knight behind him. He was well aware that he’d been caught on every single security camera.

“Hey,” a familiar voice said. Kyle had a grim look on his face as he crossed the space between them. “I still can’t find Brad, and I lost Julia and Taylor and whoever that fucker John is. Nick is already in the ballroom. He’s going to escort Owen and Rebecca up to where Jax is trying to figure out what happened with the CCTV. He thinks someone took over the cameras around the elevator on the north side, the one that leads to the secure floors.”

“The lift is working but the cameras aren’t?” Knight asked.

“My parents are on the fortieth floor.” Drake’s gut tightened. “I think she’s going to go after them.”

“Why would she do that?” Knight asked.

“Because she’s Julia,” Kyle replied. “Because they didn’t pay enough attention to her or she’s trying to get my attention, or she thinks it will hurt Drake and then he’ll give her attention. She’s got it all worked out in her head, but the truth is it’s nothing but one more pathetic and cruel attempt to put herself in the spotlight. If she can’t have good attention, she’ll take bad.”

He wished he could argue, could find anything good to say about his sister, but he couldn’t. The fact that she was here meant his parents were in trouble. He should have known she was planning something when she’d shown up at their country club in DC. “She’s come here to fuck with our parents, and she’s apparently going to use Taylor to do it. I have to think she knows who Taylor is and what she means to me.”

“How would she know that?” Knight followed as Drake and Kyle began to walk through the lobby.

“I don’t know.” Kyle’s long legs led the way. “We’ve been incredibly careful about protecting her true identity.”

“Not careful enough since Brad knows and he’s been working with Julia.”

Kyle stopped in the middle of the hall and turned, his jaw tight. “He did what?”

“I need him alive, Kyle.” He knew the man. Kyle would take Brad’s head off if he had the chance. Anyone who helped Julia would be ruthlessly dealt with by Kyle. “He’s probably with Julia right now. We need to get to my parents’ suite.”

The good news was Brad wasn’t around to argue that the op was more important than his parents.

He was trying to wrap his head around the fact that Brad had betrayed the Agency, betrayed all of his coworkers and his country.

It didn’t make sense, but then when did any of it make sense.

He wanted to sit and think about it, to reason this out the way Knight had suggested, but he didn’t have time. Taylor’s life was on the line and if she died…

He couldn’t think that way. He couldn’t do it. He jogged on.

“Drake, we need to think about how to move ahead.” Knight seemed insistent on him not roaring into the situation blindly.

“Yes, because you have to know she’ll be ready for us,” Kyle agreed. He touched the comm unit in his ear. “Jax, I need you to take a look at the plans for the fortieth floor and how we can sneak up. I’ve got to think they’ll have someone on the elevators.”

Kyle fished another unit out of his pocket and handed it to Drake. Drake had it fixed to his ear in no time. “Is Brad on this line?”

Jax’s voice came over the link. “Of course, but he’s gone silent. I’m not sure where he is.”

“Cut him off. Now.” He wasn’t about to let Brad listen in. “I need you to restore cameras on the fortieth floor, in particular the Royal Suite. That’s the one my parents are in. I’m going up the service elevator, and Damon and Kyle will use the regular bank. Take that over so they can get to forty. You need a code to access that floor.”

“I’m in the system,” Jax confirmed. “I think I have a way for you to get up without using the service elevator. That dumps out close to the suite, and I’m certain there’s security on the door. If you take the east bank of elevators and go to thirty-nine, you can use the stairs to get to forty. You still need a code, but the door and elevators are on two separate systems. They might not get the notice that someone opened the doors from the stairs and yes, I can open it from here. You should have a shot at surprising the guard if they’re on the door.”

“We need someone on this elevator,” Drake said. “This is how they got up, so I have to think they’ll come down this way.”

“I’ll stay and Nick will join me once he’s secured Owen and Rebecca,” Damon explained.

“I’ll go with Drake.” Kyle moved to his side. “Once we get to thirty-nine, I’ll move to the opposite side so we can flank them.”

“Tucker is on his way,” Jax said, “and I’m here in Overwatch. Am I assuming Brad is no longer in charge?”

The idea of Brad being out there sent a flare of anger through him, but there was confusion in there, too. “He’s very likely working with Julia. Stay in contact. We’re going for the elevators.”

Kyle jogged alongside him as they made their way across the lobby. “They never liked each other. Julia hated Brad. She thought he was a pain in the ass. How can they be working together?”

“I don’t know. I always trusted him.” Luckily there weren’t a bunch of people milling around in this part of the hotel. Apparently most of the guests were either in the bar or the conference ballroom party. He and Kyle managed to get into the elevator alone.

“I’m going to kill her,” Kyle said quietly, his eyes down.

“I know.” He hated it, loathed the idea that Kyle would get more blood on his hands, but he couldn’t argue with him. “Please be careful with Taylor. She doesn’t know what’s happening. I don’t know if Taylor would actually recognize my sister. She could still think she’s working with the same contact she’s been with the whole time. Hell, as far as I know Julia’s been playing us all along.”

The elevator started up, and Drake’s heart was pounding.

Why would Julia go after their parents? Why bring Taylor along? What was the point?

It hit him quickly now that he had seconds to think. “She wanted the kidnapping thing on the record. She wanted the threat on paper and the Agency to not be able to finagle their way out. She’s going to kill them.”

“What does she get out of it?” Kyle asked.

“She’s never been declared dead.”

“But she would have to account for the plastic surgery,” Kyle countered. “And we’ve got proof she’s been involved in criminal endeavors. You think she’s trying to get her inheritance the old-fashioned way?”

“Mom had her will changed last year. Dad gets everything if she dies, and if they both go, it’s all me. I assure you Julia’s not in my will. So she can’t get the money.” His brain was going a hundred miles a minute.

“Or The Consortium wants your mother out of office and this is how they do it,” Kyle mused.

That made sense. “I know she’s been working on a bill that would punish polluters. She’s worked on a lot of things. They could simply want the seat for someone they own. They’re using Taylor to hurt me.”

“For Julia, the cruelty is the point,” Kyle replied. “I’m going to take the stairs from the left. You go right. Take out anyone you have to. She won’t be alone. She’s probably infiltrated the guards or she’ll have taken them all out.”

“Mom usually has three guards on her detail when she’s traveling,” Drake explained. “They switch off. I know she had three on the plane. At this time, there should be at least two on duty, and all three are women. I didn’t even think about it because Mom changed them out last year. She said she liked the optics of having an all-female security team.”

“Or more likely an all-Consortium team.” The doors opened and Kyle moved out. “Be careful, Drake. If you can, get Taylor and run. Let me handle Julia. She’s my mistake.”

“She’s my sister.”

“Yes, and I have no idea how I would handle it if I found out David wasn’t who I thought he was. I know I’ve given you shit, but I don’t blame you. She was your family. That’s hard to see through. And I don’t think I would be able to kill my brothers or sister even if I found out they were evil,” Kyle said. “So let me do this, Drake. No matter what it costs.”

Kyle turned and jogged away.

Fuck. He was going to get himself killed. Drake strode the opposite way, quickly moving to the stairs. When he got there, he opened the door and took out the semiautomatic, flipping off the safety. There was no safety from here on out.

Jax opened the door that led him to the fortieth floor. “Kyle’s already coming from the other side.”

If he got through this, he was going to go to the gym way more often. Kyle was in better shape.

Or he would go to the gym with his wife because he was taking a desk job. He was moving into analysis, and he would work to make sure no more Julias got through. He would dedicate his life to making the Agency safer and better and to making sure Taylor got everything she needed.

“The suite is in the middle of the floor. You’ve got two turns, and I’m still blind, brother.” Jax’s voice was a soothing presence. “Be careful. Someone else is coming up. I’ve got a woman taking the service elevator. She’s in a uniform, so she might be a civilian. I’m still working on the cams. Whoever took them over is good, and I’m worried they know I’m in here.”

“It doesn’t matter now. Get Damon and Nick up here as soon as possible. I’ll try to get the civie out of the way.” He made the first turn and could hear someone talking in the hallway ahead.

“This isn’t Dr. Walsh’s room,” Taylor was saying.

She was close. Maybe a hundred feet away. So fucking close, and he couldn’t reach out and pull her to safety. He couldn’t see her, and the voices were coming in and out, but he knew he was close.

“And this isn’t Cleo’s mission anymore.” His sister’s voice hit him like a slap in the face. Damn it. There was a deep mourning rolling around with the rage and fear. How could she do this? “Stay or go, Constance? If you walk through here, you’re committed. I can’t let you know the truth about my plans and walk away, so you’ve got like ten seconds to think about it.”

Constance? She was keeping up the illusion? Was that for Taylor’s sake?

There was another explanation.

Julia was up to her own fuckery and didn’t know who Taylor was. Didn’t know what she meant to him.

He heard someone whispering but couldn’t make out the words.

“I’m in,” Taylor’s voice came through loud and clear.

Drake eased around the corner, trying to figure out how vulnerable he was. Kyle would be coming up the other side. They could catch Julia in between them and there would be nowhere for her to go.

But Taylor could be caught in the crossfire.

Kyle was right. He had one job—to get Taylor out of there.

He turned and stopped because there was a body on the ground and Brad was standing over it. One of his mother’s guards lay on the tastefully neutral carpet of the quiet hallway, and it was obvious she was never getting up again.

Brad’s eyes flared and his hand came up, a clear command to stay silent.

Drake held up his gun, getting Brad in his sights.

“What are you doing?” Brad whispered the question. “You’re going to get her killed. She’s in trouble. I managed to follow her up. I saw her on the cams come in with… I think she’s with Julia.”

A woman in a dark suit rounded the corner, her eyes widening when she caught sight of the two of them standing in the hallway. “Hey.”

He’d seen this woman before. She worked on his mom’s security detail, but he realized with dawning horror that she might have been on his mom’s team, but she wasn’t working for her. She pulled a gun and began to fire. Drake realized he was about to die. That bullet would hit his chest, and there was nothing he could do about it.

But there was something Brad could do. Brad threw his body in front of Drake’s and got off a shot of his own. The force of Brad’s body hitting his dropped Drake to his knees, his own gun slipping from his fingers.

The woman went down, her eyes open even as she fell to the floor.

Drake scrambled from behind Brad, easing the man down. There was a hole in his chest, one he wouldn’t survive unless they got him to a doctor now. Drake touched his earpiece. “Jax, I need you to send Tucker. Jax?”

“They dampened comms on this floor,” Brad said with a wheezing cough. “Julia…Drake, Julia…”

He’d been wrong. “Julia’s here. I know. Brad, we need to get you some help.”

Brad’s head shook. “Too…too late. Drake…Lydia…”

“Lydia is with them, isn’t she?” He knew now. It had to be at least one of the two of them, and he’d guessed wrong.

“She knows…a lot… Drake, I thought she loved me,” Brad whispered. “But Drake, I didn’t tell her. She doesn’t know about Taylor. Never would have told her. Never.”

A ping sounded and Brad’s body tensed and then the light in his eyes died.

Drake looked up and there was the woman he’d been talking about. The one who had betrayed them all. Lydia stood there wearing the black slacks and white shirt of one of the staff. Her hair was up, and she held a gun in her hands.

“Poor Brad. I was hoping I could keep him around a little while longer,” she said with a frown. “But at least I got the real prize. Come on, Drake. It’s time you started paying attention to me. I thought you would argue with me. What the hell was that? You just took off running. That’s not the Drake I know. But Brad was exactly who I thought he was. He was more loyal to the Agency than he was to me. A good man is hard to find. Get up and come with me. Now we have to figure out what to do with you.”

He thought about going for the gun, but then Lydia wasn’t alone.

“Damn it.” The man Taylor had been working on identifying stood beside Lydia, and he had a gun, too. “You were supposed to make sure he was distracted tonight. What the fuck happened? Julia’s going to kill us both. Come on, Drake. I think it’s time for a family meeting.”

Drake stood, his heart racing.

It was time to see his sister.