Black Jack (28 page)

ripping through him, tightening through his muscles, building until he knew he wouldn’t be

able to hold it back much longer. He couldn’t hold it back much longer.

His balls tightened further, the length of his cock throbbed, pounded with the need for

release.

“Lilly. I can’t hold back,” he groaned as his hands tightened in her hair to pull her back.

“I’m going to come, baby.”

She moaned against the head, a soft vibration of hunger that had his cock spurting in

warning release.

A cry sounded in her throat at the slight release, her suckling became harder, her tongue

licking, probing, drawing in as much of the taste as possible as he lost that final thread of

restraint.

Rapture washed through him. Ecstasy on a scale of complete soul-destroying pleasure tore

through him as he felt the fierce, hot jets of come racing from the tip of his cock, spurting into

her mouth. His body drew so tight he wondered if it would break. His head jerked back, both

hands clenching in her hair as hard shudders racked his body and fed the deep pulses of seed

from his balls.

And still, he wanted more of her.

Still hard, his cock so sensitive he knew he’d spill again soon, Travis pulled from her,

jerked her to her feet, and lifted her to the counter once again.

“Wrap your legs around me.” He lifted her legs to his hips as he gripped the shaft of his

dick and found the luscious, slick entrance to her pussy.

It was like fucking into silk and syrup. Tight muscles gripped the head of his cock as he

pressed inside her, and the silken feel of her flesh wrapped around him like an intimate fist

and sucked him inside, inch by inch.

Lilly’s back arched. Her hands gripped the edge of the counter, her legs locked around his

hips, and she swore she was flying in a world of sensation so intense that even the brush of air

in the room was a caress against her flesh.

Travis’s erection burrowed inside her, stretching the sensitive walls of her pussy and

sending her into a maelstrom of such intense sensation that it was all she could do not to

scream.

In two hard thrusts he was buried to the hilt inside her, his hips pressed hard against her as

the sound of their breathing became a ragged symphony of pleasure around them.

He didn’t stop, he didn’t pause. Once he had filled her he began moving with deep, hard

strokes, shafting inside her as tender flesh and sensitive nerve endings began humming in

pleasure.

The intensity of sensation began building. Electric fingers of ecstasy sizzled over her flesh,

tightened her muscles and sensitized her clit until she was no more than a creature of

sensuality. She could feel the ecstasy rising, brewing inside her. It built, burning through her,

rushing into every cell until the conflagration hit her womb and exploded inward in a release

so powerful, so deep, she knew she would feel the imprint of it for the rest of her life.

She felt Travis joining her. His cock throbbed in release inside her as he shuddered against

her, his lips at her neck, his teeth rasping her flesh.

Her name was a growl, a curse, just as his was a pleading cry falling from her lips.

They were tied to each other. They were bound.

For the moment, they were one entity tied by pleasure, by hunger. By something Lilly

feared could get them both killed.

“we found a contact.”
Nik strode into the

makeshift communications room Jordan had set up in the small house they had rented for the

operation.

The samples of fluid he and Lilly had found where the motorcycle had been parked were

lying on the table where Jordan sat awaiting Nik’s expertise in testing it while Travis went

over the reports that had come in from the other agents.

“Who?” Travis questioned him, his voice sharp as Jordan turned from the computer screen

as well.

“David Fallsworth.” Nik strode to one of the other computers and began typing in

commands. “London. He works in the warehouse district where Lilly was shot.” The file on

the contact was pulled up. Picture, a rap sheet as long as Travis’s arm, and a documented

history of information he had supplied to the Elite Ops in exchange for immunity from

prosecution in several cases.

Travis moved and stared at the screen. “What does he have?”

“What he has is a possible description of our killer.” Nik straightened with a cold smile.

“But he’s skittish on this one. He won’t discuss this online or on the phone. He’s willing to

talk to a go-between, though. We promised we’d send one he could trust.” He grinned back at

Travis.

“How do we know he actually has something?” Travis asked.

“There were two men, the day before Lilly was shot. They were asking around about Lilly

Belle, flashing her picture. They heard she had contacts in the area and were looking for those

contacts as well as Lilly herself. According to good ole David, he can point you in the

direction of a few people these guys talked to. But even more important, the contact names

they were given?” He shot a look between Jordan and Travis. “They were both found floating

in the Thames days after she was shot. We weren’t notified of the deaths because the contacts

weren’t ones Lilly had listed.”

Travis had taught her that. She had her official contacts, then she had those that only she

dealt with. The fact that someone had found contacts that only Lilly dealt with hinted at the

fact that someone had been damned thorough and efficient enough that neither the Elite Ops,

nor Lilly, had been tipped off.

“Do we have anyone watching him?” Travis asked as he mentally began preparing a

checklist for the flight out.

“We have a contact watching him until you arrive.” Nik nodded.

“I’ll have the plane prepped and ready to fly you out.” Jordan turned back to the computer

and began typing. “Nik, you’ll be flying out with him and providing backup. We’ll have

everything ready for you to test the fluid samples when you get back.”

“What about Lilly?” Travis turned back to him, concern unfolding inside him. “Whoever’s

trying to kill her isn’t going to stop, Jordan. If they realize I’m out of town, or unavailable,

they could strike again.”

“We have Wild Card on site,” Jordan reminded him. “He’ll stay in close proximity. I’ll have

Maverick move in and cover the outside of the house in case of problems until you return.”

Wild Card, aka Noah, and Maverick, aka Micah, would ensure that Lilly was protected,

Travis knew. They had their own women, they understood the fears riding Travis’s back

where Lilly’s protection was concerned.

It was the best he was going to get and Travis knew it. He’d discuss Lilly’s protection with

Wild Card and Maverick himself.

“The jet is prepping as we speak,” Jordan announced. “You fly out in an hour.”

Travis’s jaw tightened. There would be no chance to talk to Lilly, and calling her wasn’t

going to happen. He couldn’t be certain the calls were secure.

“Fallsworth will be waiting at the Wharf Tavern, two blocks from the warehouse district at

noon tomorrow,” Nik told them. “He’s usually pretty reliable. Let’s hope he is this time as

well.”

“Find Lilly’s killer and we have a damned good chance of finding her father’s killer, as well

as the person or persons who’s been targeting the savings, pensions and trust funds of the rich

and famous,” Jordan grunted. “And we hopefully shut down a major contributor to a nasty

little terrorist organization at the same time.”

But he was leaving Lilly without so much as a warning. That didn’t set well at all with

Travis, but at the moment, his choices were limited.

“Let’s roll.” Nik nudged his arm as he passed by him. “Faster we get there, faster we get

back.”

He wouldn’t have a chance to warn her he had to leave, but he could leave additional

protection. He wasn’t comfortable leaving her alone. Her memories were returning slowly,

and only in pieces. There was too much she was still fighting, too many memories that were

still evading her, leaving her vulnerable.

“We have her covered, Black Jack,” Nik said, his voice low. “Let’s find the bad guys, then

you can figure out the rest of it.”

Travis gave a brief nod before turning and leaving the room. Stepping from the house, he

pulled the phone from its holster at his waist and quickly keyed in the speed dial.

“What’s up, gorgeous?” Raisa, code name Raven, picked up the other end.

One of the remaining three Elite Two agents, she and the others were on standby in

Hagerstown, waiting in case Lilly needed them. They were there unofficially; neither Elite

Command nor their commanders were aware they had ditched their fact-finding missions and

headed there to help Lilly.

They were a unit. They were family. Sisters, they called each other. They were Lilly’s

sisters.

“You and the others have night watch. Be careful, though, because Wild Card and Maverick

are on watch as well,” he ordered her. “I have to fly to London to meet a contact. Keep your

eyes open and make sure she stays safe.”

A slight harrumph came over the line. “You think we’re not doing that anyway, hotshot?

You taught us to be family, Travis. That hasn’t changed just because she doesn’t remember

us.”

Travis’s lips quirked into a smile as the door behind him opened and Nik stepped out.

“Take care,” he told Raisa softly. “I’ll call when I land.”

Disconnecting the line, he shoved the phone back into the holster, disconnected the leather

carrier, and handed it to Nik as he accepted the mission sat phone the other man tossed to him.

Any calls into the cell would be directed to the satellite phone. The satellite phone was

more secure and reception more dependable.

“Let’s roll, Black Jack,” Nik sighed. “I’ll contact Fallsworth that you’re on your way in and

see if we can’t get this over and done with as soon as we land. Hopefully, we can fly back and

get the arrest warrant processed for our killer as a nice little present for Night Hawk.”

Travis had a feeling it wouldn’t be nearly that easy. It was a nice thought, though.

Rubbing at the back of his neck, he strode quickly to the Hummer and moved into the

driver’s seat as Nik opened the passenger-side door and slid in.

Leaving like this wasn’t setting well with Travis. Something felt damned wrong about it.

***

down the curved staircase of the house that her mother and uncle, well, her stepfather now,

she guessed, had taken for the summer, and headed for the kitchen.

Coffee might have a chance of easing it. She had developed a taste for the rich brew in

South America during training exercises.

Pain seared her temples as the memory slowly filtered through her mind. It wasn’t a

flashback, it was something that was just there when it hadn’t been before, and with it was

heavy pressure and sharp pain at the sides of her head.

This could become a definite distraction, she thought as she extracted a cup from the

cabinet and moved for the filled, heated coffee pot at the end of the counter.

Things had changed, not just with her, she thought as she filled the cup and moved to the

heavy walnut table that sat in front of the bay window in the breakfast nook of the kitchen.

Things had changed with her family as well. Six years didn’t seem that long, unless one

was dropped into the situation rather than easing through it as they lived daily life within it.

Her family had changed. Her uncle was now her stepfather. Her brother had disowned her,

and without the steadying influence of her father, her mother was more neurotic than ever

before.

Lilly almost grinned at the thought.

Her father had commented many times that perhaps her mother needed a vacation in the

south of France. The wording in reference to her mother’s friends who checked themselves

into the clinic, or forced their children in for whatever transgressions they had committed.

Her mother didn’t deal well when she perceived a threat to her social standing or the

appearance of perfection that she strove to project where her life and her family was

concerned.

Lilly could just imagine the nightmares Angelica Harrington had when it came to that

investigator’s report being released to the public or the paparazzi.

And then to have Lilly herself projecting the very appearance of the wild, unconventional

life she had lived those six years? No doubt her mother had been trying to convince Desmond

that the south of France was the best place for Lilly right now.

Desmond and her father both had had a strong dislike for the Ridgemore facility, thank

God. Unlike some families who sent their children for a stay there over the smallest of

reasons, Lord Harrington and his brother had expressed their disapproval of it often. Several

times they had stood by other fathers who had been forced to fight their wives over the

tradition of using the facility as a form of punishment.

How many times had her mother threatened to send her there? Lilly knew there had been

more times than she wanted to remember. As much as she was certain she had missed her