Demand (32 page)

“I'm going to shoot while you learn,” I say, ignoring her grumbles and making my way to another room, and it's not long before I have goggles, hearing protection, ammo, and my own booth.

I unload a round, and the fact that my memories of my father teaching me to shoot feel more like everyday thoughts than flashbacks feels huge. I'm just reloading when I get a tingling sensation on my neck. Cutting a discreet sideways look, I catch the reflection of a man in one of the glass panels separating me from another booth, and he is familiar. He steps in my direction and I turn and aim my weapon at Mr. Tall, Dark, and Deadly himself.

“Wow, sweetheart,” he says, holding up his hands. “If I was hitting on you, this would be a major turnoff.”

“But you aren't hitting on me. We both know that.”

“No,” he agrees, removing his shades so I can see his eyes. “I prefer redheads, but don't tell my wife.”

My blood runs cold. “Who
are
you?”

“Your friend Sara hired me to find you.”

“Sara hired you?”

“Yes. And you weren't easy to find. We can call her.”

“No. Sara can't be involved in this. She needs to stay away.”

“I know. I told her husband—”

“She's not married.”

“She is now, to a very powerful, famous man who spent boatloads of cash to find you. And for the record, it gutted her not to have you at her wedding.”

“Damn it, Blake,” a female voice says. “This is
not
a friendly approach.”

“That would be my wife, Kara,” Blake says. “You'd never know I'm the bossy one.” He calls out, “I was friendly. She's trigger-happy.”

“If she were trigger-happy, you'd have a bullet in you already.”

At the sound of Kayden's voice, Blake curses. “Holy fuck. This is not going as planned.”

Kayden steps to my side. “Was the plan that I not be here?”

A pretty brunette steps to Blake's side. “Yes, it was. Because frankly, we wanted to know that she's safe.”

“Can we put the gun down?” Blake asks.

“Put it down,” Kayden tells me. “I have the entire staff here on payroll.”

“Of course he does,” Blake grumbles, eyeing me. “You're still holding the fucking gun, and you seem to follow orders about as well as my wife.”

I keep the gun aimed at him. “How do I know Sara sent you?”

“Let's call her,” he suggests again. “She won't know where you are. She just needs to hear your voice.”

Kayden's hand comes down on my back. “Ella, sweetheart. If she did hire him, he can fill in the blanks you want filled in. And you can give Sara her peace of mind.”

“You believe him?” I ask.

“I believe I do,” he says, reaching out and taking my gun while telling Blake, “There's a room upstairs where we can talk.”

“That works for me,” Blake says. “Not my wife.” He eyes Kara. “Wait outside and if I don't come out alive in an hour, I guess start the funeral arrangements.” He grabs her and kisses her.

“Don't say things like that. They aren't funny.”

“Yes, wife.” He turns back to us. “I'm ready.”

Kayden talks to the man at the door who's now watching us, then to Blake. “He'll take you there. I need to talk to Ella for a moment alone.”

“Understood.” He starts to walk away.

“Blake,” Kayden says, halting him. “If you are who you say you are, you have my protection, and so does your wife. But if you're not—”

“Protection it is,” he says, turning away.

Kayden turns me and removes the goggles I didn't even know I still had on. “You okay?”

“I have these weird, crazy emotions going on that I can't even lock down.”

“That's understandable. I can talk to him alone.”

“No. I want to do this.”

“Well, then,” he says, placing Annie in my purse and zipping it up, “let's go see what he can tell us.”

Five minutes later, Kayden and I are sitting at a round table with Blake in a small room.

“First,” Blake says, “who I am. My brothers and I run Walker Security. I'm former ATF, my older brother Royce is former FBI, and Luke is a former Navy SEAL. We not only have our own team, we also worked with a group of local investigators to get here today.”

“How did you find her?” Kayden asks.

“I'm a damn good hacker. She was on the grid and she disappeared. When she disappeared, I knew we had trouble. When I couldn't find her despite my skill, I knew we had
big
trouble.”

“So I ask again,” Kayden says, “how did you find her?”

He keys his iPad to life and flips a photo around to show us. “That's Ella crossing the Italian border. That was our first big break. I then hired a group called The Jackals, who gave me a lead that brought me here.”

“Fucking Jackals,” Kayden bites out.

“You know them?” I ask, glancing up at him.

“We're Treasure Hunters,” he says. “They're the pirates I fired.” He eyes Blake. “They'll sell her out.”

“They were paid well.”

“Pirates never get paid well enough. What do you know about David?”

“A doctor with nothing remarkable in his background,” Blake says. “Pretty average. He vanished with Ella, and I haven't gotten a ping on him at all.”

“He's dead,” I say. “Don't ask details; I can't remember how. I just remember that I ended up with no passport or money.”

“I actually know that part of the story,” Blake tells me. “And that you ended up with a man named Garner Neuville. He told our people that he spooked you and you ran. He's been looking for you.”

“And he can't be allowed to find her,” Kayden says. “But The Jackals will help him in two seconds flat. So you, Blake Walker, are just good enough to find her, and just bad enough to get her in trouble.”

“I'm good enough to save her ass, just like you. The Jackals don't know I found her. I'll redirect them back to France.”

“Do that,” Kayden says. “Do it now.”

“Consider it done.” Blake flips to another screen on the iPad and hands it to me. “Sara's wedding.”

Tears instantly form in my eyes at the sight of Sara in a gorgeous rose lace dress, next to a man in a tux. “She looks gorgeous and he's hot.” I swipe at tears, and Kayden squeezes my leg. I hold his hand and ask Blake, “Who is the man? Is he a good man? Does he love her?”

“Chris Merit is his name, and he's a world-famous artist who's passionately in love with her.”

“Artist.” A memory comes back to me. “Did I . . . Was there a storage unit?”

“Yes,” he says. “You bought it during summer break to make extra money, and it had artwork and several journals in it. Sara took it over when you eloped, and it led her to Chris.”

“Summer break. You're saying I was a teacher?”

“Yes.”

Memories ebb and flow. “I was teaching. . . . But that isn't me. Something doesn't add up.” A thought hits me. “Do you have photos of my parents?”

“I do,” he says, taking the iPad and showing me a shot of my mother.

I smile and show it to Kayden. “My mom.”

“Swipe,” Blake says. “The next one is your father.”

The fifty-something, balding man in the photo is the one I remember being in my mother's hospital room, long after my father died. “That's my bastard, drunk, asshole stepfather. Not my father.”

“Sorry about that,” Blake says. “Swipe again.”

I swipe and inhale at the sight of a red-haired man with strong features. “That's him.” I show it to Kayden.

“Mr. Badass himself,” Kayden says. “I wish I could have met him.”

“Interesting that you call him a badass,” Blake says. “He was CIA and at such a high level that I can't get to him—not by hacking, or with my contacts. And that's saying a lot.”

My gaze jerks to his. “CIA? Not military?”

“No, not military.”

“I'm not a schoolteacher,” I say, certain of it.

“You were one.” Blake reaches for his iPad. “I snagged your records before they were deleted.”

“I know I was teaching when I left for Paris—but it's not who I really was.” I consider that for a moment. “I think I was CIA. I took a time-out, or was suspended.” I glance at Kayden, suddenly afraid of what that means for us. Then I turn back to Blake. “Can you find out?”

“There's no record of you being CIA,” he says. “None. Nothing that indicated a hiccup in your record.” He pulls a thumb drive from his pocket and slides it over to me. “That contains everything I have, but I'll dig further.”

“Be careful,” Kayden warns. “Garner Neuville is a problem that we can't have erupt.”

“I'm always careful.”

“The Jackals,” Kayden replies. “That's all I'm going to say.”

“I'm handling them.” Blake sets a phone on the table. “This is a disposable phone that we can destroy after we use it. I'd like to call Sara and put her on with you.”

I glance at Kayden. “Is it safe?”

“If we destroy the phone, yes.”

“But I don't know if I can ever see her again. Neuville will never stop coming, and—”

Kayden cups my head and kisses me. “Neuville is going to expire. He's a temporary problem, and remember what we talked about. He doesn't get to own you or your friend.” He glances at Blake. “Make the call. Ella, this is as much for you as for Sara.”

My heart starts pounding as Blake dials the phone. Then I hear, “Chris, it's Blake. Listen. I need you to prepare Sara for good news. I have someone for her to talk to.” A pause. “Yes. She's alive, but hiding. Right. Yes.” He hands me the phone. “He's prepping her, so it will be a minute.”

I reach for it with a trembling hand and put it to my ear, standing and walking to the corner, listening to the silence. Kayden steps behind me, his hand at my waist. “Blake and I are going to step into the hallway. Talk as long as you like, but—”

“Less is more.”

He kisses my temple and walks away, the door closing behind them.

Another beat of silence follows, and then I hear Sara's excited voice. “Ella!”

I start grinning and crying. “Yes! Yes, it's me!”

“Oh my God. Oh my. God. Oh. My. God. Why can't I stop saying ‘Oh my God'? Chris, it's really her! I can't believe it's you, Ella!”

“Well, I had amnesia, so I wasn't me for a while.”

“You're in danger.”

“Yes, but I met a man and he's amazing and—”

“Not David or Garner, right?”

“His name is Kayden. And I hear you have a sexy painter now. I saw his picture. He's hot.”

“He's so hot,” she says. “I'm so lucky. I wish you could have been at my wedding.”

“One day I'll meet him, and you can meet Kayden. Tell me about him.”

“There's so much I want to tell you about! About the storage unit, and Rebecca, the girl who owned it, and Chris—”

“I want to hear about Chris.”

She starts talking, and I talk, and we talk forever. Finally, though, it's time to hang up. We say teary goodbyes, and I promise to call again. I break the phone open and pull out the chip inside, running it under water and then breaking it. And I know how to do that because I'm CIA. Or
something
that could mean I was after the necklace for my own reasons. And maybe I was investigating The Underground. Or Garner Neuville. Or both.

I walk to the door and open it, and the minute Kayden sees me he pulls me into his arms. “We are not enemies,” he says.

“But the CIA—”

“I have allies in every agency.” He cups my face. “And I've said it before and I will say it again. We choose if we are enemies.” He kisses me, and in that kiss there is demand. So much demand. And his demand is that I refuse to be his enemy.

To be continued in
Surrender.
 . . .

Keep reading to see where it all started. The storage unit. The journal. Sara and Chris.

Start Sara's story with
If I Were You
—book one in the Inside Out series—now in development for TV with acclaimed producer Suzanne Todd (
Alice in Wonderland
).

If I Were You

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