Lessons in SECRET (16 page)

I race my bike through
the quiet streets and through the broken gates of Isa’s fake home.
I made it here in less than five minutes, but I’m almost too late.
Tegan’s already being dragged from the house. The sound of my
engine startles the assholes enough so that she’s able to get away,
but they’re after her again. I pull up alongside her, and she jumps
on the back of my bike.

It’s not going to be
enough, though. The extra “helpers” are forming a barrier in
front of me that I would have no trouble driving through, if it
weren’t for the guns in their hands. I pull out my own gun and hand
it to Tegan. I drive around the house, but there’s no other way out
for us as the canyon behind the house is being guarded, too. The boss
really wants Isa. I don’t blame him. But I
am
going to kill him.

“I’m going to get
as close as possible to the gates. Then I’m jumping off and you
need to just go.”

“Are you insane?”

“Yes.”

“Isa will kill me.”

“If we’re both
dead, she’ll be even more upset. Just take care of her. Are you
ready?”

“Yeah. Thanks, Mason.
You didn’t have to do this.”

“I really did. Here
we go.”

I drive us out towards
the line, with Tegan shooting as many of the guys as she can while we
still have the element of surprise. Right before the gates, I yell
“now” and jump off. She surges forward and grabs the handlebars,
the bike weaving a little as she shoots out onto the street. She’s
safe. Thank God, she’s safe. Me? Not so much.

“Isn’t this
interesting? The cold hearted Mason Wells sacrificing himself for a
woman. And not even the one our boss thought you were trying to
protect,” Asshole One says to me.

I don’t answer. They
can do whatever they want to me, but I’m not saying a word. About
anything. Especially not Isa.

“Aw, Cat’s got your
tongue. You’ll be screaming and begging soon enough, tough guy.”

They pull me roughly to
one of the SUVs and toss me in the backseat. Assholes Two and Three
join me, one on each side. They leave the new minions who are still
alive behind to fend for themselves. As we drive down the street, I
see my motorcycle abandoned on the side of the road. Thank God. Tegan
got away, and Isa should be safe by now, too. I knew this was coming,
and it would be bad, but at least I was able to protect the woman I
love and her friend.

Kurt and Grace are
already on the plane when I’m escorted to my seat. Kurt smirks at
me, but Grace looks worried. She should be. I don’t know how I’m
going to protect her on this plane, but I have to try. Crossing state
lines with a minor with the intent to commit a crime should help
place another nail in the boss’ coffin, but while this girl thinks
she wants the life she’s living, I can guarantee that she doesn’t.

“Looky here, we may
not have the winner, but blondie is a nice consolation prize,” One
says.

“Prize? I’m going
to a party.”

“But we have
permission to party with whatever girl we found here on the plane
first.”

“No,” she says
looking scared now. “Kurt?”

“They have
permission.”

“You don’t want to
touch her,” I tell them.

“Oh yeah, we do,”
Two tells me.

“Do you know who her
father is?”

“Why should I care?”

“Because he’s
powerful enough to hire people better than you to find you and hurt
you.”

“She won’t tell,
will you?”

Grace looks at me.
“Please don’t make me do this.”

“If you haven’t
noticed, I’m not in a position of power here, Grace. But you have
power. Tell them who your father is.”

It’s the only thing I
can think of. I know she doesn’t want anyone to know—even most of
the kids at the school don’t know. But I know, and so does Kurt.
Which is why he’s the one looking scared now.

“He’s right. I
shouldn’t have brought her. But we needed someone. Those
millionaires can protect themselves, but we’d be dead within a
day,” he tells One.

“You’re serious.”

“Yeah. I wish I
wasn’t because we could all have fun with her, but I’d like to
live a little longer.”

“Well, shit. The boss
owes us some pussy on the ground then.”

I breathe a sigh of
relief. I won’t be any use to her once we land, but I was able to
save Grace here. I can only hope that Isa and her friends come
through. If my mom hasn’t already. Between them, I may actually
have a chance at making it out of this alive.

* * *

Isa

I made it to the
Foundation safely. It wasn’t easy, especially since almost everyone
needed to go to Tegan, who was under a bigger threat than me. Ainsley
said the house was surrounded. There were a few guys waiting outside
for me, too. Ellie was already in the building, and Jade came with
Nate to help us.

The guys actually
started shooting at us, which told us they were new and trying to
prove themselves. Jade got grazed on the arm by a bullet and that’s
when Nate went crazy. After the three of us helped to unarm them and
got into the car, he beat the shit out of them until all three were
unconscious. Only then did he jump in the backseat with Jade, ripped
off his t-shirt—which nearly caused Ellie to crash the car—and
wrapped it around her arm to stop the blood.

It was pretty amazing
and gave me a new found respect for Nate’s talents, and um, his
chest. Which really is a thing of beauty. He’s down in the medical
ward with Jade now, since he refused to leave her side even after she
told him she was fine. It would be adorable if I weren’t so
stressed about Tegan and Jake. There’s been no word, and they
should have been back by now.

When the group comes
into the lobby, I look from face to face, but he’s not with them.
“Where is he?”

“I’m sorry, Isa. I
told him he was insane.”

“What are you talking
about Teeg?”

“He sacrificed
himself to get me out of there.”

“No!”

I feel my legs go out
beneath me, and a pair of strong arms catch me. Matt lifts me up and
carries me to the conference room. He sets me in a chair as Aiden
hands me some water. When Jade and Nate join everyone in the room,
Nate comes to stand by me, too. It’s like the three of them are
trying to protect me, but I don’t know from what. I’ve already
been protected by the man I love, and what we should be doing now is
planning on how to rescue him before…before his boss kills him.

A moment later, I
understand why they’re standing guard. A number of military men
enter the room, followed by The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, Elizabeth Mason. Because I do so much research for missions, I
have high security clearance and know that the guys help her with
special assignments from time to time. I don’t know why she’s
here, though.

“Liz, to what do we
owe this visit?” Jane asks her; although, she doesn’t seem
surprised.

“You know damn well
why I’m here so let’s skip with the bullshit.” She looks to
where the guys are standing around me. “And you three should be on
a plane already.”

“We needed to make
sure everyone got back here safely,” Matt tells her.

“My son did not make
it back here safely, so obviously you didn’t do your job.”

“Your son was not my
concern. Mainly because I didn’t know he
was
your son. If he’d been honest with us, or at least Isa, we could’ve
helped him.”

“Yes, well, Jake’s
always been a lone wolf. Until now.”

Jake? Oh my God. “Jake
is your son. Jake Mason. That’s why he wanted me to call him that.
His name isn’t Mason Wells.”

“No it isn’t.”

“You need to explain
everything to us. Just telling me to have my girls stop digging
because he’s your son is not enough,” Jane tells her.

“Once those three get
on a plane to Milwaukee, I’ll tell you everything.”

“Wait. They’re
going for him? I’m going, too.”

“Oh no. You’ve
caused everyone enough trouble.”

“I love your son, and
no one in this room is going to stop me from helping bring him out of
this alive. No one. Now tell us what we need to know.”

She narrows her eyes at
me, and then nods. “Time is of the essence, so here’s the short
version. My son was in military intelligence for four years. And then
he started working directly for my team, taking on assignments that
seemed impossible, but never were for him. This is something that we
never shared with the public, or even our friends. Everyone thinks he
just has a cushy, low responsibility job with my husband’s company.
We always played it off like he was aimless and couldn’t find his
way. It worked too well in this case.

“One of my so-called
friends has apparently had a lucrative business going for a few years
now. A business that, as you know, sells girls to the highest bidder.
He had recently expanded into a new market, but he didn’t want to
be associated with that city. He needed someone else to do his dirty
work, and who better than a rich playboy with no responsibilities?
When he approached Jake, my son played along. And then he came to me.
I was against him getting involved, but what he’d been told
sickened him, and he wanted to help. Actually, that’s not true—he
needed
to help. It’s
his nature. He’s always been the one his friends go to for help
when something goes wrong.”

“He’s a good man,”
I say.”

“Yes, he is. And he
was close to bringing everything down, until he did something he’d
never done before. He fell in love with you, Isabelle. When he called
to tell me, I tried to reason with him and get him to run. But he
reminded me that I would never sacrifice his father to protect
myself. Which tells me just how strong his feelings for you are.”

“I feel the same.”

“Even though you
thought he was a bad guy? He told me you were willing to stand by him
if he went to jail.”

“I was. I am. I’ve
never been in love before, either. I would lay down my life for him
in a second.”

“You realize that you
very well could be if you go with the guys?”

“Yes.”

“I still think this
is too risky. You can’t just walk in there as yourself. They’d
take you immediately.”

“Which is why Stella
needs to be on the plane with me. She can alter me enough to pass as
someone else.”

“Yes, I can. But I’m
not sure I should,” Stella tells me.

“Please, Stell.”

She looks to Reina, who
nods. “He saved Tegan. We owe him. The guys are already going,
regardless. If Isa feels she needs to go, we’ll do everything we
can to help her. Which means we’re taking our own plane. We won’t
go in with them, but we’ll be nearby. I’ll have Scott call Lisa
Dess to alert her.”

Stella goes to grab
what she needs, and everyone else files out to get ready to go to the
airport. Reina is the last to go. She lifts an eyebrow at me and then
nods when I do. So now, it’s just me and Mrs. Mason. Her guards are
outside to give us privacy.

“I’ve looked into
you, Isabelle.”

“You can call me Isa,
and I wouldn’t expect anything less, Ma’am.”

“Liz, not Ma’am. I
get enough ‘ma’ams’ an hour to last a lifetime, and I’m
really not that formal if I’m being honest.”

“Good to know.”

“Your background is
very impressive. You not only graduated college, but got more than
one Masters, and a PhD. All while you were still a teenager.”

“I did, yes.”

“You lived a
sheltered upbringing and have continued to draw as little attention
to yourself as possible in your adult years.”

“Again, that is
correct.”

“Yet, you joined this
organization and passed their rigorous training classes.”

“Is this going
somewhere, Liz?”

“A mother tends to
think no one is good enough for her son, but you may just be the
exception. A genius with a strength of spirit not found often in
women
or
men. Not to
mention your obvious beauty. I’m not surprised that my son was
willing to give up everything, including his life, for you.”

“I never wanted that.
For him to have to give up
anything
to be with me.”

“I believe you, Isa.
And that makes me even happier. Now go get my son and bring him home.
If that bastard who took him gets killed in the process, that will
just be a bonus.”

“You didn’t tell us
who it is.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“It’s that bad.”

“Worse.”

She tells me then, and
I almost fall out of my chair. She says the guys know, but asks me
not to tell my friends yet. I understand the need for national
security, so I promise to not say anything for now.

“Isn’t there going
to be Hell to pay if he’s killed?”

“The White House has
a cover story already planned. They want him gone almost as much as
we do.”

“This is a little
crazy, like something out of a Harlan Coben novel. If I wasn’t in
the middle of it, I wouldn’t believe it was real.”

“Isa, we need to go,”
Matt says, walking into the room.

“Knocking would’ve
been appropriate, Commander.”

“Ex-Commander, and
you can cut the crap, Liz. If you’d told me who Jake really was, I
could’ve made sure none of this was necessary.”

“Yes, well, hindsight
and all that. Go get my boy, and make sure this girl comes out with
him.”

“That’s not even a
question. But it’s her before him, you have to know that.”

“Understood.”

“I can take care of
myself you know.”

“Yeah, we do know,
Double G. Love can make you careless, though, so we’ve got your
back.”

Stella and I board the
government plane with the guys, while everyone else rides in one of
the Corrigan jets. We spend the few hours of the flight with Stella
transforming me, while Matt fills us in on what’s going to go down.
I knew the three of them were badass—they were in the most sought
after Special Forces group in the military—but I’ve never seen
them in action before. It’s pretty awesome, along with being a
little scary. I’m really glad that they’re on my side.