You Only Love Twice (5 page)

“Goddamn it, Phoebe!”

She took off again. That hadn’t been Taggart. She recognized
Jake Dean’s low growl and knew he wouldn’t let a little pain stop him. She
couldn’t stay in the stairwell. She needed cover and she wasn’t going to get it
here.

She flew out the door that led to the fourth floor and
immediately knew she’d gotten lucky. Phoebe had been in the business long
enough to know skill wasn’t enough. She needed luck and the ability to see the
possibility of that big cleaning cart in front of her. Most people would see an
obstacle to
be avoided
, but Phoebe saw something more.
She saw sweet, sweet chaos.

As Dean bounded out of the stairwell, she tipped over the
cart, spraying the entire hall with toilet paper rolls, fresh towels, and mini
toiletries.

But what was a little chaos when she could make big chaos?

“Help! Help! Please don’t let him kill me!” Phoebe screamed
as she ran past the shocked maid. “He’s trying to kill me.”

“Well, I wasn’t before!” Dean yelled as he tried to maneuver
through the ruin.

Phoebe ran even as doors opened and she could hear people
calling for security and the police.

Yes, she might have to deal with them, but she suspected it
would be far easier to get away from a couple of cops than it would be to slip
past Taggart and his boys.

“We’re about to have guests,” she heard Dean say.

She could practically hear Taggart cursing her name.

An elevator opened in front of her.

“Hurry!” a masculine voice cried out.

Thank god for helpful bystanders. She took off and managed
to make it into the elevator right before the doors closed.

She dragged air into her lungs, her body against the back of
the elevator. She felt it start to move. “Thank you so much. My boyfriend went
a little psychotic.” She realized something was wrong. Why were they going up
instead of down?

“Oh, sweetie, that’s no way to talk about Jake. He’s not
psychotic. He’s just grumpy most of the time,” Adam Miles said with a grin on
his face. He also had a needle in his hand. “Now, do you want to go the hard
way or the easy way? Seriously, you should try the easy way. This is some good
shit and that way you don’t have to listen to Jake yelling about you breaking
his arm or deal with Ian’s really poor driving. The man has road rage. Now come
to Papa and we’ll have you out in no time at all.”

Shit. She hadn’t even thought about Adam.

She kicked out, trying to catch him in the gut, but he
sidestepped her and before she could move, his arm wrapped around her and she
felt the sting of the needle going in.

The world immediately started going hazy and soft. Adam was
right. That was some good shit.

“Yeah, I got her. I know. You always underestimate me
because I’m the pretty one. Meet me on six. I’ve got a way out.” He easily
picked her up, and she could see him looking down at her. “I hope you survive
this, Phoebe. Serena really likes you.”

She could feel tears slipping out of her eyes. So soft.
She’d gotten so fucking soft. “Like her, too.” Something. She had to say
something before the very nice fog took her. “Save Jesse. Try again. They will
try again.”

And then everything was blissful darkness.

* * * *

Jesse looked up and down the street, but no one seemed to
notice the big van stopped in front of the hotel. Traffic moved around them.
Everything out here seemed perfectly normal, but Jesse
was
focused
on what was happening in that hotel. Nothing was normal in
there. Normal
had just been blown
out of the water.

“You know you’re about to get the lecture of a lifetime,”
Simon said, opening the doors on the van. It was custom made, with bench
seating in the back on either side and plenty of room for equipment. It
reminded Jesse of a military vehicle. Tag was as well prepared as any unit
Jesse had ever served in, but he supposed one could take the Green Beret out of
the Army but you couldn’t take the Army out of the Green Beret.

The side of the van
was decorated
with a magnetic sign that they could easily exchange before an op. For this
particular mission, they’d chosen the sign that read
Clean Freaks Laundry
Services
. Yep, they’d let Tag design the signs. There was also a
Master
Painting Crew
sign,
Dig It Deep Plumbers
,
Little Bro Catering
,
and
Adam’s Dog Grooming Services
. But it looked like they were in the
laundry business today.

Where was Phoebe? There was a knot in his gut that wouldn’t
go away. Simon had knocked his comm unit to the concrete when he’d tackled him
and it wasn’t working now. He couldn’t hear anything. He could only watch Simon
wince when someone screamed in his ear. It was the only indication he had that
anything was happening at all.

“Damn it.” Simon touched his earpiece. “Yes, I’m ready.” He
turned to Jesse. “I’m going to start the engine. You be ready to shut the doors
and hop in. We’re leaving ASAP.”

Shit. There was only one real reason for that. Moving too
fast could bring unwanted attention. “Who called the cops?”

Simon moved to the driver’s side door. “Apparently your girl
has everyone in the hotel thinking she and Jake are having a domestic dispute.
Several of the guests have called the police and security is looking for them,
but the security cameras are all down so they’re having to do a floor by floor
search.”

“Do they have the package?” He couldn’t believe he was
calling Phoebe “the package,” but he’d been emotional enough today. Now it was
time to go cold.

She’d betrayed them all. He had to view her as the enemy.
That was good. Enemy combatant. That’s what she was and nothing more. She was
just one more bad guy in a long line of them.

“Yes. They’ll be here any second. Be ready.” Simon slipped
into the driver’s seat and Jesse heard the engine come on. All around him
people bustled, going about their lives and jobs. Dallas was a busy city and
this was one of the busiest streets for pedestrian traffic, yet almost no one
looked up at him. Even the valet stood at his station, staring down at his
phone. The van was a defense in and of itself. It was nondescript and looked
like a service vehicle, so no one tended to notice.

Rather like him. He was a grunt and no one noticed him
except Phoebe.

Oh, he could find a woman for the evening. That wasn’t a
problem. There were plenty of pretty subs at Sanctum who would have sex with
him, but he thought Phoebe had really seen him.

The doors to the hotel lobby opened and Big Tag strode out
with Jake Dean at his side. Jake had his head down, his eyes covered in a pair
of mirrored aviators and his right arm cradled against his chest. They walked
past the valet, who looked up briefly and then got back to checking his e-mail
or texting his girlfriend or whatever the hell he was doing.

“Your girl seriously fucked up my arm and I’m pissed. This
is my fucking dominant hand,” Jake complained under his breath.

Tag chuckled. “He’s gotten soft in his old age.”

“I still got this one, Tag.” He used his left hand to shoot
Tag the finger before climbing into the passenger seat.

“Where is she?” The question was out of his mouth before he
could stop it.

“Adam and Alex are bringing her out,” Tag said quietly as he
looked up at the buildings around them. “Why don’t you get into the van?”

He didn’t want to get in the van. He wanted answers. “Who is
she working for?”

“I don’t know. I do know that if you don’t get in the
fucking van, you won’t be working for me. There they are. Move it. She said
there could be a secondary,” Tag growled.

The service doors opened and Adam walked out followed by
Alex, who was pushing a large laundry bin.

Phoebe was in that bin. God, if she was in that bin and it
wasn’t moving then they’d knocked her out or drugged her.

A secondary? Shit. She said there had been a secondary
sniper and he might still be around. Someone was serious about wanting him
gone.

He let that knowledge settle in his mind.

Jesse moved to the back of the van and got in. Alex pushed
the bin to the van and tilted it forward.

There was Phoebe, her body completely slack. There was a
black wig on her head. It was short and curled at her jawline. She’d put some
makeup on, and for a second he thought maybe they’d gotten the wrong woman. She
looked so different from the Phoebe whose hand he held. She had dark hair, but
it
was threaded
through with reds and golds and there
was so much of it. She usually put it in a ponytail or a bun, but when she let
it loose it seemed to go everywhere. She certainly wasn’t this polished,
professional-looking woman.

“Jesse, we’ve got incoming,” Tag reminded him.

The cops. He could hear the wail of sirens in the background
now. He reached in and grabbed her, hauling her into the van. Tag reached down
again and came up with what looked like a suitcase and Phoebe’s purse. The gun
was likely in that case. They wouldn’t leave evidence behind.

Tag, Alex, and Adam were in the back of the van in a
heartbeat, abandoning the bin to the street. The minute the doors
were closed
, Simon took off.

And he
was left
holding the woman
who had tried to assassinate him.

“Adam?” Ian asked.

Adam needed no prompting. He opened his laptop and looked up
with a smirk. “We’re good. I took out all the hotel’s CCTV cameras. Luckily
Dallas is behind the times on security cams. No one is going to pick us up on a
camera. They’ll have to go off eyewitnesses and since no one was actually hurt,
they’ll dump it the minute something more exciting comes along. I’ve already
texted Derek. He’ll handle it.”

There was a moment of silence before Ian turned to Jesse.

“Do I need to say it?” Tag asked, his jaw clenched so he
spoke through his teeth.

“I’m fired.” He was surprised he’d lasted so long anyway. He
knew he should put her on the floorboard, but it probably wasn’t clean down
there and Phoebe was always very neat. He couldn’t stand the thought of her
body lying there. So he hauled her into his lap and tried to look like he
didn’t give a shit.

“No, you dumbass. I can’t fire you because you would be dead
in like fifteen fucking minutes. What the fuck was that? Which Army did you
serve in, son, because it sure as fuck wasn’t the one I did. My goddamn COs
taught me not to walk into the freaking bullet.”

And Tag was off. He was yelling and cussing and there was a
certain comfort in it. Big Tag only got quiet when he didn’t care anymore.
Jesse had scared the hell out of him and this was his punishment. He would take
it.

There was a lull in the yelling and he looked up. Everyone
was staring at him so he supposed it was time to say something. “I’m really
sorry.”

“Sorry? You’re fucking sorry? You would have been fucking
dead.” Tag was off again.

Jesse looked down at the woman in his lap. Her wig slipped
and he could see that she’d put her hair in something that kept it close to her
head. He didn’t like it. She was prettier without the makeup and the shiny
black hair. He wasn’t sure why, but he needed to see her real hair. He slid his
hands over her hairline, sliding the wig and the little cap off. Her hair
immediately flowered out like it had been desperate to get away from the
confines of the wig. Her hair tumbled over his arm. Her face turned up and he
could see she wasn’t completely out. Her eyes opened slightly and she looked
like a sleepy kitten.

“Jesse. My Jesse. Good dream.” She curved into him, rubbing
her cheek against his chest. She moaned. “He’s so loud.”

He couldn’t help but chuckle because Tag really was loud.

Her eyes closed again and the van got quiet. Suddenly Jesse
could feel three pairs of eyes on him.

“She’s an operative, Jesse,” Adam said quietly. “Very well
trained.”

“She nearly killed me,” Jake complained.

Tag shook his head. “It’s not even broken. Fatherhood made
Dean grow a pussy.”

Phoebe frowned, her eyes glassy. “Pussies aren’t weak. I’d
like to see Tag shove a baby out of his penis.”

He’d never seen her drunk. She wouldn’t ever have more than
one margarita or glass of wine. She seemed like a fun drunk.

Adam laughed and shook his head when Tag sent him a
forbidding look. “Sorry, Tag. She’s got a point.”

“She should be out,” Tag complained. “You didn’t dose her
properly.”

“I gave her enough to put down a freaking horse,” Adam
replied. “Which means she’s likely been taught to counter the effects, and we
all know that’s what the pros do.”

“She’s involved in something we don’t understand,” Alex
said, sympathy in his eyes. “You can’t pretend she’s Phoebe Graham anymore. You
have to change your thinking about her. She isn’t the woman you care about.
That woman doesn’t exist.”

“And you’re a goddamn idiot for thinking she did,” Tag said.

Phoebe’s legs started moving. Her head came up slightly and
her eyes were about half open. “Fuck you, Tag. He’s not dumb…not stupid. You
stupid. Dumbass.”

She sounded so drunk and yet the words were sweet to Jesse.
Maybe he was stupid, but she
was drugged
. She didn’t
have any defenses but she was defending him. What was he supposed to do with
that?

He’d heard her yelling at him. He’d heard her telling him to
get down.

What the fuck was he supposed to believe?

He couldn’t help himself. His arms tightened around her.

Tag’s eyes closed and there was no way to miss how his fists
clenched. “You know I don’t think you’re stupid, right?”

He knew it on an intellectual level. “Sure.”

Taggart ran a frustrated hand through his head. “Damn it,
Jesse. I think everyone’s a dumbass. Ask Adam.”