Elite Ops: Black Jack Part 16

"Then stop acting so foolish!" her mother said.

"I've had it." Lilly turned for the door and began walking across the room. "This discussion is over."

"Don't you dare walk out on me, Victoria!" her mother demanded furiously. "I won't have it."

Lilly ignored her.

Striding from the room and up the stairs, Lilly couldn't help but wonder if perhaps her uncle had somehow managed to deceive her father. Or worse, could he have killed his brother?

Stranger things had been known to happen, she thought. Desmond had obviously wanted his brother's wife. Desmond had never married. He had no children. He had dedicated himself to his brother and his brother's family. Or had he simply dedicated himself to his brother's wife?

That was sickening. The thought of it had her stomach churning as she stalked into her bedroom, slammed the door closed, and locked it.

Could Desmond have actually killed his brother?

G.o.d, she couldn't imagine such a thing. And knowing her mother's complete obsession with appearances, she simply couldn't imagine Angelica would have gone along with something so horrible.

That didn't mean she hadn't done it.

Pacing to the window, she stared beyond it into the shadowed, cool depths of the gardens below and fought to make sense of what was going on around her.

It was obvious Travis felt Desmond or Jared was involved in her father's death, and the attempt on her life as well.

Now, why would a "facilitator," a man who was no more than a criminal, really, care about proving whether or not anyone was involved in anything?

She frowned at the thought. That didn't truly fit the personality of the man known as Travis Caine. A blood-monger. A man who had no problems killing in the name of his so-called job.

A mirthless smile twisted her lips at the thought. He acted more like an agent than a criminal.

But he'd made several good points. One being the fact that her father had trusted her with much more information than anyone had ever suspected.

Part of that information were the login and pa.s.swords for the Harrington financial vault that they kept on a secured server in the Harrington Manor.

She turned and stared at the laptop on her desk.

It wasn't secured. Anyone could have tapped it and could spy on any information she pulled up. She needed the ability to secure it, and she needed to do so quickly.

Was anything in this house secure though? She turned slowly, her lashes lowered, her gaze taking in the areas that could possibly hide a camera. Finding electronic bugs would be much harder . . .

The memory flashed in her mind. She had stored a secured laptop as well as a variety of devices used to detect audio or video surveillance.

She remembered wrapping them in protective pouches and placing in the cabinet that sat in the corner.

Sitting down on the bed, she pulled her boots off, careful to keep her demeanor cool.

Something warned her that her bedroom was indeed bugged in some manner. She was more p.r.o.ne to suspect the audio versus the video, though. Not that video bothered her over much.

She almost laughed at the thought. She had visited the French Riviera more than once and made use of the nude beaches there. She had never been particularly shy about her body, just rather picky about sharing it.

She would slip out tonight and get the items she needed. She could manage a few hours without getting caught, just not another all-nighter.

Strange, she felt no sense of trepidation about spying into her family's finances. A part of her was too determined, too intent on finding whoever had murdered Father and was now determined to kill her.

She was a threat to someone. Enough of a threat that they hadn't been convinced she had died in that car crash. They had gone looking for her, and somehow, they had managed to find her.

That had been yet another mistake on their part.

The first had been in killing her father.

The second in forcing her back here to the life she had obviously walked away from.

As she headed for the bathroom and a shower, a low knock sounded on the door.

"Yes?" Turning, she watched the door as it opened slowly.

"Fresh towels, ma'am." The pet.i.te housemaid entered the room, her arms laden with towels as she moved for the bathroom.

Lilly stepped back as the young woman moved into the bathroom. Dressed in the customary gray skirt and white blouse her mother insisted on for the house servants, she moved quietly and as un.o.btrusively as possible.

Servants were forced to just about tiptoe around her mother. Her mother believed that servants shouldn't be seen or heard unless there was no other choice.

"Thank you." Lilly stood back as the young girl moved from the bathroom once again.

"You're welcome, ma'am." A shy smile and the maid scurried from the room, closing the door quietly behind her.

Lilly shook her head at the girl's skittishness before entering the bathroom herself.

She laid out a towel and clothes before turning to the shower and adjusting the water.

Stripping her clothes, she tossed them to the counter before pulling open a drawer for a hair clip to hold her hair out of the water.

The folded piece of paper lying on top of the clips had her pausing and staring at it suspiciously.

Pulling it free, she unfolded it carefully and stared at the words printed there.

Discretion is the better part of valor in any game.

Remember who you are, but never forget what you were, because that will be the only way to survive. Now, please, be kind enough to flush.

Her eyes narrowed on the last line before she glanced at the toilet and sighed heavily before crumpling the paper to a small ball and doing as requested.

It wasn't as though the note held surprising information. She was well aware that she needed to play a more subtle game than she was currently playing-that of learning who she was while keeping her family unaware. She hadn't been doing a very good job thus far.

For the rest, she just might be screwed. She remembered well who she had been before the past six years; it was after that that she had a bit of a problem. If her survival depended on remembering who she had been during those six years, then she was definitely screwed.

Now, if she could just find a way to force those lost memories free, then perhaps the answer to finding who had killed her father, and who was trying to kill her, might lie there.

One thing was for certain, she was going to have to remember soon, or she would end up truly dead, rather than simply pretending to be.

Chapter 9.

two days later Travis rode his Harley into a deserted warehouse lot and eased into the old brick building with its cracked and shattered windows and decaying wood doors.

The team was waiting for him. Noah, John, Micah, and Nik were lounging on their cycles while Jordan waited in the black SUV, the pa.s.senger's side door open as he watched the entrance with narrowed, neon-blue eyes.

His driver was the red-haired little h.e.l.lion who seemed to drive the commander insane on the best of days. Tehya was the jokester of the unit, the agent that wasn't really an agent but an integral part of the unit nonetheless.

As Travis pulled the bike to a stop amid the semicircle created around the SUV and swung off the seat, he wasn't surprised by the air of speculation that seemed to emanate from the group.

The three married agents, Noah, Micah, and John, were watching him warningly. They had tried to warn him over the past days about the deepening involvement between him and Lilly, but it wasn't something he wanted to hear. Warnings weren't what he needed. What he needed were solutions, and he hadn't found any yet.

"I have to get back by evening," he informed Jordan as he approached the men, who were now standing by the open door. "I've been invited to the Harringtons' estate by Lilly for a little get-together they're having."

"The French amba.s.sador." Jordan nodded. "He's a good friend of the Harrington family.

Desmond and the deceased Harold Harrington were cla.s.smates of his for several years at Eton. The party is an excuse to discuss business with their American counterparts in a setting where their wives can also partic.i.p.ate."

"A dress-up party," Nik snorted.

The Russian knew well the type of parties the Harringtons frequented. Like Travis, he'd been to several get-togethers hosted by the Harringtons or those of their social set before his induction into the Ops.

Nik had been a member of Russia's political and social elite. He'd been a husband, a father, and a man on the fast track to a leadership position until he had p.i.s.sed off the wrong political group.

Nik and Travis seemed to have that in common. Once, they had been a part of society, they'd had power, wealth, and ideals. Those ideals had been the cause of their "deaths."

"So why are we meeting here instead of at the safe house?" Travis turned to his commander, then glanced around the warehouse casually. "And I notice Elite Two's Commanders aren't here."

Santos and Rhiannon had the potential to become pains in the a.s.s, if anyone wanted his opinion.

"This Op is under the jurisdiction of Elite One, just as their agent is," Jordan reminded him, his tone brusque. "They're only allowed in an advisory position. And we're meeting here to ensure that that status remains uncorrupted." The tight, merciless smile that pulled at Jordan's lips was telling.

Well, now, wasn't that surprising. Travis bet that wasn't sitting well with Rhiannon in particular.

"Commander McConnelly is making waves," Jordan continued. "She contacted Elite Command last night to report that she believed, based on the meeting three days ago with Night Hawk, the viability of the mission is in jeopardy. I was in a vid-conference with them this morning with my own report."

"And what was your report?" Travis asked, trying to hold back his suspicions and his anger.

"I didn't throw her to the wolves if that's what you're asking. But get Lilly under control, Travis," Jordan growled. "You and I both know she's regaining partial memories. Make sure she doesn't become a danger to the Elite Ops or the order for cancellation will go out, Travis.

She's a civilian now. Elite Command won't let her walk around with bits and pieces of our secrets in her head."

That was what Travis liked about Jordan. He was a h.e.l.l of a commander. He played by the rules laid out by the head of Elite Ops, Elite Command, and did the job he had taken on, but he also understood people and his men in particular.

"From all appearances he has more than a handle on her, Commander," Micah, the Israeli contribution to the unit, said. "She's been sneaking out of the estate every night and heading to Black Jack's after Travis's butler goes to bed, and strutting back into the estate the next morning as though her family weren't in a rage because of it."

And they were screaming with rage, Travis was sure of it. Desmond Harrington had demanded, more than once, that Lilly terminate her liaison with Travis, and each time, she had refused.

"Elite Command's psychologist doesn't believe Lilly's going to be able to keep that calm demeaner she has much longer," Tehya said at that point. "Dr. Lasal has been reviewing the reports sent in by each of you, as well as Jordan's and Commander McConnelly's. She believes the parts of Lilly's memories that are being repressed may be about to break free. She doesn't expect that her memories will return in full, though. Bits and pieces could be more damaging than remembering nothing, Travis."

Travis shook his head, his lips to curling in a mocking sneer. "Lasal's intentions are good, but she worries too much about things that may not happen," he growled.

"Her cover was breached, Travis," Jordan reminded him quietly. "We were lucky to save her. But Elite Command and the Ops can't risk discovery. She's a weak link. If there's any chance she'll expose the Ops, then she'll be canceled. None of us want that, but we can't allow her to become a risk to the unit either."

"I agree with Travis. She was a d.a.m.n good agent," Noah pointed out then, "Personally, I think if she gets her memories back, she won't spill our secrets."

"Are you willing to bet Bella's and little Nate's lives on that, Noah?" Jordan asked, referring to Noah's wife and infant son. "I'm not certain I am." Jordan had been Noah's uncle in that life before the Ops. He still retained that blood tie with his nephew, and reminded him of it whenever he needed to.

"It's hard to bet Bella's and Nate's lives on anything, Jordan," the other man stated coolly now. "But I'm not the only one here who has had to depend on Night Hawk to pull their a.s.s out of the fire. We owe her more than suspicion and a promise of cancellation once this is over. No matter what her commanders want."

"That also brings up a still unanswered question," Nik said. "How was her cover breached?

Doesn't make sense that someone would target a call girl, no matter how exclusive she is. But they knew where to wait for her, they knew how to strike, and yet the investigation into the breach seems to have stalled."

Nik's eyes were on Jordan as he spoke, the accusation in his voice clear.

"I'm still working with Elite Command on that angle," Jordan a.s.sured them. "Senator Stanton is particularly concerned about the matter. If the Ops is compromised, then it will jeopardize his career, and possibly endanger his daughter's life."

Elite Command was a group of shadowy figures who were the financial and center of operations for Elite Ops. The only member of that section that any of them were given the ident.i.ty of was Senator Stanton. A contact point, Jordan had called the senator. If all else went to h.e.l.l, Stanton was a man they could depend on because his daughter was married to the team that provided backup to Jordan's team, Elite One.

Stanton's son-in-law, Kell Krieger, was one of the former Navy SEALs that had provided backup on many of the missions the operatives were sent into. Discovery would reveal his family to the enemies the Elite Operatives had made over the years. Enemies that thus far had no idea who or what had taken them down. If they ever learned, then the SEALs as well as the operatives were guaranteed dead. And there would be no coming back.

"Then we have no idea how her ident.i.ty was leaked, who attempted to kill her, or what we can expect from this operation. Right?" Travis's frustration leaked through in his voice, as well as his control. He was riding an edge with Lilly, and he knew it. Just as he knew Lilly was riding a particularly dangerous edge herself.

"We're hoping Lilly's presence with her family will draw the killer out of hiding," Jordan revealed as his gaze focused on Travis. "Have you sensed any movement or uncovered any new info?"

Travis shook his head. "All we have is the information Noah and I found the night we wired the office."

That information was incriminating enough. As far as Travis was concerned, Desmond was involved in something up to his eyeb.a.l.l.s. He just wasn't entirely certain that something was the death of his niece.

"There's no information circulating among our contacts either," Tehya stated. "We're in the dark here. Our only hope is Lilly at this point, and that the killer is tempted to go after her again sometime soon."

"Third time is the charm," Jordan said and Travis glared at him.

"Lilly is the only operative of the entire Elite Ops organization who has been targeted in the eight years the organization has been running," Tehya stated. "Any other hit that's been attempted has always been in relation to an operation. That's not the case here, otherwise chatter would reach our contacts."

"That doesn't mean the Elite Ops isn't endangered by this," Nik said. "Whoever tried to kill her killed the plastic surgeon the Elite Ops placed her file with. Despite that safety measure, they still found her. That's not a good thing. If they found Lilly, they could find any one of us."

None of them wanted that. They had left their old lives behind and had no desire to have them resurrected.

"Morganna, Kira and I have initiated an investigation into Santos and Rhiannon as well,"