Betrayed (Hostage Rescue Team Series Book 9) (16 page)

“I don’t think so. And I just got a tip that seems like it would be worth following up on.”

Nico rubbed the spot where his neck and left shoulder met, stretched the tight muscle there. “I’m listening.”

“I got a call from one of my sources, who’s been following up on her banking information. Apparently there’s a safety deposit box listed under an alias she’s used at a bank in Asheville. My contact called to check it out, said he was a fed investigating a case pertaining to her. They wouldn’t give him anything concrete over the phone. My contact’s trying to trace some phone numbers right now to see if we can locate Rycroft but I’m not holding my breath waiting for anything to come of it.”

Yeah, trying to trace an NSA encrypted phone was a waste of fucking time, so he wasn’t even sure why they were bothering. “Which bank?”

His boss named a well-known bank and a location that wasn’t far from where Nico was. “It’s not that far away from Bryson City. My bet is she’s got whatever evidence she gathered hidden in that safety deposit box. A hard drive, documents, who knows.”

“Why here, in the middle of nowhere?”

“Because it’s not on the beaten path. I think she went to hide out at that cabin because it was off grid and close to the bank. I think she was going to retrieve the deposit box as soon as she was well enough. My gut says she was going to leak the evidence to either the feds or the media, stir up a public shit storm, hoping to put a spotlight on us in the hopes that it would make it easier to target us.”

If she did, they were screwed, because the only safe place to hide would be out of the country. Not easy to do when every intelligence agency in the country was looking for you.

Nico glanced at his watch. “How long ago did your contact call the bank?”

“Three hours. A few minutes after opening.”

If Rycroft’s people knew about it, they had a big head start on them then. Nico could make it there in under an hour, well before noon. “I’ll go check it out. Is your contact still monitoring this?”

“I’ll make sure he keeps on top of it and updates us with any developments. Keep trying your other sources to find her in the meantime. Trace whatever you can and keep digging.” A heavy pause. “I don’t need to remind you how critical it is that you find her and Bautista and deal with them immediately. There’s too much at stake here.”

Including his future with Melissa. Everything he wanted in life hinged on him pulling off these hits. That was all the motivation he needed.

He was determined to take Bautista down one way or another, prove he was the best. He was sick and fucking tired of everyone seeing him as merely some kind of understudy to the fabled enforcer. At this point he was ready to move on with his life with the big payout at the end of all this.

“I know. I got this. They can’t stay invisible forever. Sooner or later they’ll resurface.” And when they did, he’d strike.

Diego grunted. “Let’s hope so. I’ll be in touch.”

Nico ended the call and started the ignition. The safe deposit box seemed an unlikely bet, but it might be the only chance of finding them now. He’d go there straight away and set up surveillance, make sure he didn’t miss Georgia and Bautista if they showed up.

If they did, it would make his life easier. He’d be able to take both of them out in a single op.

****

Amazing, what a solid sleep and a little perspective could do for a woman.

After what had happened in the kitchen with Miguel late yesterday afternoon, most people in her position might have holed up in their room for the rest of their stay at the safe house.

Georgia might be antisocial and socially awkward in a lot of ways, but she wasn’t a coward.

First thing the next morning she marched down the stairs to the kitchen and made herself toast and coffee while Rycroft and Miguel both watched her from the table where they were going over what looked like maps. Briar was still upstairs getting some much needed sleep, since the three of them kept taking shifts to make sure Georgia didn’t attempt some kind of escape.

“How are you feeling?” Rycroft asked, a mug of coffee in hand as he stood next to the table. The light coming through the blinds behind him made all the silver streaks stand out in his brown hair.

“Good.” Her fever was gone, she only hurt where she was bruised instead of all over, and she was ravenous for food. All good signs. She was definitely on the mend and would make her escape soon, the first instant any of them relaxed their guard.

Putting her back to both of them, trying and failing to ignore the weight of Miguel’s stare, she bit into her toast and stared out the small window over the sink that overlooked the backyard. Every cell in her body was aware of his exact position in the room, and that he was still watching her.

And her body definitely remembered the heat in his eyes when he’d cornered her last night. Worse, she’d liked it way too much for her own comfort.

The sun was up but it was hidden behind a thick wall of dark gray clouds. Over the back fence she could see a ball being tossed around. So strange, to be in an NSA safe house in the middle of a neighborhood like this one.

The neighbors had no idea that she was a wanted woman who basically had a bull’s eye painted on her chest, or that she posed a threat to them just by being here because of the people hunting her. Miguel might have killed the CIA assassin back at the cabin, but she knew without a doubt there would be others coming.

If they could find her. Another reason why she intended to be on the move shortly. She didn’t want Miguel or Briar in danger because of her.

“We’ll be leaving tonight,” Rycroft added. “Soon as it gets dark.”

“To where?” she asked without turning around.

“You tell me.”

At that, she lowered the slice of toast she’d been munching on and turned to face him. He was watching her calmly, his posture relaxed. “You want me to tell you where to go?”

He smirked at the edge in her voice. “No, because I’m pretty sure you’d just tell me to go to hell and leave it at that. What I want to know is where you’ve stashed the evidence.”

She raised an eyebrow, kept her expression impassive. “Who said I had any evidence to stash?” She did, of course; she just wondered how the hell he knew about it.

He shrugged, took a sip of coffee. “Call it…intuition.”

Then it hit her. She narrowed her eyes. “Trinity.”

Had to be. There was no other explanation because no one else knew about the flash drive except her fellow Valkyrie. Georgia had made two copies. One was in a safe deposit box near the cabin where she’d hidden out. The other was in a different bank in Connecticut.

He didn’t deny it. “Briar finally got hold of her last night and updated her about you. I guess she was worried you were dead. During their conversation, the topic came up and she mentioned you had evidence against certain people. So. Where is it?”

In her peripheral she could see Miguel watching her, arms folded across his powerful chest. She didn’t dare look at him. “Sure she didn’t tell you that part too?”

Rycroft’s lips curved upward. “Maybe I want to see how honest you’re willing to be with me.”

The bastard already knew where the evidence was, she could tell. It infuriated her. She’d hidden the flash drive under an alias, in a bank outside of Asheville to distance herself and everyone else from it, until she had reason to retrieve it. A reason she’d gotten when the hunters had closed in on her.

If he knew the location, then it didn’t make sense why he was even asking her about it. “I guess you’ve got a warrant for it already then? Or there’s one in the works?”

“I could go that route,” he agreed. “But I’d prefer it if you shared it with me on your own. As a show of faith.” He paused a moment. “Did you think over what I said last night?”

She had, but mostly she’d thought about the things Miguel had said. And the things he’d made her feel. Frightening, long-buried things she was finding nearly impossible to fight. She was already weakening where he was concerned; she had to get the hell away from him. “Yes.”

“And?”

“And it’s a nice offer, but you’ll understand why I’m going to pass.” Especially now that Miguel was involved. She couldn’t work with him, be this close to him for any length of time and maintain her façade of indifference. Every time he looked at her, her heart squeezed. It was torture. For both of them, she was pretty sure.

“You could,” Rycroft insisted. “Accepting my offer just makes this whole thing easier on all of us.”

But the two men she’d been planning to kill would live. That wasn’t acceptable.

Last night as she’d laid staring at the ceiling in the darkness with Briar stretched out next to her, she’d almost convinced herself to agree to Rycroft’s terms and use the team to help her get close to her targets so she could kill them. But this morning she knew that was impossible. Not when she ached so badly to recapture what she’d had with Miguel for that short time in Miami.

“Leave her alone,” Miguel muttered from his seat. “She gave you her answer.”

Rycroft flicked him a sideways glance, his expression closed.

Footsteps on the stairs made her glance over her shoulder in time to see Briar appear at the bottom. “Morning. Did I miss anything exciting?” The former Valkyrie headed for the coffee pot, bleary-eyed.

Georgia was glad she wasn’t the only one suffering from lack of sleep. “Yeah, I found out you and Trinity have been talking behind my back.”

Briar stopped and turned to face her with an almost hurt expression on her face. “She called
me
. I’ve been trying to reach her for the past week to see if she knew anything that might help us find you, and last night she finally called.”

Georgia shook her head, getting angry all over again. “I can’t believe she told you about the flash drive.” Secrets told between them were supposed to be sacred.

“It’s a flash drive?” Rycroft said, his gaze sharp. “What’s on it?”

She threw him a dark look. He wasn’t stupid. If he hadn’t known that already after Briar spoke to Trinity, he likely would already have guessed it for himself. “Enough to bury the men responsible for Janaia and Frank’s murders.”

“Then why not give it to me so I can make sure that happens?”

Because I don’t trust you.

She knew firsthand how corrupt government agents—
agencies
, for that matter—could be. She trusted Briar to some degree, Miguel the most in this scenario, but still not enough to give up control to any of them. “I can make it happen all on my own.”

Her way.
Her
timeline. And once she leaked the evidence, once the story broke on national media, she’d be ready.

She’d already be in place, give her targets just enough time to absorb the news that they were wanted traitors before she put a bullet through their blackened hearts. She’d planned to take them out first and then leak the evidence, but now it had to be the other way around.

That’s the way she wanted it, and that’s the way it was going to happen.

“Georgia,” Briar began, but Georgia cut her off with a hard look and even harder words.

“No. Whatever happened to loyalty? Huh? Didn’t you just say to me the other night that our tats still mean something to you?”

“It does mean something to me. I
am
loyal.” Her expression screamed frustration.

“You went straight to Rycroft after that phone call, instead of coming to me!” she accused.

“Because he’s right,” Briar answered matter-of-factly. “He can help make sure whoever is involved gets taken down. Only with him taking the lead, you won’t go off and carry out two more hits that will either land you in prison for the rest of your life, or dead.” She raised both eyebrows and stared right back, unapologetic.

Only if they can prove I did it
, Georgia thought. And she certainly wouldn’t make that easy for them to do.

Rycroft set his mug down on the counter and spoke to Miguel. “Your turn to watch her for a while. Briar and I have things to discuss downstairs.” With that he headed down the steps that led to the basement.

Mug of coffee in hand, Briar followed him, then stopped next to the doorway for a long moment and watched her with dark, eyes assessing. “Work with us on this. You can still get what you want and afterward you can get your life back. It’s a win-win, for all of us.”

When Georgia didn’t respond, Briar shook her head and continued. “Aren’t you tired? Tired of looking over your shoulder everywhere you go, wondering if every person you see is there to kill you?”

A hollowness opened up in her chest. It
was
exhausting. Not to mention lonely. And the thought of going back to that now that Miguel was here… Walking away from him was going to be hard. Maybe the hardest thing she’d ever done.

Briar pressed on. “Don’t you wish you had a safe place to go home to every night? Someone to go home to?” She glanced over to Miguel and back, her meaning clear. “You forget, Georgia, I know you. Better than you seem to think, because until last December, I was living the same way you are, just existing from one job to the next. So I know you want more from this life than what you’ve gotten so far. It’s time you set aside your need for revenge and started living again. It’s not too late. Think about that.”

The brutally honest words slammed into her heart like a hollow point round, shredding it. She swallowed as she watched Briar disappear down the stairs after Rycroft, stood there like an idiot at the sink, unable to move.

Could she really do that? Get her life back after everything that had happened, all she’d done?

It was dangerous to even want that. She was too damaged, too lost to ever have a real life again, let alone a relationship.

“She’s right,” Miguel said quietly after a minute.

She swung around to face him, immediately on the defensive. “About what?”

“All of it.”

The way he watched her was unnerving, those dark eyes intense. It was as if he could see into her soul or something. “You lived the same kind of life as us,” she flung back, meaning her and Briar. And Trinity. “If not for what happened in Miami, you would still be doing the same damn thing right now, so don’t sit there and tell me you—”