Between Shadows (15 page)

Luke grimaces. “She’s right. Organizing something that big would take a lot of time. Way more than we have. How would we even start something like that? There’s a reason we don’t have any connections. They don’t want us to.”

“How many assets do you have access to?” I ask Oscar. “You said you’ve been connecting with assets online, tracking deaths. What if we reached out to them?”

His gaze is speculative. “It could work. It would take some time, though; Luke’s right about that. And I’m not sure how many people will be willing to talk. But it’s worth a shot.”

“If they were willing to break some rules, then they may be willing to go further,” I suggest.

“Wait. Be quiet for a second—” Luke interrupts. We’re both silent, our attention shifting to him. Luke moves away from me, walking to stand in front of the desk. He points at the computer screen—the first list of academy locations. “Look at the list.”

I follow his gaze. “What?”

“What don’t you see?”

I walk next to Luke, staring down at the screen in front of us. It’s a fairly large list, but nothing seems strange about it. It’s just a list of cities.

“I don’t know.”

“What do they have in common?”

We’re trained to look at patterns from an early age. Trained to analyze them. They’re all major cities—London, Tokyo, Rome…something’s missing. 

“New York isn’t listed.”

Luke grins. “Exactly.”

Oscar stands next to me, scanning the screen. “You’re right. It would make sense that they wouldn’t need an academy in the same city as the headquarters. They would already have access to as many assets as they would need from the main organization alone. The academies seem to run as satellites for the main organization. I bet they’re training and launching points for Ares.”

My eyes narrow. “So you think Ares is headquartered in New York City?”

Luke nods. “Makes sense.”

“If it is located in New York, then it has to be in a highly secure building,” Oscar says. “It would probably be somewhere in plain sight, with access to an impressive communications network. It would have to be a location with highly established infrastructure—likely an office building.”

“That’s a needle in a haystack,” Luke comments.

“Maybe. Maybe not.” I turn to Oscar. “If you started a search of the sorts of things the organization would need—camera feeds, security, that sort of thing—then maybe you could come up with a list of possibilities? Plus you have to think they’re using a lot of technology to keep the organization running. And I doubt they’re working normal business hours. What if you started tracking high amounts of electricity usage at abnormal hours?”

A slow smile spreads across Oscar’s face. “I could do that. Satellite imagery will help. Most likely the easiest way to find the building is going to be the one that’s the hardest to crack. It’s not going to be easy and it’s going to take some time, but it could work. In the meantime, I can go through the rest of these files.”

“Can you hack into the necessary systems, power companies, etc.?”

He grins at me. “I can hack anything.”

I stare at the list again, searching for patterns. “What if they’re not in the city?” I counter. Maybe I’m wrong about Ares’s operational structure. Maybe they prefer the anonymity of being somewhere remote. But all the other academy locations are major urban areas—transportation and telecommunications hubs.

Luke shakes his head. “They have to be. Think about it—an operation as big as we believe they are? A city makes the most sense. Assets could come and go and you wouldn’t ever even notice. They would be hiding in plain sight; it’s a smart move. And when no one thinks they exist, it’s even easier to hide.”

He has a point.

“How long do you think it will take?” I ask Oscar.

“It could take weeks, months. It’ll depend on what I find. Right now we don’t have much to go on. And Luke’s right, it sort of is a needle in a haystack.”

We don’t have weeks or months. We barely have days. But I’m not sure what else we can do at this point. “Does this mean you’re helping us?”

“I guess it does. What will you do next?”

“I have to go back to London.” I need to know my sister is safe. 

Oscar pulls out a piece of paper and a pen, scribbling something down. “You may want to make a stop in North Africa first.”

“Why?”

“There’s a guy in Tunisia. A weapons guy. Used to be an asset—an assassin.”

Luke and I exchange puzzled looks. He says what we’re both thinking. “Bullshit. No one used to be an assassin unless they’re dead.”

Ours is not a career path that lends itself to retirement.

“Hey man, I’m just the messenger. He’s rogue, but he’s good. Really good. He may have a desire to take down the Academy and this Ares organization. And he could know something.”

“Why would he help us?” I ask.

“Because they killed his girlfriend.”

Chapter Eighteen

We walk back to our hotel in silence. 

I’m not sure what to think anymore. I want to run, to take my sister and hide her away, but
after seeing
that list, I’m not sure there’s anywhere in the world we can go. If Ares is as connected as we suspect, we’ll never be safe.

“You didn’t expect it to be as bad as it is,” Luke comments.

“Did you?”

“No. I didn’t.” 

“The sheer size of this organization—Ares—there’s no way the two of us can do anything to take them down. Not on our own. Even Oscar isn’t enough. And I can’t involve Grace. She’s too young.”

“I know.”

“How much do you think we can count on Oscar?” I lengthen my stride, struggling to keep up with Luke. His energy manifests itself physically—he walks faster, his body language impatient. He looks like he’s gearing up for battle.

“I have no clue. I would say I trust him as much as I trust anybody in this business. Although, I’m not sure I’m all that good at reading people anymore.”

There it is—the barrier that will always be between us. When he first came back, I didn’t understand. I thought his anger fueled him, that he wanted to lash out at me because of what I did to him. But now I know it’s more than that. I hurt him, and I don’t know how to fix it. I don’t know how to separate the emotions raging within me; I don’t know how to soothe the pain tearing him up inside.

I stop walking, turning to face him. “It was a mistake. A terrible mistake that if I could take back I would.”

“Was it a mistake?” There’s a challenge in his words and a question in his eyes, and all I want is to heal this thing between us.

“It was the biggest mistake of my life. I was young and they told me to do an assignment. They told me you were a traitor and that you were a risk to all of us. A risk I had to eliminate. I didn’t know what to do.”

“And if it had been Grace?”

It very nearly was Grace—
Grace or Luke.

“What would you have done if they’d asked you to kill Grace?”

Is that really who he thinks I am? Does he think that deep down I’m just a killer?

“I would never hurt my sister.”

“You asked me before what I would have done. You want to know the truth? I would have said the same thing about you. I never could have hurt you. Ever. I would have sliced myself open before I would have ever laid a finger on you.”

My jaw drops as I stare at him, his words winding their way through me, pulling the floor out from underneath me. When he looks at me like that I believe him, and I don’t know how to respond. After we had sex two years ago he brushed me away as if I was nothing, as if I meant nothing to him. I figured it was just sex. But this…when he kissed me earlier—there was nothing
just
about that.

Luke reaches out, holding my chin, lifting my head to meet his gaze. He doesn’t let go. Instead his fingers skim the line of my jaw, trailing down toward my neck, stroking the soft curve there.

Something flips over in my stomach and catches my breath—

I take a step toward Luke. I can’t meet his gaze. All I want is to
touch.
I want to feel his skin against mine, to curl my fingers around a lock of dark hair and pull him toward me. I want to escape—just for a moment. I want his mouth on me.

I move forward, wrapping my arms around his neck, pulling him into my body. His body is so hard and strong against mine—everything I want. It’s the worst time for this, the worst place, and I just don’t care.

My mouth finds his in a kiss that’s designed to take, to plunder. I’m not the kind of girl who just wants to be kissed. It’s nice being the one doing the kissing, knowing that I’ve caught Luke off guard and gotten under his skin. His mouth is magic against mine, his lips firm, the kiss setting me on fire. I want more.

And now I know that no matter what happens between us, we’ll end up in bed together again.

His hands travel down the length of my back, cupping my ass, pulling me even tighter against him. We’re on the street in Havana, completely vulnerable, and it’s getting more difficult to remember why I care.

We’re reduced to hands and lips, breaths and whispered words that are little more than gibberish between our mouths. And then the one word he should never say—

“Alex—”

I freeze, my body turning limp in his hands. I pull back, the warmth gone, everything done.   

Luke closes his eyes as though he’s in pain. “Fuck.”

I take a step back. “Don’t call me that. Don’t ever call me that.”  

Does he know? Does he know what it does to me when he calls me that name? Does he know it takes me back to the one place I vowed I would never go?

With Luke, I can’t ever be sure. That’s the danger with him. I want to trust him. Sometimes I think I do. But he’s the Director’s son; he’s smart, powerful, and I have everything to lose. I want to trust him; I just don’t know how.

Luke’s head cocks to the side, his stare penetrating. The breeze blows his dark hair. A piece falls forward, out of place. My fingers itch to brush it back. I hate the weakness in my fingers, in my hands, my lips, my body. I hate the want, the part of me that for a second wishes I were someone else.

“Why?”

I shake my head. “I’m not that girl anymore.”

“How do you know? You say you don’t remember her.”

My voice trembles. “I remember enough.”

“You don’t remember me.”

I don’t bother correcting him. Whatever Luke was to us before we came to the Academy has been locked away in a box I will never open.

“Don’t do this. Don’t push me.”

“Why? What happened to you back then? Don’t you think it’s important? Your parents were connected to the Academy. Maybe there’s something in your childhood, something you don’t remember.”

I know there are answers there, but it’s like there’s an unbreakable lock over my memories. I want to, but I
can’t.

“Stop. Please stop. If you ever cared about me, if you care about me now, you’ll stop. I can’t do this. I can’t talk about it.”

“You can trust me.” 

He doesn’t understand, and I can hardly explain it to him when I don’t even really understand it myself.

“I can’t. Don’t call me that name again. My dreams—they don’t mean anything. All they do is drag me somewhere dark. Somewhere I can’t afford to go. Not when I need to stay strong. I
have
to be strong for Grace.” I can’t give in to the terror inside me.

Luke is silent, his gaze running over my body. I know how I look—pale, anxious—obviously something in my appearance convinces him I’m serious.  

“I’m sorry I pushed you. It just slipped out.”

We walk in silence now, making our way up to the hotel. Embarrassment and confusion flood me. I hate that this isn’t the first time I’ve lost it in front of Luke. And even more, the moment on the street hangs between us. I don’t know how we’re going to move forward when everything keeps pulling us back into the past.

It makes sense not to form attachments. We get killed on missions; we’re sometimes forced to act against each other. Our lives aren’t our own.

And yet as I sneak a look at Luke walking up the steps to our hotel, the thought hits me. What if the Academy didn’t exist? What if I could choose? What if I were free?

Would I choose Luke—or did I already make my choice long ago?

###

The hotel is fairly quiet when we reach our room. I originally balked at the idea of sharing a room, but Luke argued that couples on a honeymoon share a hotel room and no matter how much I tried to get around that one, he had a point.

I wait patiently while Luke unlocks the door, my heart pounding. After what just happened, I’m not so sure I can be alone with Luke in a small, confined space. Especially one with a bed. As much as my body wants to have sex with him, my head holds me back.

Luke swings open the door, flipping on a light switch. I hesitate over the threshold, unable to make my legs take the required number of steps to enter the room. I could go down to the bar and get a drink, or claim we had a fight and I want my own room. Couples do that on their honeymoon, right? We couldn’t be the first couple to have a fight resulting in separate rooms.

“You know, I think I’m going to head down to the front desk—”

“Run.” The word comes out with a low whisper, almost like a growl. I gape at Luke, so caught up in my own inner turmoil that I freeze. And then instinct clicks over.

The door to the balcony is open and we definitely closed it before we left. 

I pivot, heading for the door, when the first bullet whizzes by my head. It explodes in the doorframe, inches from my face. I expect the loud boom of a gun, but instead I hear a soft pop—silencer. I don’t turn around to see who’s wielding it. 

I break into a full-out run, Luke at my side. I remember the gun from earlier, the one tucked into his trousers. It’s not much of a chance, but right now it’s all we have. More shots spray past us. I duck and dart down the hallway, running in an odd, zigzag pattern to keep from being an easy target. Luke runs next to me, reaching into his trousers and pulling out the gun he bought earlier. He turns and fires—once, twice. I don’t bother looking to see if he hit anyone; I just keep on running. 

Luke grabs my arm, pulling me toward an exit sign. He wrenches open the door and we reach the stairwell, my feet hitting the worn steps.

“How many guys are left?” I’m out of breath, my body running on adrenaline. This is why we focus so much on physical fitness—for the possibility of moments like these.

“Two.”

“How many were there?”

“Four.”

Overhead, I hear the stairway door clang shut.

“I think I hit them,” Luke mutters. “I was aiming for their legs. I figured that would at least even things between us.”

“You know there are more.”

“I know.”

Instead of continuing down the steps, Luke stops in front of the door to the third floor. He grabs my arm, pulling my body toward his. “Follow me.”

I analyze the building, going through the entry and exit points we scoped out when we arrived. They will have a team at the entrance and probably someone at the exit in the back. There’s one gun between us and no doubt they’ve come armed. We need another plan. 

I follow Luke through the third-floor hall, legs pumping, heart pounding. I hear sounds behind us coming from the stairwell, but I don’t hear footsteps near us. We have a lead—a small one.

Luke stops in front of a door, pulling a key out of his pocket.

“I rented a couple rooms in the hotel. Just in case we needed an escape point.”

He opens the door quickly, pushing me through.

“An escape point?”

Luke nods, striding toward the open balcony.

Shit.

“No.”

He pulls me along with him as he heads for the exit. “Go.”

It’s only the third floor. The rational part of my brain knows this. The other part of me—

I follow him out onto the small balcony. Under the cover of darkness, we blend in with the night around us. And when I look down—too far down—I don’t see anyone.

“It’s our best shot,” Luke hisses in my ear. And then I hear it—the sound of voices in the hallway.

“Go,” he urges.

I move for the railing, swinging my leg over. There’s a moment when my body almost protests, but I force my other leg over the railing. There’s a small ledge just off the balcony railing. It’s barely enough for me to fit half my foot on, but it gives me enough support to balance. I hover there, my toes curling around the ledge through the soles of my shoes. My fingers grip the metal balcony railing, my palms slick from the humidity. Luke stands on the other side, his back to me, his gaze trained toward the door. He clutches the gun in both hands.

“Are you coming?” I try to keep my voice low, hovering there on the balcony.

Luke shakes his head, not even bothering to turn to face me. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll cover you. Just jump.”

I hesitate. 

“Go.”

I release the iron railing. And I jump.