CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR


We had retired to our respective bedrooms and I found myself waking as Jace's
cellphone buzzed from across the hall.


The call had come and it was time for our move.


He'd already told me what he wanted and I swung my legs off the side of the
bed and stood up to quick clean, toilet, and dress for the night's
activities.


I was dressed head to toe in black when Jace poked his head inside and nodded
to leave.


I didn't say a word, I just followed, and out to the car we went.


"Who is it?" I asked as I buckled myself to the seat.


Jace leaned closer to inspect the dials on the car's heater, but it didn't
matter how fierce the heater's blare was—three in the morning equaled cold in
any location around the world—well, not most, but that wasn't the point.


It was cold and we'd have to sit tight and wait for the heater to work.


"It's not Marcus." Jace answered now as he leaned back and focused on the
road.


A small sigh of relief left me, but I didn't know how much I was really
relieved.


Marcus might be blind when it came to me, but that didn't mean his men were.
Most of them knew me and I rather thought that Jace was being naïve when he
hoped that it would be someone who didn't know me, but he'd already made his
intentions clear. Marcus or someone else, I was going out there and I was
grabbing what he wanted me to grab.


We drove in silence and wound our way through the steep cliffs and steeper
jaw-dropping heights as our car barely managed its way around every bend in the
road.


"Where are we?" I asked. The car delved deeper and deeper and I read a
National Forest sign that passed on my right.


"The meeting's where no one would go." Jace sighed softly beside me.


"So we're going to fucking Timbukto." I mused.


"Pretty much."


"Lovely." I sat up straighter and asked, "Why are we not going with a bunch
of Oscars, Scotts, and Stirleys?"


Jace grinned faintly, but said, "Stirley will be there, but he won't help if
something goes down. I've given him strict orders not to do anything that might
endanger his case. And Scott is in town because Glean is meeting with a
potential employer as we speak. I wanted him there."


"How many others are there?"


"You already asked. Nothing's changed. I'm not telling you."


"You want another blade in your side." I grinned. "I can do that."


"You can do a lot more." Jace replied, nonplussed, "But now's not the time
for sexual banter."


"Now's the time for fighting, right?" I almost laughed. Almost, but not
quite.


"Just about." Jace chuckled as he took another heart-wrenching curve with a
zoom of speed.


It didn't take much longer until Jace turned off onto a sideroad, cut the
engine, and turned the lights off.


He climbed out and I followed, glancing around to the cascade of darkness,
shadows, and the same looming trees that never seemed to shorten their height.
There was no full moon to wage a war to shine through their blanketed
covering.


"Let me guess," I said dryly, "We're footing it again."


"We're going on foot." Jace affirmed, opened the trunk, and threw a 9mm my
way.


I caught it deftly and flipped it proficiently in my hands as I slid it in my
back's waistband.


"What's that for?" I asked.


Jace answered by tossing a vest my way and another gun to follow.


"What are these for?" I held them up with one finger.


"Bulletproof vest. Put it on. And put the gun in your second hatchel." Jace
replied, no-nonsense.


I slid the gun into a pocket, second hatchel or not.


"Let's go." Jace ordered briskly.


We melted through the trees. I remembered how to 'step' again and Jace made
no corrections so I congratulated myself for getting some right—and realized
that I shouldn't give a damn about his approval.


"Let's go." Jace commanded again, silently, as he stood ahead of me on a
small hill, his form perfectly blended with the night's backdrop behind him. I
couldn't even see the whites of his eyes at the distance between us, but I knew
they were there. He was still human, just like me.


But as he moved farther down the hill, I needed to remind myself of that fact
because he moved in perfect sync of the landscape, as a stalking lion would
move, closing in on their prey.


I kept up, but I knew that Jace held back for me and he didn't move at the
natural speed he was born when he turned into a predator, however; he didn't
make another comment until I was about to step over a hill when his hand flashed
from a hidden spot in a mound of trees and he dragged me inside with him.


He clamped a hand over my mouth, but I pushed it off and abruptly turned my
back into him.


I wasn't a complete amateur, even if this hunting wasn't my specialty.


We were snug between three trees with the branches poking, prodding, and
scratching against our bodies, but Jace shifted so I stood right in front of him
and he slipped his arms around to my front. He brought his mouth against my ear
and murmured, "Look at the barn and move right, two clicks."


I looked and barely saw the barn. There was one large looming shadow and I
guessed that was the barn. I slid my eyes right and caught one flash of red, it
was brief and it was gone before my eye could blink.


"How'd you see that?" I asked.


Jace ignored me and said instead, "The meeting's is in progress."


"How do you know?"


"I do."


"What do you want from me?"


"They won't have any sentries posted so we can get close without worrying
about getting spotted. They're meeting in the barn. That red flash was the
second time I saw it. It was an answering flash. We're going to hear the door
click shut and that's it."


"What does that mean?"


"That means they're inside and meeting without us." Jace bit out and
tightened his arms around me. I wasn't flattered. His involuntary reaction had
nothing to do with me, but the idea of being out in the cold. I knew enough
about him to know that he hated being this close and not all the way inside.


"So how are we getting in? How are they getting inside?"


"There's only one door and they'll have two guards posted."


"So what then?"


"I'm staying put and covering you, if I need to, but you're going down there.
I want you to wait outside the door."


"Are you kidding me?!" I whispered fiercely as I whirled to face him.


Jace didn't shush me, he covered his mouth with mine and my sound was
abruptly choked off.


It worked.


But the silence turned into more, for a brief moment, and just as his tongue
swept inside for one lavish, thorough, slide, he had turned me back around.
Against my ear, he bit out, warning, "You raise your voice again, you and I are
dead. You got that? They each have, at least, three guards to our two. You and I
are alone. We're not in the advantage, here, so that means we can't screw up—at
all!"


"Fine." I clipped out, but the kiss—or whatever the hell that was—was going
to be discussed later. I asked, "How are they getting inside without making any
sound? You think we'd hear something."


"They're good, smart, and protected. There are ways to quiet anything, even
footsteps."


"Like what?"


"Trust me."


I swallowed a snort in disbelief, but only barely cut it off before it
erupted.


And there was the click. Jace was right. I'd heard nothing. If six guards
went inside, none of them, including whoever was meeting who, had made a
sound.


It was hard to imagine that many were down the hill, but I trusted Jace in
that knowledge. He was the best that I'd ever heard and I'd witnessed enough to
know that he earned his title 'Ghost' and then some.


"Okay." Jace breathed against my ear. "You go down, keep quiet, and wait
outside the door. Stirley's going to get your man to come out second and I need
you to grab a small black book. It'll look like a day planner."


"Stirley's coming out first?"


"Yeah. He'll shoot, but it won't come close to you. It's just for show."


"And why are you staying up here?"


"To cover you, just in case."


"That's not reassuring." I felt the shakes inside, but I clamped them down.
Reminding myself that it was just any other job wasn't helping. I wasn't on my
territory and I didn't know who the players were. I wasn't controlling anything
in this equation and I never walked into a job without knowing any and all
pertinent information.


Jace sensed my hesitation and drawled, a taunt, "You've performed under
pressure before. Why is this so different?"


I ground my teeth and my fingers itched for my blade, but Jace was right. I'd
done far worse and under worse pressure, but I returned smoothly, "Did you just
call me a whore?"


"If the term fits…" Jace smiled and I finally saw some whiteness to prove his
humanity.


"I can slice and dice you right now and just walk." I threatened,
lethally.


"Do it and we'll see who ends up in the ground."


"Every person that I've slept with has been for someone else's
livelihood."


"You stayed with Marcus for five years. The first time was for someone else,
but not the other thousand and plus times. That was for you, whether you want to
believe it or not." Jace murmured, seemingly lazily, and then he clipped out,
"Get down there. This meeting might be over sooner than we think."


I turned and walked the walk as I moved down the hill and towards the looming
barn. Not many got under my skin. It was toughened to a hard shell long ago, but
Jace wasn't any regular Joe to worm his way underneath. He was a professional at
mind games, and as soon as I remembered that, I felt my old calmness seep back
into my bones. I felt it click back into place and knew that it had gotten
rattled out of place long ago and forgotten along the way, somewhere.


And then I remembered, everytime I wanted someone rattled it was because I
didn't want them to think and realize.


Jace was rattling me on purpose.


And he had just sent me walking to my possible execution.


It was true, what he'd said earlier. He wanted me to fight and I hadn't been
fighting, but I hadn't been holding back as he called it. I'd been watching and
learning. I was feeling my way down a road that I wasn't driving on. I was
merely Jace's passenger and he was controlling every curve in the road.


He was controlling this. Telling me where to go and even ensuring what mood I
met my assignment with.


He wanted me fighting, but he wanted me to fight so that I didn't sit back
and think. He didn't want me adding what two plus two summed out to be.


And I highly doubted that he needed me to swipe some planner. He could've
done that himself or gotten someone else to help. I knew that Jace wanted me
outside that barn, ready to grab what he told me to grab, but I didn't know the
rhyme or reason for his desires.


I glanced back as I instinctually felt the barn nearing. I glanced back once
and felt where Jace should be perched, waiting and ruling, and made my
decision.


I'd get what he wanted, but I'd get it my way.


I felt the barn's cold tin before I even touched a light touch to it and I
flattened against it, just behind the door.


I waited.


Jace waited.


And it wasn't long, he'd been right, before I felt sure and steady footsteps
inside the barn. They were nearing the frontdoor, where I stood, and I tensed as
the door swung quietly and slowly open.


Stirley stepped through. The second person moved out and I recognized Petrie,
even in the dark, but he stood half a foot from me.


I would've recognized his shallow and perverted breaths if he had breathed
through a telescope lens.


I knew it was him, but I waited until the third person slipped out the door.
That's when I moved.


I shoved all my weight into the door, slamming it shut, and locking three
outside with me.


I felt Stirley's surprise alongside the other two, but I didn't hesitate.


I ducked my head and rammed straight into Petrie's chest, where his weak lung
was placed, and I knew it would knock the breath out of him. He'd stay on the
ground longer that he'd want, but not quick enough for my escape so I swiped my
blade into his side and added a second stab for Zara's sake.


As he went down, I grabbed the planner, and then swung towards the third
stranger.


I felt his briefcase and knew he was readying to swing it my way when Stirley
managed a surprise shot that just skimmed by me and 'accidentally' hit the
stranger's shoulder.


Guess I wasn't the only one to disobey Jace's orders. I knew that wasn't an
accidental shot as well as Jace and Stirley.


Petrie was still on the ground, but I counted his harsh breathing. From a hit
like mine, it would take him three breaths before he could back to his knees and
on his feet again. The stabbing wouldn't slow him down, but the lung would.


He'd already taken two breaths and he was encroaching on his third.


The stranger cried out and fell to his knees.


I swiped his briefcase and was off and running, but not towards Jace. I
headed in the opposite direction.


If Jace wanted what I had, he'd have to find me. And he'd have to keep my
hide safe from the gun that I'd felt on Petrie, locked in his shoulder holster,
but I knew something that Jace didn't.


Petrie wouldn't shoot wasted bullets and he wouldn't be able to see me to get
a clear shot.


The air screamed behind me.


Dirt sprayed in the air as the bullet hit just at my feet.


Something told me that shot wasn't Petrie, the stranger, or Stirley.


Jace was furious and he'd missed on purpose. He was shooting with his
silencer and wanted to keep his presence as quiet as possible.


A few more silent whizzes hit the dirt underneath my feet.


Each of them came at me from a slightly different angle.


Jace was right. I was a fighter and I was a survivor. Sprinting in the
forest, with tree branches swiping at me, I wasn't feeling anything that I'd
felt before.


I wasn't furious. I wasn't a killer in that moment. I was thinking clearly
and I knew that Jace was angling around, trying to direct me where he wanted,
but I broke every turn and it didn't take long before I had completely circled
back around to where he had crouched not long before, but I was much farther
back.


I, also, was thinking about something else.


There were no shouts or gunfire that came from where the barn stood.


I would've felt or heard them by now.


And that was peculiar, but something told me that Jace would know that reason
too.


I wanted to know what was going on at the barn, but there was no way that I
could double back. I wasn't running from just them. I was running from Jace and
I was hoping that he'd keep his word and still cover for me, even though I was
escaping with what he wanted.


As I kept going and the bullets stopped, I felt a thrill of excitement and
triumph flare through me.


Petrie hadn't seen my face. I'd moved too quick and the only times he
would've glimpsed me at all was when he would've been presented with my
back.


My only damning information that might clue him was his weak lung. I hit
where his weakness was. Not many would know the exact spot, but assault
warranted the same general moves that I'd just unleashed on his unsuspecting
form.


Jace wanted me to be seen, but I had evaded that demand. He wanted what I now
had. And it seemed that I'd won that fight as I trailed back our steps and I
felt a sudden chill in the air. Everywhere was warm and that chill meant I was
coming to an opening in the forest.


I'd found my way back to the car and was quickly inside, yanking at the wires
to hot-wire that car—my second try in the second week.


I started the engine and quickly reversed without the lights on.


I turned the car around and drove back the way that Jace had shown me. When I
came upon a tarred highway, I switched the headlights on and that was when I
noticed the gun that appeared behind me, pointed across the seat's middle
section, and straight at my head.


Jace won.


"Hand it over." He ordered, calmly.


"How'd you beat me?"


"Because I'm good at my job." He only answered and whisked the planner from
my offered hand. I kept the briefcase in the passenger seat as Jace sat behind
it.


He must've slumped down and waited until it was the right time to announce
his presence. I hadn't checked the backseat. It hadn't even entered my mind to
do that, which was an error that could've cost my life.


"Keep driving straight another two miles and turn right for another seven."
He commanded as he whipped open the planner and was quickly perusing the
contents.


I sighed inwardly, eyed the briefcase warily, as I heard page after page
being turned behind me.


Jace didn't make any sound or comment, but I felt that it wasn't right.


He asked, "Give me the briefcase."


"No."


"Maya." He barked.


"No. I stole that fair and square. It's mine."


Jace bit back a curse, but hauled himself into the front passenger seat. He
lifted the briefcase onto his lap and I glowered. If he had reached for it over
the seat, I could've had a fighting chance, but when he moved to the front—he
eliminated any chance of my pathetic rebellious victory.


"What was in the book?"


Jace ignored me and popped open the briefcase. I couldn't see what was
inside, but his hands paused once before they quickly rifled through what was
inside.


He sighed, just once, and closed the briefcase with the planner placed
inside.


"What is it? What's in there?" I asked as I drove.


Jace didn't respond to those questions either, but I was fast learning that
he only shared what he wanted shared and only when he wanted to share—at least
when it came to his job. That's where his mind was, but he remarked, startling
me, "You had a good move back there."


"What?"


"Your move." He muttered, distracted, as he watched outside the window. "I
didn't see that coming and I usually see everything coming."


It might've been my imagination, but I caught the faintest of faint grins in
the window's reflection before it vanished and the same cunning predator was
back in place.


I kept driving with both of us in silence.