Читать книгу Allegiances - Cynthia Eden - Страница 9

Chapter Two

When he got home, Sullivan locked his door and reset his alarm. He’d driven around the damn city for far too long, searching in dark alleys, looking for any sign of Celia before he’d had to give up and head to his place.

He was sure that she’d been involved in some kind of accident. He’d heard what he thought was the crash and crunch of an impact when they’d been talking, but no accidents had been reported—he’d double-checked that with one of his contacts at the PD.

Celia had seemingly vanished.

Sighing, he turned on the lights. Tomorrow, he’d search for her again. He would find her.

“You’re starting to go soft,” Celia said, her voice calm and clear. “I mean, really, you didn’t even know I was here?”

He spun around and found her sitting on his couch. She was leaning back against the cushions with her legs crossed in front of her, looking as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

She’s been here while I was searching the whole city for her? Frantic? He’d been imagining her broken body tossed away. And she’d been in his home.

“How long have you been here?” Sullivan asked her. Her voice had been calm. His was tight with fury and fear.

Celia pursed her lips and glanced toward the clock near his TV. “About an hour. I was starting to think you must have been out with a hot date.”

He stalked toward her. “I was out looking for you. I was tearing up the damn town because I thought you’d been hurt. I thought someone was after you and—”

“Someone was after me. Or rather, someone is after me.” She didn’t sound particularly worried. Her gaze held his. “A tail followed me from your office. He tried to take me. Or, actually, I think he was more interested in killing me than taking me. But that doesn’t matter.” She shrugged, moving her shoulders lightly against the leather of his couch. “He failed in his attempt.”

Every muscle in his body locked down. “Take you?” Sullivan repeated. “Kill you?”

“Um...you know, the usual in our business. When forcing me off the road didn’t work, he followed me into an old parking garage. I’d slipped inside there, thinking to use the place for shelter.”

“Celia...”

“Like I said, he followed me. Jumped out of his vehicle. Gave me some nice line about how it would be easier if I just came out so he could put a bullet in my head.”

His vision reddened as fury burned in his blood.

“I wasn’t in the mood for that bullet, so I got away.” Her words were said so simply. As if she hadn’t just faced some life-or-death battle when he was far away and couldn’t help her at all.

“How?” Sullivan demanded.

“The parking garage was dark, but it wasn’t empty. Other people approached from the elevator bank, so he had to put up his gun and act not killer-like. When I heard those folks approaching, I slipped away into the shadows and got out of there as fast as I could.”

So the guy was still breathing. “He’s a threat to you.”

She just stared back at him.

“You saw him, though,” Sullivan said, thinking quickly. “You got his description. With your contacts, you can find out who—”

“I didn’t see him. I didn’t stick around to get a full physical description. He had a gun, I had a knife, and with civilians in the area, I didn’t want to risk them.” Her fingers tapped along the arm of his couch. “So I left, without looking back. And as quickly as I could I...came here.”

Her words gave him pause. “You came to me?” Sullivan stood about two feet away from her. He wanted to close that distance, scoop her up and hold her tight. Because he wanted that so badly, he kept his muscles locked and didn’t move another step forward.

“I’m afraid I’ve brought you into this mess as a target. It’s obvious that I went to McGuire Securities tonight, and if the guy after me has done any digging into my past, he’ll know about you.” She rose and came to stand right in front of him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to shine a bright target on you.”

Sometimes, he forgot how delicate—physically—she was. She barely came to his shoulders as she stood there in her bare feet. He saw that she’d kicked her heels away, and they lay overturned next to his coffee table.

His hands lifted and his fingers curled around her shoulders. “You know I don’t mind danger.”

“That debt I was going to call in? It wasn’t to protect me,” she said. Had her eyes ever seemed bigger? Bluer? “I can protect myself. It was...I needed you to help me vanish.”

He frowned at that bit of the news.

“I’m leaving the CIA. I’ve been compromised.” She gave that bitter laugh again. The one that made him worry she’d changed—too much—since they were together. “Compromised again and again. I thought I could get away clean, but it sure seems my enemies aren’t going to stop hunting me.”

“You know who they are...”

“Actually, I don’t. I’ve made a lot of enemies in my time at the agency. I joined right after college, was recruited straightaway. I was perfect for them, after all. No family. No close friends. No ties that would hold me back. I could become anyone they wanted me to be, and for a while, I did.”

His hold tightened on her. “You have ties now.”

“No, I don’t. And that’s why it was going to be so easy for me to leave.”

But what had happened? Why was she quitting the agency? “The CIA was your life.”

“Was it?” Her eyelashes flickered and then she seemed to notice that he was touching her. He felt her stiffen beneath his hands. “I’m sorry I broke into your place. After everything that went down tonight, I just needed to make sure you were all right.”

She’d been worried...about him?

“But no one saw me enter your home. I was careful this time.”

She pulled away. He let her go, but the temptation to hold her—it was far too strong.

“Maybe I will call in that debt you promised me one day. My plans have changed now, so who knows?” She pushed back her hair, tucking a lock behind her left ear. “Remember what I said before, though. Watch your back.”

She was walking away. Again. And he knew that if she slipped away, he wasn’t going to see her again. Despite her words, she wouldn’t be back to call in her debt. He suspected she wouldn’t return to him at all. “Who is going to watch yours?” Sullivan wanted to know.

Celia tilted her head back as she gazed up at him. “Oh, Sully, be careful,” she chided him. “It almost sounds as if you care about what happens to me.”

I do. I never stopped caring, no matter how hard I tried. Some obsessions couldn’t be conquered. “Stay here,” he heard himself say, his voice way too gruff.

Celia shook her head. “What?”

He cleared his throat. “Stay the night. You said yourself that no one saw you come into my place. That means you’re safe here. Stay the night. Get some sleep. Then you can make a new plan of attack or escape—or whatever the hell it is you want to do—in the morning.”

She bit her lower lip. After a moment, voice strangely subdued, she said, “You know that’s not a good idea.”

“Do I?” It had sounded like one damn fine idea at the time.

“Yes.” She sighed out that answer. “Sully, you know that—”

“I still want you.” There. He’d said it. This time he wouldn’t have lies or secrets between them. He’d tell her everything, because he wouldn’t crash and burn again. Neither would she. Not on his watch.

“No.” She put up her hand, as if to ward him off. “Stop it. Just...stop it.”

No way. He wasn’t stopping. He could see her slipping away, and if she did—what would he do then? Go back to the bleak, empty world he’d been living in since he lost her before? Go back to looking at crowds—and always searching to see if he’d find her?

Mac had brought them back together on that last case. Sullivan had tried to warn his brother that he’d made a mistake. How am I supposed to let her go again? But Mac had been blind to the danger.

The simple truth was that Sullivan couldn’t let Celia go. Not without losing too much of himself.

“I can’t stop wanting you. Baby, I tried, but it just doesn’t happen.” He caught her hand in his and put it against his heart. A heart that always beat faster when she was near. “You think I don’t know how much I screwed up before? I didn’t trust you. I— Hell, I won’t make the same mistake again. Give me a chance.”

Her gaze searched his, but she shook her head. “I can’t.”

Those words—it felt as if she’d just driven her knife into his heart when she said them. The knife he knew she liked to keep strapped to her ankle.

“I can’t go down this road with you again, Sully.”

“I’m not talking about forever.” He had asked for that, once. And he’d gotten it, with her. In a Vegas chapel, on one wild weekend. He’d promised forever to her.

I want it again.

But he knew he had to take small steps this time. “I’m talking one night. One night of safety for you. I have a guest room you can use. Just stay with me tonight. Tomorrow, we can make another plan together.”

Maybe by tomorrow, he would have figured out a way to keep her with him.

“Hasn’t your family been through enough?” Celia asked him. “Do you really want me and my danger close by?”

It wasn’t about his family—and that alone told him just how far his obsession with her had gone. Family had always come first for him. The bond that he shared with his brothers and with his sister, Ava, was unbreakable, but...

But this isn’t about them. It’s about Celia.

“You have new evidence that can help you find your parents’ killers,” she said. “You should be sharing it with them and not—”

I haven’t even opened the envelope. I was too worried about you. “It’s almost midnight. Anything new I have can wait.” Their parents had been waiting to receive justice for years. A few more hours wouldn’t change anything. “Stay with me, Celia. I need to know you’re safe tonight.” And that was when he noticed the faint dark mark on her right cheek. His right hand lifted immediately and lightly touched that bruise. A bruise she hadn’t possessed when she’d been in his office before.

“I think my cheek hit the steering wheel,” she said, and Celia swallowed as his fingers lingered against her skin. “I got lucky—the air bag didn’t deploy and I maintained control of my steering. If he’d hit me harder, the car could’ve died right there. He would’ve had me.”

No one is getting you, Celia. I’m here now. “You saved my life once,” he reminded her.

She gave a quick, hard shake of her head. “No, that’s—”

“Did you think Mac didn’t tell me? He did.” And as a thank-you, I signed divorce papers. Dammit, could he have been more of a blind fool? He had so much to atone for with Celia. If he could just convince her to give him a chance...

“Your brother talks too much,” she muttered darkly.

He laughed at those words. Sullivan just couldn’t help it. Mac was pretty much the definition of the strong, silent type. The only guy more closemouthed than Mac?

That would be me.

Her face softened a bit as she stared up at him. “You should do that more, you know.”

“What?”

“Laugh. Let go of that iron control of yours and just enjoy life.”

His laughter faded away. “Maybe you should follow the same advice.” And you should stay with me. Just for the night. “Are you always on guard?” Sullivan asked her.

Her dimples flashed, but her smile wasn’t real. “You tell me. You lived in my world for a few months. Is it really the kind of place where you can let down your guard?”

He’d joined the CIA and worked in the Special Activities Division, or SAD, as the group was called. He’d been undercover, working to make a difference, desperately trying to collect needed intelligence in a hostile country—only that case had gone to hell, fast. Friends had become enemies, and he’d found himself on the run.

Then...captured.

Tortured.

Left for dead.

“You can let your guard down with me, Celia. Trust me, just for this night,” he told her. Because now he could see the edge of fear that she’d been working so hard to conceal at his office. And...she was pale. Shadows were under her eyes, shadows that even the careful application of makeup couldn’t hide.

She needed rest. She needed safety.

I want her to need me.

“Just for the night,” Celia said. “Only that.”

He actually shook his head because he hadn’t thought she’d agree, but— “You’ll stay with me?”

“Just for the night,” she said again. “Come morning, I have plans.”

She pulled away from him and headed toward his hallway. “Which one is the guest room?”

It took a moment for her question to register. She’d never been in his house before, so she didn’t know her way around. They’d been married, but...he hadn’t brought her to his home. He hadn’t introduced her to his family. He’d said his I do part to her, then taken a mission almost the next day. He’d been shipped out of the country. She’d been scheduled to follow him two days later.

But...everything had changed.

“The third door,” he said. “On the left.”

She looked back. “That better not turn out to be your bedroom there, Marine. Because trusting you to give me a place to crash tonight is not the same thing as trusting you in bed.”

If only.

“My bedroom is the first door.” Had his voice been too gruff? Maybe. The thought of her in his bed had made him sound too rough.

She turned away.

He called out, “But feel free to go in there. Because you can trust me on this...if you go to my room, I will give us both what we need.”

If she’d give him the chance, he’d give her everything. Anything she wanted.

“Don’t hold your breath on that one,” Celia threw back at him. Then she vanished down the hallway.

His breath expelled on a long rush. I’ve got you in my house, baby. That’s step one...

* * *

“YOU LOST CELIA JAMES?”

Porter Vance winced as he heard the rage, transmitted so very clearly over the phone. “Look, boss, the woman is CIA. It’s not like she isn’t trained to—”

“You’re ex-CIA. You’re supposed to understand her moves. You’re supposed to find her and eliminate her. End of story.”

Porter glanced around the busy intersection. The parking garage was behind him—the garage that contained Celia’s abandoned vehicle. “You were right, you know,” he said, trying to distract the boss. “She did go to see Sullivan McGuire. That’s where I found her. I just parked myself right outside McGuire Securities and she damn near came running out of the business and straight at me. I trailed her, had her in the parking garage on Forty-Seventh Street and then...” He cleared his throat.

“Then you lost her. A woman that I paid you ten thousand dollars to eliminate.”

Right. He hadn’t exactly gotten the money yet. It was one of those pay-on-delivery deals. So far, he hadn’t delivered a dead Celia James. “I’ll get her. Listen, I’m already back at McGuire Securities. She’ll show here again. If she doesn’t, I’ll just use Sullivan to get her. She’s still tied to him. He can be the bait. When she knows I’ve got him, she’ll come running to me.”

Laughter carried across the line. “Sullivan isn’t easy prey. None of the McGuires are...but especially not him.”

There was something in the boss’s voice...

“Do you think I didn’t try to eliminate him? Do you honestly think I didn’t do my best to kill that guy when I had the chance?”

“I—”

“Your usefulness is at an end.”

It took a moment for those cold words to sink in.

And another minute to realize...

I’ve been shot.

Because the bullet had been so quiet as it found its mark. There was no bang. No boom. Just a faint whistle as it cut through the air and sank into Porter’s chest.

And then the pain came, burning slowly through his heart.

He looked down. It was dark there, too dark for him to see clearly but—

My shirt is wet. I’m bleeding.

He still had the phone in his hand. Still had it pressed to his ear. But his legs were crumpling and Porter knew...the boss had called him so that he’d be distracted. The boss had already known he’d failed at his mission.

And the boss didn’t accept failure.

He was watching me. He called... He was going to kill me, no matter what I told him. Maybe because he’d just been another loose end.

Just like Celia.

The phone fell from his fingers and he crashed onto the concrete.