“You’re joking, right? There’s no way in hell I’m attending a baby shower.” Ryan couldn’t believe Collins even suggested such a thing.
“Watson, you’re the outsider who they’d welcome. It has to be you.”
“Don’t you have any females on your team that you could’ve brought in?”
“No,” Collins replied.
That didn’t make any sense. Ryan knew damn well he had access to one hell of a female soldier. Just months ago he’d even provided a safe haven for Master Sargent Margret Graham and Wyatt McVeigh. Bringing her in now would be the perfect solution. God knows I’m not.
“What about Maggie?”
“She’s no longer an option.”
“She’s not?”
“No. Maggie’s been given a new identity. A fresh start in life. Maggie Graham no longer exists.”
Damn. He was there for part of what went down a few months ago. Hell, it was his bunker the terrorist tried blowing up to retrieve Maggie and Wyatt. Ryan knew it wasn’t over, but if Maggie needed a new identity, there still was so much Collins wasn’t sharing.
“Collins, I need the truth. All of it,” Ryan demanded.
Mark downed his coffee then got up from the table. Ryan could see he was on edge.
“You know what you need to know.”
“That’s not enough.” He was nearly seething he was so angry. But mostly he was angry because he had used that same line with both Donna and Sissie. Now he understood their indignation. He wasn’t used to being on the outer edge, and he didn’t like it.
“This isn’t something that started a year or two ago. This is a web of evil and corruption that’s been in effect for many years. It’s about power.”
“I’m a businessman. I can relate.”
Mark shook his head. “You think you can. This isn’t about money. Their idea of power is through terror. The more fear you can instill in others, the more power and control you hold.”
“What have they done?”
“They killed many, trying to obtain a formula that could wipe out the United States. Fuck, it could wipe out the human race.”
“What exactly does it do?” The entire human race seemed a bit farfetched.
“When added to water, it would render a human totally paralyzed within seconds and unfortunately dead within minutes.”
Ryan knew it was big, but not this big. That was something you’d see in a movie, not in real life. “And this exists?”
“Unfortunately, yes. That’s what Jeremy Talroy was after.”
It worried him more knowing Donna had once worked for JT. Arranging to terminate her position at FEMA seemed drastic back then. He’d done it so she’d have no option but to come home and be close. Now he knew the decision might have saved Donna’s life.
“Where is the formula now?”
Mark shot him a warning look. “Watson, you know damn well I’m not ever going to tell you that.”
“You’re a soldier, Collins, not a biochemist,” Ryan barked.
“Neither are you, but the one who created it is in my protection. And I’ll do everything in my power to ensure it never gets into the wrong hands. Now you know why no one knows everything.”
Except you. Ryan had his own set of secrets. As far as he knew, even Collins didn’t know the truth. He’d never said anything to protect Donna. With what Collins just said, Ryan was sure there was some connection between his wife’s death and what was going on now.
“Because anyone who was involved died.”
Marked arched a brow and said, “She’s not dead.”
“Trust me, she is.”
Collins walked over and sat across from Ryan, staring at him. He knew Collins didn’t know what had happened.
“Like you, there are things no one else knows. I don’t have all the facts, but somehow I have a feeling you know the missing piece.”
“There’s only one way to find out. Tell me.”
“Trust goes two ways. Agreed?”
He could tell Mark didn’t like it, but Ryan wasn’t about to share a damn thing with him unless he agreed. “You have no idea.”
“Neither do you,” Ryan answered coldly.
“Agreed.”
Ryan hated speaking of it. It was the most painful thing he’d ever gone through. Now he needed to relive it. “What do you know about my wife?”
Mark shook his head. “Nothing except she died several years ago.”
“Her name was Janet. She was brilliant. Guess that’s where Donna gets her brains. She was a top neurologist who was studying Alzheimer’s and was approached by a woman who said she was on the verge of having a cure. Janet was ecstatic and dashed off to meet with her. It wasn’t the first person who had approached Janet regarding research, but usually they only wanted to pump Janet for her information and share none of their own. That wasn’t the case that time. When Janet returned, she was full of hope and said the dream was going to become a reality. Nothing took that smile off her face. I asked her for details, but she said she couldn’t share even with me.” Even with me. Those words still haunted him.
“Did she say who she met with?”
“No. She was supposed to go back and meet with her again. She received a very brief call one night when we were in bed. Whatever she was told, Janet burst out in tears and said it was lost. All lost.” For all the joy Janet had shown before, he’d never seen his wife so broken as that night.
“Did they talk again?”
“No, and she wouldn’t speak about it again. In fact, she stopped working on her own research after that day. But a few months later Janet said she was meeting with someone at the Pentagon. They wanted to talk to her about her research. When she came back from her trip, she became very ill within hours. At first I thought she had influenza. I wanted to take her to the hospital, but she refused, saying she was a doctor and could care for herself. She became sicker each day. I told her we could afford any specialist, but she wouldn’t go. Instead, she asked me to take her to the bunker. It made absolutely no sense. There wasn’t anyone there except the two of us. I couldn’t do anything to help her. All we knew was she needed to be in isolation, away from anyone.” Especially Donna.
“It must’ve been hell.”
“You have no idea. Each day I watched her through the glass. She’d drawn blood samples and ran tests. I asked her what she was doing, and she said looking for the cure. One she never found.”
“I’m sorry, but I need to know.”
“What?” Ryan looked Collins directly in the eyes and waited.
“What did she say?” Collins asked.
“Besides to tell Donna she loved her?” Ryan asked sarcastically.
“Yes,” Mark said in a tone Ryan wasn’t used to hearing from him.
Ryan remembered how Janet looked. Her hair had all fallen out. Her skin was blotched with sores, and she couldn’t eat or drink anymore. All his money meant nothing. All he could do was watch his wife die. “That I can never tell anyone what happened. To let everyone believe she’d been killed in an accident. That if I didn’t Donna wouldn’t be safe.”
“And have you told anyone?”
“Hell no. She also told me to trust no one.”
Janet was a person who always saw the good in another person while Ryan had trust issues from the start. Hence, the bunker. He’d built it in case he needed to hide his family if a business deal went bad. He’d never thought it’d be used in the manner it had been. To say goodbye to someone I loved.
“What aren’t you telling me?” Collins asked.
Ryan could feel his heart racing. Talking now was going against Janet’s last wish. If what happened to Janet was intentional and could happen to Donna, he needed Collins’s help. “Janet took tissue and blood samples of herself. She said someday I might need them. And I’d know when that day had come. I have a feeling she was talking about now. Am I right?”
“I don’t know. Where are the samples?”
“Hidden away in the bunker.”
“I’ll send someone to retrieve them.”
“Only I have access or have you forgotten that?”
“Then I guess you’re not attending the baby shower after all.”
Guess not.
Mark leaned forward and asked, “Do you know who Janet met with at the Pentagon?”
“She wouldn’t tell me. After her death, I went through her personal calendar. Only initials, GF. I tried, but couldn’t find anyone who matched that.” Ryan could tell by Mark’s expression they meant something to him. “You know, don’t you?”
Mark nodded. “General Floyd.”
A general? He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Collins was in the military, and he was admitting that their own military was involved somehow. Since I’ve never seen you smile, I know you aren’t joking about this. “I want to talk to him,” Ryan demanded.
Talking with Floyd was only a start. If he had anything to do with his wife’s death, it’d be followed by slow torture the same as Janet went through. And the bastard would wish he was dead. I don’t care who he is.
“He’s dead.”
“Fuck.” Ryan was filled with disappointment and a hell of a lot of questions he needed answers to. “How?”
“The people he was working with had him assassinated.”
Ryan was slowly putting the pieces together. Everything he thought was a coincidence now fit into one ugly puzzle. “You mean JT.”
“People answering to him, yes. At first, we thought Floyd was having second thoughts. Come to find out, he was getting greedy and wanted to play both sides.”
He’d thought the pain of losing Janet was bad before. Yet, now he blamed himself. He’d let her go to those meetings alone, never thinking anything could happen. He was busy running his business and she hers. She was strong and confident and highly intelligent. What safer place for her than the Pentagon? If anything, he thought someone had finally recognized her for her brilliance. Guess they did and the price was her life. “So this is a dead-end? She died for nothing?”
“No, not exactly. If I’m right, what you told me is the link we’ve been searching for.”
“Are you listening, Collins? She’s dead. There’s nothing she can do or tell you now.”
Mark reached out and put a hand on Ryan’s shoulder. “I’m really sorry, Ryan. Losing someone is never easy. But she left behind samples for a reason. She must’ve known they did something to her to make her sick, and I believe she was leaving a message. I know the person who’d be able to confirm that.”
“Who?”
“The woman Janet went to meet regarding Alzheimer’s testing.”
“You’re telling me she was killed because of her Alzheimer’s research?” It sickened him that someone would kill her to prevent a cure from being found.
Mark let out a long exhale and said, “She was killed because Floyd was afraid of what she might know.”
“Collins, quit talking riddles.”
“The woman who the terrorists are after is the same woman Janet met with. Floyd must’ve thought that Mar—that Janet was privy to information they couldn’t allow out.”
“That’s impossible. If Janet had been given any information, she would’ve told me.” At one time he believed that. When they were a young couple they shared everything; there were no secrets. Over time they changed, grew apart, each striving for something different. Although they loved each other, they were no longer in love. All she would’ve had to do was trust him and he’d have been there. But she didn’t, and it had cost Janet her life. There was no going back. All he could do was protect her research and honor her memory.
“Watson, I’m not accusing her of anything. She may not have known what she was involved in. We won’t know until we take a look at her notes and the lab. I can have a chopper ready for takeoff in ten minutes.”
Ryan had given Collins the information, yet he still didn’t have much in return. Just more orders, and Ryan wasn’t about to follow any of them. “I’m not turning a fucking thing over to you, Collins, until you start talking.”
“The more you know—”
“Don’t give me that shit. I have the right to know. Who the hell is the woman whose incompetence got my wife killed?”
“This is bigger than you realize,” Collins warned.
“Then let’s not waste any more time.”
“Marina Brimlow is the woman we need to get inside your lab. She’s the only one who will know what Janet left for us. I guess by what you said it’s important enough for her to have refused medical attention and gone into hiding.”
Collins was right about that. Ryan always knew it was, and that’s why he honored her request. “Everything is as she left it. But from now on, I’m all in or you’re out. What do you do say, Collins?”
Mark glared at him. “There’s no room for revenge in this. I know how tempting that can be. It’ll only give them leverage to use against you. Trust me. I know how these bastards work. When you’re hurting, they’re happy. The more you hurt, the greater their victory. This is not personal. This is war, and it’s up to us to protect the human race.”
It was decision time. He’d prepared himself for many types of battles. Never the one that Collins had just described. He thought about his daughter. “What happens to Donna if we go?”
“I’ll have my men watch her.”
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his men. God knows he’d seen them in action, and they weren’t to be messed with. But Donna needed something else. Not just someone hovering over her with a gun. She needed someone invested. It was a short list. If Casey wasn’t about to give birth, she’d be on the top of the list. Next in line was one he never thought he’d turn to, yet here he was for the second time. Sissie.
“Tell your men we leave in an hour. I’ll be at the Wild Sass. There’s someone I need to talk to.”
“Just don’t let Donna know what’s going on. If she knows—”
“I got it.”
Ryan was out the door right after Collins left. He needed to speak to Donna and feed her a new lie. But he also had to speak to Sissie. He never thought he’d trust someone with his Donna, yet after seeing their connection last night he knew he could. That doesn’t mean she’ll know why I’m leaving either.
When he walked into the saloon Sissie was sitting at a table, drinking coffee. And let the lying begin.
“What’s got you up before the cows?” Sissie sure didn’t expect to see him so early. Maybe to tell me how I endangered your daughter?
“That damn hotel can’t make a good cup of coffee.”
Sissie laughed. “Damn straight. It’s like water.” She went behind the bar and poured another cup for Ryan. When she handed it to him, their fingers brushed for a second. It was like her fingers yearned to touch his again. Holding hands last night wasn’t sexual, yet it was comforting, and she needed that. Her nerves were on edge with the baby shower today. The thought of all the people here with her in charge scared the hell out of her. What is Mark thinking? Me? I can’t handle this.
“You look like you need a second cup,” Ryan said.
“Oh, I’m already on my third. You here to help set up?”
“Actually I’m here to ask another favor.”
Sissie looked at him. She wasn’t very successful at the last one. Why on earth would he ask for another? “Haven’t learned your lesson yet?”
“You haven’t let me down.”
“Well let’s see if I can be two for two. What do ya need this time?”
“I’ve been called back to the office. After what I saw last night, I think Donna should stay here with you.”
“Until after the party?”
“Until I tell you otherwise,” Ryan said plainly.
What aren’t you telling me, Ryan? “That’s very vague.”
“It’s all I have.”
Sissie knew right away this was no business meeting he was attending. This had Mark’s doing written all over it. But he wouldn’t send Ryan away without Donna. They must be working together. That worried her. Ryan wasn’t a soldier. And from what she knew, he had no clue what had been going on outside of their brief encounter a few months ago. I hardly know.
“If you want my help then you need to come clean. What’s going on?”
“I need you to do this, Sissie. If not for me, then for Donna.”
Dang it. That’s not fair. She truly liked Donna, and there’s no way she wanted her leaving with Ryan and walking into trouble. That didn’t mean she liked the lack of communication between them. “Speaking of her, are you going to leave without saying goodbye?”
“No. I just wanted to speak to you first.”
You mean set the wheels in motion. “I’ll play along. Because I know whatever it is, Mark wouldn’t be leaving at a time like this either if it wasn’t urgent.”
Ryan nodded, reached across the table, and took Sissie’s hand in his. She wasn’t expecting that. I’ve already agreed. What’s this?
“I wish I could stay.”
“For the baby shower?”
He laughed lightly. “There’s more to you than I thought. If I—”
“You will.” She was afraid he was going to say something stupid like make it back alive.
He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed her fingers. “Yes, I will. And we’ll pick this up where we left off when I get back.”
Sissies pulse was beating so fast it echoed in her ears. There was so much she wanted to say, but this wasn’t the time. He was leaving, and she needed to stay focused on her assignment as well. “I’ll be here.” Really? That’s it? Nothing snappy to say?
He let go of her hand and got up from the table. “Good. Now if you don’t mind, do you think you could tell Donna I’d like to speak to her? We’re leaving shortly, and I prefer to deliver the news myself.”
She turned and headed toward the door to her apartment but stopped abruptly. She had no idea why, but something about Ryan Watson pulled at her. Attraction. Need. She had prided herself on her independence, but lately, she had also felt a little . . . lonely. She didn’t think Ryan saw her as anything other than a backward country woman with none of the airs and graces he was used to. She ran a bar. He ran a multimillion-dollar company. Their worlds were as far apart as one could imagine. But the thought of never seeing him again made her heart cold, and she just wanted to . . . she didn’t know what she wanted, but she turned back to look at Ryan. Something in the pit of her stomach bypassed her brain, and she rushed back into his arms.
Ryan pulled her close, and his lips claimed hers. His lips were hot and demanding. She melted into him and opened hers, giving all she had to him. He tasted of strong coffee. Her tongue toyed with his. She felt his body tense against hers. This was poor timing. He’d just said he was boarding a chopper, and she needed to let him go. As she pulled away, a moan escaped her lips.
“Like I said, we’ll continue this when I come back,” Ryan said in a husky voice.
She nodded, not trusting her voice, but internally she moaned, “Please come back . . . for me.” This time when she turned, she didn’t look back. Sissie needed to wake Donna up so she could see her father before he left. And I need to slow things down. Whatever this is, it’s because of all the crazy stress around here. I’m not his type. And once things quiet down, he’ll realize that.
It was a reality that hurt but one she was going to have to face eventually. Might as well start while he’s gone.
She closed her eyes and tried to get him out of her mind. While he’s out there in danger. Yeah, this isn’t happening. Sissie didn’t want to admit it, but she was drawn to him, and she knew she was going to get hurt. Her matchmaker radar wasn’t going off between her and Ryan. There’s a connection, but it wasn’t going to last. If he were the one, she’d know. I always know.