I shouldn’t be here.
Jack almost hadn’t taken this assignment from Grey Holden on behalf of the Omega Team, because of what and who it involved. He owed Grey one though, from a long time ago. He’d promised he’d do a solid for Grey if ever needed. Of course, that was before the chemical attack and his honorable, but unwelcome, discharge from the Navy.
Still, a promise was a promise and he kept his promises. Even ones that were too painful to bear.
Like this one.
He didn’t get many assignments being north of Nome, Alaska, and that suited him fine, but once one came up he couldn’t say no. He couldn’t turn it down. Even though that one assignment involved a ghost from his past.
One he spent a decade trying to forget; except he couldn’t, so he went into hiding. And yet, like most hauntings, they follow you, because here she was. There was no escape.
Lisa was working in her lab, oblivious that the pharmaceutical company she was working for had hired mercenaries to protect the facility. Someone high up in the chain of command in the Navy hired the Omega Team to protect her and make sure any information she found was retrieved from her without her knowing. She was oblivious to the fact he was watching her and, as far as he knew, to the terrorist threats against her because she was so close to discovering a cure for the biochemical agent that wiped out his entire platoon, left him half of a man, and ended his military career.
That moment in his past was something he tried very hard to forget. How he could be the only survivor. He tried to find out more about the attack on his unit when he began to heal, but the Navy shot him down. Deemed it as a failed mission. Yet, Dane had been so adamant that there was something more going on.
Only Jack couldn’t find anything to support Dane’s theories. He felt like a failure, so he tried to forget it all. To block it from his mind.
They were all gone and there was nothing more he could do.
Then Grey had offered him a position with the Omega Team, because Grey knew there was still fight left in him. Jack didn’t want the honorable discharge. He didn’t deserve it. If anything, they should’ve put him on another suicide mission or given him a dishonorable discharge.
He didn’t deserve to live but, because he was alive, he had a burning need to avenge his fallen brothers.
Here in Alaska he could stay as far from people as possible, but still feel as if he was doing his duty to his country working for the Omega Team. Here in this lab an antidote would soon be discovered, and guarding it was a way Jack could protect anyone else from falling victim to the chemical agent that had wiped out his brothers-in-arms.
He might not have been able to save them, but he could make sure the antidote was delivered into the right hands.
It had been perfect, until he was tasked with protecting Lisa from terrorists. And, for one brief moment, he considered not taking the job because he knew being around her again would be devastating.
“Aren’t there hired guards protecting that laboratory now?” Jack asked.
“Yes,” Grey said carefully over the phone. “This comes from higher up in the chain of command. You need to protect the microbiologist who is on the verge of finding the antidote and if that person is compromised, you need to make sure you get the information back to me so I can pass it on.”
“Who is the one who ordered that?”
“I can’t say,” Grey said. “Their life is in danger.”
“Noted. So who am I protecting?”
There was a pause, a moment of hesitation. “Lisa Morgan.”
Just thinking about Lisa being in danger, how she put herself in harm’s way, brought his whole world crashing down. He felt like a failure for not doing more. For letting Dane down.
I should’ve done more.
Except he was told there was nothing more to be done. All he had been told was that a lab was working on a antidote. And, like a fool, he took it at face value. There was more to it. If there wasn’t he wouldn’t be here.
Why did Lisa have to be the one who was about to discover the antidote to the biochemical the terrorists used to destroy his life?
Because it killed her brother.
Jack’s stomach clenched as he thought of that moment. That horrifying moment when Dane Morgan had died in his arms, and the months of tortuous pain after because he’d survived.
And he deserved that pain for trying to block out what happened to his brothers-in-arms. For not doing more, for walking away.
He kept to the shadows when he patrolled the halls and he watched her from the safety of the intel room, from a monitor. She was still the same; long honey-blonde hair, lithe body and those pink, full lips that begged to be kissed.
And he remembered the taste of them. The feel of them.
It had been ten years since he’d seen her. She was Dane’s little sister. When he first met her she had been fresh out of college, looking to start at Annapolis. She had fire, a passion to serve her country. Just like he did when he was first starting out.
She was at the bar where he was celebrating with his platoon. They were about to start a mission and were looking to cut loose and get lucky before they shipped out at the end of the week.
When he saw her across the bar, when her bright blue eyes locked with his, he got a hard on. He wanted her. And by the way she nearly sucked his tongue out of his mouth after they’d shared a few drinks and laughs, he had an inkling she wanted him just as bad too.
“Fuck me, Jack,” she whispered against his ear as he pressed her against a wall. “Fuck me hard.”
And he almost took her right then and there, but then he discovered who her brother was. And he just couldn’t screw his brother-in-arms’ sister.
Jack was the commander of the black ops team and there couldn’t be any awkwardness between him and Dane.
Dane was more like a father to her than an older brother.
Still, Lisa persisted, and the torrid romance they had still was burned in his mind. It had been hot and fast. When he shipped out, she understood he would be gone and their week-long fling was just that. There were no strings.
After Dane was killed she tried to reach out to him at the hospital in Annapolis. She worked there, so she had privileges, but he wouldn’t see her.
He didn’t want to be reminded of how he failed Dane and the others. How he survived and they didn’t.
There was no point in her seeing him like he was after that chemical burned his flesh. He knew she could never love a man whose body was so scarred people cringed when he came into a room. And he wouldn’t tie her down with a man whose military career was over when hers was just beginning.
Of course, now she wasn’t in the military. Now she was with a privately owned pharmaceutical company. Or, at least, that’s what he was told, and he was confused because the military had hired the Omega Team to protect her. When Grey said someone higher up in the chain of command had ordered it, Jack knew that meant military.
And the thought of Lisa in this dangerous situation was too much to bear.
Grey knew of his promise to Dane and he knew Jack couldn’t walk away.
“You’re the best man for the job,” Grey said. “You owe me and her.”
Still, Jack felt like he was failing Dane and Lisa. He’d been watching her from afar and he should’ve been closer. He’d heard a rumor that she’d left the military and had gone into the private sector, and had thought she’d be safe there, but he was wrong. If he’d done what he should, he would’ve known that she was about to discover the antidote and that she was on a hit list.
You’re here now.
And he’d die protecting her. He’d failed at protecting Dane, but he’d protect her.
A sound caught his attention and his body went on alert. His ears prickled at the subtle noise from something that shouldn’t be there.
All the other scientists were gone.
Not that the remote, secret lab had many employees anyway, but still, everyone else had gone home except him, a couple mercenaries the lab hired, a security guard and Lisa. The security guard worked with him. Jack avoided the mercenaries, on instructions from Grey.
“Come in Delta,” Jack said over the intercom. There was no response. “Delta. Come in.”
His gut clenched and he swiveled around in his chair to check the video feed from the perimeter.
Masked figures skulked through the darkness. Delta was compromised.
Shit.
Jack picked up his Beretta and cocked it. He slipped out of the room and made his way to where she was working.
He had to get Lisa out of here.
Grey had been clear about this assignment. Protect Lisa at all costs.
Only she had the antidote to the chemical.
And Jack promised Dane he’d protect his little sister. She’d been Dane’s only family. They had no one else.
The training that was imprinted into the very fiber of his being kicked in. He drowned out everything, even the erratic beat of his heart thundering in his ears, as he stalked through the darkened halls of the lab.
It didn’t take him long to get from the intel room to where Lisa was working. He slipped in the back way and only then, being in her presence again, drinking in her scent after ten years, did his control slip.
He kept to the shadows and slid his hand over her mouth.
“Do not cry out. I’m part of the Omega Team and I’m here to protect you. Nod if you understand.”
She nodded. And he had to give her credit for not really freaking out.
It’s her military training that’s the asset. She’s smart.
Just one more thing he admired about her. One more thing to make him want her more.
“We have to get out of here. You’re in danger.” He removed his hand slowly.
She didn’t turn around and didn’t seem to recognize his voice. Which was good. The chemical had damaged his vocal chords as well.
“Just let me back this up and then wipe the system,” she said, not looking up at him as she got to work.
“Hurry.”
She saved her work to a USB drive that she tucked it down into her shirt between her breasts.
Lucky USB.
And he shook that thought away, annoyed it was there. The attraction was eating through his control.
Then she quickly implemented what he assumed was a doomsday code into the system.
“Let’s go, soldier,” she said, and then she turned and looked at him. Shock spread across her face. Her blue eyes widened, and then the expression softened.
Shit.
“Don’t,” he warned. “We have no time.”
She nodded, but he could tell she was still rattled by his presence and he didn’t blame her one bit. He was responsible for killing her brother, letting him die in the sewers on a mission gone wrong.
He was a monster.
“Come on,” he said gruffly.
“One more thing.” And she pulled out a gun similar to his, but not a Beretta.
He cocked an eyebrow. “That’s against company policy.”
She shrugged. “I’m Navy born and bred. Old habit.”
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He was impressed and he didn’t want to ask her what the purpose of the gun was, because she couldn’t fend off an attack from assailants on her own. Unless it was one guy, and terrorists worked in groups.
And then he had an inkling about the real use for the gun and the thought made him sick at the thought of her taking her own life, but also caused admiration. She was so strong. He’d forgotten.
“I love my brother, Jack, but he doesn’t own me. I’m not some innocent virgin you’re seducing. I want you, Jack, and I always get what I want.”
He shook that erotic memory from his mind. “Let’s go.”
He covered her as they used an escape route she’d been shown. One he didn’t even know about. Jack was pretty positive she was the only one who knew about it.
At least he hoped so.
They said nothing to each other as they moved through the dark passageway. Jack didn’t know what was at the other end, but he hoped Lisa did. He just covered her back as she led the way.
Lisa stopped and motioned to him that they were near the end of the passageway. Jack nodded and then glanced at his watch. They only had another forty minutes before they lost the cover of darkness.
The one downside of it being summer in Alaska and this far north was that they only had a couple hours of darkness. The rest was daylight. At least he knew the forests surrounding the lab. His SUV was hidden in the woods. It was armor plated and he could get her to the safe house, which was farther up the mountain.
It was all clear and they ran quickly across the open yard, keeping to the shadows until they reached the high electrical fence, which had been disabled.
“Go,” Jack urged, and he was thankful he didn’t have to explain too much to her. She knew exactly what to do. Lisa nodded and holstered her gun, climbing the ten-foot-high fence while Jack kept watch. No one came. He’d gotten to her in time; they were still looking for her inside the facility.
He heard the thud of her dropping to the other side and that’s when he holstered his gun and began to climb as quickly as his body would let him. Lisa was covering him from the other side of the fence.
And as he dropped to the ground beside her, he pulled back out his gun.
“The woods,” he said.
She nodded. “Lead the way.”
Jack picked up the trail. No one knew that he had his SUV hidden here. He drove another car to the lab. He always had a backup plan, an escape route that only he knew about. Ignoring the sting of mosquitoes, they moved through the underbrush up the side of the mountain. There was a rumble of thunder and he stopped to look back. Below them the lab burst into flames, before exploding.
“Jesus,” he whispered, and then grabbed Lisa, throwing her to the forest floor to get out of the way of debris, as the secret lab was wiped off the map.
Lisa cursed inwardly as she realized that she’d passed out when Jack had thrown her to the ground. The sun was rising and there were bits of burning underbrush all around them. Jack was lying on top of her still, but he was unconscious and she hoped it was from the force of the blast.
Oh my God.
With a heave, she pushed him so she could scramble out from under him. He was still breathing and she gave an inward sigh of relief, because even though she knew how to survive, she was so rattled she didn’t want to do this alone.
“Jack,” she said urgently, shaking him. “Jack!”
Jack roused. “How long I was down?”
“Not long.” She dragged a hand through her hair and when she glanced at her palm it was smudged with red.
He bolted upright. “You’re bleeding.”
“Not a lot, I think it’s superficial.”
“Let me see,” he said, ignoring her, gently probing her head, and being so close to him again after ten years of wondering what happened to him after he left the hospital, made her heart flutter. She missed him. “Yeah, just a scratch. You’ll be okay.”
“We have to get out of here.” Her voice was shaking.
She didn’t know the doomsday code would blow the lab to smithereens. She thought it was just supposed to wipe the computer system. That’s what Bio-Tek had told her when she first started this mission to infiltrate their system as an undercover agent. As a microbiologist she was hired to create a new biochemical weapon. She’d agreed to the black ops mission because Chem Agent 1157 had killed her brother. Her only family. She had nothing to lose.
The gun was given to her by the Navy, because they long suspected that one of their own was working with Bio-Tek and that the big pharmaceutical company was the one that created Chem Agent 1157.
She had proof that Bio-Tek was selling biochemical warfare, and although she hadn’t managed to smoke out the mole she had something better.
She had proof on the USB stick that they had, indeed created Chem Agent 1157, and that they had the antidote as well. Bio-Tek was a traitorous company and American soldiers were dying because of their greed. The escape route, the gun, were all part of her covert operation. And she knew that someone from the Omega team, also hired by the Navy on the suggestion of another covert agent deep in the Bio-Tek infiltration operation, was watching her.
The doomsday code was from Bio-Tek, but she had no idea that it would destroy the building. Obviously, Bio-Tek didn’t care who died to protect its secrets.
“You’re right. I have a vehicle,” Jack said. “Come on, we lost the cover of night. Scouts will come soon. They’ll be looking for your remains.”
She nodded and followed him through the brush, ignoring the pain of her protesting body. All that mattered was she get on the secure server and send the info to her commanding officers. The secure server would be at the safe house.
Hopefully Jack knew the way, but it would be hard to get to the nearest naval base from where they were, and Lisa knew the airports would be watched, so there was no way for her to get back to San Diego at this moment.
Oh God.
She shook away the fear that was coursing through her as she kept close to Jack. She knew what she’d signed on for.
It was all for Dane.
Dane did stuff like this, and this was to stop Chem Agent 1157 from destroying any more lives. Even Jack had been affected by it.
She could see the visible scars, but they were minimal. His voice had changed, but not that much. She knew there were deeper scars there. He wouldn’t see her after it happened, his whole platoon had been wiped out and he left the Navy, disappearing for a decade. It pissed her off he’d dismissed her.
How the Omega Team had managed to find him when she couldn’t, and recruit him, was something she’d have to ask him if she made it out of this thing alive.
Lisa lost track of time as they climbed up the mountain. Her body was running on adrenaline and she didn’t know how far they hiked.
Jack held up his arm and she stopped. They crouched in the underbrush, listening. The only sounds were of the forest. And, after an agonizing minute, Jack stood and then approached the hidden car, checking underneath for a bomb.
“All clear. Let’s get you out of here.” He uncovered his SUV and opened the door. She climbed in, over the driver’s seat and to the passenger side. Jack followed and turned the ignition. “Do you know where I’m to take you?”
She nodded and then punched in the GPS coordinates. Jack followed the directions, down off the mountain and to the north, out of the cover of the boreal forest. Lisa checked and the USB drive was still there; that’s when she let out a sigh of relief.
“You’re probably tired. Rest,” Jack said.
Only she didn’t want to rest. There were a million things she wanted to know. Mostly, where had he been hiding for the last ten years? Why was he hiding? And she wanted to know more about how her brother died.
She’d been denied that when Jack refused to see her.
“What do you mean he’s gone?” she asked.
“Crane took his honorable discharge and left, Lieutenant,” the petty officer in the human resources office said. “Not that he had much choice.”
“Where has he gone? Did he leave a forwarding address?” Lisa asked, dismayed.
“No, he didn’t. I’m sorry.”
Lisa went to his last known address, but his apartment was vacant. Everything he owned was gone except his dog tags, which she still wore around her neck with her own and her brother’s.
It was a reminder to never give up. To never leave anyone behind, like Jack had done.
When exhaustion and pain overtook her, she realized there would be time for her questions. They’d be hidden away in the safe house together for days until she could get extracted by her commander.
The close proximity to Jack and the heat they shared so long ago didn’t scare her, not one bit. Because when she saw him again, when she realized it was him, she knew her feelings for him were still as strong as ever.
Even with the superficial scarring, he was still as sexy as ever. And she could still remember the first time they’d been together. The things he made her feel, that no man had ever made her feel.
When he first found out she was Dane’s little sister, he tried to push her away but she persisted. That week they’d spent together had been the best she’d ever had, before or since. Their relationship was no strings, their service to their country came first, but still she’d never been able to shake Jack from her soul.
The memory of him was burned into her flesh.
And if he wanted her as much as she still wanted him, she wouldn’t say no to him.
Her fear was that he wouldn’t tell her anything. That he was just as stubborn and obstinate as when they first met. And she was afraid of what he’d do to her heart again, because when her brother died she’d turned to him for comfort, for answers, and got nothing.
That had hurt her.
It broke her heart when he disappeared.
So, she had lots of questions and she wasn’t going to let him go until she got the answers she needed. No matter how painful it was.