CHAPTER 16
When the elevator doors opened into the lobby, Trey took Carly’s hand and led her out onto the sidewalk without looking left or right. Making eye contact with an employee might inspire them to try and help them. There was nothing Trey wanted from any employee of the target’s hotel.
Outside, he could feel the anxiety radiating off Carly and kept a tight hold on her hand so she wouldn’t sprint down the road, heels and all.
He couldn’t blame her. He wouldn’t breathe freely again until they were landing on US soil, but every step away from the hotel lightened the feeling of his burden, that burden being getting Carly home safely.
They walked silently for about a block before he stopped in front of none other than a McDonald’s.
Quintessential American fast food in the middle of Kosovo. Go figure.
In addition to the chain restaurants, Pristina, like any other capital city, had no shortage of taxis. Trey had no trouble hailing a cab to take them to the airport. Once inside the car, he took out the untraceable disposable cell phone he’d been given by Matt and called the pilot to make sure the jet would be ready and waiting when they arrived.
Trey’s feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop didn’t dissipate until they were on the private jet and in the air. Then the other issue on his mind had time to surface. Carly and the fact this op was over and so were they.
He knew Matt, most likely dressed as a maintenance man, had swept the aircraft and radioed to Trey it was clean so there was no further excuse for him to delay this conversation with Carly. He gathered every bit of professionalism in his being, even sitting straighter while strapped in next to her in the plane’s seat.
Measuring his words carefully, Trey focused on keeping his voice even as he said, “We need to go over a few things regarding the op.”
She turned and looked at him. “Okay.”
“We need to talk about last night.”
That caused her to pause a bit before nodding. “All right.”
He found himself staring at the magazine in her lap like it was the most interesting thing in the world before he wrestled his eyes up.
Trey cleared his throat. “I need confirmation you’re on birth control.”
Her eyebrows rose sharply. “Excuse me?”
“I need con—”
“I heard what you said.” Gone was the casual demeanor. In its place one angry-looking woman.
“Carly. It’s important.”
“What was last night about? Really?” she asked.
“The mission.” The lie flowed smoothly off his tongue, just like he’d been trained.
“The mission? And that’s it?”
Trey nodded. “The mission.”
He saw the pain cross her face before she looked away.
Swallowing hard, he tried to clear the lump from his throat. “You didn’t answer my question. Are you on any sort of birth control?”
Her head swiveled sharply toward him. “That detail is not part of this mission.”
“Yes, actually it is. We had unprotected sex in the course of this operation.”
Twice.
“Just forget it ever happened.”
Forget about it. Yeah, not likely.
He shook his head and let out a deep breath. “If you don’t answer me now, you’ll just have to answer the commander when we return, right before he sends you to Medical.”
The look she shot him was filled with hate. “Fine. I haven’t had sex in over two years, Trey. So no, I’m not using the pill or anything else for birth control. What would be the point since when I’m not ordered to by the US military, I don’t normally sleep around?” She went back to staring blindly at the same magazine page open in her lap since this conversation had begun.
She obviously hated him now.
That was probably for the best. Safer for all involved. Trey could stay professional in the face of anger. If she cried, her tears would break him.
“I’ll arrange to have the morning after pill waiting for you when we land.”
Carly, still not looking at him, blushed bright red. “I’ll take care of things myself.”
“Standard operating procedure states in cases such as this—”
She spun on him. “Exactly how long will the military be in control of my personal life from this one favor I was stupid enough to agree to?”
“As soon as we land, we’ll go over the mission details with the commander on base. After we get you the pills, you’ll be free to go.” Trey tried to make it all sound routine, even though nothing felt routine to him right now. “The sooner you take it the better. Matt can arrange to have a prescription waiting for you when we get back.”
“Matt?” Her tone had risen high.
Uh, oh. That got her attention. “You knew he was on surveillance for this op. I told you before we landed.”
Her eyes narrowed, her seething anger and hatred clear. “He wasn’t just listening to us on that thing in your ear, was he? He could see us too, couldn’t he?”
He didn’t want to answer that question but he had no choice. “Yes.”
Her eyes narrowed further. “Now it all makes sense. Dance for me. Face the mirror. Spread your legs for me, baby. You were putting me on display. Tell me, Trey. How many were in the audience for your little lecherous peep show last night?”
There was so much truth in Carly’s accusations, Trey felt sick to his stomach. “Too many and I’m sorry, but it wasn’t my choice and it was absolutely necessary.”
That, at least, was true for the first half of the night. The second half she was totally right about. He was a letch.
There had been no reason for him to make love to her in the dark after Jimmy had already been rescued, except for the fact he’d wanted to.
That was something he could never tell her. He needed to maintain a strictly professional relationship with her, then maybe she’d be able to pick things up in her life, and with Jack, as if nothing had happened.
“Necessary?” Her tone reached a new level that told him exactly how unhappy she was. “Why? Why was it necessary, Trey?”
He hesitated, deciding what he could and couldn’t reveal. “We saved a man’s life last night, Carly.”
She crossed her arms and stared at him. “Forgive me if I don’t understand how what we did last night saved a life.”
Trey owed her an explanation, even if he was treading a fine line regarding the rules. “This information can’t leave this plane, but Jack’s brother was being tortured in the basement of our hotel. We provided the distraction that allowed his escape. That’s all I can tell you and I shouldn’t have even told you that much. I truly hope it’s enough.”
He watched her react as the expression of her face changed from anger to shock to understanding.
She was quiet for a moment before she spoke again. “Did your commander watch us too?”
“Um . . .” Trey wasn’t sure about that answer.
The rest of the team, except for Matt on surveillance and Jack because he was too close to the situation, would have been occupied getting Jimmy out. The commander, however, could have very well been sitting there watching the video feed of both the guards in the basement and their room upstairs.
Good thing Trey hadn’t thought of that last night.
“No, Trey.” Matt’s voice filled his ear. “The commander was on sight with the team.”
Carly still watched him, waiting for his answer.
Relieved, Trey relayed that news. “He didn’t see.”
She still didn’t look happy. “Will he?”
“I don’t see any reason why he should need to watch it.” Unless the commander wanted to see if he and Carly had somehow compromised their cover and sent the target running. Though most likely he ran because of Jimmy’s escape, not anything they’d done in their room. Trey couldn’t tell her any of that so he left it alone.
“Will the recording of us be shown at the next boys’ night out so you can all laugh about it?”
Ow. That one hurt.
“No, Carly. Matt’s a professional. We’re all professionals.” Thinking about his sliding into her the second time for no good reason didn’t make him feel very professional.
She let out a big sigh. “If you could arrange for the pills, I’d be willing to take them.”
He nodded. “Okay. Thank you.”
Matt was obviously still eavesdropping, since his voice filled Trey’s ear once again as he said, “I’ll take care of it, Trey.”
Nothing like living life on constant display.
Trey should tell her the rest too, though he had a feeling it wasn’t going to be pretty. “Carly, there’s one more thing.”
When she spun her head to face him again, he saw the weariness in her. They both needed a good night’s sleep. She looked like she couldn’t take much more on her shoulders right now and he was about to dump more on top of her.
How he would love to say never mind and forget about the whole thing. Unfortunately, he couldn’t. She needed to hear this.
“He wasn’t supposed to be there, but Jack walked in and saw the live feed of us last night.” Trey felt like he needed to explain and apologize even though there wasn’t anything he could have done about it. “I’m pretty sure it was only for a few seconds before Matt got him out of there, but I thought you would want to know. I’m sorry.”
She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Yeah, me too.”