Hard Night Read online

  “Okay,” she said, doing a last-minute double check to make sure the Sig was resting securely in the waistband of her skirt, at the small of her back. “I’m ready.”

  She turned to find Jacob at the motel window, angling himself to look out through the drawn curtains.

  His massive figure was very still, the set of his broad shoulders tense. He was dressed once again in a black T-shirt and black combat pants, every inch the lethal weapon he was.

  Goose bumps rose on her skin, her heart beating faster.

  Jesus. Now was not the time to be contemplating all the things she’d like to do to this man given another couple of days of complete privacy and an extra big bed to do them in. Not that she needed the bed.

  Though it was weird to still be so completely obsessed with him when their shower/interrogation session had ended with her—unsurprisingly—telling him everything he wanted to know about her plan to locate Joshua. Admittedly, she hadn’t tried very hard to hold out and he had been very persuasive. In fact she was surprised the shower stall was still standing after he’d finished “interrogating” her.

  The memory of his hard, almost brutal brand of fucking left her mouth dry. Who’d known she liked it rough? Not that it came as any great surprise, all things considered.

  They both liked a fight and in the end, she liked to surrender while he liked to win. It worked perfectly for both of them, since essentially, they both ended up winning.

  They’d had to get serious after that though, because he hadn’t liked her plan, hadn’t liked it one bit. Being bait for a bunch of shady motherfuckers running guns—his words—was not what he had in mind for her. He preferred to wait since there was a lead he was following up, that he should hopefully get more intel on soon.

  But she didn’t want to wait.

  Impatience and worry were beginning to eat away at her, the stress of not knowing whether Josh was alive or dead making her restless.

  She had to know. She had to know whether she’d killed her friend.

  Teaming up with Jacob on this had seemed logical, though there was still a part of her that wasn’t sure about it. Trust was something that was difficult for Joanna and even though Faith trusted Jacob, she wasn’t sure that Joanna did, even now.

  But she didn’t have a choice. She either let him in on her plans or she tried to get away from him again, and since another escape attempt would only waste more time, including him seemed the best option.

  She’d planned on returning to the 11th Hour HQ as Faith, to get the people after her out in the open, but he’d flatly refused, not wanting to give away the rest of the team’s location or put everyone else at risk.

  She understood that, but unless they spent the day ostentatiously driving around San Diego in Jacob’s very distinctive limo, there wasn’t much else they could do to announce her arrival back in the city.

  “Problem?” she asked, when he didn’t say anything.

  “Maybe.” He didn’t turn. “There’s a car out on the street that wasn’t there last night. And there’s a guy in it reading the paper.”

  She moved over to the other window, peering out through a gap in the curtains and immediately spotting the car Jacob was talking about.

  A nondescript silver sedan, the driver seemingly absorbed in the sports section of the paper.

  Nothing out of the ordinary.

  Except that every so often the guy would look up and glance out the window. He was wearing sunglasses, which made it difficult to spot where he was looking, but she’d bet a million bucks it was at the motel.

  Where they were.

  “I was sure I wasn’t followed last night.” Jacob’s voice was low. “Clearly I was wrong.”

  She didn’t question his instincts about the car, mainly because she was getting the same vibe. It wasn’t anything tangible, just a sense of threat that set every military instinct she had on high alert.

  “I didn’t see anyone at your house,” she said quietly. “I checked.”

  “No. They must have tracked me from the airport.”

  She squinted at the car. “They want to see if you’re going to lead them to me, I guess.”

  “Undoubtedly.”

  “Why do you think they left it this long? They could have taken us while we were sleeping last night.”

  Jacob stepped back from the window. “Probably waiting for reinforcements.” His smile was full of menace. “They won’t want to tackle me without a small army at their back.”

  She grinned. “You’re not that dangerous. I took you on all by myself.”

  He went over to the coffee table, picking up the assault rifle she’d liberated from his house, and checking it over with practiced movements. “And who was the one screaming in the end?”

  Annoyingly, she felt her cheeks heat. “Next time it’s your turn.”

  “You can certainly try.” He lifted the AR. “You brought more ammo, I assume?”

  “Naturally.” She moved to the bed and bent to pull the bag she’d brought with her out from under it before dumping it on the mattress. “It’s all in there.”

  Jacob gave a short nod. He stared down at the AR a second, then came over to the bed, putting the weapon in the bag. “I’m going to go out to talk to our well-read friend. You stay here.”

  “Wait.” She reached out and put a hand on his arm, her heart beating weirdly fast for some reason. “Let me go. It’s me they’re after, remember?”

  Jacob’s deep-set eyes glittered. “Yes. Because they want you dead. He might shoot you on sight.”

  “And they won’t shoot you?”

  The feral smile on his face faded, became something warmer. “Concerned for my safety, Ms. Beasley?”

  It was strange to discover that actually, yes, she was. But there were other things she was concerned about too.

  Such as her initial plan. It had involved using the only leverage she had to prevent them killing her outright and that was gambling on the fact that they would want information about Jacob Night.

  Information only she had.

  But she wasn’t so sure she wanted to do that now. He’d trusted her and betraying that trust felt . . . wrong. Yet what else did she have that would preserve her life and at the same time get her the information she wanted about Josh?

  Unless Jacob had another plan.

  “I might be,” she said. “I might also be concerned about what you might say.”

  “Why? You think I’d give you up in return for Joshua?” He asked the question so casually, she almost didn’t quite understand it.

  And then she did.

  Something inside her went very tight and still. Was it a good thing that the thought he might betray her hadn’t entered her head? Or was that a bad thing? A sign of naïveté?

  His expression gave nothing away.

  Damn him. She didn’t want to ask, she really didn’t. Not when asking it would reveal so much.

  Yet she couldn’t help herself. “I don’t know, would you?”

  Unexpectedly, his hand came out to cup her cheek, his palm warm. “You’re forgetting something, sweet girl. You’re mine. And what’s mine, stays mine.”

  Her chest was tight, tension gathering inside her.

  How can you trust him?

  The whisper in her head was soft, but it was there and she heard it. The part of her that was Joanna, who trusted no one and most especially not a man.

  He’d sell her out, because they all did in the end. The men her mother attached herself to, who said they’d never hurt her and yet did. The superior officers who were supposed to treat you like any other soldier yet didn’t. And the friends who said that you could trust them, but you couldn’t.

  Something in her hardened. No, she couldn’t trust him.

  But maybe there was a way around it. A way that would get them what they both wanted. Jacob wouldn’t like it though. Then again, they didn’t have a lot of choice.

  “I have an idea.” She put her hand over his where it rested
on her cheek. “But you’re not going to like it.”

  He gave her an assessing look. “If it involves me giving you to them then no, it’s not—”

  “Wait,” she interrupted. “Hear me out.”

  “Give me one good reason.”

  “This is the quickest way to find out what happened to Joshua.”

  The look in his eyes was impenetrable. He said nothing.

  “The bug you put in my clothes,” she went on, determined. “How easy is it to detect?”

  “Almost impossible. It’s new tech and you need special scanners to find them.” His gaze narrowed. “If you’re going to tell me that—”

  “I want to go with my original plan,” she interrupted. “I want to give myself up to them.”

  His expression hardened, his hand dropping from her cheek. “Not happening,” he said, his voice flat with certainty. “I’m not sending you—”

  “You’re not sending me anywhere,” she interrupted yet again, irritated. “This was what I was going to do anyway.”

  “No.”

  Goddamn stupid man.

  She shoved her annoyance down. “Think about it, Jacob. Going straight for them is the fastest way to get information. And I have information they’re going to want. I can make them listen.”

  “No.” The word landed as heavily as a boulder dropping off a ten-story building. “I’m awaiting confirmation of a particular man’s identity. One of those pricks after you might be someone I know. In which case you’re not going anywhere near him.”

  It was her turn to narrow her gaze at him. “Who?”

  “Not yet. I need confirmation first. But if it is who I think it is, then this whole situation is a lot more complicated than we initially thought. And that means you need to stay clear.”

  Jesus. The man was the most stubborn asshole she’d ever met.

  “I’m not just Faith, remember?” She stared hard at him. “I was a Ranger, Jacob. I know what I’m doing.”

  He moved, lightning fast and fluid, her jaw suddenly gripped in one powerful hand, his black eyes inches from hers. “And you’re mine.” His deep voice was full of rough darkness and heat. “Which means you stay out of this where I can keep you safe.”

  She knew that look on his face. Once he’d made a decision about something he never changed it. And it was obvious he’d made a decision now.

  Well, luckily for her she didn’t need his permission.

  What she needed was to find Joshua and going straight to the people who’d employed him seemed the most obvious answer. Dangerous, yes, and sure, that’s why Jacob was being a dick about it. She got that. Protecting people was always what Jacob Night had been about, whether he realized it or not. But she wasn’t one of those who needed his protection. Faith, yes, but this was a situation that called for her armor.

  This called for Joanna.

  “Fine,” she snapped, and didn’t need to manufacture the anger in her voice. “I guess I’m staying here then.”

  “Damn straight.” He bent his head, covered her mouth in a hard kiss that left her breathless. Then he let her go, turning to the bed. “Now, where are the—”

  She didn’t pause for thought. Surprise was the only advantage she had when it came to a fight with him and she took it without hesitation.

  Drawing the Sig from the small of her back, she hit him hard over the back of the head with it. The strike would have put a lesser man out cold, but Jacob only jerked, cursed, then began to turn. So she hit him again, harder, and this time he dropped down onto the bed and didn’t move.

  Shit. Had she hit him too hard?

  Her heart hammering, she bent and laid her fingers over the warm skin of his throat. His pulse beat there, strong and sure, making relief curl through her. Ah, God, but there was blood in his black hair from where she’d hit him.

  Pain tightened in her gut, but she pushed it aside.

  “I’m sorry,” she said aloud, even though he couldn’t hear her. “I know you don’t want me to do this, but I have to find Joshua. I have to know whether I . . . killed him or not.” Her fingers moved to his cheek, stroking over the rough prickliness of his morning beard, unable to resist the urge to touch him. “And if he’s alive . . . Well.” Her fingers stilled. “I’ll bring him back to you, I promise.”

  For a second she remained there, staring down at him, the pain in her gut moving outward, morphing into a heaviness in her chest that she had no idea what to do with.

  But she had to move. Once he woke up, he’d make sure she wouldn’t get this opportunity again.

  So she turned and headed straight to the door of the motel unit and pulled it open. Then, keeping the Sig held down low at her side, she moved quickly toward the car with the man reading the newspaper inside it.

  He looked up, saw her, began to reach for something, but by that stage she was at the car, the muzzle of her gun pointing directly at him.

  She smiled and gestured to the window.

  There was a pause and slowly the man rolled the window down.

  “Tell your employers I want to talk to them,” she said shortly. “Tell them I have information they might want. Information about Jacob Night.”

  CHAPTER 16

  Jacob woke up with a crashing headache and the sense that he’d done something really fucking stupid.

  He was lying on the bed in the motel unit and he knew pretty much instantly that he was alone.

  Faith fucking Beasley, that beautiful little bitch, had knocked him out for the second time in twenty-four hours.

  Christ, he could get away with it once. But twice? Yeah, that was starting to look like carelessness.

  He cursed under his breath, rolled over, then pushed himself up.

  Sure enough, the room was empty. She was gone.

  And he didn’t need to think too hard about where she might have taken off to.

  Gritting his teeth against the pain in his skull, he pushed himself off the bed and strode to the window, pulling aside the curtain. Sure enough, the car that had been waiting in the street was gone.

  His heart squeezed painfully tight.

  He’d told her that she wasn’t going to act on her stupid plan and she’d gone ahead and done it anyway. And now she’d given herself up to those fucking assholes and he wasn’t there to protect her.

  Fuck.

  His chest began to ache, but he couldn’t afford to think about that right now. What he had to think about was his next move, because the quicker he acted the better.

  Luckily, he had an idea about what he was going to do already.

  He got out his phone and opened the tracking app, trying not to pay any attention to the dread that curled around his heart. An image came up, a map of San Diego with a red light blinking in the middle of it. The red light was Faith and she must be in a car since the light was traveling at speed.

  She was alive. There were the heart rate and body temperature readings and they were completely normal. The bugs he’d put in her clothing were operating, feeding him back information the way they’d done when he’d followed her after she’d escaped the bunker.

  The relief that caught at him almost stole his breath, but he didn’t allow himself to give in to it.

  Instead he kept moving, packing up all the personal shit he could find in the unit, then doing a quick check of the outside to make sure no one else was lurking around. Seemed clear so he pulled on a hoodie, tugging the hood down low, then stepped out of the unit. He went and paid the bill, then took the bike he’d arrived on early that morning and headed straight into the city.

  He parked in a hidden back alley, doing another check around to make sure the coast was clear, before moving to a heavy steel door that was locked and chained shut. Quickly he undid the chains—they were purely for show—then pushed aside a faded poster sticking to the brick wall, uncovering the camera and keypad that unlocked the door.

  One retinal scan later and the door opened.

  Jacob strode through, shutting it beh
ind him before moving down a short, dim corridor to another door. This one was also locked and needed another retinal scan to open it.

  Once he’d unlocked it, the door opened soundlessly and Jacob stepped through it into a huge, vaulting space. The interior of a building that had been gutted, nothing but air between him and the ceiling four floors above him.

  The space had been sectioned off with furniture, a gym area with all the equipment to his left, a living area with couches and chairs to his right. Ahead of him was a cluster of desks covered in computer screens and keyboards and various computer-related paraphernalia.

  The 11th Hour HQ.

  A small group of people clustered around one of the desks, looking at a computer screen. A woman with long, curly brown hair was seated in the middle of them directly in front of the screen, while a tall blond man stood just behind her, his hand resting possessively on her shoulder. Sabrina and Kellan, the 11th Hour computer hacker and one of his top field agents respectively. Another woman, small and blond and pretty, stood on Sabrina’s other side frowning at the screen. A second tall man was standing behind her, resting his palms on her head, which seemed to irritate her intensely. The man was dark and scarred, and paid no attention to her irritation. Jack, a former marine, and his fiancée, Callie, the ex-socialite he’d rescued.

  Right behind Sabrina stood another man, older, with a salt-and-pepper beard and a hard cast to his face. Isiah, the 11th Hour commander.

  His team, all present and accounted for.

  Except for Faith.

  The ache in Jacob’s chest grew deeper. He ignored it.

  Suddenly Isiah glanced around in his direction, even though Jacob hadn’t made a sound coming through the door, and went absolutely still.

  Everyone else seemed to pick up on it, all of them turning and looking at Jacob.

  A deathly silence fell.

  “Good morning, team,” Jacob said, lifting his hands and pulling back his hood. “I have a job for you.”

  They stared at him, varying degrees of shock on their faces.

  No one bar Kellan had ever seen him so they wouldn’t know what he looked like. But they knew his voice. Oh yes, they knew.