Had she been a whore or a very good mercenary? What the f**k was going on?
A part of her was screaming that she should run to Travis, that she should talk to him, confide in him.
Black Jack. It was a code name.
She fought to still the rapid beating of her heart, the fear that raced through her like a locomotive tearing out of control. She felt her breathing constrict, felt the warning flashing in her mind that she couldn’t trust Travis any more than she could trust Santos Bahre, Rhiannon McConnelly, or Jordan Malone.
And yet another part of her was demanding that she do just that. That she trust him, possibly with her life.
I’ll be here for you, Lilly. His voice whispered through her mind, seductive, alluring. But what she sensed about that voice was anything but seductive and alluring.
As she fought to pull those memories free, a sharp ache sliced through her temples as though in retaliation.
Dropping her head, Lilly pressed her fingers to the sides of her head and fought to breathe through the pain.
The headaches had been common the first month after she had been shot. The memories she had lost had seemed to be closer at that time as well.
Turning, she stared into the mirror and gazed into the same unfamiliar face—which was at the same time familiar.
Reaching up she touched the arch of her brow, the slender line of her nose, the curve of her lips.
She was becoming more accustomed to this new face, as though a part of her was finally accepting the changes.
Wild, her father had always called her. A woman poised on the edge of danger. And she had always laughed at him.
Going to the closet, she opened the door, stepped inside, and moved to the back. There, she had hidden a smaller suitcase inside a larger suitcase. She had found the small suitcase in the storage shed where she’d kept the motorcycle.
There was cash, bank records and checks, an alternate ID and credit cards, as well as a lethal Glock and a dozen clips of ammo. She had been prepared for trouble. A call girl wouldn’t have done something like that; only an agent or a criminal covered their ass in such a way.
She tucked all but the weapon and the cash in a compartment of her suitcase. The weapon, clips, and cash she kept in the small leather bag and moved back to her bedroom to pull one of the outfits she had found in the storage shed from the back of the bureau.
She would keep herself busy during the day today. Lunch with her mother and her mother’s friends. A meeting later to discuss the charity ball her mother co-hosted each summer.
But night was coming. Lilly could feel the restlessness surging inside her as well as a need to learn more about herself.
Hagerstown was familiar to her, as well as the surrounding area. There were pieces of herself here, she could feel it. She had planted parts of herself here, close to the area her family called home for several months out of the year.
Lilly needed to find those parts of herself. She had to find them, before the confusion and the need drove her insane.
It was midnight, Lilly’s time of night. Travis waited on the street down from the gated property Lilly and her family were staying at, one leg folded over the breast of the bike, his elbow resting on his knee.
She was the restless type. The information she had received the night before as well as the confrontation with Santos and Rhiannon would push the buttons inside her that would send her searching.
Rhiannon predicted Lilly would hide for a while, that as a former agent she would sense that she shouldn’t venture out quite yet. Travis knew better. He had trained Lilly. He had forced her to have patience during the months she had undergone the psychiatric evaluations.
He’d taught her how to deceive her commanders, how to hide her true self. He was an agent, he knew the dangers inherent in the type of work they were doing.
He trusted Jordan. His own commander had proven himself. He couldn’t say the same for Santos and Rhiannon. They had created a cover for their agents that had never sat well with Travis or his sense of decency. Their girls were delicate, beautiful, better hidden than displayed. But they had placed them in the eye of danger in order to shield the agents they were often paired with.
They were a commodity to their commanders, nothing more.
Rubbing at the short growth of beard at his chin, Travis considered the best course of action in the coming game.
Travis knew Lilly knew more than she was letting on.
He also knew that she would realize that he wouldn’t betray her, despite the appearance that he had done so with Santos and Rhiannon.
She had been shocked, furious, but he had also seen fear in her eyes. The fear that the investigator’s report was true. A fear that somehow she had been the person described in that report.
It wouldn’t take her long to piece the information together now, and Santos and Rhiannon knew that. And that made Travis wonder what the f**k they were up to.
The sound of gates easing open had his head turning. There, emerging between the slowly opening gates, was the gleaming black front fender of Lilly’s powerful Ninja.
He pulled the helmet from the back of his own machine, eased it on, and strapped it beneath his chin before activating the Bluetooth communication set within it.
It was connected to Lilly’s, a precaution they had begun using several years ago to ensure security when they met. He watched as she parked the bike, eased the gates closed, then ran back to the machine to straddle it.
She pulled the wicked black helmet over her head, tucked her hair inside, and secured it.
Travis chose that moment to strike.
“Are you ready to ride, Lilly?”
She froze. Across the distance Travis could sense her searching, finding, staring back at him.
“What do you want?” Wariness filled her voice.
“You,” he answered her. “Are you following me or do I follow you?”
She didn’t answer. The powerful engine kicked in. Travis followed suit and started his own bike with a flick of his wrist.
He was ready when she moved. She shot ahead of him like a rocket, a black shadow burning down the road, her lithe body lying over the breast of the bike, shifting and flexing with innate grace.
“It looks as though I’m following you then,” he commented through the link.
“If you can.” There was a chill to her voice that had a hint of concern brewing inside him.
“Easy, Lilly.” He kept his voice casual, soothing. “I’m not a threat to you.”
How many years had he worked to gain her trust? Definitely the entire time Elite One had been training her team. A full year. And during that time he had laid the foundation that he’d only built upon in the years after that.