Chapter 11

"So she's the one, huh?" Nate asked.

The windshield wipers were working overtime and the edges of the streets were full of water, so it spewed up the side of the SUV as they sped down the road. Visibility wasn't great, and Nate slammed on his brakes at the last second when he realized the stoplight was red.

"She's always been the one," Cal said. "Things were just complicated."

"I figured as much," Nate said quietly. "You know we all knew something went down on that mission in Russia. Atticus did a little digging when you went a little nuts and cut your comm units. It didn't take him long to put the pieces together that Evie was the Black Lily and who we were looking for."

Cal blew out a breath, trying to release the tightness in his chest. "Why didn't anyone ever say anything?"

"To protect you and Evie," Nate said. "And to keep Lockwood from finding out. I don't think he would have handled it well, and it seemed like you had everything well in hand. I think Lockwood would have seen it as a betrayal and how he responded might have set her on a darker path. You did the right thing for her, Cal."

"Yeah, well it hasn't always felt like it. And she hasn't always thought so."

"She was just a kid," Nate said. "But I see the way she looks at you. Whatever happened between y'all in Russia has been forgiven."

"Now I just have to convince Atticus to give her a job. And if he knows the truth about her that might not be an easy task."

"Probably easier than you think," Nate said. "Atticus has been keeping tabs on her all these years just like you have. He knows her skills, and you know how he is. He'd hire her in a heartbeat just to keep her from going to the competition."

"Evie called Atticus a black ops matchmaker," Cal said. "I'm starting to think she might be right because you know I'm going to have to marry her. And it was Atticus that forced me to take this assignment."

"Please let me hear you call him that to his face," Nate said, laughing. "No mission could be more exciting than his reaction."

Evie shuffled the cards and then dealt another round. It made things a lot more interesting when both players cheated. And cheated well.

Eden's phone rang and she answered automatically. "Locke," she said.

"This is Agent James again. Agent Locke and Cruz just arrived and reassigned us to the house. We're to be your backup. Our ETA is about two minutes. He said you'll need to let us in through the gate."

"Roger that, James. See you in two minutes."

"As long as I can get out of this blasted rain I'm up for anything," James said.

She laughed. "You might need a canoe to get to the front door, but I promise it's dry inside."

"Are they finished already?" Evie asked after Eden had hung up.

"Replacement agents are on the way." Eden put her cards facedown on the table and got to her feet. Her gun had been sitting on the table next to her phone, so she picked it up and held it down at her side.

"Don't tell your father this, but all this glass is stupid," Eden said. "What good is a glass front door?"

"Your secret is safe with me," Evie said.

"Stand behind this wall here while I buzz them through the gate," she said. "We don't want to give anyone a clear shot at you, just in case."

"Just in case is fine with me." Evie followed her to the front door and stood behind the entry wall.

The intercom by the front door buzzed and Eden answered the call.

"This is the front gate," a voice said. "I've got an Agent James and Agent Carter here. Identifications check out."

"Let them through," Eden said. "Alert the agents next door of the shift change."

"Yes, ma'am," the guard said.

"It's hard to see anything out there," Eden said, turning off the lights in the entryway so she could see better. But the rain was heavy and they could barely see the sedan as it made its way down the drive. "They're pulling under the portico at the side. Big mistake. They should've pulled right in front of the door. They'll be soaked to the skin."

Evie peeked around the wall and watched as two dark figures in raincoats and hoods ran toward the cover of the front of the house.

"Company men," Eden said. "Looks like FBI standard issue. They're not known for being fun, but maybe we can beat them at cards."

Eden's gun was in her right hand and she moved to open the front door with her left. Evie's gut was screaming a warning the closer they got, and she saw how foolish the glass front door was, despite its beauty.

She was about to yell a warning when a shot rang and a hole appeared in the center of the tempered glass. Eden stumbled back and fired off several shots and one of the men went down.

Evangeline turned the deadbolts, knowing it wouldn't hold the other man off for long, and then she hit the alarm on her phone.

"Eden," she said, looking at the blood that soaked the woman's shirt.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Eden rolled to her hands and knees and stumbled to her feet. "Get moving. Go to plan B. Move!"

Evie grabbed Eden around the waist, leaving her gun hand free, and they took off for the back of the house and the beach. All she could do was pray for the rain to come harder, so visibility was difficult. Of course, that was a two-edged sword. They wouldn't be able to see Taber either. At least, she assumed it was Taber. She hadn't gotten a good look at his face.

"Who was the other guy?" Evie asked, her breath coming in shallow pants. "I thought Taber worked alone?"

"He does. He either paid someone to knock on the door so we wouldn't be suspicious, or he's taken on a partner for this job.

"I didn't recognize the man you shot and the other guy had his raincoat pulled up, so I didn't see his face."

"We've got to make it to the cove," Eden said. "Unless Taber knows specifically where it is he'll never find it. We'll be at our weakest when we go out those doors and are exposed on the beach. I'm hoping the rain will give us enough cover."

They made it out the sliding glass door at the back of the house in time to hear gunshots shatter the kitchen windows.

"Go! Go!" Eden said. "Stay hunched over and low. Make yourself a smaller target."

The storm slapped at them angrily, soaking them to the skin in an instant. Evie tightened her grip around Eden's waist when the woman stumbled, and she was worried about the amount of blood she'd lost. The wound was in the upper shoulder, but she needed to get pressure on it soon.

It was impossible to hear anything other than the rumble of the storm and her own heartbeat. And it seemed like an impossibly long way to the outcropping of rocks. But she followed Eden's instructions and they stayed low, moving into the wind. When she checked to see if anyone was behind them she could barely see past the length of her own arm. She just had to pray there was no one there. And if there was someone there, that he couldn't see her.

Eden stumbled again and went to her knees this time. "Keep going," she said. "I'll be right behind you."

Evie knelt down next to her and stripped off the tank top she wore, leaving her in nothing but her bra, but she figured it was no different than a bathing suit and life-or-death situations weren't the time to be modest. Wet fabric wasn't easy to work with, but she was at least able to put pressure on the wound. They stopped long enough for Evie to tie it around her shoulder and then she helped Eden get to her feet again.

"We're almost there," Evie said. "Keep moving."

"Nate is going to be so pissed. He doesn't like it when I get shot."

"Better shot than dead."

"Good point."

Thank God for bad weather.

When the panic alarm sounded they were only halfway to the restaurant, despite the fact that well over ten minutes had passed.

The sound was loud and shrill and Nate didn't hesitate. He spun the wheel and did a U-turn in the middle of an intersection. He pressed the pedal to the floor and sped back to the house.

They were both on their phones trying to contact Eden and Evie.

"No answer," Nate said, banging his fist on the dashboard.

"The alarm sounds to all the agents in the area," Cal said. "They'll be setting up a perimeter to keep him from leaving."

Cal couldn't remember time stretching the way it did in the moments between when the alarm sounded and when they screeched to a stop outside the gates of the mansion.

"Look there," Cal said, pointing to the two security guards that lay facedown in the water.

"The gate's jammed open," Nate said. "For an easy getaway. He wouldn't want to get trapped."

"That's a good sign." Cal took a breath of relief and tried to convince himself that everything was going to be all right. "It means he's still here somewhere."

Nate parked the SUV halfway down the drive, and they were both out with their weapons at the ready as they ran the rest of the way to the front of the house, using the palm trees for cover.

"Look there," Nate said.

"Silver BMW," Cal said, looking at the car parked under the side portico. "That takes some brass. He drove it right to the front of the house."

"It would've been hard to see with the rain like it is," Nate said. "But the good news is he's either dead or he's still here. I'll disable the car."

Once the BMW was missing a fuse to keep it from starting they made their way to the front door and the man who lay prone on the ground. He lay on his back, staring straight up, and there was a bullet hole in his throat and another in the chest.

"Eden's work," Nate said. "That's not Taber. Who is it?"

Cal recognized the man's face from the files he'd been poring over the last three days. "That's Jenson Walker. Former CEO of Boulder Corp. I guess we know who was behind the hit in the first place. Let's go. Taber is still unaccounted for. He got a shot off. There's blood on the floor."

"God," Nate said.

They tried the door but it was bolted from the inside. So they ran back to the SUV and headed around the side of the house.

"Where are the freaking agents?" Cal said, his finger tapping on the side of his weapon. "This place should be swarming."

"The closest neighbor is a mile down the road and they're all crammed in that guesthouse because of the weather. They should be pulling up any minute."

"Useless," Cal said. "And stupid of us to be tricked into leaving. How'd he get my number?"

"They've probably got the house wired or intercepted one of your previous calls. There are any number of ways to get unlisted numbers. Nothing is private with technology. I'm going to be really pissed if Eden got shot again. That woman is going to be the death of me."

Cal watched his friend as he sped toward the beach. His words and tone were calm, but his knuckles were white as he gripped the wheel and the pulse in the side of his throat was beating rapidly. They were both soaked to the skin, but the iciness of the rain was barely felt through the heat of their adrenaline.

"It doesn't matter how many missions we go on," Nate said. "The fear of losing her is real. I don't know how Atticus is coping. I'm not sure what I'd do if anything ever happened to Eden."

The wind rocked the car back and forth, and the wipers were fighting a losing battle. The off-road tires gripped the wet sand as they sped along the beach as far as they could before the rocks blocked them.

"Why was Jenson Walker here with Taber?" Nate asked. "We've got loads of intel on Taber and he's never taken on a partner before."

"He's never had a target guarded by trained operatives inside a compound," Cal said. "He had to make some adjustments so he could get the job done. Taber is a user. Which is why Walker is dead by the front door and Taber is still alive."

"I can't see anything," Nate said, coming to a stop. "He could be right on top of us. We need to move faster. I don't have a good feeling in my gut. Something is wrong."

"Leave me here," Eden said weakly. "I can wedge myself on the other side of that larger rock there. He'll never see me."

"You'll be in the water," Evie said. "Some of those waves will go over your head." Evangeline was worried. Really worried. Eden's color wasn't good and she was going in and out of consciousness. "The rocks are smoother closer to the lagoon. You can't stay here, so our only option is up. Get on my back."

Eden tried to laugh but she didn't have the energy. "I'm a good five inches taller than you. That's not going to work."

"Up and at 'em, Debbie Downer." Evie kept watch on the horizon, looking for Taber to appear like mist right in front of them. "You're not going to quit on my watch. If we can make it up to that ledge then I think we'll be hidden well enough without having to go down into the lagoon."

Eden nodded, but Evie could tell even that was a chore. "Just give me a boost." So Evie pulled her to her feet and steadied her.

Evie laced her fingers and braced herself for Eden's weight. She didn't think the other woman would have the upper body strength to pull herself up on the rocks, but Eden dug in and gathered resolve from somewhere because her fingers bit into the rocks and the muscles in her arms flexed as she pulled herself up.

"You got it," Evie encouraged, praying her wound wouldn't start bleeding badly again. Eden had already lost so much blood.

Salt spray stung Evie's eyes and wet ropes of hair felt like whips against her face as she climbed up behind Eden. The other woman half crawled, half dragged herself the rest of the way to the rougher rocks toward the top that hadn't been worn smooth from crashing waves.

Evie had to give it to her, she wasn't sure she'd have been able to keep going if she'd been in a similar situation. When they got to the top Evie wedged Eden between two large rocks. They couldn't get any wetter, but the cold was starting to set in and Eden's teeth were chattering. Her color had a gray tinge to it, and Evie could see her visibly trying to get control of her breathing.

"Don't worry about me," Eden said. "I've been here before. But I'm pretty close to passing out so I'm not going to be much use to you."

Evie nodded and tightened the makeshift bandage as best as she could. The bullet was still inside Eden, and she didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. There was no telling the kind of damage the bullet was doing inside. On the other hand, an exit wound would have made slowing the bleeding infinitely harder.

"Take this," Eden said, handing her the extra Glock. "Cal and Nate will be here soon. They'd see what happened at the house and go directly to plan B. You shouldn't have to wait long. Nate is going to be frantic. Tell him I told you I'm going to be okay."

And with that, Eden slowly faded out of consciousness, until her head slumped to the side and rested against the rocks.

Evie put two fingers against Eden's neck, just to make sure there was still a pulse, and she let out a breath of relief when she found it.

"Everything is going to be fine." She stood up and fumbled for the phone in her pocket to see if she had service, and that's when the bullet ricocheted off the rock next to her.

She lost her footing and tumbled back down the rocks to the sand, scraping her knees and elbows along the way. The gun fell from her grasp and landed in the sand a few feet away. The phone went in the other direction. She scrambled for the gun just as another bullet hit the rocks.

He must have gotten a glimpse of her when she'd stood up, but she didn't think he could see where she'd landed. She looked around, trying to get a glimpse of him, but she couldn't tell what direction the shots were coming from. The rain made it hard to see and to hear. Another shot hit the rocks, this one closer to the shore where she was. And then there was another higher up. His shots were wild, and she figured he was probably trying to get her to run. But the only place to run was back to the house and toward Taber. It was impossible to climb back up the rocks and then down the other side. Not without really hurting herself. That would have been a tenuous climb in perfect weather.

She kept low and shielded by the rocks. The weight of the gun in her hand felt good and familiar. He wanted her to move. To run. So she'd just wait him out. The key to survival was to not panic. She needed to think like her father had taught her to think.

She was a target. And she was just another job for Taber. Plain and simple. It wasn't personal. She'd just happened to be the unlucky person who could identify him and link him to Senator Biddle's murder. In her mind she knew it wasn't personal. But it sure as hell felt personal.

The next gunshot made her jump slightly, and then it was followed by a steady stream of gunfire. Pieces of rock flew in all directions, and she felt the sting as one of them sliced her cheek. She hoped to God Eden was hidden well enough so she didn't get caught in the crossfire.

Evie knew her options and time were up. He was moving closer, continuing to fire and then reloading his magazine. He'd eventually be right on top of her and then she'd be at a disadvantage. She could either sit there and wait for him to kill her with a lucky shot, or she could fire back in the general direction she thought the bullets were coming from.

Another bullet hit the rocks about ten feet over her head and she took a last deep breath and started firing. She immediately started moving at a fast pace, and she said every prayer she knew along the way, looking for the next place she could take cover.

She didn't know if it was an act of God or good luck, she wasn't one to question, but the rain slowed and the fog cleared just enough—a split second of time—for Taber's silhouette to be visible. She didn't hesitate to pull the trigger. There was no second-guessing in a life-or-death situation. And she kept pulling the trigger until the magazine was empty.

As fast as it stopped, the rain started again with a fierce gust of wind, the fog rolling off the ocean and onto the shore. Her heart pounded and the rain and salt stung her eyes. Her flesh was pebbled with cold and she only wore her bra and jeans. Her shoes had protected her feet from the rocks, but her body was scraped and bleeding in several places. She was starting to feel the pain. She wasn't exactly at her best. But she was alive. And that counted for something.

Only seconds later Cal and Nate were climbing over the first rock barrier and they were staring between her and Taber's body in wide-eyed shock.

"God, Evie," Cal said, stripping out of his jacket and wrapping it around her. "You're a mess." And then he pulled her in his arms and she buried her face in his neck. He was real. And she was real. And she was alive.

"Eden," Nate yelled. "Where is she?"

"The rocks at the top of the lagoon," Evie said. "She needs help. She's been shot. I'll take you there." She pulled back from Cal and then started the climb again, ignoring Taber's body. And then she led them to the place where she left Eden, finding her still slumped between the rocks.

"She took one in the shoulder and lost some blood," she told Nate.

Nate climbed the rocks with ease and was next to Eden in moments, feeling for the pulse in her neck.

"She told me to tell you that she's going to be fine," Evie said.

Nate nodded and checked beneath the makeshift bandage, looking at the wound. "She's been trained to withstand trauma to her body. But it's not a practice that should get too much use in a person's lifetime."

"Do you need help getting her down?" Cal asked.

"I'll carry her down and hand her off to you at the bottom, and then I'm going to get her to the hospital. The bleeding has turned sluggish and her pulse is strong, but she's going to need a couple pints. And the bullet is still in there from what I can tell. I didn't find an exit wound."

Nate lifted Eden and climbed down as best he could with her tucked under one arm, and when he reached the lowest ledge he handed her gently down to Cal. They got her loaded in the SUV, Nate saluted them goodbye, and then they sped away.

There were lights everywhere around the house, and flashing lights and cars seemed to be coming in from all directions.

"She'll be okay?" Evie asked as they made their way back toward the house and the chaos ensuing there. She couldn't wait to get out of the rain. In fact, she would be okay if she never saw rain again.

"She'll be fine," Cal said. "Eden's tough. She's been through worse than this."

Her legs were shaking uncontrollably by the time they waded through wet sand to the long, bricked walkway back toward the house. When they reached the pool she sat down hard on one of the loungers under a cabana, so she could at least get out of the rain.

Cal sat next to her and pulled her into his lap.

"Sorry," she said. "I just needed to sit down a second. I'm not sure I can put one foot in front of the other."

"EMTs are on the way to check you out," he said. "Some of those scratches look deep. You might need some stitches."

"I'm fine," she said. "Nothing a hot shower and a couple of Band-Aids won't fix."

"You scared the hell out of me," Cal said. "The closer we got, all I could hear was gunfire. It sounded like a war zone."

"It felt like one." She laid her head against his shoulder and he held her while her body processed the adrenaline and her shaking subsided. "I need to tell you something."

"I need to tell you something too," he said.

"I need to go first."

"Okay."

"I grew up loving you," she said. "From the time I was eight years old I could never see myself loving anyone but you. I couldn't even dream of myself growing old with anyone but you. And then for a time I told myself I hated you. I told myself you were rejecting the real me, who I was meant to be. So I told myself I would never love a man who couldn't accept the real me. I told myself I hated you."

"Evie," he said, and she could hear the anguish in his voice.

"But I know that you were protecting me. And telling myself I hated you and actually hating you are two different things. It's hard to destroy that childhood love. I think it must be the strongest thing in the world. I thought my heart would shatter the day I found out you got married. In every girlish fantasy I'd ever had, it was always me standing next to you in white."

"It should have been," Cal said softly. "We've both made mistakes. It's what we do going forward that matters."

"I know," she said. "Which is why I need you to know that I forgive you. And I never stopped loving you."

"Thank God," he said. "Because I was prepared to do whatever I needed to convince you. I love you. Everything about you. Including that twenty-year-old girl who was starved for attention. If I'd been another kind of man I would have taken you with me and we'd have wreaked havoc on the whole world."

"But you're not another kind of man," she said. "You're a good man. One of the best. And I love you more because of it."

"I have a proposal to make," he said.

Evie gasped and her head jerked up in surprise.

"No, not that kind of proposal," Cal said, grinning. "At least not yet. This isn't the time or the place. Though I'm wanting to know if that gasp was good or bad. You seemed a little taken off guard."

"What's your proposal?" she asked, shaking her head.

"I'm willing to bet that your father and Atticus are on the way as we speak," he said.

Evie groaned, dropping her head to his shoulder. "I don't think I can face my father right now. I love him. And I know he loves me in his way. But I'm not up to confronting him about the choices he made. And I'm not up for the argument that is going to happen when he finds out you're making nefarious proposals to his daughter."

"Hey, you don't even know what the proposal is yet," he said. "How do you know it's nefarious?"

"Because I know you," she said, smiling slightly.

"Fine," he said. "It's nefarious. Why don't we get in the car and go? Right now. I've got a safe house about twenty miles from here where we can stop and clean up. And then I've got a catamaran in the Charleston harbor that I haven't gotten to sail near enough."

"I'd need to pack," she said. "There's no way we can disappear before my father gets here."

He stood up and helped her to her feet. "I'm a determined man with a nefarious proposal. I can do anything I set my mind to. We'll pick up clothes along the way. All you're going to need is a bathing suit anyway."

She snorted out a laugh and followed him through the shadows. "I'm sure that's not all I'll need. Where will we go? How will we get out of here?"

"You ask a lot of questions," he said. "Where's your spontaneity?"

"I'm more of a planner."

"Ahh, I hear there's one in every couple," he said. "Good thing you're with me so you can loosen up some. As for your questions, I was thinking Australia. And as for getting out of here, we're going to get in my car and I'm going to tell everyone I'm taking you to the hospital."

"Sounds like you've thought of everything," she said. "It just so happens I've got some time off, and I've never been to Australia. But you know they'll find us."

"Maybe so, but they'll leave us in peace. At least for a while."

He opened the garage bay and took the keys from the hook on the wall inside before opening the passenger door for Evie. Then he got behind the wheel and started the car, drawing looks from a couple of the agents that were combing the grounds.

"Why will they leave us in peace?" she asked.

"Because Atticus knows when to pick his battles where his agents are concerned. He was my team leader for a long time. He'll keep your father at bay. But we'll eventually have to face him."

"Eventually," she said with a sigh. "But maybe we can wait until we have a couple of kids first. That ought to get him used to the idea of you seducing his daughter and dragging her halfway across the world."

He laughed and drove out of the garage and toward the front gate that had been left open for Taber's escape. A couple of agents tried to flag him down, but he'd never answered to the FBI and he wasn't going to start now.

"It sounds like you've got a nefarious proposal of your own," he said.

She grinned and winked at him. "Baby, you have no idea."