Eyes too big for her pale face. Hair that had been darkened from its natural color. And in those eyes, he had seen the fear, the courage, and the hopelessness she had begun feeling.
“It was Ascarti, Tehya. It was Gregor Ascarti.”
CHAPTER 18
Gregor Ascarti.
He was a child’s bogeyman. He was the voice from the dark whispering her name with vicious amusement.
Come out, come out wherever you are, little girl. Daddy’s waiting. But first Uncle Gregor gets a sweet taste of you … and then laughter. That evil, demonic sound that she remembered echoing through her head as Boyd covered her mouth with his large hand, covered her young body with his own, and fought to protect her the only way he knew how.
The night they had been forced to run, they had nearly been caught. Tehya had been only twelve, gangly, always nervous, always certain the bogeyman was going to catch up with her.
That night, he had caught up with her, but Boyd had protected her. Less than three months later, Boyd had been dead, too.
Gregor was supposed to be dead.
For too long she had lived under the illusion of safety. And she was tired of the illusion. The weariness clawed at her, dragging her down, and reminding her, always reminding her like a sadistic whisper of evil in her head, that it would never be over. That she would never be free. That loving Jordan was the same as signing his death warrant.
She’d felt this in Aruba. That heavy, panicked uncertainty. The knowledge that either freedom or death was just a heartbeat away.
“Answers aren’t going to pop out of the shrubbery.” Jordan stepped into the bedroom, his expression a dark mix of both hunger and chilling danger.
He was a hunter, and he’d perfected the hunt. He was waiting, patient, composed, giving his prey the perfect opportunity and the time needed to make their move.
But the prey was cunning, it was evil, and it had taken the lives of other strong men, men born to the hunt. Men who had thought they could protect her.
Slowly, the sage green coverings slid over the windows, enclosing them in a dimmer, sun-dappled room rather than the previous heated warmth that had spilled in.
“Have you learned anything?” She knew the others, Noah, Micah, Travis, John, and Nik were out plotting Gregor Ascarti’s downfall. It couldn’t come soon enough to suit her.
“We’ve contacted the appropriate parties and given them the location of the weapons.” He checked his watch before his gaze lifted once more, sharp satisfaction filling it. “They should be hitting the warehouse any moment now.”
“We have to find him to neutralize him, Jordan.”
“No, our men have to find him,” he retorted. “All you have to do is look very pretty, and very grief-stricken tonight at the party. Once he’s certain I’m out of the picture, he’ll plan his strike. That’s when we’ll have him, if we don’t catch him at the warehouse.”
Ascarti would never allow himself to be caught in that warehouse.
“Ascarti isn’t that easy.” She gave a hard shake of her head. “You should know that by now.”
She knew it. She had fought to survive his search for her for far too long to consider him so easy to catch, to even allow herself to hope he would be so sloppy.
“I’m aware of that, Tehya,” he growled. “I’m simply that prepared. There’s no way he can strike without us catching him. There are too many eyes waiting and watching.”
Tehya crossed her arms over her breasts, her gaze narrowing on the windows despite the fact that shutters now covered them.
Turning back to him slowly, she tried to ignore the heat that lingered in his eyes, the pure sensual, sexual interest in his expression as his gaze went over her, from head to toe.
“What do you have planned, Jordan?” He hadn’t told her what he had set up yet. She knew he had been with Noah, Kell Krieger, and the senator for most of the morning, but she hadn’t been invited to the plotting session. It had begun before she had ever awakened.
“The plan is exactly as it was.” He gave a faint shrug of heavy shoulders beneath the dark gray shirt he wore tucked into jeans. “We wait.”
Her eyes narrowed on him. That so didn’t sound like Jordan, to simply sit and wait and watch.
“I’m not lying to you, sweetheart.” Once again that faint smile crossed his lips. “There are times when nothing else but simplicity will do. This is one of those times.” Then his head tilted to the side as curiosity lit his gaze. “Tey, darling, isn’t that the same outfit that little old Indian trader in New Mexico made for you? The one with all the hidden weapons?”
Her brows arched. He remembered? She was certain he hadn’t been paying attention the day she had ordered the clothing. The shopping trip had been a treat during the early days of her contract with the Elite Ops.