IS THE WOMAN HE ONCE LOVED...

THE TRAITOR THEY’RE SEARCHING FOR?

Former Special Forces soldier Jace Eakin must find the mole inside Omega who’s leaking intel to a terrorist mastermind. Despite their complicated history and the fact that she is keeping a secret, he can’t believe it’s SWAT team leader Lillian Muir. As they give in to long-denied passion, Jace vows to protect Lillian with his life. But he’s been wrong about her before...

Omega Sector: Under Siege

JANIE CROUCH has loved to read romance her whole life. This USA TODAY bestselling author cut her teeth on Mills & Boon Romance novels as a preteen, then moved on to a passion for romantic suspense as an adult. Janie lives with her husband and four children overseas. She enjoys traveling, long-distance running, movie watching, knitting and adventure/obstacle racing. You can find out more about her at janiecrouch.com.

Also by Janie Crouch

Daddy Defender

Protector’s Instinct

Cease Fire

Major Crimes

Special Forces Savior

Fully Committed

Armored Attraction

Man of Action

Overwhelming Force

Battle Tested

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Armed Response

Janie Crouch

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-07917-4

ARMED RESPONSE

© 2018 Janie Crouch

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

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www.millsandboon.co.uk

This book is dedicated to my sister-in-law, Kimberly. Thank you for always being such a source of joy and encouragement, not just to me, but to everyone around you. And for making Mark read my books. I love you.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Extract

About the Publisher

Chapter One

The way some women felt about that perfect little black-dress-and-heels ensemble—ready for anything, able to handle themselves, bring it on—Lillian Muir felt about her SWAT cargo pants, combat boots and tactical vest.

The heavy clothing and gear she wore might have felt burdensome at one time on her five-two, one-hundred-pound frame, but she had long since adjusted. Now she almost felt more comfortable with the extra thirty pounds weighing on her than she did with it off. The weight was a comfort. A friend.

Her HK MP5 9mm submachine gun rested against her shoulder, just grazing her chin. Her fingers curled gently around it as she moved through the silent winter air of this Colorado night. A shotgun strapped around her back and a Glock pistol low on one hip provided further assurance she could handle what was ahead.

More than a pair of high heels ever would.

And what was ahead was pissing her the hell off. A man—a father—holding his ex-wife and their two children hostage at gunpoint.

“Bulldog One, status.”

Lillian tapped the button that allowed her to speak into the communication system attached to her ear under her helmet. “Approaching back door, TC.”

“Roger that. Hold for entry.” One of the team’s newest—and temporary—members, Philip Carnell, was acting as Tactical Command. Carnell wasn’t the team’s usual TC and his presence added to Lillian’s unease about the mission. Not that Carnell wasn’t brilliant when it came to planning and calling the shots. He was. Had an IQ of about a million and was able to process tactical information and advantages faster than anyone Lillian had ever seen. His mind was like a damn computer.

But he wasn’t part of the usual team. And moreover, he was pretty bitter about that.

They were shorthanded from recent attacks by criminal mastermind Damien Freihof over the past few months. Team members had been hurt and even killed as they battled one assault after another. Explosions. Bullets through windows. Sliced throats. Even assailants at weddings. Freihof had made it his mission in life to wage war on Omega Sector.

Lillian herself had been injured in a mission just two weeks ago, shrapnel from an explosion catching her in the shoulder. She ignored the slight discomfort now. She had bigger things to worry about.

“Bulldog Two, report status,” Carnell said.

“I have a visual on the suspect. Single tango. He’s pacing. Three hostages. Mom and two kids. All in the kitchen.” Bulldog Two’s voice was a little too high, too excited. Another person that damn sure wasn’t part of the normal elite Omega Sector SWAT team. Damn Damien Freihof and his mole inside Omega.

Lillian ignored that discomfort for now, too.

“I have a shot. Repeat, I have a shot,” Bulldog Two said.

Lillian held her tongue. New Kid wasn’t her problem.

“Negative, Bulldog Two. Hold your position,” Carnell told him.

“I want to take this bastard out,” the trainee guy said again. What was his name? Paul?

“Hold, Bulldog Two.” This time it was team leader Derek Waterman on the comm unit. He was also out in the darkness surrounding the house.

Lillian’s lips pursed. “Derek, request channel change.”

“Roger that. Go to channel three, Bulldog One.”

Lillian clicked the dial that turned the comm device to a channel so she and the team leader could talk without anyone else listening.

“Go, Lillian,” Derek said.

“We going to have a problem with Newbie?”

“His name is Saul. Saul Poniard.”

Generally Saul was a good guy. Friendly, surfer-boy looks with a ready smile. He was also pretty excitable, which might have been the reason he was turned down for final SWAT training multiple times. The only reason he was here now was the injuries on the team.

Lillian sighed. “I just don’t want him shooting those kids’ dad in front of them.”

“Roger that,” Derek said. “No deadly force unless we have no other options. TC knows that. Carnell won’t make that call unless there are no other options and things are escalating.”

“I know that. You know that. Just want to make sure New Kid knows that.”

Derek grimaced. “Don’t worry. I’ve got him under thumb. I’ll pull him out if I need to. Switch channels.”

Lillian did so. She’d said her piece, and really didn’t have a problem with Saul Poniard except for his excitability, and lack of experience. Derek would handle it. Which was good because she didn’t want to have to go take out baby-SWAT wannabe before taking down that scumbag dad on the inside.

Who she could now hear screaming at his wife.

“Tactical Command, this is Bulldog One. I am at the back door. I have visual on the mom and kids but not the tango.”

She could see them in the kitchen, the woman and children sitting at a small round wooden table. The mom had both hands reached out toward her children, a boy around nine and a girl around seven, and they sat on either side of her, but not near enough to be touching her.

The tango paced into view, gun in hand, but at least pointing down, and he smacked the mom in the head with his bare hand as he stormed past and out of sight from where Lillian crouched at the window. Guy was still shouting.

“I still have a shot. Repeat, Bulldog Two has a shot,” Saul said. He was in a tree on the east side of the house, so Lillian had no doubt the angle gave him a tactical advantage. And yes, if Psycho Dad’s actions escalated, then Saul would need to take him out.

But otherwise Lillian would do everything she could to make sure these kids didn’t see a parent—no matter how terrible he was—die right in front of them.

Not here. Not today.

“Negative, Bulldog Two,” Philip said. “Bulldog One, can you infiltrate without exposure?”

“Affirmative,” Lillian responded. “Especially with all the noise this guy is making.”

“Everyone is in position. Go at your discretion,” Philip told her. The rest of the team—as well as the new kid—was ready to back her up and take out the tango if needed.

Lillian waited until the guy went on another tirade, screaming right in the mother’s ear, both kids sobbing, as an opportunity to slip inside a small crack when she opened the door. The Omega SWAT team regularly used Lillian’s small stature to their advantage. This was no different.

She kept to the shadows as she made her way closer to the kitchen.

“Tango is starting to wave the gun again.” Saul’s voice had reached an excited pitch again. “He’s got it to the wife’s head.”

“Roger that, Bulldog Two. Your shot?”

“Still clear, TC. Just give me the word.” Saul was damn near panting with excitement.

Damn it. She’d rather the team take out the father than have the mother die.

“Bulldog One?”

“I have no visual,” she muttered.

“Okay, Bulldog Two, you are cleared to—”

Lillian saw movement again in the kitchen. “Hold,” she said. “Tango is on the move again. Back to pacing.”

“I’ve still got the shot, TC.”

The frustration was evident in Poniard’s tone, and Lillian couldn’t blame him. Preparing to fire, and being cleared to fire, but then having the order rescinded at the last second, was irritating. But exercising control was also an important part of being a SWAT team member.

“Bulldog One, can you beanbag him?” Carnell asked.

“Roger that, TC. Moving into position.” Lillian grinned, replacing her HK MP5 with the shotgun strapped behind her back. The beanbag round was only accurate up to about six meters, but she was within range. Its blow was designed to cause minimal permanent damage while rendering the subject immobile.

The fact that it would hurt Screaming Dad like hell didn’t bother Lillian a bit. She crawled forward. She was going to have to pull some sort of Tom Cruise roll-and-shoot nonsense in order to get into position in the quickest way possible. She usually went for much less drama. But not today.

Guy started screaming again. Lillian had had enough.

You want to dance, buddy? We’ll dance. Together.

“On my mark,” she whispered to the team. “Three, two, one.”

Lillian pushed herself from her crouched position in the shadows, twisting her body into a roll as she cleared the wall and came into the opening of the kitchen, landing in a kneel.

She saw surprise light the tango’s face. He was swinging his gun around toward her when her finger gently squeezed the trigger on the shotgun, her aim perfect.

The beanbag round hit him square in the chest, propelling him back through the air and away from the table and hostages. The gun fell out of his hand.

Less than two seconds later Lillian was on the tango and the rest of the team was filing through the door, grabbing the children and wife and leading them to safety.

Screaming Dad groaned as Lillian grabbed his hands to cuff them. “Tango is secure.”

“You’re a woman!” The man’s outrage couldn’t be more clear.

Lillian arched a single eyebrow. “Yeah? Well, you’re an idiot. Turn over.”

“I think you done broke my ribs.”

Lillian didn’t give a rat’s ass whether this jerk had a couple of cracked ribs. He was lucky Philip hadn’t turned the trigger-happy new kid loose on him. “Shut up. I’ll break more than your ribs.”

Within a few more minutes the perp was loaded into the back of a squad car and the wife and kids were handed over to the paramedics.

“Nice work, everyone,” Derek said over their comm unit. “Let’s get packed up and back to HQ to debrief.”

Lillian bumped fists with everyone as they made it back to the car. Even Saul, who was smiling like an idiot. Everybody was walking away today. No one seriously injured, even the tango.

That made today a good day.

“Beers on me,” Derek said.

That made it an even better day.

* * *

LATER THAT NIGHT after the debriefing and the beers, Damien Freihof sat in an abandoned warehouse across town, staring at “Mr. Fawkes.” Damien had made it his mission over the last six months to destroy Omega Sector, piece by piece, in payment for taking the life of his beloved wife.

Fawkes, as he so cleverly liked to be called, had proven very useful over the last few months in that endeavor. Fawkes’s inside information on Omega had been quite helpful indeed.

Fawkes still wouldn’t give Damien his real name. Damien wondered how upsetting it would be to the younger man to know that Damien had figured it out weeks ago. The man might be brilliant, but Damien didn’t work with people he didn’t know.

Damien’s and Fawkes’s ideologies were different. Fawkes looked to destroy and rebuild all of law enforcement. Damien just wanted Omega to suffer the way he did when he’d lost his Natalie. Wanted them to know what it meant to experience unbearable loss.

But if Damien could bring chaos across the country by destroying the foundation of all law enforcement, as was Fawkes’s plan, then hell, he was up for that, too.

“It’s time,” Fawkes said as he paced back and forth hardly visible beside a window, even in the full moon. “You’ll be ready, right? We only have eight days.”

Damien sat perched against a desk. “Yes, I’ll be ready to do my part in your master plan.”

“We’ve gotten rid of two of their team members completely. Another is injured and not fully up to speed.” Fawkes continued his pacing.

“It’s a mistake to underestimate the Critical Response Division, even when they’re weakened.” Damien had learned that the hard way.

“They brought in a new guy on the SWAT team. That was unexpected.” Fawkes stopped and studied Damien as he said it, as if gauging his response.

Damien knew all about the new guy. “Is that a problem?”

“No.” Fawkes resumed his pacing. “The team thinks they’re so smart, but they’re not. I’ve left a trail. It’s going to lead right to the very heart of the SWAT team. The sweetheart.”

“Lillian Muir?” Damien raised an eyebrow.

“I’ve got special plans for her. Have already left clues in the system that lead back to her as the mole I know they’re searching for.”

Damien had to admit Fawkes’s computer skills were impressive. He’d provided information that had helped Damien a great deal. Most particularly two weeks ago, when Omega had almost captured him at his own house. Without a warning from Fawkes, Damien would never have made it out.

Nor taken one of the SWAT team out of action in the process.

Fawkes might not be the easiest person to work with, but he definitely knew how to manipulate a computer system. And how to manipulate people, for that matter. People didn’t take him seriously enough, including those at Omega Sector.

Which was probably why he was trying to blow up—literally—all of law enforcement.

Or maybe he just had mommy issues. Whatever. Damien didn’t care why Fawkes was doing it, he just wanted to see Omega Sector destroyed. If Lillian Muir was going to take the fall for that, even better. Damien would do a little checking up on her himself.

Fawkes wasn’t the only one with computer skills and digging-up-info skills.

“Is there even going to be anyone left to search for the villain after you get through next week?” Damien asked.

Fawkes stilled. “I’ll be left. I will be one of the few tactically trained agents left in the whole agency. Hell, in the whole country. And all the destruction will lead right to Lillian Muir’s door. She’ll be dead and unable to open the door, but the destruction and blame will still lead right to her.”

Damien grinned. One thing Fawkes had was exuberance. “Sounds like a perfect plan to me.”

Chapter Two

Jace Eakin stretched his long legs out in front of him in an office chair that probably hadn’t been comfortable even when it was new. Now that it was ratty and at least a dozen years past that, it was even less so. His knee was stiff from too many hours cramped in a plane, his shoulder vaguely ached from a bullet he’d taken years ago in Afghanistan. Thirty-two was too young to feel this old.

He was in an office that looked like it was out of some old gumshoe movie, complete with dirty windows and low ceilings. The man sitting behind a desk looked almost as rumpled as the office itself.

Jace knew Ren McClement was anything but.

Jace had first met him ten years ago when they served together in the US Army Rangers in the Middle East. Working side by side with someone in daily life-or-death situations showed that person’s true colors. Ren McClement was one of the few people in the world Jace trusted without restriction. He knew the feeling was mutual. Which was why he was here now in this godforsaken seat in some out-of-the-way office in Washington, DC, rather than putting the finishing touches on his ranch in Colorado.

“Ren, seriously, dude, you’ve got to get some chairs not built for midgets.”

Both Ren and the other man in the room, Steve Drackett, chuckled. Ren had gotten out of the army not long after the time he spent in Afghanistan with Jace. Because of his skills and security clearance, Ren had immediately been brought into Omega Sector, a joint task force made up of the best agents the United States had to offer.

Jace knew Ren was one of the highest-ranking members of Omega, and that he worked mostly in covert missions.

Nothing surprising about that. Ren had had the ability to blend in with almost any situation even back in his Ranger days. That the government was smart enough to use him for clandestine work wasn’t surprising to Jace.

What was a mystery to him was why Ren had asked him here to begin with. Although always happy to see his old friend, Jace was not an Omega Sector agent. He wasn’t an agent at all.

“Yeah, budget for this place wasn’t very big,” Ren said. “Not that I’m in here enough to worry about that anyway.”

Ren could probably have a very high-end government office with a million-dollar view of DC, but chose not to. Jace knew for a fact that Ren never entered a government building unless he had to, and even then it wasn’t through the front door. The undercover nature of his job prohibited it.

“I can see why you wouldn’t want to be here often. And speaking of, why am I here? I’m assuming there’s a reason other than reliving old times.”

Ren nodded. “We have a situation in the Omega Critical Response Division out in Colorado Springs. A mole who is leaking information to a terrorist named Damien Freihof. We know the mole is someone inside the SWAT team. Steve—” he gestured to the other man, who was leaning with one shoulder against the wall “—has requested that I send in someone I trust to help find the mole.”

Steve pushed himself away from the wall and handed Jace a thin file with some papers inside. “We found this Manifesto of Change document hidden in one of our Omega computer servers.”

On my honor, I will never betray my badge, my integrity, my character or the public trust.

I will always have the courage to hold myself and others accountable for our actions.

I will always uphold the constitution, my community and the agency I serve.

Jace looked over at Ren, then Steve. “This looks like some sort of law-enforcement creed.”

Steve nodded. “It’s the oath of honor that law enforcement officers take at their swearing-in ceremony. But keep reading.”

We all took an oath to uphold the law, but instead we have allowed the public to make a mockery of it. Where is the honor, the integrity, the character in not using the privilege and power given to us by our training and station to wipe clean those who would infect our society? We were meant to rise up, to be an example to the people, to control them when needed in order to make a more perfect civilization.

But we are weak. Afraid of popular opinion whenever force must be used. So now we have changed the configuration of law enforcement forever.

And now, only now, will you truly understand what it means to hold yourselves accountable for your actions. Only with death is life truly appreciated. Only with violence can true change be propagated. As we build anew, let us not make the same mistakes. Let the badge mean something again.

Let the badge rule as it was meant to do.

Jace shifted slightly in his chair. “Okay, I’ll admit, this is scary. And I sympathize, I really do, that this has come from within your own organization, but I’m not an agent. There’s got to be other people you trust who could do a better job than I could.”

Ren glanced over at Steve and then back at Jace. “We’re not looking for someone long-term. This is a time-sensitive op.”

Steve nodded. “I would’ve bet my life that the traitor was not one of my SWAT team members. I’ve known most of those people for years. But intel has suggested that not only is the mole a member of SWAT, but also has a plan that will involve a massive loss of life.”

“Do you have details about how? When?” Jace asked.

Steve nodded. “Within the next two weeks. Our strong suspicions are that it has to do with a law-enforcement summit scheduled in Denver next week. It will have police chiefs and politicians in attendance from all over the country.”

“That would definitely make a good target.” Jace looked back at Ren. “And if you need an extra hand with a rifle, I’m more than willing to help out, especially since I’m headed out to Colorado anyway.”

“Still planning on breeding and raising dogs?” Ren asked. “Horses? Opening your ranch?”

“Hey, don’t mock my dream.” Jace had always wanted to own a small parcel of land where he could raise animals, particularly dogs, that could be trained for service members and veterans who suffered from PTSD. Maybe even make it into a place where vets could come and enjoy space and quiet for a temporary stay when they needed it.

Jace had made some savvy financial investments in his twenties that had given him the means to make this dream a reality now. He’d be able to cover himself financially until he was able to make a living from his business. He was looking forward to working outside, with the land and animals. He also looked forward to not having to be constantly worried about being in danger.

Although risk cognizance had been a part of his life for so long it was second nature to him now.

“I wouldn’t dream of mocking it.” Ren smiled. “Hell, I may be joining you before this is all over. But I was hoping you would help me out before you got out of the game for good.”

“We don’t need an agent,” Steve said. “We just need someone who can come in and pass for a SWAT team member. Somebody who has the qualifications and physical prowess to join the team. Because of attacks by Damien Freihof, we’re down a couple of members, so bringing in someone from the outside wouldn’t be unheard of.”

“And then once I’m in there?”

“Then there’s one person particularly under suspicion who we need you to get close to.” Ren leaned forward on his desk, watching Jace closely. “Lillian Muir.”

The name had Jace actually rising from his seat before he even knew it.

“Lillian Muir?” He looked from Ren to Steve. “Lillian Muir is a member of the Omega Sector SWAT team?”

“Not only a member, one of the best members. One of the most gifted SWAT personnel I’ve ever known,” Steve said.

Jace began pacing back and forth behind the chair he’d just vacated.

Lillian Muir.

He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t wondered what had happened to her over the years. He hadn’t seen her in twelve years, since he was twenty and she was eighteen. The day they were supposed to leave to join the army together, to get out of a pretty rotten living situation in Tulsa. To figure out their future together, which for Jace had always meant marriage as soon as he could talk her into it.

He hadn’t seen her since the day he’d found her in his brother’s arms.

Jace looked at Ren. “You know, of course, that Lillian and I have a history.”

Ren nodded. “You and I talked about a woman you cared about a great deal back when we served together. And you’d mentioned her name was Lillian. When I found out the Omega Lillian was the same as your Lillian, I thought we could kill two birds with one trusted stone.”

Jace shook his head. “You also know things didn’t end well between the two of us. I’m probably not the most neutral person. She decided she’d rather have my brother than me.”

Daryl had died in a fire not long after Jace joined the army, but that didn’t change the fact that Lillian had chosen Daryl, not him.

“I just want to say officially and on the record that I do not think Lillian is the mole,” Steve said, conviction clear in his voice. “As a matter of fact, I’m hoping you’ll be able to come in and clear her.”

“Clear her? Why me? There’s got to be someone better.”

“It’s a perfect storm of problems,” Ren said. “We need someone we can trust. We need someone who has the skills to infiltrate a SWAT team. And we need someone Lillian may be willing to get close to.”

Jace shrugged. “The first two I might fit. But Lillian won’t get close to me. There’s got to be someone else. Friend. Boyfriend. Somebody.”

“I recruited Lillian basically off the streets nine years ago.” Steve shook his head. “She’s got a tactical awareness and physical control of her body that has only improved over the years with training and education. But, despite being an excellent team member, Lillian has never gotten close to anyone since I’ve known her.”

Jace scrubbed a hand over his face. “Even more reason why she’s not going to get close to me. Some people are just lone wolves.”

Jace knew enough about Lillian’s upbringing to not be surprised that she kept to herself. She wasn’t ever going to be the life of the party. But never having gotten close to anyone? The two of them had been plenty close at one time. Or so he’d thought.

“Our division psychiatrist was killed by Freihof two weeks ago,” Steve continued. “Her case files are confidential, even with her death. But I do know for a fact that Lillian was seeing Dr. Parker regularly. And Dr. Parker believed there was a sexual trauma of some kind in Lillian’s history.”

Ren leaned back in his chair. “Honestly, we were hoping maybe you knew something about that and could use it to foster a closeness between the two of you.”

“I don’t. If that happened, it happened after she and I...separated.” Jace grimaced, tension creeping through his body. Despite her leaving him for his brother, Jace would never have wished something like that on her. Couldn’t stand the thought of someone hurting her that way.

“Like I said, I don’t have any details. And it may not even be accurate. But I know Dr. Parker had suggested that finding someone from her past, someone she knew before the trauma, might be the key to helping her overcome it.” Steve gestured toward Jace. “Maybe you could be that person. Help us find the real mole. Help her work through whatever is in her history.”

“What if she is the real mole?” Jace asked. He didn’t want to believe it. He didn’t believe it. But it could still be the truth. He’d known her twelve years ago and she cheated on him. Had that developed into even darker tendencies as she’d gotten older?

Steve took a step forward. “She’s not.”

Ren held his hands out in front of him in a soothing gesture. “Steve, you’re too close to this. You know you are.”

Jace jerked his chin at Steve. “You involved with Lillian?”

“No, happily married and a new father.” Steve’s eyes narrowed. “Plus, did you not just hear what I said about her not getting close to people? That particularly goes for men.”

Jace shrugged, studying Steve with hooded eyes. “Thought maybe you might be the exception to that.”

“Steve cares about the entire team,” Ren insisted. “He wants to catch Freihof and the mole more than anyone else, especially given the people they’ve lost. And the mole doesn’t know that we’re on to him. Or her, as it may be. So we want to use that to our advantage. Steve poking around will draw attention. Not to mention he’s not neutral.”

Jace sat back down in the uncomfortable chair. “And you think I am?”

Ren stared him down. “I think I would trust you with my life—and have—multiple times over. I think you have an innate situational awareness that was only honed in your years as a Ranger. I think you will be fresh eyes and able to pinpoint specifics others may have missed.”

Ren leaned back in his chair but didn’t lose eye contact as he continued. “And I think this is a chance for you to finally put your history with Lillian to rest and move on. She’s not the only one who hasn’t gotten close to anyone else in the last twelve years.”

Jace was also a loner. Lillian hadn’t had anything to do with his choice not to settle down with anyone. But that was irrelevant to the situation at hand.

Ren was right—it was time to leave Lillian Muir behind for good.

“Fine. I’ll do it. Another couple of weeks isn’t going to change my plans for the ranch. I just hope I’m able to do what you guys think I can.”

Ren nodded. “Your best has never once not been good enough.”

Jace just shrugged. That wasn’t true. They’d lost men in the line of duty whom Jace wished he could bring back. “I appreciate the sentiment.”

Steve stepped up and shook his hand. “Welcome to the team.”

Chapter Three

Lillian had been quick and wiry her whole life. Not just fast with running, although she could average a six-minute mile for ten miles in a row, but swift with everything. Her hand movements, her body movements, how she processed info.

A lot of it probably came from early in her life, when if she wanted to eat, she’d had to steal food from the grocery store or local market. And if she wanted to sleep safely, away from her mother’s drunken wrath or boyfriends’ wandering hands, she’d learned how to move quickly and silently out the window.

Those lessons might have been hard to come by, but each of them had made her into the woman—the warrior—she was today.

Whatever didn’t kill her had better start running.

The SWAT team was sparring and doing some general workouts in the training area until the new guy got there. Another new guy. Evidently this one had a little more experience than Saul, the friendly yet trigger-happy newbie who had been filling in for the last couple of weeks. Or anybody was better than Philip Carnell, the computer whiz who had been working with them as an analyst in hostile situations for the last two months.

Carnell had a mind like a steel trap, but the personality of a horse’s ass. Which was probably an insult to the hind end of a horse. Nobody liked Philip and he had a bone to pick with everybody about seemingly every damn thing. Lillian avoided him whenever possible. Hell, everybody avoided him whenever possible, unless he was acting as Tactical Command, as he had been a couple of days ago. Carnell was great at finding fast solutions in dangerous tactical situations, but he wasn’t physically adept enough to be a part of the tactical team.

He’d only sulked about that fact and gave his opinion about “the unfairness of elitist practices” of the SWAT team about once every hour. Lillian was glad to not have to deal with him in training or in the field.

Saul wasn’t so bad. He tried to get a little too friendly, and grinned a little too much for her taste. But at least Surfer Boy didn’t make her want to lock him in a trunk, like she did with Carnell.

Right now she brought her leg around in a vicious roundhouse kick and hit the punching bag. Roman Weber, her teammate holding the bag for her, took a quick step back.

“Trying to take out all your aggression on one poor defenseless piece of canvas?” He chuckled as he grabbed the bag more firmly.

“Too many new people, Roman. I don’t like change.”

“Oh, yeah? Try finding out you’re about to be a dad. Now, that’s change.”

Lillian grinned at him. “Yeah, every time that happens to me I swear it’s not gonna happen again.”

Despite his wounds from an explosion two months ago, she knew Roman couldn’t be happier about Keira being back in his life and the baby they had on the way. Hell, it seemed like just about everybody on the SWAT team had found romance-novel-type true love within the last year.

Lillian was thrilled for them, she really was. She liked each and every one of the women her teammates had fallen for. But love and marriage weren’t in the cards for her. She’d long since accepted that. Emotional attachment just wasn’t her thing.

But she had a career she savored and kicked ass at. That was enough.

“I hear this new guy is actually qualified to be on the team. An Army Ranger. Steve Drackett vouches for him personally,” Roman said.

Lillian punched the bag again. “I just wish Liam was back in action.” Their teammate had almost been killed by a biological weapon three weeks ago.

“He’s alive and going to recover. That’s what matters.”

Omega Sector’s casualty list at Damien Freihof’s hand was getting too damn long.

Liam Goetz, SWAT team member: seriously injured via chemical inhalation. Hospitalized two weeks.

Roman Weber, SWAT team member: seriously injured via explosion. In a coma for more than a week.

Tyrone Marcus, SWAT team member-in-training: killed in action via explosion.

Grace Parker, Omega psychiatrist: murdered in cold blood.

And those were just the worst of the worst.

Especially Grace. Damn it. Lillian forced herself to push away the grief that threatened to suck her under at the thought of losing the other woman and the close friend she had become.

She switched with Roman and held the bag as he went through a series of kicks and punches, at a slower speed and with less force because of his recent injuries. As soon as the new guy came in, they’d be doing some training with him. Running the SWAT obstacle course, some sparring, throwing him immediately into the mix.

“Hopefully this new guy won’t crush on you like Saul,” Roman said between punches.

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah. I don’t think Saul understands that I don’t date work people.”

“You don’t date anyone.”

This was an old argument. “I do date. I just don’t announce it around here like all you lovesick fools. There’s enough swooning going on around here without adding me to the mix.”

“I’d like to meet a boyfriend of yours just once.”

Lillian took her turn at the bag. “Fine. I’ll bring the next one around for approval, okay?”

She wouldn’t. Roman was right, she didn’t have boyfriends. She had sex with random guys, probably too often, but she tended to check out mentally in the middle of the act itself. Then immediately left afterward. Not being able to remember any part of the sexual act did not lend itself toward building a relationship.

She and Grace Parker had been working on some of Lillian’s issues before Grace had died. Lillian’s triggers. The fact that she’d never been able to have sex and remember it clearly afterward.

Disassociation due to acute sexual trauma. That was what Grace had told Lillian was the clinical term for it. And that it was treatable. That they would continue to work together so that Lillian’s mind didn’t try to escape every time she became intimate with someone. They’d made progress over the last year.

And now Grace was dead.

Lillian attacked the punching bag with renewed vigor. “I just want SWAT to be ready for when we get the call to go take out Freihof. I’ll even date the new guy if he can help us be ready for that.”

Roman chuckled. “Hell, I’ll date the new guy if he can help with that.”

“I’m sure Keira won’t mind, considering Freihof nearly got her killed.”

“If Steve vouches for this guy, then that’s all I need to know,” Roman said.

Lillian trusted Steve completely also. “Yeah, me, too. What’s the guy’s name? I promise I’ll make an effort at learning it.”

“Jace Eakin.”

Lillian’s head snapped up and she glared at Roman, about to make him repeat the name.

Roman gestured to the door. “Here he is.”

It could not possibly be. There was no way. She turned, slowly. No. Way.

Yes way.

“Jace. Jace Eakin,” she whispered.

“You know him?”

“I did. A long, long time ago.”

She felt like her heart had completely stopped beating. Jace was the new guy? Part of her wasn’t surprised that he was qualified. He’d been strong, fast and smart when she knew him twelve years ago. Evidently the army had turned him into someone even more dangerous.

And he was particularly dangerous for her. He knew every secret she’d gone to such lengths to keep hidden from the team. He knew how she used to steal and run illegal items all over town for the gang they’d both been in. She’d been fast, trustworthy and had looked innocent. She’d never once gotten caught.

Jace Eakin knew every secret she’d made sure no one else at Omega Sector knew.

Except one. And he would never know that one.

She kept him in her peripheral vision as she returned to her assault on the punching bag.

“If you know him, don’t you want to go talk to him?” Roman asked, grabbing the bag.

She shook her head. It was all she could do to not run from the room. And Lillian was known for not running from anything.

She saw Jace put his bag on the floor and talk to Derek. A few minutes later he was headed toward the locker room.

Fifteen minutes after that Derek was calling the entire team together, including Jace.

“Everybody, this is Jace Eakin. Eakin, the team.” Derek looked around at everyone. “They’ll all introduce themselves individually.”

So far Jace had avoided looking at her directly, but Lillian had no doubt he was aware of her presence. She could almost feel his awareness of her.

The same way she was aware of him.

“Jace is coming in to help us with the Law Enforcement Systems and Services Summit next week in Denver,” Derek continued. “The LESS Summit, as everyone knows, is going to bring in the bigwigs from all over the country. Our job is to provide internal protection for that event.”

Ashton Fitzgerald, team sharpshooter and general smart-ass, spoke up. “LESS is more.”

Everybody echoed Ashton’s statement, the slogan for LESS, as they always did. LESS was a system that would link together law-enforcement-agency computers all over the country, providing valuable instant connectivity and the ability to share data.

“Denver is also expecting a number of demonstrators and protesters, so if needed, we’ll help out with that. Everybody knows we’re a little undermanned right now. Roman and Lillian are both coming off injuries. Jace is joining us as temporary replacement for Liam. Saul is also going to be joining us as a full member for the LESS Summit.”

Everyone was quiet at those words. Building the cohesion needed for the team to run smoothly in just a week wasn’t going to be easy. Lillian shifted restlessly. She wasn’t the only one.

Derek looked at each one of them. “You’re angry at Damien Freihof. All of us are angry after what happened to Grace Parker, not to mention our team. We all want to get our hands on Freihof and make him pay. And that time is coming. But our focus right now is on the LESS Summit. It’s about keeping those attending safe. So I want everyone to stay frosty and focused. We have a job to do.”

Lillian raised her hand halfway. “What about the rumor that there’s a mole inside Omega providing Freihof intel?”

She wanted to nail that traitor bastard just as much as she wanted to nail Freihof.

“I know a mole is suspected,” Derek responded. “But to date, no official evidence has been found to support that rumor. We all know Freihof loves to play head games. Getting us to turn on each other, go on witch hunts, is exactly what he wants. So we’re not going to do that. If you see anything suspicious, you report it to me, but we don’t go around accusing each other of anything.”

Lillian nodded. She glanced over and found Jace openly studying her. Their eyes met and she was determined not to look away first. Jace, damn his still gorgeous blue eyes, seemed to have the same determination.

Derek saved them both from their battle of wills.

“We’re going to get into training immediately to get us working as a team. And this week we’re going to put in long, team-building hours.” Derek turned to Jace, who had changed into workout clothes from the khakis and collared shirt he’d arrived in. “Eakin, although you come recommended from a man we all highly respect, if you don’t mind, we’d like to see what you’re capable of.”

Jace nodded. “You’d be a fool not to.”

Lillian froze at the sound of Jace’s voice. The deep timbre still did something to her. Nudged at parts of her that had been sleeping so long she’d thought they were dead. The most feminine parts of her. For a moment she couldn’t breathe as her mind attempted to figure out what she was feeling.

Desire.

It had been so long—twelve years, in fact—since she’d felt clear, untainted desire for a man.

And she was feeling it for the man who, with just a sentence or two about her past, could destroy the rapport she’d taken years to build with her team and probably cost her her job.

Omega Sector generally frowned upon employing people who were once part of an unofficial gang in the streets of Tulsa. While their gang hadn’t had turf wars and drive-bys, she’d definitely broken the law multiple times throughout her teenage years.

“We’ll hit the team obstacle course this afternoon,” Derek continued. “But I thought we’d begin with some sparring.”

“Sounds good to me.” That deep voice again.

“Who would you like to start with?”

Jace’s full lips were turned up at one corner as if he knew some private joke. “Why don’t you just pair me with your best close-quarters fighter and I’ll go from there.”

Everybody chuckled at the new guy’s guts.

Even Derek smiled. “Even better, why don’t you tell me who you think our best close-quarters fighter is?”

Surely Jace would pick Roman or Derek. Both of them were big—over six feet tall with biceps the size of tree trunks.

Lillian could take down both of them. Had done so, in fact. She was pretty damn fast, stronger than she looked, and had spent the last twelve years making sure no man—no matter what his size—would be able to force her to do something she didn’t want to do.

Never again.

“Sure.” Jace looked at everyone around the circle, as people started stretching and warming up while listening. “There’s a number of people who I think could give me a run for my money. But if I had to guess who’s most capable of kicking someone’s ass, I think it would be this one.”

He pointed straight at Lillian.

She could hear the soft chuckles of her teammates, and felt Roman pat her on the shoulder. They didn’t know why Jace had chosen her. Because he really thought she was the best close-quarters fighter? Because he thought she’d be easy to take down? She wasn’t.

Damn it, she didn’t want this. Didn’t want to touch Jace Eakin in any way. But she’d never been one to back down from a fight.

She wasn’t going to start now.

Stretching her shoulders, she put on the sparring mask and gloves and met Jace in the sparring ring. They gave each other a brief nod and then began.

They spent the first couple of minutes dancing around each other, throwing a jab here and a few kicks there. Lillian felt herself loosening up. She excelled at close-quarters combat. Her body knew what to do from muscle memory.

Jace got a little more serious, sending a spinning back kick in the direction of her head. She dropped low and hooked the back of her leg behind his, bringing him to the mat with a thud.

For just a moment they were face-to-face near the floor.

“I taught you that move,” he whispered.

She leaped up to her feet and he followed, pushing off from his shoulder and straight onto his feet.

Lillian didn’t let him get resituated. She used her greatest advantage—her speed—and flew at him with a series of punches and kicks. Jace was forced to go on the defensive, and did a damn good job of it.

She stepped back as he nearly backed out of bounds, ending her attack. “You didn’t teach me that.”

He grinned. “I sure as hell didn’t. Impressive.” Without warning he came at her, forcing her to go on the defensive this time.

All in all, they were pretty evenly matched. Derek eventually called the match to a halt when it became apparent neither of them was going to win easily. “Let’s save some energy for the rest of today’s training. There’s a lot of hours still left.”

Jace took off his gloves and held his hand out to shake hers. “Nice job, Tiger Lily. Although I’m not surprised.”

You could’ve heard a grasshopper karate-chop a fly. Tiger Lily. Nobody ever called her Lily, not if they expected to live to see the next sunrise. And no one had ever called her Tiger Lily—the beautiful and exotic flower—but Jace. Hearing the words did something to her she couldn’t explain and didn’t want to delve into too closely.

So she kept her cool.

“Welcome to the team, Jace. And it’s Lillian. Just Lillian, nothing else.”

Chapter Four

“Lily, hold up.”

He smiled as he saw her shoulders stiffen at the name. Her curt instructions on the sparring mat not to call her anything but Lillian had just spurred his desire to call her by her old nickname.

But it was her whispered words as they had left the sparring area that had really caught his attention.

Don’t say anything about who we were.

Jace wasn’t sure if that meant their personal history or the gang-related activities they’d participated in during their youth. She might not have ever told anyone about that, especially the latter. Since she had never been arrested, nor had he, it wasn’t in either of their permanent records. She didn’t have to worry about him spilling her secret. Not that one anyway.

Working with her today, fighting with her, seeing how everyone else interacted with her... Jace couldn’t help being impressed. She had taken all the natural physical skills she’d had as a teenager—speed, flexibility, sheer grit—and had formed herself into nothing short of a warrior.

He’d known it from the first punch she’d thrown in the sparring ring. She’d always been feisty, but now she was deadly. Small but fierce.

She’d been the only woman in the room or on the field, and that hadn’t seemed to bother her at all. The men hadn’t treated her any differently than they treated each other. Even with their limitations because of injuries, the team members had relied on and functioned around each other’s strengths.

No point in Lillian being the one on the bottom hoisting her teammates up the fifteen-foot wall that was part of the obstacle course. Could she have done it if she needed to? Jace had no doubt. But it wasn’t her specialty, so instead the team had sent her up and over first. Nobody in this close-knit group played politics: you weren’t given an assignment just because you were a man or a woman, you were given an assignment because of your strengths and talents.

Part of the course had also involved an underground tube, which there was no way in hell Jace was ever going to fit through. Neither were most of the men on the team. But Lillian had no problem. So she was sent.

Again, nothing to do with gender, everything to do with what was best for the team.

The men respected her, she respected them. Even the outsiders, the couple of guys besides Jace who obviously weren’t regular members of the team, respected her.

And Jace would bet his next paycheck that everything Steve Drackett had said was true. Lillian had not been intimate with any of these men. There was no flash of recognition, no secret smiles...

No nicknames that had been only for them twelve years before. Like Jace had just said to her again.

“I told you, it’s Lillian now. Not Lily. Nobody ever called me that but you anyway. And definitely not Tiger Lily.”

He jogged the rest of the way to catch up with her. “Old habits. You know how it is.”

“It’s not like you’ve been saying my name very often in the past twelve years, so it shouldn’t be too difficult for you to make the change.”

“I’ll do my best.” He held his hand up with his fingers open in Mr. Spock’s Vulcan V symbol. “Scout’s honor.”

She thawed minutely. “Jackass.” She shook her head. “You were never a Boy Scout or a Vulcan.”

And he wasn’t going to stop calling her Lily, either.

They reached her car, a gray Honda Civic. About as unflashy a vehicle that was made. She opened the trunk and set her duffel bag inside. Then turned to him.

“Why are you here, Jace?”

Giving her as much truth as he could was probably his best option. “Ren McClement asked me. He and I served in the army together for a few years. You know him?”

She shrugged. “Not personally. But everyone knows of him. He’s pretty much an Omega Sector legend.”

“Steve Drackett and Ren said the team needed someone with experience who could jump right in. To help with this LESS Summit thing.” Jace looked over to where some of the others were coming out of the building. “No offense, but your team is a little shaky right now. And the two new guys are not exactly anything to write home about.”

Lillian rubbed her fingers against her forehead. “That’s for damn sure.”

“Carnell doesn’t play well with anyone. And that guy Saul Poniard is a little too flippant for my taste. That could be disastrous in a lot of situations.”

“I agree. Steve recognizes it, too, but right now we don’t have a lot of options.”

He took a slight step closer to her, unable to stop himself. “Exactly. Ren knows me and knows he can trust me. And you guys needed someone with my skill set.”

Talking coming from the parking lot caught their attention and Jace took a step back. They both waved to the other members of the team as they got in their vehicles one by one.

“And did you know I would be here when you said yes to Ren?” Lillian finally asked as her teammates drove away.

This was a much trickier question to answer. He knew he shouldn’t have any qualms about lying to her. After all, she had been the completely dishonest one all those years ago. But he found the thought of telling her lies to be more difficult than he expected.

“Ren mentioned there was someone else here from Tulsa. A Lillian. But I couldn’t be one-hundred-percent sure that it was you. You were impressive out there today, Tiger Lily.”

She glared at him but didn’t press the nickname issue. “Thanks.”

“Seriously. You can handle yourself. I mean, you’ve always been able to handle yourself, but this was so much more than that.”

Lillian leaned back against her car but didn’t meet his eyes. “Thanks. You, too. Of course, I’m not surprised or anything. You were always built like a military man. Physically and mentally. I guess you just honed that over the years. So you got out?”

He nodded. “Yeah. For almost a year now. I loved the army, but it was time.”

“Moving back to Tulsa?”

“No. Nothing for me there anymore. I actually bought some land here in Colorado. I’m opening a ranch of sorts.”

Her brown eyes got big. “A ranch? I didn’t know you had any interest in animals.”

“I didn’t, really, not when you knew me before. Not that there was much space for animals in downtown Tulsa anyway. But we had bomb dogs when I served over in the Middle East. Really found I had a love for them. So I’ll be raising them and some other animals. Working with vets, too.”

Hopefully providing people with PTSD a place to come and heal for a little while when things got to be too much.

“That sounds amazing. I’m glad your experience in the military was a good one.”

“You would’ve done well in the military, too.” The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. Lillian should’ve gone into the military with him. That had been their plan. The military had catered to both of their strengths.

Now she really wouldn’t look at him. “Yeah. I always thought so.”

He had to decide right now whether to battle this out—what had happened between her and his brother—or leave it alone. He didn’t want to fight with her the entire time he was here—that would be counterproductive to his ultimate mission of getting closer to her—but he didn’t want to leave Daryl as the elephant constantly in the room between them.

He leaned in just slightly closer to her. “Twelve years was a long time ago. I think it’s safe to let bygones be bygones, right?”

Now her brown eyes peered up at him. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s true.”

“And if it means anything, I’m sorry Daryl passed away so soon after the two of you got together. I don’t know if it would’ve lasted or whatever, but I’m sorry you didn’t get the chance to find out.”

Jace had never seen the blood drain from someone’s face so quickly. Lillian’s slight weight fell back more heavily against her car. Jace couldn’t help himself. He reached toward her. “Are you okay?”

Did the thought of Daryl’s death still hit her so hard?

“Daryl and I would never have made it as a couple.” Her laugh was bitter. “If there’s one thing I’m sure about, that’s it.”

She pushed herself away from the car and he could almost see her withdraw into herself. Part of him wanted to press, but on the other hand, he really did not want to know intimate details about her relationship with his brother.

She turned and reached for the car door, opening it. Jace took a step closer, boxing her in.

They both felt it. The attraction between them. Daryl or not, it was still there. It had been buzzing around them all day, and now it was pooling in the air between them.

It didn’t matter about twelve years, it didn’t matter about Daryl, it didn’t matter that they didn’t know enough about each other now to be sure if they even liked each other.

The heat was still there, just like it had always been.

“You need to talk to Ren,” she finally said, her back to him.

With his hand on the frame of her door and the other on the roof of her car, she was, in essence, trapped in his arms. If she turned around, it would almost be like in an embrace.

But she didn’t turn as she continued. “Tell Ren this won’t work. Help him find someone else.”

“Why do I make you so uncomfortable, Tiger Lily? You’re the one who gave me up, remember? And like we said, it was over a decade ago. It shouldn’t matter now.”

She shook her head with a little jerk. “It’ll be easier for both of us if you’re not here.”

“Since when have you or I ever done anything the easy way? We are a good team. You had to have seen that out there today.”

She nodded stiffly. Jace took a step forward, which caused Lillian to turn around. Suddenly all he could see was her mouth.

Cursing himself, he brought his lips down to hers. He couldn’t help himself, it was like being caught in some tractor beam from a science fiction movie.

Her lips were as soft as he remembered. As sweet. Sweeter, if possible.

She held herself stiffly for the first few seconds, as he teased her lips slowly, nibbling at them, but then he felt her give in. She sighed as if she couldn’t fight it, either.

Her fingers slid into his hair, pulling him closer, and a sound of hunger left him, his mouth moving more hungrily on hers, their tongues twining. The attraction and heat pushed at them in waves.

When Jace finally stepped back, they both just stared at each other. Then, without another word, Lily got in her car and started it, pulling away so quickly that if he hadn’t stepped back she might’ve run over his toes. All he could do was watch her drive away.

He muttered a curse under his breath. He’d been sent here to do a job, get more info, find out if Lillian had anything to do with this mole. Not kiss her senseless within the first few hours of his being back in the same general vicinity as her.

He’d counted on his sense of betrayal to help him keep his distance from her. To be able to remain objective and even cold.

Jace should’ve known better. He’d been many things around Lillian Muir, but cold was never one of them.

Seven hours into this mission and already things had become a hell of a lot more complicated.

Chapter Five

Showing up at Omega HQ the next day knowing Jace would be part of the team, part of her inner circle after twelve years of not having seen him at all, was pretty much inconceivable to Lillian.

And the fact that they’d made out yesterday? She couldn’t even wrap her head around that. She didn’t make out with people. Making out was for teenagers.

And she especially didn’t make out in the Damn. Parking. Lot. Sure, the entire team had left by then, but still. What would people say if someone had seen her lip-locked with the new guy just a few hours after meeting him?

After the Tiger Lily comment, plus the fact that she’d mentioned it to Roman, everyone had heard or figured out she and Jace had a history. But that still didn’t account for her sucking face with him.

And hell if heat didn’t course through her at that thought. Again. Like it had done all night long.

Lillian had a lot of sleepless nights. But never had they involved being so caught up thinking about a kiss that she couldn’t get to sleep. It was like something out of a Sweet Valley High novel.

She wished she could call Grace about it. Get her opinion as both psychiatrist and woman. Although she knew what Grace would tell her.

To take a chance. To be willing to leave herself unguarded for once.

But Lillian couldn’t call Grace. Because Freihof had killed her.

That was enough to wipe all thoughts of teen-romance-books-style kisses out of her mind. Jace was here for a purpose. That purpose had nothing to do with Lillian and everything to do with keeping the LESS Summit safe, especially if Freihof decided to make some sort of play.

She would do well to remember that.

Jace Eakin was now, at least temporarily, taking up residence in her home—Omega HQ was much more home than the one-bedroom apartment that basically just housed her stuff. She would work with him. Get him up to speed. Keep it strictly professional. Definitely no more kissing.

In the locker room she changed out of her civilian clothes and into her training fatigues. She arrived in the SWAT station house living room thirty minutes before she was scheduled to be there. Derek was already there sitting at the conference table that took up a good section of the room, looking over paperwork for the team.

Jace was there, too, on the opposite side of the room.

Ignoring Jace, she walked over to Derek and sat down next to him. Derek slid a file over to her.

“Today’s schedule.”

Nothing out of the ordinary. Some PT, time to go over the building plans of the LESS Summit and one of Lillian’s favorite drills.

“The Gauntlet. Haven’t done that one in a while. Pretty brutal.”

Derek grinned. “I thought it would be a good team-builder. Trial by fire.” He glanced over his shoulder. “I’m going to have you pair up with Eakin.”

“For the Gauntlet?”

“That and for the summit.”

“Seriously?”

Lilian glanced over at Jace, who was leaning against the wall messing with his phone. The slight smirk lifting the corner of his mouth let her know he could hear everything being said.

She made a show of looking over the schedule again. “Maybe you should assign Jace to someone else. Team me with Saul. Or even Carnell.” She swallowed her grimace at both offers. She didn’t want to be assigned to either of them. It would limit her effectiveness at the summit.

“No. Carnell will be tactical command and computers only. He’s not ready for active missions. Saul is better, but he’s still not top-tier. Unless I see something over the next few days that makes me think Eakin doesn’t have the skills I think he has, you two will be the Alpha team.”

Everybody was important on a mission like protecting the LESS Summit, but the Alpha team was second in command to Derek, able to make judgment calls and decisions without approval when needed.

“Is that going to be a problem?” Derek asked when Lillian didn’t respond. “There’s obviously history between you two.”

Yes, there was history, but she wasn’t going to let that stop her from being as effective as possible. From making the entire team be as effective as possible. They’d need to be as strong as they could for whatever Damien Freihof had planned. Putting ancient history aside would be no problem.

Lillian glanced at Jace again, his blue eyes now piercing hers. She didn’t look away. “No—no problem,” she told Derek. “Our past was a long time ago. It’s over. It was over before it even started.”

* * *

IT WAS OVER before it even started.

Lillian’s quiet words stung even hours later. They shouldn’t; after all, they were only the truth. Their relationship—at least the sexual side of it—had ended almost as soon as it began.

Trying to stick to the letting-bygones-be-bygones promise he made yesterday was proving a little more difficult than he had expected.

Jace pushed the entire conversation from his mind. There was no room for worrying about the distant past out here on the Gauntlet, which was a glorified obstacle course full of real-life dangers—fire, barbed wire and paintball-type ammunition that wouldn’t seriously wound someone, but would hurt like hell if you got hit.

Harsh words were the least of his problems right now.

Evidently there was some sort of multimillion-dollar training simulator nearby, but the way everyone had started crossing themselves and balking when it was mentioned made him think it wasn’t very popular.

So here they were, out in a wooded area, having just crawled 500 yards under barbed wire. He and Lillian were a team, moving together. There were four other two-person teams made up of the various SWAT members he’d met yesterday. This exercise was part race, part team-building.

It wasn’t unlike some of the obstacles and exercises he’d been a part of as an Army Ranger. He understood the importance of pushing the body and the mind, and doing it with the person who was going to have your back when you went into battle. It looked like he and Lillian would be that person for each other.

And she wasn’t too happy about it.

Unhappy because she was being forced to work with an ex? Or unhappy because that ex was a new person on the team who might recognize some suspicious behavior on her part that her other colleagues could miss?

Either way, she was pushing those feelings aside now. She seemed vaguely surprised that he was able to keep up with her rapid crab-crawl pace under the barbed wire, roughly eighteen inches over the ground. Her small stature gave her a decided advantage for an obstacle of this type, and Lily knew how to use it.

But Jace knew how to make his body move quickly also. Even though the wire was sometimes only an inch or two over his shoulders and back, he used his abdominal muscles to keep himself straight and low, speed from his long reach making up for the caution he had to use because of his size.

As they reached the last of the wire and rolled out, they took cover behind some trees.

“You’re fast,” she said.

“Not my first rodeo.”

The rest of the teams were making their way along the ground, Philip Carnell having the most difficult time.

“Do we need to go back in and help Carnell?” he said.

Lillian gave a brief shake of her head. “No. Normally Derek doesn’t even allow him to do this sort of training even though Carnell insists he should be given the chance. But he may be needed to do something besides provide tactical assistance next week in Denver, so today he’s in.”

“Is he going to make it?” Carnell’s partner was Saul Poniard, who might also be new, but was light-years ahead of Carnell when it came to physical abilities.

“Saul will get him through hopefully. And we’ll get Philip out as a team if he needs it. Not that he’ll thank us for it.” Lillian shook her head. “As Alpha team, we’re going to have our own problems. We’ll need to take out the sniper before he picks everyone off.”

“Sniper?”

Lillian grinned. “You didn’t think Derek was going to miss the fun, did you? That man loves his paintball gun. You and I will have to take him out before everyone else gets there. That’s Alpha team’s primary challenge.”

“Then let’s get moving.”

They navigated a series of obstacles, including a fifty-foot rope climb, before coming to a pile of five large, heavy logs.

“Each of these has to be maneuvered through this next section.” Lillian referred to the logs. “Every two-person team is responsible for one log. We choose to make it either hard on us or hard on the other teams coming behind us.”

Jace raised an eyebrow. “So...heaviest?”

Lillian’s smile was huge and he had to fight to keep it from taking his breath away. “I was hoping you’d agree. But it’s not going to be easy.”

“Then I guess you better stop grinning like an idiot and get to it.”

Jace couldn’t stop the grin on his own face, either. Lily wanted to push herself. That was something he understood. He had known it about her even back in the day, and it was one of the reasons he had thought the army would be such a good fit for her also.

He tamped down the spring of bitterness over the way things had turned out. Bygones. Much more important to focus on the problems at hand.

The log was damn heavy. The exercise required them to lift the log over some obstacles, under others, and even carry it over their heads as they crossed a small creek.

Lillian never complained, never slipped in supporting her part of the awkward piece of wood. By the time they threw it down half a mile later, they were both pushing the edges of exhaustion. They slumped together against the back of a tree, shoulder to shoulder, so they could each catch their breath.

“Now we have to take out Derek and his evil paintball gun.” Her eyes were closed as she allowed her body to attempt to recapture some of its strength just as he did.

“How do we do that with no gun of our own?”

“Technically for this exercise, all we have to do to defeat him is for one of us to make it over the finish line without getting hit.” She didn’t sound very enthused about the idea.

“Easier said than done?”

Those brown eyes opened. “Derek is a mastermind at this. Plus, he knows all our strengths. We have about a five-percent success rate when it comes to getting past him.”

“What about splitting up and running from two different directions?”

She shook her head. “We’ve tried. It’s such a narrow strip of land, he can cover it and almost always get both people before they get across. We don’t have very much cover.”

“What are the rules about just one person getting across? If that’s all we need, we should wait for everyone else, protect one person and everyone else can take the hits.”

“First, the hits aren’t gentle. They hurt like hell.” She obviously had firsthand knowledge. “Second, to keep us from always grouping, the rule is, whoever makes it across the finish line unhit has two minutes to get the wounded the fifteen yards across no-man’s-land. Almost impossible if it’s one person trying to get multiple people across. And particularly impossible with the group coming up behind us.”

Jace leaned his head back against the tree. He could hear the frustration in her voice. The Omega SWAT team was not up to the level it usually was. Too many new people. Too many wounded.

“I have a plan,” he said.

Now he had her full attention.

“We’ll use Derek’s assumptions against him, with a little bit of trickery thrown in. But I’ll warn you, this won’t be easy. Particularly on you. We won’t be playing to your strengths. But we will be using your strength.”

She sat up. “Okay. I’m game. What’s your plan?”

“Derek expects you and me to make a break before the rest of the team gets here. To try to overcompensate for their limitations. To use your speed and my strength to get everyone else through.”

“And we’re not going to do that?”

Jace just smiled.

Ten minutes later the other members of the team began catching up with them. Jace explained his plan. Everyone stared at Lillian once Jace told them what she would need to do.

Even Lillian looked a little skeptical.

“You can do it,” he said.

“You’re going to take a lot of hits,” she responded. “Derek won’t like it and won’t show any mercy.”

Jace grinned. “I can handle a few bruises.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to make a dash for it?” Saul asked, enthusiasm fairly radiating from him. “I’m fast.”

Jace shook his head. “No, that’s exactly what he’s expecting. For you or Lily to run, to try to use your speed. And you’re too big for me to use in this plan.”

Saul grimaced. “Are you sure she can handle her end of this?”

Jace shook his head at the same time Lillian’s eyes narrowed. Saul might be new, but he would learn fast not to underestimate Lillian if he wanted to stay part of this team. “Don’t worry. I’ll do my part.”

It was a pretty damn big part.

Jace turned to Philip. “You’ve got to sell it, to get us more time. Derek will come after you just to teach you a lesson.”

Philip didn’t look thrilled, but then again, Jace wasn’t sure he ever did.

“I can handle a few bruises,” Philip echoed.

Jace nodded at the other team members. They weren’t excited about being left out of most of the action, but they understood the advantage of his plan. Of keeping Derek off balance as long as possible.

“Remember.” Lillian turned to him. “Rules are that you can only take five more steps after you’re hit. Make them count.”

They all stood and made their way closer to the twenty-yard square area Derek was guarding. There was some cover of trees and boulders, but not a lot. Derek definitely had the tactical advantage.

Jace and Lillian separated from the rest of the team. Philip and Saul would be drawing Derek’s attention—hopefully—from the other end of the field.

“If Saul gets all gung-ho and takes off, then gets hit, this isn’t going to work,” Lillian whispered. “I’m not sure it’s going to work even if he doesn’t.”

Jace couldn’t help himself—he bent down and kissed her, fast and hard. “If there’s anyone I would trust to get me out of a situation when I’m wounded, it’s you.”

“You’re nuts, Eakin.” She shook her head. “Let’s try this crazy plan.”

They waited for the signal. It came just moments later.

“Because we have to stick together, Poniard, don’t you dare leave me here to get shot.” Philip’s words were soft, like they weren’t meant to be heard. Jace and Lillian could barely make them out.

But that meant Derek could, too.

Jace didn’t wait. He scooped up Lillian—she rolled herself into as tight a ball as possible—and he ran. He only had to make it halfway before he got shot. Far enough that his back would be to Derek, and the team leader wouldn’t see the hidden person Jace had curled in his arms. Derek would be expecting Lily to try to run her own route and make it through. Wouldn’t expect her to agree to be carried.

“Damn it, Saul, wait!” Philip again, hopefully going from the script, and not saying it because Saul really had taken off.

It bought Jace the few extra seconds he needed. He kept Lillian tucked high against his chest as he felt the first paintball hit his back. Three more followed rapidly.

Damn, those did hurt.

This whole plan was relying on the fact that Derek wouldn’t stay and watch Jace “fall” onto the boulder in front of him. He had too much else he had to keep track of. Jace got his five more steps in, then set Lillian on the ground. She immediately began sprinting toward the finish line.

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