Brody's Vow (Colebrook Siblings Trilogy Book 1) (5 page)

Trinity twisted the knob, jerked the door open.

“I’m heading out of town to visit my family,” he said, hoping he wouldn’t regret this later. “Not far, just a couple hours away in the Shenandoah Valley. You could come with me.”

She swiveled her head around, the motion stiff, and shot him an incredulous look. Just as quickly, her expression turned guarded. “Why would you offer that?”

Because he was invested now and she was in trouble so he couldn’t walk away. “It’s pretty clear you need to get out of here for a while, and I have training. You’ll be safe if you’re with me. And you just said the chances are next to nothing that anyone followed you here, so my family won’t be at risk.”

And, okay, he’d be straight up lying to himself if he didn’t admit he found her attractive and mysterious. That wasn’t why he was offering though. Bottom line was, he just…needed to protect her.

“That’s a pretty big gamble to take, considering you don’t know me.”

He dipped his head in acknowledgment. “I guess it is, yeah.” But his dad and eldest brother were the only ones at home, and they were both former Marines. Even if trouble did somehow follow them, though Brody would do everything in his power to make sure it didn’t, they could protect themselves.

Those deep blue eyes studied him for a long moment, as though he was a puzzle she was trying to figure out. They were lined with exhaustion and pain, her lips pressed tight together. She was hurting, no matter how much of a tough front she was putting up. “You got a white knight complex or something? I’m not looking for a hero. Because I’ve got training too, and believe it or not, I can look after myself.”

Maybe, but from where he was standing, she was vulnerable at the moment. He couldn’t just leave her here when she was in trouble. “Look, the offer’s sincere. No strings attached. You’re hurt and you’ve obviously been through a lot tonight. You need to get out of town, and I’m going anyhow. We don’t know each other and you might not trust me, but Briar and DeLuca do. That’s gotta carry at least some weight with you.”

She considered his words for a full minute before looking away and leaning against the door in a clear sign that she was feeling a lot weaker than she’d let on. Then her posture eased. When she looked at him again something like relief filled her eyes as she gave a slight nod. “Okay then, I accept. I…thank you.”

He’d been expecting to have to put up more of an argument. He blinked, then put the medical supplies away. Maybe she was planning to ditch him once they got out of town.

When he left the bathroom she was waiting at the master bedroom door…with a rifle in her hands.

“You got more than that pistol with you?” she asked, and the way she held the rifle made it clear she was no stranger to handling one. That made her even more sexy and intriguing.

He looked up and met her gaze. “In my truck, yeah.”

“Good.” Apparently satisfied by his answer, she headed down the stairs and out to his truck, maintaining careful vigilance as she walked.

As he pulled away from the curb, he checked his mirrors to make sure no one seemed to be following them. What the hell had he just gotten himself into? All he’d wanted after so many months of pain and grueling therapy was some downtime back home to relax and unwind.

Glancing at the intriguing woman in the passenger seat, it looked like his plans for his long-awaited vacation had all just gone up in smoke.

****

Tino slammed a hand down on the steering wheel and cursed in frustration as he came to yet another dead end. He’d followed a third tip from a local detective about a stolen car, but it turned out to be a couple of punk kids taking a joyride.

Where had that bitch gone? He’d seen her crawl out of the lake, had tried to follow but she’d managed to slip out of the thin band of forest and escape him. That had been hours ago, plenty of time for her to get out of the city.

He didn’t care what kind of training she had, she couldn’t run far or fast enough to escape him. She couldn’t stay hidden for long, not with the resources he had at his disposal.

One of the great benefits of belonging to the organization he did was that they had people in virtually every law enforcement agency in the city on their payroll. Big fish, little fish, didn’t matter. Everyone had their price, especially in a place like D.C.

He’d already called in a few favors and had some friends out looking for her. Some professional hitters, several cops, even an undercover federal agent who had access to a constant stream of information no one else did. It was only a matter of time before someone found her and alerted him.

They all knew not to kill her after they captured her. That would be his pleasure only, and they all knew what would happen to them if they defied that edict. His predecessor had been tortured for hours before having weights tied to his feet and being dumped into the Potomac. By him.

In his world, reputation was everything. He had to salvage his immediately.

A black wave of rage hit him again as he remembered finding Salvatori slumped in the seat of his Mercedes in that alley a few hours ago. He’d warned Salvatori about Eva right from the start—though he was damn sure that wasn’t her real name—had told him she wasn’t to be trusted. She’d showed up on the scene out of nowhere, even though her story and persona had checked out.

His boss had laughed off his concerns. Their intensive background check on her had come back clean, the only reason Salvatori had decided to pursue her, but Tino had always felt a certain disquiet around her. Something in her eyes had made him suspicious that she was more than she seemed, that she was duping them all, silently laughing at them and plotting the entire time.

And he’d been right.

Now Salvatori was dead, and Tino was in jeopardy of losing everything he’d worked for these past seven years. With Salvatori he’d finally had the security of a stable job, a steady income, and benefits like a million-dollar condo with a water view, and free pussy whenever he wanted it. All gone now, and that wasn’t the worst of it.

He’d gotten used to having excess money to play with, to buy whatever he wanted. Weapons, drugs, women, anything that suited his mood. Over the past eighteen months he’d racked up a sizeable debt living a lavish lifestyle, an amount increased exponentially by a gambling habit he’d become more and more addicted to during his days off.

He’d told himself he could quit anytime he wanted, that he’d be able to pay back the money in no time. The people he owed wouldn’t be sympathetic or understanding about his situation, acquaintances and contacts or not. They were the kind of men who would kill him just to make a statement.

And then there was his other problem.

Once everyone found out that Salvatori had died on his watch, Tino’s reputation would be in tatters. People within the organization would begin to talk. They’d close ranks, cut him off and shut him out. He’d be ruined, if he wasn’t already dead from the bad debt.

Not only that, once Salvatori’s boss got wind of this, he might even put a hit order on Tino. When he thought of the sort of people the man would be sending after him…

He shifted against the leather seat as a shiver of unease spiraled up his backbone. That bitch had cost him everything, and he would make her pay. Someone had sent her to kill Salvatori, and once he captured her, he’d find out who. And why.

Tino imagined standing in the shadows beside her earlier, back beside the hotel. He tightened his fingers around the steering wheel as he drove back to his luxury condo.

He’d had his hand between her legs, wished now that he’d simply taken what he’d wanted despite Salvatori’s order to wait, make her lose that haughty edge as he taught her she was nothing more than just another slut for him to use for his own pleasure. He’d been hard, even harder than he was now, thinking about the things he would do to her.

Soon enough.

The only way to redeem himself now was to hunt her down and kill her personally. Salvage his rep by proving to the others that
no one
fucked with him or anyone he worked for and lived to tell about it.

Tino sped down the darkened road, a new obsession taking root. He wanted to know who she was. Her name, her background, who she worked for.

And when he finally got her, he was going to take that delectable body, tie her to a bed somewhere and enjoy her for hours on end while extracting every last ounce of information he needed before killing her. She wouldn’t be easy to break, not someone with her level of training, but that only made him look forward to the challenge more.

When that day came, he wouldn’t make her death quick
or
kind.

As far as decisions went, Trinity was pretty sure this might be one of her worst, but if Briar and Matt both trusted Colebrook, then she was at least safe with him. For the time being anyway.

Logic dictated that things could be worse, however. At minimum he had serious training and would be vigilant. A definite bonus for her at the moment, considering the way she felt. She wasn’t bleeding anymore but her head was pounding and her neck and left shoulder were so stiff and sore she could barely move them. On top of that, she was tired enough that if she closed her eyes she was sure she’d drop off to sleep in a matter of moments.

She couldn’t afford to let her guard down that far. The jacket she’d pilfered from Briar’s closet was waterproof but not overly warm, and even with the sweater she had on underneath it, she was still cold.

Colebrook must have noticed her wrapping her arms around herself because he reached over to aim an air vent at her and cranked the fan up to high. A burst of warm air hit her, and she almost groaned in relief. “Thanks.” It felt wrong to be accepting help, let alone from a stranger.

“Welcome.”

The silence wasn’t awkward, just a bit uncomfortable. She was an expert at putting people at ease though, making them drop their guard on a job. This wasn’t a job but she could make an effort to be pleasant after all the trouble he was going to for her. “So where are we headed?”

“Shenandoah Valley. Ever been there?”

“No.” It was only a couple hours outside of D.C. though. “Where abouts?”

“Little place called Sugar Hollow.”

She barely kept from making a face. “It sounds like something from one of those romantic movies on the Hallmark Channel.” The ones she always rolled her eyes at because they were so ridiculously unrealistic and…sweet. No one knew better than her that the real world didn’t work that way.

A grin curved his mouth, giving his face a sexy roughness that she found way too appealing. “Romantic isn’t the word I’d use, but okay.” He shrugged. “It’s home.”

She kept pulling on the thread of conversation to fill the void. “How long have you been with the HRT?”

“Five years. How long have you been in your line of work?”

The phrasing made her fight a sardonic smirk. As if she’d chosen her profession. Or had a choice at all. “A long time.” They’d begun training her at age nine, but hadn’t unleashed her on her first target until she was eighteen. Her first kill had been a double agent with a penchant for teenage girls. She’d poisoned him during a private dinner at his house, using her favorite method because it was fast and untraceable.

Trinity glanced in the side mirror again. The road spilled out behind them like a black ribbon. None of the headlights she’d seen had come close enough for her to get a look at the vehicles.

“We’re not being followed.” His tone was calm, assured.

She turned her head to look at him, gasped and put a hand to her neck as her muscles seized, sending a streak of pain down to her shoulder and up to her jaw. If she was this sore already, tomorrow was going to be ugly. She couldn’t let it slow her down. “You’re sure?”

“I’m sure.” He frowned. “You positive you don’t want to get checked out at a clinic or something?”

“Yes.” No way was she seeking medical help for something so trivial as whiplash and a cut on her scalp. But she was thirty-two now, and she already knew her body was going to take longer to heal than it would have even a few years ago.

Not for the first time she questioned her sharpness. She might be at the peak of her game in terms of her skill set, but she wasn’t getting any younger and wouldn’t be able to do this kind of work forever.

The femme fatale role required her to be young and sexy. She’d planned to retire by forty, but now she was second-guessing that. This line of work took a toll on her, mentally and physically. She was weary of hunting. Tired of always having to be vigilant, on guard. Maybe it was time she got out of the game entirely and did something above board.

She’d miss the adrenaline rush, but maybe there was something else that would earn her a decent living, something that wouldn’t require her to leave a trail of bodies behind her and having to watch over her shoulder everywhere she went. While she didn’t regret killing her targets because they’d all been dangerous criminals of one sort or another, each kill took a piece of her soul with it. In all honesty, she was lucky to still be alive after the life she’d led thus far.

“You can sleep if you want,” Colebrook offered.

I don’t think so.
“Thanks, but I can’t.”

He eyed her for a second. “Don’t trust me to stand watch?”

“It’s not that.” Except no, she didn’t, because she’d just met him. “It’s just…ingrained in me not to sleep until after I’ve gone to ground.” Survival instinct overrode everything else. Her training had seen to that.

“I get it,” he said with a nod.

Maybe he did. “Did you serve in the military before joining the FBI?”

“Marines.”

If he was leader of one of the HRT sniper teams, then he had to be elite. “Are you a scout/sniper like DeLuca?”

He nodded. “One shot, one kill,” he said, his voice filled with pride. “What about you? You as good with a long gun as Briar and Georgia?”

She looked at him sharply, narrowing her eyes. “You know Georgia?” Very few people knew her, and fewer still by her real name.