Fearless: Complicated Creatures Part Three (34 page)

April—Early Evening

Wyatt Ranch, Texas

J A C K

“This isn’t a
good idea.”

“Why? Because from where I’m standing, this is the best position I’ve been in months.” And it was. Jack was standing at the edge of the garden lining the guest house, phone to his ear as he watched the sun set over the ocher plains of Samantha’s private paradise.

Sandro Roman sighed heavily. “She’s a trigger for you, Gianni. Samantha Wyatt will cost you so much more than you realize. She will subvert all the progress you’ve made.”

Jack pinched the bridge of his nose, reminding himself his father would naturally voice his opinions on the matter. He had to hear him out if he had any chance of convincing him to help him further. He couldn’t get one without the other.

“Did it ever occur to you that my impropriety had less to do with her leaving me and more to do with me loving her, then letting her go? I lost faith in her, Dad, then I lost faith in myself. The rest of it was just aftershock.”

Jack told himself his father meant well, but it hurt to hear either way.

“Dad, you know I value your counsel. Your opinion has always been important to me, but in this case, you need to butt the hell out,” he told him, his tone brooking no argument. “I’ve made mistakes, certainly, but I’m taking accountability, and now I’m doing what’s right for me, and Samantha
is
right for me. I need you to get behind me, or this will drive a wedge between us, and I don’t want that.”

“She’s not right for you.”

“You’ve made your feelings on the matter abundantly clear.”

A tense silence hung between them. Jack couldn’t begin to explain how empty and hollow he’d felt without her—like he’d been falling down a bottomless ravine. He couldn’t elucidate the burst of happiness and peace he’d found holding her in his arms again. For some inexplicable reason, Samantha was
the
person
—his
person. She was the woman who set him free. Now that he knew her, Jack realized she’d unleashed some pent-up desire that was bigger than his instinct for self-preservation. Seeing her again, holding her—
this
was emotional yearning. What his father didn’t get was that the fundamental shift had already occurred. It was done the first time Jack knew he loved her.

“Dad, I called you to let you know where I am and what’s happening, but there’s something important I have to ask of you. Something you won’t like.”

“There isn’t anything about this that I like,” Sandro replied gruffly.

Jack sighed, rubbing a hand down his face. “I need you to tell me what you know about Samantha’s father.”

“I already told you—”

“Was he an asset of some kind?” Jack interrupted, looking up at the darkening sky. “Did he work for the government? Was he CIA?”

His father remained quiet.

“The file you gave me had some information about his death. Intelligence gathered that. There’s evidence of foul play, though it was never pursued beyond that,” Jack continued.

“Robert Wyatt was one of the most influential men in Washington before he died,” his father answered slowly. “There were several deals he was involved in that were questionable. Not to mention his conflicts with the EPA.”

“Then why wasn’t it the FBI that was looking into him? Why the CIA?” Jack pointed out. “Stop giving me evasive, political bullshit answers, Dad. What’s going on?”

“Gianni, this isn’t a matter you should be probing into.”

Something about the latent hesitancy in his father’s voice struck a dissonant chord. Jack frowned. He and his father had always been close. He knew when his father was holding out; his father
knew
something now—something important.

“Samantha won’t let this go,” Jack told him, turning away from the house. “She has photographs, Dad. She’s gathering evidence. I’ve sworn to help her. I need you to be honest with me now.”

“You’re asking more than I can give. I’ve done what I can to help her. I’ve done everything in my power to keep her alive, even when you were no longer together.”

“You’re the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee. It’s not that you can’t help. It’s that you won’t,” Jack responded cuttingly. He knew what his father was doing. Playing the last ace that he had. If Sandro didn’t provide Jack with the information he’d promised to Samantha, he assumed the wedge it would drive between them would be too insurmountable. Jack couldn’t force his father to come to the table with something meaningful. Sandro knew it and Jack knew it. And Samantha wouldn’t achieve closure, and the not knowing would forever be a splinter in her mind.

“I
choose
her, Dad. Whatever that brings; whatever it means—I choose
her
.”

Jack hung up. He stood in the garden surrounded by Hannah’s prized roses, the scent seducing as nightfall spread across Wyatt Ranch like a deep lavender canopy. He could see the dusting of stars just above the horizon, a slice of the moon hanging in the sky.

He called Jaime.

“So that didn’t go well,” his brother said as soon as he picked up.

Jack sighed. “How did you know?”

“Mom and I were talking about what to do with Maddie this summer. She said Dad was doing shots of
grappa
after you got off the phone.”

“He thinks I’m throwing my life away.”

“So he’s prone to the dramatic,” Jaime replied lightly. “You two are the same that way.”

“I can’t tell if you’re making fun of me or being supportive,” Jack drawled.

“It’s both, Jack—it’s usually both,” Jaime joked before turning serious. “How is she?”

“Too thin from stress and worry. But God, it’s good to see her again.”

“What do you need from me? How can I help?”

“She thinks her father was involved with the CIA.”

Jaime sucked in a tight breath. “Holy shit.”

“Yeah.”

“So… you asked Dad to confirm or deny that?” Jaime guessed.

“He would do neither. He’s trying the ‘withholding until I come to my senses’ route, hoping it’ll drive a wedge between me and Samantha.”

“
Mannaggia.
Well, if the mountain won’t come to Mohammed… Guess we’ll have to go back into the mountain.”

“Yeah, that’s not how the saying goes,” Jack smiled in spite of himself. “How is it that you’re supportive of this? I thought you wanted me to stay away from Samantha too.”

“I do. I did.” Jaime sighed. “Look, I’m not an idiot. You love this woman the way I loved my wife. I would have done anything for her—
anything
. So I get it. And besides, I like Sam. I think she’s good for you. Dad just doesn’t see that. But he will. Just give it time.”

“A luxury I don’t have,” Jack muttered.

“Jack, you’ve got to look at this from his point of view for just a moment. When he was our age, he already had two sons, was the district attorney, and had a house in the suburbs. Until Sam, Mom was the most dangerous woman he knew. Dad just doesn’t understand what you’re dealing with—there’s no frame of reference. He always thought you’d grow out of the playboy billionaire stuff. He was expecting you to sow your oats, then settle down with an Italian, not try to marry
la femme Nikita
, get held hostage, and then have to go to rehab for Oxy. You’re blowing his goddamn mind, dude.”

“There has to be some other way.”

“Let me work on Mom when she’s in Chicago this weekend,” Jaime offered. “If she’s on board, Dad won’t have a choice.”

“Thanks,
fratu
.”

“Give Sam a hug for me.”

“I’ll tell her you called her
Nikita
.”

Jaime laughed. “You do that. She’ll like it.”

Jack hung up, moving toward the main house. He’d met Hannah earlier that afternoon. She’d been lovely and warm, welcoming him with kind blue eyes and iced tea sweet enough to send him into a diabetic coma. Jack figured he’d further ingratiate himself by helping her make dinner. He’d dazzle her with his knife skills, and if he was very lucky, she might tell him more about how Samantha was really doing.

April—Early Evening

Wyatt Ranch, Texas

S A M A N T H A

S
am hung up
the speaker phone, sitting back slowly as she and Alejandro looked at one another. They’d just gotten the update from Rox about Lightner’s upcoming meeting with an arms dealer.

“That asshole’s trying to get heavy artillery?” Alejo released a frustrated groan. “Are you
kidding
me?” He scrubbed his hands down his face.

“Arms dealing as a second career makes sense, in a way,” she reasoned, trying to suppress the fear spreading through her with calm logic. “Lightner’s the only man to successfully take out a city block in London since World War II, so he’s got an established reputation now as a crazy and talented sonofabitch in the underworld. That’ll be an automatic calling card.”

“I can’t defend you against military-grade weaponry if he comes at us with a full arsenal,” Alejandro pointed out roughly. “I’m prepared for ground attacks by small strike teams—what if he gets ahold of a bomb or something?”

“You’re right.” Sam nodded distractedly. “If he knows I’m here, which he probably does, he knows the ranch is an armory. Lightner’s a tricky bastard. He could be picking up new tech. He’d get to test out his new wares and kill me and my family in one fell swoop. And with Jack here—that’s two birds with one big goddamn stone.”

Alejo stood. “We have to get you and Jack out of here.”

“He doesn’t have anything yet,” she pointed out pragmatically.

“And I’m not sitting around here waiting for him to get geared up,” Alejandro countered. “We’ve got a few days’ head start. Probably a week. We can be anywhere in the world by then.”

Sam shook her head. “I’m not running.”

He laid his hands on her desk, leaning toward her, “Don’t be stupid and pig-headed, Wyatt. You’re putting
everyone
at risk if you don’t leave.”

“
I’m not running
,” she said with feeling, her voice gritty. “No one comes looking for me. I go looking for them. Lightner’s about to get one hell of a fight, especially since he doesn’t know we’re already on to him.” She reached for the phone again, quickly speed-dialing Marvin, her assistant, in Chicago.

“You better not be working, Boss,” Marvin said when he answered the line. “Doctor’s orders.”

“Like I ever do as I’m told,” Sam scoffed. “Besides, you’re still in the office.”

“Who’s going to run the place while Carey’s in Houston? You know I can’t leave Talon alone. He’d have unloaded an entire clip in the photocopier by now.”

Sam rolled her eyes. “He’s not that bad.”

“Are you kidding me?” Marvin replied with disbelief. “He told an intern to drop and give him fifty for mispronouncing a client’s name.”

Alejo nodded in agreement, giving her a thumbs-up sign. Sam rolled her eyes. Talon and Alejo were cut from the same kind of crazy.

“Is Talon still there?” she asked.

“Just headed out, but I can patch him in.”

“Get him and Rush on the line. I’ve got a fresh lead, and I need you guys to mobilize. Call me when you get them both on the line,” she said before hanging up.

“It’s the middle of the night in London,” Alejandro pointed out as Sam leaned back in her seat.

“Can’t be helped,” she replied with a shrug. “Besides, they’ll be as eager as I am to see this through.”

“Boss—everything alright?” Rush asked as soon as she picked up the conference call Marvin set up.

“Avi Oded got a bead on Lightner,” she told her guys.

“Where?” Talon asked, cutting straight to the point.

“Tel Aviv. He’ll fill you in on all the details, but I need you guys to put together a tactical team and get there ASAP. I want Michaelson and Henri, for sure but you can pick whomever else you want to bring.”

“I’ll get the jets lined up at Chicago Midway and London City,” Marvin chimed in. “The guys will be wheels up within the hour.”

“Is Carey coming?” Rush asked.

“Negative. I need him here.” She didn’t tell them that she’d be asking him to take his parents away from the ranch until the heat died down. “Marv, you’re manning the helm in Chicago.”

“Sure thing,” Marvin responded.

Alejandro waved at her.
Rox
, he mouthed.

Sam nodded in acknowledgment. “One more thing: You’ll meet a woman I’ve brought in to find Lightner.”

“Really?” Talon replied, sounding interested. “Who?”