The Reveal (11 page)

But then, everything he knew about her had been a lie, hadn’t it? Or at the very least, half-truths.

“Who did she tell the secret to?” he asked. “Someone must have known in case the North Koreans eliminated her.”

“Abe,” Macy answered flatly.

“The head of an Agency kept that information to himself?”

Macy shrugged. “Abe wasn’t a typical bureaucrat. But in his position, no one could touch him. The information was safe. Once he died, though, all bets were off.”

“But now Jayda’s really dead,” Brynn insisted.

Macy slipped back into the file again, this time extracting a newspaper clipping from the San Francisco Chronicle. Sean scanned the article, stopping when he caught sight of the DMV photo of a woman who’d died in a freak accident.

A truck had plowed into a playground.

The name below the photo did not say Jayda Hai, but it didn’t have to. He’d know those eyes anywhere.

“So the secret died with her and Abe,” Sean concluded. “Why kidnap me?”

“Clearly, the North Koreans have reason to believe that the information has been passed to a third party.”

“What if Jayda faked her death again?” Brynn suggested, grabbing the newspaper. “This story could have been planted.”

“My contacts in California verified that she died at the scene. I’ve seen the autopsy photos. I didn’t know Jayda personally, but there’s no doubt in my mind that it’s her.”

“There are doubts in mine,” Sean insisted.

He didn’t want to see autopsy photos, but before he moved one step further in figuring out how he’d gotten from a street corner in the United States to a cave in the south of France, he had to be sure that the woman he’d loved, lost, then lost again was truly gone for good.

Macy took out the photos. She laid them face down on the table then scooped the baby out of the crib and crooned to her as she strolled to the other side of the room. On the video feed, Sean saw that Jarek had arrived at the scene of the ambush and was lifting one of the injured men into the Landrover.

Brynn slid in behind him and braced her hands on his shoulders. His instinct was to shrug her off, but he fought it, instead allowing the warmth of her hands to suffuse into his neck and shoulders. He’d never ask her to stand at his side like this, but he was grateful she was there.

He flipped the first photo. Brynn gasped. He held his emotions in check, nodding as he scoured the gruesome shot. It was Jayda, and she was dead. Yes, the photographs could have been doctored. Sure, the autopsy could have been staged.

It really didn’t matter.

Jayda was gone—if not from this world, then definitely from his heart.

He slid the pictures back into the folder.

“It’s her,” he said.

Brynn squeezed tighter.

“This information that Jayda had,” he said, turning to Brynn. “Is it important to national security?”

“Whose?” Macy asked wryly.

“I only give a damn about the US,” Sean replied.

“Having it would likely give the United States some sort of tactical advantage over the North Koreans, which, at this juncture of international relations, could come in handy.”

Sean pushed away from the table, nearly trampling Brynn in the process. As if she could feel the heightened tension in the room, Abby started to cry.

“I don’t give a damn about tactical advantages. Will this information save American lives?”

Macy shushed and bounced her baby then said, “I don’t know.”

“Then I don’t give a damn.”

He stalked out of the control room, slamming the door behind him. His body remained unaware of the bracing cold until he kicked an old wine barrel and the pain shot up his leg, followed by a cruel and bitter cold.

He’d dodged a bullet when Jayda had left. Yeah, he was sorry she was dead, but he wasn’t sorry she was gone. He’d never been big on trust before her, and now…now, he’d probably never trust anyone ever again.

“Sean.”

When he looked up, he expected to see Brynn, but it was Macy who’d followed him into the cold. She zipped her parka up high and shoved her hands deep into the pockets.

“I’m sorry I had to be the bearer of all this bad news,” she said.

“You didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know,” he shot back. “The only thing different is the timeline.”

“There’s more to it than that,” Macy pressed.

“I don’t care,” Sean said. “So Jayda had some sort of fail-safe that the government wants now. Good for them. They can hire T-45 or tap some hotshots in the Arm to retrieve it, if it still exists. Sooner or later, the North Koreans will realize I don’t know anything about it.”

“And until then, what? They attacked my home, Sean. They killed my men. And—”

“And nothing,” Sean snapped. Guilt tugged at his insides. Macy was his best friend’s wife, and Abby was as close to a niece as he was ever going to get. With Dante out of communication, responsibility for their safety fell to him. “We’ll find you a safe location until the heat wears off.”

But before he finished speaking, she was already shaking her head. “I’m taking Abby to Istanbul. There’s a T-45 operation center there manned by members of my old team. I should be able to contact Dante from there, if he doesn’t already know what’s happened.”

“Then what do you need me for?”

“I don’t need you,” Macy said, sliding her hand onto his arm. “But your daughter does.”

Thirteen

“My—?” Sean choked out.

Brynn opened the door from the control room. A loud, infant wail echoed through the cavern.

“Macy? I think the baby is hungry.”

Macy shifted in her parka. “It’s time for me to feed her. I’ll be right there,” she called then turned back to Sean. “Jayda made a lot of mistakes. The biggest was getting pregnant and not telling you. But you have a child out there. The North Koreans might accept that you don’t know anything, but that doesn’t mean they’ll leave your daughter alone. They’ll go after her for information, or they’ll go after her for revenge. Either way, that child needs you.”

Sean heard Macy speaking, but he couldn’t process much beyond the information that she’d dropped like a nuclear bomb.

Somewhere in the world, he had a child.

A daughter?

A daughter.

Someone shoved a parka over his shoulders then quietly coaxed him into putting his arms into the sleeves. When he looked up, he saw Brynn, though the only part of her that was visible under her hood was her chattering teeth.

He pushed back the fur-lined head covering.

“I have a daughter?” he asked.

She bit her bottom lip. “Apparently.”

“Macy told you?”

She shook her head. “When she came out here to talk to you, I reviewed the rest of the file. There was a fourth photo, and I didn’t have to be a code breaker to figure out that a baby in a crib meant Jayda had had a child.”

“I can’t believe this. This doesn’t make sense. Jayda had her tubes tied. And she never would have brought a baby into this world.”

He heard lilts in his voice that bordered on hysteria, but Brynn shrugged calmly. “You didn’t know her, Sean. Not as well as you thought. But now you know why you were really dragged into all of this. Not because of the fail-safe or international espionage. You have a baby. She must be, what, five years old?”

Sean needed to sit. He needed to take his weight off his legs before they crumpled. He balanced on an overturned barrel, leaned his elbows on his knees and held his head with his hands.

“I can’t process this,” he said. “I need a minute.”

Brynn gave him exactly sixty seconds. Once the time had elapsed, she started rattling off words that he knew he had to commit to memory.

“According to the newspaper clipping, a babysitter took her away from the accident. The babysitter is where we’ll have to start looking. The babysitter might even have the fail-safe. Macy accessed some confidential intel—chatter of an impending sale of top-secret information from that era, relating to the North Koreans.”

“So some random babysitter is putting my kid in danger to make a few bucks off of old information?” he shouted.

Brynn did not reply, but from her mournful expression, he knew he’d sufficiently summed up the situation.

“She might have dumped the baby a long time ago. She might have abandoned her. What—” he said then stopped when his voice cracked.

He took a deep breath and then started again. “What is…her name?”

Brynn folded her lips in, her green eyes suddenly bright with unshed tears. “I don’t know. If Macy gives me the right access codes, I can hack into the full police reports. But I’ll need time.”

Despite his perch on the barrel, Sean’s limbs, torso and head were caught in a vortex too wild and uncertain for him to escape. His best bet was to remain sitting, head braced in his hands. The world would right itself. Sooner or later, he’d find level ground.

In a million years, he’d never imagined Jayda would have a child. Not with him. Not with anyone.

“I’m going to find her,” he said.

“Of course you will,” Brynn said. “Jarek’s patched their men up the best that he could. He’s coming in now to get Macy and proceed to the hospital. From there, we can arrange transport for us to the States. We will—”

“No,” he said. “Not
we
. Me. You need to go home. Stay out of this.”

“Are you insane?” She poked him hard in the shoulder, forcing him to look up. “You’re not an Arm agent anymore. You have minimal contacts and no backup. With Dante gone and Macy concentrating on her own child’s safety, you have no one but me. The North Koreans know you. They have to suspect that you’re coming after them.”

Sean stood, pulling out of her grasp when she attempted to snag his arm. He was fully aware of what he was up against, which was precisely why he wanted Brynn to be as far away from him as possible.

She’d put her life on the line for him one time too many already.

“I will track them down,” he said. “After I get my kid.”

“And what if they already have her?”

Ice shot through his veins. He stalked to Brynn and grabbed her by the chin, squeezing tightly as if the pressure could somehow undo the grim reality she’d unleashed with her words.

“Then I’ll cut their throats, one by one, until they give her back.”

She was not cowed by his intensity. In fact, his grip seemed to inject her with more steely resolve.

“In front of her?” she challenged, her voice clipped. “Is that the first image you want her to see of you? Knowing that your father is a killer fucks with a girl’s head. Trust me. I know.”

He released her, but only for a moment. He’d left a dark mark on her skin from the pressure, and as quickly as he’d shoved her away, he pulled her back, drawing her close to kiss the bruise away.

“Brynn, I’m—”

“Don’t,” she said. “I know.”

“I can’t ask you to do this.” His voice was a whisper. Her skin was ice cold, and yet, all he felt was life-sustaining heat.

“You don’t have to ask.”

“I don’t think you know dangerous this will be.”

She pushed away from him, but only enough so that she could lock her gaze with his. “Maybe I do and maybe I don’t. But that doesn’t change the fact that we’re in this together.”

He could have kissed her, but instead he enveloped her in an embrace that was more intimate than anything they’d shared up to this point. Despite the parkas, every inch of him touched every inch of her. He needed her. Selfish as it was, he could not let her go.

He had a child. He had no idea where she was or what they’d have to face to get her back, but he could not do it alone.

The realization unleashed a burst of laughter from deep in his gut. “Do you even like kids?” he asked.

“Do you?” she countered.

“I have no idea.”

“Neither do I,” she confessed. “I guess we are both about to find out.”

The third and final installment
, DIRTY DARE: The Reckoning
, is coming soon! Target release date: October 2013.

If you wish to be notified when the story is available, please sign up for my newsletter or subscribe to my website:
www.julieleto.com/
.

Afterword

Dear Reader,

Thank you so much for purchasing a copy of
DIRTY DARE: Part Two: The Reveal
. This serialized novel, starting with
DIRTY DARE, Part One: The Rescue
, has been a great experiment and I truly and deeply appreciate the readers who are taking a chance on me and this story. The third and final installment,
The Reckoning
, is in the works and should be available by late fall of 2013. For more information, please see my website,
www.julieleto.com
.

If you’re wondering about the story connections,
DIRTY DARE
is a bridge story, meant to connect my sexy suspense novella,
DARE ME
, with my
Dirty
series, which includes
DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS
,
DIRTY LITTLE LIES
and
DIRTY LITTLE CHRISTMAS
. All these stories are available at Amazon and I’ve included links below if you’d like to check them out—and I hope you will, if you haven’t already! It is only with reader support that independent authors can continue to publish.

Another way readers are crucial to the indie publishing experience is through word of mouth. I would be grateful and humbled if you would take a moment to go to Amazon and leave an honest review of this story or any others of mine that you’ve read.

If you notice any pervasive typographical errors that you think need addressing, please drop me a note via my website. I employ editors and proofreaders to ensure that you get the cleanest copy possible, but mistakes happen and I’d like to personally know about them.

Lastly, to make sure you’re among the first to know when the next installment is out, please visit my website
www.julieleto.com
and sign up for my newsletter.

Happy reading!