Not yet. Not until she had Maya in her sights and a copy of the kill switch for Jay.
She planned to have both in a matter of days. To accomplish her goal, she needed to get her butt in gear. With a groan, she reached for the shampoo, and starting from the top, she cleansed the feel of Roman’s hands from her skin.
A quick rinse later, and she grabbed the towel she kept slung over the shower door, wrapping it around her and tucking it tight. For all the money Alexsandr had invested in the facility, he hadn’t wasted any on luxury accommodations.
Her two rooms were small. Bare. Plain. No personal touches. And absolutely no electronics whatsoever. No phone. No desktop. No laptop. No tablet. Not even a smartwatch. Nothing she could use to her advantage.
She grabbed a second towel to dry her hair and skin, and a few rough pats later, she dropped it on the counter, entered her bedroom, and stopped dead while her heart raced ahead like a spooked horse.
“Jesus, Nik!” Her hand shot to her chest, and she landed a death grip on the terry cloth covering her. “You scared me.”
“Sorry, love.” He held up a palm to display the key dangling from a metal loop around his finger as his gaze swept over her features, cataloging her visible injuries. “I was worried about you.” He pocketed both hands before his attention landed back on her eyes. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” she huffed. “Roman hits like a toddler having a meltdown after someone stole his favorite toy.”
“Maya.” He used her name as a warning. Apparently, his uncle’s ultimatum had unleashed his inner beast. Compared to Roman’s, his bad side resembled a cuddly teddy bear, so she’d continue to take her chances with her only ally on the island.
“What?”
“Now’s not the time.”
“For?”
“Your false bravado.”
She huffed again. “Nothing false about it, Nik. I know where I stand, and what comes next. The question is—why are you really here?” Before today, he’d never invaded her space without an express invitation, and the fact he had now meant he was worried about more than a few cuts and bruises marring her skin.
“We need to talk.”
“About?” Feigning indifference, she crossed the cold tile floor to her small dresser, and opening a drawer, she pulled out a clean workout tank, a pair of black underwear, and a set of fluffy green socks.
“What comes next.”
Her brows cocked, she turned to face him, confusion stamped on her face. “What do you mean, what comes next? Alexsandr made himself clear. I have five days to crack the code or find Jay. If I don’t, Roman gets his wish, and I’m dead in the water.”
“Like I said, I won’t let that happen.” Nik hitched his chin toward the bathroom, his conviction concrete, his dismissal obvious. “Go get dressed. We’ll talk after.”
The thumping whomp of the helicopter’s rotor matched the steady beat of Jay’s heart. All around him, his teammates slept or rested with eyes closed as the sun started to break over the horizon. Smart.
They needed to be in top form for the mission they were about to undertake. So yeah, he should be unconscious too. The only problem? He couldn’t turn his fucking brain off. The closer he got to Becca, the more his thoughts whirred, and his stomach churned.
He checked his watch. Ten hours in. Ten hours to go before they landed in Wales on the Western edge of Alaska.
So far, so good.
Staying off multiple international radars, avoiding any known commercial, general, or military flight paths, pushing the Black Hawk to its limits over the North Pacific Ocean before setting down for a second clandestine refuel. The JTT were taking risks.
Big risks. Huge. And they hadn’t even gotten to the invasion of Russia part yet.
That was a whole other level of fucked up all on its own.
Guilt sat heavy on his shoulders, and worry weighed him down. The men surrounding him—his friends, his brothers—were putting their lives on the line. For him. For Becca. For their country and the citizens who slept in their own beds night after night and woke each morning, oblivious to the dangers they faced.
What a luxury to be unaware of the need for a highly trained special operations team to charge into an impossible situation to keep them free and safe from the tyranny of a cruel and oppressive government.
A government that would destroy their way of life, suppress their rights, reduce them to a state of survival of the fittest. The fittest being those who’d stop at nothing to stay alive. Kill or be killed. There’d be no in-between options if Dominion were unleashed on the world’s supercomputers, or if the Imperium Council came into power.
He felt a set of eyes on him and looked up to find Cody watching him intently. The big Texan gave off a devil-may-care attitude with his joking demeanor, cavalier approach to the work they did, and playboy persona, but anyone who knew him well knew better.
