Jedrek crossed his arms, and Jerome came to stand beside Mason, looking a little nervous. “He just told her he knew the truth, right, Mason?”
He looked at Jedrek because the man would understand. “And then I spanked her ass her for lying to me.”
Jerome groaned.
Jedrek actually cracked a smile.
Viola gasped. “Why you—” She stormed toward him, but Jedrek grabbed her arm. She whirled on the other man since he was the one actually restraining her. “I’m going to kick his ass,” she yelled at Jedrek as she tried fruitlessly to yank her arm away.
“No, you won’t. He was within his right to punish her.”
She stilled. Mason wasn’t one to be easily scared by a woman’s wrath, but this was an exception. He preferred her screeched and jerking than standing dangerously still. “What does that mean?” she whispered.
“He’s her Dom. She betrayed him.” He glanced at Mason. “Did she use her safe word?”
“No.”
Jedrek looked at Viola again. “See. If she didn’t want him to punish her, she would have used it.”
“She didn’t want him to hurt her!”
“I didn’t want her to hurt me,” Mason roared, feelings of betrayal flooding him at the memory. Fuck, but her deception had cut him to the core.
Viola jumped at his outburst, and Jedrek let go of her. She looked at him warily for several seconds. He could see the wheels turning, her mulling over the truth. There was no way she could spin it to change what had happened. Finally, she said, “You’re right. She did hurt you. She didn’t have a choice, Mason. And I will say this, she wished more than anything that she didn’t have to.”
He snapped his mouth shut and turned away. He was not going to discuss this with her. He looked at his watch to gauge how much time he had left before he needed to leave. Fuck it. “I’m heading to the hangar.” He leaned over, turned her laptop toward him, and pulled out his phone. He saved the two North Carolina addresses into his device. “What’s your number?”
She rattled it off, and he stored it in his contacts. He hadn’t missed Jedrek doing the same. Mason sent her a quick text, so she would also have his number.
“I need to go, too,” Viola said as she reached for her gun. “I need to tell Rick about Dave before we head out.” Her eyes fell, and he hated that she was hurting. Hated it because she was someone important to Shelby.
“Let me know as soon as you know something concrete,” Mason said, and looked at Jedrek and Jerome. “Let’s go.”
He couldn’t wait a second longer.
The cool surface felt so good Shelby didn’t want to get up. She didn’t know why she was so tired, but lethargy wasn’t a bad thing, she decided. Somewhere inside the haze, she knew there were things she didn’t want to face, and sleep would protect her. The surface rocked, lulled her. No, she didn’t want to wake up, not right now, even as the knowledge lingered that she didn’t have a choice in the matter.
Sometime later, she stirred at the sound of voices. The cool surface now stuck to her sweaty cheek. She heard a click, and the voices stopped. Her barely awake mind tried to identify it. Maybe she’d fallen asleep watching television, and the autotimer had shut it off. But the sound had been louder, closer. She inhaled deeply and stilled any movement. The surface smelled rugged, like leather, which didn’t make any sense. Her couch wasn’t made of that.
She opened one eye first and blinked in confusion at a closed sunroof above her. She was in a car. She looked to the side and amended that—a limo. How could that be? The clicking sound was probably the door shutting with the voices belonging to…who? One was probably Darrell, she thought halfheartedly.
Darrell. Her memories assaulted her then, jolting her heart. God, he’d drugged her, kidnapped her. He was working with William. He was probably the other voice.
No. That couldn’t be right. Darrell was a heck of an agent, always doing things by the book. He wouldn’t turn on them like this. She rolled to her side, groaning with the effort it took to move her body. She felt as if she weighed a ton, the effects of the drugs still strong within her. She panted as she listened, but no longer heard muffled voices. Where were they?
Rick must have Darrell working on the inside, though the thought of that angered her. Why would he divide the team like this and not tell everybody what each of their assignments were? Hell, she blushed, remembering how she’d found out her objective, and she’d been told in a roomful of people. Rick must have his reasons for keeping Darrell’s assignment private, reasons that could’ve come from higher up. If Darrell was working a classified angle, no one would’ve been told, and he was too much by-the-book to let even Shelby in on his assignment.
His last words echoed in her mind, “I really don’t want to have to kill you, little bit. Be a good girl, and we might let you live.” He’d been convincing. She’d been scared in her confused state, but he’d had to make it realistic if William was to believe he would actually hurt her. If anybody could sympathize with Darrell and his need to play his role to his best ability, it was Shelby. She’d been given an impossible assignment, having no choice but to accept it. The same was true for Darrell. If the bureau needed him to be undercover, then she knew he’d accept whatever task that had been laid before him. How he was able to get in, she didn’t know. Whatever key he used to unlock that steely door guarding the path to William’s trust had worked. Hopefully, with what he had on William and the evidence they’d gathered on Mason, it would be enough to take the two down.
Though she didn’t like Darrell incapacitating her like this. Why had he brought her here anyway? He knew Mason had found out she was an agent. It was too dangerous for her to be around William.
Oh crap. Had William ordered her dead? Was that why Darrell had to stage a kidnapping? No matter what the others said about Mason, she didn’t think he had it in him to kill her. Carl? That was a different matter. But Shelby? No, he wouldn’t kill her. He’d had the chance to execute her if that had been his wish. She’d been bound and at his mercy, all the while he’d known the truth about her. He’d been enraged. She’d seen the hurt in his eyes and had known how utterly devastated he’d been. If he hadn’t killed her in his fury, he wouldn’t order it after the fact.
Unless he’d had time to calm down and realized he’d screwed up by not killing her when he’d had the chance.
That thought hurt more than she liked to admit.
She jerked at a sudden shout, muffled by the car, but it was a panicked sound still. She hoisted herself up and glanced through the window. Where were they? If Darrell was in trouble, she should try to help. More importantly, if something happened and he was made, she didn’t want to be waiting around for William to show up alone without Darrell around to protect her. She fisted her hands and rolled her neck, forcing away the numbness from the weaker parts of her body. She had feeling, but not one hundred percent. It would have to do. She couldn’t sit here doing nothing.
And what if the shout had nothing to do with trouble? It would look as if she was trying to escape. Darrell might have to drug her again. No way did she want more of this crap in her system. It was a risk she had to take, so she’d have to be careful. She opened the door and slipped to the ground, staying low. She gently shut it and looked from left to right, searching for any sign of Darrell. She was in a shaded area, and when she looked up, she realized she was in a large building that was completely open on one end. She crawled to the side and hid behind some crates as she peered around the opening. She watched as a jet took off in the distance and then, much closer to her, a smaller plane’s hatch opened, stairs distending.