“We’ve added additional security levels and increased the capacity of our satellites to alert us on any incoming or outgoing calls not using our Wi-Fi links. We suspect communication is being done via sat phone with a jammer.” Parker looked up as the front door opened. He smiled at Billy who arrived carrying a number of paper bags. “Zeke is developing a NanoTechnology chip that serves as a listening device.”
“It’s nearly there,” Zeke said. “I just need to do the final testing. We’re going to implant one in each room all over the Castle, including the employed subs and trainees sleeping quarters. The tests I’m doing now is to see how far the reach is. We don’t believe the mole is making the calls inside the Castle, so I need to find a way to link the NanoT with our satellite to pick up calls made from anywhere on the island.”
“That sounds amazing.” Taylor stared at him in awe. “NanoTechnology? You’re a Nano Engineer?”
“Among other things,” Zeke smiled.
“Shall we kill this little squirt and get it over with? I’m expected back at SPEONUS around two this afternoon. If I can provide them with proof then, I can concentrate on finding their escape hatch.”
“What escape hatch?” Hawk asked with a frown.
“There’s no way they would’ve built an underground bunker with only one access point. One thing we can admit about the bastards, is that they’re clever. They might leave their operatives to be captured but you can be assured, they have an escape route.”
“Fuck, why the devil didn’t I think of that?” Hawk sneered.
“Because your head is full of little pink feet,” Shane teased. “Do you know the gender of the baby yet?”
Hawk’s face split into a wide smile. “It’s a little girl. She was accommodating enough when we went for the 3D scan last week to open her legs.”
“I wish our little one would do the same,” Stone grumbled.
“Be patient, big brother. All good things happen in their own sweet time.” Parker patted him on the back.
Taylor was struck numb by the look of longing in Zeke’s eyes. Her heart sank as she looked out over the Pentagon in the distance with dull eyes. She was thirty-three years old and although there had been times she’d been broody when she held some of her friend’s babies, having kids wasn’t in the books for her. It was a decision she’d made the day she passed the bar exam. To this day, she always curbed any longing to have children.
The pull to give in to a future with Zeke dwindled in front of her eyes. He wanted kids, yearned to hold his own little son or daughter in his arms. It was displayed in the expression on his face as he smiled at her, as clear as the bright sun shining through the window. She forced a smile in return, with her heart slowly encasing itself behind a cast iron wall, secure against the lure of him and the future he offered.
She wasn’t the woman for him. Her career came first. It always had and it always would.
Children didn’t feature in that quaint picture.
She jumped up and turned to Billy. “Where do you want me?”
“Eager to die, are you?”
“I thought you were the one in a hurry?” she snipped acerbically as she tapped her toe in a melody of irritation against the floor. “Well?” She spread her arms akimbo and regarded him with raised eyebrows.
He nodded toward the patio. “Over there. First, you’ll have to put this on and then the dress over it.”
Taylor’s cheeks turned chalky pale as her fingers locked around the bulletproof vest. “W-why do I need to wear this?” Her frantic eyes searched for Zeke. “Is he going to shoot me for real?” Her voice quivered as much as her body that started to tremble violently.
“This is not what we discussed last night, Billy,” Zeke growled as he got up to wrap his arms around Taylor and pulled her against his chest. Her tense body sagged under his soothing touch but no matter how hard she tried; she couldn’t stop from shuddering at the thought of looking down the barrel of a gun.
“We can’t risk them using their technicians and spotting the photos have been photoshopped, Zeke. Parker easily stripped the ones you created last night. They have the best of the best working for them. If he can do it, so can they.” Billy pinched Taylor’s chin between his fingers and tipped back her head to look into her eyes. “I’m going to use the smallest size rubber bullet, squirt but since I’m going to shoot from a distance, it’s going to hurt like fuck. There’s a pouch of blood in the dress that will explode and leave what would appear to be a gaping hole in your chest.”
“A gaping hole in her chest? What the hell, Billy?” Zeke growled.
“I have a special effects artist contact in the movie industry. He owes me a couple of favors.” The smile was no more than a twitch of his lips as he caught Taylor’s gaze again. “The vest will buffer the impact but you’ll probably have a bruise for a week or two.” Billy dropped her chin. “Hustle. Time's a wastin’.”
Zeke watched Taylor disappear down the hallway as she went to change. He cut a searing glare at Billy.
“I’m warning you, Hewitt. Fucking hurt her and you’ll have me to contend with.”
“Which would you prefer, Sinclair—a little pinch of pain or that she gets shot for real? Because believe me, if they’re not convinced she’s dead, they’ll pay another assassin to get rid of her.”
Chapter Fourteen
Taylor felt cold. Tremors shook her body as she stepped out onto the patio. She fisted her hands in an attempt to stop them from seeking out the center of her chest, to touch the pouch filled with fake blood and feel the hardness of the Kevlar vest to set her mind at ease. She had never been this scared in her life.
What if he missed and … fucking hell! What if he had been lying and she was exposing herself like a sacrificial lamb to the slaughter? An easy target, out in the open. It would be child’s play for an assassin like Hewitt to put a bullet between her eyes!
“Move a little further forward, love, and turn to face the building across the street. Pretend to appreciate the view.”
Taylor bit her bottom lip to keep the sharp retort back as Zeke’s voice floated toward her from where he stood hidden just inside the sliding door, along with his brother and three cousins.
“Relax, little one. Billy knows what he’s doing,” Shane said in a deep voice that strangely managed to soothe her frazzled mind … if only a tiny bit.
“I’m sure he does but none of you are going to tell me it isn’t going to hurt like the bejeezus. I mean, a rubber bullet, for fuck’s sake and over such a distance is going to … ugh!”
The last word was sucked from her lips as the velocity force of the bullet slamming against her chest, flung her off her feet and into the jacuzzi behind her. It was by a stroke of luck that her head missed the edge.
“Take the photos! Hurry for fuck’s sake, Parker, she’s going under.” Zeke hovered at the edge of the tub and jumped in before Parker had finished taking the third picture. “Fucking hell, she’s out cold,” he rasped as he lifted her in his arms and rushed to the bedroom. Stone was there with towels as he ripped off the dress and the Kevlar vest.