Dead No More. L. Nicolello R.
He’d have complete access to all of our top-secret projects.”
Now everything made sense. Lily sat.
“Obviously, that’s something the US government would like to prevent—at all costs. That’s where you come in.” He motioned toward her. “Not to whore yourself out, which is crude, by the way...”
Lily cringed, her cheeks growing warm. Though it had saved her on more than one occasion, her Spanish feistiness also got her in just as much trouble. Case in point? Yesterday.
“But with the way you’ve been trained...get inside his inner circle, find the evidence we need and put him away. Permanently.”
“If this Rowland James character is so hard to get near, how do you propose I do it without raising his suspicion?” Lily reached for Dakota and stroked the soft hair on his ears. Without giving Derek a second to respond, she continued slowly. “Because he will be suspicious.”
“All we have to do is find the right opportunity for you to be in the same room with him, and he will come to you.” Derek turned, pinning Lily with those damn eyes of his. She all but forgot to breathe. “Guaranteed.”
Bouncing her foot, she tried her best to push back the flutter in her stomach. Her nerves tingled in anticipation. “And when will such an opportunity arise?”
“Saturday night. There’s a black-tie event at the Joslyn Art Museum for the who’s who of Omaha. Rowland will be attending.” Derek stared straight ahead. “How’s your calendar looking Saturday?”
Her calendar was wide-open—had been for months—but she shook her head. “I can’t just waltz into this event and saunter up to someone like Rowland. It’ll raise too many red flags...if I can even get close enough to him.”
“I know. That’s why I’m going with you as your date.”
“Wait. What? You’re going...” The bouncing halted. Lily glanced over at Derek, who silently stared out over the river. She tried to play it cool, but the idea of spending an entire evening with Derek was surprisingly appealing.
“John has a previous engagement and asked me to go in his place.” Derek looked over at her. “Care to join me?” he asked softly.
This was exactly the type of mission she lived for, craved...missed desperately. And having Derek as her partner for the evening wouldn’t be so bad, either. Lily prayed she could maintain a poker face. No need to give him the satisfaction of knowing he’d roped her into this mission hook, line and sinker.
“It’s in three days. That’s not a lot of time to prep.” She shook her head and began to rattle off the imperative information she needed. “Bodyguards, arrival times, accessibility...”
“So I take it you’re in?”
Her second chance looked back at her, his gentle eyes burning away all her defenses. Lily looked out over the river and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. This was the opportunity she’d hoped for—after not knowing, not acting, and walking away.
Redemption.
With one word, her entire life would change. She just didn’t know whether it was a good change or not.
Only one way to find out.
“Yes.”
Wednesday, September 17, 6:00 p.m.
LILY HAD BALKED at meeting at Derek’s place, which had been a relief. He’d rolled the dice by dropping in on her at the river and gotten lucky. Very lucky. Taking up shop just across the street from her was a different matter entirely. He hadn’t quite figured out how he would have explained that one away if she’d accepted his veiled offer.
Somehow, he doubted Lady Luck would have been on his side twice.
As he juggled the large file box, Derek pushed open the tall glass door to Lily’s building and headed into the grand foyer, the white marble floor reflecting his shadow, and glanced around. He’d spotted the cameras, both seen and unseen, the first time he’d walked in.
Today, their locations were different. He couldn’t help but smile. Nice job.
The doorman stared at Derek, his black eyes hard and searching, reminding him of an enormous Maasai warrior he’d once met on one of his 67 trips to Africa.
“I’m here to see Lily Andrews, penthouse.”
The old man glared at him. “Yes. I’m aware of that.”
Though the information wasn’t in Lily’s file—which irritated the shit out of him—it hadn’t taken Derek long to piece together that both George and Ben had a background similar to his own. Ben Tinsdale was a no-brainer. The man was a legend within Unit 67.
George, on the other hand, was a bit of a mystery.
Derek had watched the massive black man until he was certain. There was no denying it, in the way George moved, and with his access to Lily and Ben. It screamed that something was missing in the papers that chronicled Lily’s short life—he definitely played some role in her life in Omaha, and quite possibly even before.
He quickly read the situation. The big man staring him down had gone from DEFCON 5 to DEFCON 1 overnight. Time to diffuse that ticking time bomb.
Derek dropped the file box on the counter and reached out his hand. “Let me get straight to the point here, George. I’m not the enemy.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. Jury’s still out on that one.” George grabbed Derek’s hand and squeezed, hard. “But let me get straight to the point, too. I’m watching you.”
Derek locked eyes with the man trying to crush his hand bones and smiled. “No doubt.”
George let go and tipped his head toward the elevators. Derek silently made his way to his waiting ride and resisted the urge to shake his hand until after the elevator doors closed.
Damn, that old man had the grip of Godzilla.
* * *
LILY’S FRONT DOOR swung open before Derek could knock. Impressive. Cameras downstairs. Monitor upstairs. What other surprises did this woman have up her sleeve? He was sure there were plenty, and he hoped to uncover every single one of them.
“Hey.” Her brown hair was pulled back into a high, messy ponytail. She wore a black tank and matching yoga pants. There wasn’t a spot of makeup on her olive skin.
She was beautiful.
His stomach tightened. Focus, Moretti.
She glanced at the box of case files in his arms and grimaced. “This is the part I could’ve lived without.”
Stepping back, she let him through the door, then closed it tightly behind them.
“You and me both. But there’s no getting around it. We have less than three days to bring you up to speed, and we need to put together your file. Rowland will vet you, so we need your identity to be airtight.”
“I thought you might say that,” Lily said, grinning. “I’ll be right back.”
She disappeared into her bedroom for less than sixty seconds, then reemerged, balancing her open laptop. “Already started.”
Of course she had.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, was exactly why he wanted—needed, really—Lily on this case. She knew the outer workings of this game just as well, if not better, than he did, and a solid, unbreakable file was crucial to the success of their mission—and essential to keeping her alive.
She set the computer down on the island and turned