Dead No More. L. R. Nicolello

his fingers around her wrist. She jerked away and glared at him.

      “Read me in. Now. Or I’m gone.”

      “Damn, woman. You’re impatient.”

      She was running on a short fuse, no doubt. She tilted her head to the side, stared him down.

      He sighed. “Rowland James is a known associate of multiple enemies of the state—”

      “What?” She paced, her mind crunching Derek’s information. She glanced over her shoulder and frowned. “Then why in the world is he allowed anywhere near ARME?”

      “He hasn’t broken any laws. Until he trips up and does something quantifiably targeting the United States, our hands are tied.”

      “Why can’t John fire him?”

      “It’s not that simple. Over the last two years, Rowland has been quietly buying up stock and currently owns 30 percent of ARME’s stocks. The board would have to have a majority vote to oust him from his position, but he could still use his controlling interest in the company to get some of his own people on the board.”

      She shook her head. That made sense, but damn, she hated political bullshit. “Unbelievable. And the rest of this happy equation?”

      “As you already know, ARME is one of our government’s leading suppliers for all things military and its top research facility. If John was out of the picture, Rowland James would be the most likely candidate to replace him.”

      “Which is a huge problem.”

      “Exactly. 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.”

       CHAPTER NINE

      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