Welcome to the continuation of Eva and Jack’s story set in the world of The Deniable Unit series. Check out Part One or last week’s episode.
The Valencian streets blurred around Eva as she and Jack hurried through the narrow alleys, moving as fast as they could without attracting unwanted attention.
They’d been lucky to get out of the art gallery unscathed, but now Adrienne Corvasce—the Consortium agent who’d wanted to turn—was missing. Eva’s stomach twisted; she’d screwed up. Adrienne could be dead. Maybe Jack and the others of Alpha Team were right to doubt Eva’s promotion. No, they’d been set up.
Jack gripped her hand and spun her to a stop, pinning her with his intense green eyes. “Our tail from earlier is back, and he has a friend.”
Even though her heart slammed in her chest at the implication, she cupped Jack’s face. It would look like a lazy, unhurried motion, nothing that would attract attention as she scanned the area. Over Jack’s left shoulder was the kid who’d followed them on their way to the art gallery. There was a woman with him. His mother? It was possible, but they couldn’t risk their safety on a possibility. “I think it’s time we head back to the hotel, don’t you?”
His eyebrows rose for the briefest of moments, then settled as he gave her a seductive grin. “I think you’re out of your fucking mind.”
The Deniable Unit men loved to do things their way. It wasn’t that they were sexist, just blind to the workings of women’s minds. She rolled onto her tiptoes and brushed her lips against his cheek. “We’re going back.”
“You’re going to get us killed.” His hot breath ruffled her hair, sending a shiver down her spine.
Returning to the hotel was risky, but they needed their gear to aid in retrieving Adrienne’s intel and to make it out of this alive. There was no way in hell Eva was leaving without that intel. “What’s your great plan? Head to the local base, get their team, and knock down every door until we find the Consortium?” She eased back from him.
Jack’s jaw tightened. “It’s not as stupid as yours.” Though, there was a hint of doubt in his eyes. “What exactly is the plan, boss?”
Ignoring the boatload of sarcasm, Eva looped her arm in his and led them toward the hotel. “Let’s just get our gear first.” They had to track down Adrienne, but she didn’t have a clue how they’d do that yet.
“You don’t know what you’re doing, do you?” Tension radiated off him in angry waves.
“Yeah, I’ll just announce it to anyone within earshot. That’s the way to go.” She glanced at the reflection in one of the closed shops in the alleyway. The boy and his mother had seemingly lost interest in them and set their sights on a couple of tourists laden down with cameras hanging around their necks. They were thieves. Eva sucked in her first full breath since they’d entered the art gallery. “Our tails have a new target.”
“Doesn’t mean we don’t have other eyes on us.”
As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. A thousand things could go wrong, but they had no choice. For all she knew, the Consortium’s eyes were already on them, waiting for the slightest mistake. But that didn’t change what they had to do. And that was why she had no plans to enter the hotel at the front.
Their hotel suite had a balcony overlooking other buildings. It wasn’t a great view, but it would be nice to share a bottle of red with someone special and enjoy the changing colours of the sky as the sun went down.
Maybe sometime in the future, when she wasn’t running for her life with the biggest arse on the planet as her partner. Granted, he wasn’t exactly hard to look at—and he knew it. Not that she’d ever put herself into a situation where she’d be tempted by him again. Again. Not that anything had happened… but it almost had. She gave herself a mental shake.
The rear of the hotel was a few meters from the end of the alley. The pulse at the side of her neck pounded an erratic beat as she checked the coast was clear.
“Balcony.” It was a statement. Jack gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. The man was a walking contradiction—constantly undermining her, yet always ready to have her back when it counted.
Eva checked the time. “Most of the guests will be out to dinner or in the hotel restaurant. The back should be clear.” She sucked in a deep breath. “Ready?”
He nodded.
The back of the hotel was quiet, bar a few stray cats scaring off a local pack of dogs. They were probably waiting for scraps from the kitchen, a good sign that dinner was in full swing.
Their balcony was only one floor up, so getting onto it wouldn’t be difficult. Jack spun around, obviously looking for something, then stopped as his gaze settled on an industrial cooking oil canister. He strained as he hauled it up and set it down below their balcony. He held his hand out like a gentleman, but there was a glint of something in his eyes. “After you.”
It wasn’t until she stepped up onto the damned canister and his hands gripped her arse that she realised what that look was. “One comment, and I’ll shoot you myself.”
He snickered as he pushed her up to the balcony. Two chairs and a table took up most of the small platform, making it tricky to swing over in a long dress without knocking things over. But she managed to catch the rickety bistro table before it tipped into the rusted metal railings.
Jack’s ascent was far more elegant. He still had that glint in his eyes, and she had no idea what the hell he was thinking. But a moment later, it was gone. “You think they’ve been here yet?”
She’d been wondering that herself. “Let’s find out.” The doors out to the balcony were full-glazed panel patio doors from the nineties. There were no signs that the room had been entered since they’d left. The coin Eva had left on the inside door handle was still in place, but any good spy would have replaced it if they’d heard it fall. No, she wasn’t going to let pessimism in.
A quick check through the glass around the doorframe confirmed there were no triggers or wires that would indicate it was rigged to blow on opening. She slid the key into the patio door lock, turned the key, and gently slid the door open.
The air in the room was tinged with her perfume and Jack’s body spray. No foreign scents that would suggest anyone, even housekeeping, had been in the suite. Relief swamped her, but she couldn’t sink into it. They needed to grab what they could and get the fuck out of there. “We’re clear. Take everything that could lead back to us. We can ditch stuff on the way, but we can’t leave it here. I don’t think it’ll take them long to track us on CCTV.”
Jack nodded and got to work stuffing the few items he’d removed from his backpack when they’d got there. “On the way where?”
“What?” She’d been so focused on double-checking the drawers and wardrobe that they hadn’t used that she didn’t know what he was talking about at first. “Oh, we’re heading out of the city.”
He dumped his bag on the bed. “You want us to leave when we have a chance to get intel from a Consortium insider? We have access to a team here.”
“We’re not leaving. We need to regroup and figure out how to get Adrienne.” Off his glower. “The Consortium know we’re here. That means someone told them, meaning that it’s possible that someone on our side.”
His face hardened, anger tightening his jaw. “You’re off your fucking rocker. I’d love to see you tell Harvey your theory.”
She hadn’t meant to voice her biggest fear about this whole shitshow. If she could take it back, she would. “Look at it this way. There’s an entire Consortium assault team in the city. If we go to the local team—you know, the team that’s pretty much a skeleton crew right now—we risk exposing them and getting them all killed.”
He shook his head as if he wanted to disagree with her but knew she was right. “Right. When this all blows up in your face, and we both know it will, I’ll finally get the promotion that was rightfully mine.”
What a dick. There wasn’t time to argue with him. But she made a note to kick his arse when they were safely out of the city. “Aye, very good. Get your arse moving.”
They left the hotel the same way they’d just entered. Using the side streets and alleys, they made it to the city’s edge. The streets becoming quieter and more rustic the closer to safety they got.
“Up there.” Jack pointed to a tiny building up a dusty track. He marched off at a brisk pace, leaving Eva to jog to catch him up.
Even in the dark, it was clear that the squat building was abandoned. The windows had long gone, and the roof had mostly caved in. But it was precisely what they needed. No neighbours, clear sightlines all around, as good a place as any to rest up and figure out their next move.
This post is my entry for Kevin’s awesome No Theme Thursday challenge, where Kevin shares some of his artwork to inspire us to create!
While Jack and Eva rest up and regroup, their story is going on a wee break for the next month or so while I finish up editing my current project. But I will be back with some posts about the new project due out in the not-too-distant future.
Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoyed reading this ??
Stay awesome,
Susan x
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