Zara's Surrender Read online

  ***

  Noah watched Zara enter her home. Everything seemed quiet, but he hung back, waiting, wanting to be close by in case something went awry. He stayed in the shadows feeling as though, somehow, she had sensed his presence. Her former flame would have taught her well.

  They had been an interesting couple—the NATO Intelligence operative and the investigative reporter. He’d met Damian a couple of times. In fact, at one point he’d helped him get Zara out of a jam. He seemed to be a nice guy who had a fairly good handle on his woman. Noah was pretty sure there had been a power exchange element to that dynamic, but, in his opinion, Damian reacted rather than anticipated.

  With a woman like Zara, a man would have to be on his toes and know what she was up to. He shook his head. Why did he care? The dream notwithstanding, Noah had no interest in getting involved with Zara Hughes. He smiled at the memory of the dream and felt his cock respond. Fantasy or not, Zara had been right when she’d told him he had no interest in a woman like her. And hadn’t been far off the mark when she’d accused him of wanting a nice compliant girl who was ready, willing, and waiting to accommodate his sexual needs.

  She’d been wrong about the blowjobs on demand. Other than as a submissive way for a woman to get him fully aroused, he wasn’t the biggest fan. He, John, and Mac had once had a heated discussion regarding the best way to humble a stubborn, proud woman—not humiliate, but humble. While they differed on various ways to do it, they had come to the drunken consensus that fucking a woman’s ass was most likely the single most dominant way a man could possess his woman. And all had agreed the best way to bring that lesson home was to make sure she enjoyed it and climaxed because of it.

  He shook his head. Lord, if Willa knew half of what they knew about her relationship, she’d skin Mac alive. Willa was a handful, and she seemed to make Mac happier than Noah had ever known him to be. But Mac had to stay on top of her unruly behavior, or she’d get so far out into the weeds he’d need to take a day off just to get her back in line…although doing so seemed to put Mac in the best of moods afterward. No, Mac and Croft could have their spitfires. He’d wait for a nice quiet girl to come along, sweep her off her feet, and live happily ever after.

  A dim light showed around the shuttered window of what he assumed was her bedroom. Once it went out and he was fairly certain she was tucked in for the night, Noah lost no time in hacking Zara’s security feed from her hidden cameras. Once he had completed his task, he returned to the Amba and his own bed.

  The following morning, Croft went to fetch Finn. Noah was fairly certain when she got on the plane for home, she’d be sitting gingerly. Avery knocked on Noah’s hotel room door.

  “Well, sunshine, it seems Finn has flown the coop yet again…”

  “Christ,” said Noah. “I should have stayed on Zara last night.”

  Avery laughed. “I’m not even going to go near that one. But no, Finn left Croft a message at the Savoy that she was going home. As you might guess, that means the plane is headed back to Arizona.”

  “Until we know what’s what, I think I should stay in London and keep watch over our intrepid reporter.”

  “And again, not touching that,” teased Avery.

  Noah rolled his eyes. “Why are you intent on giving me a har…bad time this morning?”

  Avery’s amusement was beginning to annoy him.

  “When did Zara Hughes go from being Ms. Hughes or Hughes to Zara? Careful, Noah, that’s one woman who might be up for the challenge of taking you on.”

  “What do you mean? I’m a nice guy.”

  “Yes, a nice guy who bores easily and walks on eggshells around the women he chooses to sleep with,” she said, the amusement, but not the affection, leaving her tone.

  “You are nuts. Best see to your own love life before you try seeing to mine.”

  “Ah, but yours is so much more interesting. You tell anyone who will listen that you want a girl more biddable than Mandy. Mind you, I’m not so sure she’s as easy as you think she is, but that’s not the point. The fact is, you’ve had several come your way. And in each and every instance, you’ve held a part of yourself aloof and have extricated yourself from the relationship before they could fall too hard for you. I’ve always admired that about you, by the way.”

  “As you seem to have given this far more thought than I, what is it you think I want?” asked Noah.

  “I think you want what you think you want. But it isn’t what you need. You need a woman every bit as tough and independent as Willa or Finn. You’re always nice to any woman who gets involved with any of the guys we work with, but it’s Willa who intrigues you, and I suspect Finn will hold the same fascination.”

  “You are seriously delusional.”

  “Maybe. But I’m also right. Anyway, as Finn is headed home, Thom thought you’d prefer the Savoy, and so we’ve moved you over there unless you’d rather stay here.”

  “No,” Noah said, shaking his head. “I prefer the Savoy.”

  “Fine,” she said handing him the laptop. “You’re now in charge of things here in London and staying in touch. I’m headed over to pick up Croft, file a flight plan, and get out of this miserable weather.”

  “It’s not that bad, Avery.”

  “It’s not Arizona, Noah. I like my weather like my men…brutal and hot.”

  Noah laughed. “Jesus, you’re obnoxious. You just wait until the right guy comes along and jerks a knot in that sassy tail of yours!”

  “Me? Whatever do you mean? I’m a lovely, sweet, unassuming…” Noah laughed as Avery started to do so as well. Even she couldn’t buy the line she was trying to feed him. “In any event, big guy, keep your eye on Ms. Hughes and check in daily. I’m sure Mac will want to have a meeting and come up with a game plan when he returns.”

  Avery stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek before darting out the door.

  Noah shook his head. Whoever ended up with Avery was going to get a hell of a woman…not easy, but well worth it. He almost had sympathy for whoever it might be. After all, he was going to get put through the wringer by every guy at Wild Mustang. He packed up his things and headed for the Savoy. Once he was registered, he went to check on Zara.

  He spent the day setting up a cell phone listening device as well as checking her security feed so he could monitor her movements when he couldn’t be close at hand. When he reported in with the team at the end of the day, he was glad to hear Finn had been waiting for Croft at his place when he and Avery had arrived back from London.

  ***

  Zara spent the next day finishing up the piece she had been working on and doing preliminary research on Fariq Abdal’s organization and any rumors about what might or might not be happening that concerned him. She’d been able to clear her schedule in order to focus on the Abdal story, but her normal sources were being decidedly tight-lipped.

  She woke the next day and stretched. She hadn’t slept well. Part of it was anticipation of the chase. Her gut told her Finn was onto something. She planned to start running down rumors she’d been hearing and checking with sources.

  Zara stepped into her steam shower and let the warmth envelope her. She really was happy for Finn. Billy Crofton was drool worthy and wasn’t known as any kind of womanizer. Finn would be happy and safe for the rest of her life…or at least as long as Croft lived. Although, from what she knew about the men of the Wild Mustang Security Firm, they saw each other as family and looked after one another. That meant that if something happened to Croft, they’d look after Finn.

  It hadn’t been like that with Damian. He’d been killed by a drunk driver in a senseless motor vehicle accident. NATO Intelligence had quietly collected the body, returned it to Greece, and seen him interred there. There was no funeral, no celebration of his life, not even any acknowledgement that he had lived…or died. By the time Zara had learned what happened, it had been too late to do anything about it. She was left to mourn his passing and live with the almost overwhelming grief on
her own. Not one of his colleagues had ever reached out to her. The only one who had been there for her had been Finn.

  As much as she’d loved Damian, Zara had determined she would never allow herself the luxury of falling for a man again…even though she knew that was not what he would have wanted. They had talked once or twice about what might happen should he ever fall in the line of duty. He had been adamant she should carry on without him. He wanted her to find someone else to care for her and keep her safe. When she had informed him she was quite capable of doing that on her own, he had laughed, kissed her, and swatted her ass, telling her she needed a keeper. He had also told her that if she didn’t find someone on her own, he would intervene from the other side and find someone for her.

  Zara got out of the shower, dried herself, and put her hair on top of her head. She slathered moisturizer over her face and lotion all over her body. She donned a pair of sweatpants and a sports bra and trotted up to her office where she started up her desktop system and downloaded all her files from the night before. She began phoning contacts and researching news stories…not the headlines but small threads of information she could follow to bigger, untold stories.

  If Abdal’s organization had been taken over by Springer, it was not common knowledge. Hoping to be able to find something she and Finn could hang their hat on so to speak, Zara called Edmond LaCroix of Paris’ Sûreté.

  “Zara! How are you?”

  “Confused, Edmond. I’ve heard a disturbing rumor regarding Fariq Abdal and his organization.”

  “Where did you hear that?”

  “Come on, Edmond, you know I can’t divulge that information. But I understand one of his lieutenants, Gerold Springer, is behind it and was operating very briefly from a safe house outside of Paris.”

  “Just a moment,” Edmond said. Zara could hear him rapidly walking across a floor before she heard a door close. “Zara, I’m not sure how you came across this, but you’d best let it be. Abdal was dangerous enough, but at least he operated by a code of honor. Springer is a nationalist thug, as was his brother.”

  Ignoring his advice, she continued. “Yes, my sources say Abdal killed Timon, Gerold’s brother, when he got greedy and tried to get information the Springer brothers could use to hurt Abdal. There was a hostage exchange that went down badly in Las Vegas, and Gerold took Finlay Reid and got out of the country.”

  “Is Finn your source?”

  “Again, Edmond, I can neither confirm or deny that.”

  “If she is, then we’d like to talk with her. We found a group of dead bodies in a farmhouse just outside of Paris. We know Finn was in the area, and we’ve been looking for her. Do you know where she is? She could be in grave danger.”

  “I think she’s safe enough.”

  “That is not for you to decide, Zara. You and Finn have been known to be fairly reckless with your own safety. In a war zone, when you’re only endangering yourselves, that’s one thing. When we have bodies piling up around Paris, it is another thing altogether.”

  “What if I could arrange for you to speak with her over the phone?”

  “Zara, you’re not listening. You and Finn and anyone else who knows what’s going on are in real danger. This is much bigger than just Abdal being pushed out.”

  “How much bigger?”

  “Bigger. You need to let this go and get away from London for a while until it blows over.”

  “Why? If something’s gone down in Paris, why do I need to be worried?”

  The lights flickered before her call was interrupted and cut off. She pulled up the security feed of her home on her computer. There were armed men coming through her back door in the kitchen from the garden. She closed the door to her office space and wedged her chair underneath the handle to make it more difficult for whoever the armed intruders were to get to her. Stuffing her cell phone down her bra, Zara went into the half bath and opened the transom window above the toilet, prepared to escape onto the relatively flat roof to what she hoped was safety.

  ***

  Noah had seen the lights flicker from his vantage point. Prior to leaving the night before, he’d had Thom help him hack her security system to take advantage of the hidden cameras keeping watch over her home. When he’d headed over this morning, he’d brought a device that allowed someone to be able to monitor calls from a cell phone. He’d heard the interference on her phone just as it disconnected. He knew from talking with Thom that the only thing that could have caused the glitch in her electrical and the loss of her call was an interruption to her system that would keep her from calling 9-9-9, the UK’s emergency phone system. Whatever was jamming her phone was also preventing him from using his.

  Noah’s look around her home the previous night had also revealed that the only possible way to get to her was up over the roof and through the small window in the half bath on the third floor. His hiding spot had given him good access to the row of rooftops that lined her streets. He was preparing to kick in the window, when he heard it open and positioned himself where he couldn’t be seen. As two very feminine hands appeared, he holstered his weapon and quickly dragged her through the window, clasping his hand over mouth to keep her quiet.

  “I’m Noah Taylor with the Wild Mustang Security Firm. I’m a friend of Finn’s. We need to get you out of here.”

  She looked frightened but nodded to indicate she had heard and understood him. He removed the hand keeping her silent and slid the other down her arm to grasp her hand. Noah led her back the way he had come. If their luck held for a few minutes, they’d be out of sight before the intruders ever discovered Zara had escaped.

  Noah dropped off the building close to where he’d left the rented Range Rover then helped her down. He dragged her along behind him to the vehicle then opened the door, shoved her inside, and closed it. He ran around the front, got behind the wheel, and pulled away from the curb.

  Chapter 3

  For once, Noah was appreciative of London’s notoriously bad traffic. He turned on his police scanner but wasn’t surprised when there was no report of any incident at Zara’s home. He glanced at her and noticed the outline of her cell phone lodged in her bra. Without asking, he snatched it from her and tossed it out the window.

  “Hey,” she snarled. “I just got that phone last week. Do you have any idea what that cost me?”

  “I’m guessing not more than your life is worth.”

  “Just who the bloody hell do you think you are?”

  “I’m pretty sure I’m the guy who just saved your butt.”

  Noah used the Rover’s Bluetooth capability to call Croft. He refused to think about time differences as he figured Croft needed to know there was trouble and could then alert the rest of the team.

  “Hello?” came the groggy voice.

  “Croft, wake up! We’ve got trouble.”

  “Noah? What the hell? Where are you?”

  Noah could hear Croft coming fully awake.

  “London,” he answered. “Well, technically, headed out of London. I have Zara Hughes with me. A small assault team just tried to get to her at her place. I’ve dumped her phone, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to go back to the Savoy. I’m going to toss my phone as well as soon as I hang up. Avery left me with the secure laptop, and I’ll establish a secure phone line when we get settled. I’m headed to our European bolt hole. I’ll contact you once I have us safe.”

  “Gotcha. I’ll get everything rolling on this end. Is Ms. Hughes all right?”

  Noah glanced over at her. “I can’t tell if she’s annoyed, scared, or a combination of both, but no worse for wear. I’m betting you can’t say the same thing for Finn.”

  Croft laughed. “Well, she’s not complaining at the moment. Of course, she’s exhausted and sound asleep, but I’ll tell her you asked after her. Take care. Contact us when you’re in place.”

  “Will do,” said Noah before taking his own phone and headset and tossing them out onto the highway as they drove through the ou
tskirts of London. Noah watched via the rearview mirror as both were crushed beneath the wheels of a large moving truck.

  “So, you’re Noah Taylor, and Finn is with Croft? When did that happen? I just spoke with her night before last.”

  “It seems your friend thought better of her decision to run off to London and went home yesterday.”

  Noah’s eyes swept all the mirrors to ensure they weren’t being followed, but he continued to take a circuitous route out of the city.

  “I’m not sure if it’s because she realized the danger her brother brought down on her head wasn’t over or figured it was better to be waiting for Croft at home than to have him catch up with her,” he continued.

  “That’s all fine and good. Don’t think I’m not grateful for the assistance you gave me back there, but if you’ll drop me off at Scotland Yard or MI-6, I can make a report about what’s happened…”

  “The team will take care of that from our headquarters in Mesa. We prefer to control the dissemination of information.”

  “I’m sure you would. But I need you to drop me off nonetheless. As it appears you are headed out of town, you can just drop me at the closest tube or train station and I’ll get myself back.”

  “Did you miss the part where those guys jammed your cell phone and circumvented your security system so you were cut off from any kind of help? I know Edmond LaCroix—”

  “How do you know who I was talking to?” she interrupted.

  He looked at her and laughed. “I was eavesdropping on your phone. As I said, I know LaCroix. He’s a lazy sonofabitch. My guess is he shrugged off your call and has gone back to eating donuts or whatever the Sûreté’s equivalent of that is.”

  “Oh, that’s rich coming from the guy who left the military—was it intelligence or something altogether different—to join the US Marshals and then left them for a cushy job with a private security firm.”

  He laughed. “If you know my background, then you know enough about Wild Mustang to know it’s far from cushy. I think you’re trying to get a rise out of me, Zara.”