“Yeah, man, I’m here.”
“What happened today? How did Juliet even get drawn into this?”
Evan explained about Bolick, playing up the part about Juliet knocking him unconscious and locking him in his own trunk. Then he told about Cady’s proclivity for hiring people who had family, or at least loved ones, and how the criminal wasn’t interested in Evan coming in as a single man working alone.
“Sounds like Juliet was caught unawares in this situation,” Dylan stated plainly. “You felt like she handled everything all right?”
Juliet wasn’t offended by her brother’s question to Evan. He could give a much more accurate description of what happened.
Evan looked at her. “She held it together. Everything was dicey for a while, but she didn’t blow our cover. Although I can definitely attest she wasn’t having a good time.”
He conveniently left out the part about her throwing up all over the place as soon as they got out of the warehouse. That wouldn’t reassure anyone.
“Evan, it’s your life on the line, too, if you go under together. Are you sure this is what you want?” Dylan asked.
“Look, Dylan, I’ll be honest. If we had a bunch of other choices, I would weigh them all before throwing Juliet back into this. But we don’t, so there’s not much point in talking hypotheticals.”
Dylan’s days as an Omega team leader were clearly evident in his voice as he said, “But do you believe the objective is obtainable if you and Juliet resume cover?”
“Honestly, I don’t know.” Evan shook his head. “But without her, at this point, we have a zero percent chance for success.”
Dylan’s sigh was tired.
Juliet had been glaring at her brothers as the two other men spoke. Sawyer and Cameron shouldn’t have called Dylan; he had been through enough. He didn’t need to be dragged back into this. But her younger brothers were impervious to her irritation, convinced that her resuming her undercover role was the wrong thing for her to do, and willing to go to any lengths to stop it.
“Can you guys clear out for a couple of minutes? I want to talk to Juliet alone,” Dylan said after a few moments of silence.
Juliet picked up the handset as the three men filed out, her brothers grumbling under their breath. “Yeah, Dylan, they’re gone.”
“Listen, sis, here’s the deal. You and Evan were a tight team once. He has always held to the opinion that you would one day resume duties as an active agent again. I know him, and he believes you can do this.”
“It didn’t sound that way a minute ago.”
“It’s not an easy case, Juliet, and you don’t have much time to prepare. Plus you’re still dealing with trauma and haven’t been out there for over a year. Evan is just giving his honest opinion.”
“Yeah, I know.” And honestly, nobody knew even the half of what was going on with her. If they did, they sure wouldn’t trust Juliet with their life.
“If it was anybody else but Evan you’d be going with, I’d tell you to refuse, no matter what. But he has always been…”
She waited for Dylan to finish his thought. “Always been what?”
“Nothing. Never mind. You should just know that he has your back. You can always trust that about Evan. He would die before he let anyone hurt you again.”
“I don’t know if I can do this, Dylan.” The words came out as little more than a whisper. “What if I get both Evan and myself killed?”
“Jules, listen, you have good instincts. Follow those and trust them. And stay as close to him as you can.”
Juliet’s heart gave a little thump. The thought of being close to Evan was both thrilling and terrifying at the same time.
“But hey,” Dylan continued, “I’m the first one on your side if you don’t want to do this. I know Cady has the codes and I know it’s bad. But it can be somebody else’s job to get in there, some other way, and pull this off.”
But Juliet knew that in the time it would take to come up with and implement a new plan, the codes would be sold and ultimately lives would be lost. And it would be her fault.
She took a deep breath. “No, I can do it, Dylan.”
“I never doubted it for a second, sis.”
They said their goodbyes and Juliet hung up. So this was it. She was going back undercover. Juliet walked toward the door. There was no point delaying; she needed all the time she could get before they were to meet with Cady in just a few days.
The guys weren’t in the hallway, so she began walking to her office. There were a few things she needed to take care of before throwing herself into the Lisa Sinclair role.
Juliet was totally unprepared for the hands that grabbed her from behind as she walked. For the second time that day, her heart dropped into her stomach. For a moment she froze, terrified.
But then, unlike this morning, without a second thought she sprang into action. She rammed her elbow into the solar plexus behind her, and heard a whoosh of air release at her ear. The hands gripping her momentarily loosened, and she grabbed one of her attacker’s arms and pulled it over her shoulder. Then she dropped her weight, widened her stance and flipped the person over her back. He was a large male, but weight didn’t matter in this maneuver, just momentum.
Juliet was coming down with a punch to finish her attack when she realized she was looking into the face of her brother Cameron. Her dazed brother. She barely stopped her fist from connecting with his face.
“Cameron, what the hell are you doing?” Evan yelled.
Juliet stepped back and attempted to relax her arms at her sides, though it was difficult with the adrenaline rushing through her. Her fists were still clenched, ready to take on her attacker. Who happened to be her stupid brother.
“I was trying to prove a point,” he finally said from where
