The Assassin’s Billionaire Bodyguard
Chapter 48

Isabella flung her backpack over her shoulder and followed Gideon towards the aircraft hanger. As they approached Isabella stopped Gideon, "I forgot, my name on my passport." Gideon looked at her curiously, "tell me it's your real name."

"No. It's Iliza Sweeny."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, named after my favorite comedian and my favorite barber."

"I don't even want to know." Gideon shook his head, "we're here ahead of the rest of the guys. You can tell Cam of your secret identity."

She was walking past him when suddenly he broke into laughter, "just got it. Sweeney, the barber. Sweeney Todd, right?"

She slapped him on the shoulder and made her way into the hangar. She saw Cam talking to a man she assumed might be the pilot but rather than walk towards Cam, she followed Gideon in the direction of the equipment. "Put me to work Gideon. I have nervous energy and I need to focus."

"Okay Sweeney Todd," he winked, "help me go through the checklist of supplies."

She felt Cam's eyes on her as she ignored him and went through the motions of checking supplies. Usually with Bellona, the planes were outfitted before she even arrived, so this approach was interesting to her. She paused, "you're missing a cartridge," she picked it up immediately. They went through again and found it under a box of rounds.

She heard the footsteps coming up behind her but tossed the boxes of rounds at Gideon as he counted through them. Gideon grinned at her, "Cam Torres meet Iliza Sweeney."

"Not calling you that," Cam said and put his hand on her low back, scowling when she stepped away. "Problem?"

"You want me here to replace Mickey. Do you touch Mickey's a*s?" She flicked him a glance and saw his stunned surprise, "didn't think so." She looked back to Gideon, "one hundred and thirty-eight."

"Yup, it's right."

She looked back to Cam, "and my passport name is Iliza so it's what you'll call me officially."

She kicked her bag at Gideon, "do you need to go through my stuff for customs?"

"Nope. Customs will have a plant there for us. They won't even look. Perks of being stupidly rich," Gideon smirked at Cam.

"I want to talk about why Iliza," Cam glared at her, "is acting standoffish."

Gideon spoke before Isabella could, "because her a*s is going to be covered by seven other men who don't know her from a hole in the ground and if they think she's a liability because she's screwing the boss, it's a problem." "They'll cover you better."

"They will be focused on protecting me instead of whatever task you give them. I can handle myself. I don't need special treatment. You want to tell them we're engaged, do it on the trip home." Isabella said smartly.

"Ask her how many kills she has," Gideon prompted but before Cam could even open his mouth, "nearly five-hundred."

"How the f**k do you have nearly five-hundred kills," Cam asked his eyes wide.

"She doesn't like perverts," Gideon wisecracked. "I've never been so excited to watch a woman in action in my life."

"She's engaged, keep your d**k in your pants."

"I'm hoping you screw up and she leaves you and I'll let her cry on my shoulder." His eyes were full of merriment, "or she introduces me to one of her friends."

"She had a friend at the deli checking you out." Cam offered desperately trying to shut down the teasing his friend was throwing at him.

Isabella shook her head, "no way. Lisa is a sweet HR rep who would never survive ten minutes with the likes of you." She grinned, "Sabine would eat you for dinner though. I can't wait for her to meet you."

"I relish the thought," he puffed his chest up.

Cam looked her up and down, noting the way her gear fit her perfect. "You put this outfit on in front of Gideon?"

"He had his back turned," she shrugged. "Knock it off, Torres. You wanted me here. I didn't ask to be here. Like I said to Gideon, the alternative was head office or a boat alone with Portia."

The sound of a vehicle pulling up outside made them look behind and Cam nodded, "get this into the plane. Wheels up in twenty." He gripped Isabella's arm, "I'll play along until the flight home but so help me God, you better not make me regret not telling these guys. I don't like keeping secrets from my team. We're open."

"Then they know who I am already, and they'll understand the reasoning. I'm a liability to them. If you don't play it up, they will follow your lead."

She started helping Gideon load up and suddenly found herself surrounded with a load of testosterone helping load the gear.

One guy held his hand out, "name's Sly. This is a first. Never had a girl before."

"I'm Mickey 2.0. Everything he wants to be and more," she grinned and shook the man's hand.

Gideon called out, "if you missed the fact there's a woman here, you should leave. Iliza Sweeney, your team. Team introduce yourself. Note she could probably kill all of you before one of you pulled a gun so mind your mouth and your hands."

Another guy approached looking her up and down with a sexist sneer, "I'm Erik. Not a fan of chicks in the field. Why are you here? What do you do?"

"Your dad whenever your mom's not around," she spoke smartly and earned a snicker from the other guys. "Wanna reword your question there, dickhead?"

"She's got a mouth." Erik grimaced at her.

"Someone I know nicknamed her Deadpool," Cam said without even looking in her direction. "Don't piss her off. I watched her once take a guy out faster than I could blink. She also has run as many if not more missions than you, Erik. I brought her to watch your a*s considering last time you ended up with a knife in you. Be careful it's not hers."

Gideon pushed through the group, "she pinned me within ten seconds of meeting me because I touched her. Don't touch her."

A guy came up behind her and whispered, "you pinned Gideon?"

"He underestimated me." She threw her bag over her shoulder.

"Not a mistake I'll make again," Gideon motioned to the stairs of the aircraft. "Get on. You'll be briefed in the air."

She threw her bag under a seat in the middle of the aircraft away from the front of the plane where she automatically knew Cam and Gideon were sitting. She saw Cam scowl at her seat choice, but she didn't care. She buckled in and kicked her legs out and looked sideways as Erik took the seat beside her. Great, the cranky misogynist was her seat buddy.

The guys were cracking jokes and being crude and Isabella fought the grin on her lips at a couple of their jokes. Corry's level of crudeness would have been on par and some of the things she'd heard from her crew were far worse than what these guys were saying. She saw Cam's face was irritated but at least he didn't stop it. She had to fit in otherwise she was a liability.

"So, Iliza," Erik nudged her foot with his, "air force, army, navy?"

"None of the above," she shook her head, "I'm on loan to Torres from a team you don't need to know about."

"Why you? It's not like the boss to bring a girl to Columbia. This is dangerous."

She turned at her waist and faced him head on, "boss said you have a knife wound. I'm guessing it was to your left shoulder because I saw you grab your bag with your right hand and you flung it over your right shoulder, but I can tell by the slightest difference in size, you're a southpaw. Also, you're fit, and I know your run because of the size of your calves in your skinny jeans," she mocked his cargo pants, "but you have a slight limp and hesitated when going up the steps to the plane, so you have either a bruise or a sprain to the right foot. It's going to be a b***h for you when you run next. Here's hoping you don't need to run from someone in the next forty-eight hours." She said sarcastically as his eyes widened, "Also, even though it's nearing eight at night, you smell like you just showered but it's a girly smell so I'm guessing you were with your girl. You showered at her place using her," she leaned in and sniffed him, "raspberry scented body wash and the way you're edgy tells me you didn't get to finish what you started with her because she was not thrilled you left her in her shower all alone when the boss called you in. Basically, you got a bad case of blue balls, you're walking mosquito attractant and you're injured." She called out to Cam, "please don't make me cover the lame guy's a*s. He'll have our mosquito infested asses dead in ten."

The sound of Sly laughing behind her made her grin.

"I'm not wearing skinny jeans," Erik harrumphed as folded his arms over his chest. "Where do you hide your crystal ball?"

"No crystal ball, just freakishly good observation skills. For example, the tall blonde guy who got on last,"

"Sam," the guy called out from where he was stowing his bag.

"Sam is the newest one before me to join this team. He's your sniper. I can tell by the way he walks with one arm an eighth of an inch lower than the other. It's a postural deficiency." She looked at Gideon head on, "reminds me of someone else I know. Also, newbie at the back really wants everyone to like him so he laughs at your jokes, but he thinks you're a bunch of sexist pricks, and he'd never introduce you to his baby sister." She looked at Cam, "he'd be good for Portia if I didn't want to set her up with my cop friend." "Screw you," Cam growled at her, "your cop friend is too old."

"He's twenty-nine and he's messaged me three times since Saturday for me to set them up."

"How do you know I'm not just a nice guy who doesn't like dirty jokes? Who said anything about sisters?" Sam leaned over her seat curiously.

"You're a merc not a goddamn boy scout," she responded sarcastically. At their silence she rolled her eyes, "and your rucksack is embroidered but it's shitty high-school craftsman embroidery not something your nana would do out of love." She paused, "well am I wrong?"

Sam leaned back, "she's not wrong. I wouldn't let a single one of you near my baby sister."

"Boss, we don't like her" Erik shouted in Cam's direction, "she's a know-it-all."

"Tough," Cam said with his eyes closed as he leaned back in his seat, "she's covering Mickey while he does something else. She sees way more than he does. Also, what's wrong with your foot?"

"Girl stepped on it in the shower," Erik grumbled, "and you're right, she was pissed I took off last minute. I was supposed to take her to dinner."

Once they were in the air, Cam gave their briefing. They were going to collect a drug lord who was supplying Americans with cocaine and heroine. The man had taken multiple villages and towns hostage along the way. He was wanted in the USA, and it had taken months of intel to find an accurate location of his house in the jungle. The American government couldn't go get him, so they hired Cam to do it.

He pointed at Isabella, "The initial plan is to drive in but if we have to fly in, we may be dropping in, can you parachute?"

"Within a quarter inch of a target." She gave a laugh, "but it's kind of late to be asking, isn't it?"

"I figured you didn't get dropped into the middle of the Bolivian rainforest in a tank," he grinned.

"Actually, it was in a jeep, and it was a hell of a ride. My Alpha commander is an adrenaline junky."

Cam and Gideon exchanged a glance as they contemplated who her Alpha commander was.

"What were you doing in the middle of the Bolivian rainforest?" Erik asked curiously.

"I wasn't," she gave a pointed glance at Cam. "I never left the safety of my living room and deny any and all accusations saying otherwise."

"I have ways of making you talk," Erik grinned at her as he warmed up. "We should have drinks."

"One of the best CIA operatives couldn't get me to talk, what makes you think a couple shots of tequila with you would?"

"What the hell was the CIA questioning you for?"

"It was a date, and I mocked his d**k size," she held Erik's gaze unwaveringly.

Cam looked at her curiously as he was walking back to his seat, "we'll chat about the CIA later."

"I have no secrets from you, boss," she smirked, speaking loud enough the team could hear. "The CIA was trying to get intel on my boss. He thought he was being clever and seducing me. Instead, I knew who he was before he even approached me in the bar. I didn't sleep with him, but I did tie him to the hotel bed, flogged him with a leather whip, took a photo of him with a bunch of condoms and had it sent to his wife. They leave me alone now."

"Jesus Christ," Cam pointed at her, "we are having a hell of a conversation when this is over."

"I changed my mind boss," Erik said with a grin, "I like her. She's feisty."

"Dude," Isabella shook her head as she pulled a ballcap out of her bag. "You have more mood swings than my menopausal mother." She pulled the cap over her face and leaned back with the intent to go to sleep.

"Is that a Ranger's cap?" One of the guys sitting across the aisle asked. "No wonder boss agreed to a girl on the team. She's probably the only one other than him and Gideon who still like them."

"Screw you," Isabella grinned behind her hat.

"Anytime, anywhere."

"Not in a million years." Isabella threw back, "my fiancé would kick your a*s and he's bigger than you."

"I want my twenty bucks," Erik called back to Sam. "She's not gay."

"Sweeney," Gideon called out, "switch seats now."

She rolled her eyes and moved to the front of the seat and sat between Cam and Gideon and glowered. "Why?"

"Because your fiancé doesn't want to have to kill half the team," Gideon half whispered. "They accept you on the team a little too well and all within the hour and a half we've been in the air. You're a natural fit to the team but Cam's disposition is worsening by the second."

"Not my idea to be here," she kicked Cam's foot, "suck it up, buttercup." She pulled her ballcap back over her head. "Can I go to sleep now?"

Cam kicked her foot back. "God, yes. If it keeps you from opening your mouth and verbally sparring with the guys, I'll let you take sleeping pills."

"Not necessary. Flying puts me out. Wake me when we land."

She was just drifting off when Gideon nudged her. She pulled her hat off and growled, "now what?"

He turned his laptop toward her, "can you make her go away?"

An image of Clara had popped up on his screen and flashed on and off multiple times. She laughed, pulled her hat back over her face and groaned. "Sorry Gideon. I love you like a brother, but she's been my sister longer. You're on your own."