Dangerous to Know (23 page)

A rock hit the bolder she was leaning against. She jumped and ended up locking gazes with Mercer. His black eyes were glittering.

“You're right, Zoe, I am fresh from the ranks. Want to know why I'm stateside? My entire team was taken out by insider information,” he growled. “I went to every one of their funerals. Watched their flags be folded and handed over to their families. Sucks?” He chucked another rock toward her, the impact making her jump. “I know a lot about life sucking, Zoe. Five great guys. All gunned down because we were sold out. I only lived because there was so much blood, no one thought to make sure my wounds weren't fatal.”

He shook his head, disgust twisting his features.

“Honestly, touching anyone who might be a traitor was the worst thing I could think of when Saxon tried to sell me on signing on to this mission. But I was wrong about that. It wasn't the worst thing that could happen.” He was on his feet, the dry dirt crunching beneath his boots. He came closer, lowering himself until he was eye level with her.

The air became charged between them. The tiny hairs covering her body rose, her breath catching. But she noticed something else. She noticed the way his nostrils flared. His eyes narrowed with arousal.

“What was worse was enjoying the buzz you gave me the first time we met. You were nothing but a target. One there was enough evidence on to warrant action,” he snarled softly. “Every one of my teammates deserved better than me being drawn into the way you smelled. You want to know the dirty deets? All those sex toys were at the safe house because more than one operation involves working between the sheets and sometimes, the agent just can't forget what sort of ugliness they're touching. It has a way of leaving a guy's cock cold no matter how much determination he's got to see the mission through. I wanted to think I was that kind of man, that I'd actually need the Viagra pills that were given to me.”

Emotion edged his voice. It tore at her heart, ripping away the resentment that had been boiling inside her.

“But I didn't need them. I got a hard-on the second I smelled you, Zoe. My buddies deserved better than that.”

He pushed back to his full height. “And I'd do it again. Even thinking that you're just a mule, I'd take the assignment because there are good men out there who deserve to be safeguarded. Sucks? Sure does. But we're both going to have to deal with it because this is about more than just us. You say you're innocent? Fine. Suck it up and take one for the team.”

He turned on his heel, leaving her behind as he disappeared into the darkness. Leaving her with her mouth hanging open in shock and nothing left to think about except that she agreed with him.

I wanted him to be something worth respecting …

Yeah, well she needed to be a whole lot more careful about what she decided she wanted.

Because now she had it.

*   *   *

“You'd better have a powerfully good reason for fingering your superior.”

Saxon didn't let Kagan's tone get under his skin. It wasn't something many men could claim to be able to do. Kagan was massive, from his excessive height to a shoulder span that would have made several professional football players feel lacking.

“I'm not fingering anyone. Yet,” Saxon clarified.

Kagan wasn't impressed. He gestured to the chair in front of his desk. “Make your point. And it had better be good. Tyler has already been on my tail demanding permission to set the dogs on your ass.”

“Now I'm pointing my finger,” Saxon said as he sat down.

Kagan drew in a stiff breath. “Why?”

“I've been off grid for exactly eight hours. Why is Tyler nursing a hard-on for me? When have I ever failed to bring in my target? What's his reason for doubting me this soon into the operation?”

Kagan's expression didn't change. “Interesting questions.” His section leader leaned back as he plucked a pen from the desktop and started tapping it against his lips.

“Tyler claims he's concerned you're heading down the same path your brother took.”

“Get off my brother's ass. He performed his mission. Got the girl back with nothing more than a few scratches on her.”

The pen hit the desktop. “He screwed her, too.”

Saxon shrugged. “It happens. Stop acting like it's the first time you've heard of it, or done it.” Saxon shot his superior a hard look. Kagan's lips twitched in what could almost be called a grin. A cocky one. “The way I heard it, the girl didn't complain.”

“Her daddy sure did and still is,” Kagan shot back. “Personally, I couldn't care less about Vitus blowing off a little stress or whose thighs he does it between. But Congressman Ryland is of the opinion that his little girl would never be interested in anything like that.”

“Right, and the good congressman has morals, like being faithful to his wife,” Saxon answered.

Kagan had the pen back in his fingers and began tapping it against the armrest of his chair. “Thing is, the danger breeds a certain level of passion that is nearly impossible to ignore. You know it. So did your brother. The little snowbird? Well, she was an innocent. At best, Vitus failed to keep his perspective. That part he was guilty of. That girl had no idea how to handle an experienced operator like your brother.”

Saxon had to nod in agreement.

“The punishment didn't fit the crime. It was a situational lapse. Not an uncommon one, either,” Saxon said. “Hardly worth pulling a shield from a man with an impressive service record.”

Kagan nodded. “Agreed. Except this was a high-profile target. Every man knows those politicians' daughters come with an additional set of rules. Jeb Ryland is a hopeful for the next vice-presidential nomination. His little girl can't be screwing the help.”

The pen stopped. “I think that's what's pissing Tyler off. He knows you'll go to Vitus and together, you two won't be easy to pull in.”

“Again, why the hurry to haul us in?”

“You have the hard drives,” Kagan answered. “However, you've created an interesting situation by dropping off grid with the evidence.”

“Exactly,” Saxon said. “Someone took out my men. And went for my mole and the mule. Seems like a lot of people need to be silenced all of a sudden. I went off grid to see who had a problem with it and I'm in your office to prove that is the only reason.”

The pen started tapping again. The office was silent until Kagan moved and the wheels on his desk chair ground against the tile floor.

“Dig in.” He pulled a cell phone from his breast pocket. “There's a scrambler on this one, so watch your back because I won't be able to send in the cavalry. New location is in there, too. And pull your man in, keep that package secure.”

Saxon looked up from reading the information on the phone. “You want the cheese and the mule in the same location?”

The pen went back to tapping. Saxon stared at Kagan, waiting for the man to finish thinking.

“The cheese was a setup. The intel is fake.”

“What?” Saxon hissed. “I lost men on this operation. I don't do bullshit missions.”

“Your team is activated when we need them to perform.” Kagan spoke slowly. “The suspected leak was on the other side. A couple of the Defense Department civilian personal. Better fake intel than the real deal. We still need to plug the leak. Someone picked it up. I want to know who.”

“I still question the order to bring my man in. His target might be the perpetrator.”

Kagan let out a soft sound. “She was in your custody when the last batch was moved. Someone took out the cameras your team placed in her house. Tyler does have some explaining to do because someone is feeding inside information to the man picking up the intel. But the girl is a mule.”

Saxon sat back.

“Don't scare me.” Kagan was eyeing him critically. “You almost look relieved. She's a mark in an operation.”

“She's innocent—”

“That's what I just said,” Kagan cut in. “But something is still going on with the family. Her brother is making waves. Knows she's missing. I want to know how he found out. So pull your man in and get that information. Keep her muzzled while you do it. I'm reactivating your brother, unofficially. I want a man on this one who no one will think to keep an eye on.”

“Yes sir.”

Saxon walked through the nondescript office building toward the door. He didn't make eye contact with anyone working at the plain desks. Their computer screens had filters over them to blur the images, and it was possible the entire office would be moved by tomorrow. With Kagan, you were wise to expect nothing and anticipate the unexpected.

A healthy attitude for them all.

He stopped on the pavement outside to send a text message to Mercer. There was no reply, but he hadn't really expected one. Mercer had bugged out. He'd be off grid completely, only checking in every couple of days to make sure his location couldn't be pinpointed. Saxon walked around the building twice. Thais and Greer surfaced and joined him.

“Good news,” he informed them. “We're not getting our shields pulled.”

His team members' expressions tightened. Good news? Only when you didn't stop to consider the fact that Mercer's gut instinct had been right. Tyler was up to something.

And that was definitely bad news. The type that just might get them all toe tags when push came to shove and people started trying to cover their tracks.

Saxon selected a new vehicle from the ones left in the parking lot for teams to take.

He did enjoy a challenge.

Even one with deadly consequences.

*   *   *

“We need fuel.”

Mercer pointed at a roadside gas station and snack shop. She was stretching a little to call it a snack shop. The entire building was covered in tin roof siding, all of it in different stages of rusting. It look like a giant patchwork quilt. If she couldn't peg it as scavenged, the piles sitting on the dirt nearby would clue her in. There was a dented pickup truck with a bed that had more exposed metal than paint left on it.

Mercer stared at her for a moment before he turned and rode down toward the station. It was just a stop on a rural road, somewhere in the middle of the state where there was nothing much but farms for hundreds of miles around.

A half-grown kid came out as they pulled up. The hems of his jeans were ripped and his T-shirt was in tatters.

“We need some gas,” Mercer said.

“Cash only.”

Mercer nodded and pulled a couple of twenties from his pocket. The kid shoved them into his own pocket before lifting one of the pumps up.

“Tamales?” a woman called from the doorway of the shop. “Fresh and hot. Best you ever tasted.”

“Sure.” Mercer looped an arm around Zoe and tried to guide her into the shop.

She sidestepped him. Something snapping inside her as he got too close. His eyes narrowed but she started walking toward the shop, refusing to give him any of her attention.

Ha! Like she could ignore him.

Well, she could at least not appear to be panting after him.

She was still no closer to thinking her way out of the mess she was in. The shop smelled amazing, distracting her at least for the moment. The woman patted a counter that looked like it had been lifted out of some soda shop from the 1940s. There were four bar stools in front of it, their cushion seats wrapped with duct tape.

She laid out a couple of place mats before serving up two plates of steaming-hot tamales.

“Gracias.”

The woman flashed her a bright smile, showing off two silver crowned teeth. “
Se habla Español?
”

Zoe nodded. The woman went off in a peel of Spanish, happy to have someone to talk to.

“How about letting me join the conversation?”

The woman looked at Mercer and clicked her tongue. “That's a handsome man you have there,” she said, still in Spanish.

“Just a friend,” Zoe answered back.

The woman offered her a disbelieving look. “I'm not blind,” she said.

They polished off the tamales and Mercer jerked his head toward the doorway. The woman smiled happily as she tucked the twenty-dollar bill Mercer gave her into her bra.

Zoe looked at her bike dubiously. Her backside was aching.

“We're not going far.”

She looked up at Mercer hopefully. Hell, sure she was a little mad at the guy but her butt was killing her, so she'd take whatever escape she could from riding the bike. Even if it meant having a conversation with Mercer.

Of course that brought her face-to-face with just how mouthwatering he was. There was dark stubble on his chin now, making him look even more edgy. Damned if she didn't feel a stab of desire go through her.

I'm hopeless.

Nitwit.

Yeah, whatever. “What do you mean we're not going far?”

He swung his leg over the bike and revved up the engine. Zoe ground her teeth together as she did the same.

“My ass is killing me, too.”

Whatever she'd expected him to say, that hadn't been it. Was he really commiserating with her? The sound of the bikes made further conversation impossible. Mercer peeled out of the station leaving her little choice but to follow him.

They rode through open land. It was dry desert. The cropland around them was fed by aqueducts but wherever humans hadn't interfered, there was just dry, rocky dirt, scrub brush, and the odd tumbleweed.

She followed him to the base of some hills. He pulled the bike up to a gully and left it there. Zoe yanked her helmet off and waited for him to explain. All he did was pull out the cell phone and look at the screen for a few moments.

The wind blew a dried-up tumbleweed past them as a couple of crows flew overhead. Something started buzzing off in the distance. Zoe lowered the water bottle she'd been drinking from and looked up.