Mission Made For Two (2 page)

“Ha.  H
a.
You are
so funny.”  She smiled and closed the car door.  “
But I will help you with whatever delicacy you’re planning on fixing us.”

He snorted as they walked up the walk.  “I wouldn’t let you
within
ten feet of my creations.  I saw what you did to our toast last week.”

“Hey! That was the toaster’s fault.”

Daniel just shook his head and unlocked the door.  He stepped inside, Sierra behind him. Cool air washed ove
r her
arms.
  She couldn’t wait to get this padding off.
In the August Miami heat, it was stifling.
 
 

She turned and locked the door.
  “I’
ll call Trent
whil
e you get to work on the food
.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Daniel replied and veered toward the small, fully equipped kitchen.

Sierra kicked off her sandals and headed toward the bedroom.  The plush carpet pressed against her
bare
feet.   The first thing she did
was strip
off her dress and
out of the padding
,
then
yank the wig from her head.  She slipped into a pair of shorts and a tank top. 

Plopping on the bed, she
pulled her secure cell phone out of her purse.
Time to call Trent.

The sound of wood splintering in the front room
stopped her
c
old
. 

Sierra snatched
a
bag with her gun fr
om under the bed, grabbed the
9 millimeter
and lea
pt to her feet.
  She stopped in the doorway
of the bedroom
. 

The
front
door burst open.  A
m
uscle
-
bound
thug
rushed into the room
, automatic weapon in hand
. 

Sierra dove to the side
, back into the room,
just before the first
spray of
bullet
s
hit the doorframe over her head.

Her heart beat in triple time.
  She should have listened to her inner voice.  That phone call had been the end of their
c
over.

“Damn it all to hell
,” she muttered, as she rolled to her stomach
and looked around the door jamb
.

More bullets splintered the wood.  S
he fired a
couple
shot
s
.  Things got quiet
.  She couldn’t see the kitchen. 
Didn’t know if Daniel was okay.

“Come out, little girl,” the man
called.  “You’re out numbered.”

A sick feeling settled in the pit of her stomach.  Daniel hadn’t said a word.

The bedroom window
shattered.  B
ullets sprayed
the
wall
over the bed
, sending chunks of sheet rock spiraling to the floor. 

Nothing like having your ass shoved up against a wall full of razor
blades. 

Pushing
to her
feet, she peered around the opening
.  The goon who’d busted
in
the door had moved to the wall
cater-corner
from the front door.
  All she could see was the tip of his gun. 
One thing was for sure. 
She needed more fire power.

Another gun waited in the bottom of her duffel bag
. 
She fired a shot into the den, just to make sure no one thought she was coming out easy.  Then she scurried back and grabbed her bag from the closet. 

More gunfire sprayed the wall and the bed. Sierra ducked and crawled back to the door
.  She fired another shot, then pulle
d out her
Glock, stuck a full cartridge in both guns
and stood.

Only about six feet of wall separated her and the gunman. 

Too bad
she probably wasn’t going to come out of this
a
live.  But life was a bitch sometimes.
  At least she wasn’t going down alone.

Sierra
sucked in a breath. 
She
sp
r
ang
, g
un in each hand. 
Her body horizontal to the floor.
  She turned
toward the gunman
in mid-air
, squeezing off shots in succession.

Her would-be assassin hadn’t expected that.  His body jerked. 

Sierra hit the
floor hard enough to rattle her fake
teeth.  She rolled to her b
ack and sprung up to
her feet, t
urning immediately to face the door.

The sig
ht that greeted her
sent shock rolling through her
. 

Jake
lowered his gu
n. 
He was a different Jake from the one
t
hree months ago.  This was the old Jake.  His blue eyes bright and fierce, the muscle
s
in his clean shaven jaw clenched.

“You okay?”

She nodded and lowered both her weapons.  “I don’t suppose you being here is coincidence.” 

“Nothing’s coincidence in this business.  I took care of the contingent outside.”

“Daniel…”

Jake shook his head.
 
Her breath hitched in her throat.
She
ran to
the kitchen
.  The sight of Daniel sprawled across the floor,
the top part of his skull missing
, churned her stomach. 

She’d suspected he was dead
,
even known it, but in the firefight
,
hadn’t had time to really consider it.  She pushed down the wave of grief.  Agents in the field didn’t have time
for emotions
.

They lost men.
  They all knew it when they signed up.  Hel
l, she’d been ready to accept the same fate
not five minutes ago. 

B
ut she had no family who’d miss her when she was gone. 

Daniel did. 

Jake covered the distance between them.
  “Grab whatever stuff you need and let’s get the hell out of here.”

Sierra let her grief turn to anger.
  “That
bastard
just made this very personal.”

She looked at Jake
.  A
muscle ticked in his jaw.  “
It’s been personal for me for months now.”  His voice gentled, she supposed realizing how much Daniel’s death affected her.  “Now get your stuff. We need to go before anyone else shows up.”

Sierra nodded and ran to the bedroom
.  She removed the
dental fitting and stuffed it
in her duffel bag, then
shoved her clothes in
and the few th
ings she had in the bathroom.
  After slipping her feet into a pair of sneaker
s
, she
met Jake at the door.

They didn’t talk anymore until they we
re miles away from the bungalow, speeding away in a sporty little blue mustang that Sierra suspected had a very souped-up engine.
  “Where are you going?
” she finally asked.

Jake glanced at her. 
“To a private airstrip.
 
Then someplace safe.”

“Have you b
een following us this last month
?”

A slight smile curve
d his mouth. 
“Yeah
.”

“Did Trent know?”

He nodded his head.  “I’ve been work
ing with him
trying to figure
out
who the hell the leak is.”

Sierra frowned. “Why didn’t he tell me you were watching our backs?”

Surely, he didn’t suspect she or Daniel
was
involved in anything.

Jake glanced at her.  “He didn’t trust the communication.”

Sierra arched an eyebrow. 
“That deep, huh?”

At least that was a relief. Provided Jake was being
tr
uthful with her.

“Sierra, we don’t suspect you or any of the other operatives.”

She glanced at his hard profile, believing him, if not a bit unnerved that he’d just read her thoughts.

“That’s nice to know.  So what have you found
out?
”
   
  

Jake was quiet a moment.  “
Just that
none of the other mis
sions seemed to be compromised. 
Only the ones dealing with Diaz.”

“That should make i
t easier to narrow down
who our traitor is
.”

“We have some ideas.
”

“You care to share?”

Jake’s hands tightened around the steering wheel.  “I don’t really know enough right now to share them.”

Sierra’s hackles went
back
up. 
He apparently
didn’t think she was capable of helping find the answers.
 
“Look!  I know you’re used to playing the
Lone Ranger, but Daniel
Matheson
was a damn fine agent! One I worked with countless times the last few years.  His wife is going to be devastated.  If I owe him nothing else, I owe him to find out why his cover was blown.”

Jake’s mouth thinned.  “I told you
,
I don’t know enough to share it yet.”

Sierra’s anger
leaked out like a deflating balloon.  All that was left was an empty feeling in the
pit of her stomach
at thoughts of Daniel. 

Even though she knew the risks, this was t
he first time someone she’d worked with so closely
had
been killed. 

And she couldn’t shake the feeling that somehow it was her fault.
  Somehow, she hadn’t been careful enough. 
She’d
i
gnored that little voice after their meeting telling her something was wrong. 

That was a hell of a thing to live with.
 

~***~

Jake
turned down the road leading to
the private airstrip that housed his plane.  Sierra had ridden quietly for the most part.  She was one tough lady.  Hell, taking out the gunman at the house had taken a lot of guts.
 

Even in South America she’d shown
mettle
and determination.  But her partner’s death had hit her hard.  He knew the feeling. 

“You still haven’t told me
where we’re going,” Sierra said
as he pulled the car into the airstrip’s parking lot.

He
turned off the engine and set the parking brake.  “North Carolina.”

She arched a delicate eyebrow, but didn’t comment.
  They climbed out
,
and h
e retrieved her stuff from the back of the car along with his bag and headed toward the Turbo
Skylane
Cessna.

She let out a
whistle as they neared the aircraft.  “Nice ride. 
Yours?”

He opened the baggage compartment
in the rear
and tossed their stuff in. 
“A gift to myself on my thirty-fifth birthday.
  Hop on in.  I’ve got to go inside the hanger a
m
inute.”

Jake left her and jogged to the hanger.  Carl Roland, the operator of the airport, met him at the door.  Jake pulled out some money and a sheet of paper with an address on it and handed it to him. “Will you make sure the car gets back to this address?”

The car was a loan from a friend.  Carl nodded and took the cash. “You’ll take care of filing the flight plan I left with you when I arrived?”
Jake asked.

“I’ll handle everything
,
Mr. Harding.”

“Thanks, Carl.”  Jake turned
and jogged back to the plane.  Sierra sat
like a stone in the front seat, her gaze fixe
d on something outside
.