Operation: Midnight Tango (9 page)

“We’ve got four snowmobiles.”

“Send them out and get me ten more. I want the officers armed and given orders to shoot on sight.”

“Sir—”

“Do it, damn it!”

“Yes, sir.”

“What else?”

“We’ve got several ATVs, but they’re pretty much useless with all this snow. The mountain roads are impassable.”

“Tell me something I don’t already know, Cooper.”

“We could send a few of our best men out on cross-country skis. We could equip a few with snowshoes.”

“It will be dark soon.”

“That won’t stop us. We’ve got night-vision technology.”

“Do it now. I don’t want any man spared.”

“Yes, sir.”

Cooper started to turn away, but Underwood reached out, grasped his shoulder and gave it a hard squeeze. “I don’t have to tell you what we’re up against here, do I, Cooper?”

“I know what’s at stake.”

“If those two people make it out of these mountains to a phone, if they talk to the wrong person, everything we’ve worked for goes up in smoke and we could end up spending the rest of our lives in prison. Or worse.”

Cooper swallowed hard.

“I want Zack Devlin and Emily Monroe dead before nightfall. By whatever means necessary. Do you understand?”

“I understand.”

As the other man walked away, Marcus Underwood wondered if Cooper understood that his life depended on it, too. He’d decided hours ago that if Emily Monroe and Zack Devlin eluded them, Riley Cooper would be the first man to die.

ZACK HAD BEEN RIGHT ABOUT the snow making travel tough. Emily loved the out-of-doors and spent a good bit of her winter leisure time skiing and snowshoeing. But trying to walk through two feet of snow without the proper gear was next to impossible, and within an hour she was exhausted.

“Let’s walk to the ridge over there and see if the wind blew most of the snow off the rocks.”

She looked over to find Zack watching her. His breaths were puffing out in white clouds of vapor. Even though the temperature was well below freezing, sweat moistened his face. Her only thought was that he didn’t look like a convict. That he didn’t act like a convict. She wondered if those were the same thoughts that had been running through her father’s mind all those years ago when he’d crossed a line….

Zack took her hand. When she tried to loosen his grip, he shot her a sharp look over his shoulder. “It will be easier making it to the top of the rise if you let me help you.”

His hand was warm and covered hers completely as he led her up a steep incline. Emily tried hard not to think about how good that warmth felt.

Neither spoke as they made their way to the ridge. The only sound came from the hum of wind coming through the branches and the sound of their boots against the snow. But Emily’s mind was in turmoil. Not only was she attracted to this man, but she was beginning to trust him. And trust was a dangerous thing, too.

“Shouldn’t be much farther to Signal Research and Development.” Zack, who’d let go of her hand and walked a short distance ahead, paused and waited for her to catch up.

Emily couldn’t quite meet his gaze as she drew up beside him. “If we manage to get in without getting shot, what exactly are we going to be looking for?”

His mouth tightened. “I don’t want you going in with me, Emily. These bastards play for keeps, and I don’t want you in the middle of it.”

The prospect of facing armed security officers was scary, to say the least. Then she recalled all the men who’d been murdered, and the fear was tempered by a quick jab of determination. “I’m already in the middle of it,” she said.

“You’re not calling the shots,” he snapped.

“I’ve got as much at stake as you,” she shot back.

“You’re a civilian. This is my operation.”

“I have the right to clear my name!”

He looked as if he would argue, then he glanced away. When he turned back to her, his expression
was grim. “If I didn’t need your help, there’s no way in hell I’d let you do this. Unfortunately for you, I need your help.”

“Once we get inside, what are we going to be looking for?” she asked.

“Anything tying Lockdown to Signal. Anything even remotely suspicious.”

“I’m assuming you have some brilliant plan that will get us inside.”

“I’m working on it.”

In the few short minutes they’d stopped to rest, Emily grew chilled. Her hands and feet were numb. The cold stung her cheeks and nose. Zack was standing a couple of feet away. She could just make out his features. His dark eyes. Chiseled mouth. Black slash of his brow. He was watching her. She didn’t have a clue what he was thinking or feeling, but she could feel herself responding to him. The memory of the way his mouth had felt against hers stealing into her thoughts…

“You’re shivering.” Taking a step back, Zack motioned ahead. “Let’s keep moving.”

Emily was still shaking when she started along the ridge. But the tremors weren’t just from the cold. Zack Devlin was affecting her in a way she’d never been affected by another man. Even faced with doing something as dangerous as breaking into a high-security research facility, she couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss. She knew it was crazy, but even cold and tired and frightened as she was, the attraction was there, and growing.

“How long have you been an agent with MIDNIGHT?” she asked.

He glanced over at her, his gaze assessing. “Five years.”

“You’ve always been undercover?”

“Deception is my specialty.” His smile was self-deprecating. “I’m a good liar.”

“I guess you’d have to be to survive a place like Bitterroot for four months.”

“It was the longest four months of my life.”

Something uncomfortable and all too human flashed in his eyes, and for the first time Emily realized just how brutal such an assignment would have been. She’d been a corrections officer long enough to know what kinds of things went on inside the concrete walls of the prison. Even for a strong man like Zack Devlin the violence and hopelessness would have been formidable.

“It must have been rough,” she said.

“I’ve had better assignments.”

“Which cell block were you assigned?”

“2-W.”

Because of her gender, she’d never been assigned there, but she knew of 2-W by reputation. It was the cell block where only the most violent and dangerous of offenders were sent. “How did you get assigned to Cell Block 2-W?”

He shot her a wry smile. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I have a smart mouth.”

“I’ve noticed.”

He rolled a shoulder. “I mouthed off to the wrong
corrections officer. He saw to it that I got transferred. Then he made it his mission in life to make sure I was as miserable as possible.”

The inmates of Cell Block 2-W were only allowed out of their cells for three hours a day. Two or sometimes three men were forced to live in a cramped twelve-by-six-foot cell. The cells were searched for contraband often and without warning and at all times of the day and night. The inmates were routinely taken to the infirmary or shower room and strip-searched for drugs or weapons. Only the most vigorous officers worked Cell Block 2-W. They were the officers who liked their jobs just a little too much. The officers who didn’t mind getting into a tussle with a convict. Even if the convict didn’t deserve it.

“I couldn’t imagine living under those conditions,” she said.

“I knew what I was getting into.”

“But if what you say about Lockdown, Inc. is true, you could have been killed.”

“I’m good at what I do, Emily. MIDNIGHT is careful with their agents.” He glanced down at his arm where the GPS device had been removed and laughed. “Besides, the luck of the Irish is in my genes.”

“Why did you agree to such an assignment?” she asked.

Zack had asked himself the same question a thousand times in the last four hellish months. Times when he’d been torn from his bunk at three o’clock
in the morning and watched while six corrections officers tore apart the cell looking for contraband. Times when he’d been stripped naked and searched if only for the added humiliation.

Zack had never come up with a good answer for why he’d agreed. Maybe because it was his first real mission since Alisa’s death. Maybe deep down inside he thought he had something to atone for.

“It’s what I do.” He said the words after a too-long pause, but he could tell by the expression on Emily’s face that she realized there was more to the story. But it was a story Zack didn’t want to tell. Especially to a woman whose safety was on his shoulders.

“It seems irresponsible for an agency to send an operative into such a potentially dangerous situation.”

“Life is about risk sometimes, Emily. Some of us like it that way. We like it because it makes us feel alive when nothing else even comes close.”

At some point they had stopped walking. Zack was facing her. There was just enough light for him to see her features. Her expression was thoughtful and perplexed. He knew the timing couldn’t be more wrong, but he liked looking at her. He liked being close to her, talking to her. Even though they were standing in the middle of nowhere about to do something insanely dangerous, he was sorely tempted to take the moment a step further. More than anything, he wanted to lean forward and press his mouth against hers the way he had back at the prison. Even
with the armed corrections officer pressing down on them, that taste of her mouth had made him ache in a way he hadn’t for a very long time. Made him feel like a man. Like a human being with needs that hadn’t been met for what seemed like a lifetime.

“Are you a thrill seeker?” he asked.

“No,” she said quickly.

She trembled when he cupped the side of her face with his hand. “Why are you so jumpy?” he whispered.

“I don’t like it when you touch me like that.”

He couldn’t help it. He smiled. “Or maybe you do and you just don’t have the guts to admit it.”

She started to turn away, but he grasped her arm and unzipped her coat. Before she could stop him, he set his hand just below her left breast, close enough so that he could feel the weight of it against his fingers. “Your heart is pounding, Emily.”

“I’m…angry,” she said.

“Your pupils are dilated. You’re breathing hard.” She quivered when he brushed his palm over her breast. Her nipples were hard nubs. He could feel his own body responding. Tightening. His sex growing heavy and uncomfortably full. “You’re trembling.”

“I’m…cold.”

“I don’t think the cold is the problem.”

“Let go of me.”

She started to back away, but he stopped her by grasping her forearms. “Like hell,” he growled and lowered his mouth to hers.

Chapter Seven

Emily knew she shouldn’t let him kiss her. And for God’s sake, she shouldn’t be kissing him back! But the hot rush of desire was melting the last of her resolve to do the right thing.

All the while his mouth worked black magic on hers, putting her under a dark spell that only made her want more. She shifted closer so that her body was flush against his. Her coat was open from when he’d unzipped it. Somehow his had come open, too. She could feel the warmth of his body against hers. The hard ridge of his arousal brushing against her belly, which only intensified the hot pulse of her own arousal.

She was aware of her arms going around his neck. Of Zack growling low in his throat. Of his tongue plunging into her mouth to war with hers. Somewhere in the back of her mind a tiny voice told her she was making a mistake.

Abruptly he released her.

She stumbled back, dazed and troubled and damningly aroused. “Don’t ever do that again,” she said.

“Then don’t look at me like you want me to.”

They stared at each other for a full minute, their breathing labored and hearts pounding out of control.

Zack then turned away from her and looked out into the vast darkness of the valley below. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have…done that. I shouldn’t have said what I did.”

“If we’re going to work together and try to figure out what’s going on, this can’t happen again.”

“It won’t.”

“I have to be able to trust you, Zack.”

His eyes glittered as he regarded her, making her feel as if he could look at her and see all the things she didn’t want him to see.

“If you’re smart, you won’t,” he said.

The exchange should have cleared the air, but Emily felt more confused than ever. She hated herself for it because her attraction to Zack reminded her too much of the mistakes her father had made.

“We’ve got about four hours before dawn.” Zipping his coat up, he stepped into the darkness. “Let’s make some time.”

Taking a deep breath, Emily zipped her own coat and fell into place behind him.

ZACK DIDN’T KNOW IF HE was feeling edgy because he was apprehensive about going into Signal Research and Development or because he’d liked kiss
ing Emily and she’d asked him not to do it again. He’d kissed enough women in his time to know when they were enjoying it, and there was no doubt in his mind that Little Miss Corrections Officer had been enjoying that kiss just fine.

He should know better than to get caught up in raw physical attraction. Especially now. He wanted badly to chalk it up to his being stuck in a jail cell for the last four months. But what he felt for Emily was a hell of a lot more complicated than simple attraction. Considering the circumstances, his feelings for her were scaring the hell out of him. Hadn’t he learned his lesson with Alisa?

“I see lights.”

Emily’s voice drew him away from thoughts he had no business brooding over in the minutes before a dangerous operation. Turning, he followed her point. Sure enough, he could see the glow of lights in the valley below.

He recalled from the map that Signal Research and Development sat on about sixty wooded acres. Since the facility hadn’t been under suspicion, he’d given it only a cursory look. Now that he needed to get inside, he sorely wished he’d taken the time to study the layout more thoroughly.

“How much do you know about this place?” he asked.

“Very little, unfortunately. The company is low-key. They make pharmaceutical drugs and supplies for veterinarians. They employ quite a few people in the area. I’ve driven by a few times. They have
pretty good security, including a chain-link fence with barbed wire and lots of lighting.”