“You son of a bitch.”
“So you’ve told me before. Let’s go before Vasquez’s men get here. I’ve got a pickup scheduled in twenty on the other side of the border.”
Grace had no choice but to follow him out of one hell and into another.
The woman hadn’t changed a bit in seven years. She still kept her deep auburn hair braided tightly down her back while she was working. But he knew what it looked like spread across his pillow, and he knew what it felt like as it slithered like silk across his chest—glorious. He couldn’t have helped his body’s instant arousal at the touch of her if he’d wanted to.
He looked at her critically, trying to decipher exactly why his cock always stood at full attention when she was near. It wasn’t just one thing, but the entire package. Her face was thinner now—her cheekbones more pronounced—but it was still the face of a sea goddess. Eyes the color of emeralds, slightly tilted at the corners, and full lips that he’d dreamed about for the past two years. She was every desire he’d ever had wrapped in one tiny package.
He let his gaze drift down her body. She was thinner all over. The lush curves that had haunted his memory were gone, replaced by a compact body of pure muscle and athleticism. She glanced back at him and raised her brow at where his eyes were glued.
Gabe smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He’d been wrong. She’d changed a lot. There was a hardness about her now that hadn’t been there before. When she’d first started with the CIA, there had been hope and an ideal of the greater good. Now there was just emptiness—a cold, green stare that didn’t believe in anything, and it scared the hell out of him. Because it was no one’s fault but his own.
“We’ve just crossed the border into Venezuela by my calculations,” she said, slowing to a jog. “How much farther is your rendezvous point?”
“About another mile. Keep the sound of water to your immediate left.” He put his hand on her arm before she could take off again. “Wait.”
She stopped dead in her tracks, and Gabe could tell she was trying to hear what he had. They were silent for a few more seconds before the sound came again.
“Shit,” she said. “It’s the new guards. You always did have ears like a bat.”
“What do you have on you?”
“My Sig and a hunting knife. How many do you think there are?”
“No more than a dozen. They’re noisy bastards. And not too fast.” He pulled his own pistol from the small of his back and checked the clip. “I’ll give you a boost.” He replaced his weapon in his pants and laced his fingers together. He arched a brow as she just stared at him.
“I’m really tired of trees.” She blew out a breath and put her foot into his hands. He launched her up so she could reach the lowest branch, and she swung herself up like a monkey.
“Do you have good visibility?” Gabe asked.
“Yeah, I see them. You’ll have to draw them close enough so I’m within range.”
“Try not to hit me by mistake.”
“Oh, it wouldn’t be a mistake,” she said.
Gabe smiled and left her there to go meet trouble head-on. He found cover behind a tree trunk the size of a small car and waited patiently. Heavy footsteps crunched over twigs, and he stuck out his foot as two of them passed by. One of the guards tripped and went sprawling to the ground, and Gabe struck out at the other with a palm to the chest, stopping his heart instantly. He broke the neck of the one who was already down before the man could rise off his knees.
Gabe ignored the steady stream of fire that came from behind him, trusting Grace to not let anyone too close, and he went searching for his next victim. Only a few minutes passed before he stood in the middle of a ring of twelve guards—all of them dead. None of them had had a chance to fire a shot.
Grace was waiting for him on the ground when he caught up to where he’d left her. They both picked up their pace and ran the last mile in silence. They slowed as they came to a winding dirt road with deeply rutted tire tracks, making footing tricky. Less than a minute later, a forest-green Humvee coated with a thick layer of dust pulled up beside them. Gabe opened the back door and Grace slid across the hot leather seat.
The driver turned and looked at Gabe, waiting for instructions. Logan Grey had worked with him on other missions. He was a quiet man, tall and sinewy with muscle. He wore his dark blond hair long, not as a fashion statement, but to help cover the terrible scars on the back of his neck. Logan was former MI6, but an almost fatal accident had gained him retirement before he was ready. Gabe hadn’t hesitated at snatching Logan up to join the team. No one knew explosives better than Logan Grey.
“Get us out, and in a hurry,” Gabe said. Logan glanced once at Grace and then nodded.
Gabe closed the window that divided the front and back seat so he and Grace had complete privacy.
“Who’s your friend?” Grace asked.
“Logan Grey. Don’t worry. He’s heard all about you and still agreed to help me find you.”
“I’m sure he’s a real stand-up guy.”
“He’ll grow on you. So what do you think? This was just like old times. We always made a hell of a team.”
“Tell me what you want, and then let me go. I’ve got a schedule to keep.”
“You don’t have another job lined up once you deliver the flash drive to the South Koreans. Looks like you’re at loose ends.” Gabe watched for a reaction closely, but she showed no surprise that he’d been keeping up with her movements. She just waited him out with silence and a hard look, and he decided to give in to the unspoken standoff just this once.
“I’ve left the CIA,” he told her.
“I heard. Congratulations. Let me go.”
Gabe smiled and stretched out across the seat, crowding her with the length of his legs, but she didn’t budge an inch. “Did you hear I’d joined the private sector and opened my own agency?”
She laughed, low and sexy, and the smoky sound swirled around him until he was dizzy with desire. “So, good boy Gabriel Brennan has decided to become a bad boy and go rogue. I assume the agency is displeased by your decision?”
“Not at all. They know when something is out of their control. My agency is privately funded. Even the CIA recognizes the benefits unknown money can buy. Government agencies are still hampered by rules. Sometimes there are jobs where the rules need to be broken. That’s when they call me.”
“Well, bully for you. You always did manage to get what you wanted.”
“Nothing could be further from the truth, and you know it,” he said quietly. Gabe waited patiently for her to make eye contact. It didn’t take her long. She’d never been a coward.
“I don’t know anything about you, Gabe. I never did. Our life was a lie.”
“How long are you going to pretend she’s not sitting here between us?”
“Don’t mention her!” The quiver in her voice was quickly controlled. “I’ll get out of this car and disappear off the face of the planet. If you want me to stay, then the past stays in the past. It’s nonnegotiable.”
“Fine. Whatever you say.”
The SUV slowed to a stop, and Gabe pushed the door open, not waiting to see if she’d follow. It was a stupid idea to think he could fix things—to heal the wounds that had been bleeding for the last two years.
Gabe’s Gulfstream sat ready for takeoff on the hard-packed dirt the small Venezuelan city called an airport. He went up the stairs and then turned to face Grace, sure she’d still be in the car. But she stood at the bottom of the steps, her face carefully blank.
“You can either come with me or you can leave. The choice is yours,” Gabe said without emotion, tossing her the flash drive.
She caught it one handed and stared at him, studying him, trying to read every angle of the situation as she’d been trained to do at the agency. She finally nodded and started up the steps. “I’ll come.”
Gabe let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding and nodded before boarding the plane. He had a feeling that before this job was over, she’d have one more reason to hate him.
