9
CALLIE JUST STOOD THERE, Dieter’s gun still pressed against her temple.
She heard the words. Saw them come out of Jammer’s mouth. But she couldn’t comprehend them. They were a foreign language she had never heard before.
Jammer was the Ghost.
The man she had sworn to bring to justice was the man she’d been sleeping with all this time. But surely Jammer was only saying that because he thought Gina was in danger. It couldn’t be true.
But as their eyes met across the room, she knew it. Knew he was telling the truth.
“Ja. This is a surprise, but it is as I suspected. Why the ruse?”
Jammer shrugged. “To stay under the radar.”
“Like the Batman?”
“Yes, like Batman,” he agreed.
Callie tensed, readying herself for action. She had every intention of surviving this encounter. She was going to arrest the Ghost no matter who he was. She met Jammer’s eyes and no words were spoken, but it was as if they could speak to each other’s souls. He was prepared to act, as well. She knew Jammer wasn’t leaving here without securing those weapons. The pressure tautened as Joost studied him. Just when Callie thought everything was going to dissolve into chaos, Joost’s barking laughter broke the silence.
The man threw up his hands. “Then all is forgiven. I love the Batman. Dieter, let her go.”
The cold metal disappeared from her temple, but Callie couldn’t move.
“Gina, come over here,” Jammer said softly. “Now.”
She got her feet to function and she went to him.
Then he did something that made her heart jump. He stood in front of her, effectively using his big body as a human shield. Up close, she could see how pale the skin was on the nape of his strong neck, the coiled muscles that belied how worried he was for her safety, and her emotions went wild. She was mad and touched at the same time. She just didn’t know what to do with it all. Her throat got tight and that only set off her anger again. Could she really blame anyone but herself? She had told herself what she was doing wasn’t exactly a good idea. Sleeping with Jammer had been an irresponsible indulgence. His charisma and her inability to control the desire she felt for him were her downfall. And here it was in living Technicolor.
This man who was coolly negotiating an arms deal was the elusive villain numerous agencies would kill to get their hands on.
She mentally slowed her breathing, realizing that she was going to hyperventilate if she didn’t get control of herself.
The jumble of emotions she felt only added to a terrible confusion undercutting her confidence. Callie was furious that she hadn’t seen this herself, and at the same time had a heartfelt need to wrap her arms around him and hold on until this confusion ended. But then anger burned through her. Oh no, this made everything ten times worse.
Mercifully, Jammer finished with Joost quickly. All in all, the exchange had gone a lot better than they’d anticipated.
In parting Joost said, “I commend you for your choice in a woman. It will take a strong man to handle her.”
“No one handles Gina, Joost.”
Even with all the tension, and the fact that she had come very close to death, Callie smiled. It wasn’t long before they were in the Mercedes and at the Sofitel.
Inside, she expected Jammer to yell at her, curse her for not returning to the States as he’d asked. It would have been reasonable. It would have made sense.
So when the hotel room door closed and he leaned against it, saying nothing, she took the offensive. “This is your fault, you know. They got me at the airport. I tried to fight them off, but one of them got the drop on me. I had no choice. It seems that Joost planned this to force you to contact the Ghost.”
“My guess is that your plane ticket wasn’t for someplace in the U.S. ”
She faced him squarely, her eyes locked with his, his handsome, impassive face giving nothing away. “No. But, again, your fault. If you hadn’t cut me out of the deal halfway through, I wouldn’t have been at the airport by myself. I intended to finish the negotiation and in the process make a new contact.”
“Business. That’s always what it is for you?”
She marched up to him and grabbed him by the lapels of his suit. She needed to do something physical or she was going to come out of her skin. The stakes had risen and the situation she found herself in had just gotten that much worse.
How was she going to reconcile her damn feelings for this man when she had to snap those handcuffs on him, face him in court? When he’d just done something so shocking, so unselfish, for her?
She represented the law. There had to be justice and accountability, but nothing was simple when emotions were involved. Why couldn’t he have turned out to be an asshole instead of a man she admired? It wasn’t about the danger now or the illicitness of their affair; it was about her strong attachment to him, stronger than she wanted to admit.
He was the Ghost!
“What else is there, Jammer? Or should I call you the Ghost? That was a nice tidbit of information to drop on me!”
He seized her by her shirtfront and pulled her close to his face. His eyes were hard as diamonds, his mouth full and tight. In them she saw his fear and something else she couldn’t name, wouldn’t name. It would have knocked her back if he didn’t have such a tight grip on her shirt. “I wouldn’t have had to drop it at all if you had just done what I asked. You have no idea how much this complicates my life, how much is at stake. But you were more interested in business then preserving your own life.”
“Look, I can take care of myself. I would have come up with something to get myself out of that jam. But you’re the one keeping secrets, it seems.”
“Doesn’t everyone?”
She froze inside at his look-almost as if he knew she was undercover. But that wasn’t possible. If he did know, he would have taken her out of this charade from the beginning.
His mouth covered hers, hot and demanding her to respond. She couldn’t help herself. The compulsion to soothe his fear and panic came from a deep well in her; until this moment she hadn’t known she possessed that much emotion. The sacrifice he’d just made for her spoke volumes.
“I can’t lose you. Not that way.”
His words made her throat cramp, and it hit home hard that one day she was going to be without him. It almost made her want to defect to the dark side. Made her frantic to think of a way to get herself and him out of this situation. But she knew there was nothing she could do. She was ensnared in a trap of her own making.
She was much too dedicated to the vow she’d taken to serve and protect the United States, and rationally, she knew it was panic forcing her to think about treason. She would do what had to be done. No matter how much it hurt.
And it was going to hurt so bad.
“Then let’s not waste the time we have.”
JAMMER DIDN’T KNOW WHAT he was going to do about Gina. There was no going back to the way he’d been before he’d met her. Her words slammed into him and sent his body into lock and load. So easily.
Her hands slid around his neck. Her face was pensive, soft with desire, her eyes dark with secrets and the pain that came with them. He wished that he could take that look from her eyes, but he couldn’t. He’d already crossed the line. It was going to be bad enough when he had to clean up the mess he’d made. He teetered on the edge of revealing to her who he really was, and the dangerous and clandestine game he played with a powerful and dangerous foe, but he curbed it. It would jeopardize the outcome. Gina had to stay in the dark for now. She was as safe as he could make her.
