At Any Cost (17 page)

"What about me?" Dan asked carefully.

"You're the jealous boyfriend who followed her down to Colombia to take her home. She will be in the bar Wednesday night. We planted the bartender down there six months ago. He'll point her out to Mercado's men. They always come in to town to stock up on Wednesday nights and leave the next day.

"You two will have a fight. JT will find protection behind the men. They will take her back with them."

Dan laughed without an ounce of humor in his tone. "And you expect that to work? Jesus, Donovan. This guy has a ten-foot high barbed-wire fence surrounding his compound, and armed guards coming out his ass. How is she supposed to get back out once she completes the op?"

Donovan swallowed, looked around the room. "Mercado loves American women. He'll take her in. He always takes a girl back to the compound. Once inside, she'll do a perimeter sweep."

Dan's face solidified. His entire body tensed. "How—is she—supposed—to get—back—out?" His voice had dropped dangerously low and his eyes were like ice. He spoke slowly, and every word punched into the tense air.

"We're still working out the details."

"Jesus, Hell, and Satan. Why not stand her in front of a goddamn firing squad? You'd better have back up on stand by. As soon as the first shot is fired, all hell is going to break loose." Dan narrowed his eyes as he looked at Donovan. Something clicked. "No way."

No way what? JT darted her eyes back and forth to whoever talked.

Donovan shook his head. "We can't afford the exposure. You have to go in unarmed."

“No, damn it. We have to have weapons."

JT straightened at the news. "No weapons? Why send us in unarmed?"

"Mercado has every port covered. Airport. Seaport. There is no way in or out of Colombia without him knowing about it. We can't take the risk," Donovan explained.

JT followed the conversation. How did Dan know Donovan planned to send them in unarmed before he ever said it? She noticed how Donovan avoided Dan's eyes. Dan must have read something in them JT didn't.

"No way. Are you insane?" Dan's voice started to rise, and his tone sliced into the air like a razor.

Donovan's tone remained steady. "There's no other way. We can't send in the cavalry or Mercado would know. You two are our only shot."

"Bullshit. There's no such thing as an only shot. You know that. I know that. She's a rookie. She isn't ready for an assignment like this. One slip of the tongue and he'll kill her without hesitation."

"You'll be there."

"I can't get in there with her. You don't have any plans to pull her back out. This is a goddamn suicide mission!" Dan barked. "I won't let you railroad her like this. Peck—"

"Is not your mark," Donovan reminded him. "Mercado is."

"This has 'set up' written all over it," Dan argued. The vein in his jaw started to throb. He pounded the folder into the air to emphasize his words.

JT listened as the two men argued her fate. It felt warm and confusing to have Dan defend her so passionately. Did he care so deeply for her he was too worried about her to let her do her job? Or did he think she couldn't do it?

Regardless, it was JT's decision and hers alone. Her heart fluttered as she contemplated her choice. She could always turn it down, and live with knowing she let NASSD down yet again. It could be another decision she'd live to regret.

Or she could take the op. Prove once and for all NASSD didn't make a mistake with her. Make them proud. Make her Uncle Charlie proud. The decision was easy. "I'll do it."

Dan bit his tongue, cursed. "What? Didn't you hear a word I just said?"

"I heard you."

He obviously didn't know what to say. For several seconds he seemed to search for what to say next. "JT, the odds are one-in-a-million you'll even get to Mercado before he realizes who you are and gets you first."

She turned the corner of her mouth into a grin, conveying a surety only surface deep. Inside, her very being felt like she'd gone one too many times on the teacups at the state fair. "Then there's still a chance."

"I—" he stopped with a growl, shook his head. Knowing his attempts to convince her not to take the mission would fall on deaf ears, he turned his wrath back to Donovan.

"Am I the only one who sees this for what it is?" Dan fanned his papers out and flipped them face side toward Donovan. "
This
is not a briefing. You are sending us in to take out the head of the Mercado cartel and the best you can do is tell us he's somewhere in Cartagena? Where are the schematics of the compound? The names of our contacts? The damn contingency plan? Escape routes? Talk about a needle in a haystack. We can't go down there. It's too big a risk for the payoff."

"We've got intel working on it. You'll have your schematics by the time you touchdown. Have a little faith."

"Screw faith. Knowing intel is
working on it
is not good enough.
Working on it
won't get her out after she sends Mercado back to Hell. I want to know everything about this guy. What he looks like, what he dresses like, what he likes to eat for breakfast. Hell, I want to know what time he takes his morning piss, for Christ's sake.
That's
a briefing. Not this." He threw the papers back at Donovan.

"Weber," Donovan said, ignoring the papers scattered on the floor at his feet. He kept his voice calm and even.
Danger, Dan Weber! Danger.
"It's her choice. And she's made it. Get on board or walk. But this time," he added, almost as an afterthought, "if you do, it's irrevocable."

Dan chose to focus on the raindrops falling on the windshield, instead of so much as glancing over at JT. He couldn't believe it. This woman had a serious lack in judgment. Obviously.

Suicide mission or not, it was still a mission. The last mission Dan had been on, he'd blown. He'd be damned if he blew this one. What a screwed up mess. Talk about the classic mission-of-no-return.

If he went along with their plan, JT had a chance. It was slight, but still a chance. If he walked, not only was his career officially over, but the chances of JT succeeding were between nil and zip.

He shook his head and muttered a curse. He should have never answered his cell, should have never accepted the assignment to retrieve JT Turner. He would have never met the little vixen, never kissed her. He wouldn't feel—whatever he felt for her. He didn't know what it was, only that it seemed to be growing, stemming from deep inside his heart and shooting like little electric jolts through his system. Making him feel alive again.

When she'd accepted the mission, his admiration for her grew by leaps and bounds. He didn't want her taking the op, but he would have done the same thing.

He knew why she did it. She wanted to prove herself. NASSD no doubt gave her some sort of ultimatum. Up until this point, JT's career as a NASSD agent had been questionable at best. She did have one successful op under her belt, but that hardly offset the shit she'd gotten herself into ever since.

So now he had a rookie agent in his care. A beautiful rookie agent out to prove herself. They were heading, unarmed, straight into enemy territory.

Cartagena. He hated Colombia. Too hot, too humid. And too many damn tangos. At least there would be one less tango to worry about when Dan and JT left.

Failure was not an option. Failure equaled death. And he didn't feel like dying anytime in the near future. He knew JT would agree.

"Wow. One million pesos. Nice." JT flipped through her folder, commenting on anything and everything. The woman loved to hear herself talk.

"Not really. That's about four hundred dollars." He had to come up with a plan to get her out of the compound. Intel worked too slowly, and by the time they came up with something, she'd be dead. He did have a few friends left in NASSD. He could contact them and have them...what? Sneak away? Do exactly what JT did? Look where that had gotten her. He couldn't do that to what few friends he had left.

The few reciprocal favors he'd been saving were going to come into play for this op. Dan made a mental note to call the rest of them in the minute he could get away from JT. No need riling her up. She'd ask too many questions. Dan didn't feel the need to justify his actions to her or anybody else.

He'd already called in one favor. He checked his pocket to make sure the diamond earrings/mic/
GPS
set hadn't fallen out.

She held up her passport and squinted at it. "My cover name is—" she paused, even turned her pouty lips into a frown. "Huh. Jessica Turner."

"Welcome to undercover work. Keeping your ID as close to your real name as possible is crucial to keeping your cover."

"But Jessica Turner
is
my real name. And I don't like it. Why can't I just go by JT?"

He pulled his eyes off the road to glare at her. "Jessica
is
your real name," he mocked her words. "Until this op is over, there is no JT. You are now Jessica."

She sank back in her seat, sulking. Dan turned his eyes back to the road, but not before he noticed how each pair of headlights seemed to bring out the shine in her hair as they passed. How they set a sexy sparkle in her emerald gaze. Dan wouldn't usually consider a sparkle as sexy, but when it came to JT Turner, she gave new definition to the word.

He blew out a breath. Mid-morning and the skies were so dark everyone had to have their headlights on to see. It was raining so hard it looked like a damn waterfall from cloud to earth. Got to love Seattle in May.

Due to the wonderful weather, the traffic crawled along slower than molasses. They'd be lucky to make it to the airport before their flight. The wipers were on high and still he couldn't see.

"The hotel they have us staying in seems nice."

"Hmm." Dan couldn't care less what kind of hotel they were staying in. They wouldn't be staying there for long. Mercado and his goons only came into town for supplies and to replace Mercado's woman of the week. Dan knew, from studying Mercado's profile, what he did with the women he no longer wanted. The list of missing persons grew weekly.

Dan stole a glance at JT. She was busy humming and perusing through the folder, completely oblivious to the Hell she was about to delve into. He felt an odd twist at his heart. What was that? Excitement? Unease? Irritation?

No. It was worry. Concern. Fear. He didn't want her on this assignment. It was too dangerous. He tried to see reason.
She'll do fine. She's NASSD. This is what she's been trained to do.

Why, then, did it feel like he was about to release her to a pack of starving wolves? He didn't like this. Not at all.

He supposed that's why he went along with the insanity. He couldn't let her go in alone. She was tough, he knew that. And yet, when he held her, she seemed so fragile. Her wrist seemed so tiny when he'd grasped it. He quickly shook the feelings those thoughts stirred in him.

"Oh, look." She held up a brochure. "It's got a pool."

"Swell."

"And a sauna."

"Fantastic. I've always wanted to go somewhere really hot and sit in a room even hotter."

"I wonder if there are any Chinese restaurants." She shuffled through the folder.

Did this woman ever shut up? Dan couldn't think about their situation as long as she kept yapping at him. "Listen, Turner. I don't give a rat's ass what the hotel has to offer. This is not a vacation. This is not some resort. We are there on a mission. Don't lose sight of that. To lose sight of something so—" He stopped when she looked at him with that little crinkle in the middle of her brow. "What?"

"You're nervous."

Dan's gut clenched in denial. "No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are. Or worried. Are you worried about me?" She batted her eyes and smiled wide, leaning into him with her chin up as if waiting for a kiss.

He stared at her lips until his eyes blurred. He turned his eyes back to the road before he caused an accident. "Turner, it's not you I'm worried about. I don't want you to screw this up like you've screwed up everything else."

Her smile faded. Before Dan could stop himself, he went in for the kill. "If you want to go down to the bowels of the earth and smoke out Mercado, let's hope you don't have another one of your panic-induced meltdowns. It could get us both killed. I've saved your ass twice. It's not a cycle I want to continue, nor will I be in the position to. You're on your own with this one, sweetheart. Save your own ass this time."

She lost her smile completely. Her eyes saddened. And Dan felt like a lump of shit. She looked at him with such expression behind her eyes Dan felt a pull in his chest.

Regret. God
damn
it. "Listen, Turner. I didn't mean—"

"I get it. We are here to take out Mercado. This isn't a pleasure cruise." Her lips thinned. She turned and stared forward, crossed her arms. After several seconds of deep breathing to check herself, she spoke again. "And for the record, if it came down to it, I wouldn't hesitate to save your ass, even after the way you've treated me. You know why? Because that's what partners do."

He rolled his eyes and grit his teeth, silencing the growl growing deep in the back of his throat. "I don't want to see you get hurt." His insides liquefied at his admission.
Oh great. Perfect time to show weakness, Weber.

He watched as she turned back to him, her eyes softening. "Ditto." He turned his head to hold her gaze with his. She smiled, sending his insides into orbit.

Without a thought, he held out his hand. She accepted and placed her hand in his. Unbuckling, she scooted closer to him on the bench seat and rebuckled using the middle strap. As she rested her head on his shoulder, an odd skip twisted in his chest. It felt natural to place his arm around her shoulders and pull her closer.

The rain slowed and the traffic picked up. Dan felt his mood lighten with the weather. He drew a deep breath, let it out slowly, allowing some of his tension to leave his body through his breath. It was a yoga technique Raven had taught him. At least that was one memory about the woman he didn't regret.

He looked at JT. Would he live to regret his time with her, however long it may be?

"Pushing me away isn't going to save me, Dan. We need to stick together on this."

She'd nailed it. He didn't even realize he'd been pushing her away until she said it. His thoughts drifted to Steve. His best friend. His partner of thirteen years. Now dead.

"Tell me about Steve Gessler." She laced her fingers with his and traced his knuckles with the tips of her fingers. It tickled and shot currents of electricity clear to his groin. His dick woke up and started to twitch.

Dan swallowed. Gessler. How in the hell did she know what he was thinking? He always assumed women were some sort of mind-readers, but that hit a little too close for comfort. They had nothing but time as they drove to the airport, and he really did want to share some of his better memories with her. But it had been so long since he'd talked to anyone about it. He didn't even know where to start.

"What do you want to know?"

"How did you two meet?"

"Steve and I were both on the same movie set in
California
. We were barely old enough to buy our own liquor."

She brought her head up. "
California
? As in
Hollywood
?"

His heart skipped at the mention of his codename. She couldn't have known, and wrote her comment off as coincidence. "Stunt car drivers. Both of us. We worked a few movies together before NASSD picked us up. We insisted on working together. Our first few assignments went off just like the movies. We fell right into our roles. Hell, we were naturals at driving the getaway car." He smiled at the memory.

"Did you two ever get into any trouble?" She went back to tracing his knuckles. More jolts to his groin. More twitches.

Dan laughed. "Oh, yeah. We were always in trouble, actually. But it was a hell of a lot of fun. You couldn't separate us. It wasn't until—" He abruptly stopped and swallowed. A lump lodged into his throat.

"What?"

"Nothing."

He felt her shoulders sink. "Come on. Please tell me?"

Dan cleared his throat. Subject closed. "We have to get to the airport.”

“Why? We have a few hours before we need to check in.”

His mind drew a blank. For the first time, he didn't have a plan, didn't have a clue as to what to do. He didn't like it.

"Can we get some food while we're there?"

He smiled. "Always food with you, isn't it?"

"I'm hungry," she answered easily. "We'll grab a bite to eat, and you can finish your story." She smiled up at him. He could tell by the way her eyes flickered she had no intention on letting the subject drop.

The way she looked at him made him hungry, too. He'd never wanted to kiss her more. The traffic on the freeway had slowed again. At that moment, they were at a stop, and Dan could see no reason why he shouldn't follow his instincts. Every nerve ending had come to life, hyper-sensitive to her proximity to him.

He lowered his head and brushed his lips across hers. He tested her, and was pleasantly surprised when she pushed up against him, brushing her hardened nipples against his chest, kissing him thoroughly. It stimulated him beyond words. She parted his lips with her tongue. Another pleasant surprise.

Their tongues danced together beautifully, and she tasted incredible. His body pulled to be closer to her. His aching hard on, painful against the inside of his zipper, fought to break free. Not only did his physical reaction surprise him, but this kiss brought emotions to the surface he'd fought so hard to keep buried.

Her hand on his cheek made the muscle in his chest contract. It was his undoing. Raging an assault on her lips, her mouth, he took full control of the kiss. He devoured her, consumed her, couldn't get enough of her. If he didn't get full control of the situation, he'd pull over and take her right here.

He broke their kiss by nibbling gently on her lower lip. Perfect timing. The traffic had just started to pick up again.

"
Colombia
won't be so bad. You'll be there."

Dan nodded. "I want to give you something. For the trip."

JT's eyes lit up. "For me?"

Dan let her believe whatever she wanted. She seemed so thrilled at the thought. He didn't have the heart to tell her the earrings were from Brooks. He pulled out a small box. A little gift to help keep the rookie in check.