It sure looked as if his timetable had just been
accelerated.
“She sure is pretty,” Carl said. Like Lee, Carl was a Texas
boy, born and bred. He was also very, very dangerous. Carl liked to use his
knife—often. And, according to his file, Carl enjoyed watching his victims
slowly die from their knife wounds. Torture and pain were all part of Carl’s
twisted package.
“You should have seen her,” Carl continued, voice thickening,
“when we found her in that hotel room. She was all tousled and—”
Drew whirled on him. “Are you going to help me secure the
chopper?” His words rapped out. Fury had coiled in his gut. No way, no damn way,
should Tina have been put at risk like this. At his first opportunity, he had to
contact the other EOD agents assigned to the HAVOC mission. They needed to work
an immediate extraction on her.
And if they didn’t, then he would.
Carl’s smile stretched. “You thought she was pretty, too,
didn’t you? It’s those glasses... Sexy.”
He wanted to drive his fist into Carl’s face.
But Carl turned away and went to work on the chopper.
Drew exhaled slowly as he tried to bring his control back in
check. He was still the new guy in this crew. Useful because he could fly
anything—and kill anyone instantly. Sure, his dossier had been faked, but his
skills were plenty real enough.
During his time in Delta Force, Drew had been turned into a
lethal fighting machine. He didn’t need a weapon to take out a dozen men. He
could do that just with—
A scream cut the night.
Her
scream.
Drew was running toward the main house before he could even
think about his response.
The door was shut, so he just kicked his way right through it.
The wood banged against the wall.
“
Don’t!”
Tina yelled. “Please,
I—”
Her cry was abruptly cut off.
Drew felt the familiar ice encase his fury. That was the way it
had always been for him. When it came time for a battle, he went ice-cold. No
emotion. No room for mistake.
He’d been called a robot by some of his teammates before.
He’d been called a hell of a lot worse by his enemies.
Why had Tina stopped screaming?
Another door was in front of him. A tall, blond guy with a gun
at his hip tried to block Drew’s path. “Stone, man, I don’t think they want you
right now.”
Drew shoved the guy out of his way. He went
in
that room.
The first thing he saw was the blood. Fat drops that were
sliding down Tina’s arm. Lee Slater stood next to her, a knife in his hand. “I
think that’s what we need.”
In his mind, Drew saw himself rushing across the room and
breaking the guy’s wrist. The knife would clatter to the floor, falling from
Lee’s slack fingers. With him out of commission, Drew would turn on the other
two men there. He could have them all on the floor in less than a minute.
But he didn’t attack. Not yet. Because he’d been given very
specific orders from Bruce Mercer.
The job was top priority. The fear was that these men—men from
the U.S., from Mexico and from parts of South America—had access to classified
government intel. There had been a leak at the EOD just months before, and they
were still tracking to determine just how much information had been taken from
headquarters.
They’d followed the trail to HAVOC. Drew was supposed to be
days away from meeting the group’s leader.
Days.
Getting an up-close audience with the man named Anton Devast
wasn’t an easy task. Those who got close usually wound up getting killed.
Drew locked his jaw. “Why’d you cut her?”
They’d cut Tina
and
gagged her. The
gag would explain why she’d stopped screaming. Damn it, the gag had been his
suggestion, but he’d only said it to clue her in to the fact that she needed to
stay quiet about him.
Her eyes—so green and bright—found his. There was a desperate
plea in her gaze.
A plea that he couldn’t answer right then. Not if they wanted
to both keep living.
“I was just showing her,” Lee said softly, “what would happen
if she tried to escape. We can treat her well...” He lifted the knife. Blood
coated the blade. “Or we can make this little stay turn into her worst
nightmare.”
A tear leaked down Tina’s cheek. She had high cheekbones, a
slightly pointed chin and the cutest damned nose with its spray of freckles.
Normally her face was full of soft color and life.
Right then, fear had etched its way across her face. He didn’t
like for Tina to be afraid. Not one bit.
“You showed her,” Drew growled. “She got the message. Now put
the knife up.”
Lee’s dark eyes narrowed. “I don’t take orders from you.”
Fine. Drew stalked toward him. He grabbed the guy’s wrist.
Don’t break it, not yet.
But the threat was
there, and Lee would know it. “You think the boss would like it if you killed
Mercer’s daughter? Seems to me she’s a tool that he can use. Not something to be
damaged.”
Lee swallowed. The guy liked giving pain, but he couldn’t
handle being on the receiving end of it. He was also afraid of Drew, mostly
because Drew had gotten into HAVOC by fighting his way in. He’d taken down five
men, left them bloody and broken. The initiation had been hell.
But so was life.
“It’s just a cut,” Lee said dismissively. “No big deal.”
“Don’t cut her again. If the boss wanted her, then the boss
will get her.” Maybe he could use that. Surely, Devast would want to come in for
a personal look at Mercer’s daughter.
That visit would give Drew his chance to eliminate the man.
After all, eliminating Anton Devast was his job. At his core,
Drew was a killer.
Still holding Lee, Drew let his gaze return to Tina. He didn’t
like seeing tears in her eyes.
And—her glasses were cracked. He let his hold on Lee tighten a
little more. “I’ll take first watch on her,” Drew said.
Lee was trying to yank his hand free. Failing. “What?”
He hadn’t stuttered. “I’ll take first watch.” Because he didn’t
trust anyone else with her. Definitely not Lee or Carl.
Lee’s eyes were angry slits, but he gave a grim nod. “Fine, you
do that.” His short, red hair looked as if he’d raked his fingers through it.
“You can stay with her while I get some sleep.”
He made his words sound like an order. Whatever. As long as the
guy got out of there...
Drew released the man.
It only took an instant for Lee’s smirk to come back. “I’ll see
you again soon, sweetheart,” he promised Tina. His gaze flickered to Drew. “And
I’ll see you later, too, Stone.” A threat hung in the words.
He’d have to stay extra alert. The way Lee was eyeing him, Drew
knew he might find a knife shoved into his own ribs during an unguarded
moment.
Not like that would be the first time.
Drew lifted his hand and his fingers traced over the thick scar
on his right cheek. “You sure will.” He made certain that his words held just as
much of a threat as Lee’s had.
Actually they held
more
of a
threat. Showing a weakness with these guys was a mistake, because they’d most
definitely attack that weakness.
Drew didn’t move until Lee and his two cronies were out of the
room. When the door shut behind them, he exhaled slowly.
Tina was still staring at him with her wide, desperate
eyes.
He wanted to tell her that everything was going to be okay, but
he couldn’t be sure listening devices weren’t in the room. When he’d first
reached the compound, he’d found two bugs in his bunk room.
It only figured that there would be some in there, too.
He glanced toward the door. Even though Drew had said that he’d
take first watch, Lee might have stationed a guard outside.
“Mumph.”
His attention slid back to Tina.
“Mumm-mph...” She jerked in the chair. Someone had tied her to
the chair. Probably Lee.
He crossed to her side and knelt on the floor so that they’d be
at eye level. “The ropes were tied too tight,” he muttered, feeling anger try to
push past his control once more.
Can’t have that. Must maintain
cool.
The other agents had him all wrong. They thought he was made of
ice. That he didn’t feel when he went out on his missions.
The problem was that he felt too much. And if he didn’t control
his fury...
Then I’m too dangerous.
He loosened her binds. He glanced up at her, his gaze colliding
with hers.
A crack ran across the right lens of her glasses, looking like
a spider’s web. He reached up.
She flinched.
“Easy,” Drew murmured. “I’m just checking you out.”
He lifted the glasses away from her face.
She blinked at him.
Hell. She was just as sexy without the glasses as she was with
them. He’d thought maybe it was just a hot-librarian-type thing working for him,
but no. The woman was simply temptation.
He didn’t need temptation. He had a job to do.
She’s the job right now.
The words
whispered from within him.
He put her glasses on the nearby table.
“Mumph!”
Ah, now Tina was sounding
angry behind the gag. He wasn’t sure what would be better for her. Fear or
anger. Unless they were careful, both might just get her killed.
He leaned toward her. Brought his mouth right to her ear just
as he’d done before. Her scent, light, sweet strawberries, wrapped around
him.
Because of Tina, he’d developed one serious addiction to
strawberries over the past year. Not that she knew it. Not that she knew
anything
about him. To her, he was just another
agent.
Another adrenaline junkie that she had to patch up and keep
alive.
Only now it was his turn to keep her alive.
“Be very careful what you say,” he barely breathed the words
against the delicate shell of her ear.
Tina shivered.
Was that shiver from fear? Had to be. In these circumstances,
he was foolish to think it could be from anything else.
But, just in case, he filed that reaction away for future
notice. Because he’d sure like to know every sensitive spot on Tina’s gorgeous
body.
“They could be listening.” His mouth brushed across her
ear.
She gave the faintest of nods.
Her smell was incredible.
Focus.
He lifted his hands and undid the gag. The cloth dropped from
her mouth.
Tina licked her lips and sucked in a deep gulp of air. “Thank
you.”
His own mouth tightened. She shouldn’t be thanking him. He
hadn’t saved her. “I’m going to patch up your arm.”
She blinked once more, and her gaze found his. She was still
breathing deeply, gulping in air as if she’d been starved for it.
Her skin was porcelain pale and he wanted color staining her
cheeks once more. He wanted the fear gone from her eyes.
Trust me.
He mouthed the words to
her.
After the faintest of hesitations, Tina nodded.
The ice melted a little around him. He turned away from her.
Fumbled through the drawers in the room until he found some first-aid supplies.
The men—and women—at the compound were always ready for battle, so that meant
they had to be ready for the cleanup after that battle. He’d quickly learned
that there were first-aid supplies scattered all around the place.
Tina didn’t wince when he began to clean her wound with an
antiseptic cloth. “It’s not deep enough for stitches,” he said as he put the
bandage on her arm. “You’re lucky.”
Both her brows shot up.
Fine. So “lucky” hadn’t been the best word to describe her
current situation.
He grabbed a chair and pulled it toward her. She was still tied
up, and he had to keep her that way or the others would wonder what the hell was
happening. “You’re going to be all right.”
Tina’s gaze just stared back at him.
He realized that she didn’t believe him. Maybe that was
good—because Drew hated making promises he couldn’t keep.
* * *
“M
R
.
M
ERCER
?”
Bruce Mercer looked up from the files that were spread across
his desk. His assistant, Judith Rogers, stood in the doorway. Judith hated
buzzing him. She’d said once that buzzing was too impersonal for her, and she
usually came in to tell him when he had a visitor.
So her standing there...walking in unannounced...that wasn’t
unusual.
The fear in Judith’s eyes
was
unusual.
“Tina Jamison is missing,” Judith told him as she twisted her
hands into fists. “I just got the call from an agent at her hotel. The lock on
her door was broken, and Tina—she’s gone.”
Mercer didn’t let the expression on his face alter.
This situation had been one that he feared. He was playing a
deadly game, and Tina could have just become a pawn in that game.
If he wasn’t careful, he might lose his pawn.
He might lose the whole damn game.
“Get me Dylan Foxx,” Mercer demanded. “Right
now.”
Because he was going to need agents in the field
to work this case and to make sure that Tina survived the battle that was
coming.
He’d foolishly positioned Tina right in the middle of that
battle.
I’m sorry, Tina.
He didn’t make mistakes often, but when he did...they were
deadly.
Copyright © 2014 by Cindy Roussos
ISBN-13: 9781460325896
BLOOD ON COPPERHEAD TRAIL
Copyright © 2014 by Paula Graves
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