by Susan Stoker, Cristin Harber, Cora Seton, Lynn Raye Harris, Kaylea Cross, Katie Reus, Tessa Layne
“I looked at you all the time, Victoria. You just never caught me.”
Her blood hummed through her veins, and her body stirred in ways she’d prefer it didn’t. She didn’t have time for this kind of distraction. Not right now. And not with him.
“We’re here for a job. Nothing else. So keep your eyes and your comments to yourself.”
He straightened in the door. He was so tall, so intense, and she almost took a step back. But then she forced herself to stand her ground. It wasn’t like her to avoid a challenge of any kind.
Footsteps sounded on the stairs. She turned toward them just as Ian’s head appeared. He stopped when he saw her.
“Need the two of you to get down here. Got a mission for you.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Nick followed Victoria down the stairs and into the room that Ian Black was using as his command center. Nick didn’t let his surprise show, but the equipment was pretty high-tech—computers, flat screens, a secure satellite phone on the desk, and other gear. But the most interesting thing was a door at the rear of the room. He might not have paid much attention to it if not for a couple of factors. First, when he’d been outside in the courtyard, he’d noticed the heavy-duty generators. Naturally, a man like Black would want to power his own facility. Not unusual in itself.
The AC units were pretty standard, nothing exciting. Nothing that indicated a server room in the building.
But the door to the room had a combination lock and a cipher lock. Not only that, but Nick could hear the distinct hum of an AC unit behind the door.
Jackpot.
There was no need for an interior AC unit—or locks like those—unless Black had a server back there. Nick scanned the office, recalling what he’d seen on the outside, and realized the room behind the door had to be interior. There was a door near the window, but it was probably to a closet or a narrow hallway that Black had had built to shield the server.
You couldn’t have a server on an exterior wall, and you had to keep it cool. Not only that, but you had to pressurize the air in the vault just enough that there was a whoosh of air whenever it was opened. This prevented dust from reaching the equipment, which would be critical in a desert environment.
Nick let his gaze slide over the walls. It crashed to a stop about a foot up the wall behind Black’s desk. Goddamn, there was a cable coming out of the wall and passing beneath the desk. He’d bet anything that it went to the sat phone.
It meant that Black had secure comm going out of this place, and he was using his sat phone to do it.
Son of a bitch.
The dude was clearly high-tech. And well funded if he had this kind of setup.
According to Victoria, Black had been using this place as a headquarters in Qu’rim for the past eight months, and he’d clearly made some modifications. Serious modifications if what Nick was seeing was any indication. The walls were already thickened, but that was the style in the desert anyway. Kept the interior cool and helped the AC work.
But these modifications… Well, the man intended to stay for a while. Business for Ian Black must be damned good.
Victoria took a seat across the desk from Black. Nick took the other one. Black tapped on some keys at the computer and then looked up at them.
“The job’s in Ras al-Dura. Two days’ drive into the desert. There’ll be an apartment waiting.”
He pushed a key toward Victoria. She slipped it into her jeans pocket, and Nick pretended not to be irritated while he waited for the rest of the information.
“You need to leave right away,” Black said.
Victoria shoved back and started to stand.
“Wait a minute,” Nick said, and she stopped moving.
Black looked up, his dark eyes landing on Nick with a look of annoyance. “What is it?”
Nick blinked. “The target? The objective? Don’t we need to discuss that?”
Black flicked a glance at Victoria before looking at Nick again. “Just get into place. You’ll learn the rest when you need to know.”
“Come on,” Victoria said. “You’ll get the hang of it soon enough.”
Nick scraped his chair back and stood. He didn’t like this. He didn’t fucking like it at all. Black was still watching him, one eyebrow lifted as if to say, “What of it, asshole?”
Nick managed to shrug as if it was no big deal. “Yeah, whatever.”
He followed Victoria from the room, seething the whole time. This wasn’t what he’d expected. Mendez wanted him to learn what Black was up to, not take off into the desert after some unknown target immediately upon arrival. But what the fuck could he do about it? Nothing, because that would arouse Black’s suspicion. Nick had expected to be sent on a mission—just not within literally an hour of arriving.
Either he had shitty luck or Black was one crafty motherfucker. Nothing to do about it now but get his gear and head into the desert.
* * *
There was a white Land Rover waiting inside the outer courtyard to the compound when Victoria came downstairs from retrieving her gear. She started for the driver’s side but realized that someone was already in it.
Nick.
She thought about telling him to slide over and give her the wheel, but then she decided what the hell. Two days’ drive, which meant they’d have to share the duty anyway.
And if he wanted to start the trip, then fine with her.
She yanked open a rear door and slung her gear inside. Then she climbed into the passenger seat and put on her seat belt. Nick was quiet, but she knew he was seething. He was wearing mirrored sunglasses, and she couldn’t see his eyes as he looked over at her. But his hands flexed on the wheel as if he were using it like a stress ball.
She slammed her door and met his gaze. “You planning to drive or stare?”
He shifted into gear, and the gate to the street opened. They emerged into the bright sunlight of a hot desert day and turned left, heading toward the highway. They’d driven maybe ten miles when Nick slowed the car and pulled over onto an access road. Cars whizzed past as Nick stopped.
“What are you doing?”
He whipped the glasses off and gave her a hard look. “Gotta piss.”
Except he didn’t. He sorted through his gear until he found something small that looked like a fat pen. Then he walked around the Land Rover, sweeping the device back and forth. He bent down for a second, then popped back up. Last, he swept the interior.
“No bugs,” he said as he stowed the device and got inside again. “We’re free to talk.”
“You found something outside.”
“Tracking device. Rather expected that, though.”
“Your guys?”
“Nope. Yours.”
She blinked as Nick looked at her.
“What, you think Black doesn’t keep tabs on you, sweetheart? Because he does.”
She swallowed as a bead of sweat trickled between her breasts. No, she hadn’t known Ian put a tracker on the vehicle. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, considering how dangerous Qu’rim was, but it surprised her she hadn’t known. That he hadn’t told her.
She reached out and turned the AC up, though not quite enough. You had to be careful not to tax the cooling system on the engine too much out here or you could find yourself sitting on the side of the road with a blown radiator.
“What of it? It’s his equipment. And I have nothing to hide.”
She knew as soon as she said it that it wasn’t true. Not anymore, anyway. She had plenty to hide since she’d walked into a bunker with this man yesterday and shifted her loyalties to a colonel who’d promised her the moon.
And if that colonel didn’t deliver—if Nick didn’t deliver—she’d kill them both if it was the last thing she did. She had no time for softness, no time for anything but finding Emily and getting her home again. But after two years, her ability to tolerate disappointment was eroding fast. Since she figured she was already an outlaw in the eyes of the US government, she didn’t much care if s
he made things worse for herself if these guys didn’t give her what she wanted.
“Maybe a couple of things to hide,” Nick said as he eased back onto the highway. “I can’t disable it because he’ll know right away. After we’ve been on the road a while, I’ll make sure it’s damaged.”
“So he’ll think it happened while we were driving.”
“Yep.”
Ahead, the desert was flat and brown, but in the far distance, above the shimmering heat on the horizon, there were sandstone mountains. She knew it more than she could see it, but that’s because she’d been out here before. The desert was strangely compelling in its own way, the kind of place that was harsh and beautiful all at once. She both loved it and hated it.
“This is a damn strange way to work. No idea who the target is or why.”
Nick’s voice cut into her thoughts, and she turned to look at his profile. Her belly did a little flip, like always. Annoying, but nothing she could do about it.
“You always know who you’re sent to kill?”
“Hell yes, I know. And I know why.” He shot her a look. “You just take your orders and go, never knowing who you’re killing or why? Doesn’t that bother you at all?”
Her stomach started to burn. “Ian knows what he’s doing. I trust him.”
Or she used to trust him, anyway. Now she didn’t know who to trust. Ian had an agenda. Nick had an agenda. She was unimportant in the scheme of things so long as they got what they wanted in the end. She wasn’t naive enough to think she mattered to either one of them. Just because Nick had promised to help her find Emily didn’t mean he cared one iota about her or her sister.
“He sent you into danger in Akhira. Alone.”
“He said he didn’t know that bin Yusuf wanted me dead. I believe him.”
“And you think this job isn’t a setup?”
Of course she’d considered the possibility. She had to. But she wasn’t admitting it to him. “This mission? Why would it be? Ian doesn’t need to send us two days into the desert to kill us, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
Nick’s fingers tightened on the wheel. “No, he doesn’t. All he needs is for someone to intercept us on the way.”
Sweat moistened her palms. Yeah, she’d thought of that too. And they both knew that since there was really only one main road from north to south, disabling the tracking device would only give them a margin of protection.
“Then you better hope your people are watching out for us. Did you get a message to them?”
“Direct communication is too risky, so no, I didn’t.”
Victoria licked her lips. “You mean they don’t know where we are?”
She’d been counting on that to keep them safe. Picturing all those big men bristling with high-tech gear in a van somewhere on the road behind them.
“I didn’t say that. But I wouldn’t put all my hope on the cavalry riding in to save the day if we’re ambushed.”
“Then we’ll just have to do it ourselves, won’t we?” Victoria unbuckled her seat belt and started to crawl into the backseat.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
Her hips bumped against his shoulders but she kept going until she was in the back. Then she reached for her gun case and unzipped it. Her fingers brushed cool steel and her heart slowed a fraction. This was what she knew how to do.
“Getting prepared,” she said, finally answering Nick’s query.
He was watching her in the rearview, a hard frown on his handsome face. She lifted the barrel and stock and started assembling the weapon.
CHAPTER NINE
There was something damned arousing about a woman in a tank top and faded jeans assembling a rifle. Nick kept glancing into the rearview to watch Victoria work. Her fingers were small and slender, and they moved over the parts of the rifle with confidence. But that wasn’t the best part.
No, the best part was the way her top stretched over her breasts and gave him a view of rounded swells as she leaned over and her flesh was exposed. His dick was hardening whether he wanted it to or not. He shifted in the seat, trying to ease the pressure on his swelling cock.
Jeez.
He knew he should just watch the road and stop looking, but hell, what man could resist tits on display? Especially when they belonged to the only woman who’d ever disliked him on sight. Hell, even if she hadn’t disliked him as she’d insisted, she’d done a good job of acting like it.
But then she’d kissed him at the American base, and even though he’d known it was meant to be a sweet kiss on his cheek, he’d turned his head and taken what he really wanted from her.
And she hadn’t resisted. She’d kissed him back, her body melting for an instant. She’d been soft and sweet and so intoxicating. He still didn’t know how he’d let her go. How he’d stood there and watched her get into that car, her eyes fixed on his until the car turned out of sight.
She finished assembling the gun and looked up, her gaze colliding with his in the rearview. There were dark circles beneath her gray eyes, and the corners of her mouth were pinched. Victoria was under a lot of strain, but he wasn’t sure what kind of strain it was.
What if she’d betrayed him to Black and this was all for show? What if she trusted her boss more than she trusted Mendez, and she’d lured them in like a spider on a web? For all he knew, he was barreling toward his own execution instead of a job they were meant to do together.
Maybe that’s why Black hadn’t given any information. And maybe that’s why Victoria hadn’t insisted. He could be the one being set up. He knew it, but that hadn’t been enough of a reason to abort the mission. He was here, and he wasn’t going down easily or quickly.
In spite of the fact the woman in the backseat held a loaded rifle and had access to an entire arsenal at her fingertips. He wasn’t unarmed, but it wasn’t enough against a woman of her skill. He took comfort in the fact she wasn’t going to shoot him while he was driving since that would be suicide.
“Got what you need?” he asked.
She leaned her head back on the seat for a second. “Yes. No one’s taking us without a fight.”
He couldn’t help but grin. “That’s pretty much my philosophy too. You didn’t think I planned to pull over and give up, did you?”
She shook her head. “Not precisely.”
Maybe she was only putting on a show, but she looked determined as hell to repel any would-be attackers. She sighed and shifted the guns around so they were in easy reach, then she climbed back into the front seat and tucked a pistol into the door pocket at her side. She’d come over the seat face-first, her top dipping so low he could see her belly button, her hair sliding over her shoulder and onto his. He could feel her heat, smell her perfume—not actual perfume, but soap and shampoo and sweat—and he wanted to groan. Then he wanted to find a nice hotel and take her to a room where he could have his way with her for several hours.
Not a good time for this, dude.
Victoria glanced at him, her cheeks reddening slightly. “What?”
He cleared his throat and hoped she didn’t look down at his crotch. He was wearing cammies and jump boots, but still. The pants weren’t tight, but his problem would be rather obvious if she looked close enough.
“Just enjoying the view.” Because he couldn’t help teasing her, even if he probably shouldn’t.
“You mean the desert, of course.” She swiveled her head to look at the flat landscape before them. “Lovely.”
He couldn’t help but laugh. Or tell the truth. “I meant you, but all right.”
“I knew you were looking down my shirt,” she said, her voice sounding all prim and scandalized. God, it turned him on. Because she looked tough and dirty, not at all innocent. The voice of a virgin and the body of a sinner.
“You can look down mine if it makes you feel better,” he said.
He didn’t think she’d say anything, but she suddenly reached over and jerked his T-shirt from his pants, revealing his belly a
nd chest as she shoved it upward. It was shocking. And arousing, goddammit. He wanted to groan.
“How about I look up your shirt instead?” she purred.
“Jesus, Victoria. If you want more, all you gotta do is fucking ask.”
She let the shirt go and it fell. “You’re not my type,” she said, sitting back and adjusting her sunglasses. “Sorry.”
He snorted. “What, male? That not your type, sweetheart?”
She made an indelicate noise. “I like men just fine. I don’t like big, brawny men with more muscles than brains.”
He gripped the wheel and stared at the road in front of them. Then he laughed as he remembered that kiss they’d shared. Not interested in him? Yeah, right. “You’re so full of shit. Up to your pretty eyebrows.”
She propped a foot on the dash and wrapped an arm around her knee. “I’m too focused on what I need to do. Sorry. Another place, another lifetime, maybe you’d be fun for a few hours.” She shrugged. “But not now. Not when Emily’s out there somewhere, counting on me.”
* * *
Yeah, she was full of shit. Because he was beautiful, his skin golden and hot, and she’d nearly jerked her fingers away as they sizzled from that simple touch when she’d yanked his shirt up. God, what had she been thinking to touch him like that?
She’d just wanted to unnerve him a little bit, but she’d unnerved herself instead.
Victoria shoved her hair off her shoulder and concentrated on the flat desert sand in front of them. They’d been riding for less than two hours now, and already her body was keyed up, like a lightning rod that had taken a strike and had nowhere to discharge it. Her skin sizzled with energy, and her fingers tapped a relentless beat on her leg as she held her knee and focused her attention ahead of the car.
“Tell me about her,” he said, and her head swiveled around to look at him. He glanced at her but then turned his attention back to the road. His big hands gripped the wheel steadily, and she found that she could almost relax with him. Almost, but not quite. She hadn’t trusted Jonah as far as she could throw him, and he’d driven like shit. Her partner before him had left after a month, unable to handle the heat—in more ways than one—and eager to get back to Iowa, or somewhere equally normal and reasonably safe.
