by Cynthia Eden
No, they hadn’t. Drew swallowed. Bruce Mercer did have a daughter, all right, but that daughter wasn’t Tina Jamison.
What would happen when the men realized that they’d taken the wrong woman?
She will become a dead woman.
He couldn’t let that happen. He’d been sent in to gather intel on this group, to determine just how much of a threat the individuals known as HAVOC posed—and, once his assessment had been made, his team was supposed to eliminate that threat.
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.
* * *
“MR. MERCER?”
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.
Chapter Two
“It’s time for me to take over.” The gruff voice had Tina’s head jerking up.
She’d actually fallen asleep. How was that even possible? Tina blinked bleary eyes and found herself staring at Drew.
He was right in front of her. His gaze held hers an instant, then he turned his head and looked at the guy who’d just come into the room.
Tina had no idea who this blond man was. As he watched her, his hard brown eyes glittered. There was a holster at his hip—she could see the butt of his gun. And he had a knife strapped to his left side.
After her last encounter with a knife, Tina wasn’t exactly eager to go another round with a blade.
“Lee said for me to relieve you,” the man said in that same gruff voice. He shrugged. “So here I am.”
Tina wanted to reach out and hold tight to Drew, but that wasn’t possible.
Mostly because she was still tied up, but at least the gag was gone. That horrible, terrible gag. If she hadn’t gotten her medicine just a few hours before the men had taken her, she wouldn’t have been able to handle the gag. Tina wouldn’t have been able to breathe.
“Keep that knife in its sheath, Carl,” Drew told him flatly.
Oh, no. Oh, that wasn’t good.
Drew’s face—handsome, hard, fierce—seemed to tighten even more as he studied the other man.
Drew Lancaster was a warrior. She knew it. Had known it from the first moment she’d seen him. He’d been dripping blood at the time, courtesy of a fresh bullet wound. He hadn’t even flinched when she’d dug that bullet out of him.
He was big; about six foot three, with wide shoulders, narrow hips and what she thought of as a go-to-hell golden gaze. His skin was tanned from hours under the Mississippi sun, and that slow drawl that crept out every now and then...
That drawl was temptation in a dangerous package.
She knew how lethal Drew was. She’d gotten a glimpse into his file once, thanks to her friend Sydney Ortez. Sydney controlled all the intel at the EOD, and when she’d noticed that Tina was spending a bit too much tim
e gazing after Drew, Syd had wanted Tina to know exactly who she was day dreaming about.
Not a white knight.
More like a killing machine.
Drew’s gaze slid to her once more. His face was all tough angles and planes. The scar that cut across his right cheekbone just made him appear all the more dangerous.
Her breath felt too hot in her lungs.
After a tense moment Drew gave a curt nod and rose to his feet. There was a tiny window in the room and sunlight spilled inside that window. The light fell on Drew as he passed it.
“Told you she was pretty,” the one he’d called Carl mumbled.
Drew leaped at the other man. In an instant Drew’s lower arm was under the guy’s chin and Drew had him pinned against the wall. “And I’m telling you...keep your hands off her.”
The other man blinked. Then Carl smiled. “Like that, huh? Calling her yours already?”
I am in a nightmare. And Drew wasn’t calling her anything.
But he was leaning in even closer to the blond male. “If you hurt her, if you so much as bruise her, I’ll make you pay.” A deadly promise.
The blond man gulped. “No worries, man. I’m just watchin’ her.”
Drew stepped back. “See that you do.” He fired one more glance at Tina.
She had to press her lips together so she wouldn’t cry out and basically beg him to stay.
He was undercover. He had a job to do. But she knew that he’d get her out of there.
She just had to hold on long enough for the rescue to work.
Drew turned and left the room without another word.
Carl eased toward her. “Guess you two got cozy, huh? Figured old Stone was a secret ladies’ man.”
He dropped into the chair near her. His hand went to the hilt of his knife.
Tina tensed, but he made no move to pull out the weapon.
His gaze swept over her face. “Such a pity,” he murmured. “I hate it when pretty girls have to die.”
* * *
HE WAS TAKING a risk. A huge one, Drew knew it, but he had to make the call. He slipped away from the others at the compound and headed toward the old fence on the right side of the property. He’d scouted before, and this was the weak spot in security. No cameras could see this location, but, thank goodness, there was actually cell service here.
