by Cynthia Eden
“That’s a chance I’ll take,” the agent drawled, letting his Texas accent slip in once more as he pulled out his own weapon. A gun she hadn’t even noticed when they’d been dancing.
The men in masks inched closer as everyone else in the room started to rush for the doors.
So much for everyone freezing. I’m the one they want.
And if tall, dark and handsome hadn’t just tried to be a white knight, the gunmen would have gotten her.
The EOD agent had just ruined her plans.
* * *
“FOUR MEN, ALL ARMED,” Logan Quinn murmured into his mouthpiece as he kept his eyes on the scene unfolding before him. His fingers tightened around the binoculars. He sure hadn’t been expecting the attack to be so public.
There were at least a hundred civilians in that ballroom. Some very well-connected civilians with pull in too many countries to count. If the gunmen started firing…
We can’t let that happen.
“It’s time for us to go in,” Logan said, knowing that the man listening to his comm feed would be ready to attack. Gunner Ortez was always ready.
Now, if Cale Lane would just get the pretty blonde out of harm’s way, then the Shadow Agents could attack.
* * *
“THERE ARE FOUR of us,” the gunman growled, “and only one of you. It’s a bad night to play hero.”
Cale kept his weapon up and ready. Chaos surrounded him, and while most of the people were running for any exit they could find, Cassidy hadn’t so much as budged an inch behind him. The woman should have fled for safety.
She also shouldn’t have offered herself up as a willing sacrifice. They’d deal with that part later.
After he got rid of the gunmen.
“What makes you so sure I’m alone?” Cale asked. The ballroom, with all of its windows that looked out over the city—well, it sure allowed plenty of people the opportunity to look back in. “Drop your weapons,” Cale ordered. “All of you—drop them while you still have the chance.”
Laughter. He’d expected that. They’d foolishly think that he was bluffing. They’d find out, too late, that he wasn’t.
The laughter died away. The guy’s finger began to tighten around the trigger as he took aim at Cale. “Mister, you’re dead.”
No, he wasn’t.
Cale shot his own weapon, firing right at the man in black. The two shots blasted almost simultaneously.
More screams. More shouts.
More chaos.
Cale grabbed Cassidy and rushed toward the exit—the back door that she’d tried to get him to take earlier. The gunman’s bullet had grazed his side, barely scraping him, while his own had sunk into the man’s right shoulder.
Aiming wouldn’t be so easy for the guy now.
“No!” Cassidy yelled as she dug in her heels. “Stop! I can’t leave!”
Yes, she could. Staying wasn’t an option for her. His mission—his assigned duty—was to protect her.
When she tried to break free of his grip and run back toward the gunman, Cale just held her tighter. Then he lifted her over his shoulder.
“What are you doing?” She kicked him, hard, her heels coming close to his new wound. “Let me go!”
Why? Hell, the woman must have a death wish.
Figured.
Gunfire exploded. Rat-a-tat. Ah, the sound he was so familiar with…only they weren’t in a jungle, and the civilians weren’t safe.
I need cover, here…come on…come on…
His team was out there, lurking in the shadows. An EOD agent didn’t head into a mission without support, even a strange mission like this one.
Logan Quinn and Gunner Ortez were out there. They would have his back, they would—
Logan burst into the ballroom. He didn’t fire his weapon. Logan just launched right at one of the masked men.
As he hesitated at the staff exit, Cale’s gaze swept the room. Another masked man was aiming his gun at the redhead, the woman who’d been talking with Cassidy earlier. The man looked like he was about to kill her—
But a bullet hit him instead. A bullet that hadn’t come from inside the ballroom.
Instead, it had burst through the window on the far left, shattering the glass. Cale knew exactly who’d fired the shot.
Gunner. The ex-SEAL sniper never missed a target.
His cover was there.
Now, time to get the lady out.
Cale kicked out with his foot, throwing open the exit. Others had already started down the narrow staircase. Cassidy was screaming. Yeah, what a way to show her appreciation.
Hell was breaking loose behind them. He just needed to get her to safety, then he could go back and help Gunner and Logan contain the scene.
He made it down to the first floor, easily holding his struggling captive.
As soon as he stepped out of the stairwell, Cale saw security guards rushing forward. Better late than never, huh? At least they’d finally decided to join the party.
He thrust Cassidy at one of them. “Take care of her!”
Cassidy yanked free. “I don’t need taking care of!” Her hair had come loose. It tumbled around her shoulders. With her flushed cheeks, glittering eyes and that wild mane of hair, she didn’t look so ice-princess perfect anymore.
It grated but…she was even more beautiful that way.
The guard who’d held Cassidy for all of three seconds started stuttering. Cale ignored him and leaned in close to Cassidy. “If you want to keep living, you’ll stay down here. Stay with the guards, and I’ll take care of the men upstairs.”
Only…was that smoke coming from upstairs? Hell, it was. And when he strained, he could hear the crackle of flames.
The stampede for the main door became even wilder as everyone caught the scent in the air. The security guards didn’t stay to help Cassidy. They fled.
Everyone fled.
Everyone but Cale.
And Cassidy.
Actually, that crazy woman tried to go back up the stairs. He caught her arm and yanked her against him. Death wish. He pulled out the small transmitter that would connect him to the other agents. “What the hell is going on up there?” Cale demanded.
“Leave the scene,” Logan’s voice immediately blasted back. “Two attackers are dead. The others retreated but left a fire in their wake.”
Not the news he wanted to hear.
Cassidy kept trying to run for the stairs. The woman was trying to drive him insane.
“Come on!” He locked his arm around her stomach and pulled her back against him.
“No! My friend is up there! Genevieve! Gen—”
Other people were rushing down the service stairs. They were about to be crushed.
He could hear sirens blasting. More help, coming as quickly as they could.
“Ballroom is clear,” Logan barked. “Get the target out.”
When the team leader gave an order, you didn’t question him. Cale picked Cassidy up into his arms and carried her out.
“No!” Cassidy yelled. “Genevieve, I need—”
“She’s clear!” They were outside. Fresh air hit him. He glanced back. Saw the flash of flames in the upstairs windows. And…saw the shadow of a man dropping down the side of the building.
Logan. Rappelling down.
Had the gunmen used the same method of escape?
And why had they targeted—
“Cassidy!”
When he heard the cry, Cale’s hold tightened on Cassidy. But the woman calling her—that was the redhead. Cassidy’s friend.
“Genevieve?” Cassidy whispered, voice breaking with hope.
Cale’s gaze swept the scene. Men and women in their fancy gowns and their tuxes now stood, shake
n, in the shadows, as they stared up at the burning building.
A night of fun, now a night of fear.
“Let me go,” Cassidy told him. “Please.”
He eased her to her feet. She’d lost her high heels someplace, and her bare feet pressed into the cement. Cale stared into her eyes.
He wasn’t letting her go. Not really.
But for now, he would let her walk away.
Cassidy turned from him. She hurried away. Her hands locked around her friend as she held Genevieve tight. Genevieve was talking quickly in French.
Since he spoke French as easily as he did English, Cale understood her words and her frantic fear that mort had almost taken them both.
But, no, Cale hadn’t been about to let death get close to Cassidy.
He eased back from the scene, keeping Cassidy in his sights. More of the local authorities arrived, rushing frantically to the rescue.
With Carnival in swing, this was the last thing that the powers-that-be in Rio would want. An attack on wealthy tourists? No way would they want that bit of info leaking to the media.
Medics were checking out the shaken men and women.
Logan was in the shadows, scanning the area. Cale saw him, but he doubted that anyone else noticed the other agent.
They were all too busy dealing with the fear and the fire.
A fire that was still spreading. Still slowly destroying the historic building.
The gunmen had seemingly vanished.
They’d come for Cassidy…. Would they try to return for her?
His hand clenched as he remembered her walking toward the masked man.
Yes, he realized, they would come for her, but he would make absolutely sure that they’d find him standing in their way.
Cassidy looked up, then, and her gaze met his. So much emotion was in her eyes, blazing just as brightly as the flames. Anger, no, fury…and fear.
He forced his hands to unclench as he watched her. Soon, he would have her alone, and when he did, he would discover all of her secrets.
Every. Last. One.
He would find out just why armed men had stormed the party looking for her.
And he’d learn just how the rich debutante knew all about the most covert group of agents currently working for the U.S. government.
Cale was quickly realizing that there was a whole lot more to Cassidy Sherridan than he’d initially realized.
The woman could prove to be very, very dangerous.
CHAPTER TWO
She wasn’t alone.
Cassidy had just taken a few steps into the darkened interior of her hotel bedroom when she realized that someone was waiting in the shadows.
She froze, her hands by her sides, as she tried to decide if she needed to flee—or fight.
“Relax,” came a rough voice from the darkness, a voice that she recognized instantly. Not many men sounded like danger and desire growling all at once. He did. “If I saved you before, would I really come back now to hurt you?”
Those weren’t reassuring words. “You never know,” she said softly. Her fingers lifted, and she tightened the belt of her robe, making sure that she was covered. Judging by his voice, he had to be on the left-hand side of the room. She turned her head, narrowing her eyes as she strained to find him in the dark.
“I was sent down here with strict orders.”
Her eyes adjusted a bit, and she could just see him, sitting in her heavy leather chair. She was in one of the bigger suites offered by the hotel. A suite that should have been secure, but the agent had certainly gotten entrance easily enough.
Now he was lounging in her bedroom. He’d just made himself comfortable. “Do your ‘orders’ include breaking into my bedroom?” Mercer wouldn’t have gone that far.
Would he?
“I’m supposed to keep an eye on you. Supposed to keep you safe.” He paused a beat. “But you already know that, just as you seem to know so very much about—”
“The EOD?” Cassidy supplied in what she thought was a rather helpful way.
Silence was her answer.
But silence was pretty much the norm when it came to the EOD.
She sighed. “Look, uh, Agent, I—”
“Cale.”
Cassidy frowned, not that he could see her frown in the dark.
“My name’s Cale Lane.”
The words could be a lie. Other EOD agents had given her false names before. “All right, fine, Cale.” She headed toward him, her steps angry, a little too hard, but their sound was swallowed by the thick carpeting. “We’re ending this farce right now.”
She’d get Mercer on the phone. He could call off his attack dog.
“Why were those men after you?”
He didn’t know?
Her steps slowed.
“Two men died tonight,” he continued. “Two men who seem to have no identities. Their fingerprints had been burned away, and, so far, no one can figure out a single thing about their pasts.”
Her mouth was getting dry. “The EOD can figure out plenty. Just give them time.”
“Are you part of the EOD?”
He seemed so doubting that it was actually insulting. But she bit her lip before she snapped back a response at him. He obviously thought she was nothing but a piece of fluff, flitting around from party to party.
After all, wasn’t that exactly what she’d been doing for the past week, ever since she’d arrived in Rio? One party after another.
But that was her cover. What she was supposed to do.
Pity no one ever actually looked beneath her cover appearance.
Not even Mercer.
“I stood between you and a bullet tonight,” Cale said. His voice seemed even rougher, and it sent a shiver over her. “Don’t you think that entitles me to some explanations?”
No, she didn’t. “I don’t remember telling you to stand there.” Actually, if he hadn’t gotten in her way, then she would have finally made the headway that she needed on this case. Instead, he’d gotten all tough and alpha male, and she’d had to act defenseless as he’d carried her away.
If she’d fought him too hard, if she’d broken free, then all that she’d worked for would have been destroyed in an instant.
He rose slowly, a lethal shadow that came toward her with slow, stalking steps. She refused to retreat from him, but when he closed in, every cell in her body flashed on high alert.
Being near him made her feel too on edge.
Too aware.
She shoved back that awareness. Locked it deep inside.
“Two men got away tonight,” Cale told her. “Doesn’t that worry you?”
Yes. “No.”
“Liar.”
He seemed so sure. No one had seen past her lies before, so why would he be any different? “I want you out of my room.”
He didn’t move.
Fine. She skirted around him, made it to her nightstand and grabbed the smart phone there. One press of her fingers and—“Mercer?” she said when the EOD’s director answered the call. “What have you done now?”
She heard Cale’s sharp inhale.
“You’ve got the EOD director on speed dial?” he asked, seemingly shocked.
On speed dial? Um, something like that.
“Your agent is going to ruin everything,” she said, her words tumbling out. “I don’t know if you’ve heard about what happened tonight, but—”
“I heard.” Mercer’s flat voice, completely devoid of emotion, cut through her frantic speech. “I heard, and that’s exactly why Cale Lane is staying with you.”
Her fingers tightened around the phone. “If he’s here—”
“Then nothing will happen to you,” Mercer told her. “Cale
is one of the best agents I’ve got. No one will get to you while he’s on guard.”
If no one could get to her…then how am I supposed to complete my mission? Only, Mercer didn’t think she had a mission. Mercer thought she needed to be coddled. Protected.
That she wasn’t strong enough to face the dangers in the world.
Wrong. Mercer didn’t know her very well. “This is a mistake.” She fought to keep her own voice as emotionless as his. Impossible. Emotion always ruled her.
Never him.
Hadn’t she learned that lesson long ago?
“No. This is your life, and I won’t risk it.” There was no give in his voice at all. “While you’re in Rio, Cale Lane stays with you.”
She was going to break the phone. In her mind, Cassidy could see it splintering beneath her hand into a dozen pieces. “If that’s what you want…” Because he always got what he wanted. When would she ever get what she wanted? Not bothering with any more words, Cassidy ended the call. After all, there was nothing else to say.
Her fingers trembled.
Cassidy turned toward Cale. She needed to phrase this right, in order to match up with the conversation she’d just had. Cassidy cleared her throat. “Mercer agreed that he’d made a mistake. Your services are no longer—”
Her phone rang.
Cale reached for her hand and pried open her fingers. He took her phone.
“Sir?” he said, and she knew he was talking to Mercer.
“Yes, she’s right here.”
Then he leaned forward and turned on the bedside lamp. She flinched when the light hit her. The sudden flow of light should have made Cale look less intimidating.
It didn’t.
She could see the hard edge of his jaw and the intense lines of his face. “I’ll stay with her. Every minute.”
The hell he would.
After a few more moments, Cale ended the call and stared down at her.
Emotions wanted to rip Cassidy apart right then. All of her hard work, for so long…for nothing.
“Mercer just promised me a briefing at 0600,” he said as his assessing gaze drifted over her. “You really going to make me wait until then in order to find out what’s going on with you?”
