Fatal Exchange

by Cindy M. Hogan

  “Three,” Ace said. “Not that I’ve been counting.” He looked relaxed, leaning back in his chair, his foot still bandaged.

  “We should do this every day.” Halluis’s look was wistful.

  “I’m afraid that would ruin it. No. This is a moment to be cherished and repeated only sparingly to keep it from being commonplace.”

  They all nodded. “I want to thank you guys for believing in me. I can’t tell you how much it meant to know you had my back.” There was a tickle in the back of my throat and a burning sensation assaulted my eyes.

  “I’ve learned that working with you will never be boring,” Ace said. “Yeah. You make this spy business more fun than work.”

  “Hey,” Halluis said. “Take that back. I think it was a lot of work. It was the hard work that made it fun.”

  “That’s something I’d never say,” Ace said, screwing up his face, making everyone laugh.

  Halluis punched him. Then he glanced at me and his face turned serious.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t answer your call. I wanted to, believe me. But Siron was standing right over me.”

  I shook my head, “It’s all right. I understand. Siron’s orders have to be followed. They are paramount.”

  “If she’d only told me to cut you off, that would be one thing, but she had me transmitting everything your phone heard to her. I couldn’t pick up or it would cause terrible feedback, and you’d have known we were listening.”

  “Wait.” I grimaced. “When did you make this connection?” I wondered when she started listening. Maybe she hadn’t heard what I’d said about her.

  “I had a bad connection about the time Markay called you. I was able to get a better connection where we could hear everything about the time you hotwired the second car. I’m so sorry. I hated every moment of it. I never wanted to do that to you.”

  “You were just following orders, Halluis. I would never hold that against you.”

  Jeremy was oddly quiet throughout the entire exchange.

  I thought maybe I should pull him in. “Jeremy, you came back at just the right time.”

  “Had I been there earlier, maybe a lot of the chaos could have been averted.”

  “Are you kidding?” Ace said. “And miss the whirlwind? The excitement? All I can say is they better keep us together as a team from now on.”

  “I second that,” Halluis said. “We are fast and forward thinkers and we are extremely quick on our feet.”

  “Not to mention our total awesomeness,” Ace interjected. Both Halluis and Ace had excited looks on their faces. Jeremy looked up from the spot on the table he’d fixated on. “Siron has already put in that recommendation.” Despite the happy news, he looked sad somehow.

  “We wouldn’t have it any other way,” Halluis said.

  “For sure,” Ace said. “The Fearless Four. Together forever.”

  “Forever!” Halluis said and lifted his glass. We all followed suit, clinking our glasses together again and repeating forever. It seemed Jeremy whispered it. Then we all drained the remaining liquid from our cups.

  We had to hail the waiter to bring us our checks. In America, the waiter would have left it a half hour after he brought the food and scowled at us until we left, but not here. Here they expected you to stay for forever. Ace handed me a bag of something.

  “My favorite French candy. You’ll have to tell me what you think.”

  I peered inside to see brightly colored hard candies dusted with sugar. “They look fabulous. I took a dark red one and popped it into my mouth. Jeremy, Halluis, and Ace each took one as I held the bag out to them. We stood and walked to the metro, Ace using crutches, all going our separate ways.

  ***

  As I fiddled with the door lock to my apartment, I felt him.

  “Need some help with that?”

  Just then, the key slid in and I turned the knob, opening the door. “Got it,” I said, opening the door up wide and indicating I wanted him to go in. He smiled and entered. I watched Jeremy walk to the couch and take a seat before I shut the door and joined him. How I wanted things to be different between us.

  “You were really quiet today.” I kept my eyes on my fidgeting fingers.

  “Yeah. Well, I had a lot on my mind.”

  “Care to share?” I glanced up at him.

  “It’s not a good idea. I shouldn’t.”

  “Not fair!” I said in a loud whisper, looking at him full on now. “Share with me,” I pleaded.

  His eyes held a troubled look. “I’m so glad I’m back with you.”

  I glanced at my new phone and had to resist the urge to check it again for bugs. I didn’t want anyone hearing my conversations again. “Me, too. This is hard on me too. It doesn’t have to be awkward between us.” I swept the room with my eyes to make certain there were no listening devices in the apartment.

  “That’s just it. It does have to be awkward. I can’t stop how I feel about you and yet we can’t be together, but we have to be near each other all the time. That full three hours at the restaurant, my mind was fixed on finding a solution. How can I be your handler and be with you all the time and not be able to touch you, feel your soft skin, your incredible lips, your embrace. It’s too hard. I’m going to ask to be transferred. Maybe then they’ll let us be together.” He looked exhausted, dark lines visible even in the dim light of the room.

  Hot tears pressed on the backs of my eyes as the raw emotion I’d been suppressing threatened to escape. He did still care for me. I worked hard to speak. “No. That doesn’t work. It can’t work. Like you, I can’t be away from you and I can’t be with you.” My voice sounded strange, pinched.

  “It’s a hell of a spot to be in.” His head hung low and shook it in short, clipped motions. He looked at me and slowly, his hand moved to my cheek, my tears washing over it. My skin tingled where he’d touched me and a burn settled in my chest. “I have an idea.” The words tumbled out of my mouth, loud and broken. I sniffed. His fingers brushed at my tears again. His deep, intense gaze was probing, but he didn’t speak.

  I brushed at the tears with the heels of my hands and then took a deep, shuddering breath. “We are spies.”

  “And?” He ran his fingers fleetingly over my lips.

  “Our jobs. Who we are.” Excitement burst out of me at the realization. “We pretend to be people we aren’t every day. We can pretend not to be together.”

  He nodded, slowly. “We are good at what we do. That’s why we can’t be together, remember?”

  “Don’t you see?” I said, standing up, energy filling me. “We can be together and they don’t have to know.” I had no idea why I hadn’t thought of this earlier.

  He still looked puzzled, so I forged on. It seemed so obvious now. “We are not only good at what we do. We are amazing at what we do. And because we are amazing at it, we most certainly can have a relationship without Division knowing. How many times a day do we do something in secret? Things that no one knows about? We can do this.”

  His eyes suddenly sparkled. He must’ve finally understood. But he was shaking his head instead of nodding. “I don’t know. I don’t know if I can be around you and not touch you. My face will betray me.”

  “You don’t betray yourself when you’re on a job. Ever. You have to see us as a job. A most wonderful and perfect job.”

  He chuckled and his eyes beamed into mine as he stood. I followed.

  I needed him. He had to agree. He had to see it would work. “You won’t betray yourself now. And if they discover us, what are they going to do? It’s not like they would expel their two best spies.”

  “Actually they would.” He grimaced. “I’ve seen it happen.”

  I put my hand up to his mouth. He sighed and I moved my hand.

  “Do you really think we could pull it off?” he asked. “I’m your handler. I’m supposed to stop you from doing reckless things like this.” His hand brushed down my arm.

  “Instead, we can make it happen.” I clo
sed the small distance between us.

  “You’re the one thing I’d never imagined when I became a spy.” He took my hand and caressed the top of it with his thumb. His eyes burned into mine. His other hand drifted along the back of my neck. Nice and slow.

  My heart beat hard. Shallow fast breaths filled the space between us until his eyes closed and our lips met. My insides were on fire, whipping and roaring about. There was no distance between us, and yet, I wanted him to be somehow closer. This would have to do for now. He pulled back at some point. The smile that split across his face instantly brought a smile to my own. I desperately wanted to kiss him again. To distract myself I said, “I’m so glad that they are honoring my promise to Kamal. He gave up everything to help me.”

  Jeremy must’ve noticed the distraction because he dropped his hands and sat down on the couch again, then patted the empty spot next to him. I grinned and sat.

  “Yes,” he said. “And the reunion was amazing. I wish you could have seen it. Kamal and Marni are going to be okay. Thanks to you.”

  I threw my arms in the air as I let out a loud squeal. He laughed and continued speaking.

  “The Prime Minister will be resigning tomorrow around noon at a special press conference and a coordinated operation taking down all six of the major pickpocket gangs will occur at the same time.

  “The police department will be going through a major overhaul to rid itself of all the dirty cops who willingly took part in furthering the Prime Minister’s agenda. Siron finally came around to the fact that just bringing down the Prime Minister’s gangs wouldn’t afford the cleanup that was needed. She is in a secret meeting with key players in the government as we speak.”

  “How did you get him away to interrogate him? He was talking to some police, and an ambulance was on its way when we left.” This had been bugging me for a while.

  “Meet paramedic Martin.” I burst out laughing. “Unbelievable. You were one of the paramedics? Who were the cops?”

  He named a few agents and explained how they put the Prime Minister in the ambulance and then took him to Division where he was told what was going to happen. “It’s not like we could use the recording you made, in open court. His confessions were made under certain duress. However, he could see that its release would condemn him either way and chose to resign.”

  “Good choice.” I grinned.

  “He’ll be in prison for a long, long time for a few murders he had his cronies commit. The President was clean. He had no idea about what the Prime Minister was doing.” My cheeks were hurting from smiling so big. I had to bite on them and make a fish face to relieve some of the ache.

  “Now,” Jeremy said. “Fill me in on a few things that I’m not really clear about. How did you get out of the hospital?”

  The smile flew from my lips and I spoke through my teeth, a bit embarrassed. “Summer.”

  His head jerked back and he blinked in disbelief. “What?”

  “Summer distracted the guards so I could sneak out of a bathroom window.”

  “Hmm. That surprises me for some reason.”

  I nodded. “It surprised me too.” I thought about filling him in on what happened on the roof, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to ruin the moment with that information. It was like my throat squeezed around the words.

  “I know I told you to let her surprise you, and I’m glad she did.”

  I nodded. I wouldn’t tell him. He would feel way too bad about it. No, Summer would continue as an agent for Division for another day.

  “So Dufor did not die for nothing.” My hand pushed on my stomach trying to stop the flutters that awoke.

  “That’s for sure. Good job. The team did an amazing job.”

  My mouth twitched into a hopeful smile.

  “Looks like you’re getting all your wishes from this mission. You get out of Paris, and the pickpockets will be hurt in a way that will most likely prevent a revival for a long, long time.”

  “When are we leaving?”

  “The day after tomorrow.”

  A bit of regret seeped into me. I wished I’d been able to see Paris through the eyes of romance—like movies and books portrayed it. I looked at my watch and yawned. It was eleven p.m.

  “Yes, sleepy head.” Then he yawned. “Ah, you made me yawn.”

  I chuckled. “So we have a day to spend here, together as tourists?”

  “I think that’s a correct assumption, but only if you agree to see it with new eyes.” His smile lit up the room.

  “I think I can do that, but only if I get to sleep first. I want to not only see Paris with new eyes, but with open eyes.”

  He laughed. “Heaven forbid we don’t blend in.” I leaned on him, taking in a deep breath before closing my eyes and falling asleep.

  ***

  The next morning, I woke early. I even had time to catch up on my favorite book series as I waited for Jeremy to show up. His knock sent me running to the door. His eyes gleamed and he reached out and pulled me into a much needed hug. I lost myself in his embrace. I tucked my head against his hard chest and breathed in his manly, musky smell. His chin rested on my head for a few moments before he pulled back. I wasn’t ready and pulled him closer, tighter. We stayed like that, frozen in time with no problems shadowing us, no sorrow hanging over our heads. He stepped back and took my upper arms in his grip before searching my face.

  I squished up my nose, but did not look away from him. The excitement in his eyes made it almost impossible to keep my eyes off his mouth.

  Our day together was just like the movies. We even got into disguises, dressed like actors playing a part. Totally dreamy. And that night, I didn’t dream about Division Central and whether they would allow me to be a spy, dirty pickpockets feeling me up, scary dungeons, sore fingertips, or flash drives. No. My dreams were all about Jeremy and me climbing to the top of the Eiffel Tower together, screaming with pure delight as our stomachs dropped, going to the catacombs and grabbing his arm in fear and disgust, and walking through the Tuileries Garden eating a turkey panini and then a lemon tart and finding excuses to bump into him until he took me behind a few tall, leafy, beautiful trees to put a sweet, soft kiss to my lips. And then more.

  Oh, and yes, I still had a knife tucked into my boot and a go bag sitting at the base of the tree, because as you know, a spy never really has a day where she stops being a spy.

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  If you missed the first two books in the series, pick up Adrenaline Rush and Hotwire.

  If you missed the first two books in the series, pick up Adrenaline Rush and Hotwire.

  Adrenaline Rush, HERE

  A madman with a mission is kidnapping groups of thrill-seeking high school seniors across the country, and it s up to Christy Hadden to stop him.

  To do so, she must take on a fearless alter ego and infiltrate a group of adrenaline junkies bent on pushing life to the limit. Death-defying stunts are only the beginning: two groups fit the profile, and Christy must discover the real target before it s too late.

  If she chooses the wrong group, more people will disappear. But choosing right puts her as the prime target with no guarantee that she’ll get out alive.

  Then snag Hotwire HERE.

  Nineteen-year-old spy Christy Hadden can't wait for her latest assignment for Division 57 posing as a student at a prestigious New York City academy and car thief extraordinaire. It’s easy enough. Infiltrate the car-theft ring and retrieve a stolen car. No problem.

  The best part of the mission is her attractive handler, Jeremy. The worst part? The sociopath masquerading as the academy's most popular guy. The very one she’s supposed to get close to.

  But soon she realizes the thieves are much more than they seem. Her simple spying mission becomes more dangerous than anyone imag
ined and retrieving the car is the least of her worries. If the organization discovers her true identity, they won't hesitate to kill her, and if she fails, others will suffer the same fate.

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  Jump into the exciting adventures of the Watched Trilogy

  It takes more than a school trip to Washington, D.C. to change Christy's life. It takes murder.

  A witness to the brutal slaying of a senator's aide, Christy finds herself watched not only by the killers and the FBI, but also by two hot guys.

  She discovers that if she can't help the FBI, who want to protect her, it will cost her and her new friends their lives.

  Watched is the first book in The Watched Trilogy (Watched, Protected, Created). This young adult novel is set in cities all over Europe and the U.S. and is filled with intrigue, suspense, and lots of action and adventure. And, of course, kissing.Christy’s story isn’t over yet!

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  Brooklyn Hamlin likes the rules. They're safe and smart. And for Brooklyn, the rules are simple—no dating until she turns sixteen and no kissing. But her sixteenth birthday is just a few day away, and that means all the rules are about to change. Brooklyn's still determined to avoid the drama of kissing, but she wouldn't mind holding someone's hand, especially if that someone is Luke Graham.