Soldier's Last Stand

by Cindy Dees

  He was saying goodbye? Tears filled her eyes and she squinted up at his watery image. She had no idea what to say to him. She wanted to throw herself at him and beg him not to go, to rail at him for being so hung up on the mission that he’d destroyed what they had between them. But instead she froze, cursing herself roundly as he turned and walked away.

  She buried her face in her arms rather than let Brady’s cameras or the resort’s other guests see her cry. She’d never in her life cried for a lover before, but she did now. She cried silently for her loss and loneliness, for what could have been and for what never would be. She highly doubted she would ever find another man like Brady, and she cried at having blown her best, and likely only, chance at love.

  Eventually, she cried herself out. She made a halfhearted effort to pull herself together before this Jennifer person showed up. Sniffing, Eve toweled off her face. Her eyes were probably red and puffy and there wasn’t much she could do about that. But she could at least compose herself. She rolled onto her back and sat up, surveying the beach from behind a pair of sunglasses. Tall, slender, long, black hair. Her new handler shouldn’t be too hard to spot.

  She scanned the people on the beach, looking for this Jennifer. In fact, a woman had just stepped out onto the sand at the far end of the cove, when another face caught Eve’s attention. It was a man, just leaving the beach. She didn’t see him for long before he disappeared into the trees. But it was enough. She knew that face.

  “Holy Mary, mother of God,” she breathed. Shock poured through her like ice water, freezing her into immobility.

  Her phone rang immediately.

  She fumbled for it in her bag and finally put it to her ear. It was Brady. He sounded like every molecule of the soldier within him was on full battle alert. He knew her too well. “Talk to me, Eve. What do you see?”

  “It can’t be. He’s dead.”

  “Who’s dead?”

  “I know who Annika’s here to kill,” she announced.

  “Who?”

  “Her brother. I just saw Drago Cantori.”

  “Where is he now?”

  “He left the beach and headed down one of the paths toward the villas.”

  The dark-haired woman at the far end of the beach swerved into the trees abruptly. Yup. That had been her new handler, no doubt called back to the hotel for an emergency briefing with Brady and whoever else was here on behalf of Uncle Sam.

  “Does Annika know he’s here?”

  “She left the beach a while ago. If she didn’t spot him arriving at the resort, I’d say odds are she doesn’t know he’s here, yet.”

  “How will she react to seeing him again?”

  “I have no idea. She and Drago had a strange relationship. Intense. A love-hate thing. I think their father forced the two of them to compete against each other a lot. They had their hatred of him in common, but they were forever being pitted against one another. Does that make any sense?”

  “It makes perfect sense. Don’t question your instincts, Eve. They’re solid.” He paused, then asked, “Would Drago recognize you if he saw you?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Why are you so sure? You would still have been a young girl the last time he saw you.”

  She answered reluctantly, “The last time he saw me, he tried to rape me. I was about a foot taller than him and beat him up. I can’t believe he would forget that, or my face.”

  Grim silence met that revelation. Finally, Brady bit out, “I’m so sorry I got you into this, Eve.”

  “I volunteered, remember?”

  “After I manipulated you into it.”

  “Nobody forced me to come here. Get over your guilt trip and do your job, already.”

  That earned her another long silence. Then, “Look, Eve. This may change things. I’ll do my best to stay out of your way, but I may need to stay on this mission.”

  It was pathetic how her heart leaped in her chest. She tried to answer evenly but had no idea if she succeeded or not. “I’m okay with that.”

  “Jennifer’s here. I’ve got to go. Stand by for further instructions.”

  “Roger, Batman,” she said with mock severity.

  She caught his reluctant chuckle as the line disconnected. Son of a gun. Drago Cantori. Memories of the mean child and vicious teen he’d been flowed through her, making her shudder. If there was a bigger monster loose in the world than Annika, surely it was her brother. Eve might have come out of their past encounter relatively unscathed, but after that brief glance of the big, beefy adult he’d become, she doubted she would fare so well against him if there was a repeat encounter.

  Her cell phone rang again, startling her. It was Brady’s number. “Yes?”

  “Can you come to my villa?”

  “When?”

  “Now.”

  Butterflies took flight in her stomach. “I’ll be right there.”

  Brady couldn’t believe he was actually nervous to see Eve. Maybe it was seeing her here in his villa, in the place where they’d made love and everything had changed for him, that made him so agitated.

  “Are you all right?” Jennifer asked.

  Damn, that woman was too perceptive for her own good. Of course, it was what made her the outstanding CIA field agent that she was. He sighed. “No. But I’ll live.”

  A quiet knock sounded on the door and he tensed. He opened it, and as always the sheer flesh impact of Eve’s beauty stopped him cold for an instant. “Hi. Thanks for coming.”

  “It is my job, is it not?”

  Right. The job. Strange that she’d be the one to invoke that. She’d been busy trying to convince him to ignore the mission in favor of their personal relationship almost from day one.

  She stepped inside. It pained him to see how she moved to the opposite side of the room from him and avoided making eye contact with him. Yep, he’d blown it big when he’d invoked the mission last night immediately after making love with her. He should’ve told her how he felt about her. Told her how she’d rocked his world and changed his opinion of women, how she’d earned his trust and respect—dammit, how much he cared for her and wanted to give whatever was growing between them a chance to develop and mature.

  But instead, he’d frozen up like some raw recruit and fallen back on his soldier persona in panic as soon as the subject of feelings came up. He had a sinking certainty in his gut that he was going to regret that incident for a very long time to come.

  Jennifer was speaking. “—recognize you?”

  “Yes, I’m positive. I haven’t changed in physical appearance much from when we were fourteen, and Drago’s no dummy.”

  Jennifer sighed and glanced over at him. He swore under his breath. Punting the unpleasant question to him to ask, was she? He glared at his CIA counterpart briefly before turning reluctantly to Eve. “I’m duty bound to ask you, Eve. Would you be willing to make contact with Drago?”

  As he expected, her eyes went wide with alarm, and she folded her arms tightly around her middle. “Why?” she asked in a strangled voice.

  “Annika’s likely to ask it of you. If you refuse, she may get suspicious, or worse, start to see you as a liability. She may try to take you out.”

  “You mean she’d try to kill me?”

  He winced, but he owed Eve total honesty at this juncture. “That’s correct.”

  She sat down on the sofa and all but curled into a little ball in the corner of it. His arms ached to hold her and comfort her, but there wasn’t a damned thing he could do about the situation.

  “What would you want me to say to him?” Eve asked in a small voice.

  Brady sat down cautiously on the far end of the couch and gazed at her candidly. “You’re not going to like the next part of this. Our profilers think the best way to approach Drago will be to pose as a call girl and offer him sex.”

  Eve reared back hard. “It’s one thing to flirt with you. But Drago?”

  He continued quickly before she could refuse out of h
and. “We wouldn’t expect you to actually go through with it. Rather, we’d want you to string him along. Keep him waiting for you to, uh, deliver. It would serve as a powerful distraction tactic, throw him off balance while we figure what he’s doing here.”

  “What is he doing here?” Eve demanded.

  “We don’t know. Our surveillance shows that Annika hasn’t made contact with him. In fact, we believe she actively avoided seeing him or being seen by him. We’ve reviewed our surveillance footage, and she received a cell phone call moments before she left the beach, and only a few minutes before he arrived on the beach. We think one of her men may have called her to warn her that he was coming.”

  Eve frowned. “If her other guys were watching for Drago and spotted him first, why did she want me here at the resort to look for him?”

  “Are you sure her brother is the target of her planned assassination?” he asked.

  “I’m sure. She was adamant that I would recognize the target the moment I saw him. It seemed to amuse her, in fact.”

  Jennifer interjected, “Does Annika know about Drago’s attempted assault on you?”

  “Oh, yeah. She teased him mercilessly about how I beat him up in front of the other kids at school. He left school for good just a few weeks afterward. I always wondered if the humiliation was too much for him to stand.”

  It made sense. And it also meant that Drago would have a massive chip on his shoulder where Eve was concerned. He might very well want much more than sex from her. He could want revenge.

  Brady swore mentally. He’d barely managed to save Eve from Curly. What if he didn’t get to her in time the next time? The thought of Eve seriously injured or worse at some thug’s hands was too much for Brady. He jumped to his feet. “We can’t do this. It’s too dangerous. Eve could get hurt.”

  Jennifer frowned at him. “We agreed we would let her make the choice. If she wants to approach Drago, we’ll take all possible precautions, but we’ll let her do it.”

  Brady shook his head in denial. He opened his mouth to protest, but Eve cut him off.

  “Oh, now you’re suddenly all concerned about me? You warned me over and over that this would be dangerous and that I might die, but it didn’t stop you from recruiting me. You also said I could prove once and for all that I’m not a terrorist. I happen to be willing to risk my life to do that. It’s not your call to make, Brady.”

  “You have no idea what you’re getting into!”

  “Just like I had no idea what might happen if I let Curly drag me into the jungle? Haven’t you asked yourself why I didn’t make a fuss when he took my arm and forced me to go with him? Why I didn’t call down the beach to you for help? I was willing to risk him attacking me to maintain my cover. The mission—” she spat the word out “—is that important to me. Can you say the same?”

  “This isn’t a pissing contest to see who can take the most risk. This is your life we’re talking about.”

  “I know that.”

  He seriously doubted she did. She was just mad at him and out to prove that she could be as stubborn and pigheaded as him about pursuing Annika at all costs. “I can’t in good conscience take advantage of your anger at me and allow you to do this.”

  Eve threw up her hands. “Oh, get over yourself, Brady. Not everything is about you.”

  That stopped him cold. Was he really that self-centered? He prided himself on being levelheaded at all times, particularly when a mission was on the line. He was rational. Self-disciplined. He glanced over at Jennifer for support and was stunned to see her smirking at him. She agreed with Eve?

  He hated everything about letting Eve make contact with Drago in the guise of a high-priced call girl. Something hot and ugly chewed at his gut, and he was shocked to realize it was jealousy. At some level, he considered Eve to be his woman. And he didn’t like the idea of her throwing herself at another man. Even if it was a ruse. He sat down heavily.

  Jennifer took over briefing Eve and he listened, numb. “We expect Annika will want you to make contact with Drago, possibly to set him up for the kill. She may try to suggest you get him in bed, maybe drunk or drugged. Then, when he passes out, she’ll move in for the kill.”

  Brady didn’t miss the shudder that passed through Eve, but he also didn’t miss the defiant look she threw him immediately. He cursed steadily in his head. This was bad, bad, bad. Every fiber of his being shouted it at him.

  Jennifer continued, “We’d suggest you insist on a kill in a more public location. Tell Annika it won’t look like a political statement if he dies in bed with a prostitute. It’ll look like a jealous girlfriend offed him. If Annika wants to send a message, he needs to die out in the open. Convince her to have you set him up someplace else. Maybe on the beach, or at the outdoor restaurant by the hotel.”

  Eve frowned, thinking hard. “Could I say something about it being easier for her and her guys to get away after the kill?”

  Jennifer smiled brightly. “That’s an excellent idea.”

  No. It wasn’t. It was a terrible idea. It would encourage Annika to put Eve only a few feet away from Drago when someone who was not a trained sniper took a long-range shot at Drago. If the idiot missed, Eve would be hit. Hell, if Curly took the shot, he might hit her intentionally.

  His thoughts jerked back to the present when Eve asked, “Why do you suppose Annika wants to kill Drago?”

  Ah. The sixty-four-thousand-dollar question. He watched grimly as Jennifer replied, “We have no idea. We were hoping you could find that out for us. Maybe ask Annika that very thing?”

  “I don’t know if she’d tell me,” Eve replied. “I don’t think she entirely trusts me.”

  He burst out, “That’s all the more reason not to throw you into the middle of a potentially explosive situation!”

  “That ship has sailed,” Eve replied without emotion. “I’m doing this, and that’s that.”

  Then she was going to die. And there wasn’t a damned thing he could do about it.

  Chapter 14

  “Annika, you’ll never believe who I just saw,” Eve announced excitedly.

  The terrorist had knocked on Eve’s door not more than two minutes after Eve got back from Brady’s villa. She hoped the Frenchwoman hadn’t been waiting for her and the timing was just luck, but she couldn’t be sure.

  “Let me guess. You saw a ghost.”

  Eve stared. “You knew Drago’s alive?”

  “I suspected.”

  “What’s he doing here?” Eve asked.

  Annika’s cold smile sent shivers down her spine. “He believes he’s here to make the deal of a lifetime.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “It seems that brother dearest has become a bit of a merchant since his supposed demise.”

  “A merchant? What kind of merchant?”

  Annika paced in agitation. “He sold out. He’s become an arms dealer. Worse, he does business with governments. Oppressive regimes that squash the rights of the common man. That use his weapons to kill innocent women and children. That ally themselves with the very governments we’ve spent our lives trying to topple.”

  “You said he believes he’s here to make a deal? Is it a ruse?”

  Annika laughed in delight, but the bloodthirsty echo of it was chilling. “Oh, no. The deal is real. But instead of getting rich, he’s going to die.”

  “For real this time?”

  “Exactly. And you’re going to help. You won’t mind seeing Drago dead, will you, beautiful Eve? You haven’t forgotten what he tried to do to you, have you?”

  Eve let the revulsion at the memory show on her face. “I haven’t forgotten. What can I do?”

  “I need you to set him up. If he sees me, he’ll know something’s up. But you…he’ll never suspect you. Or if he does, he won’t care. His desire for revenge will blind him. He always did think you were dumber than dirt. His mistake, huh?”

  Eve shrugged. At least Annika didn’t think she was completely stupid
. Just stupid enough to be bait to lure Drago. “I’m in.”

  “Put on your nastiest dress. Do your hair and makeup and flash those legs and breasts of yours at him. Get him drunk. You can slip him a roofie if you like. Take him to bed. And when he’s snoring on your breast, that’s when I’ll kill him.”

  The avid enjoyment in Annika’s voice as she anticipated killing her only living relative was sickening. Not to mention Eve was getting really tired of Annika’s fixation with getting her to look and act like a slut. Jealous much, was she?

  Remembering the briefing with Jennifer and Brady, Eve shook her head. “If you kill him in bed with a woman, his death will lose all impact. People will think a jealous lover killed him. If you want to really wreck his reputation you need to kill him in public.”

  Annika cut her off. “No! No one can know he’s dead.”

  Eve blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

  “Don’t you see? I’m going to become him.”

  “But,” she frowned, “I thought you said he’d sold out.”

  “He did. But he has created a lucrative business and impressive contacts. I can take it over. Turn his resources away from corrupt regimes and feed them to true freedom fighters.”

  “But you’re not him. How do you know his suppliers will do business with you?”

  Annika snorted. “Haven’t you heard that blood is thicker than water? You, of all people, should know. If there’s one terrorist in the family, you can count on the whole family being terrorists, eh?”

  Eve stared, stricken. Was Annika right? Was she doomed always to carry the specter of Viktor’s politics around with her? Would she never shake the taint of being a Dupont? She mumbled some sort of agreement with the other woman.

  Annika continued, “We’ll do it tonight. Drago has a private villa. He’ll no doubt have security guards with him. Make them leave the room when you…” Annika made a crude suggestion for what Eve should do with her brother to distract him.