by Linda Conrad
Tarik stuck his head above the edge of the cart. “Wait,” he whispered as he jumped out. “You go right. I’ll take the left.”
“What about your wounded arm?”
He frowned, then switched his weapon to his left hand and made her trade places. “On my mark.”
Using the barrel of his gun, he pushed open the door as each of them waited with weapons at the ready on either side. But nothing happened.
Tarik held up his hand for her to keep her position and then he eased across the threshold. “I hear something.”
Both of them slipped through the door and listened. Someone was groaning.
Jass clung to the wall as she carefully entered the main sitting room. There on the floor she saw Bosque, holding his bleeding head and moaning.
She stashed her weapon and went to him while Tarik checked the bathroom, bedroom and closet. “What happened, Bosque?”
“Ambush. I wasn’t expecting it. Came out of nowhere.” He groaned again.
Blood was everywhere. The place was in shambles. But Jass didn’t smell any residual gun smoke. Obviously no one had fired bullets in this hotel room recently. Bosque’s injuries had no doubt been inflicted with a heavy object and probably weren’t life threatening. Tarik strode out of the bathroom carrying a towel, then held it to Bosque’s forehead to sop up the blood.
“The place is clear,” Tarik told them. “Whoever it was is gone. Call the desk and get a doctor up here.”
She headed toward the desk phone, wondering what had been stolen from their room and who had taken it. She and Tarik hadn’t left anything of real value in the room when they went to Eltsin’s mansion. They’d taken all their high-tech toys and weapons with them. Except for her special CIA-issue laptop. Jass hadn’t wanted to take the chance of Eltsin finding it. She’d locked it in the hotel safe as she’d packed.
After summoning a doctor and the hotel manager, Jass went straight to the safe. That door stood ajar exactly like the other one.
“They took my laptop,” she called out.
When she came out of the closet, Tarik had Bosque sitting up in a chair. He was holding a wet towel to his forehead and the bleeding was down to a trickle.
Bosque gripped Tarik’s arm. “Your papers and military passes are in my coat pocket. Take them and get out of here before anyone shows up and the questions start. I’ll be okay.”
Jass signaled for Tarik to grab the folder out of Bosque’s coat. “Are you sure you didn’t see anyone?”
Bosque moaned. “They came up from behind me.”
“Have you heard anything from Ed Langdon, Jass’s handler?” Tarik had the papers in hand and seemed ready to charge out the door.
“Yes, I’m kind of worried about Ed.” Jass didn’t like not being able to reach the man she’d grown to care about over the years. “I haven’t been able to reach him for hours.”
“I haven’t heard from him since yesterday morning.” Bosque lifted his head. “But I’ll take care of notifying him and the Task Force. Now beat it. All your instructions are in with your passes. Go.”
Tarik grabbed her hand and dragged her toward the door. “Thanks, man. Take care of yourself.”
Bosque weakly waved them away and went back to holding the towel to his forehead. Jass didn’t like the idea of leaving him here. What if the bad guys came back?
“Tarik, are you sure we should…”
“Let’s go. He’ll be fine. He’s armed. I felt his undrawn weapon still in its holster when I pulled the passes from his coat.”
“Still…”
“He’s the CIA station chief. A big boy. And we can’t miss our transport.”
Tarik was right. But Jass’s mind was whirling. Who had taken her laptop and left Bosque bleeding on the floor?
The ride on the air transport turned into one long and tedious affair for Tarik. Everything and everyone around him annoyed him beyond belief. Jass wouldn’t let him rest until a medic cleaned and checked his wound. And when he’d tried to talk to her about who the traitor could be, she’d refused to discuss it, saying she needed time to think. Then instead of thinking, she’d passed out across two seats and slept for six hours straight.
Tarik knew what he thought. But he understood why she didn’t want to consider—much less accept—the possibility. It seemed there could only be one person who had the means to accomplish everything that had happened. But if that were true, it would mean extremely bad news for Jass.
Still, they had to talk about it eventually.
Shakir met them at the airbase near Miami with a car. Jass had changed out of most of the Celile disguise on the plane, and she was back to looking like the woman he wanted to know a lot better. But she’d been too quiet. He knew the storm clouds in her heart were building to a terrible tempest. But if she wouldn’t talk to him about it, how could he help her through it?
“Renting us motel rooms was tough at this time of year in Miami,” his brother told them as he drove them off the airbase. “I wanted us all together so we can use our rooms as a temporary headquarters, but uh…well, here’s the thing, you two have to share a room. Or, Tarik, you can bunk down on my floor. Your choice.”
“No choice there. We’re good sharing a room. We’ve been getting by that way. And we probably won’t be here that long anyway.” Tarik took a quick glance at Jass, who sat silently in the backseat. She said nothing. He guessed she had no complaints about the arrangements.
Shakir cleared his throat. “Okay, then. But we’ve lost the Taj, bugger it. Only temporarily, mind you. No need to sweat, they won’t leave the area without us finding out. In the meantime, the men we left in Brazil finally managed to get a little information out of that henchman of Eltsin’s we’ve been grilling.” He actually smiled.
“Have you heard from the Task Force or from my handler?” Jass hadn’t put together more than a few words since they’d left Brazil, and Tarik was happy to see her finally taking an interest again.
But he wished she’d asked anything else.
“Not a peep from your handler. But the Task Force has been a big help here in the States.” Shakir drove the speed limit as the Miami suburbs with their Spanish-style houses and their ubiquitous palm trees rolled by the windows. “They’ve paved the way for us and are assisting in whatever ways we need them. And there’re more men available at your say-so. I think you two have finally convinced them the Taj are, in fact, international bad guys.”
“What other intel did you get from Eltsin’s man?” Tarik needed to know where the biggest danger lay.
“It appears that the nuclear delivery system you heard about is state of the art. Small and innocuous, it supposedly fits inside an ordinary bottle or jar and will detonate with the usual cell-phone call signal.” Shakir exhaled sharply. “But unlike the usual system, this device’s explosion has a horrendous capacity because it’s assisted by a new kind of E-technology.”
“Electro-magnetic pulse? How does that work?”
Shakir chuckled. “Beats me. But our resident genius, Karim, says this new technology is the stuff of nightmares—like Armageddon. A handheld device, remotely detonated, that can take out half a city the size of Miami? Chilling.”
“But why Miami?”
“Yeah,” Jass chimed in. “There don’t seem to be any military or political targets here that are big enough or would cause enough of a show for high-profile terrorists like the Taj who’re trying to make a splash.”
“Good point.” Shakir shot her a respectful glance in the rearview mirror. “We asked the man in Brazil that same question. He claims he doesn’t know where they plan on using the device, but the Taj didn’t receive their new toy while they were in Rio. They paid for it there and expect to pick it up here in Miami.”
“Where?” Both Tarik and Jass asked the same question at the same time.
“It’s supposedly coming in via ship container. According to Eltsin’s man, the Taj agents plan on picking it up and personally taking it to its final des
tination. But the informant didn’t know anything more concerning the actual pickup.” Shakir furrowed his brow. “The biggest problem we face is there’re two possible ports in the general Miami area where ship containers arrive daily.”
“So that’s it? That’s all we know?” Frustration coursed through Tarik’s whole body. How could they come this close and not finish the job?
“I might be of some help.” Jass’s quiet voice from the backseat brought a glimmer of hope.
Tarik turned as far as the seat belt would let him go. “What do you know?”
She halfheartedly shrugged one shoulder, but then spoke in a strong voice. “I tagged the elder of the two Taj agents while we were at dinner last night.” She looked almost apologetic. “But we need the locating beacon software that goes with the GPS chip to find him. And that software was on the laptop that was stolen. If we can locate my handler or contact the local CIA office to borrow their software, we should be able to find that Taj agent by his chip.”
“Consider it done,” Shakir interjected. “I’m sure the Task Force will help. Good work.”
Shakir dropped them and the car at the motel room and told them to get cleaned up and grab some much needed rest while he contacted the Task Force. Tarik didn’t need sleep. What he needed was a long, serious discussion with Jass.
Their motel wasn’t much. A two-story, cheap-looking affair with outside entry, it was near the Miami airport in a warehouse district. But when they went into their room, it was clean and neat with two double beds and a small but efficient kitchenette.
“Jass,” he began when the outside door was locked behind them and they were by themselves.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” She grabbed the backpack and headed toward the bathroom. “I need a shower in the worst way first.”
“Jass…”
“Alone, Tarik. This time I shower alone. Talk will come later.” She slammed the door and disappeared.
She’d looked hurt. Without any words spoken between them, he knew her world was falling apart.
By the time she reappeared, he was already out of the cammos he’d changed into on the airplane courtesy of the U.S. Army and was ready to grab his own shower. He stood there like a fool with a blanket wrapped around his waist and watched her blow dry her hair in the big mirror over the tiny desk. She hadn’t changed to her own clothes yet but wore only a towel to cover the parts of her body that he remembered well.
All that golden skin seemed pale and fragile in the low lighting of their room. In fact, Jass suddenly seemed fragile in a general way, though he knew that was nonsense. She’d taken out Eltsin without much remorse. She was a tough, professional covert agent of the United States government and nobody’s fool.
But he knew she was hurting. And feeling all alone.
Hell. He was feeling pretty damned lonely himself.
He wanted to help her. He wanted for them to be closer. He wanted…
Without warning, he snapped. All the fear for her and the anger and the love—Love? Yeah, love, damn it. The realization of how he truly felt surged into his mind and drove desire along his nerve endings.
She stirred something in him that was uncontrollable. Unstoppable. It was white hot and beyond explanation.
Never blinking while he ripped the dryer out of the wall plug and dragged her into his arms, she came willingly. He lasered his mouth over those delectable lips and kissed her long and hard.
When at last he came up for air, his breathing was ragged, and he was relieved to find her in the same condition. But one kiss wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough to relieve the tension holding him hostage.
There could never be enough of her.
Chapter 15
Breathing hard, Jass knotted her hands in Tarik’s hair. “I wish we had the time….”
His eyes were dark and so full of desire it left her breathless. “We may not get another time.”
The unspoken understanding between them was real enough to be a solid thing. Not a barrier but more of a magnetic pull, drawing them closer when both of them knew it should not happen. Stupid or not, this was their time. Later may never come.
She saw the desire written clearly in his eyes when he made the choice for both of them. Spewing out a curse to whatever gods threw obstacles into the paths of lovers, Tarik backed her up against the wall, pitched her towel in a corner and filled his hands with her aching breasts.
Pleasure, sharp and jolting, blossomed as he lowered his head and took one of her nipples into his mouth.
Pulling back to tease her with his tongue, Tarik murmured, “We still need to talk.”
“Yeah.” The tingles were already skipping along her spine and heading south. “I got that.”
She frantically dragged his head lower and tried to keep him right where she needed him the most. “First this.”
He nipped her gently and she keened his name. What he did made her forget everything. Made her crazy with lust. Made her stupid.
The next thing she knew he was already inside her, driving into her. She gripped his shoulders, dug her fingernails into his skin to urge him on. He helped her hook a leg around his hips, then grabbed her bottom with a firm hand, lifting and going deeper.
“Oh, yeah.” She was out of breath and didn’t care.
She didn’t care about anything but letting him know the true depth of her feelings without using words. She took in all his fear for her along with his arousal. At the same time he seemed to lose all control and slammed them both off the map into oblivion.
Here was fire and passion. Here was a place she could belong. Here was her temporary refuge from cold, looming reality. Too soon, stars exploded behind her eyelids as they both reached that high, safe place as one entity.
A thousand heartbeats passed between them as they clung to each other, sharing air and a lifetime of wanting.
Slowly, he released her to slide to the floor. “Steady?” he asked when she wobbled on her feet.
“I may never be steady again.” She laughed, and when he laughed too, she knew her heart was lost to him for good.
Jass was delicious, all fresh from her shower yet sweat-dampened from making love. He felt drunk on her sweetness.
Still swimming in testosterone and half-crazed physical demands, Tarik managed one thought loud and clear. This is love. This is the way love is supposed to be.
He adored the way she’d called his name in the heat of passion. He adored her tiny gasps and the way she swallowed his desperate groans. He adored her quick mind and stark bravery. He plain adored her.
She started to turn away, but he swung her back and pressed his face to her neck. He would give her anything. Everything. His loyalty. His fortune. Anything he’d ever valued.
Moreover, he would even give her the scary things with no names—those reflections of the scared and lonely child he’d once been. The nightmares of being left alone that he’d kept hidden throughout the years. He would give her his life—and his whole future.
I love you, my little secret agent.
Jass held her hand to her pounding heart and chuckled deep in her chest. “As much as I hate to break this off, I have to dress. There’s work to do.” She backed up a step, stared up at him wide-eyed and smiling, and then headed to the bathroom.
Tarik took a deep breath and watched her walk away, knowing what had to come next.
As soon as she closed the bathroom door between them, he slipped into his clothes and called his brother on their family’s satellite phone. “Where are you, Shakir?”
“We’re about twenty miles north of the motel at one of the two shipyards. Our brother Darin has been working on the problem from his office. He had the idea that the container we’re looking for would be shipped into a place where they could store containers.” He cleared his throat. “And it seems only one of the two shipyards in the Miami area actually stores containers instead of shipping them back out directly. We’re on our way there.”
“Good thought.
But I need your help on another matter. I have to find Ed Langdon, Jass’s handler. I think he’s the traitor and he’s most definitely a missing link in the puzzle. We need to pick him up before he causes any more trouble.”
“Why don’t you have Jass contact him?”
“She tried while we were still in Brazil and no-go.” And now she wouldn’t even discuss the problem.
“Tell her to keep trying. Meanwhile, I’ll carefully inquire about him to the Task Force. Maybe they can help locate his current whereabouts.”
Tarik thanked his brother and hung up just as Jass reappeared out of the bathroom. She looked so beautiful in her casual jeans and tank top that she took his mind away from the problems at hand.
Looking over at him, she absently put her hand to her hair and blinked. “What is it? Is my hair sticking straight up or something?”
He stood there shaking his head, over and over, without being able to utter a word. There was something still nagging at him. Something he’d forgotten while in his lust-filled haze. And it was something important.
The way he felt about her was simply astonishing. Never before in his entire lifetime had he needed anyone the way he needed Jass. All he wanted to do, all he could think about, was cocooning her in the warmth of his embrace and finding a way for the two of them to disappear off everyone’s radar screens.
A silent beat came and went.
Oh, hell. That was it!
He schooled his voice and tone, trying not to frighten her. “Are you still tagged with a GPS chip?” he asked as casually as possible.
She shrugged. “Sure. I’m surprised you didn’t…uh…feel it a little while ago. It’s implanted under my left breast, right inside the crease.”
“You need to remove that chip. Now.” Okay, that was a little over the top. But he was fighting panic.
Jass laughed and ran her fingers through her hair. “You’re nuts. The mission isn’t over. I’ll have it taken out when we’re finished.”
He swallowed hard and tried another tack. “Have you called your handler since we’ve landed in the States?”
