by Mallory Kane
Adrienne straightened, refusing to give in to his plea. "Explain? Explain what? You've told me nothing but lies. You're obviously working for someone. Is it Jones?"
Seth saw fear and the pain of betrayal in her dark blue eyes. "Adrienne, you have to trust me."
Her head jerked. "Trust you? What could you possibly say now that would make me think I can trust you?"
Seth reached out, but she backed away. "You know me better than anyone ever has. You know I'd die before I'd allow anyone to hurt you."
"And yet you 'seduced the wealthy widow' for someone 's benefit."
Seth winced at the sad censure in her sparkling blue eyes. God, he wished he could tell her the whole truth. He could prove to her that he was trustworthy if he could tell her how hard he was working to extricate her from the Cajun mob, But all he could do was make promises he prayed he could keep.
He watched her draw strength and determination from inside herself.
"Do you know what that tells me? It tells me I don't know you at all," she said quietly.
Her words were like daggers to his heart. "Yes, you do. You know the deepest parts of me. Just like I know you."
She shook her head desperately, but Seth knew he was right. "We have something. Something precious. There are things I can't tell you. But I swear on my life, I'll protect you."
He would never shirk his assignment, but he would give his life to protect her if it came to that.
"Was anything you told me last night true?" She clutched the bottle of water against her breast.
"It was all true. You know everything about me that matters. You know that I can't look at you without nearly losing control. You know that I could spend an eternity just kissing you. You know what all that beautiful blond hair does to me."
"That's just sex."
"Is it?" He reached out again, this time brushing her cheek with his fingers. "Is that all it is to you?"
Her eyes filled with tears. "I trusted you."
He touched the corner of her eye and she blinked. A little tear slipped down her cheek.
"You weren't wrong, princess. I swear. You can trust me."
"Prove it."
He watched her carefully as he lifted her hand and pressed a kiss into her palm. "Just tell me how," he murmured.
Adrienne tasted bitterness in the back of her throat. He still thought he could seduce her into believing him.
"Tell me who you're working for."
A look of caution shadowed his face as he dropped his gaze.
"You can't—or won't."
He lifted his head. "Knowing who I'm working for would make you vulnerable."
"Vulnerable?" She laughed shakily. "How could I be any more vulnerable? They can get to my mother. They've proven that." She shook her head in helpless wonder. "They know I'll do anything to keep her safe." She stopped. Anything.
She straightened. "Now if you could help me move my mother to a guaranteed safe place, where no one can touch her, then I might believe you."
Seth's eyebrows raised and a look crossed his face that Adrienne hadn't seen before. It was a combination of understanding, fury, and steely control, with a dash of irony. After a few seconds, he nodded.
"I can get your mother to safety, but you've got to promise me something, too. You have to do exactly what I tell you to do."
Adrienne propped her fists on her hips. "Is this the part where I'm supposed to trust you?"
He nodded. "This is exactly the part where you're supposed to trust me. I'm going to make sure you never have to be afraid again."
"How can you promise that?"
"I can't tell you that—yet. I can tell you this much. I'm not in bed with the mob, no matter how it looks. I'm on the other side. I'm one of the good guys." He bent to kiss her but she held up her hand.
"Don't," she said. "Please don't touch me. You don't have to seduce me again. We have a deal."
Seth cursed under his breath. "Princess, there are things you don't understand. But right now, we can't give any indication that our relationship has changed. I promise I won't touch you in private if that's what you want, but we have to act like lovers in public."
"Act like lovers." Her back stiffened. She lifted her head, a brave sad smile on her face that ripped Seth's heart into shreds. "Sure. If you can do it, so can I."
Seth told her he'd get her the specific information about moving her mother and warned her not to mention anything to anyone, not even the director of the nursing home, until he called her back.
Adrienne watched him leave, pushing his fingers through his hair as if he were trying to control his thoughts as much as smooth his sleep-tousled hair. Anguish tore her apart as he disappeared from sight.
She looked at the digital display of the stove's clock. It was getting late. She'd have to hurry if she hoped to get to the nursing home in time for her appointment with Sister Ignatius. She'd made the appointment to appeal to the sister to allow her mother to stay.
Seth's reassurances had done little to assuage her concern. Tony's words still ate at her. As long as Seth continues to "deal" with us in this particular way, you can assure the nuns at that nursing home that your mother will not have any more unwelcome visitors
It was a double threat, warning her that her mother's safety depended on Seth's loyalty to his new business partners.
Now she was stuck in the middle, with the Cajun mob on one side, threatening her as they had since her husband had died On the other side was Seth and whoever he was working for, promising her she could trust him with her mother's life, and her own. She didn't dare trust either side.
The only thing she was certain of was that she could not continue to live like this. One way or another, she would break free of the Cajun mob.
The morning sun was high enough to creep into the alleys and intensify the smell of the garbage. Lily Harrison knew she was courting danger by grabbing a few more minutes of sleep, but she was so tired, and sleeping helped her forget how hungry and lonely and scared she was.
A shadow blocked the sun. She looked up with a start. A man loomed over her. She'd been dreaming about her dad, dreaming he'd called in the entire CIA to save her. At first she thought the shadowed figure was him.
"Daddy?" she croaked, but the man stepped forward, into the light. It wasn't her dad.
Damn. She scrambled up, ignoring the cramps in her empty stomach.
"Get away from me." She sidled away from the menacing figure, preparing to run toward the other end of the alley.
"It's okay, kid. I'm a cop. Why don't you come with me back to the station and we'll call your parents."
His words made her eyes fill with tears. There was nothing Lily wanted more than to see her dad. But she'd made so many mistakes lately. She had to be careful.
"I—I need to see your badge please."
The man laughed "My badge? I heard you were a handful."
"What? You heard? Who are you?" Lily backed away as the man's smile turned into a threatening scowl. She turned and ran into a human wall.
She looked up into a dark menacing face with gleaming white teeth. They'd found her.
Lily screamed.
Chapter Eight
"What the hell were you doing, sending a text message like that?" Seth turned on the shorter man as soon as the door swung closed on the secret offices of New Orleans Confidential.
"Whoa, Seth. Hold on a minute. What's the big problem?"
"Anyone could have seen that message."
Jones stared at Seth. "On your phone? The one that stays in your pocket twenty-four hours a day?" He stopped and then laughed. "Your hot little widow got hold of your phone, didn't she? I guess your phone wasn't in your pants. Or you weren't."
Seth clenched his fists. "That's none of your damn business. You almost blew my cover. Now she knows I lied to her."
Jones rolled his eyes. "Oh man, you got it bad. Well, get this. What goes around comes around. You'd better come down off that cloud and get it through you
r head that she's up to her pretty little neck in the drug dealing and prostitution. Why else would she still be so chummy with them?"
Seth took a long, calming breath. He was wasting time and energy. Jones had made up his mind a long time ago about Adrienne. Plus, Conrad Burke would be here any second. Seth didn't want Burke seeing two of his Confidential agents arguing.
"You said it yourself, Jones, when you were talking about the prostitute. If Adrienne were to act any differently, they'd kill her."
Jones's eyes widened. "You really believe she's totally innocent, don't you? Well, you're a majority of one, my friend."
"One's enough. I'm right."
The door on the opposite side of the room slid open and Conrad Burke and Tanner Harrison came in. Harrison looked even worse than he had two days ago.
"Did Jones fill you in, Seth?" Burke asked as he sat down at the conference table.
As the others sat, Seth glanced at Jones, who sent him an exasperated look. Seth had laid into Jones before the ex-P.I. had managed to say a word. "Not completely. We got interrupted."
Burke clasped his hands in front of him on the table. "Okay The bug you planted in his study gives us a good basis on which to build a case for the mob being the suppliers of Category Five. In another conversation, Senegal says something that is garbled, but sounds like 'Gonzalez,' which is the name of the local leader of a band of South American insurgents who are trying to overtake the democratic government of Nilia. We'll be following up on that."
Burke nodded at Seth. "Also, good job on arranging that delivery deal with Senegal. At this very moment, McMullin is picking up a shipment of coffee beans for delivery to the Cajun Perk warehouse. That truck will make a brief detour to our lab here. With any luck, our on-site chemists can isolate the raw drug within a few minutes and have the truck on its way. Then we'll have proof that the drug is being brought into the country concealed in the bags of coffee."
"What if the chemists can't isolate the drug in that short a time?" Jones asked.
"Then we'll work out a plan to substitute a bag of coffee, or 'misplace' one, to give them time. Once we can figure out how it's imported and what the refining process is, we'll have enough information to begin to search out where the mob's refinery is."
Seth listened to Burke explain the specifics and felt satisfaction warring with apprehension in his gut. Everything was coming together. At this rate, it wouldn't be long before Confidential could call in the police and shut down the drug ring. And he was proud to be a part of that. He was grateful to Burke for giving him a second chance to do some good.
It would make everything so much easier if he could believe Adrienne was involved with the drugs. But he knew she wasn't like that. The deal she'd made with him this morning to protect her mother proved that.
She was innocent and good and brave. The mob had a hold over Adrienne—her mother. And she was protecting her mother the only way she could. Her only sin was bad judgment in men. He grimaced. Including him.
"Seth?"
Burke's whiskey-smooth voice pulled Seth out of his thoughts.
"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."
"You need to hear this. Our prostitute has managed to slip one of our agents a special sleeve containing three packets of refined Category Five. That confirms Cajun Perk as the drug distribution center. Now we can connect Cajun Perk to Jerome Senegal and the mob." Burke shot Seth a warning look. "Through Adrienne DeBlanc. She's the sole owner of Cajun Perk."
"Right. She owns the coffeehouses." Seth took a deep breath. "But she has nothing to do with the drugs. She told me herself that she was advised to invest in Cajun Perk. My guess is Senegal arranged it or used threats to force her to do it." Seth clenched his fists. "The mob is using her as a scapegoat."
Seth's words hung in the air.
Jones coughed quietly.
"If that's what they're doing, it's working." Burke's voice was still smooth, but Seth heard the underlying censure and knew it was directed at him. He took a deep breath and focused on his job, like he'd been taught during his Special Forces training.
"Yes, sir," he said crisply.
Burke held his gaze for a beat, then nodded slightly. "Now, although we don't yet have the location of the drug lab, we can't afford to continue to let the refined drug stay on the streets. It's killing people. You probably read in the paper this morning of the unexpected death of the chairman of the board of the Hartfield Corporation."
"He died from Category Five?" Jones asked, his eyes wide as quarters. "The newspaper said it was heart failure. My wife is a friend of his daughter. They went to high school together."
"The result was heart failure. But it was caused by the drug. So we're gearing up. Tanner." Burke nodded at his companion.
Harrison's hot gaze took in the men around the table. "Surveillance has borne out that all Cajun Perk locations are frequented by young prostitutes." Harrison's voice was hoarse with determination, as if this was a personal mission. "This backs up the statement from our informant that she can go into any Cajun Perk and obtain a drug-filled sleeve. We can't afford to wait any longer. We're planning a simultaneous raid on all Cajun Perks."
Harrison's words ripped through Seth like a knife through rotten cloth.
A raid. A raid that would result in his princess being arrested, possibly even indicted. The vision of Adri-enne's blue eyes condemning him rose before Seth's inner vision. The idea that rough hands would handcuff her and force her into a police car and then into a jail cell burned in his gut like acid.
He forced himself to clear his head. His job was to bring down the drug ring. He couldn't afford to let personal feelings get in the way.
But personal feelings were one thing; a promise was another. He'd promised to protect her mother. He'd prove to Adrienne that at least in that sense he could be trusted.
Harrison continued. "I will organize and coordinate the simultaneous raids."
"He's the expert, from his days with the CIA," Burke added. "Jones, you'll be teamed with Mason Bartley, and you and the other teams will remain in constant contact with each other and with Tanner. Tanner will be working from here, so he can keep an eye on all the operations at once through the monitors and the radio equipment. You take your orders from him on this. Seth, because you're known to Senegal, you won't be involved in the raids." Burke sat up. "One last thing. Tanner's daughter, Lily Harrison, is missing. She's seventeen, blond hair, blue eyes, five feet three inches. We have evidence that she was in the bordello."
"Conrad." When Harrison spoke, Seth glanced at him. His lips were compressed tightly and white at the corners. His eyes looked haunted. "My daughter is not Confidential's primary concern, but I'd appreciate a heads- up if anyone sees a teenager who fits her description."
Seth studied the ex-CIA agent. So that's what his problem was. He was worried about his child. Seth knew he'd be out of his mind if one of his sisters was out on the streets.
Harrison met Seth's gaze. "And if anyone is worried that I won't be concentrating one hundred percent on this job, they should say so now."
Seth didn't blink. "No worries here, sir."
"No problem," Jones added.
Burke stood. "That's everything for now. We'll be in contact several times a day. Stay alert. The raids could go down at any moment."
Seth and the other men stood, preparing to leave.
"Seth, could you hang around a minute?"
"Yes, sir," Seth said. Was he about to be fired? He stood stiffly. He'd almost screwed up his life when he'd come back from overseas, bitter about losing his career in Special Forces. Confidential and Conrad Burke had given him a second chance. Had he screwed this up, too?
Jones sent him a nod as he closed the door on his way out. Seth didn't feel reassured.
He lifted his chin as he waited for Burke to speak. His feelings for Adrienne DeBlanc had nothing to do with his ability to do his job.
"Seth, I need to know if you're okay with this."
He swallowe
d. "Yes, sir," he snapped.
"Now listen, son. You're not in the army anymore, and I'm not a drill sergeant. I'm your boss, but I'm also a married man, with two babies. I can see what's happening between you and Mrs. DeBlanc. I need to know from you, how serious is it?"
Seth hesitated, and knew immediately from the look in Burke's eyes that Burke had his answer.
Seth opened his mouth to deny that his feelings for Adrienne were serious, but he couldn't bring himself to say it.
"Sir, my personal feelings don't enter into this." That was the best he could do.
"That's bull, son. Of course they do. You're human. If you care about someone, personal feelings always enter in. Now if you don't mind, stop standing there at attention. I'm going to sit down."
Seth relaxed. When Burke nodded toward a chair, Seth sat down gratefully.
"You were twelve when your father deserted your family, right?"
Seth stared at Burke in surprise. When Burke had hired him, there had been very little talk about Seth's personal life. Burke had seemed totally focused on Seth's military background and his experience with weapons and explosives.
"That's right."
"So you became the man of the family. You took care of your mother and your sisters."
Seth didn't respond.
"Then after your mother died, you looked at your options, and joined the army to assure yourself of a good, steady job. You put your sisters through school."
"Sir, I fail to see how—"
"Son, you're one of the most determined and focused men I've ever met. I can see why you went into Special Forces, and why they chose you. Tactical warfare, munitions and explosives—those jobs take a special type of soldier, one who can follow orders and think for himself. You have those qualities. When you go after something, you go after it with every fiber of your being."
Seth thought about Burke's words. "I guess you could say that. I try to do what's right."
Burke nodded. "And that's why I hired you. I'm depending on you. You've shown me what you're made of. You've carried out every part of your assignment, going far beyond what I had expected. You believe Adri-enne DeBlanc is innocent."
