by Debra Webb
The off-key melody wafting from the bathroom assured her that Vandiver remained occupied, allowing her to focus on removing the back from the phone. She dug through her clutch for the tiny device required to do the job. With the purse under her arm once more, she installed the electronic splitter in the phone.
Oxygen didn’t fill her lungs again until the back was on the phone and she prepared to toss it onto the bed. It rang.
Her eyes widened and her heart practically stopped as the phone’s raging tune blasted a second time.
Heated oaths resonated from the bathroom.
Move!
Nora tossed the cell phone onto the bed just as it erupted into musical notes again. Without a glance in the direction of the shower, she dashed back to the entry door and snatched up her waiting shoes.
“Yeah.”
Vandiver’s voice. He was out of the shower and on the phone.
If he heard the click of the door latch disengaging…
His voice grew muffled.
He’d walked back into the bathroom.
Her knees wobbled just a little with relief.
She held her breath, wrapped her fingers around the door handle and pushed downward.
The click of the lock disengaging echoed like an explosion in the air.
Nora slipped into the corridor, slowly let the door close and the lock reengage. With a liberating sigh, she backed up a step.
Clear. She’d accomplished her mission.
Strong fingers wrapped around her forearm.
Her gaze collided with furious gold eyes.
Tallant dragged her several strides down the corridor before leaning his head close to hers and demanding, “What the hell were you doing in Vandiver’s room? No.” He shook his head. “I don’t even want to know.”
Busted. “Looking through his briefcase.” Sounded good. But from the ruthlessness of his grip and his continued march toward the stairwell exit, he wasn’t buying it for a second.
When he’d pushed through the stairwell door, with her in tow, he surveyed the landing as well as the stairs going in both directions. Confident they were alone, he pointed an outraged face at hers. “I don’t know what the hell you were thinking, but we had this talk, Friedman.”
They had indeed.
“And I clearly remember thinking it was totally ridiculous at the time.” Not the right thing to say, judging by the way his jaw clamped hard and his lips thinned into a flat line of fury.
He was totally ticked off.
The cool tile floor beneath her bare feet served as a harsh reminder that she had taken a huge risk.
He would likely report her to his superiors. Who would in turn convey the entire incident to her boss, Jim Colby.
She was dead.
The great idea didn’t seem so great at the moment. Except she had accomplished her goal…assuming he gave her the chance to explain.
“I’m lead on this assignment,” he said, his voice low and lethal. “You will follow my orders or you will go back to Chicago.”
Funny, she’d never noticed how those thick curls of his swept across his forehead. Gave him an almost boyish look. But there was nothing boyish about his grip or his gaze. He was madder than hell.
“You were tied up with the blonde,” she offered humbly, innocently. “The opportunity presented itself and I jumped at it. Isn’t that what you wanted me to do?” She widened her eyes, tried her best to look sincere. “Did I misunderstand?”
“Yeah, right.” He released her arm only to grab the purse dangling from her right hand.
He opened it.
There would be no explaining that away.
“You just happened to be carrying all this—” he opened the clutch as wide as possible to display the contents for her perusal “—when that lucky break occurred?”
Nora leaned to the right and tugged one shoe on, then leaned the opposite way and pulled on the other. “I like to be prepared, Tallant. Don’t they teach you that at the Colby Agency?”
She doubted breaking and entering was a part of the orientation at the Colby Agency. The whole staff was a little uptight for Nora’s taste.
He shoved the purse back at her. “Let’s go,” he ordered.
Her gaze narrowed with suspicion. “Where?”
“Time for a conference call.”
The man didn’t waste any time. She’d give him that.
“Look here, Tallant.” She had no idea how she would do it, but she had to convince him to go with the flow on this one.
“What?” he growled.
Her purse vibrated.
Surely it was too soon for… She opened her purse, stared at the screen on her phone.
A call to Vandiver’s room phone.
Nora held up a hand for Tallant to wait as she opened her phone. Two more rings buzzed before Vandiver answered the call.
“Ten p.m. Your contact will meet you at the Parisian Hotel, under the Eiffel Tower. Bring half the cash and a photo.”
Male voice. No detectable accent.
“What does this contact look like?” Vandiver wanted to know. His voice sounded strained…nervous.
“Don’t worry,” the unidentified man said. “The contact will recognize you.”
The caller dropped off the open line.
Vandiver swore, then hung up.
Cash and a picture.
Nora closed her phone and lifted her gaze to Tallant’s. “Ten o’clock tonight. He’s bringing cash and a photo to a contact.”
Understanding dawned in her partner’s eyes.
It was going down.
And she had gotten the heads-up.
She savored his stunned expression. “That, Mr. Play-by-the-Rules, is how it’s done.”
Chapter Four
6:50 p.m.
Friedman was out of control.
Ted paced his room.
His so-called partner sat on the sofa, acting as if he was the one who’d done something stupid.
For the last half hour he’d contemplated calling Victoria.
But…Friedman had garnered a major lead.
Less than twenty-four hours on-site and she had a serious lead.
He’d scarcely made any headway with the alleged mistress.
But then he hadn’t broken two laws, one being federal, in the process.
“You’re overreacting.”
When he whipped around, he fully intended to glare at her with all the frustration and impatience twisting inside him. Didn’t happen. Instead his traitorous gaze zeroed straight in on those long, toned legs, one crossed over the other, where the hem of her sleek black dress rested provocatively at the tops of her thighs.
“I am not—” with effort he shifted his focus to her face, which was every bit as distracting “—overreacting.” Ted took a breath, ordered his respiration to slow to a more reasonable rate.
He was ticked off, that was all. As if to defy his assessment, his errant gaze wandered back to those shapely legs. Gritting his teeth, he forced his attention upward. He blinked when his eyes committed mutiny once more and stalled on her breasts, encased tightly beneath that slinky black fabric. “We have a certain standard and protocol at the Colby Agency.” He managed to look her dead in the eye at that point. “It doesn’t include breaking the law unless it’s a matter of life and death.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and lifted her chin in defiance. “Isn’t it? Vandiver is planning to off his wife, right?”
Another deep breath. Stay calm. He needed patience here. As much to get his head on straight as to tolerate her attitude. “But the danger is not imminent,” he countered, “and the wife is under our protection. Those terms set the tone and pacing of our movements.”
The Colby Agency had definitely broken laws in the past; just a few months ago breaking some major ones had been unavoidable. But those instances were the exception, not the rule. “As long as the goal can be accomplished the right way, that’s the way we do it,” he added.
&n
bsp; He started pacing again, mostly to prevent staring at any part of her. Around the office she wore slacks and blouses. Not once had she worn anything that drew such attention to her…shape. Was it really necessary for her to be decked out like this now? Clearing the thoughts from his head, he said in conclusion, “I don’t understand why that concept is so difficult for you to comprehend.”
Standard field operating procedures, client relations, all of this had been gone over time and time again since the merger between the Colby Agency and the Equalizers began. Friedman seemed to be the only one who refused to embrace the ultimate objective.
She stood, planted her hands on her hips, accentuating the perfect curve from that narrow waist to gently sloping hips. “Fine,” she announced with obvious disdain. “I got it. Are we going to put together a strategy for tonight or not? Time is wasting.”
The set of those full lips told him she was only saying what he wanted to hear. She had no intention of changing her MO, any more than she planned to acquiesce to his lead.
But she was right.
Whether this involved the wife or not, Vandiver had a clandestine rendezvous tonight, and it was his and Friedman’s job to determine the nature of the meeting.
“Unless another call is intercepted,” he informed her, “we’ll attempt to get close enough to eavesdrop on Vandiver’s conversation with the contact. We’ll snap a few photos and forward those to the agency for analysis and to Rockford, in case the contact shows up at his location.”
Friedman strutted across the room to the wet bar. While Ted struggled to evict from his head the way her hips swayed, she poured herself a double shot of bourbon, neat. He opened his mouth to remind her that Colby investigators didn’t drink on the job, but she started talking first.
“That could work.” She shrugged. “But if we want to ensure success, we intercept Vandiver. I’ll act as the contact. Get the story straight from the horse’s mouth while you keep an eye out for the real contact. Distract him or her if necessary.”
She was unquestionably out of her mind. The flash of fury in her eyes warned that he’d stated the thought out loud.
“You have a better plan?” she challenged, then took a long swallow of her drink.
He crossed the room to stand in front of her, took the drink from her hand and set it aside before parking his arms over his chest to match her stance. “First of all, we’re here unarmed. We don’t know who this contact is. If he or she is local, chances are he or she is armed. In view of the fact that we haven’t been able to assess just how desperate Vandiver is, maintaining a cautionary distance is the proper step. We will prepare for that strategy.”
Though they weren’t armed with weapons, Ted was prepared with the usual intelligence-gathering equipment. All he needed was the place and time—those he had thanks to Friedman—and a proper vantage point for watching and listening. Today’s technology provided ample means to gather the necessary information without face-to-face contact.
She glared at the drink he’d set aside and then at him. “That’s an option, I suppose.” She tilted her face up to his, making him all too aware of just how close they were standing. “But I like my plan better.”
“That’s irrelevant.” He turned away, headed for the bed, where his luggage still lay unpacked, other than the black trousers and shirt he’d selected for making contact with Camille Soto. He dug through the bag and picked out the equipment they would need for tonight. Binoculars. Personal parabolic bionic ear. The lighting in the area would be sufficient so as not to require night vision.
“I should change,” she called out to him.
That would definitely make life easier for him.
He strode back to the sitting room as she reached the door. “Give me five minutes and I’ll go with you.” No way was he letting her out of his sight. She would ditch him and do this her way. He had her number already.
She leaned against the still-closed door and studied him a moment. “I had no idea, Tallant.”
Suspicion narrowed his gaze. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
She lifted a shoulder and let it fall suggestively. “Considering the way you’ve been staring at my legs and breasts, I suppose seeing me naked would be entertaining for you.”
Fury tightened his jaw. Unfortunately, the images sparked by her statement tightened other areas of his anatomy. “We stick together until this is done.”
“Whatever.” She pushed off the door, executed a catwalk strut to the nearest chair and plopped down in it, stretching those long legs out in front of her.
He’d asked for that one. Shifting his focus back to business, he gathered the equipment and reached for a summer-weight black sports jacket. The super ear clipped on his belt like a cell phone. He slid the parabolic microphone into his right jacket pocket, the compact binoculars into the left.
Good to go.
He stalked right past her and all the way to the door. When he opened it and paused for her to precede him, she rolled her eyes and pushed out of the chair. He stared at the ceiling as she waltzed past him. This new turn of events was obviously a very bad cosmic joke.
Or maybe it was merely her determination to ensure he stumbled, giving her the lead.
She could forget about it.
He was in charge.
She would learn that lesson one way or another.
Her room was next door to his. She shot him a look as she inserted the key card and shoved the door inward. Something about the look in her dark eyes warned that she wasn’t giving up just yet.
Reluctance miring his step, he entered enemy territory—her room.
The whir of a zipper jerked his gaze upward—just in time to see the black dress slide down the gentle curves of her body and puddle around the matching black stilettos, which she promptly kicked off.
“I’ll only be a minute,” she called over her shoulder.
Wearing only a lacy black bra and perfectly coordinated thong, she disappeared into the adjoining bedroom.
Sweat beaded on his upper lip. So she was going to play it that way, was she? His unexpected preoccupation with her feminine assets had given her a whiff of weakness in the competition.
Not going to work. He was only human and certainly not blind. Looking at what she flaunted wasn’t a weakness. To the contrary, it was a natural instinct. His being male would not override his professional sense.
He had his orders. She would learn to play by the Colby rules or she would be out the door.
That would make his professional life far less stressful and annoying. Back to normal, to the way things were before the merger.
Then why did he feel as if a rock had just settled in his gut?
No. No. No. He absolutely refused to admit, even to himself, that the woman was growing on him in any capacity whatsoever.
“Ready?”
Ted blinked. The slinky black dress was gone. As were the pointy stilettos. But the new outfit was every bit as disturbing on a purely primal level.
Black formfitting slacks with a matching black scoop-necked silk blouse that molded to her breasts as if she wore nothing at all. Could a person actually wear anything under something that tight?
“You ready or what?” she demanded when he didn’t immediately react.
It took two seconds too long for his tongue to catch up with his brain. “Yes.”
He opened the door, wondering where the heck she’d managed to stuff her cell phone.
As she sashayed past him and into the corridor, he got an answer to the question. The sandals she sported weren’t stilettos, but the chunky heels were sky-high. Leather straps and silver chains wrapped around her ankles. Clipped to a strap on the inside of her left ankle was the black slimline cell phone.
Chances were anyone—males in particular—who caught sight of her wouldn’t be looking at her feet. Not by a long shot. Ted mentally kicked himself for staring at her swaying backside.
This was going to be harder than he’d imagined.
>
Chapter Five
Parisian Hotel
9:30 p.m.
The location was perfect for privacy, slap in the middle of the Strip. Lots of patrons as well as tourists. Easy to get lost in a crowd this size.
Nora strolled along the sidewalk running parallel to the miniature river Seine re-creation. The Eiffel Tower replica, half the size of the original, provided numerous locations for a clandestine rendezvous. Talking Tallant into splitting up for better coverage had been a major pain. He didn’t trust her one iota to stick to his plan.
He was smart.
He shouldn’t trust her to follow a strategy she wasn’t convinced was the best course of action.
She was smarter. Or at least not as attached to the rules.
“Still no sign of the target,” Tallant’s voice murmured in her earpiece.
“Affirmative,” she responded. Tallant hadn’t bothered to thank her for the device she’d installed in Vandiver’s phones. At nine o’clock sharp a command had been sent to the software to block all communications directly to his cell phone and his hotel room. The move wouldn’t prevent a caller from calling his room from a house phone; it would block only calls from outside. But that was no longer an issue since he’d left his room more than half an hour ago.
Nora scanned the crowd. Glitzy evening dresses, jeans and tees. Young and old. Vegas was the hot spot for those from all walks of life seeking a thrilling vacation. Or simply a wide assortment of casinos at which to gamble away their hard-earned cash.
She gave her head a little shake. Never play a game unless you know how to hedge your bet. That was her motto. She’d spent enough time here in the past to know how to win. Observe, analyze, then strike. Any other way that resulted in a win was pure luck.
She had never once depended upon luck.
Her gaze zeroed in on the man with the thinline briefcase making his way through the crowd clustered near the entrance to the Eiffel Tower. For a minimal fee one could take the elevator to the top for the best views in the city.
But the only view Nora cared about was of the man dressed in black trousers and a white shirt. The red power tie was like a beacon. She purposely hadn’t mentioned to Tallant the clothes she’d seen arranged on Vandiver’s bed. She wanted to spot him first.
