Running Hot

by HelenKay Dimon

  So many orders. So much death. Years of working with one side in some country only to take an abrupt turn and undermine the very people he’d helped put in power a few years later. It was a stupid, endless, and necessary game. He just grew weary of playing.

  Tigana was just one example. Having seen the file with the information about the torture he inflicted on his own people, Ward knew the man needed to be terminated, no matter what the mission objectives were. That didn’t mean they had to leave a trail of bodies across Fiji. The lower the loss of life, the better this would be.

  “These two are going to wake up,” Tasha said as she stepped between the bodies.

  “Lucky for you I brought some of these and gags.” Ward pulled a wad of zip ties out of his lower pants pocket. “Yours, I believe.”

  She fingered the plastic strips in his palm. “We’re not killing them?”

  “Do we need to?” He tensed as he waited for her response.

  She held up a tie. “You’re the one who said any idiot can break those.”

  “Not the way I use them.”

  She smiled. “I’ll remember that.”

  Chapter Five

  FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER, they dragged the bodies into the heavy greenery and Ward started covering the marks left in the dirt. Tasha watched, trying to shake off the prickling sensation at the back of her neck.

  On any other day, any other job, the mission objectives would trump and they’d eliminate potential witnesses. She didn’t see a reason to stray from that now. These two would wake up and cause trouble that far outweighed the potential of their bodies being found or what the combination of heat and animals would do to the corpses.

  She stood there with the unused zip ties hanging from her fingers. “We have a problem.”

  “I can come up with six without even thinking about it very hard.” Without so much as breaking a sweat, Ward covered every footstep. Removed any sign humans once waited there.

  Impressive work but not good enough. The stakes were too high. “We can’t leave them alive.”

  He nodded but didn’t take out his gun or do anything to suggest he agreed. “We need to watch the area from a distance so we can track movements in and out, count guards. Those sorts of things.”

  She agreed with the plans and highlighted one of the “to do” items on the list. “We have to relocate.”

  “You mean move?”

  She wasn’t in the mood for a word debate. “I have a car. We need to pick it up on the way out.”

  “Car as in the truck?” He shook his head. “If so, it sounds like they found it, which means they know what it looks like, and wherever we take it we’ll be tracked. Hell, with the number of people on this island, they could already know it’s yours.”

  He assumed she would be dumb enough to use her own vehicle on this job. Typical. The guy needed a little work on his how-to-play-nice-with-others skills. “Wrong. Tasha the bartender hasn’t done anything wrong and doesn’t drive an SUV.”

  “So, there’s nothing in that vehicle that will get your ass arrested or shot?” He leaned in closer. “If you’re as competent as I think you are, you’ve got weapons stored in there.”

  That show of faith in her skills sounded better. Not great, but better than some of the men she got paired with. “My bum is fine.”

  He frowned. “What?”

  The man got thrown off by simple words. Lethal and stumbling for a British dictionary. For some reason, that combination when mixed with the lean body and escape skills snagged her interest. “The weapons are locked down.”

  “They will take a blowtorch to the truck, and you know it.” Ward pointed to the lifeless bodies next to her feet. “These two are trained mercenaries. They were the scouting party. Can you imagine the skills on the experienced men in the group?”

  Not a bad argument. She was willing to listen to more but held on to her veto. “So, what’s the plan?”

  After a quick check of the direction from which the two armed men came, Ward stood in front of her again. “Secure and hide the bodies as fast as we can, double back to take a look at the truck from an elevated, safe distance, and then once we know who is where and how many we have to shoot through, we hunt down Tigana.”

  He’d clearly given the afternoon agenda some thought. She appreciated his planning. “Sounds like you’ve done this before.”

  “Since the last part of the plan is to run like hell if they see us, you can assume that I’m a professional. Unless you think that’s an amateur move—then forget I said it.”

  Oh my God, that smile. He aimed it at her, and her control puddled at her feet. She didn’t lose sight of her job, but she did entertain the idea of running her hands all over him if they ever finished this assignment and got to a safe place. “We have to move in on Tigana.”

  “We have to live through the next few hours first.”

  “You know how to kill the mood.” But those priorities made sense. They also reinforced her belief that they needed a more permanent solution for the men at her feet.

  He leveled a serious flat-lipped stare in her direction. “Let’s hope that’s the last time you think that about me.”

  “We’re not having sex.” The words shot out before she could stop them.

  “Well, not here.” He glanced around the hard ground. “That would be stupid.”

  “Not ever.” She tried to signal her brain to shut up, but the words kept dribbling out. Last thing she needed was for him to know she was thinking about sex.

  She shifted her weight, and her foot hit against something. Before she could glance down, a hand clamped around her ankle. One hard yank, and her knee buckled. On the way down she reached for the gun Ward gave her, jerking at her clothes to free it and fire.

  The shot stopped her. It rang out, echoing through the rough terrain. The grip on her loosened right as Ward grabbed her around the waist. She picked up the telltale metallic smell she’d been trained to detect and saw Ward’s weapon on the way back down to his side.

  She leaned into Ward for an extra second, more out of shock from being caught off guard by the gunman than anything else. People rarely got the jump on her.

  That would teach her to think about sex on the job.

  She stood up straight and tugged on the bottom of her T-shirt. Retucked it into her shorts. At least she’d changed from yesterday’s outfit before heading out to find Tigana. In this humidity clothes stayed bearable for only so long.

  “I got the impression you were going for minimal loss of life here,” she said as she stared at the two bodies, one lifeless and the other unmoving.

  “No one touches you.” Ward’s eyes burned with a new intensity.

  It sounded like a vow, and she took it as one. Too stunned to say anything else, she went with the first lame thing that popped into her head. “Okay.”

  When the second guy stirred at her feet, she didn’t hesitate. Gun out and barrel down, she fired. The man’s face fell back to the ground with a thud.

  Ward winced but otherwise did not move at her impromptu shot. He looked down at the man with the blood now pooling around his head.

  Ward stepped back and out of blood range. “Was that necessary?”

  No way was she justifying saving them both from a shootout. Still . . . “We both know he’d have somehow gotten free and blown our cover, and that’s if he didn’t kill you first.”

  Ward nodded. “Now he won’t be doing anything.”

  A cryptic comment. One she jumped right over. “Right.”

  “You’re in charge.” He let out a long breath. “So, lead.”

  She almost felt bad about what she was going to say. “I’m happy you remembered that.”

  If anything his frown deepened. “Why?”

  “You need to start digging.” She skimmed the tip of her boot over the ground and listened to pebbles scrape against the sole. “We need these guys buried, and you should hurry.”

  AN HOUR LATER Ward’s muscles still burne
d. Digging in dirt filled with roots will do that to a guy. Without a shovel he had to use her knife to pound at the ground. When she’d joined in, the task went faster but not by much. They’d removed enough soil, rocks, and fallen leaves to put the bodies at only a slightly higher level than the rest of the forest floor. Moving boulders and branches did the rest to provide cover.

  Now they lay next to each other on their stomachs, flat against the ground and hiding behind low bushes on a small hill a football field’s length away from the SUV, which he could only see with binoculars. Good thing she carried a pair with her.

  More strategy on her part. Like how she’d picked a cleared area to park but that the forest walls covered on three sides. That made spotting the gunmen easy. With their vantage point above, there was nowhere for the men to hide.

  She took the binoculars out of his hands and took a long look, scanning the entire range. Her gaze moved, then stopped and doubled back.

  “Well, that’s going to be a problem.” She handed him the binoculars and pointed. “Look about fifty meters to the left.”

  “Any chance you could talk in feet?”

  “No.” She dropped her head between her arms. “You’re right. They’re going to tear it apart.”

  He’d just spotted two more guys approaching with the tools. Looked like a sledgehammer and some sort of bolt cutters. Anything could be in the large bag the one guy had slung over his shoulder.

  Yeah, all trouble, but her comment caught his attention. He glanced over at her. “Say that again.”

  She lifted her head. “Can’t you see—”

  “The part where I’m right.” Out of all the mindless talking and all those nights of flirting at the resort, that sentence stood out.

  She ripped the binoculars out of his hands again. “Gloating is unattractive.”

  Tucking the compliment away, he decided to stop while he was ahead . . . sort of. “How hard is it going to be for them to find the weapons?”

  “By my count we have six, and with them taking turns at tearing it apart, not as long as we need it to be.” She picked up her gun then put it down again. “But tracing the vehicle to me will be impossible.”

  “These guys are trained. They’ll have resources.” Ward thought about tiptoeing through this, then abandoned the tactic. Tasha was bold and tough. She could handle being pushed around on this topic a bit because the truth was he didn’t question her abilities at all. She wouldn’t shrink and wouldn’t cry.

  His biggest worry was that she might kick him in the balls. Good thing he was on the ground.

  She snorted. “Rubbish.”

  The way she said some words kicked his body into wanting mode. Apparently “rubbish” was one of them, which made him question his sanity.

  He forced his mind back to the bigger concern. “And then there’s the part where you’re not at work. On an island this size, that will be noticed. I’m betting you didn’t exactly call in sick before heading out here with weapons at the ready.”

  “That’s the real issue. Someone could and will go looking for me.”

  “Your place is clean?” Had to be. No way would this woman leave important documents or incriminating evidence lying around, but he had to ask. Good or bad, he needed all of the pieces so he could formulate the right plan.

  She shot him a look that said “please” but she didn’t say it. “Of course.”

  “We still have these guys in the way.” Ward took a long look at the men on the other side of this battle. “Even if I was up for killing them without warning, which I’m not, I’m thinking someone might notice six dead guys around a truck.”

  She snorted. “You think?”

  Time for her to face the harsh reality. “Then your cover is going to be blown. We probably have two days.”

  Instead of getting angry or flipping into denial mode, she nodded. “Maybe less.”

  Of course she handled the news fine. That’s what she did. Danger didn’t appear to shake her. She didn’t whine or complain. She adjusted and moved forward.

  That didn’t mean she liked him. Unfortunately. “Don’t blame me for being found out.”

  “I want to.”

  Her grumbly voice made him smile. “I can tell.”

  She looked through the binoculars again. “Is this the part where you tell me to leave the island for my safety?”

  “No.” As if he’d turn away competent help. The CIA might not approve of a joint international operation on this job because of the little problem of losing sight of the missiles, but his boss wasn’t here to whine about protocol, so cooperation was happening. “This is where I point out our window to grab Tigana just tightened. Someone will put the pieces together and figure out you aren’t who you say you are, which means figuring out there are people on this island who might just be here for Tigana.”

  “He could move.”

  Probably inevitable but not Ward’s biggest problem. “Worse, he could start the military coup early, and then we’re all fucked, which is why you’re staying instead of jumping on a plane back to London.”

  She slowly lowered the binoculars. “But you CIA guys get the credit, right?”

  The woman had a thing about the CIA. Ward vowed to break her of that. “I’m not sure why you think I’m keeping score.”

  “You want to be able to go back to Langley and tell everyone you took down Tigana.” Her expression stayed blank. “Isn’t that the goal here?”

  She didn’t get him at all. “I want to leave this country with the Stinger missiles secure.”

  The idea of a wild card narcissist using stolen weapons to shoot down planes and destabilize a country scared the shit out of Ward. Once that war started, Fiji would turn into a battleground. Drunk with power, Tigana could go anywhere after that. He held too many missiles to be ignored. This was a die-to-get-the-job-done assignment.

  “You’re saying the missiles are your only concern here.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

  Looked like they’d need to find some time to work on her trust issue. Damn. “That’s the assignment.”

  “Are we saying the same thing?”

  “Yes.” And they needed to start now. With the SUV uncovered, the countdown had begun. “We need to get secure so I can contact Ford.”

  “I have a place.”

  Now she said that. “Of course you do.”

  “It’s nothing fancy or even all that secure.” Wiggling on her stomach, she pulled back from the edge of the hill. “But you could be more grateful.”

  “Fair enough.” But she wasn’t the only one who could make demands. “Once our location is secure, you should get ready to tell me why you’re so worried about me taking credit for this job.”

  “I’m not.”

  No way was she that clueless. “See, Tasha, if we’re going to work together, we’re going to have to trust each other.”

  She shrugged as she dragged her body farther out of viewing range. “Not necessarily.”

  Crawling on his elbows, he followed her. Once they made it down into a dip and were surrounded by trees again, he lifted off the ground but stopped at a squat while balancing on the balls of his feet. “Right. You only need to trust me if you plan to get out of this alive.”

  “Is that another goal?” After one last scan of the area, she stood up and reached a hand down toward him.

  He grabbed on and jumped to his feet. “Always.”

  “Then tell me the truth.” She didn’t drop his hand or move back. “How many missiles are we talking about? How big is this threat?”

  He tugged her in closer, until they stood only about a foot apart, and rested their joined hands against his chest. “What did your briefing on the weapons say?”

  “Tigana got away with at least thirty.”

  Talk about bad intel. “The number is closer to five hundred.”

  “What?” Her hand and jaw dropped at the same time. “How did that happen?”

  He’d asked that same question a hundred t
imes. He’d nearly been kicked out of a briefing and taken off the assignment after demanding answers. “Don’t look at me. I wasn’t in charge of guarding the Stingers.”

  “And if you had been?”

  That was pretty fucking easy to answer. “Tigana wouldn’t have them.”

  One of her eyebrows lifted. “You’re that good?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  She smiled. “That’s strangely comforting.”

  Good thing she thought so. That might make the next few hours easier. “See, we’re getting along better already.”

  Chapter Six

  TASHA DIDN’T DO wonky things. She’d been trained to handle dangerous and avoid dumb. What she wanted to do with Ward involved a lot of naughty, which made even entertaining it shockingly dumb.

  Here they were in the middle of a foreign country, tracking down a nutcase holding what she now knew to be a frightening cache of weapons. In good news, no one followed them and her safe house stood well off any trail and miles from where they believed Tigana and his men were holed up, planning whatever awful thing they intended to do next.

  Ward wanted to contact Ford. She tried Gareth again without any success. The man had a drinking problem, which was only outdone by his women problem. Tasha hoped he was sleeping off a drunken sex stupor in a bure somewhere.

  That left her and Ward with a few things to do. They needed to take an inventory of weapons and map out a surveillance plan that would lead to securing the missiles.

  All appropriate to the mission. All made sense. The raging need to jump on Ward and strip his clothes off didn’t. With every step they’d taken from the truck site to here, the wanting inside her burned hotter. She chalked the unwanted sensation up to adrenaline or a mix of unspent frustration and energy.

  Whatever the answer, it wasn’t going away—the jumping inside of her, the churning that had her sneaking peeks at him instead of thinking about ways to take down all of Tigana’s men. She needed to burn this off and only knew one way. It was for the job, really. Okay, mostly for her, but still . . .