Shattered Duty

by Katie Reus

  Blinking, he realized he’d been staring at the bed as she packed. Staring and trying not to imagine what Selene would look like splayed out for him. That little peek of her naked body in the bathroom hadn’t been nearly enough. He wanted to savor every inch of her until they were both breathless and sated.

  Lust. Simple lust, he reminded himself. That was all this was.

  She stood near a simple four-drawer dresser in the small room of the condo. She hadn’t said but he knew the NSA had gotten this as part of her cover. It was sparse and set up like an impersonal hotel. He’d stayed in places like this more than once.

  “Just wondering if you called in a team to pick me up,” he said dryly.

  She snorted and turned back to the top drawer. “You seem to think very highly of yourself, Mr. Lazaro.”

  The way she said his name made him grin, even though nothing in the world should be able to make him do that now. “Don’t deny Wesley wants me.”

  “He does, but not for the reasons you think. He’s worried about you.” The note of truth in her voice as she pulled out a pair of panties shook him. He ignored the black scrap of material and pretended he wasn’t affected by thoughts of what she’d look like wearing it. Or nothing at all.

  Levi didn’t want to hear that Wesley cared about him. His wife had been murdered and Wesley had done nothing. Okay, that wasn’t true, but he hadn’t done enough. Until everyone involved with Meghan’s murder was dead, Levi would never rest.

  Before he could respond, she continued, “Besides, we’ve got a lot more important things to worry about than you.” She pinned him with that pale stare, her expression fierce. “Do you know how many innocent people will die if we don’t stop Tasev?”

  He shook his head because he didn’t know shit about Tasev other than he might have been involved in Meghan’s death. “You know I don’t.”

  She watched him for a long moment, as if trying to read his mind. “Would you give up revenge if you could save hundreds of thousands of lives?”

  “Yes.” The word was out before he could think to censor himself. The truth of his statement shocked the hell out of him. Would he give up revenge for innocent people? He’d thought his answer would be no, but saying that to Selene felt too wrong.

  “You seem surprised by that answer.”

  He frowned. What the hell was happening to him? He shouldn’t care about anyone or anything other than giving Meghan justice, but at the end of the day if he let people die, Meghan would have hated the man he’d become. She’d been so damn patriotic. Just like the woman in front of him watching him with curiosity at the moment. “I am,” he muttered.

  “Glad you haven’t lost yourself completely.” She paused again, watching him with those pale eyes he swore could see straight to his soul. He was under the impression she didn’t quite believe him either—and that annoyed him. “We got a message from a man named Dr. Claus Schmidt that he’s being held captive by Tasev.”

  Levi nearly jerked at the name. Dr. Claus Schmidt. This was the connection, the verification he’d been looking for. Meghan and Schmidt had been friends and she’d been going to meet Schmidt the day she’d disappeared. And the man was being held captive by Tasev? Forcing himself to remain still and seemingly unaffected, Levi stood there and listened as Selene continued.

  “Tasev is forcing him to create a toxin—well, he’s created the toxin already, just not the antitoxin. He plans to attack American water supplies. There would be no way to contain it once it’s out there. Unfortunately we don’t know where or when he’s planning his first strike. Even though Schmidt didn’t say it, the only reason Tasev would want the antitoxin would be for blackmail purposes so he not only wants to kill thousands of people, he wants our government to pay for the cure.”

  A toxin like that could cripple the country in more ways than one. The ripple effect could be catastrophic. And this could be the monster who’d had Meghan murdered. Levi held on to his rage, but he couldn’t ignore something like this in the face of his own needs. How many people, mothers, fathers, children could die? Looked like he wasn’t a complete monster yet because he just couldn’t turn his back anymore. If he did, he’d be no better than Tasev. Damn it. He scrubbed a hand over his face. “So why are they sending you in, apart from what you’ve already told me?”

  Holding on to a change of clothes, she sat on the bed. “Basically I just need to see where his base of operations is. I don’t know that I’ll even get to go there the first meet, but if I can see him face-to-face, I can plant a tracker on him. Or at least get a better handle on what we’re dealing with. Maybe even narrow down his whereabouts if I can’t plant a tracker.”

  “That’s a big risk.” And Tasev would no doubt be wary of that. Levi didn’t like the idea of her putting herself out there like that. Which was fucking stupid. He shouldn’t care one way or another. And he didn’t. Yeah, keep telling yourself that.

  She shrugged. “It’s worth it. Once we know where he’s operating I can likely hack his system and we can get a team in to save Schmidt and eliminate Tasev.”

  It all sounded straightforward—on paper. But they both knew things rarely went that smoothly. “Who’s your backup?”

  “Tasev is very particular. I’ll only be able to bring one guard with me.”

  “You’re taking me.”

  She didn’t even blink at the bald declaration. “Tell me the details of your ID.”

  He paused and he knew she realized he was weighing the pros and cons of telling her. There weren’t many pros, but if he told her, she would bring him in. Otherwise, he wasn’t going to the meeting. “Isaiah Moore. Legitimate businessman with shady partners. I’ve supposedly helped launder money and used various companies I own as front businesses. I keep myself diversified and there’s no one I won’t work with if the price is right. One of my businesses is a pharmaceutical company. I’d planned to approach him to partner with me using a different angle, but after what you told me about Schmidt and this toxin, we can use it to our benefit.” Before, all Levi had really needed was to get close enough to the guy to discover if he’d been the man to order Meghan’s rape and murder. Because Levi hadn’t cared if he died then. Now . . . he still wasn’t sure he cared about his own life but he sure as hell couldn’t let hundreds of thousands of others die because of his own need for vengeance.

  Her eyes narrowed. “How?”

  Levi shook his head. “No way. You bring me and we play things a little differently. Once we’re in we’ll make it clear that the meet was supposed to be with me from the start. Tasev will be pissed at first, but he won’t be surprised that someone like me used a decoy to meet him.”

  “So I supposedly procured the meeting and I’m what, your backup?”

  He nodded. “And my lover.” It would be easy enough to play the part and the plan that had started to form in his head was perfection—if Tasev went for it. The lover part wasn’t necessary but it would make their story more believable and Levi wanted an excuse to keep his hands on Selene. “You’ll need to start calling me Isaiah.”

  “That won’t be a problem, but I’m going to need all the details before I agree to this. Otherwise I won’t know how to act or could say the wrong thing.”

  Though he didn’t want to reveal all his cards in case she decided to run with his idea and use it as her own—and cut him out in the process—he knew he’d have to trust her with at least that much.

  Trust.

  Still a foreign concept but one he would have to risk because the payoff could be everything he’d been working toward for two years. “With my plan we’ll both get what we want.” He crossed the short distance between them and sat next to her, invading all her personal space as he inhaled that sweet peaches and cream scent that drove him mad with desire. Reaching out, he cupped the back of her neck as he’d done last night. Her eyes narrowed as she realized what he was doing. Clearly she didn’t understand he just wanted to touch her. He could read her expressions well enough now that h
e’d know if she was lying.

  Using his forefinger, he felt her pulse on one side of her neck, but gently stroked the other side with his thumb. He had no reason to other than he wanted to touch her. He kept his gaze on hers, watching the way her pupils dilated. “Swear you won’t fuck me over,” he said softly, needing her to be real with him.

  “I won’t.” The truth. It was in her beautiful eyes and the steady beat of her pulse. Yeah, it wasn’t scientific but he’d been dealing with truth and lies for so damn long he knew when someone was fucking with him.

  “Tell me something real about yourself.” The words were out before he could stop himself. It annoyed him, but he wanted to know more about her.

  She blinked, clearly surprised by the change in topic. “Why?”

  “Why the fuck not?” The question came out harsher than he’d intended.

  Her jaw tightened the tiniest fraction, probably because of his tone. “You first. Something not in your file.”

  He paused, thinking. It was clear she had trust issues, which was just as well because he did too. “I never planned to work for the NSA or any other government agency after I got out of the Marines.”

  Surprise flickered across her face. “Really?”

  He nodded. “Yep. When Wesley approached me I couldn’t turn him down, but that had never been part of my life plan.”

  “What did you plan on doing, then?”

  He shrugged. “I hadn’t figured it out but I knew I couldn’t be in SF forever and I wasn’t going to sit behind a desk later. I . . . always loved horses.” His grandparents and parents had had them and he’d planned to raise them, breed them, maybe even have a farm. Truthfully he’d never thought too far ahead, had been so damn focused when he’d been in the Corps but settling down like that had always been in his periphery.

  She paused, watching him, as if debating what she was going to tell him. “My first field op for Wesley was when I was twenty.”

  He didn’t think she was that much older now so the fact that she was running an op alone only a few years later—unless he was wrong about her age—was impressive. It wasn’t exactly a surprise though. It would have been if she’d been male. Levi knew that men tended to be recruited later—usually after military service. Not that women in the military weren’t recruited, because they definitely were, but most agencies scooped up their female agents right out of college. But twenty was fucking young. “What type of op?”

  “Elimination.” She looked at him almost defiantly as she said it and he could tell she wasn’t apologetic about it at all. And that was way hotter than it should be.

  “How’d you do?”

  She seemed surprised by his question, but relaxed a fraction, letting out a self-deprecating laugh. “Well enough, but nothing really prepares you for the real- world situations other than being thrown into the deep end. I seriously thought I was going to pee my pants.”

  He snorted at her words. “You must have done better than ‘well enough’ for Wesley to send you on this op by yourself.” He was fishing for more information, something she probably knew.

  “Yeah.” She didn’t take the bait though, just dropped her gaze to his mouth. She swallowed hard and that awareness between them took on a life of its own.

  The air seemed to crackle with intensity for a long, heated moment. Her blond hair was rumpled and hanging free around her face, making her look like she’d just come from the beach. Or a long night of raw fucking.

  The images that thought evoked made him go hard all over. Against his will, he started to lean forward. The need to possess and taste this woman was like an addiction. She was too likable, too . . . something. He didn’t understand what it was, wanted to convince himself that this was just physical. At first it had been, which made him feel shitty and guilty for reasons he didn’t want to think about, but now . . . he found that he just plain liked this woman. She’d unabashedly snooped through his computer, made fun of his taste in music, was self-deprecating, and—

  When she moistened her lips his cock jumped against his zipper. God, he hadn’t been with anyone since Meghan. That had to be the only reason he was so insane for Selene right now.

  Sure it is, liar.

  He could tell himself whatever he wanted, but he knew the truth. He hadn’t wanted any woman, not the professional Jasmine who looked like a pinup model, no one. Until Selene.

  A buzzing sound hummed through the air, making them both freeze. They’d been at her place only a few minutes and she hadn’t checked a cell phone but he guessed that’s what it was. Sighing, her expression filled with regret and maybe a little bit of relief, she pulled away from him. Instantly he missed the simple feel of her skin against his hand and resisted the urge to draw her back to him.

  When she opened her nightstand drawer he saw multiple cell phones. She pulled out one and her expression went deadly. “Looks like we might be too late to stop Tasev,” she said with a savage curse.

  Chapter 10

  Interrogation: questioning/interviewing suspects, victims, or witnesses with the purpose of gaining information or a confession.

  Selene’s heart was an erratic beat in her chest as she scanned the previous texts from Wesley. She should have grabbed her phone as soon as she’d stepped inside the door but she’d wanted to put on clothes that didn’t smell like Levi.

  9-1-1. Call me. Target sent out teams.

  That was all the last text said. Since Wesley wasn’t prone to exaggerating she knew something was seriously wrong. Tasev was their target and if he’d sent out teams that was pretty much the worst-case scenario. Without giving Levi a chance to protest, she called her boss. She knew Levi would be annoyed but she didn’t care. Just because she was bringing him in on this op didn’t mean she was going to lie to her boss.

  “You okay?” Wesley asked, picking up on the first ring.

  “Yeah.”

  “Where are you?”

  “The safe house.”

  “Good. We got an anonymous tip that Tasev was planning to poison two water supplies with that toxin. We stopped him before that happened.”

  “You have him in custody?” Hope blossomed in her chest for a moment. This could all be over and if Tasev had been behind Meghan Lazaro’s murder he’d pay for what he’d done in addition to all his other crimes. Levi might not get the revenge he wanted but he’d be safe while Tasev was punished.

  “No, just some of his men. None of them are talking. Yet.” There was a dark note in Wesley’s voice that he rarely used.

  If anyone could get those men to talk it would be Wesley, but some people just never cracked. Especially if they were more scared of their boss than anyone else. “My meet’s still in place tonight.” She hadn’t heard otherwise from the German so she was going on the assumption that it was. If Tasev’s men had been arrested though, she knew the man would be on edge. Which could make him unpredictable.

  “I’m sending Ortiz with you.”

  Selene shot a look at Levi, who was leaning against the doorframe. His stance was relaxed and casual but he looked like a lion, ready to strike. He was going to be pissed at her, but . . . “I’ve already got someone going with me.”

  Levi straightened, crossing his arms over his chest as Wesley said, “What?”

  “Levi’s with me now and if his cover ID is as good as he says, I think we should go with him.” She held up a hand to Levi when he took a step toward her, his body rigid. If he was coming with her, they were doing things her way.

  “Are you under duress?” Wesley asked quietly, the tension in his voice palpable.

  “No.” They had a code word for that if she ever was. All agents did.

  Wesley was silent for a long moment, likely weighing if she was being honest or not. “Put me on speaker.”

  Levi was glaring at her, but she ignored him and pressed the speaker button. “We all want the same thing,” she said to both of them. “Well, mostly. Now talk,” she told Levi.

  His jaw clenched and he ne
ver took his eyes off her. “Burkhart,” he said tightly.

  Selene resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Using Wesley’s last name as a way to distance himself from the man. So transparent.

  “Levi.” Wesley’s greeting was just as short and she could practically see the wheels turning in both their heads.

  Levi was likely calculating how long it would take Wesley to send a team to the safe house to bring Levi in—and Wesley was likely calculating the same thing.

  “I know what you’re both thinking so stop it. Wesley, do you think you’re going to crack Tasev’s guys before my meeting tonight?”

  “No.” The word seemed to be torn from him, as if he didn’t want to admit it.

  But there it was and the only answer she needed. “Okay then. So we’re operating as if this meet is still going through. Multiple people saw me and Levi leave Shah’s party last night. I don’t think we were tailed, but it’s clear we know each other and if Tasev had eyes at the party—and I’m sure he did—Tasev will know that The Wolf left with someone.”

  “What’s your ID?” Wesley asked, his question clearly for Levi.

  Levi didn’t want to answer, that much was clear, but he said, “Isaiah Moore. From Chicago.”

  Wesley wouldn’t need more than that. Selene could have run all the information herself, but she wanted a third party at the NSA to do it. Wesley needed to feel secure in this decision too. “Hold on.” Wesley put them on hold and Selene knew it was to have someone start running the alias’s records. Probably Karen. That woman was a genius. Moments later Wesley was back. “Convince me why I should send you on this op instead of someone else.”

  “First, I’m better trained than anyone you’ve got, except maybe Jack—and he doesn’t work for you anymore.” From there Levi repeated what he’d told her about Isaiah’s business dealings, ending with, “I’ll approach him with an unrelated business opportunity, but I’ll mention the pharmaceutical company I own in the conversation. Almost as an afterthought.”

  Selene frowned as she started to comprehend what Levi was saying. Or at least guess the direction. When dangling bait, you had to make sure your target thought he was the one who was targeting or using you. That he’d come up with the idea on his own, not been manipulated into making the decision you’d wanted all along. It was a fine line playing that game, especially with someone as smart and vicious as Tasev.