9 Ways to Fall in Love

by Caroline Clemmons

  “No, you had a plan to become first lady. That was all you. Not my idea.”

  “But it’s for your own good. You have to look stable. Like presidential material. I’m well known in the political arena.”

  “I agree. Now I wonder how a young intern got that popular.”

  “I remained faithful to the party.”

  He chuckled. “I know where your talents lie, Monique, and that could be a serious liability to my position.”

  “Ron, you and I are a team. Together we planned this whole thing. I pulled in the Assistant Director of the CIA. I set up the attack on Chavez’s compound. This has always been my idea.”

  “You still don’t get it. I played you. I’m the puppeteer, not you, sweet cheeks.” He thought for a moment and then he smiled and kissed her lips. He turned to walk away, but paused to look over his shoulder at her. “But, like I said, we’re going to cool it for a while. I don’t want anyone connecting us until after I take office.”

  Think whatever you want, you fucking pig. “Of course, darling. Whatever you say.” She squared her shoulders and smiled. “We’ll make this work out where we both benefit.”

  Chapter 18

  Ron Rafferty met Scott Wheeler on the second floor of the White House. Yesterday they had watched as Frank Hamilton, and Tony Archuletta and the Director of the CIA walked out of the Oval Office after visiting the president.

  “What the hell did they want?”

  “I don’t know,” Wheeler said. “But my guess is to get that Falcon agent released. And you know the president and Frank Hamilton are good friends. Why else would he allow them to keep sticking their noses in the Secret Service’s business”

  “Why does Davis put up with it?” Ron stated.

  Scott put his hands in his pockets. “We just need President Gomez to keep saying he knows of no Falcon agent in Mexico.”

  “Let’s hope he sticks to that.”

  “That idiot is in as deep as we are. He’s been planning this for months. Only thing he doesn’t know is he’ll be taken out as well,” Wheeler said.

  “Do we have a man in Mexico standing by to take over the government in his place?”

  Scott chuckled. “Yes. He’ll only be a dummy president who takes his payoffs and keeps his mouth shut.”

  “I’ll be glad when this is over.”

  “Davis leaves tomorrow. The next day, he and President Gomez will address the crowd with their new plan to cut down on the crime in Mexico, and America will loosen up on securing the borders.”

  “Are you traveling with the president?”

  “Yes.” Wheeler said. “I’ll personally escort him to his room. And later I’ll be standing close when his head explodes. Then I’ll shoot the Falcon agent, who’s already dead, for assassinating the president.”

  “Call me immediately after it’s done.” Rafferty said.

  “Did you line up the sniper?”

  “I took care of that myself. Guy’s on his way.”

  “What about his escape?”

  “The shooter handles everything and doesn’t want us to know details.” Ron looked around. “All you need to know is where the dead Falcon agent will be placed.”

  “I still don’t know how the hell you managed to pull Reed into this. He’s a pretty shrewd character. I’ve never known him take chances.”

  “Never underestimate a stiff dick or a hot young piece of tail.” Ron laughed.

  “Amen,” Wheeler said.

  They both grinned and shook hands.

  “Make sure everything points back to Ben Reed. I want him buried,” Rafferty said.

  ***

  President Davis buried his face in the palms of his hands. This had been the toughest three years of his life. His family had suffered, and his health had suffered, and now his death might be the end result.

  He’d worked so hard to get in a position where he could do positive things for his country. Make changes that would support the middle class, and help those in need. He wanted a strong America.

  A knock sounded at his door. His secretary announced that Ron Rafferty wanted a word with him. He greeted Ron with a smile.

  He’d always admired the way Ron dressed and presented himself. He was the most eligible bachelor in the world. He was handsome, charismatic, and powerful. No doubt if Colin didn’t seek another term, Ron would win the party’s nomination for the next presidential race.

  Davis wondered if he was a traitor as well.

  “I saw Colanglo leaving yesterday.” Ron smiled. “Wasn’t that Frank Hamilton with him?”

  “Yes. Along with Tony Archuletta. They came to talk about their captured agent’s release.”

  Ron chuckled and stuck his hands in his pockets. “Mexican government says there isn’t a Falcon agent on their soil.”

  Davis grinned inwardly. “Yeah, but we know that’s a lie, don’t we?”

  Ron ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know that for a fact, sir.”

  Davis faced his Vice President. “You and Reed set that whole thing up on Chavez, didn’t you?” He stepped closer. “How much have you done to make sure no Falcon agent was left behind?”

  “We checked with all our sources.” Ron’s voice sounded desperate.

  “You have bad sources, Ron. Tony Archuletta told me they have proof Chavez holds one of their agents.”

  Ron paled. “I don’t know anything about that.”

  Davis looked out at the west lawn. “I’m thinking about sending troops in there and surrounding Oscar Chavez’s compound and bringing out every person alive.”

  “I wouldn’t do that, if I were you.”

  Colin turned and looked at Ron. He didn’t look so handsome now. Worried, yes, but the good looks were gone, replaced by a power-hungry politician.

  “Why?” Davis asked.

  “We don’t want to upset the Mexican government. President Gomez could see that as an attack on his country.”

  “He could. But if we found a Falcon agent had been taken prisoner, then what could he say? That he didn’t know? That he was harboring him for some reason? Or that he was only doing what Chavez told him to do?”

  Ron grew uncomfortable. “I’m not sure I follow.”

  “Were you concerned when you and Reed called Falcon Securities in on the raid? Were you concerned about Gomez then? I haven’t heard a word from him about that. Have you?”

  “No, but I think he knows we had no choice in the matter. Chavez was becoming an international problem.”

  “What’s he now?”

  Apparently Ron couldn’t say anything and that greatly saddened Davis. Somehow the young man he’d pulled out of the cornfields of Iowa was in on his assassination plans.

  “You may go, Ron.”

  ***

  Monique walked into the restaurant, saw her brother and immediately made her way to his table in a discrete corner, where their conversation wouldn’t be overheard.

  She tossed her purse in the empty chair, ordered a glass of wine, and looked at her brother. “What do you want?”

  “Qasim sent me to check on you.”

  “Why? I’m doing exactly what I’m supposed to do. I’m fucking every man in sight.”

  When her wine came, she smiled at the waiter, snatched up the glass, and drank half of the contents.

  “Do you have the VP willing to marry you like we planned?”

  “He’s coming around.”

  “We need to know you can pull this off. If you can’t then we’ll find a replacement.”

  Fighting back tears of disappointment, she stared at the brother she had once loved. “You would replace your sister so easily?”

  He looked straight into her eyes, his face devoid of all emotion, sympathy or understanding. “Yes.”

  “I’m insulted.”

  “No, you are a vain little American girl who is not getting her way.” He pointed his finger at her and leaned closer. “You are part of something bigger than you. You are here to help Yous
sef el el Jibar destroy this country from within.”

  “I have done all you asked.”

  “I asked you to make the man fall in love with you and marry you.” He gritted his teeth. “Have you done that?”

  “I’m sure when the time comes he will marry me.”

  Her brother, Asad, leaned back and hooked his elbow over the back edge of the chair back. “Last night after he left your bed, he didn’t return home.”

  “You followed him?”

  “Yes, and you as well.”

  “What?”

  “Do you think we are stupid, Sibal? Everything hinges on you becoming first lady. If you can’t do that, we have no use for you.”

  That crushed her from the inside out. How wonderful to be a woman born in the Middle East where the female gender was valued less than a goat. She’d never go back to Pakistan. She’d die first.

  “Where did he go?”

  “Who, the Vice President?”

  “Yes.”

  “It is none of your business. But if you must know, to the bed of another woman, while you were in bed with another man.”

  “I had some information I needed to get.”

  “What information?”

  “From the double agent Stone left behind on her last mission.”

  “If there was any information we would know it. You are very dangerous.”

  “The man, Howard. He said his partner spilled everything to a prisoner that was released two days before we killed Grimes. This prisoner sent Kate Stone a file about me. I could get deported.”

  “There is no file. It’s a lie.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I would have uncovered it by now if it existed.”

  “But he claimed...”

  “The man was being tortured. He was half out of his mind.”

  She shook her head. “Men don’t lie when Abdula interrogates them.”

  He took her hand. “Trust me. I checked and, there is no file.”

  She stared into his eyes. “Benjamin Reed found a file.”

  Shock registered in her brother’s dark features, only to be replaced by curiosity. “What kind of file?”

  “One that was only half complete. It was in Kate Stone’s files. It reported a woman in the White House working for Youssef el el Jibar.”

  “Was your name in that file?”

  “No, but she knows something.”

  “Something she can’t prove. Besides, her boss is angry with her for failing her last mission.”

  “They don’t know she actually saved hundreds of American lives.”

  “I don’t think she does either,” her brother admitted.

  “Whoever Rafferty is seeing besides me, get rid of her.”

  “We can’t. It’s a senator’s wife.”

  Her gut burned with hatred. She had been betrayed from all sides. For Ron to deceive her like that...

  The waiter came, and she ordered a salad. Always the one with a backup plan, Monique looked at a brother she now hated. She didn’t give a shit about Youssef el Jibar. She wanted to be the First Lady of America, and if anyone stood in her way, she’d destroy them.

  Her overbearing brother would be the first to go.

  Chapter 19

  After making love and spending the night in each other’s arms, Brody hated the thought of letting Kate go. But he realized they couldn’t stay holed up in the small stucco hut forever. He slowly rose, and Kate stirred. Leaning over, he gently brushed his lips against hers and then smiled. “Good morning,” he murmured in her ear.

  Kate sat up and stretched her arms overhead then wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “I didn’t want to wake up,” she said. “I had this dream that we were lying on a beach, sipping tropical drinks.”

  Brody chuckled. “That’s a dream that’s going to come true.”

  Kate chewed her bottom lip, the romantic moment gone. “I have this feeling Oscar is revving up for an attack.”

  “I wouldn’t doubt it.” No matter his feelings for Kate, Brody had to stay in the moment and find a way to get A.J. back. “I’m worried, too.”

  Brody caressed her arm, hating that A.J. could be getting the hell beat out of him. But, if Tony and Frank were right, A.J. mattered too much for them to harm him badly.

  He forced a smile as Kate looked at him. Gently he brushed her blond hair from her face and kissed her mouth. She tasted warm and sexy as hell. “Why isn’t a beautiful woman like you married?”

  She licked her lips and lowered her lids. “Same reason as you. The job.”

  “Yeah, it kind of sucks.”

  Her gaze met his and constricted his chest while revving up his heart rate. “The divorce rate in my sector is seventy percent. Those aren’t good odds.”

  “I’m not home enough to have much of a stable relationship,” he said, his hand gently cupping her cheek. Brody loved the deep blueness of her eyes. And pretty much everything else about Kate.

  “I never considered getting married. When I became a CIA agent, I just took for granted it’d never happen. So, I threw myself into my job and never looked back.”

  “I was a Ranger in Special Forces before I joined Falcon. My biggest fear was I wouldn’t be coming home. I’d leave some poor woman behind to raise a family on her own. My mother went through that, and I don’t want my kids growing up without a dad.”

  “What happened to your father?”

  “He worked a second job as a security guard for a shipping company. One night the old guy went to work and never came back home. It appears he just walked away.”

  “Did something happen to him?”

  Brody kissed her nose. “No, the police investigated and never found a thing.”

  “That sounds strange.”

  Brody rolled onto his back and folded his hands behind his head for a pillow. Talking about his dad made him angry and uncomfortable. The deadbeat walked out of their lives, leaving a void nothing could fill.

  “It nearly killed my mother. She had three kids, no job, and her only family was a sister in Dallas. I became the man of the house at fourteen by working two part-time jobs and going to school. It was tough. At eighteen I went into the service.”

  “No college?”

  “I got that later. First I had to take care of mom and the girls. While I was in the military, I sent my mom every dime I made. Borrowed money for the girls to attend and graduate from college.” He rolled onto his side. “Finally my mom managed to open a small diner in our hometown. She’s doing well now. She always was a great cook.”

  “That’s a lot of responsibility for a teenager. I thought the guy who broke into my house and kidnapped me might be a loose cannon. Now it sounds like you’re the responsible one.”

  He laughed. “That doesn’t mean I haven’t screwed up royally several times in the past. My motto is ‘just do it and beg forgiveness later’.”

  Kate laughed. “So, why are we talking marriage?”

  He shrugged.

  Her smile faded, and she looked away. “Best we stop.”

  “Yeah,” Brody said. Changing the subject he asked, “Who do you think took A.J.?”

  “Someone in this village has to be involved. A.J. didn’t just walk away,” Kate said.

  “My first guess was Alberto. But he seems more determined than anyone to free his people.”

  “I agree. Alberto is no traitor. Before we leave this desert, Brody, we have to find out who was behind A.J.’s disappearance.”

  “If someone else is in on this, it would be an advantage if we could get some information before everything goes down.”

  “Where do we start?”

  ***

  Angel Diaz picked up his phone and called the person who’d planted him in Oscar’s army to make sure the drug lord didn’t do anything stupid. After all, Chavez was their money man. Without him, too many things could go wrong.

  “I found a little information today. Put out feelers to my buddy in the NSA. It appears Monique Suth
erland is actually Sibel Said. She could be a plant for Youssef el Jibar’s network.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Fuck yes, I’m sure. You think I’d call you if I didn’t trust my sources?”

  “How?”

  “My guess is someone high in the food chain created a new identity for Said and put her to work at finding out what she could do to help el Jibar hurt America.”

  His contact cleared his throat. “How are you involved?”

  “She called me,” Angel said. “Wants me to kill Kate Stone. I think Stone must know something.”

  “They’re all fucking bitches.”

  The phone went dead and Angel looked at the black screen. Monique a terrorist operative? How did killing Stone play into this? Wondering what to do, he left his bedroom and went looking for Oscar.

  Now he would have to kill Stone. He had no choice. But it wouldn’t be because Monique had asked him to do it. Stone had to die because they couldn’t afford any loose ends.

  To kill the president was one thing, but to destroy America would be of no value to their future. Angel had to see how best to use the information he’d just obtained. Stone might not be the only woman he killed.

  ***

  Stockholm, Sweden

  Albin Burr stepped on the Arlanda Express that would connect with the Nykopling-Stockholm rail service and arrive at the Stockholm-Skavsta airport. The whole trip took an hour and thirty minutes before arriving at his departure gate.

  Wearing a light jacket, Albin carried only the necessary papers to get him to El Paso, Texas and back. To keep from being scrutinized too closely, he carried a small carry-on piece of luggage containing a change of clothes. When on a mission he made sure nothing could be traced.

  Everything for the job would be purchased there, the sniper rifle, the scope, the ammunition, and even the gloves. He carried little into the country and always left what he’d bought.

  When the train pulled to a stop, Burr stepped off the floor-level platform and into the busy terminal. No one noticed a man of medium height, medium build with light hair and blue eyes. There was nothing memorable about his appearance or the clothes he wore. Nothing anyone would identify.

  And he wanted to keep it that way. He was simply a gun for hire. If not him, then anyone of a hundred other assassins would gladly step forward and take the job. The pay made every risk worth taking.