by Mary Buckham
Ling Mai paused. “If need be, we will infiltrate the auction, identify the item or items to be sold and report. Hopefully, we will not need to go that far.”
Well, the mission didn’t sound too dicey. Yet.
“So you’re hoping Vaughn can meet up with this hunk here, find out what he’s auctioning and then what?” Alex spread her hands wide.
“We’re planning on her meeting with Mr. Golumokoff prior to the start of the official auction and, based on their past acquaintance, seeing if she can discover exactly what’s being auctioned,” Ling Mai replied.
“And if she can’t?” asked Kelly.
“Then we hope she can procure an invitation to the official auction at Brighton Hall.”
So why did Stone look like a tornado cloud on the horizon?
Leave it to Jayleen to say what everyone else tiptoed around. “So, worst-case scenario, if Vaughn can’t get the info you want by playing footsy with this Russian, we go as a team to where he’s staying and find out what’s up. That’s it?” Jayleen asked.
Vaughn replied before Ling Mai could. “Brighton Hall is not just a hotel. It’s a luxury resort located in the foothills of the Himalayas. It’s eight thousand feet above its nearest neighbors and very isolated, which is what its guests pay for.”
“Precisely.” Ling Mai nodded. “But hopefully we will not be required to go to Brighton Hall where Golumokoff has reserved all eighty-five rooms for his guests.”
“So what do we do? Exactly? And where?” The vagueness was getting to Vaughn, as was Stone’s scowl.
“As we speak, Mr. Golumokoff is arriving in Simla, the capital of Himachal Pradesh in northern India, prior to moving on to Brighton Hall. It is assumed several of the eventual auction guests will be joining him in Simla. Our mission will be to make contact with him there and determine what is being auctioned and who might be the buyers.”
That didn’t sound too bad. Vaughn inhaled her first deep breath since she entered the room. Until Jayleen piped up.
“And if Monroe can’t squirrel the info out of her old lover?”
“Friend, not—”
“Then we find a way to get invited to the auction and get the intel there,” Stone cut in. “But that’s a far more dangerous proposition.”
Great. Obviously, Vaughn had breathed too soon.
“But that’s not likely.” Kelly looked from Stone to Vaughn, a frown darkening her features. “I mean, the real mission is to see what we can do before this Russian gets to the auction location, right?”
“Correct.” Ling Mai’s gaze slipped to Vaughn, but it was Stone who spoke next.
“We’ll be working on the principle that Monroe here can access intel that several international agencies have been unable to ascertain.” Leave it to Stone to cut to the chase and leave everyone silent and looking as if all the air had been sucked out of the room.
“If she is unable to, and Golumokoff moves on to Brighton Hall without her, a location created to be isolated, inhospitable to outsiders and safe from assault, the mission is a failure. No one who is not meant to be in that resort will be there, particularly if Golumokoff uses a facial recognition program to scan not only all guests but all on-site workers for positive verification.”
“So Vaughn must get the information before the auction begins.” Kelly said it as a given, for which Vaughn wanted to hug her if she could move leaden limbs.
“So how does she do that? You want Vaughn to approach this man alone?” Alex asked.
“No.” It was Stone who answered. “I’ll be with her.”
Vaughn watched Alex and Kelly exchange glances before Alex broke the awkward silence. “No disrespect intended, but I thought the point was this guy wasn’t going to let any strangers into this auction thing of his. Why would he let you in?”
“Because I’ll be going as Monroe’s husband.”
Chapter 7
Talk about your bombs being detonated in small, enclosed spaces.
Vaughn broke the weighted silence first. “It won’t ever work.”
“Why not?”
She glanced at tight-lipped Stone, then at Ling Mai.
As if she had time to list the thousand and one reasons. So she started with the easiest. “Because there’s no need to create a sham marriage for me to approach Blade. It’d actually be easier without Stone around.” She waved her hand to indicate Stone and left the obvious unstated—getting info from a man was not easy with another man hovering in the vicinity. It was that simple.
Ling Mai nodded toward Stone. “M.T.’s presence as your husband is a backup measure in case you need to attend the auction itself.”
So the director didn’t have a whole lot of faith in Vaughn’s ability to extract intel in the first place. Nothing like a vote of confidence right off the bat.
Then there was that other issue, the real problem of playing the role of the little wife in Stone’s caveman presence.
Vaughn steeled herself for speaking the truth, hoping it didn’t mean she’d be kicked off the team before their first mission ever commenced.
“Fine.” She kept her gaze locked on Ling Mai. “But what about the fact that no one who’s seen the two of us in the same room would ever believe that we’d be a couple of any kind, much less married?”
Stone didn’t even glance her way.
She waited for a response from Ling Mai, so she didn’t see Stone move. One minute he was a safe distance across the room, the next he was pulling her out of her chair.
“What—”
Her protest was cut short as one of his hands circled around her waist, pulling her close, while the other threaded itself in her hair, tipping her head back.
Then his lips slid over hers.
Just like that, he was there. Hard against her, claiming and branding and tasting and asking before she could think.
Or breathe.
Or protest.
She was drowning before she’d even seen the tidal wave hit. And boy, did it hit. Wave after wave of pleasure, temptation and sweet, sinful seduction.
And then he raised his head, a few inches, staring into her eyes, his own hot and heavy-lidded, the skin stretched taut across his face, the curve of his lips snagging her whole attention.
Someone in the room sighed. And the spell broke.
Ice water against heated flesh.
His eyes became wary and watchful once again. His breathing remained calm and controlled while she gulped for air.
The man had played her for a fool in a room of her peers, but she couldn’t stop her heart from pounding or unfog her brain long enough to tell him where he could shove it.
Ling Mai cleared her throat. “Any other questions?”
Stone released her and stepped back while Vaughn stood there. Simply stood there. A blind, bloody ninny.
“Then Vaughn and Stone will be the primary insertion team, due to leave in twenty-four hours for Simla. Kelly will be inserted into the same hotel as a kindergarten teacher on sabbatical.”
Kelly grinned and nodded. “Great. I can act that part.”
“Alex will be in the field near Brighton Hall.”
Alex looked up. “But I thought we wouldn’t be going to the second location.”
“Backup contingency,” Ling Mai explained. “It’s better to be prepared than to scramble after the fact.”
“Are we talking jungle here?” Alex’s voice rose slightly.
Ling Mai offered a reassuring smile. “The Hall is located in the foothills of the Himalayas. Pine trees, vegetation closer to parts of Colorado or—”
“Idaho?” the beautician said, referring to her home state.
“Yes. The northern area of Idaho.”
“No problem, then.” Alex sat back in her chair. “Even though I’m from the southern part, I know how to function in a forest. I’ll be wherever Vaughn and Stone need me to be.”
“Good.” Ling Mai glanced at the remaining two recruits. “Jayleen and Mandy will be the secondary team,
stationed within an hour of Vaughn and Stone. As a pair, they will be responsible for tactical issues on the ground. Transportation needs, setting up a safe house in case it’s needed, other details.”
“Not a problem,” came Jayleen’s quick reply. “If it’s in a city I can do it, find it, secure it.”
Easy enough for everyone else to accept their job assignments. None of them were being paired with Stone, or played for a fool.
“And what will I be doing in the hotel?” Kelly looked up from her folder.
“Profiling the other guests. You will need to identify anything that will help us anticipate not only Golumokoff’s motivations and next actions, but those of the other guests at the auction.”
Kelly nodded.
All this took less than five minutes to transpire, but for Vaughn it was a lifetime. The others kept their gazes averted from hers, which was just as well. The last thing a fool needed was more public acknowledgment of how stupid she could be.
Ling Mai eyed the recruits.
“This may not sound like a large mission, but it is vital for a number of reasons.” Her glance took in the whole group. “The skills you’ve learned over the last weeks are backup measures. It is hoped you will never need to use most of them on this assignment.”
Guns. Knives. Pressure points to immobilize or kill. In one way, Vaughn was thankful. She didn’t want to see any of her new friends, her teammates, hurt or put in danger. On the other hand, the mission sounded like child’s play. Make contact with Blade, talk to him, find out what was happening. So why the wary glances between Stone and Ling Mai? Why the sham of a being married to Stone? Why couldn’t one of her father’s people do this?
Ling Mai continued, “I want you all to remember that one of your greatest assets as a team is your cloak of invisibility. You are trained as agents, but you are also real women with abilities and talents that you need not forget you possess.”
“What about Stone?” Kelly looked at the instructor. “What’s his cover going to be, besides being married to Vaughn?”
“Good question.” Ling Mai glanced toward Stone. “Fortunately, when M.T. was a field op we created a very strong, very deep cover for him as an import/export merchant.”
“Like in trinkets from China?” Jayleen asked.
“More along the lines of ammunition and arms. He has quite a reputation in the field, and we think it will still serve us well. I’m sure Mr. Golumokoff will be quite aware of M.T.’s cover story.”
Great. Not only was she going to pretend to get married, she was marrying an international criminal. Life was just getting better and better.
“Vaughn won’t be too invisible in her role,” Alex pointed out. “Isn’t she going to stand out?”
“Initially she will be as invisible as any of you going about your daily lives, as she’ll be just what Mr. Golumokoff expects to see. An old friend, nothing else. Like the rest of you, her real-life role will hide her true intentions from those who are not astute enough to look beneath the external. Is this clear?”
Several heads nodded. Vaughn remained frozen in place, not yet ready to hear a pep talk, especially one that cut so close to the bone. She had expected challenges to becoming a full-fledged operative, but she hadn’t anticipated having her past dug up and callously used as a stepping-stone to her future.
Jayleen’s tarot reading echoed in her mind. Troubles are often self-created and only by identifying them can you eliminate repeated negative patterns.
In this case, she did create her own repeated pattern. The fact was that it wasn’t any of the skills she’d learned over the last weeks, nor her determination, nor her innate abilities that were giving her the opportunity she’d always wanted. No, it was her connection to a man from her past. One who had been as attracted to her position as the daughter of a powerful man as he was attracted to her as a woman.
Ling Mai and Stone were using Vaughn as a pawn, nothing more.
No wonder Stone treated her as an interloper. He understood what she was only beginning to comprehend, that becoming an operative was less about her becoming the person she was meant to become and more about manipulation. And it stung. Bone-deep burned, and there wasn’t a thing she could do about the pain except walk away. Which would also mean walking away from her dream.
Ling Mai closed the file in front of her. “If we’re all clear about our roles, then we’ll proceed. This mission will be called Red. Code Red. If it proceeds and achieves its objective in identifying both the item to be auctioned and the players involved in the auction, it will be a success and there will be more opportunities for the Invisible Recruits. Tomorrow, we’ll leave for the Hamptons, where we’ll stage a very public wedding for the purpose of reinforcing M.T. and Vaughn’s cover. Until we meet to leave, you’re dismissed.”
One by one, the team stood and walked from the room until only Vaughn, Stone and Ling Mai remained.
Ling Mai looked from one to the other and paused before speaking to Vaughn. “If you have concerns, I will be available.”
Then she departed.
Leaving only Vaughn and Stone.
Finger by finger, she unclenched her fists.
“You have a problem, princess?” he asked, his tone the same mocking, cynical one she’d heard so often over the past weeks.
Only then did she look at him. No way would she reveal the effort it took her to simply stand there, looking as calm and controlled as he did, not when her insides lay gutted, her dream ash in her throat. But to show any of the emotions tumbling through her meant defeat. And she wasn’t about to give up.
“Just one little problem.” She was surprised her voice didn’t frost the room.
He arched a brow, but gave no response.
“You do that again, Stone, and you’re a dead man.”
“We talking about the kiss?”
“Forget the kiss. It meant nothing. We’re talking about blindsiding me in front of my team.”
“Your team?”
“You heard me, my team.”
“We’re supposed to be on the same team here.” His voice deepened. “You forgetting that?”
“I’m forgetting nothing.”
“Good, then remember this.” His eyes heated as before, when only she could see them. He stepped closer, but she stood her ground, though every nerve ending screamed at her to flee. “You remember that I’m running this op. Not you. I’m senior member here. Not you. If I say jump, you jump. If I say retreat, you retreat.”
“I don’t do retreat.”
“You will if I say so.”
This time, she stepped forward, close enough so that she could smell the scent of his skin, see his breathing grow shallow.
Keep focused, she reminded herself. Their knee-jerk, physical responses and the tension they created didn’t matter. Not with this man.
This was not personal; this was business.
“While we’re setting things straight here, Stone, it’s time you understand one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“I don’t quit.” Something turned molten in his gaze, but she kept talking. “I don’t back down, run away or go crying to Daddy. No matter what you think. You can’t make me. I won’t let you.”
“You sure about that?”
The thinly veiled threat hung there.
Vaughn had once seen two bulls in a field, preparing for battle, massive legs dug deep into the earth, nostrils flaring, shoulders hunched, neither willing to give an inch, both determined to win. She ached for the mindless animals then, for herself now.
“You have no idea what you’re getting into.” Stone broke the impasse, his words a whisper brushing across her raw emotions. “This is not a game.”
“For me it never was.”
If she gave this man an inch, he’d have her off the team and out of the program faster than…well, faster than he’d moved in for that kiss. The one she still tasted on her lips.
He was the one who backed away first.
“Be ready.” He turned on his heel.
“I always am.”
Too bad he didn’t hear her as he’d already left.
So now where was she? Her first mission, her first chance to make a difference, to matter, and she was using her past as a calling card while she acted like Stone’s wife.
Some days went to hell faster than others.
Well, she’d told him she wasn’t a quitter, nor a whiner. He’d made his point, a very public point that he could manipulate her physical responses at the drop of a hat.
Score one for the rock man.
Now it was her turn. She had her own point to make. If Stone could make her peers think there was chemistry between the two of them, then Vaughn could be just as consummate an actress. And more so.
And if Ling Mai thought Vaughn was nothing more than a pawn, playing at being an operative, the older woman was in for a huge surprise.
Vaughn would do whatever it took to prove both Ling Mai and Stone wrong. With a sigh welling from her gut, Vaughn straightened her shoulders.
Twelve hours. She had twelve hours to get her mind where it needed to be to see this farce through. Not farce—mission—and the sham of a marriage along with it. And she’d do it.
She hadn’t made it this far to quit now.
Chapter 8
Vaughn had to give Ling Mai credit—the woman created a huge splash of a public wedding. With paparazzi hanging out on every corner to catch a glimpse of the rich and famous, there could be no better locale to stage an eye-catching spectacle sure to be buzzed across every tabloid before sundown than the Hamptons, playground to the rich, the nouveaux riches and the famous for generations.
She and Stone had only returned from the beachside ceremony less than an hour ago and now they were sitting in a Manhattan sidewalk café, glancing at the first papers hot off the press.
The paparazzi had done their job well. Front page. Large bold type.