One-Click Buy: March 2009 Harlequin Blaze

by Alison Kent

  MAX CARPENTER stretched his legs and leaned back in his chair. The San Pedro Branch of the FBI was quiet. Max had just finished his paperwork on a serial killer that he and his partner had recently caught.

  His phone rang.

  “FBI.”

  “There’s an arms deal going down tonight. Your sister is involved. Military weapons, rocket-propelled grenades, the Ghost and Fudo Miyagi.”

  “Who is this?”

  “Go to the Port of Los Angeles, Berth 271.”

  “Who is this?” he asked again, but the line went dead.

  ALLIE WOKE with a pounding headache and her throat felt raw. When she groaned, someone grabbed her by the hair and jerked her head up.

  “Tell me where she is, Ms. Callahan, and I’ll let you live.”

  Allie opened her eyes to find Drew, Frost, Leila and Jammer and his men all kneeling on the concrete warehouse floor.

  For a moment the heavily accented English didn’t penetrate.

  “Who?”

  “Mr. Kyoto’s sister.”

  Jammer interjected, “This was not our deal, Miyagi.”

  Miyagi nodded and the man standing next to Jammer shoved Jammer across the chest.

  “Mr. Kyoto’s sister, Ms. Callahan.”

  “Not going to happen,” Allie said through gritted teeth, the burning pain in her scalp making her breathless.

  Miyagi pulled her to her feet and she heard Jammer repeat, “This wasn’t our deal, Miyagi.”

  “Go upstairs and bring the Ghost down here,” he ordered as one of his men prodded Jammer in the back. Jammer moved up the stairs, but it wasn’t long before Miyagi’s thug came rolling down the stairs.

  Miyagi pulled Allie up by her hair. Drew’s training rang in her head. Always look for a way out.

  There was a stairway guarded by two men and a door that looked as if it led to a room. To the far side of the warehouse there was plenty of cover. She had to do something.

  Drew’s eyes were locked to hers and she wanted to shout his name. No one moved. In the silence Allie heard the heavy beat of a helicopter overhead.

  “Looks like the Ghost has an alternative plan.” Miyagi cackled. “I’m going to make you pay before I cut out your heart. You’ll beg for death.” He ground the gun he held in his hand against Allie’s temple.

  “No!” Drew roared, and Miyagi turned toward the sound.

  “Ah, the man in the hospital wasn’t yours. Is this your man? I will take him from you.”

  The gun was gone from her head and Allie didn’t hesitate. With all her strength, she used her fist to hit Miyagi as hard as she could in the groin. Miyagi’s shot went wild and he crumpled.

  A shout from the open door to the warehouse startled everyone. “FBI. Freeze.” And all hell broke loose as a burst of automatic fire tore up the warehouse walls.

  Allie ran for the stairs, thinking she might detain the Ghost. Before she reached the first riser, Miyagi was there with a knife to her throat.

  He dragged her up the stairs.

  Drew followed, understanding in a heartbeat what Allie had been trying to do.

  He took the stairs two at a time and hit the door at the top with his shoulder, breaking through. He ran full-out, his only thought to get to the roof.

  He gained the roof, but Miyagi was already halfway across. He was going to take Jammer’s helicopter.

  Then, once again, Allie did something totally unexpected, something Drew wouldn’t have expected a novice operative to do. She went down, just went limp as a wet noodle. Miyagi staggered under her weight and had to let her go to brace himself against the asphalt of the roof.

  Drew shot the knife out of his hand. Miyagi clutched his hand and turned to run for the chopper. But he never got inside—a booted foot sent him careening back.

  The chopper took off and Drew saw Jammer’s face in the glass. He saluted.

  Miyagi recovered quickly and ran at Drew like a wounded bear. With quick jabs and flying fists, Drew met Miyagi head-on.

  Miyagi wasted no time and went after Drew’s vital zones, but Drew blocked every move. With rapid punches, Miyagi delivered a blow to Drew’s midsection that had him grunting and landing on his back. Miyagi tried to bring his foot down on Drew’s head, but Drew rolled out of the way and got back onto his feet.

  He shot out a jab of his own that Miyagi blocked. Drew immediately went for his knee and threw him to the ground.

  Miyagi rose and looked around frantically. He ran for the edge of the roof and the fire escape. Allie was up and running, too.

  “No!” Drew yelled, but it was too late. Allie caught up to Miyagi and threw herself at him. He went down and slid right over the edge of the roof. Allie couldn’t let go in time and she began to slide over with him.

  Drew jumped forward, landing on his stomach just as Miyagi went over. Allie screamed, but Drew managed to grab hold of her shirt, stopping her momentum.

  He held her in midair and crawled back inch by inch, her weight pulling on his shoulder, but he had no intention of letting her go.

  “Drew,” she said softly.

  “Hang on, Tinkerbell. I’ve got you.”

  Drew heard pounding feet and turned to look over his shoulder. What he saw wasn’t good. It was one of Miyagi’s men and he wasn’t going to be happy to see his boss sprawled on the sidewalk below.

  “Allie, hang on,” Drew said as he set her hands on the edge of the roof and rolled to get his gun.

  When he got his hand on the grip, he reached out and pulled the trigger in successive bursts. The gunfire hit the guy in the chest and he went down.

  Allie began to slip and Drew dropped the gun and hauled her up into his arms.

  For a moment he just sat there holding her.

  “Thanks,” she said over and over. “Thank you so much.”

  “Hands up,” a voice said, and Drew turned to see a man with a gun pointed at him. Drew breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed the man’s jacket was emblazoned with the white letters, FBI.

  Allie raised her face from Drew’s shoulder.

  “Max?” she said.

  THEY WERE all taken into custody to keep Gina’s cover intact, but the sting operation to capture the Ghost was a bust. Inside the upstairs room, they found a cardboard cutout anchored to the window and a taped recording of the Ghost’s voice rigged to the loudspeaker. Jammer was long gone with the military weapons, the launchers and all of Miyagi’s money. The guy was slick.

  Allie had a lot of explaining to do, and Max pulled her and Drew into an interrogation room at the Westwood Building to hear every word. To say he was mad was an understatement.

  When he let her go with a lecture, they emerged from the building at 1:00 a.m.

  Mr. Murdock showed up in a black car, and announced, “Gillian’s got a job for you, Drew, if you’re interested. I have a plane waiting to take you to D.C., but you’ll need to leave now.”

  “Give me a minute, Mark. I’ll be right with you.”

  Mark got back in the car and shut the door.

  Drew turned to Allie. “I won’t see you again, will I?” asked Allie.

  Drew stared at her, memorizing her features, especially her lit-from-her-soul smile. Deep inside his chest he felt a tight, hard pain. “I’m sorry, Allie.”

  Her gaze ripped over him, hiding nothing of her emotions. She backed away a few steps. The driver of the car beeped his horn.

  She wouldn’t take her eyes off him. She wasn’t going to make any of this easy. “Take care of yourself, Tinkerbell.”

  Drew turned to get into the car, one hand gripping the frame. He closed his eyes briefly, wanting more and knowing it wasn’t possible. Keep moving. Somehow those words just seemed so hollow. He started to climb in.

  He felt a warm hand on his shoulder and when he turned, she was there against him, her hand sliding up his chest, her fingers at his nape and pulling him down to her.

  Her mouth covered his and Drew trapped her against him, his entire body igniting like
a rocket. He felt that crackling current between them. Intoxicating, leaving him useless and hungering for more.

  Abruptly, she pulled away and moved out of his arms. Drew felt suddenly stripped, empty. Then she walked across the street toward the waiting car that would take her home, never once looking back.

  Drew watched her go.

  15

  HE STOOD by her bed in the dim room. She was checking out today. She slept peacefully. His heart wrenched in his chest at the thought of losing her. Her sister had lied to him, but he couldn’t blame her. It had taken him some time, but he’d found out that Gina had been transferred to Walter Reed Hospital.

  He’d made sure that Gina’s sister would have a chance to get out of that buy alive. He’d jury-rigged a phone to send a taped message to the FBI. Miyagi was dead; both women were free from that threat.

  He wanted to tell her so she could understand. He couldn’t have her, couldn’t care, because they were both balanced on a knife point and because everything he ever wanted was ripped away from him in the end anyway. He didn’t need the pain, didn’t think he could stand it. He could never say any of those things. It had to be a quiet goodbye.

  All he could think was that he wanted to hold her. Just for a while. Just for what was left of the night. He wanted to hold her and kiss her, and find some comfort.

  It wasn’t as if he didn’t need her….

  Longing welled inside him, and he reached out to touch her, to ease the ache, to fill the hole in his heart if only temporarily. He touched her cheek, revelling anew at the softness of it. He leaned down and sampled her lips, soft in her drugged sleep, drinking in the taste more soothing than wine. His palms framed her face. He drank again of her sweetness, his lips trembling on hers.

  “Jammer,” she murmured.

  He shushed her and she settled deeper into a healing sleep.

  Then he gave in to what he needed. He pressed into her and held her to him. His heart beat a painful cannonade against the wall of his chest.

  He held her until he felt the sun rise, then he let her go.

  Outside, much later, he watched her walking out of the hospital with her men surrounding her. Watched her get into a car and drive away. He looked up at the morning sky smudged with the first light of dawn. He wanted to love her. His heart ached for it so, it nearly took his breath. It surprised him after all this time, after all the hard lessons, that he could still be vulnerable. He should have been able to steel himself against it. He should have known enough to turn her away. Yet he had wanted so badly just to touch her, just to know she was okay.

  He had wanted her from the first. Desire he understood. It was simple, basic, elemental. But this…this was something he could never be trusted with again. And because he knew that, he had somehow believed he would never be tempted. Now he felt like a jerk, betrayed by his own heart, and he kicked himself mercilessly for it. Stupid, selfish bastard…. He couldn’t allow himself to fall in love with Gina Callahan.

  She deserved far better than him.

  HOW MANY MORE stinking swamps could this country have, Drew thought as he trudged through more saw grass and standing water. Frost was behind him with an unconscious female DEA agent across his back in a fireman’s carry and bringing up the rear was Leila.

  They had just rescued this agent from some hole Eduardo Fuentes had dug in his compound and called a prison. Drew smiled, remembering the huge explosion that had been a great distraction in rescuing the agent. While the narco-terrorists were running willy-nilly due to Leila’s covering fire, Drew had gotten the woman out.

  Now all they had to do was get to their evacuation point and they were home-free.

  Not a minute went past that Drew didn’t remember his goodbye to Allie. His regrets twisted him up inside.

  A bullet plunked into the water in front of him and Drew yelled, “Get to cover.”

  Leila turned and started to return fire as all three of them ran for the forest. They were very close to the rendezvous point where the chopper would meet them to fly them out of here.

  Frost pushed the unconscious agent at Drew. “Get her out. I can hear the chopper. Leila and I will cover you.”

  Then he was gone, disappearing into the foliage.

  Drew hefted the woman across his back and started running. He was steps away from the chopper when one of Fuentes’s goons came out of the jungle pointing a gun right at him.

  Drew froze. He was a dead man.

  Then the guy folded to the ground and the way was clear. Drew only caught a glimpse of Frost as he moved away. Breathing hard, he slung the DEA agent into the arms of the men standing in the open chopper door.

  He turned to help Frost and Leila, but saw they were already hotfooting it to the helicopter. He laid down covering fire as they jumped to safety. The chopper took off.

  Drew leaned back, and, for a moment, he met Frost’s eyes. He didn’t say a word, but Frost nodded as if he saved Drew’s life every day.

  It was then and there that Drew accepted, finally accepted, that these members of his team were his friends, along with Thad and Jason. He’d been a fool to turn away from Allie, a fool to fear his own emotions. Allie had been right. He could change his life. He was the only one who could change his life. He loved her and as soon as he got back to LA, he was going to tell her so.

  ALLIE STOOD in Lily Walden’s living room.

  “Do you agree with me, Allie? The color just isn’t right.”

  “It isn’t. I agree. I brought a bunch of throw pillows, I’ll get it right. I promise.”

  “I’ve got to go out. I’ll see you later.” Lily left the room and Allie heard the door open and close.

  Throw pillows weren’t exactly what Allie wanted to think about at the moment. Callie was awake and she was coming home today! She and Max were going to meet her at LAX this afternoon.

  It probably meant a trip out to Covina to visit the family, but Allie didn’t mind. In fact, she was looking forward to it. No longer would she feel like a ditz. Drew had helped her see that what she had to offer, in her own way, had merit. She didn’t have to hide herself in her sister’s shadow anymore. She’d performed for her country, and, although they hadn’t caught the Ghost, she’d helped to get rid of a terrible threat to her sister’s life.

  It still hurt to think of Drew, but it had only been three days since she’d last seen him. Still, three days was too many. She prayed once again for his safe return from whatever mission Mr. Murdock had sent him on. She would never forget him and the impact he’d made on her life.

  She sighed and got back to the business at hand.

  Allie bent down and dumped out what she’d brought. She had pumpkin and coral. More pink or more orange. Hmm. She thought either one would go. She decided to flip them in the air and the one that touched down first would be her choice.

  She threw them and turned. Drew stood there with a coral pillow in his hands. “Okay, so maybe you’re not as happy to see me as I thought you’d be.”

  “Drew!” Allie shrieked and ran into his arms. “Ohmigod! I didn’t think…I thought…You’re here.”

  He laughed, but it was cut off. Allie laid her mouth none too gently over his. She was taken with his intoxicating scent of hard, hot male, and the connection that sizzled between them the moment she’d touched him.

  His lips lingered over hers. “I love you, Allie.”

  He loved her. The mere thought made her chest tighten and her pulse race.

  Her eyes popped open. “I love you, too. So much.” Suddenly she noticed the scrape on his face. “What happened? You’ve been hurt.”

  “A mission I can’t talk about. Don’t look so worried. I’ve decided that I want to spend more time with you, rather than traipsing all over the world getting my butt into hot water. I’ve accepted a position with Watchdog to train their new recruits and I’ll have my hands full as Frost, Leila, Jason and Thad have all been hired by them. The director was very pleased with our performance and made them all an of
fer they couldn’t refuse.”

  “That’s amazing. So now I don’t have to worry about you in danger every day. Can’t say I’m sorry about that, but you’ll always be my secret agent. And you’ll always be the man who showed me that I can accomplish what I set out to do, even when it gets hard.” Allie smiled.

  “You showed me that I don’t have to give up what I want anymore. I’ve never followed through with anything and you’ve had to give up everything that meant anything to you. We’ve both learned that we can change and grow. We can do more together than we could alone.”

  “In the past, it’s been safer to walk away, but not this time,” Drew acknowledged.

  “No, not this time, Drew. This time we both stick.”

  “Just think, this all started because I found you in the wrong bed.”

  “Mmm, and I was the wrong sister.”

  “At the wrong time.”

  “But, I found you, my oh-so-right man.”

  “Looks like we’re in the right place now and I have the right sister in my arms. I’m never letting you go.”

  “I’m never letting you go, either, Drew. And you’re sure about loving me?”

  “Yes, Allie.” He chuckled. I’m taking your advice and going after those unknown demons. Change can be very scary.”

  “Demons, huh? More Lake of Fire stuff. That is scary. Can I come?”

  “It could be dangerous.”

  “I’ve faced danger before. I laugh in the face of danger. Ha. So, can I come?”

  “I came here betting on it, Tinkerbell.”

  Epilogue

  “SHE’S PROBABLY going to marry him, Max. You’d better get used to the idea,” Callie Carpenter said to her scowling brother.

  “He better make her happy.”

  “He’s not doing missions anymore. Allie says he’ll be training.”

  “Well, that’ll allow her to sleep at night.” He didn’t like the shadows under Callie’s eyes or the gaunt look of her. “You need more rest. Why don’t you turn in?”