by Regan Black
“This is just a red herring. Trust me.”
His nod was nearly imperceptible. He peeled away the top layer of bread and started with small bites of cheese and thinly sliced ham.
“What’s going on with you?” she queried.
“Side effect of pushing myself.” He struggled with a bottle of water, scowling when she took it and twisted off the cap. He drained it. “Thanks.”
“Why does it wipe you out?”
He shrugged and ate a little more. “Metabolism or something. The doctors weren’t motivated to explain things to us.”
Once they were settled for the night, she hoped he’d be strong enough to fill in the glaring canyons between the scattered details she’d picked up since Scott had knocked on her door. Although she commended Danny’s honorable intentions, she thought odds were low he ever would have gathered enough proof to convince anyone in law enforcement about UI’s experiments.
Not without losing himself in the process.
The room phone rang once. A few seconds later, it rang twice more. “That’s our ride.” She stood up, giving him a long look. His color was improving, but she wouldn’t put money on him to win a tussle with a kitten. “Can you walk?”
He nodded, wrapping up the sandwich in the linen napkin. He groaned a little as he hauled himself upright.
“Good. The alternative was strapping you to my luggage.” As she’d hoped, the quip earned a rusty laugh.
She could tell he’d started listening for any communications aimed at them again, but he kept nibbling on the food as they made their way out a side door to meet the big black car waiting for them. Sliding into the seat, she never failed to think this vehicle could have been an asset in a tank battle.
“Thanks, Antony.”
He looked past her, giving a gimlet eye to Danny. “You okay, little Spencer?”
She cringed at the nickname. “I am now. Once we’re tucked in, can you make sure I get a clean cell phone?”
“You bet. Anything else?”
She glanced over her shoulder. “Maybe some chicken parm from mama’s?” She and Danny could both use the comfort food.
“All the way?”
That included a bottle of wine, fresh herbed bread, and tiramisu. “Please. For two.” Anything they didn’t eat tonight would make a hearty breakfast. If it turned out they stayed longer, Antony or any of his siblings would see they had whatever they needed.
“Consider it done.”
“You’re the best.” She meant it. Antony and his family loved their brother, but hadn’t been blind to his faults. Or hers, she thought with a smile. Fortunately, when she joined the FBI, they took it as an honor to support and help her since she had no more family of her own. They talked a big game of family business and connections, but they operated above board these days. By sheer number alone they were an intimidating group en masse and from grand-mama down to the smallest child they were gorgeous, smart, and tenacious.
“You deserve nothing less.” He didn’t even pretend that he wasn’t tossing out a threat.
“Antony, he’s a witness,” she said under her breath.
“If you say so.”
“I do.” The last thing she needed was Antony suggesting that she was using the suite for a personal tryst.
He pulled to a stop in front of the hotel and once he’d helped with her luggage, he pulled her into a hard hug. “Be careful, my friend.”
“You as well.”
“Boyfriend?” Danny asked when the black car zipped away.
“No.” She shrugged the tote over her shoulder and gripped the handle of her luggage, turning for the lobby.
“Old boyfriend?”
“No.” She waited until they were in the elevator. “Family for lack of a better word. For the record, we have a safe house here and witnesses answer my questions, not the other way around.”
“I thought your team was family,” he said as they exited the elevator on the fifth floor.
His accurate observation unsettled her. “They are. You know how it is with your SEAL team another facet of family, just different from the family you grew up with right?”
“I grew up a foster kid with plenty of homes, no family,” Danny said.
“Oh.” She slid the key into the lock. She’d grown up in one family, but being the only responsible person in the house meant she’d never been much of a kid.
He reached around her, holding the door open to make it easier for her to enter with her luggage. It dawned on her then he didn’t have any luggage of his own. She’d have to make a call to the front desk for clothing and the basics.
Hardly a fair trade considering what she was about to ask of Danny. She wanted all the intel he claimed to have on this completely black, off-the-books program agency. No one should be allowed to operate with this latitude. Questions danced on the tip of her tongue, but seeing signs of exhaustion, she decided to change tactics.
She rolled her suitcase to the doorway of the bedroom on this side of the suite, dropping her tote beside it. “What can I do to help?”
“Nothing.” He shook his head and leaned back against the couch as if the movement wiped him out. “Just need time, food and rest. Thanks for giving me time.”
“More food is on the way,” she promised. Tilting her head toward the opposite bedroom, she told him he could sleep.
“No. We might have been tailed.”
“We weren’t. This is the most secure place I know.”
He slumped onto the couch, bracing his elbows on his knees. “If it’s tied to you in any way, Messenger will find us.”
She stepped closer. “I left him a red herring at the first hotel.” She laid a hand on Danny’s shoulder, willing him to understand. “There is no record that ties this suite to me or the FBI. You’re safe, Danny. Trust me to keep watch.”
The knock on the door brought him to full alert again. “Food,” she said, patting his knee. Good grief the man was solid and strong. She struggled to ignore the zip of attraction under her skin. He was a suspect and a witness and an operative who’d been given orders to kill her.
Danny insisted on waiting just out of sight, gun drawn, while she opened the door to Antony and the rich, spicy aromas of the bags of food in his arms. Danny hid the gun while she and Antony set everything on the dining table. “Thanks, Antony.”
“One more bag.” Antony handed her a backpack. “For your guest.”
She gave him a quick hug, asking him to be careful and let her know about anything, big or small, that might be out of the ordinary. “I expect we’ll be here for a couple of days,” she said. “If it becomes a problem, tell me.”
“Never.” He pulled the door closed and she threw the deadbolt, turning to watch Danny unpack the containers of nourishing comfort food. She brought over plates for each of them. “Go on and eat. I’ll open the wine.”
They’d eat, he’d sleep if necessary and tomorrow she would start sorting out what he’d been through since being effectively stolen from his Navy SEAL team.
*
Danny tried to remember his manners as he dug into the amazing, flavorful food. With every bite he felt his body recovering from the strain of trying to hear everything early enough to make a difference. Cautiously, he peeked at Chloe as she poured a second glass of wine. She was being far more patient than he expected.
He sat back. “You want answers.”
“There’s time to get into it tomorrow,” she said.
He wished he agreed with her. “I’d rather start tonight. UI puts tracking devices in their operatives.” Reaching back, he worked a muscle in his neck that had been tweaked in the car crash. “Mine has always been unreliable and I purposely fried it, but I want you to understand they could use me to find you. Find this place.”
“You’d rather do this tonight?”
“Yes.”
“All right.” She sipped her wine and popped another bite of bread into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully. “Do you mind if I recor
d our conversation?”
“Please do.” He didn’t want her to miss a single detail of his story, hoping it would help those still in the lab and save others from Messenger. “Ben and Scott got away, but there are so many others who haven’t been so lucky.”
“It’s hard to believe the man just does what he wants and never tangles with law enforcement,” she mused.
“He has money and influence and a reach like I’ve never seen.” And Danny had worked with CIA officers. He focused on the precise, efficient movements as she booted up a computer and placed a microphone in front of him. He’d watched her do the same thing over and over again through the course of the investigation into the compromised bid.
“Do you know anything about how he’s funded?”
Danny shook his head. “That’s a better question for Ben and Scott.”
“Assuming we see them again, I’ll ask.”
He suspected they’d see both men again soon, but he kept the theory to himself for now.
“You said you were shot and pulled out to sea during a mission. How did Messenger manage to snag you?” she asked.
He got up and poured himself a tall glass of water before returning to the table. “It’s not a great memory,” he admitted. “I thought I’d been shot by the enemy. Months after I agreed to give Messenger five years in the field, I learned he’d arranged for me to be shot. They must have had an underwater recovery team who dragged me back to land before I drowned.”
Her chin dropped. “So he saved your life so he could start experimenting on you.”
“Yes,” he replied though it wasn’t really a question.
Danny gave her all he could for a little more than an hour before asking for a break. She graciously turned off the recording, though he knew she had days of questions left for him.
She surprised him, urging him over to the couch and following with a slab of tiramisu on a plate, with two forks. Placing the dessert between them on the coffee table, she sat on the floor and carved out a healthy bite.
The soft moan she made as she closed her lips around the treat was so sensual, so tempting, a thousand images flooded his mind. Very few of them had anything to do with food. He wanted to know what else would urge her to make that sound.
Clearly, he needed to use his down time in the field more effectively. He reeled in his wayward thoughts as they shared the dessert and chatted about sports, the city, and the potential with the drone project.
“I don’t know why Messenger wanted to derail that bid,” he said absently. “But you should keep an eye on competition popping up. It’s possible he’ll find a way to buy out the developer too.”
“Consider me warned.” Her eyes sparked, clearly eager for the challenge.
“I wish I’d never involved you,” he admitted. The idea of her being snuffed out made him ache as if he’d taken another bullet to the gut. “When Ben found me, I’d been trying to devise a story that would compel you to vacate the field.”
She laughed. “Not a chance. It’s not how I’m built.”
He understood that, probably even before they’d officially met earlier this evening. “Watching you these past weeks, I think I got attached,” he said.
Her gaze locked with his as she set her fork on the edge of the plate.
“Your work ethic is admirable,” he said quickly. “And your instincts are on target.”
“Are they?” She licked a bit of cocoa from her upper lip.
He swallowed, wondering why the hell he couldn’t keep his mouth shut tonight. “Was there truth serum in that?” He glared accusingly at the half-eaten dessert.
“Maybe.” She sat back, her hands braced behind her in a way that drew his attention to her breasts. “I feel compelled to tell you a secret.”
“I’m sure it’s long past your turn.”
Her smile was thoughtful and she tipped her head to the side as if that gave her a better view into his head. Or soul.
“You haunted that café outside our hotel in France didn’t you?”
“That sounds like it might be my secret.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.” She sat up on her knees, nudging the tiramisu plate out of the way as she leaned across the coffee table to catch his hands. “You caught my attention. The hard jaw, the three-day beard and your eyes.” Her eyes moved from feature to feature as she spoke, lighting a fire under his skin. “I enjoyed a wild fantasy or two about hooking up with a gorgeous tourist. With you.”
All his blood had rushed to points south, leaving him momentarily mute as she stood up and came over to the couch. She leaned close enough that he caught a whiff of her shampoo under the other lingering odors of the car wreck and the aromatic seasonings from the meal.
“Finish your dessert, Danny,” she said, her breath brushing the shell of his ear. “Then get some rest. Antony will be here early with breakfast tomorrow.”
He didn’t move for a long time, listening to her on the other side of that closed bedroom door. Unzipping her suitcase and walking into the bathroom. He heard the water running and imagined her body glistening under the fall of water.
Before his fantasy got out of hand, he polished off his dessert and took the backpack of clothing to the opposite bedroom. Maybe if he turned on the television and left the water running, he wouldn’t be able to hear her anymore tonight.
Chapter 6
Chloe worked with Danny in the safe house suite for two more days, primarily debriefing him on every detail of his time in the UI lab, though he still had no idea about the location. They shared tales of growing up, discovering they were both raised in the Midwest. The forced bonding and close proximity to a man she’d rather kiss than converse with, combined with the horrific stories from UI left her edgy, irritable, and sexually frustrated.
Remembering she was a professional and likely the only professional to believe his stories were the only factors keeping her clothes on. Well, that and the persistent threat.
After she’d cleared Scott with Antony, he and Ben had stopped by with reports and suggestions about how to proceed. She’d been listed as missing and her boss had been visibly upset when the reporter working the story caught up with him on his way to the office.
Even when the luxury hotel suite she’d booked with her credit card was ransacked and one of the overnight security guards found dead, she resisted the idea of leaving New York City. She had assets and friends here who could help them with the takedown. And she was determined that there would be a takedown.
She’d gone up against her share of bad guys in person and online and she wanted a piece of Messenger. The trouble was, taking just a piece of the UI ringleader wouldn’t be enough for her. Ben and Scott had given statements on the record and she was starting to understand the wisdom of a calculated retreat in this situation.
The four of them had yet to decide if the smart move was to try and trap Messenger or vacate the field as Danny put it. The only thing they could agree on was that to go public too soon was suicide.
“What do you know about how Messenger gives orders?” she asked, as she made the second pot of coffee ahead of Ben and Scott’s return.
“It’s always been face to face with me,” Danny said, sliding onto a stool at the end of the kitchen counter. “Then again, my earpiece is unreliable.”
His grin was too much. She leaned in and kissed him before she realized what she was doing. His lips were firm and warm, but he didn’t kiss her back. The gravity of her mistake slammed through her.
“Oh. Umm.” She wouldn’t insult them both by making lame excuses. “That was—”
“A damn good start,” Danny finished, blue eyes flashing. He caught her chin in his fingers and brought her mouth back to his. He laid claim to her mouth sending hot jolt after delicious spark from her lips to her toes.
His hands drifted to her waist and he pulled her between his knees, taking the kiss deeper still. She was in over her head and her only desire was to stay under as long as possible.
He eased back, stroking her hair, her back with a soothing touch. “Ben and Scott,” he whispered. “Duty calls.”
She touched her fingers to her tingling lips. “I need a minute.”
He smiled, brushed his thumb over her cheek. “I’ll make sure you have it.”
She sprinted for her bathroom to splash cool water on her face and catch her breath. She couldn’t have been gone more than a minute or two, but when she walked out to the main room, she could see they’d made a decision.
“What did you do?” she aimed the question at Scott, but Ben answered her.
“We opened a window,” he said proudly. “Time to move.”
Wary, she looked to Danny. “I need more details.”
He shrugged a shoulder. “They created a sighting of you and I near your office.”
“Don’t worry, no one is really in the line of fire,” Ben promised. “Smoke and mirrors, baby.”
“We have a charter fired up and waiting to get you two out of the city,” Scott added. “Other arrangements will be forthcoming once we’re in the air.”
Thinking fast, she asked for thirty minutes and got fifteen. More than enough time to put a few precautions in place.
Despite the swift and impressive escape from New York, when the plane touched down in Chicago, she was more than a little surprised Messenger didn’t have a team waiting for them. In the air, they’d agreed that she would contact the local FBI office first thing tomorrow with the tapes of Danny’s testimony while he, Ben, and Scott tried to draw out more clues about the lab’s location that might be hiding in his memory.
None of them held out much hope, but with ninety percent of his training conducted in urban environments, it made sense that Messenger had hidden the lab in a major city.
The big surprise was discovering the limousine that had picked them up was stocked with chilled champagne and fresh strawberries. “Is it prom and no one told me?” she asked.
His lips tilted into a boyish grin that sent her heart soaring. “I wanted us to have one night just for us. Scott helped me with the details.” He popped open the champagne and poured for both of them. They toasted to narrow escapes.