Dangerous Liaisons

by Tarah Scott

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Jesse looked up when Tom entered, wrapping the ear-bud cord around his sniffer. “The house looks clean,” he said.

  “Drink?” Cole rose from where he’d planted himself on the arm of the loveseat beside her.

  “Later.”

  Cole sank back onto the loveseat arm and Jesse willed her heartbeat to slow as Tom sat on the eight-foot sofa opposite Jesse. He set his sniffer on the teak coffee table between them and split a glance between her and Cole.

  “You two look like hell.”

  Jesse scowled. “Thanks a lot.” She set her drink on the coffee table next to an issue of Southern Living magazine. “Any news on Perez’s death?”

  Tom shook his head. “I checked all the way up to level seven at OIA. Nothing there or in the media.”

  He hadn’t uncovered the truth about Maria. Maybe his contacts weren’t as good as they used to be. Or maybe Lanton was one crafty son-of-a-bitch. “Greed is a predictable vice,” she said. “The cartels are keeping quiet. I wonder if they’ll find Perez’s money.”

  Tom leaned forward, his expression eager. “Jesse, you’ve never told me what you have that has Green Leader running scared.”

  She paused, surprised by the change in subject. “You said Perez murdered Maria Hamilton. Perez said he never had her.”

  Tom looked startled. “The reports said she was dead. That’s what—” He broke off, and Jesse finished with, “Lanton said.”

  Tom whistled. “What do you know? Green Leader sucker punched me.” He gave an appreciative nod. “If someone is planting misinformation, I’ll find out who.”

  “We know the why,” Jesse said.

  Tom’s gaze intensified. “I’m all ears.”

  Jesse related Perez’s story, and Tom whistled again. “Green Leader was using his own men to assassinate Perez? I wouldn’t have believed it if anyone else told me.”

  “Truth is, I didn’t have enough on Lanton to put into a thimble,” Jesse went on. “His membership in Submissions.”

  Tom’s brows shot up. “The BDSM club? You never mentioned that.”

  “That was a more recent discovery I was focused on the two missions that went bad. Three years ago in Madrid, the only way the gunrunners could have been waiting for you is if they were tipped off.”

  Tom nodded. “You never said anything about a second mission.”

  “Hong Kong. I was on lone recon. A shipment of Chinese Silkworm missiles were outbound to Iran. I was there to find out what ship and their route so we could quietly intercept them in international waters. I tracked the shipment to a warehouse, reported by satellite phone, and went in. Fifteen minutes later, a gang of armed men showed up led by a Chinese Secret Service type. Fortunately, the men were inexperienced mercenaries. The leader, however, nearly killed me hand-to-hand.” Jesse paused. “Someone tipped them I was there—just like with you in Madrid.”

  “Could be coincidence,” he replied. “It does happen.” Tom shifted his gaze to Cole. “You know Lanton. Ever suspect he was on the take?”

  Cole shook his head. “He recruited me seven years ago, but I worked under him for only a year, then was moved to Chambers’ unit. We’re all Green Teams, but we’re compartmentalized even more so than Blue Team. I haven’t worked directly with him until Colombia.”

  Jesse reached for her drink. Heat filled her cheeks when Cole’s blue eyes followed her movements. Dammit, if Tom noticed…Cole slid from the arm of the loveseat into the seat beside her. She caught the scent of Drakar, and the memory of the Newark hotel and his hands on her leg returned.

  She took a sip of her drink, then addressed Tom. “Did you bring the info I asked for?”

  He reached inside his back jeans pocket, pulled out folded papers, and handed them to her. Jesse unfolded them to reveal a fifteen year old, fuzzy photo of Perez on the top page.

  She set the photo on the table. “That’s the only photo we have of Perez. With the right nudging, it’s enough for Lanton to jump to the conclusion he’s seeing Perez in Langley.”

  Tom raised a brow. “Langley?”

  Jesse nodded. “We’re cranking up the heat. Lanton’s going to believe Perez and I made a deal.”

  Tom’s eyes registered surprise, then he looked at Cole. Jesse could see the wheels inside his head turning. He didn’t have five Ph.D.s for nothing.

  “Cole and I are the only agents who have seen Perez in the flesh,” she went on. “Perez and Cole are about the same height and build. Lanton can’t be certain the man he’s seeing isn’t Perez.”

  “Right.” Cole said. “Jesse and I’ll be waiting for him outside the parking garage when he shows up for work.”

  Tom shook his head. “He knows Jesse is out to get him. He’ll be on his guard.”

  “We have that covered,” Jesse said. “Remember Ernesta?”

  Tom nodded.

  “She’s in Nicaragua disguised as me. Cole’s men are keeping an eye on her under the guise of following Cole’s orders. She’s using one of my known aliases and doing what Lanton thinks I would do: laying low and waiting for this to blow over.”

  “I report back to Lanton tomorrow,” Cole said. “Tonight, I’ll submit my report on how Jesse killed Perez. The report will also say my men and I interrogated a member of the Gilbero cartel, who told us the Gilbero and Flores cartels want Jesse because they believe she’s got a line on Perez’s money.”

  Tom gave a low whistle. “With the Interpol warrant and a price on her head set by the drug lords, Green Leader will believe she’s got nowhere to go.”

  “Right,” she agreed. “This is where you come in. With nothing coming through the wire to confirm Cole’s report, Lanton will be desperate for news. You dig up the information and put it in front of him.”

  Tom raised a brow. “Make something up?”

  Her heart broke.

  Yes, make something up. Lie. For me.

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  “It’s a lot to ask,” Jesse said. “I’ll understand if you can’t do it.”

  Tom nodded as if in thought. “Lanton will wet himself when he sees Perez and Jesse together.” He grinned. “That alone is worth the risk.”

  Suddenly she wasn’t so sure. “Tom,” she began, but he cut her off.

  “It’s important he breathe easy for the couple of days it’ll take his sources to corroborate Cole’s report.” Tom shifted his attention to Cole, and Jesse wanted to cry. What had she done to deserve such a good friend? “You’ll get grilled right away,” he told Cole. “And he’s good. He’ll know you’re lying.”

  “We’re counting on him coming to me,” Cole said. “He comes in early. I’ll be in his office fifteen minutes later. I’ll tell him how Jesse pronounced Perez dead, not me. We had no other choice but to scatter, and I lost her. That’s close enough to the truth that it’ll take some time for him to sort out the details. The reports he’ll get from Caruthers about tracking Jesse through Panama then Nicaragua will feed into his doubt.”

  “With any luck, he’ll be desperate enough to move his money, or try to find where Perez is hiding,” Jesse said. “We need you to work surveillance. Can you bug his office?”

  “No. I do have access to the security camera in the hall outside his office and his phones, though. But I don’t think he’s that soft. He won’t crack just because he saw you and Perez.”

  Jesse shook her head. “We don’t expect him to. We’ll let him stew and dig. He’ll grill Cole. He’ll probably interview you, as well.”

  “Yeah,” Tom agreed. “I’m the closest thing to family you have.”

  Surprise, then tenderness filled her. This was the first time he had ever referred to himself as family.

  “I don’t work for him,” Tom said “so I can put him off for a little while. That’ll make him sweat.”

  “Good,” she said. “We let him worry until just before noon, then Cole will call his secure line using Perez’s voice.”

  The Professor looked at Cole. �
�No kidding?”

  Cole cleared his throat. “Senor Lanton,” he said in a near perfect approximation of Perez’s voice. “You have double crossed me.”

  Jesse gave a nod of approval. “A little longer O in Lanton and it’ll be perfect. Tom, you’ll be watching him inside, while Cole and I are outside. We’ll have to be in constant contact, so we’ll need spread spectrum radios.”

  “Won’t work,” he said. “I’ll never get away with that inside the building.”

  “Okay,” she said. “You’ll use a secure line to call when he leaves the building.”

  “What if he does nothing after Perez’s call? He’s smart.”

  “That’s where Perez comes in again,” Cole said. “I’ll call and demand we meet.”

  “We need a surveillance van,” Jesse said.

  “Done.”

  “We meet Lanton. I’ll be armed with blanks,” Cole said. “The idea is to get him to talk. If he gives us what we want, we’ll simply disarm him. If he plays hard-ball, Jesse will shoot me.”

  Tom looked nonplussed. “That’s going a bit far, even for your country.”

  Cole shook his head. “Her gun will be loaded with blanks. The special effects device I’ll wear will blow the studio blood strapped under my suit, and I go down dead.”

  “Ahh,” Tom said. “Green Leader will then feel closer to Jesse Evans.”

  Jesse nodded. “He’ll deal with us once and for all. Cole and I will be wearing wires.”

  Cole shook his head. “No wire for me.”

  She looked sharply at him. “Why?”

  “The special effects have sonic triggered charges that blow out the blood bags. They’re highly sensitive in order to sense where a weapon is aimed and discharge the correct bag. If the gun is pointed at my stomach and my chest explodes, it’s all over. The radio transmission could interfere with the sensors. I’ve seen it happen.”

  Dammit. She didn’t like it, but he was right. “There’s no guarantee any of this will go down the way we plan. I see your point about not wearing the wire. You will be wearing a vest.”

  He nodded. “On one condition. If we don’t get him to talk, and he shoots me, you get him to talk. I don’t want you running to my rescue. I want him.”

  She recalled his words at the Dan Hotel, “My men gave their lives for that mission, and the people they loved weren’t given any explanations for why they died.”

  She had her mission. He had his. “All right. No running to your rescue.”

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Cole grasped the bedroom doorknob, and Jesse ignored the flip of her stomach as he pushed open the door. A six pack and three hours after they’d pounded out the details of their plan, Tom announced he was leaving to begin preparations. As he left, the glance he cast in her direction startled her. She was positive she’d maintained a cool facade toward Cole, yet something in the look hinted at a question.

  “Here you go, Jess.” Cole stepped aside for her to enter.

  She slipped past him, stopping just inside the huge bedroom. Had he put her in the master bedroom? The room was certainly large enough, and the king-sized four-poster bed, comforter, and four, full-sized pillows fit the bill—just as she’d imagined. The dark oak dressing table, vanity, dresser, and two chests, along with the wool carpet color coordinated in earth tones spoke of masculine tastes. She stepped up to the bed and ran her hand across the down comforter, eyeing the four pillows. After sleeping in trees and seedy hotels, the bed looked obscenely decadent.

  She turned to find Cole leaning against the doorjamb. “It’s…” The sight of him, arms crossed, blue eyes intent on her, made her mind go blank.

  “Jess,” he murmured, and pushed off the doorjamb.

  His secure cell phone rang. Cole halted, his gaze glued to hers. Jesse remained rooted to the spot. Only Caruthers and Fletcher had the number. Something went wrong in Nicaragua.

  Cole pulled the phone from his back pocket and flipped it open. “Yeah?”

  Jesse took four paces and stopped in front of him. Her heart pumped faster. This was exactly what she’d feared would happen. Despite all her planning, the identity papers Ernesta had forged and sent to a Queens, New York post office box had been for nothing. Instead of a well-planned kidnapping, Jesse would be forced to tear Amanda away from everything and everyone she knew in a midnight mission that was sure to draw attention from those watching.

  “Okay,” Cole said. “Keep me posted.” He closed the phone.

  “Well?” Jesse demanded.

  “That was Caruthers. Lanton called him.”

  “And?”

  “Everything is going as planned.” Cole frowned, and she thought the bruise on his cheek darkened in the instant before his mouth curved into a gentle smile. “Amanda will be okay, Jess.”

  She felt as if she’d been tossed into an arctic lake. “Don’t put me off, goddamit. I want to know what Caruthers—”

  Cole reached for her. She saw the movement and started to step back, but too late. He grasped her shoulders, holding her motionless. Their gazes locked. Her heart beat so furiously she felt light headed. A lump formed in her throat, and she gave a small gasp at realizing a tear was sliding down her cheek.

  He slid an arm around her as he wiped away the tear with a fingertip. “Good thing I came into that alley.”

  “Who knows what sort of trouble I would have gotten into otherwise?” she heard herself say.

  A corner of his mouth twitched. “Uh huh. And who would have carried you to Rayburn’s?” He leaned close. “Not to mention, we couldn’t have anyone else seeing you in nothing but a bath towel. The yellow sundress was a poor substitute.”

  A warm glow radiated through her insides. “You didn’t do anything about it.”

  His gaze dropped to her mouth. “You didn’t trust me.”

  “Should I trust you now? I’m alone and at your mercy.”

  “Yes, you are,” he said, his mouth within a hair’s breadth of hers.

  The muscles between her legs tightened with pleasurable discomfort.

  “How do you feel about me now, Jesse?”

  How did she feel? She grabbed his shoulders, and yanked to drop him onto the bed. Cole spun, tossed her onto the bed like a rag doll, and sprang on top, his hands buried in her hair, his lips an inch from hers. That was a move Hwuang hadn’t taught her.

  Cole brushed his lips over hers, barely touching, as he whispered, “You wouldn’t have forgiven me if I’d let you give yourself up without trust. I’m a patient man.”

  “And damned confident.”

  “Maybe.”

  He pressed his lips against hers. His tongue flicked once, then parted her lips with a gentle push. Her last coherent thought was He always gets the last word as she yanked his shirttail free of his jeans.

  Jesse ran her hands up through his soft chest hair, kneading the hard muscle in his chest. She arched her hips into his erection. Heat shot through her. She plunged her tongue deeper into his mouth. He groaned, sparring more intensely. His hands burrowed into her hair as he deepened the kiss.

  How did she feel about him? She arched. She wanted his hands on her. She wanted him to explore every inch. There wasn’t enough time between now and tomorrow, when they would have to return to the real world, the world where Lanton waited for them, where Amanda—Jesse shoved his chest away from her. He went rigid, his breath uneven, and he stared.

  “The phone call,” she demanded in a hoarse whisper. “What—”

  Relief flooded his eyes. “It’s what we wanted, Jess. Relax.” He stroked her hair.

  “We never talked about him calling Caruthers,” she said.

  “We didn’t talk about every possible move he might make, but this makes sense.”

  Panic raced through her. Cole was right. They hadn’t talked about every move. Was the plan enough? Had they accounted for every contingency? They needed more. They needed—

  “Jess.” Cole’s voice snapped her attention back. “The call was
a good thing. Lanton thinks you’re in Colombia.”

  He was right, but all she could think about was Amanda. Harris wasn’t enough. Jesse hadn’t revealed Amanda’s location on the off chance Cole didn’t know. She couldn’t chance that, not yet.

  “We didn’t talk about this, either,” Cole said, and shoved her arms above her head.

  His mouth crushed down on hers. Amanda’s name echoed in Jesse’s mind, then dropped behind the wall of fog that blanketed her thoughts. Cole slavered kisses down her neck. Jesse felt her pulse beat against his lips. She strained against his grip. He intertwined his fingers with hers and she arched into him. He released her hands, slid an arm beneath her, and hugged her in a near breath-stealing embrace. Her head swam. What had taken him so long?

  Jesse pushed him onto his back, straddled his hips, and worked his shirt buttons. She finished the last one and abruptly realized he was lying motionless. Heat spread across her cheeks when she saw his gaze locked on her face. She hesitated, read the invitation that she go on, and shoved open his shirt. Jesse buried her hands in his chest hair. His hands burrowed under her shirt and warm palms slid up her stomach and under her bra. He cupped her breasts, squeezing gently. She threw her head back and arched into his hands. His erection pulsed under her buttocks and she rocked against the hard rod. Pleasure ripped through her.

  She leaned down and ran her tongue around one nipple. He slipped a hand around her back and unclipped her bra. Jesse fleetingly wondered how he’d gotten so good at the sophomoric move, then didn’t care when he stroked the bottom curve of her breasts with his thumbs and a finger found her nipple. She slithered onto his thighs and unbuckled his belt. She unzipped his jeans, then paused, fascinated by the erection straining against his jeans.

  “Jess,” he whispered.

  The urgency in his voice startled and thrilled her. She slipped a hand inside and wrapped her fingers around him. Cole shuddered. Hot satisfaction scorched her senses and she tentatively stroked him. His hand unexpectedly covered hers.

  “You’ll put an end to this way too soon if you keep that up,” he said in a hoarse voice.