by Cynthia Eden
Patrick started howling and swearing.
Thomas withdrew his hand, stepped back. His eyes were on Noelle. “He won’t tell us anything. Leave him here. The boss can work him over later.”
She was sure the interrogations the EOD conducted were probably very different from standard FBI techniques.
Her gaze slid to the cell. Patrick Porter could answer all of the questions that she had about her past. He could tell Noelle why he’d picked her. Why he’d picked them all.
But...
It won’t happen.
The man enjoyed his power too much, and if they were going to break through to him, they had to take the power away. The best way to do that was to act as if he didn’t matter.
“We’re done.” Noelle turned away from the killer. Talking to him made her skin crawl. She was sick of maintaining an icy image when, in truth, just being close to Patrick made her feel as if she were splintering apart on the inside.
“Done?” Patrick snarled. “We’re done when I say! Now get me a doctor! He broke my damn nose!”
“Your nose is the least of your worries.” Thomas sounded totally unconcerned. “Just wait until you get in your new home. That’s when the real fun will begin.”
Noelle grabbed for the door.
“Wait!” Patrick yelled after her. “You can’t just leave me in here! I thought you wanted to deal! You wanted—”
Noelle glanced back at him. Play the part. Play the part. “Right now, I just want you to rot. You see, I think I was wrong. You don’t have any information that I need to hear.”
His face went slack with shock. Ah, nice. A new emotion.
She turned away from him and marched out of the holding area and didn’t start shaking, not until the door closed behind Thomas. Not until they were away from the monster who’d changed her life.
Then her body trembled so hard she thought she’d collapse.
“Are you okay, Agent Evers?”
Her head jerked up at Aaron’s question. He was a few feet away, frowning at her.
She didn’t want him to see her break. All of the other EOD agents seemed to be so contained and strong. She couldn’t crumble in front of him.
Thomas stepped in front of her, blocking Aaron’s view. “She’s fine. We’re both exhausted, and we’re getting some sleep before the plane takes off in a few hours.” He jerked his thumb toward the closed door. “Keep a close eye on him. I don’t trust the guy not to make some kind of last-ditch escape effort. Guys like him would rather go out with a bang than be chained up.”
Then Thomas looked back at her. “She’s fine,” he said again, as he stared into Noelle’s eyes.
Then he was pulling her down the narrow hallway. He shoved open the door to the office they’d commandeered before, and he hurried her inside.
When the door shut behind them, when they were finally alone, Noelle let the tears come.
Chapter Ten
It was a good thing bars had separated him from Patrick Porter because Thomas had sure wanted to do more than just break the man’s nose.
That SOB had planned Noelle’s murder. He’d been the one who intended to hunt her like an animal, then leave her remains in the woods of Alabama.
He’d been laughing, so smug and confidant.
And Noelle was crying.
Thomas stared at her a moment, and he felt absolutely lost. Her tears... They hurt him and seemed to strike out right at his heart. And she was hunching her shoulders and trying to cover her face so he wouldn’t see. As if she needed to hide from him.
There was no part of Noelle that ever needed to be hidden from his sight. To him, every single inch of her was perfect.
He caught her hands, pulled them down and held them tightly in his. Then Thomas bent toward her and pressed a kiss to her cheek. He could taste the salt of her tears. He hated her pain.
I want that man in the ground.
“What can I do?” Thomas knew the words sounded like little more than a growl, but his rage was too strong for anything else. “Tell me how to help you.”
She shook her head and tried to pull away.
He just held her tighter, and he kissed her other cheek. Crying had always made him uncomfortable. Truth be told, emotion made him uncomfortable, but with Noelle, everything was different. Her hurt seemed to be his. He felt it slicing through him like a knife.
“I’ve seen men like him before.” Her voice was soft. Husky with pain. “I’ve brought them in for the FBI. I’ve seen the broken victims left in their wake.” She swallowed and whispered, “Now I’m one of them.”
“No.” A sharp comeback. “There is nothing broken about you. You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever met.”
She blinked up at him. Her eyes were so gorgeous, even glistening with tears. Hell, maybe they were more gorgeous that way. Did she have any clue she was bringing him to his knees? “You got away,” he told her, fighting to keep his hold light on her. “You got away, and you were the one who finally brought down this jerk.”
“The EOD—”
“We couldn’t have done this without you, and you know it. It’s not about being a victim. It’s about being a survivor. Survivors are the brave ones. The powerful ones. That’s you, baby. Through and through.” He had to kiss her, so he did. Thomas lowered his head, and his lips brushed against hers. He’d meant for the kiss to be easy. Light.
At first, it was.
Her hands rose and curled around his shoulders. She pulled him closer and kissed him harder.
And the desire he felt for her raged hotter.
In an instant, the kiss wasn’t about comforting her. It wasn’t about taking away her pain. It was just about them. The consuming need they felt for each other.
He locked her against his body, holding her flush against him. She had to feel his desire, because there was certainly no hiding it.
Then she—
Pulled away.
Thomas sucked in a hard breath and clenched his hands into fists. Noelle didn’t look at him as she backed off, putting a careful distance between them.
“Noelle...”
She jerked at his voice.
He frowned at her, then he remembered all of the things Patrick had said. Things he’d feared the man would say. Because he and Patrick Porter... Their paths had crossed before. Only back then, the man had been using an alias.
So had Thomas.
“It’s not true,” he told her. He needed her to look at him. Hell, he needed her back in his arms.
“I don’t want to be here,” Noelle said, her voice still whisper soft. She stalked for the door. Before she could leave, his hand flew out, and he shoved the wooden door closed.
“It’s not true,” he said once more.
Her head turned. Her eyes met his. She wasn’t crying anymore, but there were secrets in her gaze. Thomas was pretty sure he’d sell his soul if it meant he could learn what they were.
“I didn’t do anything to hurt you all those years ago, I swear.” He had to make her believe that. It was so important she trust him.
Noelle blinked. Then she smiled. A slow smile that made him ache. Her hand rose and touched his cheek. “Oh, Thomas, I know that. You saved me then. I didn’t doubt that truth for an instant.”
For a moment, he was the one who couldn’t speak. Her faith in him seemed so strong. Staggering. No one had ever believed in him the way she did. “I—” He broke off, cleared his throat and tried again. “I need you to know that I have met that man before.”
He felt the tension that hardened her body. “When?”
Aw, damn, this was going to hurt the most. “When I was working undercover in Alabama.” So long ago. “I got the intel I needed on that group, and the EOD stormed in, but before I did...I had to pass
the group’s initiation.”
“What did you do?”
Her voice was so hoarse.
“I fought four men.”
She pulled away from him.
“I didn’t kill them, I swear, but...if I hadn’t fought, they would’ve pegged me for an agent. I had to prove myself.” He had. “There were three of us there for the initiation. A group circled us, threw back in the men who tried to run. Porter— I turned once and he was in front of me. He knew I wasn’t one of the ones running. He was laughing.” He swallowed bile. “Cheering me on as I attacked.” Dragon, Dragon! He’d just gone by that tag back then, to better fit in with the group.
The guy had even come up and congratulated him on a good fight afterward.
She paled before him. “I have to get out of here. I just— I need to leave.”
He was afraid she was leaving him. “I was undercover. My job was to infiltrate and bring down that organization.”
“No matter the cost.”
She’d been the cost.
Thomas shook his head. “If I’d known for a minute that he was the man who’d arranged your abduction—”
“Why didn’t the EOD apprehend him then? If the rest of the group got contained, then why not him?” Emotion ripped through her words. Pain. Fury. “Why was he left free to hurt and kill?”
“Because he wasn’t there when the EOD team came in. Something had spooked him and he ran.”
Her laugh was cold. Mocking. “I spooked him.”
Thomas frowned at her.
“He must’ve gone back to hunt me. I wasn’t there, the cops were, so he knew he had to clear out.” A bitter smile twisted her lips. “No one else had seen him there, so he just slipped away. Or, sailed away, I guess, since he just boarded the naval vessel and headed to the next port.”
Then he’d kept killing. Only his prey had changed, and he’d started working with a new partner.
“I’m sorry,” Thomas told her. The words weren’t enough. They never would be. For so many years, he’d hated the choices he’d made. A young girl, left alone. He hadn’t realized that someone else was out there, possibly still after her.
“So am I,” Noelle said. Then she jerked open the door and straightened her shoulders. When she left this time, he didn’t follow her. He knew she wanted to get away.
From me.
So he let her go.
* * *
“THIS ISN’T OVER!” Patrick Porter yelled as he grabbed the bars. The woman had left and the agent—Dragon, you liar—had followed on her heels.
They thought they were done? That they just got to walk away while he was tossed into a cell to rot?
No. That wasn’t the way his story would be ending.
“The blood’s gonna be on you!” His bellow seemed to echo back to him. “Another body...on you, Noelle! You thought it was bad when you were the victim? How’s it gonna feel when you realize you let her die? You. Let. Her. Die!”
* * *
AARON BLACK FROWNED as he glanced toward the holding-room door. The jerk in there had been yelling his head off for the past ten minutes. Making threats. Demanding his freedom.
Talking about a victim.
It could be pure bull, of course. A last-ditch effort to save himself. Aaron had seen it before. When facing nothing but a dark cell for endless days, men would lie. They’d promise anything. Everything. Tell any falsehood imaginable.
But...
Sometimes, they would also tell the truth.
He stepped closer to the holding room.
* * *
NOELLE STOOD IN the snow. Her eyes were closed. Her hands outstretched. She was just a few feet away from the sheriff’s station. A monster was inside that station. A man with a soul darker than hell.
She had to face him again. It was her job. But every time she looked into his eyes, Noelle felt as if she were a helpless teen again. Lost and so scared.
Waiting to die.
Snow crunched to the left, and in an instant, Noelle spun around with her gun up.
Her firearm locked right on Bruce Mercer. He lifted his hands toward her. “Easy. I’m not the enemy.”
Sometimes, it was hard to tell which side Mercer was really on. “You kept my past from me.” She holstered her weapon.
“I thought the danger was gone.” He exhaled and advanced toward her. “I was very wrong.”
Her eyebrows shot up. Had the great and oh, so powerful Mercer just admitted to being wrong? Human?
“You weren’t alone.”
She had no idea what he was talking about.
“Has Agent Anthony told you that part yet?”
“He told me that he’d seen Porter. While he was undercover in Alabama, Thomas saw him with that terrorist group.”
“Ah, yes, well, is it surprising that Porter would have ties to others who wanted to maim and kill? Like to like, you know.”
Yes, she knew plenty about the darkness that hid within men.
“We didn’t have an ID on Porter then. Just a basic physical description. He slipped away.” Mercer heaved out a breath as he stared at the mountains in the distance. “We try our hardest, but there are always some that get away. For every killer we stop, another one is out there, waiting in the wings.” His voice lowered. “Some days I wonder if it will ever end.”
She rubbed her arms. The snow had felt good before, seeming to cool the fire that burned within her as it fell again, but now...
“Thomas was at the hospital because he needed to see you. He even went in your room, but you didn’t recognize him. You didn’t know him at all.”
Those words had her breath catching.
“Maybe Thomas told you he’d watched you over the years, but I don’t think you realize...quite how much. When your mother died, he was at the funeral. When your father passed, he was at the nursing home. When you graduated from college, he was in the audience. When you went on your first case with the FBI, he was shadowing you.”
She could only shake her head. That made no sense to her. “Why?”
“Because fifteen years ago, Thomas Anthony met a girl in the woods. A girl he said was the bravest, strongest person he’d ever met. He told me the girl was hurt and scared, but she kept fighting to survive, no matter what.”
She looked away from Mercer. She didn’t want him reading the expression in her eyes.
“Because fifteen years ago...” Mercer said again. “I think a twenty-two-year-old agent fell in love with that girl. With her strength and her courage, and he couldn’t bear to imagine her alone in the world. He wanted to keep her safe. To watch over her. So he did, in his way, and with every year that passed, every day that he watched her prove again and again just how strong she was, I think he fell for her even more.”
No, no, that couldn’t be true. “He would’ve said something to me.”
Mercer laughed at that.
Her head whipped back around toward him. She could never remember hearing Mercer laugh.
“Thomas Anthony is a good agent. One of the best I’ve ever seen, but that man doesn’t connect easily with others. He keeps his emotions to himself.”
“Then how do you know—”
“Because you’re not the only one who is good at reading people. And if you weren’t so blinded by your own feelings, you’d see that Thomas Anthony would die in an instant, if it meant keeping you safe. He’d lie, he’d kill, he’d cheat. He’d do anything for you.”
Her heart was thundering in her chest. “Why are you telling me this?” Now?
“Because the mission ends in just a few hours. When we board the plane, that’s the end for your partnership with Thomas Anthony.”
Noelle shook her head. “But the EOD—”
“Oh, don’t worry
about us. We’ll always be around.” He gave a little nod. “But your period as an EOD liaison from the FBI, that’s over.”
It was the last thing she’d expected. “You’re firing me?”
His lips twitched. “No. I brought you on because I thought being around Anthony would stir some memories, and if that didn’t work, I thought, well...” His words trailed away. But surely, Bruce Mercer wasn’t suggesting he’d tried to play matchmaker for her and Thomas? Mercer was a power player. Not some closet romantic who—
“You deserve some happiness. So does he.” Mercer rubbed his chin. “I’m not saying I won’t be using you again. You’re the best profiler I’ve ever come across, but in the future, you won’t be partnered with Anthony. So whatever you two decide, there’s nothing at the EOD that will stand between you.” His hand dropped as he gazed at her. “The only thing between the two of you is what you put there. Ghosts from your past. Fears about your future. It’s all what you see...or what you don’t.”
He pointed down the road. “Thomas went back to the cabin you two rented. He said he was tired. Maybe you should go there and try to get a little shut-eye, too.” Then he turned and made his way back inside the sheriff’s station.
Noelle sucked in a deep gulp of air. One. Two.
Then she found herself hurrying forward. She got the keys to the extra rental truck, and she was on her way back to the cabin before she gave herself a second to think.
She parked the truck and hurried inside the cabin. She opened her mouth to call out to Thomas, but stopped when she caught sight of him near the fireplace.
He wore only a pair of loose jogging pants. His back was to her. Strong, broad. He was moving fluidly, as his hands struck out above him and his feet lifted in a series of blurring kicks.
Martial arts. She didn’t recognize any of his moves but she’d read in his file he’d studied tae kwon do, jujitsu, krav maga and aikido.
She shut the door behind her then leaned back against the wall and just watched him.
Admired him.
His muscles stretched. Flexed. His skin gleamed golden in the firelight. He turned to the left. Then the right. His strikes were fast and powerful.