WAY OF THE SHADOWS

by Cynthia Eden

“I’m calling the nurse.” She lunged toward the call button.

  “I...remember.”

  Noelle paused at his gruff words. “You remember the shooting? That’s good. I was—I was worried you’d—”

  He shook his head again, turning slightly against the pillow. Surprisingly, he felt no pain. Must’ve been the drugs. Like pain would’ve mattered to him right then. No, not when he knew. “You...love me.”

  He wondered if she would deny it.

  “Of course, I love you,” Noelle said as she bent close to him. Her beautiful eyes gleamed with tears. “I’m just surprised you didn’t realize it sooner. I mean, I could barely get within ten feet of you without stumbling over my words every time we talked.”

  He’d thought that was fear. That he made her too nervous.

  Noelle pressed a light kiss to his lips. “You’re the most dangerous man I’ve ever met, and you’re the only man who has ever made me feel completely safe when I’m with him.”

  His heart ached, and that wasn’t due to the wound. “I’d die to keep you safe.”

  A tear spilled from her eye and slid down her cheek. “You almost did. How about you don’t ever, ever do that again?”

  He wouldn’t make any promises. When it came to Noelle, he’d do anything if it meant she was alive and happy. Her hand still held his. He lifted their joined hands, ignoring the slight burn of the IV, and he pressed a kiss to the back of her hand.

  “I love you.” Saying the words to her seemed as natural as breathing. He’d never given those words to another woman, and Thomas knew Noelle would be the only one he ever did say them to. She’d held his heart for so long. Her courage had drawn him in. Her intelligence. Her goodness, which seemed to shine from within her. After spending so much time in the shadows and in the darkness, he’d been drawn to the light that was Noelle.

  To him, she was... Hell, she was everything.

  “Marry me.”

  Not the most suave of proposals.

  But—

  “Yes.”

  The machines around him raced, and Noelle pushed closer to him. “I don’t want to spend my life without you, Thomas. I don’t want to be alone anymore. I want you.”

  She was all he’d ever need.

  His dreams. His hopes.

  His.

  Noelle pressed a kiss to his lips once more, and Thomas knew he was the luckiest damn man on earth.

  Yeah, she was an angel, all right, and she was his.

  Chapter Twelve

  Noelle entered the interrogation room with slow, determined steps. Her heels clicked softly on the floor as she made her way toward the prisoner.

  The woman sat at the table, a guard stationed behind her. The woman’s blond hair had lost some of its polished shine, and the long locks were pulled back into a limp ponytail.

  As Noelle drew closer to the table, Paula Quinn glanced up, a smile on her face. “So, I finally merited an audience, huh?”

  Noelle didn’t speak.

  “Too bad about your partner...” Paula leaned forward. “I was out of my mind when I fired that shot, of course. Patrick had kidnapped me, and I—I just snapped.”

  Cry me a river. Noelle didn’t believe the woman’s lies for a moment.

  “I was aiming for Patrick. Not the agent.” Paula’s voice lowered with what sounded like sorrow. “I’m so sorry that Agent Anthony died...”

  The door opened behind Noelle. She didn’t glance back. She didn’t need to. Shock swept over Paula’s face when she saw the identity of her second visitor.

  “Agent Anthony isn’t dead,” Noelle said. She also didn’t think Thomas should be back to work, but since he wasn’t technically in the field, Mercer had given the clear for him to come in on the interrogation.

  Noelle was back to working as a liaison, at least until the situation with Paula Quill was resolved. Mercer wanted the woman to break, and Noelle was about to make that happen.

  Then, when the case was officially closed, she had a wedding to plan. After all, a woman had her priorities. And getting hitched to Thomas—definite priority. But, sending this killer in front of her to jail for the rest of Paula’s life? Current goal.

  This was the woman who’d nearly taken Thomas away from Noelle. Damn straight she was going to do everything possible to break Paula.

  Noelle sat in front of Paula. Thomas pulled out the chair right beside her. He didn’t even wince when he sat down. The guy was far too good at camouflaging his pain.

  “He’s alive!” A wide smile broke over Paula’s face. She lifted her hands, showing the cuffs that circled her wrists. “I’m so glad! I never meant to shoot you. I meant to shoot—”

  “Me?” Noelle finished softly.

  The smile slipped from Paula’s face. “Of course not! I was aiming for Patrick.”

  “But in order to get to him—” Thomas’s voice cut like a knife “—you were ready to shoot through Noelle.”

  Noelle slanted a quick glance his way. Did he even realize his voice had softened when he said her name? That had been...sweet. As sweet as she knew Thomas would ever get while they were at the EOD. After all, the man had an image to maintain.

  “I—I was so scared...” Paula’s shoulders shook.

  Paula really was a terrific actress.

  Noelle reached for the files that were waiting on the table. She flipped them open. “You started working for Senator Duncan over ten years ago.”

  “Ah...yes. Yes, I did...”

  “And when you mention Patrick Porter, you always use his first name... That’s an intimate association, so I assume you met him over the years while you were working with the senator?”

  Paula’s gaze darted to Thomas, then back to Noelle. “Patrick would come to see the senator every few months. They were friends.” Her breath huffed out. “I can’t believe that he killed him! And then abducted me!”

  “Oh, I think you can believe it,” Thomas muttered.

  Paula’s stare hardened for an instant.

  Noelle asked, “You weren’t aware that Patrick was killing for the senator?”

  As Noelle stared at Paula, the other woman’s mouth dropped open in a perfect O of surprise. “You can’t be serious! There’s no way—”

  “Oh, I’m serious. You deleted the record of the kills from the senator’s computer, but you weren’t quite good enough at that deletion. We’ve got computer techs here... They can recover anything if you just give them time.” Noelle smiled at Paula. “Serial killers like to keep souvenirs of their kills, did you know that? Patrick... His thing was pictures. Videos. When he had completed a kill, he’d send that image to Lawrence as proof the job was done. It was all of those images that you tried to delete. The video files.”

  Paula shook her head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

  She could keep up the lies for a bit longer.

  “The files were deleted after the senator’s death.”

  “Then Patrick must’ve done it! He got into the system and—”

  Noelle shook her head. “The only fingerprints on that keyboard were yours and the senator’s.”

  Paula flushed. Her cuffed hands slammed against the table. “Then he used gloves. I don’t know—”

  “I think you know plenty,” Thomas drawled as he leaned forward, “because you were featured in some of those videos.” He reached for the laptop on the table. “Want to see them?”

  Paula’s face changed then. The pretty veneer faded. Evil flashed in her eyes.

  “Patrick liked to work with a partner, and Lawrence, well, he was the more hands-off kind of guy, right?” Noelle asked, her voice emotionless. “So you were the one who went in with Patrick. The one who helped him lure those victims out. For the past ten years, Patrick had been killing
men. The high-profile enemies of the senator. And to lure out prey like that...”

  “You need the right bait,” Thomas finished.

  Bait that looked innocent but wasn’t. Bait that would be too seductive to resist.

  Thomas tapped a few buttons on the keyboard. A video began to play. Paula’s soft laughter filled the room. Only this time, that laughter was coming from the recording. The woman was as still as a statue across from them as her eyes locked on the screen.

  “Stop it,” Paula whispered.

  They didn’t stop the video.

  “I’m so glad we decided to get away for the weekend...” Now a man’s deep, rumbling voice came from that video. “Leaving D.C. was the best idea you’ve had...”

  “That’s General Randall Adams. He worked for the Pentagon.” Noelle shrugged. “You know that, though, right? Since the two of you were lovers. Randall’s the one who first tipped you off about the EOD. You worried the EOD was closing in on you and Lawrence, that we’d realize—”

  “I don’t know anything about the EOD,” Paula said, the words quiet but hard.

  Thomas drummed his fingers on the table. “Once you came up on the EOD’s radar, you knew we’d realize you’d been killing for years. We go after threats to security, and that’s exactly what you are.”

  The video kept playing.

  “Sometimes, Paula,” Randall murmured, “I wish you and I could give it all up. Just be together...”

  Paula’s cuffed hands grabbed for the laptop. She shoved the top down. “I don’t want to see anymore.”

  Noelle realized she’d been right. Of all the clips on that laptop, and there were plenty, the one of Randall had been the one Paula needed to see. “When Patrick kills him later—and Randall certainly wasn’t easy to kill—your name is the last thing the general says.”

  The color was completely gone from Paula’s face. Her lips twisted into a snarl. “Pointing at his accuser, is he?”

  Thomas’s fingers stilled on the table. “No, I think he was just calling out for the woman he loved.”

  Noelle turned her head to look at his hard profile.

  “In those lasts minutes, you know what really matters,” Thomas continued. His gaze flickered to Noelle. “You want to be clear, no words left unsaid, before you draw that last breath.”

  A sob broke from Paula.

  Noelle had to swallow to clear the lump from her own throat. She could still hear Thomas’s rough growl in her ears. “I...love you...”

  “It was all Lawrence!” Paula said in a rush. “He’s the one who made me work with Patrick! He found out that I’d killed my stepfather when I was sixteen.” Tears trekked down her cheeks, but they weren’t fake any longer. “He was hurting me, and I stopped him. No one would believe my stories about my stepfather, so I had to do something!” Shudders shook her. “Then Lawrence came along.... I—I thought he was going to help me, but he had other plans. Everyone always does....”

  “Everyone but Randall,” Noelle said softly.

  Paula’s shoulders bowed. “Lawrence flipped out when we got confirmation from Randall about the EOD. He was sure someone there—someone called Mercer—would be coming after him. That all the dots from his crimes would be connected. So, yes, he went after them. He didn’t want the hit coming right back to him and Patrick, so he hired some guy for the job.”

  Jack.

  “But since I’m here...and they’re all dead...” Paula blinked away tears. “I guess the EOD didn’t end, did it? Mercer... He’s not dead.”

  Thomas pushed away from the table. The legs of his chair groaned. He headed for the door.

  Noelle sat at the table for a moment longer. His job was finished. Hers wasn’t. Now she needed to get the rest of the details. Names and dates. Closure would be given to families, and if Noelle’s instincts were right, they would even get new leads to follow based on the information Paula would give them. Paula had been deeply connected in the senator’s life. If there were others who’d tried to hide secrets in D.C., then Paula would know about them.

  The woman would cooperate now. There was no reason for her not to do so.

  The door closed softly behind Thomas.

  Noelle stared at Paula.

  “I loved him,” Paula whispered.

  Noelle reached for a pen and a pad.

  “I loved him,” Paula said again. “And after Randall was dead...I—I wanted to be, too....”

  * * *

  THOMAS HEADED INTO the next room. He shut the door behind him. Mercer was standing at attention, just a few feet away from the observation window that let him watch Noelle and Paula.

  “The EOD isn’t dead,” Mercer said voice curt. “And we won’t ever be. No matter how many times they come after us.” He turned, focusing on Thomas. “Because of men like you. Women like Noelle. Agents who will risk their lives to protect the division.”

  It wasn’t the division Thomas had thought of when he’d leapt to take that bullet in Alaska. It was the only woman he’d ever loved. “I’m marrying her.”

  Mercer’s left eyebrow shot up. “Does Noelle know? Or is this some—”

  “Noelle knows I love her, and she’s agreed to marry me.” And I know just how lucky I am. “I won’t have any more secrets between us. Not ever again.” He was giving that warning to Mercer.

  “Good. That’s the way it should be.”

  “Sir—”

  Mercer lifted a hand. “My agents sacrifice for the EOD. You think I don’t know that?” And, for an instant, the mask Mercer usually wore fell away. “They give up their homes, their families... They focus on the missions. But life is more than just a mission.” He came forward and slapped a hand on Thomas’s shoulder. “A whole lot more, and I’m glad you finally realized that.”

  Thomas glanced toward the observation glass. Noelle was questioning Paula, and Paula was telling her everything.

  But his gaze wasn’t on the captured woman. It was on Noelle. He could see the side of her face. The soft profile. The delicate line of her jaw.

  “I knew you loved her,” Mercer told him gruffly. “I just wondered when you’d realize it yourself.”

  Those words had Thomas’s stare jerking back toward his boss.

  Mercer smiled. Smiled. “It’s in how you look at her. Usually, you stare at the world as if daring someone to attack you. But you stare at her...” He exhaled and his hand dropped from Thomas’s shoulder. “You stare at her as if it’s Christmas morning, and you just found the presents beneath the tree.”

  Thomas swallowed. “She’s what matters most to me.”

  “Then she needs to be the one person you hold tightest.” Mercer gave a firm nod. “Don’t let her go, and, son, you don’t hesitate to tell that woman how you feel every single day of your life.” For an instant, sadness flashed in his eyes. “Because the days pass too fast, and you never know when you could wake up and find—” Mercer broke off then. He turned away from Thomas. “Wait for Noelle to finish up the interview. When she’s done, you two take the next week off. I think you’ve earned that time.”

  Mercer headed for the door.

  Thomas didn’t move from his spot in front of the observation window. When the door shut behind Mercer, Thomas kept watching Noelle.

  He knew what Mercer had been about to say. You never know when you could wake up and find her gone.

  Yes, he knew about the director’s past. Because he knew most of the secrets at the EOD. Once upon a time, Mercer had loved, too. But his wife had been taken from him.

  You never know when you could wake up and find her gone.

  Noelle turned her head then and looked toward the observation room. He stared into her eyes. The most gorgeous eyes he’d ever seen.

  He wouldn’t think of a life without Noelle. She’d been the on
e thing to get him through the darkest times of his life. No matter what hellhole he’d entered, she’d been there, the light in the darkness. The image of her had gotten him through so many times when he thought escape would be impossible.

  No, he wouldn’t think of a life without her. Because he didn’t want to live that life.

  He had his dream, he had Noelle, and Thomas knew he would fight heaven and hell to keep her by his side.

  He stayed there, watching, until the interrogation was over, and when Noelle finally came into the room to find him, Thomas stalked toward her.

  “Thomas?”

  He pulled her into his arms. He still didn’t think she realized just how incredibly important she was to him. Maybe one day, she would.

  “I love you.” The words came from him so easily now. No stumbles. No hesitations.

  She smiled.

  For so long, darkness had been all he’d known. But not any longer. Now he had light.

  He had love.

  He had Noelle.

  Thomas kissed her.

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from DEAD MAN’S CURVE by Paula Graves.

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  Chapter One

  Special Agent Ava Trent took a slow turn around Room 125 of the Mountain View Motor Lodge, studying everything, even though the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation had already given the place a thorough once-over that morning before the locals had called in the FBI. She doubted there was much they’d missed, but she liked to walk through a crime scene while it was still relatively fresh.