Lisette frowned. “So this Jackson is the middleman?”
“He has a lot more knowledge about the operation than I do. I deliver the babies, and he takes over from there. I don’t know what he does with them after that.”
“How are you going to make contact with the courier at the party? I imagine there will be hundreds in attendance.” Colton leaned back against the counter again. “It’s a big charity event for children.” Her partner choked out the last word, a frown descending on his face.
Lisette didn’t blame him. The irony of this whole situation struck her.
“I’m not to wear a mask. He’ll recognize me and approach me. Jackson has given the contact a picture of me.”
“How interesting―you have made yourself indispensable if we want to catch a higher-up in the ring.” Sarcasm dripped from Colton’s voice.
While Lisette felt the same as Colton, her brief look conveying that to the marshal, she had to be the “good” cop in this scenario. “So you’ll be turning over this middleman you report to in exchange for the deal?”
Saunders nodded. “And don’t forget the baby who won’t become part of the smuggling operation. You didn’t really know what was going on until I decided to talk in St. Louis. All that has to be worth something. Even the fact that the organization has several levels. I’m at the bottom of the rung. It’s a start you didn’t have before me.”
Colton pulled back the chair and sat between her and Saunders at the kitchen table. “Tell you what. We’ll go along for the time being. But if you don’t deliver at least the middleman and the baby, then the bargain is off.”
Lisette wasn’t sure Colton had that kind of authority, but by his no-nonsense tone and fierce, determined stare, it would be foolish on Saunders’s part not to snatch up the deal.
“Sure. Sure. You’ll be the hero getting this information. Jackson has dealings with the higher-ups.” Saunders put his hands on the top of the table and began to push up, saying, “Well, if you two don’t need me, I’m taking a nap.”
Colton clasped Saunders’s lower arm. “Don’t play me. You don’t want to rile me.” His look emphasized the threat behind his words.
Saunders peered at Colton as though trying to gauge his intent and then grinned. “I hear you. I’m no fool. I know that I have no other choice.”
Colton released his grasp, and Saunders scurried toward the bedroom like the rat he was.
“You’re positive he can’t fit through the window?” Lisette asked when their witness disappeared from view.
“Yes. But even if he tried, when he opened the window, an alarm would go off. We’d know and go outside and wait for him to become stuck.”
“At least we’ll know where he is at all times.”
He chuckled “Might be a bit chilly, especially at night, and then there are the bears that might be curious.”
“I thought they hibernated in the winter.”
“They have been sighted from time to time.”
“What do you know about Don Saunders?”
“I’d think of him like I would a rattlesnake. Deadly. He’ll make a lot of racket to ward us off, but when push comes to shove, he’ll strike without a second thought to save himself.”
“I have a feeling you don’t trust easily.” Lisette rose, needing to pace—do something. This wasn’t the part of the job she liked—sitting around and waiting.
“No. People usually end up disappointing me. But then I guess that goes with the line of work we’re in. How about you?”
“I have to agree with you. I’ve been burned, which makes me hesitate to trust others.” Especially when the people in question were her mother and a fellow FBI agent she thought she was in love with until the drama concerning her mom made Lisette a pariah within the Bureau.
“You know, I should have taken exception to what you said to Saunders, that you wanted a reason not to go along with me. What part of our conversation in the car did you need me to go over? The part where I’m the lead on this team?”
She moved toward the window that afforded a view out the front of the cabin. The other two windows in the living room flanked the fireplace and looked out the back. “I thought I would be the good cop and get him to think I was on his side.” She swept around to face him, only a few feet from her. When had he moved? Why hadn’t she heard him? As he continued toward her, her throat went dry. “It worked. If he can deliver what he says, it’ll get us closer to who is behind this smuggling ring.”
He paused an arm’s length away. “There is more than one person at the top. That’s the first I heard of that. He didn’t say anything about that to the St. Louis marshals.”
“See what happens when he’s rattled.” Lisette thought of moving back, giving herself some space, except that the window was there. The dryness spread from her throat to her mouth. Energy pulsated from Colton, reaching out and wrapping around Lisette. She sidestepped and put some distance between them.
“That’s why I did what I did. I never do something without a reason.”
“So you aren’t impulsive?”
“Being impulsive can get you killed. You have to be constantly thinking ahead and making plans how to act or react. You always have to have a backup plan or two.”
“Is that what happened on the way to the airport yesterday?”
He nodded. His gleaming eyes fixed on her, and he quirked a grin. “We did make a good team with Saunders.”
The word team resounded through her thoughts. From what she’d read about Colton, he wasn’t exactly a team player. She hoped he didn’t blow this case. She needed to make a good impression with her new boss. Denver was the first time she’d been assigned to a larger office. For six years she’d been relegated to some of the worst assignments in the FBI, even though she’d been one of the top in her class at the FBI Academy. No one had said anything, but she knew it was because her mother had to resign from the Bureau. Lisette would have to work twice as hard as others to prove her worth as an agent.
She pinned him with her regard. “Communication is the key to a good team.” Remember that before you mess up my chance at a better job in the FBI.
* * *
Colton finished his walk-through at the hotel where the charity masquerade ball was being held. The place was as secured as it could be with three hundred guests attending the party. Not a bad choice for a rendezvous to pass along information in an illegal activity. Most guests would be masked and the ballroom filled to capacity. It would be easy for Saunders to get lost in the crowd and slip away unnoticed if he and his team weren’t vigilant.
Marshal Quinn Parker approached, dressed in a joker costume. “Who in the world picked out this for me to wear?” He waved his hand down his length.
“You can blame it on Melissa. Is there a reason she would choose you to wear the joker outfit?” Colton imagined his boss’s secretary having a good laugh over what she picked out for them.
Parker laughed. “Have you looked at yourself lately? The only time I see a man wear tights is at a ballet.”
“You go to the ballet?”
Parker narrowed his eyes. “My wife drags me. Who are you supposed to be?”
Colton donned his velvet hat like the ones worn in the fifteenth century and bowed at the waist. “Romeo, at your service.”
“Where’s your Juliet?”
Colton looked behind Parker at the woman coming toward them. Lisette wore a dress that would be from the same time period as his costume. She moved gracefully in a long crimson gown with an elaborate beaded and jeweled bodice cut with a square neckline. Although what she had on was elegant, what caught Colton’s attention was Lisette’s long flowing golden curls hanging below her shoulders, and her eyes, accented with shades of brown eye shadow, no longer hidden behind glasses. So she did have contacts. Interesting. Why did she feel the need to hide her beauty? There was no doubt she was gorgeous.
“Ah, your Juliet has arrived. I wonder what Benson’s secretary had in mind doin
g that,” Parker said when he glanced at Lisette.
No doubt she was messing with Colton’s mind. His supervisor’s secretary loved to play practical jokes. He was the target this time. “Since I’ve been forced to wear tights, I need some kind of compensation.” Colton covered the few feet to Lisette and bowed with a flourish. “I like your hair down. You should wear it like that more often.”
Lisette pursed her lips. “We have worked together three days, and you profess to know how I usually wear my hair?”
He winked at her. “Yep. The way I’ve seen you the past few days is the way you go to work all the time.”
“Unless I’m undercover.”
“How often has that happened?”
“This is the first time.”
“In other words, you never wear your hair down.”
“Yes, I do. On my days off.”
He stepped closer and lowered his voice. “What do you like to do on your days off?”
“Wear my hair down. Be myself.”
He wondered what that was. “Without your glasses?”
“Sometimes. What does this have to do with tonight’s assignment?”
Two pink patches on her cheeks held his attention until he realized he was staring. He cleared his throat and said, “I wanted to make sure you could see clearly in case something went wrong?”
One of her eyebrows rose. “Are you sure that’s the reason?”
How in the world had he let this conversation become personal? He was the team leader. He had to consider everything, didn’t he? He shifted his gaze toward Parker. “Saunders is ten minutes out. Marshals Simms and Wallace are bringing him to the party.”
“Oh, joy. His appearance is going to ruin a perfectly nice evening.” She sauntered past him and greeted Parker.
For a brief moment Colton pictured himself with Lisette, attending this charity ball as a couple on a date. Not having to work. Not having a witness to protect. Having dinner beforehand. Sharing a dance—
“Marshal Phillips,” Lisette broke into his daydream, “Parker is going to recheck the west corridor and exit. I’m taking the east.”
He shook away the mental image of her clasped in his arms. “I’ll see about the north. Simms and Wallace are bringing him in through the south entrance. Meet me back here in five minutes so we can cover the south as Saunders arrives.”
Colton hurried toward the north hallway, a vision of Lisette teasing the edges of his mind, trying to work its way back into his thoughts and rob him of his concentration on the job. All because she wore her hair down! His fingers itched to run through her thick blond curls. He never got involved with a coworker. It was not a good idea, especially with the job he had. So why now was he attracted to her?
He waved at an extra marshal brought in to be posted at the north door. Brad Worth nodded at him, then returned his focus to the entrance. After Colton checked a few rooms off the hallway to make sure they were still locked, he started back the way he came.
When he’d been in foster care, he’d learned not to become too attached to anything or anyone. His job had only reinforced that—traveling a lot and moving from one U.S. Marshals’ office to another. Yes, those moves had been his choice because he was used to being in places temporarily. What would happen if he stayed put for more than two years in a town?
As Colton neared the south entrance, he tamped down all feelings. This was business tonight. He’d done this enough times to run on autopilot. Agent Lisette Sutton was a professional, and that was all it was. He admired that in any law enforcement officer.
* * *
Through her earpiece Lisette could hear the conversation between Saunders, dressed in a pirate’s costume, and a woman in a Little Bo Peep outfit standing near the long dessert table. Lisette had verified everyone was in position for the exchange that should happen soon between Saunders and his contact, and now she moved across the dance floor to Colton. She grimaced. The annoying man who had driven everyone crazy the past few days was poised close by.
“Would you like to dance?” Saunders asked the lady dressed as Little Bo Peep minus the staff.
“I’d love to,” came the faint answer to his question.
Lisette paused next to Colton, facing the dance area as the slow song started. “I wonder if our guy can waltz.”
“We’re about to find out.”
She followed Saunders and Little Bo Peep as he swept his partner out onto the floor with the other pairs. “Nope. He doesn’t have a clue how to waltz. Probably doesn’t even realize it is one.”
“In his line of work, I doubt he has a need to.”
“I guess in ours we don’t, either.”
“No, but for some it’s a pastime.”
She slid a look toward him for a few seconds before returning it to Saunders. “Ballroom dancing?”
A smile curled the corners of his mouth. “Yeah, one of the marshals I worked with went out dancing every weekend he could with his girlfriend. Later they got married and they still do it. He told me it’s his exercise.”
“I never thought about that.”
“Do you dance?”
“Not much.” She didn’t date a lot, not after her boyfriend in the FBI dropped her because of the scandal involving her mother. Building her career was her life, and finally after years she felt it was beginning to pay off. With the assignment to the Denver office, she felt the FBI was satisfied she wouldn’t turn out like her mother had, which meant Lisette would work extra hard to keep that impression true. This case with the U.S. Marshals Service was a big break for her.
“Then how did you know it was a waltz?”
“I love music—all kinds. I also love to watch people dance.”
“But you don’t?”
She could feel his eyes on her. “Not much chance. It takes two.”
“I see Saunders is moving out of our range. Should we?” Colton held out his hand to her.
“You can waltz?”
“I’m a quick study, and I saw my colleague and his wife do it enough. At least I’ll be better than Saunders.”
Lisette placed her hand in his, the contact sending a tingling sensation zipping up her arm. He grasped her at the waist, and she nearly stepped on his foot when she tripped over her own. Warmth suffused her face. “Sorry. I didn’t have a friend to show me.”
Lisette listened to the soft rhythm of the song and fell into sync with Colton. He moved them toward Saunders. All Lisette heard through her earpiece were the music and the background din of the crowd in the ballroom. Saunders was quiet.
Halfway across the dance area from Saunders, Colton swept her around and she faced Saunders.
Saunders swung his partner around and crashed into a waiter.
“Watch where you’re going, dude.” The waiter’s loud words blared through her earpiece.
“Sorry. Got carried away.”
The man who had collided with Saunders strode away from him and his partner. Saunders moved toward the far end of the dance floor in a couple of twirls as though he had all of a sudden learned to waltz.
“I think he just made contact with that waiter who collided with him,” she said close to Colton’s ear as the song came to an end.
He swung her around to look at Saunders. “He’s just disappeared in the swarm leaving the floor.” He dipped his head and spoke into his mike in a soft voice. “Find Saunders, south end of the ballroom. Agent Sutton thinks he made contact and is now lost in the crowd.”
Lisette was headed in the direction where she’d last seen Saunders when suddenly the lights went out. Darkness descended over the ballroom, leaving only the muted light of the red exit signs.
FOUR
All around Colton, lights from people’s cell phones illuminated the ballroom, the soft glow enough to see where a person was going. Using his, he closed the short space between him and Lisette while saying to the team, “Cover the exits. We can’t let Saunders escape.”
“The rest of the hotel is lit. The bl
ackout only affected this wing,” Quinn Parker came back on the comlink.
“Thankfully the team members are dressed as hotel security in case this isn’t related to Saunders. I’ll cover the left side of the ballroom, and when I get my hands on him, it might not be pretty,” Lisette whispered, then took off her mask.
Chuckling, he removed his, too, so nothing obscured his view. “He’s a valuable asset. We can’t treat him like a criminal. Meet me at the main door.”
Over a PA system a hotel employee made an announcement there was a technical problem that affected this part of the hotel. “We’re working on getting the lights back on. Please exit the ballroom in an orderly matter.”
Colton turned to the right and began searching for Saunders among the guests making their way toward the exits. This was a time he was glad for the convenience of cell phones and the flashlight app a person could download. No one was panicking in the dark.
His team members called in one by one to let him know they were in place, watching the guests as they filed out of the ballroom. While Colton weaved his way toward the back, scanning faces, he kept listening to his earpiece for any sounds from Saunders. All he heard were voices talking about the lights going out. The man must be in the crowd—somewhere.
Once he secured him again, he would get to the bottom of why the lights went out. About ten feet from him on the left, a large man built like Saunders, dressed in black, had his back to Colton. He pushed his way through the throng toward the person. When he got a better view, his shoulders relaxed. The man wasn’t in a pirate costume.
WITNESS PROTECTION 02: The Baby Rescue Page 4