by Debra Webb
“It’ll be just like taking candy from babies,” Ferrelli assured him.
Logan nodded and headed toward the house, careful to maintain cover at all times. He didn’t have to worry about odds, whether it was five to one or twenty to one, Ferrelli would manage. All Specialists had extensive stealth and sniper training. They were the cream of the crop—made the elite Navy SEALs look like Boy Scouts. Specialists did the jobs no one else could.
Silence greeted Logan when he entered the house from the rear terrace. Not making a sound, he moved deeper into the dimly lit interior. The kitchen and dining room were empty. So was Esteban’s office, the briefing room and the front parlor. That left the upstairs.
Logan moved silently to the bottom of the staircase. Just as he lifted his right foot to take the first step up, the click of a weapon engaging echoed behind him.
Logan froze.
“Coming back was not a smart move.” Cortez reached around and plucked the weapon from Logan’s raised hand. The barrel of Cortez’s weapon bored into Logan’s skull. “But now that you are here, you might as well join the party.”
“I’ve always liked parties,” Logan said wryly, thankful for the moment that Cortez hadn’t had the foresight to pat him down. Carlos’s weapon was tucked into Logan’s waistband. He’d purposely pulled his T-shirt loose in front to drape over it.
Cortez urged him up the stairs. “I think your lovely wife likes this party as well.”
Logan gritted his teeth against the desire to turn around and tear the man apart, but that would be a mistake. Getting shot now wouldn’t help Erin. He’d sworn he’d come back for her. No way was he letting her down.
He would make his move when the time was right.
Logan took the final step up to the landing.
And the time was right now.
He whirled around, simultaneously drawing the weapon. When Cortez prepared to pull off a shot, Logan jammed a foot into his midsection, sending him tumbling down the stairs. Cortez’s shot went high. Logan’s didn’t.
Logan checked out the east wing first. Nothing. Fear that he was too late tightened in his chest. He’d promised her and he’d failed.
As he neared the end of the corridor in the west wing, he heard muffled voices. He couldn’t say yet if they were male or female, one or two.
He paused when he found one of the guards lying dead in an open doorway. Why would Esteban kill one of his guards? On closer inspection, Logan recognized the guard as Manuel, the one whose life Erin had saved with her quick thinking that first night. Maybe the guy had tried to return the favor.
A scream.
Erin.
Logan reached for calm. Forced himself to rely on the skills that had saved his life and the lives of others numerous times. Now was not the time for emotions or haste. He had to move cautiously.
There was a narrow crack in the door where it wasn’t quite closed, but it wasn’t wide enough for him to see. He could hear Esteban’s enraged voice…Erin’s fearful one. Logan hardened his heart against it. He couldn’t help her if he acted on his emotions.
Erin sat tied to a leather swivel chair. Her lip was bleeding, her right eye swollen. A mixture of fury and fear hit Logan like a sucker punch to the gut.
“I will ask you one last time,” Esteban threatened, his tone impatient, deadly. The business end of the weapon in his hand jammed against her temple. “Who sent you here?”
She stared up at him without saying a single word.
Respect welled in Logan. She was good.
No way could he spend the rest of his life without this woman.
He leveled his weapon on his target, square in the back of Esteban’s head. Logan snugged his finger to the trigger—
“Drop your weapon.”
It was a woman’s voice.
A barrel poked Logan in the back. “Drop it now or I will kill you.”
Esteban’s sister.
Maria.
Esteban whipped around, his weapon still leveled on Erin. Disbelief registered on his face when his gaze locked with Logan’s. “You!”
Logan’s lips tightened as Maria jabbed him in the back with the weapon. “Drop your weapon or she dies now!” Maria warned.
He tossed the borrowed weapon onto the carpeted floor.
“Move!” she demanded, jabbing him again.
She was in on this, too. Erin had insisted on staying just to save this woman, only to discover this. Logan moved into the center of the room at Maria’s continued prompting.
Erin sobbed out Logan’s name.
He wanted desperately to go to her, but didn’t dare make a move for fear of setting off a deadly chain reaction.
“Maybe I will have some answers now,” Esteban sneered.
“Better men than you have tried interrogating me,” Logan challenged. “But if you think you’re up to it, have at it.” He gestured to Erin. “She doesn’t know anything. Let her go and try your hand with me. I’m the one who can give you what you want.”
Logan tried to reassure Erin with his eyes. Tears were rolling down her cheeks but she sat up straighter, as if glad he was there. Just seeing the suffering she’d already endured made him want to kill Esteban with his bare hands.
“No, no. She stays.” Esteban swaggered toward Logan, waving his gun like the madman he was. “And I believe you will talk after you see what I have in store for your lovely wife.”
“Enough of your crude theatrics,” Maria roared like a dragon rather than the demure woman she’d appeared to be. “I will extract the answers I require.”
Esteban glared at her. “I! I! I!” He beat his fist against his chest. “I do all the dirty work and you,” he snarled, “you do nothing but spout useless orders.”
Well, well, Logan mused. There was trouble in paradise. No wonder Esteban wanted his sister dead. He was tired of being bossed around by a woman.
“Watch your step, brother dear. You would be nothing without me.”
Outrage still burning in his black eyes, Esteban feigned humility. “How could I forget? You are the brains. I am the brawn.” He flung an arm in Erin’s direction. “Then let me do my job.”
Maria’s posture relaxed slightly. “Proceed,” she relented.
Logan tensed, prepared to hurl himself at Esteban. He couldn’t let him do this…
“Tell me who sent you,” Esteban demanded of Erin once more. “Or I will destroy your lover bit by bit right before your eyes.”
Erin’s gaze locked with Logan’s. He saw the terror there, but also an underlying determination. His tension rocketed to a new level. God, don’t let her do anything foolhardy, he prayed. She turned back to Esteban and stared up at him in blatant disdain.
“You did,” she said hoarsely.
Esteban slapped her. She cried out. Logan jerked forward. Maria’s weapon bored more deeply into his spleen. “If you move,” she warned, “I won’t bother shooting you. I’ll shoot her.”
Logan froze. He fisted his hands in desperation. He had to stop this. Where the hell was Ferrelli?
“Who sent you?” Esteban roared as he raised his hand to strike Erin again.
She stopped him with her words. “You did. You sent me to kill your sister.”
Esteban stiffened visibly. “What kind of nonsense is this?” He jammed the barrel of his weapon to the side of her head once more. “Confess that you are making this up!”
There was no way to miss the new thread of nervous tension in his voice.
Erin looked directly at Maria. “He said you liked me…trusted me. He wanted me to get close to you so I could keep him informed until he made up his mind how he wanted me to kill you.”
“Lies! All lies!” Esteban screamed. He grabbed a handful of Erin’s hair and jerked. “She is a lying whore!”
“That’s why I was trying to find you today,” Erin finished quickly, grimacing with the new pain. “I wanted to warn you.”
“Bastardo,” Maria accused, her full attention moving to Esteban.
“You wanted me out of the way.”
“I swear she is lying.” Esteban released his hold on Erin and stumbled backward, away from the death ray aimed at him. He waved his weapon in front of him. “You know I would never hurt you, Maria.”
Maria’s aim swung toward Esteban. She fired before he could gather his wits and shoot or run. Logan knocked Maria’s arm up when she would have pulled off another round, this one aimed right at Erin. Her shot hit the window beyond Erin. Maria spun wildly, aiming for Logan next. He flung himself at her, taking her to the floor as he went down. The weapon flew from her hand. She scrambled for it. Before she could reach it, Logan had her. A second later she was out cold.
“We’re clear,” Ferrelli announced. “Housekeeping is in the air.”
Pushing to his feet, Logan glared at Ferrelli who stood in the open doorway grinning widely. “’Bout time you showed up.”
“What can I say?” Ferrelli chuckled. “I didn’t want to steal your glory.”
Logan nodded toward Maria. “Secure her.”
“Will do.”
Logan bounded across the room and dropped to his knees before Erin. He quickly dispensed with her bonds. Ferrelli was saying something, but Logan wasn’t listening. All that mattered to him right now was that Erin was safe.
She went straight into his arms. “I told you I’d be back,” he murmured.
She exhaled a shaky breath. “I never doubted you for a moment.”
Logan helped her to her feet. “Let’s get out of here.”
As the adrenaline receded and fear of what could have happened took hold, another kind of reality set in. This was the end of their time together.
The mission was over.
Erin would go back to her life now.
His arm tightened instinctively around her. For the first time in his life he understood the true meaning of needing someone so desperately that he couldn’t survive without that person.
Without Erin.
How could he ever let her go?
But how could he ask her to stay?
ERIN AND LOGAN were immediately flown to D.C. for what he called a “debriefing.” Erin had already told him and Ferrelli everything Maria had told her. Though not forthcoming herself, Maria’s computer contained everything they were looking for and more, dates, names, everything. Including the fact that Maria had set up a number of aliases operating out of Venezuela, Brazil and Mexico.
Her Brazilian alias proved most intriguing, as well as telling. She’d been having an affair with a high-level military official for years. He never once suspected her duplicity. She had used her time with him to gain access to his computer system. Considering the top-notch hacker she was, the rest had been a piece of cake.
Technical Operations had their work cut out for them now, analyzing all the data and determining where all the stolen weapons had ended up. The Drug Enforcement Agency would take over the closing down of Esteban’s drug operation. Including the arrest of all those present at Esteban’s party a few nights ago.
The mission was a success.
And it was over.
Erin paced the room she’d been assigned for the night. She’d showered already, but she couldn’t sleep. Her thoughts keep going to the way Logan had held her after Esteban was dead. As if he feared she might disappear. She couldn’t stop thinking about the way he’d come back for her even knowing the risk involved. Ferrelli had told her how Logan had refused to wait for backup.
She sank onto the edge of the bed. And then there was the way he’d made love to her. Surely she couldn’t have been that mistaken about his feelings for her. There was definitely no mistaking her own. She stared at the place where the gold band had resided on her left ring finger. It lay on the dresser across the room now. It was just part of the cover…part of the act. It had all been an act.
The last two weeks were what Logan lived for. His career as a specialist was his life. The mission. He’d said as much himself. He didn’t want a wife. Especially not one who wasn’t a part of his world. What would she do while he was away on a life-and-death mission, sit home and bake brownies? She couldn’t live like that. Not once had he given her the first impression that he wanted the house and white picket fence anyway.
He did have feelings for her. That much she was certain of. But those feelings would never be enough to bond a relationship this shaky. He would never be happy in her world. And his current one didn’t exactly promote the marriage and family ideal.
The best thing Erin could do for Logan, as well as herself, was to say goodbye. And to walk away. She wouldn’t tell him how she felt.
He would never know how hard she’d fallen.
It would be the best for all concerned.
LOGAN PUNCHED his pillow again, but it didn’t help. There would be no sleep tonight. But then, how could he sleep? Erin was just a few doors down. He wanted to be with her. To make love to her again. To prove to her, as well as to himself, that it was real…not just some stress-induced infatuation.
But that couldn’t happen.
Although Erin had performed above and beyond the call of duty, this was not the life for her. She would have her own safe little haven in Atlanta where no one would be shooting at her or trying to beat information out of her.
How could he ask her to wait for him between missions? That would be too cruel for words. She deserved better than that. He expelled a defeated breath. He might as well face it, Erin was better off without him. He knew it. And there couldn’t be any question in her mind—not after those last few hours of enduring Esteban’s torture.
Letting go would be the best for all concerned.
After the briefing tomorrow morning. He would simply say goodbye and walk away.
A new thought occurred to him. He shook his head. No, it would never work. He chewed his lip…well maybe it could. Hope swelled in his chest. It might just work.
There was only one way to find out.
HER BACK STIFF with the tension dancing up her spine, Erin sat in one of the two chairs facing Lucas Camp’s desk. Logan occupied the other.
He’d been cordial to her—polite, professional—as if nothing had happened.
She wanted to scream!
But it would be pointless. Hadn’t she risked her heart for a man before? And where had it gotten her? She wasn’t going to go out on that limb again. She was far enough into shaky territory as it was.
Lucas had updated them on the ongoing events at Esteban’s estate. Now owned with the Colombian government’s blessing, lock, stock and barrel, by the United States government. The seized assets would amount to millions that could, in turn, be used to bring down others like Esteban and Maria and to help the street children in Colombia. Erin had to admit that she felt a certain pride at knowing she’d helped make that happen, but losing her heart wasn’t part of the bargain.
“Excellent work, Erin.” Lucas smiled at her. “You performed a great service for your country.”
“Thank you,” she managed, her voice as stiff as her posture.
“I’m sure it will please you to know that Jeff Monteberry was indicted three days ago and the charges against you have been erased from all files.” He passed an envelope to her. “It contains all the pertinent paperwork. You’re free to resume your life as if none of this ever happened.”
Erin took the envelope, her hands shaking. The elation she’d fully expected to feel didn’t come. Jeff was getting his and she was free—for real. And, she was alive. Pretty damned good considering what she’d been through. That was all fine, but…
“Congratulations.”
Erin glanced at Logan. A fleeting glance was all she dared. But even in that small space of time he gifted her with a little smile that yanked hard on her heartstrings. “Thank you,” she managed, her voice shaking as badly as her hands. She would never see him again.
This was it.
The end.
“There’s just one other thing,” Lucas ventured. “Logan tells me that you’
re a crackerjack undercover agent.”
Forcing her attention back to Lucas, Erin made a choking sound that she hoped passed for a laugh. A familiar kind of heat funneled inside her with the knowledge that Logan was watching her. But she couldn’t look at him again, it was just too hard. “I muddled through if that’s what you mean.” She squared her shoulders. “I was lucky.”
“Oh you did more than muddle through,” Lucas countered. “In fact, I believe you would be an asset to this organization.” He inclined his head and studied her more closely. “That is if you’re looking for a job.”
The offer rattled her. Had Logan said that many good things about her? Why would he do that? A whirlwind of thoughts knitted her brow into a worried frown. Confusion reigned as she turned Lucas’s words over in her head.
Was this spy stuff really for her? She relented and glanced at the man sitting next to her. That dark, dark gaze collided with hers and she shivered, felt the power of him all the way to her toes. She quickly turned back to Lucas. She had to pay attention…to think.
“I’m not sure I’d be right for this kind of life,” she said in all honesty.
Lucas nodded. “I understand.” He sighed. “But I certainly hate to lose Logan.”
Erin’s frown deepened, eliciting the beginnings of a stress headache. What was the man talking about? She looked from one to the other, then back to Lucas. “Why would you lose Logan?”
Lucas shrugged. “He insists that if you walk away so will he.” A ghost of a smile lifted one corner of Lucas’s mouth. “It seems you had an effect on him.”
Afraid to believe her ears, but equally terrified not to, Erin turned in her seat to face Logan. “Is that true? Are you really willing to give it all up for me?”
“In a heartbeat.”
If the sincerity in his tone hadn’t told her, the absolute finality in his eyes would have. Happiness bloomed in her chest. This was real. No more make-believe.
Her mind spun with questions and possibilities. She didn’t know where to begin making a decision like this. She pressed a hand to her chest as if it might slow the racing of her heart. Logan took that hand in his and squeezed. His touch or the way he looked at her, or maybe both crystallized the moment, made everything as clear as glass. She loved him. Her life was with him, wherever that took her.