by Becky Harmon
She pushed off the wall and took the few steps to Ellie’s door, knocking softly. The door opened immediately. Ellie stood in front of her. Her skin shone with a fresh clean scrub and her white long-sleeved T-shirt hung from her shoulders, barely reaching her thighs. She was captivated by her beauty and unable to move.
Ellie reached out and touched her arm, sliding her hand into Angel’s. “Come inside.”
She stepped into the dimly light room. “You’re beautiful.”
“You certainly know how to charm a woman.”
Ellie slid her arms around Angel’s neck, pulling her down into a kiss. Her lips were soft and demanding. She wanted to explore them further, but the sweet smell of Ellie reminded her that she hadn’t had a shower yet.
“I came straight here. Can I use your shower?”
“Only if I can join you.”
She smiled. “Sounds wonderful.”
She followed Ellie into the bathroom and dropped her dirty clothes into a pile. The moment for shyness had passed the night before in the darkness on a moving train. Now, her only thought was having Ellie in all the ways she had dreamed about.
Ellie’s touch was gentle as she washed the dirt and the pain away. She braced herself on the shower wall and easily surrendered to Ellie’s touch until she could no longer stand.
Though her body and mind longed for sleep when she crawled between the sheets, everything was forgotten with the touch of Ellie’s skin. As she moved on top of her and fit their bodies together, every part of her awoke. She took her time, enjoying the softness of Ellie’s skin and the sound of her voice as they both rode the wave of desire over and over. Better than anything she had ever imagined; Ellie’s healing touch was now forever imprinted on her body.
* * *
Ellie felt the bed shift as Angel quietly slid to her feet.
“Are you sneaking off?” she asked, jokingly.
Angel stepped into her pants and pulled on her boots. “As much as I’d love to lie in bed with you all day, I have to get back to work.”
She sat up, pulling on her T-shirt. “I need to get back into the flow of things here too. Sam only checked in for a second last night, and I’m sure he was holding back.”
Angel sat on the edge of the bed. When she cupped Ellie’s face, running her thumb along her cheek, Ellie leaned into her touch and slowly ran her tongue along Angel’s lips. When she finally slid it inside her mouth, the warmth of their kiss melted her.
“Do I have your attention now?” she asked.
“You’ve always had my attention.”
Angel jumped to her feet as the door to Ellie’s bedroom burst open and Micalah barged into the room.
“Micalah!” she exclaimed in surprise. “What are you doing here?”
“I got on a plane as soon as I heard you were missing.” Micalah’s eyes locked on Angel. “But I can see I’m too late.”
Angel studied Micalah for a few seconds and then looked at Ellie. “Briefing at eight?”
She nodded. Closing the door behind Angel, Ellie turned to face Micalah.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded. “Better yet, how did you get into my room?”
“It came to my attention you were missing, and no one could tell me where you were. Including your beloved Vince. Oh, and I bribed the nice marine.”
“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to make contact until yesterday. Thankfully everything is fine now.”
“It’s not fine! Someone is trying to kill you,” Micalah exclaimed.
“There is that.” She took a deep breath and dropped to the chair. “I’m hoping there’ll be some information on that at this morning’s briefing.”
“Okay, but what about that woman?”
“That woman saved my life.”
Micalah gave her a suspicious glance. “Somehow I’m not buying that she just dropped in this morning.”
She smiled. “I’m not going to discuss that with you.”
“No need. You’ve answered my questions. I hope you’re being careful.”
“Careful? Seriously.”
“You aren’t exactly in gay-friendly territory.”
“I’m being discreet, Micalah. Besides it’s all new and no decisions or discussions have been made at this point. So, let’s talk about something else.” She walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. “How long are you staying? Do you want to sit in on the briefing this morning?”
“I’m here until you’re safe, and yes, I want to hear what that woman has to say.”
She stuck her head out of the bathroom. “Play nice or I’ll send you home.”
“I only want to make sure she’s doing her job and not just you.”
“Not funny.”
* * *
Angel slowed her pace as she approached Ellie’s office. She could barely contain her anticipation of seeing Ellie again. All morning she’d struggled with her desire to run to her. The memory of last night played through her mind.
“Angel?”
She glanced up at Sam approaching from the other direction, his red tie standing out against his white shirt. The eagerness of his message portrayed on his face.
“You have news?” she asked.
“Maybe.” He motioned toward the ambassador’s office. “Shall we?”
She worked to hold her face still as she made eye contact with Ellie. Sure that no one could see her, she gave Ellie a wink, looking away quickly when Ellie’s face flushed slightly.
Ellie cleared her throat and motioned for them to take a seat. “Sam, Angel, this is Micalah Cutter. She is a CIA analyst, but she’s here as my friend.”
She turned to see the woman who had barged into Ellie’s room earlier sitting on the couch behind them, her arm resting along the back of the couch, giving a relaxed impression. She had read only concern in Micalah’s face this morning, which was the only reason she had left them alone. The look on her face now showed more than concern. It was clear to Angel that Micalah wasn’t going to remain silent during the discussion to come.
“Madam Ambassador,” Sam began formally. “Minister Aboye finally allowed us to search the containers waiting to depart to the US. Inside one of them we found water, blankets, and food.”
“Human smuggling?” Ellie asked.
“It looks that way. A container from the same company with our diplomatic pouch paperwork left port two weeks ago destined for the US.”
Ellie turned away and then spun back again. “I’ll assume this is Farook’s work. How in the hell did he manage to gain access to diplomatic pouch paperwork? Do we know where this container is? Can we stop it?”
“A very pissed off Chloe is working on finding out how he accomplished this as well as getting your signature. I’m not sure what we can do about stopping the container, but we should be able to figure out which ship it’s on.” Sam stood. “I’ll stay on it.”
As Sam left, Angel stepped forward. “Sam and I are working with the police force to track down Farook and identify Lars. So far, unless Vince approves me to dispatch my agents to assist, I don’t hold much hope of finding him. Randy Barnes and Craig Shepherd have left the country. We believe they might be headed to the US, but for the moment they’re off the radar.”
“I want Ronald Pigott in my office today. I want to know if he knows what his brother-in-law has been up to,” Ellie demanded.
“I’ll let Sam work the diplomatic route, but if he’s unsuccessful I’ll push Vince to allow me to send agents to bring him in.”
Ellie nodded.
Sam rushed back into the room, holding up a piece of paper. “I’ve got it. It’ll cross into US waters sometime next week.”
Micalah stood, but Angel quickly pulled the paper from Sam’s hand. “I’ll handle that.”
She leaned against the wall outside Ellie’s office and pulled her phone from her pocket. From memory she dialed her friend Stacey’s number. Stacey Blake was a Flagler security agent working undercover in a Manhattan dress shop. The sho
p specialized in imports from China, and Stacey was working a possible human trafficking angle. Stacey was also a bulldog. She wouldn’t let any tip pass by without following it to the end.
“Angel?”
“Hey, I need a favor.” She read the information from the piece of paper in her hand to the woman on the other end of the call.
“Okay. I’ll check this out personally. If possible, we’ll intercept the container now, but depending on how they are stacked on the ship we might have to let it get to port before we can reach it. You’re sure they have supplies.”
“From what we can see on this end, we believe they’re given enough to keep them alive.”
“Okay. I’ll call you.”
Angel listened to the silence on her end of the line for a few seconds before sliding the phone back into her pocket. She had complete confidence in Stacey. She returned to the ambassador’s office. Micalah stood beside Ellie, and everyone looked up when she entered.
“I’ve contacted a fellow Flagler agent and the container will be located as soon as possible. Sam, let’s get Pigott in front of the ambassador.”
* * *
“Okay, she’s more than arm candy. I’ll give you that.”
“Seriously. ‘Arm candy.’” Ellie rolled her eyes. “She’s efficient and competent.”
“And beautiful.”
“Isn’t she?” Her face flushed again. She wanted to gush about how wonderful Angel was, but it would be inappropriate. And she wasn’t the gushing type. Was she? Well, she had never been before. She pulled Micalah back to the couch and sat down across from her. “What am I going to do?”
Micalah laughed. “Now you want my opinion. You couldn’t listen to me before you fell in love with her?”
“Fell in…no. I’m still getting to know her. I can’t be in love with her.”
“I just sat here and watched you both avoid looking at each other through a briefing. There’s no need to deny it. You’re in love with her and she feels the same.”
She couldn’t be in love. Not yet. They needed time to get to know each other. Didn’t they? She stood. “I need to work.”
She ushered Micalah out the door and took a seat at her desk. Who was she kidding? She wasn’t going to be able to work. Her work life was in turmoil due to a few lying, cheating men, and her personal life was spiraling out of control too.
She took a deep breath. That wasn’t true. Angel had a handle on the Conex and the threat to the embassy seemed to be gone. For the first time in her life, she had someone that made her insides flutter. Someone she respected and was as strong as she was. She thought about the way Angel had taken control of the situation. Today she was wearing the same color and style of uniform that she had since the day she arrived at the embassy, and yet, something was different. Closing her eyes, she called to mind the way Angel’s face had looked as their eyes met earlier. The lines of stress that had been evident in the last couple of weeks were gone, and the hint of a smile played on her lips. She was seeing another side of the real Angel. One without the strain of performing a job and keeping everyone at a distance. Oh, how she liked this woman.
* * *
“Have you been avoiding my call?”
Vince didn’t sound angry, but Angel could hear the distress in his voice.
“No.”
“I’ve left several messages for you and spoken to Eric and Sarah.”
She sighed. She couldn’t lie to Vince, but telling him the truth about how she felt about Ellie was not something she was looking forward to. Her only reprieve was that at this moment she wouldn’t be able to see the disappointment on his face. She’d hear it in his voice, though, and that thought had kept her from returning his call immediately.
“Things are going well. Pigott will arrive within the hour and Ellie’s friend from the CIA will help me grill him. We’ll get to the bottom of this before the day is over.” She took a deep breath. “I called Stacey Blake and she’s tracking down the shipment container. Hopefully she’ll be able to rescue the occupants before it makes port. We—”
“Angel, stop. What’s going on?”
She sighed. Vince had always encouraged her to speak her mind. To never hold things in. It was time to face the music. “I might be in love with her.”
“Stacey? I didn’t know you guys were close.”
“Not Stacey. Ellie.”
Vince was silent.
“Vince? Please don’t be upset with me?”
“How could I be upset with you? You brought her back safely.” He exhaled loudly. “I should have expected this. I threw the two of you together. I should have known you would find each other intriguing. That’s a recipe for disaster.”
“Disaster? Are you serious?”
“Well, maybe, disaster isn’t the right word.” Vince chuckled. “I’m not upset with you. I’ve never tried to tell you what to do and I certainly won’t try now. I trust you to work things out professionally even if that means I’m going to have to give you more time off to work on your long-distance relationship.”
* * *
“I want to question him too,” Ellie demanded.
Angel’s desire for the woman in front of her surged. Of course, her CIA side would want to question anyone involved in the plot on her life. Luckily, she didn’t have to answer.
“Absolutely not,” Micalah countered. “We expect you to sit there and be quiet.”
She nodded her agreement, though it brought a frown to Ellie’s face.
“Madam Ambassador,” she said softly. “When all of this is over, you’ll still have to work with this man and the people in this country. Let us handle this.”
Ellie groaned. “Why do you always make sense?” She dropped into the chair behind her desk.
The door to Ellie’s office opened and Sam walked in along with Ronald Pigott.
Tense introductions were exchanged and then Angel stepped in front of him. She refused to wait a second longer to force this man to cooperate.
“Do you know why we didn’t make it for the visit?” she demanded.
“No, I don’t. I was very disappointed. We stopped production for the day. We’ve made a lot of improvements since—”
“Your brother-in-law tried to kill the ambassador.”
“What? No!”
“Randy Barnes hunted us from Akjoujt to Terjit. There is no mistake.”
Micalah stepped forward. “Farook Kassib, an embassy employee, was assisting him and stealing from the ambassador.”
“I don’t know this man.”
“Really?” Ellie stood, placing her hands on the desk in front of her. “Let’s drop the façade.”
“You can’t stop us from completing this farm.”
“No, we can’t, but we can make sure this will be your last project inside the borders of Mauritania. You’ll also need US support to win the bidding for new contracts in any country.”
Pigott dropped his head in defeat. “My brother-in-law has ambitions that I don’t share. He’s hungry for money.”
Ellie looked around the room. “We understand that you can’t control his actions, but you can help us find him now.”
“I’ll help you. What do you want me to do?”
Ellie turned her desk phone around to face him. “Call him and find out where he is.”
“I’ll send him a text,” he said, pulling a cell phone from his pocket. “I haven’t spoken to him since—in about a week.”
Angel waited while he sent the text and then she was on him again. She shoved him into a chair and stood over him, forcing him to look up at her. “Three good men were killed. Tell us everything you know about Barnes’s operation.”
“Three? No.” He shook his head. “I told Randy I didn’t want to know.” He paused before leaning around her and addressing the ambassador. “I like working in this country. I feel like I’m really helping out.”
He seemed to think any sympathy would come from Ellie, so Angel stepped to block his view. “I’m su
re the ambassador appreciates your sincerity, but now she wants to hear something solid. Who is Lars?”
She saw recognition in his face at the name and she leaned closer. “Tell us who he is.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know him, but I’ve heard Randy and Craig talking about him. He’s a horrible person. Not someone I would associate with,” he said as he leaned to the side again, trying to bring Ellie back into the conversation.
Angel crossed her arms over her chest as Micalah joined her to block his view of Ellie.
“Did you sponsor Barnes’s and Shepherd’s work visas?” Micalah asked.
“Yes, but I didn’t know they had ulterior motives for being here. As soon as I found out they were doing such horrible things, I fired them.”
“What horrible things?” Micalah continued to press him.
“Shooting guns outside the embassy, of course,” he said as if she should know.
Angel jumped back in. “Oh, so the smuggling of young girls was okay with you?”
His face paled.
She looked at Micalah. “Guess he didn’t know we knew that.”
He cleared his throat. “I didn’t like it, but it didn’t involve me.”
“There’s some logic for you,” Micalah said, shaking her head.
“I mean, I wanted them to stop. Once they linked up with Lars, I blocked all their access to any means of transport through my company. I thought that would stop them.”
“Well, it didn’t,” Ellie said, standing again. “But I think you knew that. Why did you think they were firing guns outside the embassy?”
“They told me they were only trying to distract you, but when I talked with Randy last, he mentioned he was having trouble keeping the crowd in place.”
Ellie nodded as if everything made sense now. “I’m finished with this. Sam, please turn Mr. Pigott over to the DSS agents outside the door. They’ll keep him company until Barnes returns his text. He can spend his time writing down every known location his brother-in-law might be at.”
Angel sank into the chair in front of Ellie’s desk and waited until the door closed behind Sam. “So, your pressure to stop the kickbacks on the docks must have been working.”
“Yes, I guess so,” Ellie answered with a sigh.