Shadows and Silk (30 page)
Gabe ignored the steady stream of fire that came from behind him, trusting Grace to
not let anyone too close, and he went searching for his next victim. Only a few minutes
passed before he stood in the middle of a ring of twelve guards—all of them dead.
None of them had had a chance to fire a shot.
Grace was waiting for him on the ground when he caught back up to where he’d left
her. They both picked up their pace and ran the last mile in silence. They slowed
as they came to a winding dirt road with deeply rutted tire tracks, making footing
tricky. Less than a minute later, a forest green Humvee coated with a thick layer
of dust pulled up beside them. Gabe opened the back door and Grace slid across the
hot leather seat.
The driver turned and looked at Gabe, waiting for instructions. Logan Grey had worked
with him on other missions. He was a quiet man, tall and sinewy with muscle. He wore
his dark blond hair long, not as a fashion statement, but to help cover the terrible
scars on the back of his neck. Logan was former MI6, but an almost fatal accident
had gained him retirement before he was ready. Gabe hadn’t hesitated at snatching
him up to work for him. No one knew explosives better than Logan Grey.
“Get us out, and in a hurry,” Gabe said. Logan glanced once at Grace and then nodded.
Gabe slid the window closed that divided the front and back seat so he and Grace had
complete privacy.
“Who’s your friend?” Grace asked.
“Logan Grey. Don’t worry. He’s heard all about you and still agreed to help me find
you.”
“I’m sure he’s a real stand up guy.”
“He’ll grow on you. So what do you think? This was just like old times. We always
made a hell of a team.”
“Tell me what you want, and then let me go. I’ve got a schedule to keep.”
“You don’t have another job lined up once you deliver the flash drive to the South
Koreans. Looks like you’re at loose ends.” Gabe watched for a reaction closely, but
she showed no surprise that he’d been keeping up with her movements. She just waited
him out with silence and a hard look, and he decided to give in to the unspoken standoff
just this once.
“I’ve left the CIA,” he told her.
“I heard. Congratulations. Let me go.”
Gabe smiled and stretched out across the seat, crowding her with the length of his
legs, but she didn’t budge an inch. “Did you hear I’d joined the private sector and
opened my own agency?”
She laughed, low and sexy, and the smoky sound swirled around him until he was dizzy
with desire. “So good boy, Gabriel Brennan, has decided to become a bad boy and go
rogue. I assume the agency is displeased by your decision?”
“Not at all. They know when something is out of their control. My agency is privately
funded. Even the CIA recognizes the benefits unknown money can buy. Government agencies
are still hampered by rules. Sometimes there are jobs where the rules need to be broken.
That’s when they call me.”
“Well, bully for you. You always did manage to get what you wanted.”
“Nothing could be further from the truth, and you know it,” he said quietly. Gabe
waited patiently for her to make eye contact. It didn’t take her long. She’d never
been a coward.
“I don’t know anything about you, Gabe. I never did. Our life was a lie.”
“How long are you going to pretend she’s not sitting here between us?”
“Don’t mention her!” The quiver in her voice was quickly controlled. “I’ll get out
of this car and disappear off the face of the planet. If you want me to stay, then
the past stays in the past. It’s non-negotiable.”
“Fine. Whatever you say.”
The SUV slowed to a stop, and Gabe pushed the door open, not waiting to see if she’d
follow. It was a stupid idea to think he could fix things—to heal the wounds that
had been bleeding for the last two years.
Gabe’s Gulfstream sat ready for takeoff on the hard packed dirt the small Venezuelan
city called an airport. He went up the stairs and then turned to face Grace, sure
she’d still be in the car. But she stood at the bottom of the steps, her face carefully
blank.
“You can either come with me or you can leave. The choice is yours,” Gabe said without
emotion, tossing her the flash drive.
She caught it one handed and stared at him, studying him, trying to read every angle
of the situation as she’d been trained to do at the agency. She finally nodded and
started up the steps. “I’ll come.”
Gabe let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding and nodded before boarding
the plane. He had a feeling that before this job was over, she’d have one more reason
to hate him.
About the author:
Liliana Hart
is an
award winning
author of more than a dozen books. She lives in Texas in a big rambling house with
her laptop and cats, and she spends way too much time on Twitter. She loves hearing
from her readers.
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http://www.lilianahart.com
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Links To My Other Books:
MacKenzie
Box Set
(includes the 5 books listed above)
Goldilocks and the Three Behrs
Strangers in the Night (Erotic Collection)