Agents Under Fire (13 page)

“
I don’t think he’s coming,” she told the woman quietly.

Kenneth had ambitions. He needed a wife who could help him fulfill them. She’d always known that and never minded that it had been one of the hundred reasons why he’d chosen her. Relationships were complicated. She believed in him and his causes. She just wasn’t in love with him. The truth hit home, suddenly undeniable.

Yes, his betrayal hurt, but her heart didn’t shatter into a million little pieces. She felt as if she was watching the scene in the courtyard unfold from above, an out of body experience.

She didn’t have the heart to ask for the photo back. She had others at the hotel. She pulled out her wallet, grabbed a handful of local currency without counting and held it out. “Go home to your family.”

The woman looked at her with tear-soaked eyes and an expression of profound adoration, then collapsed to the ground and kissed her feet.

~~~***~~~

Chapter Four

She was a class act all the way. And tough. She didn’t fall apart, but she
was
shaken. Jake drove Allison back to the hotel, his admiration for her having grown a couple of notches since they’d left the place that morning.

He walked her up to her room and sat her down. A shot of whiskey might have done her good, but with Islam forbidding alcohol, he couldn’t just order up a bottle.

He stood in front of her and took in the brave set of her shoulders. “Talk to me.”

“
I feel bad that I’m not more upset,” she said at last, looking a little dazed and a lot vulnerable, which brought out his protective instincts.

He moved away from her to pace the room. “You’re not the party that needs to feel guilty here.”

He wanted to punch a wall on her behalf, since she seemed too much of a lady to do it for herself. Not that he didn’t admire her restraint. Some people equated restraint with weakness, but he’d learned better in the Army. To restrain one’s emotions and act from a place of calmness took a hell of a lot of inner strength.

“
Where do you think he is?” Her blue gaze hung on his face.

Six feet under
, he wanted to tell her, not feeling particularly sorry for the jerk at the moment. But if he told her that Kenneth was dead, she would want to know how he knew. And he couldn’t blow his cover, although keeping the truth from her felt more and more wrong with every passing minute.

In hindsight, he preferred the straight forward fighting style of the Army, his previous employer, as opposed to the whole FBI sneaking around thing.

“
I don’t think he’s here in Lahedeh. You should go back to the states.”

He had the information he needed from her. The congressman’s little brother, Mitch Wharton had been here. This had to be how the congressman was tied to XO-ST business. Mitch had done something here that was bad enough so that one of the XO-ST, Foley, could blackmail the congressman. All Jake needed now were specifics and tangible proof he could take back to the U.S.

Allison had her hands folded on her lap, her shoulders slumping a little as she considered his advice.

He resisted the urge to gather her into his arms. The sooner she left, the better for the both of them. “I’ll take you to Kabul in the morning.”

For a second she looked like she might agree, but then she steeled her spine. “I can’t leave without finding out what happened to Kenneth. Beyond this other woman… Beyond the engagement…” She drew a shuddery breath. “Kenneth is my friend. He was there for me when Daniel died.”

He stared at her, a bad feeling spreading through him. “Daniel?”

“
My first fiancé had cancer. Kenneth and he were friends. That’s how we met.” She closed her eyes for a second. “Kenneth isn’t perfect, but neither am I. He’s missing. If I just leave him to his fate because he’d been… unfaithful,” her voice broke on the word, “what kind of a person would that make me?”

About average. Except, she was anything but. She was pretty far from the spoiled, self-involved heiress thing. He hadn’t given her enough credit at the beginning.

He hated the thought of her hurting, hated to see her so crestfallen.

And she didn’t even know about Kenneth’s death yet. Guilt sank its sharp talons into Jake. He shook off the feeling. He was a soldier, dammit.

She wrapped her arms around herself.

He sat down next to her, ignoring the seductive scent of her expensive perfume that tried to pull him closer. “It hurts when you’re betrayed by someone you love.” Which was why he never gave his heart to anyone.

“
It’s okay to be angry and hurt.” If Kenneth was still alive, he would have gladly punched the idiot’s lights out for her.

“
I’m not sure if I was ever in love with him. I thought I was, for a while,” she said, choking out the words, moisture filling her brilliant blue eyes.

He didn’t normally do the emotions and feelings talk. He wasn’t the ‘best friend’ type of lover. He was more into whirlwind romance: heat, need, passion then a mutual “see you later.”

“
Of course you loved him.” He patted her slim shoulder
awkwardly, in what he hoped was a comforting gesture. “You came halfway around the world for him.”

Pretty damn impressive. For a second he wondered if he’d ever have someone in his life who cared that much about him. Probably not. There weren’t too many women out there like Allison Myers.

“
He’d do the same for me,” she said.

Jake wasn’t so sure.

“
Despite that…” She didn’t seem to be able to bring up the other woman. “He is a good man. His parents died when he was very young. He was raised by court-appointed guardians who controlled his trust fund and his entire life. Everything was so difficult for him, but he overcame all that. He made himself a name in business and he was going into politics. He wanted to accomplish great things for this country. He needed my help.”

Her tears spilled over.

Anger rose inside him. Hatch had never deserved her. You just didn’t betray a woman like Allison. Or any woman, for that matter.

Enjoying female company was one thing, but Jake drew the line at cheating and had no respect for guys who did that kind of thing. He knew first-hand what a broken-hearted woman looked like. He had sisters.

Jasmine, especially, had had a lot of up and down relationships in college before she found Gabe a couple of months back. At least, now Jake didn’t have to worry about her in that regard. Gabe would lay his life down before letting any harm come to her.

Allison bit her bottom lip. “I know you think I’m a good person for having come after Kenneth, but I’m not. You know how I found out that he was missing? I called the hotel to tell him that I had second thoughts about our engagement.”

She drew a long, shuddering breath. “They told me he wasn’t registered here. I talked to management. I talked to the embassy. They said they would look into it. Months passed. Nothing happened. Then they told me he was with some commando people. I knew they were completely off base. I had to come.”

“
You should have hired a professional to come in your place.”

She sounded exhausted as she said, “I hired a PI to come with me. He backed out at the last second.”

Probably looked into the case and found out XO-ST’s involvement. Outfits like that had a pretty rough reputation in the business. “There are companies who specialize in these kinds of things.” Retrieving kidnapped businessmen, negotiating ransom with pirates, whatever.

“
I couldn’t get a whole company involved. The more people knew, the better chance for a leak. I have no idea what’s going on, but Kenneth wants to run for office soon. There can’t be any scandals. You can’t tell anyone about this. Especially about the girl.”

She was still protecting him. Unbelievable. He wanted to yell at her to snap out of it, but at the same time, couldn’t help admiring the unwavering loyalty. “You’re not alone in this anymore. Why don’t you go home, and I promise I’ll look for Kenneth here.”

She tried to smile through her tears, then reached for her purse and grabbed a tissue to dry her face. She drew a deep breath, pulling herself together little by little until she was miraculously back to her composed, lady-like self. “I’m fine. Sorry about losing it. I can handle this. Really.”

“
Putting yourself in danger here won’t solve anything.” She didn’t fit in. People didn’t like her being here asking questions. The police were suspicious of her and were probably keeping an eye on her. Kenneth was dead. She wasn’t going to save him. She had no good reason to stay.

Except that he could use her. Working for her added to his cover. She might also have more information on the connection between her fiancé and Congressman Wharton’s brother.

And she was a distraction. While the locals watched her since she looked different and acted different than the women they were used to, Jake could fly under the radar.

She clearly had her uses, and he’d been trained to always use every weapon in his arsenal. He always had before.

“
You need to go home,” he told her again then stood to walk away before he could closely examine why he would put her interest before his mission.

“
Not until I know what happened to Kenneth.”

To hell with Kenneth.
“Get some sleep. I’ll take you to the airport in Kabul in the morning,” he called back from the door, then closed it behind him before he could go back and kiss her.

Because he’d wanted to kiss her from the moment he’d met her.

Shit.

Women were supposed to be entertainment at this stage of his life, not a complication.

Allison Myers was too serious by half, definitely not the sun and fun type he normally went after. She stuck with things even when they were uncomfortable or downright dangerous.

She simply didn’t leave. She risked her life for a man because it was the right thing to do, even if she no longer loved him. How far would she go for a man she loved?

Part of him wanted to be the man who would inspire such devotion, even while the rest of him knew it could never happen. She would never settle for less than everything, never accept anything but forever, which was exactly what she deserved.

But he wasn’t the right guy to give her that.

The thought bothered him more than it should have as he rode the elevator up to his floor, above Allison’s, then strode down the hallway.

The sound of powerful engines outside reached him through the window as he opened his door, drawing his attention from things that could never be. He crossed the room to look out. His window faced the street, while Allison’s looked to the quieter courtyard of the hotel.

A caravan of Humvees sped down the street, armed men hanging out of the windows, people and livestock scattering from their way as they didn’t look like they would stop for anything. The XO-ST was back in town.

His muscles tightened. Last time he’d met up with an XO-ST team, in Venice, Italy, they’d tried their best to kill him. And they’d nearly succeeded.

This time he wasn’t injured and half-starved. This time he didn’t have his sisters with him to worry about. He checked his gun, pocketed some extra ammo then headed for the door. Plenty of time to do a little recon while Allison slept safely in her room.

On his way down to his car in the parking garage he called Troy and told him about Mitch Wharton, asking him to pass the news on to Gabe. Maybe they finally had something here.

He
was
going to bring Congressman Wharton down. And somehow he
was
going to keep Allison from harm in the process.

* * *

Allison’s room expanded back to its original size, the air returning, once Jake had walked out the door. He made her feel comforted and self-conscious at the same time, made her aware of everything about him: his sharp gaze, the solid strength of his body, his masculine lips, his—

She stood and walked across the room to get a drink, but the mini bar didn’t have any more water, and the hotel didn’t offer room service. She’d have to go down to the lobby to get a few bottles, but not before she changed into the proper attire for a public appearance and hid her hair. She’d learned her lesson.

A cold shiver ran down her spine when she thought of what might have happened if Jake hadn’t shown up when he had, if those thugs had caught up with her.

Lahedeh was supposed to be a peaceful, out of the place town. What fighting had occurred here had ended long ago. She hadn’t expected to face any danger. But she found the people to be suspicious of foreigners and the place treacherous.

She definitely needed to find Kenneth and help him, if he was in trouble. They needed to get out of here as soon as possible and go back to their lives at home.

But not back to the engagement. Even beyond the other woman…