Authors: Allie K. Adams
At Any Cost (7 page)
JT kept her eyes on Dan, obviously waiting for the punch line. The mixture of emotions toying with his body and soul annoyed him. Rage. Anxiety. Fear. Excitement. Want. This woman drew all kinds of things out of him, most of which he didn't appreciate, including the goddamn hard-on he hadn't been able to lose since seeing her run across the parking lot earlier.
Christ. The look in those feline eyes told him so much. Much more than he wanted. His request confused her. Then surprised her. Then scared her.
And now he couldn't tell what was going on in that head of hers. She paled, though her cheeks were splashed with color, and seemed to be breathing faster. So fast, in fact, that her pupils started to dilate. "Why do this, Dan?"
Dan almost broke after catching the pain in her eyes, her tone. He had to look away. Jesus, she wore all her emotions right there on her beautiful face. "I told you, I know what it’s worth. And I know who the highest bidders are. Give me a cut and I'll bring in twice what you were going to get for it."
He glanced back over his shoulder. The look of disbelief in her eyes hit Dan like a punch in the gut. No, not disbelief.
Disappointment
.
Tell me about it
. Dan hated himself right now. Having to act like he wanted in on the deal made him sick. And seeing that disappointment in her eyes didn't help any.
Dan pushed down any feelings attempting to surface. This was for the guys. Nothing personal. He couldn't allow his personal feelings to interfere with an assignment. He wore a scar across his chest as a permanent reminder of what happens when he forgets that ever so important piece.
You couldn't tell that when they were on the bed. He was this close to giving in and kissing her like he so badly wanted to. He wanted to touch her, to love her. God, his body ached to be in contact with hers.
But she'd already seen too much of Dan's softer side.
Time to harden up, Weber.
Never let a woman see your emotions. They can and will be used against you in any and all future situations. Dan cursed under his breath. He had to play this part carefully. Getting Turner to trust him would be a challenge in itself. But to have her trust him enough to let him in on whatever her plans were for
He had to stay sharp, focused. If she had anything to do with the deaths of his men, he'd find out. And God help her if she did.
"You, uh, know a lot about this disc?"
Dan couldn't bring himself to look at her. Hell, he couldn't even face himself in a mirror after this. He felt like a traitor.
For Fish. Sandman. Doughboy. And of course, Broadway. The thought of his friends now pushing up daisies helped him through the struggle with his conscience. They were dead because of the contents of that disc. If he had to lie a little, cheat a little to avenge their deaths, then so be it.
If it meant sleeping with the enemy, then he'd do it. His gaze found its way to JT. The way her shapely legs poked out under those baggy shorts made him hard all over again. He didn't know how much more of this he could take before he snapped. The sound of her voice shot right through his scar, into his groin. And into his heart.
She sure as hell didn't look like a mole.
"Yep." He was annoyed. At him. At her. And it showed in his voice, which irritated the hell out of him.
"How?"
The words Donovan wanted him to say fought against his reason. What he was about to say could blow everything if he wasn't careful. It could be signing his death warrant. It could also give him the slight advantage he needed to get her to trust him enough to find out who she's working for.
But admitting he knew what he knew could be a fatal mistake. "JT,"
"Don't." She brought her hands to her ears, her face pinched in a look of pain. "I don't want to hear it."
Dan watched in confusion as JT squeezed her eyes shut. What was she? Twelve? "What are you doing?"
"I can't believe this. I didn't think you were—I mean—I didn't want to believe it. You're the great and powerful Dan Weber. You're what they all try to mold us into. If they only knew what you'd become."
Ouch. Talk about a sucker punch.
She rubbed her hands over her face, drew a deep breath. "Okay. You want in? Let's make a deal."
He should have been ecstatic she agreed to bring him in. Yet knowing if he failed this assignment, if
He'd succeeded with odds worse than that. Of course, he'd never been up against someone like JT Turner. But he doubted she'd ever been up against someone like him. Dan smiled inwardly.
Let the game begin.
There had to be a catch. This man didn't seem the type to sell out his country. If he did anything to screw this up, she'd punch his lights out. Hell, she'd shoot him. Well, if she had a weapon.
Neither spoke as he drove them to the rendezvous point. JT couldn't stand the silence and reached over to flip on the radio.
"What are you doing?" He demanded.
"I hate quiet."
"I like it. No radio."
"Fine. What do you want to talk about?"
He reached over and flipped on the radio.
"
Today's top story: Police have cordoned off
"Swell," Dan growled. "Which terminal did you say it was?"
"46." JT glanced up at the painted terminal numbers on the cement pillars. "It's down on the southeast side of
"Thanks,
MapQuest
."
"I happened to look it up on the Internet, Smart Ass," JT snapped back. "I also found out it's on seventy acres, with the potential expansion of another eighteen. It has six cranes to move the cargo from the dock to the ships."
"Fascinating."
She frowned. She found it fascinating, even if he didn't. Surely something she'd learned about the terminal would impress him. She didn't know why, and she shouldn't even care, but the need to impress this man ate at JT's brain. "They close at
"Big surprise."
Screw him. She didn't need to impress him, even if the guy was a legend in NASSD. "We'll take the dedicated in-gate lane to the dock nearest the rail yard and meet our contact in the far south corner."
JT kept a close eye on Dan as he turned down
He looked at her.
"You know what I mean. There are things we need to look for."
"Let me guess," Dan jumped in with his condescending tone. "He'll be in the only building with an open bay door. Oh, and let's not forget. The single light above the deserted building will be out. That's your signal." He shot her a sideways glance. "Am I close?"
Okaaay
. Now he was starting to freak her out. How did he know all that? All the way down to the light?
It didn't matter. He was just trying to rile her up. "It's up here on the left." She leaned forward in the passenger seat of the beat up motor home. Not exactly an inconspicuous ride, but it at least got her here on time.
Stevens and Brooks stayed back at the warehouse. Dan told them he and JT were going on a food run and would be back within the hour. They didn't even question him. He was that good of a liar. Straight faced, it was unnerving. JT almost believed they actually
were
going on a food run. She didn't want to think about whether Dan being a convincing liar was a good thing or not. "Stay in the shadows. I'm supposed to come alone."
"Alone. In a deserted building. On the shortest pier. In the dark. You've got to be kidding me."
JT knew what he meant and decided to ignore him. Yes, it did sound like the perfect setup. But she was meeting HQ. They were on the same side.
Right?
Dan scanned the area before grunting and shaking his head, pulling into a lot across the street. He scanned her body, a slight curl of appreciation on his lip. JT felt herself flush. His gaze rested on her breasts, and her nipples hardened in response. His lazy curl grew into a full grin.
"Happy to see me?"
She crossed her arms in front of her. "No. It's cold."
"Right. Cold." Dan grabbed a .45 and shoved it in his belt. When she looked at the gun, and then looked at him, he replied, "I'm not willing to take the risk. Sometimes going on trust alone can get you killed."
JT ignored yet another comment about trust. "Let's go." Jumping out of the RV, she waited for Dan to jump down next to her. When he didn't, she glanced back inside.
He was gone.
Damn it
! They weren't even there ten seconds and he'd already deviated from their plan. When she found him, she'd tear into him.
A bird chirp caught her attention. At night? She glanced over to see Dan standing against the building on the other side of the street. He looked around before motioning for her to cross.
Are you kidding?
Easy, Turner. Time to go to work, to prove why you were handpicked for this assignment
. Disc in pocket, she crossed the dark street into the parking lot of Terminal 46. The moonlight reflected off the road, thanks to a fresh coat of rain. With the clouds quickly dissipating, the moon shone bright in the starry sky.
JT shivered, and she felt it clean through the canyon in her shoulder. Dan had done a bang up job of patching her up, and the pain had lessened to a bearable throb. Like he told her more than once, she'd live.
She was counting on that.
Her skin pricked with goose bumps. Even in May, the nights in western
The building looked deserted, just as her contact said it would. The cars whipped above her on the Alaskan Way Viaduct. A ferry blasted its horn in the distance, filling the air with sounds she grew up with.
JT drew in a deep breath, taking in the smell of the salty sea air. The moisture in the air tickled her face, reminding her of coming to work with her mom, collecting money at the ferry terminals. She smiled.
"What are you smiling about?"
She almost jumped out of her skin. She whipped her head toward the voice. Dan was there, standing behind a bush next to the open bay door, glaring at her.
"How did you... Never mind," JT whispered, careful not to be heard. She looked down at her wrist and cursed. She'd left her watch back at The Edgewater with the rest of her belongings.
She squeezed the disc in her pocket and stepped through the only open bay door of the only building under the only non-working light post. Okay, so now she started to understand why Dan felt a bit apprehensive about the meeting. A chilling, black silence enveloped her as she took another step.
Despite her not wearing shoes, her feet still made a slight echo through the large building. There were some cardboard boxes off to her left. She could just make them out, thanks to the light of the moon behind her, creating a faint cone across the floor of the warehouse.
To her right, she thought she spotted more boxes. She stared into the black abyss in front of her. With the lack of light, added to her terrible night vision, it was difficult to see. She didn't like this. It didn't feel right. Another foreboding chill washed up her spine.
JT glanced over her shoulder, half to make sure Dan was hidden, half because she needed to see him, to know he was back there watching her.
She couldn't see him. Great.
Now
he decides to hide.
"Hello?" Her instincts told her she wasn't alone when her neck hairs prickled.
"Miss Turner," a voice sounded in the darkness. JT's heart skipped. She recognized her contact's voice. She'd only spoke with him a few times, but couldn't forget such a raspy voice.
"Yes, it's me."
"Are you alone?"
She fought the urge to look behind her, to make sure Dan was still well hidden. He was NASSD. He could blend into any situation, including darkness. She drew in a deep breath. Why should she feel nervous? Her hands started to shake. Her mouth ran dry. Something didn't fit. Meeting with HQ in a deserted warehouse seemed... Wrong.
Come on, Turner. You're freaking out. You haven't lost your nerve, have you?
She closed her eyes to regroup.
"I'm alone."
"Why do I doubt you?"
JT's heart stopped, then painfully started. Did he know? He'd made it clear she was to do this on her own, that it was far too dangerous to include anyone else in this assignment. They couldn't trust anyone.
Discovering Dan Weber as the mole proved that point. She'd almost told him about her assignment. How would he react if she told him her assignment was to seek him out and turn him over to this man, her contact at HQ? He'd freak out and run, or possibly kill her to protect his identity. She wondered about Brooks and Stevens. Where they in on it, too? Or would they, like her, feel like someone just ripped out their faith in humanity.
As soon as she handed the disc over to HQ, she'd tell them about Dan Weber. Let them deal with the traitor. She just wanted to go home, to put all of this behind her. That desk job didn't seem so bad at the moment.
"Do you have it?"
JT nodded, then spoke when she realized it was too dark for him to see her. "Yes."
A footstep echoed, then another. Headlights flipped on in front of her, creating a silhouette of a man about thirty feet in front of her. She squinted, raised her hand to shade her eyes. "Slide the disc to me."
Something made her neck hairs lift higher, and a bristle of apprehension raced down her spine. She removed the disc from her pocket and started toward him. Her heart jumped when he barked out at her.
"Stop! You know the agreement. You are never to see me."
"Then why do you get to see me?"
"Why deny the chance to see such a work of art?" She didn't see the sneer, but she sure as hell felt it. JT's stomach turned in response to the comment.
"Drop it on the floor. Kick it over."
This didn't feel right.
He
didn't feel right. JT knew she couldn't back out this late in the game. If she turned and ran, he more than likely had a gun and would take her down, right there. No questions asked. For reasons she couldn't begin to explain, she felt a sense of relief knowing Dan Weber was hiding in the shadows behind her.
Which didn't make a lick of sense. Dan Weber was the mole. Yet something deep down nagged at her. Would the mole want to destroy the disc? Would the mole want to turn her in to HQ, as Stevens said they were supposed to do? Would the mole make a supposed deal with her to track down a higher bidder?
Her mind screamed
No
! To all her questions. Dan Weber couldn't be the mole. Why did it take her until now to realize that? She turned her attention back to her contact. Now
he
was a much more likely candidate.
"The disc, please."
Mole or not, she didn't trust the guy. Why did she wait until now to have her doubts? No, not doubts. Epiphanies.
She couldn't hand the disc over to this guy. God only knew what he had planned for it. She looked down at the disc, all nice and shiny.
Hmm.
What would happen if dirt and grime scratched the surface of the disc? It could damage it beyond repair. If the disc couldn't be read, it couldn't be used. JT dropped the disc, data side down. One deep scratch, that's all it would take. She stepped on it and moved it back and forth, making sure the disc was nice and scratched before kicking it over to him. If he really was the mole, or had anything to do with the leak in NASSD, he'd have one hell of a time using that disc for anything more than a coaster. She kicked it over.
He reached down and retrieved the disc. As he turned, she could almost make out his face. Dark shoulder-length hair, dark eyes, goatee. But what really caught her attention was the scar above his left eye. It dissected his brow, ran a jagged path down his left cheek, and stopped just above his chin.
Weren't men with scars always the bad guy? She tried to be rational. This man was HQ. NASSD. But so was the mole.
Oh damn. Damn. Damn. Damn.
He
was the mole, not Dan. Oh man. What did she get herself into? JT took a step in retreat. This was bad. She took another step back. Before she could blink, the man jumped back into the shadows.
That's when the car revved its engine, squealed its tires, and made a beeline right for her.
