INTO DANGER (Secret Assassins (S.A.S.S.) Book 1) (21 page)

“See?” Cam leaned a hip on the desk, pushing the in box out of the way, oblivious to Patty’s frown of displeasure. “Told you how good she is.”

“You did say Gatekeeper of Details Nobody Cares to Know Anymore,” Patty pointed out, looking at Steve wryly. “Judging by the avid postings in the naval grapevine bulletin board, that is one detail everyone cares about.”

“Yeah, well. I’ll just have to kiss him one of these days to see whether it’s true,” Cam mocked. “But we’re here for other more unimportant things. I’m trying to help Steve out. I put in a request for some older classifieds, and knowing how long it takes to rummage through records, I thought I’d come straight to the goddess herself.”

“Agent Candeloro, if your stuff isn’t out there on the long table, it’s not ready. Everyone wants to bypass the system so they can get their stuff. If I help one out, then everyone will want me to do him the same favor. Now why would I make my life more miserable than it is?”

“Because deep down, you really want to go out with me. And if you get me those files, I’ll take you out to dinner next weekend.” Cam reached for the candy jar again.

Patty smacked his hand away. “Leave my candy alone.”

“Never,” Cam said, with a wicked smile.

Patty glared and turned to Steve. “Tell him to leave my stuff alone, and I might help you.”

Steve shrugged. He needed Patty’s help right now. “Leave her stuff alone, Cam,” he said.

“See how soft other men are with you, princess?” Cam said, somehow managing to snag the candy jar. Opening it, he picked out another candy. “Me, I don’t fall for your charms so easily.”

“You, too, can be trained,” Patty warned.

“Next week. Dinner. You can train me all you want.”

She shook her head. “You’re hopeless.”

“Please, Miss Ostler, I need those files as soon as possible,” Steve interrupted the
tête-à-tête
. “It’s important.”

Patty studied him for a few moments. Steve returned her gaze as Cam crunched on his candy noisily. “Very well,” she finally said. “But only because it’s for you.”

“Ouch. Ouch. Now she’s stabbing me,” Cam said with his mouth full of candy.

“Thank you,” Steve said.

“My break is coming up in five minutes. I’ll meet you at the back room then. Ask Agent Candeloro to take you there, if you can stop him before he dies from sugar shock.”

Cam got off the desk, moving the name plaque as he did so. As they walked away, Steve watched Cam glance back at Patty Ostler putting everything back in place. A big grin of satisfaction spread on his face.

“That’s not the way to get someone to like you,” Steve commented.

Cam shrugged. “She never paid me any attention until I found her weakness.” He pointed to another door to exit.

Following him, Steve asked, “What’s her weakness?”

Cam opened the door, his grin becoming a smirk. “She can’t stand me.”

“Oh, a good foundation for a relationship,” Steve said, walking past Cam.

Cam sniffed as he went in after Steve. “Oh, Kisser of the Millennium, lackey of the century, Dr. Ruth of Task Force Two.” He laughed at the rude name Steve called him. “Well, I bet Marlena is calling you exactly that too, buddy. And if you find what you want, both of you owe Patty and me a dinner. Out at some place fancy. No home cooking please.”

***

P
oker-faced, Steve sat quietly as his commander looked at the copies he had gathered quickly to make a file. The other man’s expression was remote as he read, occasionally flipping back to review previous pages. He took his time. Finally he looked up. Steve waited.

“And how do you feel about this discovery?”

Steve looked back coolly. He should feel elated. Exhilarated. His instincts had been right after all. Instead, a ball of anger sat heavily in his stomach. He was having a hard time digesting the bitterness of being played for a fool.

He hoped none of what he felt showed on his face. “I guess, as surprised as you are, sir.”

Harden’s lips quirked up at one corner. “Then you’re not surprised at all.”

Steve’s interest sharpened. “You knew?”

“I spent five hours in intense interrogation with Miss Maxwell, remember?”

“But she didn’t answer anything.” That was the only thing left in the puzzle. Why hadn’t she just cut to the chase? She didn’t have to pretend anymore at that point.

“Oh, but she did.” Harden looked down at the papers in the file again. “She had extensive lessons in what the CIA calls NOPAIN training. She isn’t a probe, but someone taught her this skill well.”

“NOPAIN?” Steve queried.

“Nonphysical persuasion and innovative negotiation,” Harden explained. “There is a select group of contract agents who specialize in NOPAIN. The CIA pays for their services occasionally, as well as other of Uncle Sam’s covert agencies. I’m sure naval intel uses them, too, now and then.”

Steve had never heard of them, but then his SEAL team used direct confrontation. However, his cousin dealt with more covert work in his SEAL team. He made a mental note to call Hawk up for information later. A sudden thought struck him.

“If Marlena has this training, that suggests she is a contract agent.”

Harden paused a moment, then nodded. “She said as much in her code words to me. She tested me several times before letting me know she was more than what she appears to be.”

The ball of fury inside Steve grew tighter. “Whom does she work for?”

“That I don’t know. She refused to give more than the required code words only a few select operatives understand.” It was clear Harden wasn’t going to elaborate. He tapped the small stack of papers lightly. “But here is clear evidence that it’s true, at least.”

Steve glanced at the report—his fast and furious handiwork—he’d hurriedly put together into a coherent file so he could run it off to his operations chief. And all along Harden had known. All along that woman continued playing her stupid game.

Harden pushed the open file across the table. “You didn’t waste your time,” he said, reading Steve’s mind. “She isn’t ever going to tell anyone about what she is until truly necessary. Even I don’t know exactly what’s going on. It’s good we didn’t arrest her through the legal channels, or there would have been red tape from hell to deal with. This file helps to explain things if the top brass wants an answer for her disappearance and it gets sticky for us.”

Steve stopped himself from jerking out of his chair. Somehow he already knew the answer. “She’s gone?”

Harden tented his hands, tapping his fingers as he studied Steve. “Yes.”

“How long ago?”

“About an hour.”

He sacrificed considerable pride to ask the next question. “Did she leave a message?”

Harden’s pause was deliberate. Stone-faced, Steve stared back unblinkingly.

“No. Did you think she would? She has work to do and we were all in her way.” The glint in the older man’s eye matched the sarcasm in his voice. “Women like her work outside the system and think they are above the law. And they don’t last long, McMillan. They are corrupted because they are loners, easily used by and used up in their short careers. Their ultimate downfall lies in the fact they don’t understand the concept of teamwork.”

“Why are you telling me this?” His commander’s assessment of Marlena left Steve cold and even angrier. Harden portrayed her as a cold-hearted bitch, but Steve didn’t defend her. What could he say? After all, hadn’t she been as calculating and cunning as described?

“I think you’re in over your head, McMillan. Emotions are easily played with, and you’ve obviously been a victim to Marlena Maxwell’s charms. I suggest you watch your back the next time you let one of her kind close. She might not be as generous—she could feed you to the wolves, leave you to pick up the pieces of your career because you stood in her way.”

Steve maintained a calm composure. There was a lot more going on here than a dressing-down of a subordinate by a superior. “We’re not exactly talking about me being the victim, are we, sir?” he asked quietly, watching the other man closely.

If possible, Harden’s expression became even more shuttered. He folded his hands flat on the desk. His mouth was a straight slash on his expressionless face, but Steve noticed the tiny tic on the side of his jaw. “We are,” he answered in a flat tone, “talking about teamwork.”

“I’m a navy SEAL, sir,” Steve pointed out, wondering what it took to get under that immovable distrust of him his chief barely concealed. He chose his words carefully. “I know what it takes to work within a group, in whichever mode, whether it’s mobilized or undercover infiltration. Covert is covert. And while I admit past experiences play a factor to make one a better operative, I cannot let them color each operation until there’s no room to make adjustments. Just my opinion, sir. Are there any other orders, sir?”

If his chief was persuaded by Steve’s argument, he didn’t show it. “Not for you. There’s nothing we can do till we hear from the top, McMillan. We all report to our superiors and wait. Maybe the admiral and TIARA top brass will have an idea where to proceed once they look at our findings.”

“Sir, what do you want to do about du Scheum? He’s obviously a target.”

Harden impassively answered, “My job is to follow orders.”

Steve thought so. Cam had hinted as much a few days ago that Harden’s past affected his judgment now, that he’d paid a high price for some mistake. He just hadn’t paid closer attention because his mind was on Marlena. Now it was obvious Harden no longer trusted any action without first going over it through all sorts of channels. Steve understood. It was the best way to cover one’s ass. Harden wasn’t going to pay for mistakes again.

Meanwhile, they were just going to sit there and knowingly wait for someone innocent to be killed. This just wasn’t done in his combat days. Besides that, no one seemed to care something else equally big was going down, and it had to do with a certain woman he would like to get his hands on. Right now. And somehow all this was connected.

“I thought you were dead certain that Marlena Maxwell would try to get to du Scheum again? What about that theory? Wouldn’t the cops have questions linking her?” Steve asked.

“No bullets in her weapons. And they were in the apartment, cold. So that closes our file on that incident. As for the cops, that’s their business, out of our hands.”

“What about the dead man? Any follow-up that may connect him to her?” Steve insisted, knowing he was stepping out of line again. So much for his teamwork speech. Might as well continue to self-destruct. “I don’t get it. Why aren’t we working to find out what is happening?”

“Why don’t you? As far as I’m concerned, Marlena Maxwell isn’t our business any longer, but you have your own private orders, don’t you? Wasn’t that your assignment? To come into TIARA and find out what is happening?”

Steve’s whole being sprung to life. Mental blinders fell off like big heavy icicles. “I was never part of the team,” he said, realization dawning. “You think that—”

“What I think doesn’t matter,” Harden interrupted. “I know you have an agenda.”

“What?” Although surprised, Steve didn’t raise his voice. The implication of Harden’s words didn’t fit with the revelations on his mind.

Harden’s frosty green eyes were direct, challenging. “I don’t think a team member reports back to anyone, even if it’s to the admiral, unless it’s to investigate the team itself. Task Force Two has obviously been under the admiral’s suspicion for a while. If Marlena Maxwell fails at her job, I don’t care to have her death as another black mark against me. Your work here is done, McMillan.”

––––––––

I
t had been a long day. Marlena parked the convertible in the hotel parking lot and cut off the engine. She sat in the silence, looking out through the windshield with half-seeing eyes. Returning to the apartment to get her things was harder than she’d thought. The sight of the unmade bed had sent a jolt of pain.

Fortunately for her she was racing against time, so she’d limited herself to packing a few things, along with certain items she had hidden. There was still some cash left in the safe, and she took that. Walking out of the bedroom, she’d glanced at the bed again and almost rushed back when she caught sight of the pearl necklace lying carelessly among the pillows. For a long frozen moment she just stood there, looking at it, fighting the storm inside her. She didn’t think she could bear taking the pearls. She’d taken a step forward, then abruptly turned and strode out of the room.

Still in the car, Marlena rubbed her heart absentmindedly. Five minutes. She needed these five minutes to think about him, get over him, wallow about him, do whatever necessary to get rid of his memory. Once that was done, she would go into the crowded hotel lobby, take the elevator to the suite she had reserved, and leave all her feelings down here.

God, but walking away had never been this tough before. She wanted to see him so badly and he was only a phone call away. When Harden had released her, she’d toyed with the idea of leaving Steve a message, but what did she have to say?

“I want you. Wait for me.” Marlena said it out loud, and laughed cynically.

“Ta, it was fun. Let’s do it again.” She could just imagine how he would take that line.

“Sorry your assignment wasn’t that successful. Better luck next time.” Her laughter held a hysterical edge.

“I’ll miss you.” She sobered. “Will you miss me?”

“I want you to miss me. As much as I’m missing you.” She cursed, then raked careless fingers through her hair. “God, I’m going nuts.”

The thing was, she really did miss him. And it hurt that he didn’t even care enough to be around when she was freed. Harden almost said as much.

“He’s no longer needed for the case,” he’d informed her. She shouldn’t be hurt or surprised. People in Steve’s line of work didn’t stay to say goodbye. She’d met plenty of them in her time.

Harden hadn’t said much, but from the little explanation he did give, Marlena had gathered they’d taken the real lackey into custody. Stash had taken his place to find out her target’s identity. She hadn’t volunteered any information of her own, and Harden hadn’t pressed for any. She was well aware of her profile as a possible assassin, but she wasn’t in town for that kind of business this time. As a parting shot, she’d praised Steve for doing a good job. Harden hadn’t acknowledged her sarcasm. She supposed he was off to another assignment. Her lips twisted. If it was to bed another woman, she hoped he rotted in hell in the worst way.