Mission Made For Two (3 page)

“We’re ready
.  Buckle up.”  He put his headphones on and handed her a set, then readied the plane for
takeoff
.

He could feel her gaze
tracking his movements as he worked. 
The same surge of
lust he’d experienced
three months ago when she’d helped him out of the jungle, pumped into his bloodstream.
     
 

Only now he was stronger and so was the lust.  Dammit.  The last thing he needed was to have those kinds of feelings interfering with what needed to be done. 

T
he taxi down the runway and
the rush that always washed over him at lift off weren’t helping to alleviate
the feeling
either. 

“I think we should
g
o straight for Diaz,” Sierra said, finally breaking the silence.

Jake leveled the plane and set the automatic pilot before ans
wering her.  “Don’t
worry. 
Diaz will get what’s coming
t
o him.”

She shifted in her seat to face him.  “You don’t want my help.”

He arched a brow.  “I don’t
need
your help.”

A small chuckle escaped her throat.  “You sure as hell needed it three months ago.”

That wasn’t something he could exactly deny, not that it changed his feelings on the subject.  He would not have Sierra’s blood on his hands.  “You’re right.  I did and now the debt’s been repaid.  We’ll go back to my place and you can stay out of sight awhile.”

She shook her head, her fake blue
eyes widening.  “You really think I’ll do w
hatever you tell me?  You
’re
a chauvinist.
”

He shrugged.  “M
aybe you won’t do what I tell you, but you’ll do what Trent tells you.”

Her eyes narrowed.  “So, you think Trent will bench me.”

He nodded.  “You’re life is in danger as it is, Sierra.  You don’t understand the kind of man Diaz is.”

She gave him a very unlady like snort.  “My life is in danger every time I accept a mission.
”

“Diaz doesn’t like to leave things to chance.  It’s why I went into hiding.  I know too much about his organization and now you’re in that group, too.”

“But I don’
t really know anything
, not yet
.”

“You can identify his right hand man. That’s who you met
w
ith at the warehouse.
  His name is Michael
Toraz
.”

“And how much good is that really going to do me?”

“Doesn’t matter.
Diaz doesn’t like loose ends
and he has a
l
ot of money, which equals a lot of power
.”

“Then why did he leave you alive for so long?”

He gave her a wry smile. 
“Because of my abundant charm.”

That stopped whatever Sierra was going to say next and she
l
aughed.  The sound brought his body—which had just started to stand down—back to life.  He had to admit
h
e’d never encountered a woman like Sierra
Thayer
. 
Beautiful,
sexy,
smart…and lethal.

“
See, it even works on you,” Jake said
, then turned serious
.  “Diaz wanted more information from me. He wanted names of other agents
and
locations.  And he got a lot o
f pleasure watching me suffer.  The bottom line is he doesn’t like to leave things to chance.  If you’re in the open, he’ll try to take you out.
  Either that or he’ll bring you in and torture you in ways you’ve never dreamed.
”

Jake’s words sent images skittering through Sier
r
a’s brain that caused her stomach to knot, but there was no way she’d let Jake know his speech affected her.  She
leaned back in her seat.  “
I can take care of myself, and I can sure as hell stay under the radar.  He doesn’t
even
know what I look like.
”

“
You don’t think,” Jake said.  “We
don’t even know who the mole is.”

“
You said you and Trent didn’t suspect any of the operatives.  Those are the only people who could give out our
real
identities. 
The few people connected with the agency, outside of the agents, only have access to missions
,
not the exact identities of those performing them.
  And our photos and fingerprints aren’t supposed to be on record anywhere.
”
  She smiled.  “We’re ghosts.”

She was smart. He realized he was quiet too long and she jumped all over it.

“
So, you and
Trent do have a list of suspects.  And it has to be pretty short. 
Who knows about us?”

Jake frowned.  “Not many people.”  He sigh
ed. 
“Six to
be exact.”

“So, if the mole is one of them, all they’ve probably been
a
ble to feed Diaz is that someone is trying to infiltrate his organization and give him a time frame for the mission.  That’s how he figured out you weren’t who you posed to be.
 
And how they fig
ured out who Daniel and I were.
 
It’s possible our fake identities could have been discovered.”

Jake looked at her.  Even with her black hair
, pulled into a bun at the back of
her neck and matted to her head
, she was beautiful.  Keen intelligence sparkled in her eyes.

“That’s a good possibility, but not one we know for sure.  We just lost our first agent because of the leak.” 

Her mouth thinned and sadness filled her eyes.  The co
mpulsion to pull her against his body
gripped him.  Instead he checked the gauges in the cockpit and tried to ignore the fact that the tough, beautiful woman beside him was hurting
, no matter how
hard she tried to conceal it
.  “I’m sure Trent will agree we don’t need to sacrifice anymore agents to Diaz.  We can’t assume that Diaz doesn’t know your real identity.”

Sierra crossed her arms over her chest
.
The motion lifting her small firm breasts.
Breasts that didn’t appear to be constrained by anything.
  It wasn’t bad enough that he hadn’t gotten laid in close to a year because of the mission and then his injuries, but he had to deal with the woman only half-dressed
. 

“I’m not going to hide away like a coward.  I owe Daniel more than that.  Finding the leak is as important to me as it is to you.
  Besides, he knows your identity for sure, so how are you planning to get close to him again?
”
 

“
That’s for me to worry about.”

“You aren’t going to get away with that answer, Harding.”

“
We’ll talk about this once we get to my place.”  That was all Jake could say at the moment. 
He knew she was angry over the death of her partner.  He also knew enough about her to realize she didn’t take to being told to stand down, but she didn’t realize what
or who
she was dealing with.

Jake would just have to figure out how to convince her of that.

And how to convince his body
, he wasn’t going
to touch her.
      

Sierra
looked out
the passenger window of Jake’s t
ruck as he maneuvered
it on
the winding road through the mountains of North Carolina. 

He handled the
truck with the same competence he’d flown the Cessna.  She expected nothing less from him.

She
knew the answer Jake had given her on the plane was nothing more than an appeasement. 

And one thi
ng she hated was being patted on the head like a good little girl and discounted.  Arguing with him at the time wouldn’t have gotten her anywhere. 

That didn’t mean she was giving up.
  But you had to pick your battles
and
pick your strategies.

Sierra loo
ked at Jake’s profile
.  He looked so much different than he had three months ago. 
His dark hair was now cut almost military short.  The sharp edges of his face weren’t covered in whiskers and h
is hard chiseled body looked fit and healthy. 
She didn’t think he’d put back on all the weight he’d lost, but he was close.  He’d probably been pushing himself to recuperate from the start. 

Not that she would be any different.  She decided to break the silence.  “It’s really beautiful up here.”

He glanced at her, before concentrating on the narrow, curving road.  “Yes.  Peaceful.”

“How did you get here when you left the
hospital?
You sure as hell weren’t in an
y condition to fly or drive
.”

“What?  Y
ou think I have no friends?” 
The side of his mouth quirked as he said it.

Actually, he always seemed like such a loner,
she hadn’t really considered that possibility
.  He wasn’t friends with anyone at the agency, except for Trent. 
She shrugged.  “You
left so quickly.”

That seemed to amuse him more. 
“You almost sound upset by that.”

“Only that I risked my hide to save you and then
you
left medical care that you clearly needed.”

He laughed.  The deep husky sound sent chill bumps careening down her arms and legs.  She decided to blame it on the shorts and tank top in the air-conditioned interior of the truck. 

“As you can see, Sierra, I’m perfectly fine.  Something that couldn’t be guaranteed if I’d stayed in Richmond.”

His comment was the
ideal
segue into more discussion on who he thought the leak was, but she decided not to
pursue
it. 

Always take your adversary off guard.  “Well, I’m glad you’re okay.  It would have been a real waste of government money to have you rescued only to die from some infection.”

He laughed again.  “Your concern is touching.”

Sierra folded her
hands in her lap
and took in the beauty of the mountains.  Of course, the serenity only served to remind her that Daniel would never again see such things.  She thought of Daniel’s wife.
Sierra had
never met the
woman, but Daniel had talked about her sometimes. 

She’d
been the nurse who’d taken care of him when he’d been injured in the military before joining the agency.  Daniel never should have taken this job.  Agents in their line of work had no business with families. 

Yet, every
one of them excelled at what they did.  Daniel shouldn’t be dead.  They shouldn’t have been betrayed.

She glanced at Jake’s hard profile.  The stubborn man might not want her help and if she couldn’t convince him, fine.  She was perfectly capable of going after Diaz and whoever was feeding him information on her own.
  She was just as capable as the man sitting beside her.

~
***~

Jake pulled u
p in front of his cabin.  The
familiar
feeling of security he felt
here
settled over his shoulders.
His name appeared nowhere on the deed to the property or anything connected with it.  No one k
new about this place, except a very select few, including
Trent…and now Sierra.

“You can’t tell anyone about this place,” he said as he shifted the truck into park. 

She smiled.  “Is this like the bat cave?”

He shoo
k his head and opened his door.
He’d noticed even in South America when she’d been bleeding and injured she’d made wisecracks. 
“Do you always have a smart
ass
remark?” 

She shrugged. 
“One of my many charms.”

They both climbed from their seats
.  Jake retrieved the bags from the bed of the truck.  Sierra preceded him t
o the house, h
er gaze moving over the
small yard that was more rocks than grass and the
log cabin.

“Quaint,” she finally commented as Jake unlocked the door.