Kat Attalla Special Edition (21 page)

“I set you up as a decoy.”

Victoria
nodded in agreement. “Yes, you did. And you got caught. So, I might have been a good victim, but you weren’t a very good criminal.”

“You’ve got a point there. So, if you didn’t want to tell me off, why did you want to talk to me?”

“I wanted to thank you.”

Elaine laughed. “I knew you were different when I met you. But you’re strange.”

This time
Victoria
laughed. “I have had the best week of my life.”

“Yes, I saw him when I was in Wakeburn. Nice.”

“And I owe it all to you.”

“Well, I’m glad I could help.” She held her hands up. “But, I’d really rather not accept these bracelets he gave me as compensation for my matchmaking success.”

“The jewelry came from my brother.”

Elaine arched an eyebrow. “So the other one is your brother. Just my luck to choose a victim whose brother is in the NSB.”

Victoria
recalled mentioning that fact in
Mexico
. Maybe Elaine subconsciously wanted to get caught.

“He’s very nice. I guess I blew any chance of a relationship. The good ones always seem to slip through my fingers.”

“I don’t know. He did give you jewelry after all. Although candy probably would have been more appropriate for a first date.”

“It would have been nice to have dinner and a movie, rather than an arrest and booking, before moving to the handcuffs.”

Victoria
grinned. Steven hadn’t found himself a nice girl in forty-five years. Maybe a less-than-nice girl would make him happy. “Do you want me to talk to him? He’s a bit slow on the uptake.”

“He’s a man….”

“Enough said,” they finished in unison.

* * * *

Steven studied the women from behind the two-way mirror. They looked as if they were having a high school reunion. Where was
Victoria
’s genius brain today? That woman put her life in danger. She should scream down the joint, not trade laughs. No wonder he’d spent twenty years looking out for her. She didn’t have the sense to do it herself.

He rested his gaze on the suspect. There was a certain similarity in size and coloring between the two women. Elaine was the same age but more worldly than his sister. He’d been tailing her for several days now. Although he found her enticing, she’d put his sister’s life in danger. And any physical feeling she inspired, he credited to the adrenaline rush of fieldwork after so many years. He wasn’t attracted to the cool, calculating type.

Still, she didn’t possess the temperament of a hardcore criminal. He grunted. Extortion took nerves of steel. Extorting from an extortionist took a brass set of balls.

Sanders entered the observation room. “You wanted to see me?”

“Did they get anything off her computer?” Steven asked.

“They tracked the transmission to a cyber-café in
Montpelier
. Someone’s checking it out, but since it was sent yesterday, there’s not much chance he’d still be there.”

Steven might not work in the field any longer, but he wasn’t an idiot. And he resented some longhaired wise-ass making him feel like one. “What do you make of her?”

“Tori, or the other one?”

He bristled at the intimate use of
Victoria
’s nickname. He wasn’t thrilled with the all too familiar way his sister interacted with the agent either. “Ms. McMillan.”

“All that toughness? It’s bullshit. An act.”

“You think so? And putting a woman’s life in danger was incidental.”

Sanders shook his head. “Not incidental. Unintentional.”

“Does your vast experience with the female mind lead you to that conclusion?” Steven wasn’t normally sarcastic but something about Sanders stuck in his craw. He didn’t like the man, probably because Tori liked him too much.

“It wasn’t hard to find her because she set herself up. She called Tori twice from a phone booth in front of her apartment building. We tailed her going into Wakeburn to check up on Tori. Why track down her victim instead of laying low?”

“And this tells you the suspect wanted to get caught?”

“It tells me she’s in deeper than she expected.” Sanders stared at the suspect, as if reading her body language. “Someone else set it up, and when she realized there might be collateral damage, she got scared.”

“Then why won’t she give him up?” Elaine McMillan handed over the disc, admitted her sole guilt and agreed to aid in the case. To Steven’s mind, the woman would deal if she had something that would save her hide.

“One of two reasons. She’s in love with him or she’s afraid of him. In her case, I’d guess it’s the latter.”

Damn, the guy did know women. The way they thought, how they operated, what they wanted. That explained his successful conviction record. “How do we get her to give him up?”

“We won’t. And who cares? Becker’s the one we’re after. It’s not as if he’s going to press charges against her for blackmail. If we can catch a shark, why bother with the small fish?”

Steven swallowed a grunt of disgust. “Let the bait go free if it survives, of course? Is that the Machiavellian Theory?”

“No, sir. The agency mission statement.”

Steven always supported that policy. Even when that policy had hurt his sister, he’d agreed with the principle, if not the execution. No wonder Tori resented him for so long. The end shouldn’t always justify the means. He couldn’t put another woman’s life in danger for that policy.

Once again, he focused his attention on the woman in question. He longed to push the intercom button and eavesdrop on the conversation but he promised he wouldn’t. What could they possibly find to discuss? They had nothing in common.

“Okay, Sanders. You’re the expert in female psychology. What are they talking about?”

“I haven’t a clue. Your sister doesn’t fit any usual profile. I stopped trying to figure her out the first day.”

“And she’s been leading you around ever since. I thought I told you to keep her in until this was over.”

Erik shrugged. “You told me to keep her safe, not prisoner.”

“She’s reasonable. More than that, she’s timid. If you put a little fear in her you could get her to stay put.”

“Right, sir. I’ll let you try that approach. Personally, I like the arrangement of my body parts.”

Steven bit back a retort. Now he knew why he disliked the cocky agent. Erik Sanders knew Tori better than her own family, and she didn’t let that many people close to her. How far had Sanders gone to deserve her complete respect and devotion?

* * * *

Victoria
sat at another long wooden table and folded her hands on the highly polished top. Her meeting with Elaine had been a pleasure compared to the conversation going on around her now. The argument between Steven and Erik escalated to a juvenile shouting match. Most of the discussion centered on her, yet neither man addressed her.

“Excuse me, guys,” she cut in.

“Just a minute, Tori,” Steven said without looking at her. Instead, he addressed Erik. “Logistically, it makes more sense to arrange the meeting here.”

“You don’t think Becker would suspect a set-up? Get real. He thinks the disc is in Wakeburn.”

“Well, the courier is here.”

“Yes, but he thinks
Victoria
is the courier.”

“May I say something?” she asked.

“Not now,” her brother snapped back.

Erik shot her a sympathetic glance. “In a second, Tori.” He turned to Steven. “Have Ms. McMillan set up the meeting in Wakeburn, and we’ll bring her down there.”

The argument continued for a few more minutes, the volume increasing with each exchange. She’d seen wolves less territorial than these two supposedly higher life forms. When she’d taken as much of their little power struggle as she could stand, she put two fingers to her lips and let out an ear-piercing whistle. A shocked silence descended on the entire office.

“Ah, at last I have your attention.”

Her brother shot her a nasty glare. “What do you want?”

Victoria
inhaled the stale air and then exhaled slowly. “I realize that I’m no genius … no, wait a second, yes I am.”

Erik chuckled. “Okay. So what’s your point?”

“I’m the one Becker wants. I’m the one who has to meet with him. Not Elaine.”

“No!” both men said at the same time.

“How long have you been trying to get this guy?” She paused but no answer came. “A while, I guess. He didn’t stay free this long by being stupid. He isn’t going to walk up to a stranger who claims to have his disc.”

“Then we pass on him this time. I’m not going to involve you, Tori,” Steven said.

She slouched down with an annoyed huff. “That seems foolish after all the time and money you put into this case already.”

Erik straddled the chair next to her. He placed his hand gently over hers. “There’s no reason for you to put yourself in danger.”

Disappointment washed over her. They still treated her like a witless child who needed protection. Steven’s attitude she could accept. From Erik, it hurt. “You’re right. So you and Steven guarantee me, here and now, that Becker won’t send one of his associates after me at a later time.”

“It’s not likely,” Steven said.

“That’s not a guarantee. Catch Becker, and I won’t have to worry anymore. If I’m surrounded by the finest the agency has to offer, I couldn’t be safer.”

Steven grunted. “You spend too much time with your books. You have no idea what you’re getting into.”

“Erik?” She gazed at him.

“I’m with your brother on this.”

She let out a low groan of displeasure. “If I wasn’t related to you, would you object, Steven?”

“We don’t involve civilians.”

“And I’m not already involved? Whose house was torn apart? Who’s receiving threats via the computer?”

* * * *

Erik laughed at her sheer determination. To think, he felt guilty about becoming involved with her. As if she gave him a choice.

“Something funny, Sanders? Care to share it with the rest of us?”

“Didn’t you warn me that she’s stubborn and doesn’t give up?” He’d learned that firsthand, much to his surprise and pleasure.

“And you think we should go along with her idea?”

“I’m not in favor of it, but she’s right about one thing. We have no way of knowing if Becker will try to make an example out of her at a later date because he thinks she double-crossed him.” He ran his finger along the buttoned collar of his shirt. He caught sight of
Victoria
’s grin. “The question is how do we minimize the danger to her?”

DeMarco placed a hand on his sister’s shoulder. “I know you’re anxious to get your house back to yourself….”

“I want my life back. What’s going to happen when I have to go back to work? Are you going to assign an agent to attend my classes until you hopefully get another shot at Becker?”

“We have other options for getting him.”

“Name one logical option that doesn’t involve me.” She arched her eyebrow and then laughed when she didn’t get an answer. “So, stop arguing with me.”

“I’m against this.”

“And your concerns are duly noted,” she said. “So, how do we set this up?”

The bureau chief muttered an oath. Erik worried as well. He never considered danger when on assignment. Of course, his emotions weren’t usually involved.

Usually?
He silently mocked himself.
Never. Until now.

“You still with us, Sanders?” DeMarco barked out.

“Yes.”

“Why don’t you see what arrangements can be made. We need a very public place. I’ll try to talk sense into my sister.”

Erik nodded. He took one look at her determined expression and knew her brother didn’t stand a chance. “Good luck.”

* * * *

Victoria
watched Erik leave, admiring the way the worn jeans hugged his hips. The sheer pleasure of running her hands over the soft denim to remove them … the memory was nearly as arousing as the real thing.

Steven cleared his throat, effectively ending her erotic fantasy.

“Were you saying something?” she asked.

He furrowed his brow in concern. “Are you all right? You look flushed.”

“I’m fine.”
Hot, but fine.

He sat in the chair next to her. “Why are you doing this?”

“I told you why. To get my life back.”

“Don’t you realize that anything could go wrong?”

“I trust Erik. He won’t let anything happen to me.”

His eyes narrowed. “When did he become Erik?”

“Somewhere between the turkey and the pumpkin pie.” She raised her gaze skyward. “He’s living in my house, pretending to be my fiancé. Was I supposed to call him Agent Sanders?”