After Midnight: (A Penguin Special from Signet Eclipse) (Killer Instincts) (3 page)

Her gaze traveled to the box she’d left on the porcelain toilet lid. After a beat, she grabbed the box and shoved it back in the duffel bag.

Not tonight. She couldn’t do it tonight.

It had taken her a long time to find a place where she felt like she truly belonged and a man she could truly connect to. She loved Kane, but she wasn’t ready for their life to change. She wasn’t ready to be a mother.

She didn’t know if she’d
ever
be ready.

“Morning, kids. How we all doing?” Jim Morgan strode into Kane and Abby’s hotel room with a surprising amount of energy—and an honest-to-God spring in his step.

Kane couldn’t help but gape at his boss, and noticed Abby doing the same. After ten years of working for Morgan, Kane had reached several conclusions about the man: Jim Morgan was a moody bastard, he was lethal as hell, and you had better chance of winning the lottery than getting a smile out of the man.

But today he looked downright chipper. He was clad in his trademark cargo pants and white T-shirt, with a nine-millimeter Sig Sauer in one hand, a takeout coffee cup in the other, and a scarily out-of-character grin on his face.

“I’m sorry. Who are you?” At Morgan’s answering chuckle, Kane’s eyebrows soared to his forehead. “Seriously, what the hell are you so happy about?”

The other man shrugged before glancing at Abby. “I heard your former boss got in some trouble the other day. A target caught her tailing him and then shot up her car.”

A knowing glimmer entered Abby’s eyes. “Ah, now I get it. You’re tickled pink because Noelle was almost killed.”

Her remark earned them another shrug, but Kane knew his wife had hit the nail right on the head. Lord, he would
kill
to gain some insight about the turbulent history between Morgan and Noelle, the dangerous blonde known as the Queen of Assassins. Although Kane had seen them in the same room together on a handful of occasions, he still couldn’t figure out if they hated each other or wanted to fuck each other’s brains out. Or maybe a little bit of both.

That Morgan was
this
thrilled about Noelle being in danger should’ve revealed a lot, yet it did nothing to shed light on the mystery Kane had given up on solving. Whatever their past, neither Morgan nor Noelle seemed inclined to share it with their respective colleagues.

“Which means you’re probably going to kill me now,” Abby finished with a sigh.

Morgan frowned. “Why would I do that?”

Kane warily glanced at his wife, wondering what the hell she was up to. She hadn’t given him any indication this morning that she’d done something Morgan would disapprove of.

“Because I’m about to burst your happy little bubble,” she confessed to their boss. “I—”

“Don’t worry your gorgeous little head about it, Abby,” a female voice drawled from the doorway. “Jim is allergic to happiness. He would have reverted back to bleak and sulky even if you hadn’t gotten in touch with me.”

Morgan’s back snapped straight, as if someone had shoved a metal rod into it. His jaw went tighter than a drum as he glowered at the beautiful woman who strolled into the room like she owned it.

Kane gaped at the newcomer, completely thrown for a loop by her presence. As usual, Noelle wore all black, her long hair streaming down her back like a golden curtain and shimmering in the rays of sunlight peeking in through the window blinds. She truly was exquisite, and, he was ashamed to admit, even more terrifying than his wife. From what he could tell, the woman had no conscience, no qualms about snuffing out a life with whatever lethal tool she had available to her.

“Oh, and Jim?” Noelle said sweetly. “Did you ever think that maybe my target spotted me because I
wanted
him to?”

After a beat, Morgan cursed. “Of course you wanted it.”

She smiled. “Poor Jim. You were too busy picturing me dead that it didn’t even occur to you, huh? I thought you knew better than to underestimate me.”

“Trust me,” he muttered. “I
never
underestimate you, baby.” His blue eyes darkened. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“I asked her to come,” Abby spoke up. “None of our other people are here, and we need the manpower. Noelle has also offered to tap a few of her informants and see if anyone knows where Nazara might be.”

Noelle smirked. “Feel free to thank me now. Or you can do it later, I suppose. But you will be showing me some gratitude, won’t you, Jim?”

A vein throbbed in Morgan’s forehead, conveying his precise feelings on Noelle’s unexpected presence. But Kane’s boss was also extremely shrewd and highly intelligent, and though he was a proud man, he wasn’t stupid enough to turn down assistance from someone who was an undeniable asset to the mission.

Without responding to the taunt, Morgan snapped back into business mode, gesturing to the files scattered on the tabletop. “Did you two find anything useful in the bank records?”

Kane shook his head. “No, but we did some digging into the locations Aswad gave us. A few of them look promising.” His peripheral vision caught Abby’s fingers absently tracing the edge of a photograph from one of the files. A shot of Kathy Aberdeen’s son. “What did you get from Nazara’s ex?”

“Absolutely nothing.” Morgan sounded displeased. He tucked his weapon in his waistband and took a quick sip of coffee, all without acknowledging Noelle. “Get your gear. We’ll split up and check out the potential safe houses. Kane, you’re with me today.”

The order didn’t surprise him. He had a feeling Morgan would rather scour his own skin off than spend any quality time with Noelle, but that didn’t mean Kane liked the sudden change of assignment. He and Abby had been paired up together since they’d arrived in Cairo. They worked well together, and if he were being honest, he preferred being the one to watch her back. He trusted his teammates, of course, but once he and Abby had gotten married, her safety had become
his
responsibility and nobody else’s.

“We’ll cover the apartment near the Citadel,” Morgan told Kane in a brisk tone. “Abby and Noelle”—he said her name as if it carried the Ebola virus—“can check out the market one.”

“Sounds like a plan.” As Kane rose from his chair, he noticed Abby’s gaze remained focused on the picture. “Abby, you with us?”

Her head jerked up. “Sorry. What was that?”

“We’re heading to Islamic Cairo. You’re with Noelle.”

She nodded, and he hid his frown. The distracted look on her face troubled him. Come to think of it, she’d seemed distracted last night too. She’d gone quiet on him after the explosive sex, but he’d been too exhausted to dwell on it.

“Are you okay?” he asked in a careful tone.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She shoved the photographs into the file folder then stood up. “I’m going to grab my gear. I’ll meet you outside.”

She hurried off before he could say another word.

*   *   *

She’d forgotten how much she loved Cairo. The loud, busy city wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but Abby had always enjoyed her time there. She didn’t even mind covering herself up in the sweltering heat. Modesty was required from the women in Islamic Cairo, the walled historical section of the city, so she and Noelle had donned pants, boots, and long-sleeve shirts out of respect for the culture. The outfits did work to their advantage, though, concealing the various knives and guns hidden on their bodies.

The two women were on foot—neither of them had felt like navigating a vehicle through the maze of streets in bumper-to-bumper traffic. The safe house Aswad had mentioned was located in a rundown building in one of the poorer neighborhoods of the city, and as they headed toward it, Abby sensed her former boss’s blue-eyed gaze boring a hole into the side of her face.

“You lied to Jim,” Noelle remarked. “Why?”

She’d wondered when the other woman would broach the subject. Noelle hadn’t said a word about it when they’d left the hotel in one of the beat-up Jeeps, but Abby had felt the curiosity radiating from that petite-but-deadly body.

“Because he was already on edge,” she said tightly. “I didn’t feel like pissing him off further by admitting that you showed up without my permission.” Aggravation clamped around her throat. “I told you it didn’t need to be done in person. I asked you to dig into any property records filed under Nazara’s name—you could have done that from Paris. So now I’m going to ask you the same thing Morgan did: what the fuck are you doing here?”

The blonde offered a cryptic look, followed by an even more cryptic response. “You said a lot of things on the phone, Abby. I’m here because of the things you
didn’t
say.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Rather than answer the question, Noelle cocked her head at the building up ahead. “That’s our destination. Let’s do a quick sweep.”

Swallowing her frustration, Abby nodded and let Noelle take the lead. They circled the building beforehand, running into a group of laughing, barefoot children in the alley behind it then a bearded man who tried to peddle knockoff jewelry on them.

Once they determined the area was clear, they rounded the building and ascended the rickety steps to the entrance. Somewhere up above, the smell of tobacco drifted out of an open window, mingling with the traces of car exhaust and spices already permeating the muggy air.

They walked right through the unlocked, paint-chipped front door, entering a lobby that reeked of urine, smoke, and rotting food. Abby tried not to breathe as she followed the other woman to the stairwell, keeping her hand on the small of her back in case she needed to draw her weapon.

They climbed ten flights to the top floor and emerged into a hallway that smelled even worse than the lobby. The blistering heat didn’t help, and Abby’s chest was beaded with sweat by the time they reached the door at the end of the hall.

Neither of them spoke as they withdrew their pistols. Noelle cocked her head in a silent signal. Abby responded with a nod.

Noelle reached for the doorknob.

It fell off in her hand.

Abby almost laughed at the sheer disgust that filled those ice-blue eyes, but she hid her amusement when Noelle tossed another signal her way. With another jerk of the head, Abby stepped to the side.

She adjusted the grip on her weapon as Noelle gave a silent count. Three seconds later, her old boss charged forward and kicked open the door with a loud crash. The cheap, aging wood toppled right off the hinges, causing Noelle to curse under her breath as she shot forward to grab hold of the broken door and prop it up against the wall.

This time Abby took the lead. She ventured into the tiny apartment and checked the first doorway on the right, then murmured, “Clear.”

They moved in opposite directions to conduct a sweep. Which took all of five seconds, because the apartment was the size of a shoe box.

Noelle ducked into the sole bedroom in the back, then returned to the closet-size living room, annoyance etched on her face. “Nobody’s here.” Her gaze moved to the plastic coffee table, which was piled with plates of rotted food and a couple of ashtrays overflowing with stale cigarette butts. “From the looks of it, nobody’s been here for a while.”

Abby wrinkled her nose at the clutter, but it was the stench that made her stomach roil. She couldn’t believe the other tenants hadn’t lodged a complaint yet, but then again, the whole building smelled bad, so one rank apartment probably didn’t make much of a difference.

She drifted over to the window and cranked it open, welcoming the rush of air that streamed into the room. Her stomach still felt unsettled, though, and she suddenly wondered if maybe it was . . . No. She swiftly banished the scary thought, distracting herself from the nausea by peering out the window, past the rooftops until her gaze landed on the historic Khan Khalili market. Hundreds of stalls, shops, and tables made up the marketplace, a labyrinth of narrow alleys that someone could easily get lost in—or get abducted from. Kathy Aberdeen’s son had been snatched from one of those alleys, right under the vigilant watch of his bodyguards. A somber reminder that you were never as safe as you thought you were.

Behind her, Noelle was calling Kane with a report. Technically that was Abby’s job, but the queasiness had caused her to drop the ball.

“They’re not here. Any luck on your end?” Noelle paused. “Got it. See you boys later.”

Abby turned away from the window to look at Noelle, who gave the quick shake of her head. “They struck out too. Your hubby wants us to check out the next site.”

With a nod, she headed for the door, but Noelle’s voice stopped her in her tracks.

“Are you cheating on Kane?”

Shock slammed into her. She spun around to face the other woman, her jaw falling open when she realized Noelle was dead serious. Amused, even. “What? Of course not!”

The blonde just watched her. And kept watching. Abby knew that piercing, emotionless stare scared the shit out of some people, but it had never scared her. She couldn’t quite explain it, but she understood Noelle. And she’d thought Noelle understood
her
.

Which was why the question left her genuinely bewildered.

“Seriously, why the hell would you say that?” she demanded.

To her surprise, Noelle slunk over to the tattered sofa and lowered her lithe body onto it. She rested her gun on her thigh and looked over with a lazy expression. “Honey, the second I heard your voice I knew something was wrong. And when I asked how your deliciously sexy husband is doing, you got
real
quiet. Sounded to me like you were tiring of him.” She tipped her head pensively. “Though I can’t say I blame you. You know how I feel about happily ever after—it’s a nice fairytale, at least until the evil ogre shows up and slaughters everyone in the story.”

“Trust me, I’m very familiar with your pessimism,” Abby said darkly. “But I’m not cheating on my husband.” Irritation prickled her spine. “I’m pissed and insulted you could even think that.”

“Since when do you care what I, or anyone else, think of you?” Noelle smirked in challenge. “Are you on your period or something?”

Anger bubbled over and came out as a roar. “No, I’m not on my fucking period!”

“Oh, relax, honey. Fine, you’re not screwing someone on the side. My mistake.”

Abby scowled, still floored by the accusation that had nonchalantly been tossed her way.

Noelle rose from the couch and tucked her weapon under her waistband at the small of her back. “Well, I guess I came all this way for nothing. Or maybe not—it’s been a while since I’ve had the chance to toy with Jim. Do you still want me to stick around and help out with this kidnapping thing?”