Dangerous Liaisons (8 page)

Jesse shifted in the chair at a cheap Newark, New Jersey, hotel, attention on the laptop monitor sitting on the table in front of her. The progress bar indicated the funds from the Indian Ocean account she’d created were being transferred into another account, which would disappear once the two hundred thousand from Lanton’s Cayman account, set up as her blood money, moved into yet a third account.

The hope that she hadn’t miscalculated came too late. If OIA traced the money to her, it wouldn’t matter that the money’s final destination was the Philips and Rothman fund, a nonprofit organization that housed autistic kids with families who lacked the money to care for them. OIA would proclaim her guilty of selling out Green Team, and Lanton would receive carte blanche to hunt and kill her.

Her stomach did a flip. The hundred thousand Lanton paid Cole was piggy backing on the two hundred grand. Twenty-four hours from now, the money would have funneled through eleven other accounts before falling off the face of the earth and into Philips and Rothman. The idea to filch his payoff was the driving force that had goaded her into snagging the two hundred grand as well. And that meant just thinking about him muddied the waters, which made her want to bawl like a baby.

She rubbed her sore eyes. She wasn’t thinking clearly. Getting from Westchester to Newark had taken her well into the afternoon. Setting up the money route had put her deep into the night. All she wanted now was a hot bath and a few hours—

The Professor’s cell phone rang.

Jesse jerked her attention onto the phone sitting on the table beside the computer. The display read Cole Smith. Her pulse skipped a beat.
Smith?
His name was Smith? Jesse wanted to laugh. Hell. Mr. Smith had traced the bank transaction and, instead of bursting in, guns blazing, had called first—on a phone no one but she and The Professor knew existed. What would Emma Peel do? Be civilized, of course.

Jesse picked up the phone. “Hello, Cole.”

“Hi, Jess.”

She closed the laptop display as the hotel room door opened and Cole filled the doorway. He met her gaze, cell phone to his ear, then lowered the phone and closed it with a click. His other hand gripped a plastic drugstore bag.

“Like a bad penny,” she commented. Though she could deal with bad luck when it arrived in tight jeans and a midnight blue, long sleeve, button down shirt.

He offered a lopsided grin that sent a flutter skittering across the inside of her stomach. He stepped into the room and she flicked a glance past him at the empty parking lot before he closed the door.

“We need to talk,” he said.

“I’m too tired to kick your ass,” Jesse said, and meant it. “How did you get my cell number?”

“I called Tom.”

“Tom?” she blurted.

Cole cut her off. “You weren’t compromised. He set up a blind relay to forward my call to your phone.”

Jesse’s mind raced. Why had Tom admitted to being in contact with her?

She closed the phone and set it on the table. “Come on in and join the party.”

Cole ran his gaze down her body. She felt a stab of disappointment when he said, “You need to change the dressing.”

She sighed and glanced at her pant leg. Blood had seeped through her chinos in spots resembling splashed coffee stains. She had dressed the wound once in the ladies restroom at Penn Station, but it still ached. Cole was right, it needed attention, but she said, “It’s nothing.”

“Take off your pants and get on the bed.”

Jesse blinked, then laughed—hard.

Cole looked hurt. “You need the bandage changed.”

She hiccupped, tried to get out a word, but battled another fit of laughter before she managed, “This is too good.”

“I’m serious,” he said.

“I know.” She snorted a laugh. “That’s what makes it so funny.” Jesse motioned to the bag he carried, and said, “Even brought your own supplies, I see,” before howling with laughter again.

Cole crossed his arms over his chest and the bag bounced off his waist. He gave her a stern look, and Jesse made a valiant effort to push back her amusement. She felt her lip twitch, and he lifted both brows.

“Come on,” she said. “You have to admit you have nerve coming here like Mother Teresa.”

“No more nerve than you do, stealing money that isn’t yours.”

All amusement vanished. “Don’t like having your hard-earned blood money stolen?”

Cole strode to the bed and sat on the edge nearest her. He dumped the contents of the bag onto the bedspread, then leveled his gaze on her. “You want to hear why I let you take the hundred thousand?”

Jesse blinked, then laughed again.

She quit laughing when Cole slid from the bed onto his knees and reached for the buttons on her Chinos.

Jesse remained motionless as Cole carefully undid the hook on her pants, then the button and the zipper. He drew back the waistband until the top of her powder blue boy-short panties were visible. Her belly tightened at the prospect of inspecting the rest of those cigarette burns he’d mentioned.
The girl always falls for the bad guy
, that’s how she justified it when she found herself remembering his broad shoulders, and the lean forearm he’d revealed when he’d shown her the burns. He started to slide the pants down her hips.

She didn’t move, and he looked up. “Lift your hips so I can get the pants off.”

Jesse still didn’t move. Cole glanced at the bloodstains, his brow furrowed. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he actually cared.

He pinned her with a hard stare. “You haven’t taken proper care of this.”

“I—”

“I’m not stupid, Jess. It wouldn’t bleed like this if tended properly.”

She sighed and lifted her hips. Cole tugged the pants over her hips, taking care, she noticed, not to drag her panties down. That’s what she got for not wearing a thong. The boy shorts were little less than short shorts. Emma Peel would have planned better. So would she, next time.

“I checked into the Cayman account,” Cole said as he peeled the bloody pant leg from her leg, then tugged the garment free of her stocking feet. “It walks and talks like a payoff.”

Cole dropped the pants on the floor beside the chair. He gripped her ankle and began unwrapping the bloody gauze from her calf. The bandage snagged on clotted blood and yanked at the wound. Jesse jerked.

Cole looked up at her. “You okay?”

Jesse grimaced. “That hurts more than when he cut me.”

Cole nodded, then went back to unwrapping the bandage. The gauze pulled free, and he discarded it beside the pants. He shook his head as he caressed her knee around the wound.

“You’ve ripped out more stitches, and I can’t take you back to Rayburn. You shouldn’t have run.”

His mouth thinned and she wondered how much more disapproving the look would get once he knew he wouldn’t get his money back, no matter how good a performance he gave. Had he arrived five minutes earlier, he could have stopped the transfer. Now, he needed her in order to get his money back. Amazing how five minutes made them new best friends. Cole grabbed a bottle of peroxide and box of gauze from the bed, tore open the box, and pulled out a sterile square. He opened the peroxide and saturated the gauze.

“This’ll sting,” he said, and began cleaning blood from her skin in wide swaths, like a professional.

The cut stung bone deep as peroxide foamed white in the wound.

“Someone went to a lot of trouble to frame you,” he said.

Someone?
She was betting Cole would tell her Lanton was Superman in disguise and had accomplished the feat all on his own, the same way Cole had supposedly found her all on his own. The muscles in Cole’s shoulders flexed beneath the fabric of his shirt. Hello Superman—and hello to Superwoman’s kryptonite.

“I’ll take it from here,” she said, and pulled her leg free of his grip.

Cole cupped her heel and straightened her leg. “Don’t get feisty. Someone has to clean the wound, tape the skin back together—straight and tight—then wrap it.” He released her leg, ripped open another sterile gauze, soaked it in peroxide, and began the final cleanup.

Jesse decided the cool evaporation of peroxide and the warmth of Cole’s hand were a fair trade for the frustrated desire to beat him senseless. She relaxed and studied his face as he ripped medical tape with his teeth. He wasn’t perfectly handsome in profile. His chin jutted a bit too much and a bump on the bridge of his nose indicated it had been broken.

“Where did you learn medicine?” she asked.

“I started as a medic in the Army Rangers—Afghanistan, Iraq.”

“You said you were in the Navy.

He gave her an apologetic glance, but said nothing.

“How did you get started in this business?”

“I come from a long line of ex-military. It’s obligatory. ROTC, officer training, active duty. At the end of active duty, Lanton recruited me for Green Team.”

Jesse studied him. What if he was telling the truth about Colombia and simply didn’t mind taking money for bringing her in? Would it be easier to deal with wanting him if he were just a man she had failed to save and not one she should want to kill instead of make love to all night? Would he resist if she pushed him onto the carpet and straddled hips?

“How did you meet Lanton?" she asked.

Cole began wrapping the gauze around her leg. “As a civilian intelligence officer, he ran a covert operation to locate WMDs. He made me his point man for a year. I had planned on going to veterinary school after the Army, so when he offered me training, more education, and an opportunity to make a difference defending the U.S., I said yes.”

Jesse flexed her leg to test the bandage. Good and tight. He would have made a good veterinarian. She remembered Lancelot, and blurted, “How did Rayburn take Lancelot’s death?”

A muscle pulsed in Cole’s jaw and her heart constricted.

“Pretty hard. Lance was only seven. I told Charlie he died a true hero.”

Jesse started to say the dog’s death wasn’t his fault, then stopped. Maybe Cole had nothing to do with Colombia.  Maybe he merely considered himself duty bound to bring in a traitor. But the hundred thousand dollars he had accepted from Lanton said he might have helped send Green Team to their deaths. So why did every square inch of her body scream to be touched by this man who might be a killer?

A tingle raced up Jesse’s thigh when Cole’s fingers flexed against her ankle. He shifted her leg. She tensed, uncomfortably aware of the warm hands and gentle pressure against her skin.

“That hurts,” she said. “Just wrap up the bandage.”

He looked up, hurt in his eyes. “It’s going to scar. You should get it restitched.”

“Won’t be the only scar I have.”

“Stop being stubborn. I’ll be done in a minute, then you can go back to hating me.” He ripped open another box of gauze, withdrew the roll, and continued wrapping her leg.

“So tell me how the diner wasn’t a setup,” she said.

“Like I said, Jess, they found you when I found you. We simply hadn’t shaken them. How much did you hear?”

Her heart sped up. This was damage control. “I heard you're getting a lot of money to hand me over to Lanton.”

A corner of his mouth lifted. “A hundred thousand for my trouble.”

“You haven’t seen trouble yet.”

The smile lifted the other side of his mouth. “You’re a handful.”

“You’ll never get the money now.”

“I never said I wanted it.”

“You didn’t refuse it.”

He paused and looked at her. “No one owns me, any more than they own you. He wants me to get a confession out of you.”

“By any means necessary,” she said.

Cole nodded, then ripped a foot-long strip of tape. “That’s not OIA style. If he was working within the organization, he would have attempted to bring you in. There’s no doubt he’s working on his own. What have you got that has him so scared?”

Cole wrapped the tape around her leg, pressing and massaging the bandage snug. She tried to ignore the play of shoulder muscles against shirt-fabric. Her belly did a flip. Damn him. She pulled her leg from his hands. Cole placed the medical supplies on the desk. Jesse grabbed her pants and slipped them on.

When she stood in front of him, fully clothed, she said, “Lanton’s been dirty a long time.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Ask Tom about Madrid. Then check out Hong Kong—” the laptop emitted a high-pitched beep. “What the—” Jesse opened the laptop lid.

An error dialogue box filled the middle of the screen. At a glance, she saw the transfer of funds from the third account into the fourth had been interrupted. She closed out the dialogue box by selecting ‘Retry.’ The progress bar appeared and the cursor became a spinning hourglass. The progress bar began filling left to right. At the halfway point, everything froze, including the hourglass. She pressed the escape key, but the computer didn’t respond.

Cole stepped up beside her. “What happened?”

“Don’t act innocent,” she snarled. “Acting as if you
let
me have the hundred grand. You couldn’t stand for those kids to benefit.”

“What kids?”

“Stay back,” Jesse warned as she typed furiously to tear down the connection and start from scratch. “You’d better hope I can get the connection back because, if I can’t, I’m taking the funds out of your ass.”

Cole leaned forward and Jesse whirled. He leaped. She fisted her hands and threw a sidekick. He ducked, but she grazed his nose.

“Jess, let me—”

She dropped to a crouch and ignored the pain as she fell back on her hands, kicking with both feet. She caught him in the gut and he staggered back.

“Jess,” he wheezed as she jerked herself back onto her feet.

Cole turned, shoulder facing her, and she realized he intended to charge. She pivoted in readiness for a slam to the back of his head as he moved past her, then belatedly felt his fingers close around her sore ankle, and found herself, ass first, on the floor. She bucked to break his hold, but he fell on her, belly to belly. Pain shot from her leg and shoulder wounds. He jammed her arms against her sides, then clamped down on them with his thighs, and rose onto his knees.

“Save this for someone who deserves it,” he wheezed.

He grabbed the box of discarded gauze and dumped it out onto the floor beside them. “You’re forcing me to do this so I don’t hurt you.” In one quick move, he flipped her onto her stomach and yanked her arms behind her. Pain stabbed through her wounded shoulder. He clamped her wrists together with one of his massive hands while he wrapped the gauze around them in three quick turns, like roping a calf.

“I’ll kill you!” She bucked.

Cole tossed the gauze aside without cutting it. “Hush,” he said, and reached for the computer, still keeping his thighs tight around her ribs.

Rage swept through her. She struggled to free her arms, but Cole tightened his hold until she wheezed for breath.

He muttered something unintelligible and she twisted her head in time to see him finger the touchpad, his eyes intent on the screen. Jesse channeled all her strength into an upward heave. He didn’t budge. She had no leverage, and the effort only sharpened her pain.

Cole pressed the heel of his hand between her shoulder blades. “I admire your tenacity, but stop it, Jesse.”

“Damn you,” she rasped, precious air escaping from her lungs with every word.

He hit control or alt-something on the keyboard and pecked at the keys with one finger. Jesse gasped, but lost more air than she gained. Cole eased the pressure on her chest, eyes still on the screen.

Jesse surged against him again. “You fu—”

Cole pushed down on her back. Air burst from her lungs in one humph. Lack of oxygen caused white flares on the edges of her vision.

Cole leaped off her, then jerked her to her knees. Jesse sucked in a deep breath, pooling her energy to yank free.

“Look,” he ordered, and turned her face to the computer screen.

The progress bar moved across the screen.

She halted and stared at the transfer. He’d either redirected the funds or connected to a proxy server that was faking the operation. A second later, the transfer concluded, and another started, shifting funds from the fourth account into a fifth one in Indonesia. He couldn’t fake that one unless he knew she had an account there and knew it was the fifth hop on the transfer.

Cole released her and stepped back. “Whoever has the ability to intercept the transmission has the ability to trace it. We need to get out—now.”

Jesse looked back at the computer. They knew her location. She had planned on sneaking a visit to Amanda. Her heart constricted. Harris had reported all was well. He had encouraged her to stay away—far away. He was right.

“Untie me,” she snapped.

Cole grabbed her shoulders and spun her around. He had the gauze off in two seconds. Jesse whirled, rubbing her wrists despite the fact they weren’t really chaffed. Her shoulder throbbed. She needed time to think. Lanton’s goons were probably nearby; in the next room, maybe.

“We do things my way,” she said.

Cole shook his head. “You’re in no position to be calling the shots.”

“I won’t chance another ambush. Think twice, Cole. I can get the job done without you.”

His expression hardened, and she couldn’t tell if he was hurt or angry. “Where are we going?”

“Colombia.”

“Lanton expects me back at Langley tomorrow,” he said. “If I don’t show, he’ll get suspicious.”

Jesse brushed past him, grabbed her sneakers from the bedside, and sat down. She slipped on the first shoe and laced it. “I’ll give you a contact number. It’s an internet message center where I can retrieve voice mail.” She slipped on the second shoe, tied the lace, and stood. “I’ll be in touch.”

“Too many things can go wrong.”

She crossed to the laptop, yanked the cord free, then picked up the computer and stuffed the cell phone into her pocket. “That’s how it has to be.” She hurried to the door. Jesse started to turn the knob, but felt Cole beside her even as he shoved the door closed. She stared up at him. “I don’t want to hurt you Cole.”

“This is a bad idea.”

Headlights cut through the fabric of the curtains covering the window that overlooked the rear of the motel. Cole released the door and strode to the window. He pulled the curtain back without care.

“Cole,” Jesse hissed, but didn’t wait for a response. She slipped out the door.

“Jess,” she heard him say as she clicked the door shut.

She hesitated. Leaving again like she had at the diner hurt. Despite the fact she knew leaving was the right thing to do, it felt even worse. A car door slammed and she hurried forward, turning right onto a well-lit walkway and following it to the end of the building. She peered around the corner into the parking lot, saw no one, then turned left and bolted toward the office and main road. At the road, Jesse glanced over her shoulder. No one followed. She started to cross the deserted street, then stopped. Cole had called her on Tom’s cell phone. She withdrew the cell phone and tossed it in a nearby storm drain.