Kill Shot (4 page)

“Good evening, Mr. Harris,” said the guard.
He wore a dark suit and crisp tie and an earpiece was barely
visible in his ear. He wasn’t trying to hide the gun at his
waist.

“Good evening, George. This is Ms.
Fitzpatrick. She’s new to Worthington Financial.”

“Very good, sir.” George looked Grace over
dispassionately, as if memorizing her features, before turning back
to his post.

“You’ve got a lot of security,” Grace said,
studying the façade of the building. “Cameras, motion detectors,
retinal and thumbprint scanners once you get past the guard. Not
bad.”

“Financial service is a dangerous
business.”

“I could still get in.”

“Which is one of the many reasons I want you
on my side.”

“Who puts in all the bells and whistles?
You’re good, but not that good.”

“Ethan Thomas. Or Dragon, as he likes to
call himself.”

Grace shook her head and said, “You’re
kidding me. Isn’t Ethan Thomas that kid the agency was trying to
recruit just before I left? The one who hacked into the Pentagon
from his basement in Hoboken?”

“The one and only.”

“Christ, he’s an infant. What is he,
fifteen?”

“He’s eighteen. And he’s still the
best.”

Grace shook her head in disbelief. “That
doesn’t make it any better that you have an agent who probably has
to check in with his mother once a week. How’d you get him away
from agency clutches?”

“I told him he could either go to prison,
since he would now be tried as adult, or he could work for me as a
kind of community service. The CIA didn’t know what to do with him.
He has a bit of an attitude problem. All I had to do was buy his
mom a new house and promise he’d get to keep hacking. The kid is
fucking brilliant. You’ll like working with him. Eventually.”

Grace’s lips twitched. “Can’t wait to meet
him in person.”

Gabe nodded to another guard at the front
door and scanned himself in—first the thumbprint, then the retinal
scan.

“Your thumb and retinal imprints are already
in the system, and your new identity badge with photo ID is on your
kitchen counter. Do me a favor and wear the badge whenever you
leave the premises. You don’t want the security guards to get
antsy.”

Grace stopped him from going inside by
putting a hand on his shoulder. Gabe froze in his tracks, the heat
from her fingers burning through his clothes, straight to his
groin.

“You were pretty damn sure I’d come back
with you. Why?”

He shifted his body so they stood facing
each other. So close that he could feel her erect nipples through
the thin silk of her shirt against his chest.

“Because I know the one thing that turns you
on more than anything else.” He whispered the words against her ear
and smiled in triumph as she shivered. Her fingers clutched the
fabric of his shirt, and he could see her pulse thumping wildly at
the base of her neck.

“What’s that?”

“Danger.”

Even saying the word made her pupils dilate
and her breath hitch with excitement. Gabe bit back a groan as his
cock grew impossibly hard and the urge to take and conquer beat at
the base of his skull. She was his woman. He knew that on the most
primal level.

He nipped at her ear as he tortured them
both. “The more dangerous the better. Isn’t that right, Grace? The
higher the stakes, the wetter you get. Remember when we were on
that mission in Siberia and had to hide in that cave? Land mines
and grenades were going off all around us, and you were so hot for
me that I made you come with a whisper of breath and a diamond the
size of my fist.”

Her eyes glazed with desire before she could
get herself under control, and he knew then and there that she
would give him her body again before too much longer. The pull had
always been too strong between them. But she wasn’t quite ready
yet. They still had things to deal with.

Her hands pushed against his chest, and Gabe
backed away, giving her the space she wanted.

“Let’s just make sure that history doesn’t
repeat itself,” she said shakily.

Gabe smiled tightly and motioned for her to
precede him into the building. Dark hardwood floors gleamed with
polish, and a Persian rug in muted colors lay in the middle of the
room. Fresh flowers sat on a round table in the center of the rug.
To the left of the entryway was a large, glass-enclosed conference
room. A mahogany table that sat twelve dominated the room, and
empty bookshelves lined one wall. There were no scattered papers.
No electronics. And no people anywhere in sight.

“We’ll do most of our team briefings down
here,” Gabe said, pointing to the conference room. “All of the
upper floors are for personal use by whoever’s in the country at
the time, or when I add new agents.”

“Are you planning on expanding?”

“I’ve got some ideas. I don’t plan on
working in the field forever. I’d like to slow down a little in my
old age.”

“I hope it works out for you,” she said,
dismissing the thought. “What are those rooms?”

“The whole right side of this floor is
offices. You’re welcome to one if you’d like.”

“No, thanks. My job’s in the field. I never
sit behind a desk, and I have no plans of slowing down.”

“You can only go on so long in our line of
business before you either slow down or get taken down. Is that
what you’re looking for, Grace? The easy way out?”

“I died a long time ago, Gabe. Everything
from here on is just paving the way to hell.”

They were stopped in front of the elevators,
and he wanted nothing more than to take her by the shoulders and
shake her until he rattled some sense back into her brain. But she
had that stubborn look in her eye that told him the only thing he
was going to get was a fight if he kept pushing.

He pulled a key card from his pocket and
handed it to her, watching as some of the tension left her
shoulders. He decided to lighten things up a bit for both their
sakes.

“The elevator needs a key card and a palm
print to open and another to take you to whatever floor you want.
The fifth floor is a full gym and sauna, and there’s also a lap
pool. You’re free to use it whenever you’d like. I wouldn’t want
you to get slow and sloppy. You’re not getting any younger, you
know.”

“Jackass. I’m in my prime, and you know it.”
She smiled, and he literally felt his heart stumble in his chest.
Her eyes were brilliant green, and it was the first time in
twenty-four hours he’d seen a sign of life in them.

“Yeah, you are,” he said softly.

He lifted his hand to touch her—just one
touch to douse the fierce need that was building inside of him—but
the elevator doors opened and ruined the moment. He stepped back
and put plenty of space between them so he wouldn’t be tempted to
act on the lust that zinged between them like a ricocheting bullet
and carry her upstairs to his bed.

***

“Mmm, mmm, mmm,” a deep voice said. “You
told me there’d be perks with this job, Ghost, but I had no idea.
I’ve always been partial to redheads.”

The sound of Jack Donovan’s southern drawl
brought Grace out of the trance Gabe seemed to have her in. He’d
almost touched her. And she’d almost let him. How many times could
she make the same mistake in a lifetime? Apparently, every time
Gabe Brennan was in the vicinity.

“You’re partial to every damned hair color
on the planet,” Gabe said, rolling his eyes.

“It’s true. I’m a real cad. Want to be the
one to reform me, sugar?”

“Well, well,” Grace said. “Jack Donovan, big
as life.”

Last time she’d heard, Jack had been the
commanding officer of a group of Navy Seals conducting Visit,
Board, Search and Seizure missions in the Persian Gulf, but that
had been two years ago. She remembered he’d sent pink roses to the
funeral. It was weird how some memories were so clear during a time
that was for the most part an absolute haze.

“Don’t tell me Gabe’s talked you out of the
adrenaline rush of VBSS operations just to come twiddle your thumbs
for him. Friendship should only go so far.”

“I figure he needed someone to keep him out
of trouble,” Jack said, pointing to Gabe with a charming grin. “And
since you’re here, I have a feeling I’m going to have my hands full
with that job. You two always manage to find trouble no matter
where you are.”

“What can I say? It’s a talent.”

He laughed. “Damn, it’s good to see you,
Grace.” He pulled her into a tight hug, and she burrowed into the
hardness of his chest. He was a large man, a couple of inches
taller than Gabe, and thickly muscled. His dark brown hair was cut
close to the scalp, and his angular face was freshly shaven. Misty
green eyes made women think romantic thoughts of sonnets and white
picket fences, but they got over that notion soon enough. Jack was
a womanizer, plain and simple, and he was proud of it.

Tears stung her eyes, but she willed them
away and held onto him a little more desperately than she’d
intended. She hadn’t held anyone in her arms for so long. Hadn’t
even touched anyone. She was a master at keeping her distance, not
getting too involved or too close to anyone. It was the only way
she knew how to survive. She pulled back so she wouldn’t cling too
long.

Gabe stared at her intently, his face blank
of any thought. She already regretted her mistake of coming back
with him. She wasn’t ready for whatever he had in mind. Her
solitude and her trigger finger were the two things that had been
most important to her the last couple of years. Gabe had managed to
take one of them away so far.

The elevator opened again, and a fresh-faced
kid wearing sweatpants and a Halo T-shirt bounded out of the
elevator. His hair was dark brown and shaggy, and she’d bet money
he’d never shaved a day in his life.

“Hellooo, beautiful. What do you say you and
I do a little extra-hours work this evening?”

“Don’t be obnoxious, runt,” Jack said,
smacking him on the back of the head. “Grace, this is Ethan Thomas.
Try not to kill him. As hard as it is to believe, he actually
proves himself useful every once in a while.”

The kid was cute, Grace thought, trying not
to laugh so she wouldn’t hurt his feelings. In another ten years
he’d be a good-looking man. Right now, though, he was still awkward
arms and legs, his body on the thin side. Horn-rimmed glasses lay
crooked on his nose, and a slow flush of anger at the way Jack had
scolded him was working its way up his neck and into his
cheeks.

“Listen, sweetheart. I might be young, but
that doesn’t mean I don’t have experience. You know what I mean? I
know how to treat a lady.”

“Good thing I’ve never claimed to be a
lady,” she said, ignoring Gabe and Jack’s laughter. “The last man
who thought he wanted to share his experience with me ended up with
a bullet between his eyes.”

Ethan waggled his eyebrows, and he put a
hand over his heart. “I think I’m in love. I’ve been looking for a
woman who could be my protector. I’ve always thought I would adjust
well to being a kept man. This is like kismet. Tell me your name,
sweetheart, and make all my dreams come true.”

Grace held out her hand, and Ethan took it
automatically. Her grip was strong but nonthreatening, and it gave
Ethan plenty of time to feel the ridge of callous along her finger.
His eyes widened, and she gave him a smile that made the smirk on
his lips and the teasing sparkle in his eyes fade.

“Grace Meredith,” she said. “Gabe tells me
I’ll get used to working with you. I’m sure it will be a
pleasure.”

He snapped his hand back as if she’d burned
him and looked at Gabe with an anger she wouldn’t have guessed
someone so young would possess.

Silence lay heavily across the room. Grace
wasn’t used to being the center of attention. She was used to
hiding behind the rocks and taking the long, hard shots. She used
Gabe as her center and didn’t break his stare as Ethan analyzed her
closely.

“Seriously, Gabe?” Ethan asked. “Have you
lost your fucking mind?”

“Are you questioning my authority,
Ethan?”

Grace winced as Gabe turned cold blue eyes
toward Ethan, and she shook her head as Ethan tried to bluster his
way through. The kid had a lot to learn, that was for sure, and
he’d probably be lucky to seen twenty-one with the way he was
going.

“She’s a fucking mercenary,” Ethan said,
backing up a step as Gabe’s expression grew more menacing. “You
can’t trust someone who’s only in it for the money. And from the
things I’ve heard lately, she should probably be rotting in a
prison somewhere.”

Jack stepped in front of Gabe before things
got too far out of hand, and Grace breathed a sigh of relief. No
one really knew the kind of people they’d had to be over the last
decade. The kills that had to be justified, the lies and
subterfuge. She and Gabe and Jack had seen and done unimaginable
things. Ethan Thomas couldn’t possibly know what he was dealing
with when he tested Gabe like he was doing. Gabe was a good man—a
fair man. But he lived by his own code and his own rules, and if
Ethan Thomas overstepped himself or put any other agents in
jeopardy with his smart mouth and careless ways, then Gabe wouldn’t
hesitate to take him out. She would have done the same thing.

“She served her country just like the rest
of us did,” Jack said, trying to calm things down. “And what she’s
done with her life since she left the CIA is her business and no
one else’s. You know how rumors fly. You’ve never stepped foot out
in the field, but the rest of us have spent our lives making
life-and-death decisions. And I promise you that there’s not one of
us who doesn’t regret occasionally making the wrong choice.”

Gabe stepped around Jack and advanced on
Ethan with menacing purpose. Ethan finally caught on to the fact
that he was in deep shit and backed away from Gabe until he hit the
wall.