Sweet Seduction Secrets (Sweet Seduction, Book 8): A Love At First Sight Romantic Suspense Series (32 page)

This was bad. ASI, I could have contained. High Street, I could not.

“I’ll call Pierce,” Eric advised, receiving a nod from Nick as he pulled out his own cellphone and pressed a button on the screen.

“Dom,” Nick said into it a few seconds later. Silence while his brother replied to the greeting. “It’s happening now. Whatever you do, do
not
let Gen check up on her shop’s feed.”

Loud rumbling came from the cellphone, but was too indistinct to decipher.

“I know,” Nick said, voice hardening. “Leave it to me.”

He hung up and looked around the room, taking in every face, even the new ones.

“It’s not just a coffee shop,” he said, once Eric had hung up his call. “It’s not just another café in a city bursting with thousands. It’s
ours
,” he said simply. “Make no mistake,” he went on. “This fucker intends to use it against us. Had Gen and Kelly been there, he would have used them. But there
are
people on that street. Innocent people who have got nothing to do with this. People who we’ve sat beside and shared a coffee with many times over the past two years. People who mean something.

“This isn’t just about our city anymore.” He shook his head. “It’s not just about our country either. This is personal. And no one fucks with what is ours.”

A round of shouts broke out in approval.

Nick held up his hand. Silence returned in short order.

“Jase, you shadow Hart.” Caleb sat up straighter, but didn’t comment. “Ben, you’re on Ava.” The big Māori offered a shit-eating grin towards the sniper. She winked back at him, well aware of what Nick was doing. But like Caleb, Ava never showed fear. If the shit hit the fan out there, and our triggers meant what we thought they meant, then placing shadows on each of us made sense.

I looked toward Adam. Who couldn’t hide his emotions right then if his life depended on it.

It would. It fucking well would. I spun my gaze back to Nick, who was watching me. He offered a small smile.

“I’ve got Charlie,” he said.

“Thank you,” I mouthed, unable to say the words.

“What the fuck?” Adam demanded. “
I’ve
got Charlie.”

“Not in this, you don’t,” Nick shot back.

“No way, Nick. Charlie’s mine.” Every single person heard the meaning of those words. Not just his to shadow today. But
his
forever. No matter what.

I couldn’t process the amount of pain I felt at hearing that.

“Nick?” Adam pressed. “What the fuck, dude?”

Nick lifted icy eyes to Adam’s. “That’s an order, Savill. It’s not open for discussion.”

He turned his back on his subordinate and picked up his earpiece from Eric. All eyes, other than theirs, were on Adam.

I reached in front of Nick and grabbed two earpieces, then walked toward the towering stillness that was the man I’d come to love

I loved him
.

“It has to be this way,” I said softly. He didn’t hear. His anger, directed at the man he called a brother, blocked out everything.

I reached up and cupped his cheeks, pulled his face back down to mine.

“Don’t you see?” I whispered, feeling my throat constrict and my eyes burn, and it wasn’t even an act.

“No,” he admitted, making it harder to swallow.

I smiled; it was real. Tremulous and ridiculously real.

“I can’t be the one to hurt you,” I admitted. “Nick.” Another smile, this one more playful. “Not so much. But you?” I let a breath of air out on defeat. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t lie to him anymore.

But I could protect him.

“When he says those words, I won’t be the Charlie Downes you know. When he says those words, I won’t even be Charisse. I’ll be Charlie Delta.
His
Charlie Delta. I may not even know you. I may not remember a thing.”

It stood to reason that my memory was being affected by merely reading those words on a screen. What would happen when I heard them spoken? By Mal or the Director. I was sure it had to be one of them.

My handler could trigger me over the phone, if need be. But he couldn’t trigger Caleb or Ava. Mal wasn’t their handler. But the Director?

He handled everyone.

“The first shot has to be at the Director’s head,” I said, the room still all around us. I looked toward Caleb and Ava, saw the understanding there. Ava offered a small smile. Caleb nodded his head.

They agreed. This had to be done.

“None of us can do it,” I admitted, my words barely above a whisper. But everyone heard. “He holds his finger over our triggers.” I let a huff of breath out; even to my ears it sounded bad. Three highly trained killing machines controlled by a puppet master.

“I
won’t
let him squeeze them,” Adam promised, reaching up to cup my cheeks with both hands.

I tipped my face into the warmth of one, and placed an earpiece in the other.

“That’s what I’m counting on, Stalker. Take care of him for me. Take him out before he presses those triggers.”

It was a lot to ask. A fucking lot. This man, who I’d realised I loved, would have to commit murder.

But is it murder if it’s to prevent more deaths?

I fucking hoped not.

“OK,” he whispered, after a torturous length of time. “I’ve got you,” he added, moving his forehead down and pressing it against mine.

I smiled. It felt good. So good.

And then I whispered, “You had me from the very start.”

H
igh Street was bustling
. Nothing unusual for the centre of Auckland City. Shoppers mixed with lawyers. Office workers with tourists. Cameras out, thumbs scrolling over cellphone screens, shopping bags weighing them all down.

I had a very bad feeling about all of this. And it had nothing to do with the woman beside me. The woman who had stolen my heart. Ripped it clear out of my chest. Pulverised it. And now cradled it in two extremely lethal hands.

I let a slow breath of air out, feeling my heart thump painfully against my chest.

There was so much we hadn’t said. So much to get settled. To set in stone. But everything was fluid. Everything was fragile. All I had to go on was the look in her eyes that she thought she’d hidden.

I knew Charlie. I knew the spy. I knew the woman. I knew the broken shell that she had been forced to be. I saw it all. And her words, back in control, had all been an act.

Until they hadn’t been.

You had me from the very start.

I wanted more of that honesty. I wanted more of her. I wanted more time. I wanted more.

But a vile, powerful man, who hid behind the mask of Government approval, and cloaked himself in ministerial acceptance, waited.

Fuck-knuckle.

He’d chosen well, though. I’d give him that. The fact that Sweet Seduction was compromised was playing havoc with all our heads. It had been a haven, of sorts. A home away from home. Safe. Carefree. Happy. Full of life and love and family. Gen had created that for us. She’d barged on in to a hardened private security firm’s heart and padded herself down comfortably.

We all loved her for it.

We all loved Sweet Seduction for the refuge it now was.

Fuck him. This Director with no real name. Fuck him and the horse he rode in on.

“How do you want to play this?” Eric asked over the earpieces.

Charlie let out a slow breath of air, as if she’d been holding it as we stood in the shadows, watching the street, watching our target location, watching the end of the world approach. Abi was invisible, somewhere down the north end, closer to Shortland Street. Koki and Brook had stationed themselves near Victoria Street East. The rest of us, including the spooks, all stood together on the roof of a building across from the café.

“Have they moved since we spotted them?” Charlie asked, voice steady, breaths even. Charlie Downes in attendance. Or was it Charlie Delta?

“Made a second cup of coffee about ten minutes ago,” Eric advised. “The one you call Mal has been looking through the CDs out the back. The Director’s been reading a newspaper.”

“They’re split?” Hart asked. He and Charlie shared a look. I huffed out a disgruntled breath of air. Like splitting them would make a difference.

“For the past five minutes,” Eric supplied.

“We go now,” Charlie advised, turning and looking at Ava. “You know where to position yourself.” She hesitated. “Might be best to take the earpiece out,” she suggested. In case the Director got his hands on our frequency and flicked the sniper’s switch.

Ava nodded her head slowly. Reluctant, but resigned.

This was gonna turn to shit.

“Ben will keep you in the loop,” Nick offered. Ava grunted, but didn’t bother to reply.

One meaningful look at Hart and Charlie in turn, and the sniper shouldered her rifle and strode off across the rooftop to her designated spot. Line of sight to the front of Sweet Seduction.

There was no back door. No exit other than the one Charlie intended to walk through. Why the Director had placed himself in such a vulnerable position made little sense. But neither Charlie, Hart, nor Ava had passed comment. A defensible position, one could argue.

A fucking trap, I’d say in reply.

I was beginning to sweat.

Charlie turned her attention briefly towards Hart and Jase. Only long enough to let them know her next directions were for them. Her eyes were back on her target within a split second, as she said, “The roof.”

“It’ll take us a few minutes to cross the street undetected,” Hart advised, looking at the rooftop opposite.

Charlie lifted her watch, just as Hart did his own. In a move I’d only ever seen on TV they stared at their dials and in unison said, “Mark.” Both pressed buttons on their stopwatches in complete and utter sync, as though they’d done it a thousand times before.

And they probably had.

I hated that fucker.

Hart nodded his head, gave Nick a strained smile, and then flicked his almost dead eyes to my face. He snorted. It was an act. I flipped him the bird. Not so much an act. And then he sauntered off cackling like a fucking demented witch. Jase bumped fists with Nick and followed in his wake.

“Earpiece,” Charlie said succinctly, eyes on Sweet Seduction and not her former colleague’s retreat.

“Adios, Charles,” came over the air, and then nothing. We could only assume he’d been taken out of the loop and isolated.

My eyes flicked down to Charlie. Her earpiece still in situ. There was no point removing it. Whether the Director or her handler got hold of our secured channel or not, she was about to face them. All they had to do was open their fucking mouths and say it.

Veritas Lux Mea.
Fuck!

I swallowed thickly. Bunched my fists. Gulped in air.

This fucking sucked.

Charlie glanced down at her watch. T-minus three minutes and counting. No one said a word. High Street bustled on. Pierce, still unseen, was hopefully liaising with Abi. Amber, God willing, was coming up with something,
anything
, we could use to counteract the trigger. And the rest of us waited for the world to go boom!

I felt Nick’s eyes on me. I didn’t meet them. Whatever he was seeing couldn’t be anything good. I was twitchy as fuck. Sweating like a stuck pig. And my heart wouldn’t stop hammering against my ribs; fucking whack-whack-whack against the cage of my chest; pinpricks of pain zapping out in all directions. If this had been a normal hunt, I would have called it off.

I was in no fit state to watch Charlie die.

“Walk it off,” Nick said, voice low and non-judgemental. Charlie stiffened, but didn’t stop her vigilant surveillance of Sweet Seduction.

I nodded my head; I was just too damn wound up to stand still any longer. And started heading towards the stairs at the back of the building we were standing on.

I’d made it halfway there when Eric’s voice came over the earpiece. I knew immediately it was only for me.

“The lingerie shop next door,” he said.

“What about it?”

“Blueprints show a possible false wall between the music cave and the far left changing room.”

“You want me to go and try on boxers?” I asked, amused, despite the situation. Douche.

“Try a fucking thong on for all I care,” he drawled. “Nick wants you there and waiting on his signal.”

I paused in my pacing, looking back across the rooftop to where Nick and Charlie stood sentinel, facing High Street, and our doom.

“Charlie doesn’t know,” I guessed.

“We needed a back-up plan.” In case her switch was flicked.

“She’ll figure it out once I disappear.”

“And she’s a professional,” Eric advised. “She won’t ask. Because she’ll know the knowledge could get you killed.”

I rubbed a hand across my eyes, took one last look at the woman who seemed to always remain just out of my reach. Always just beyond my grasp. Always a temptation I had to chase.

I couldn’t walk in the front door of Sweet Seduction with her. I couldn’t be the one to protect her when she faced off against that creep.

But I sure as fuck could be her knight in shining armour.

I just prayed I wasn’t going to arrive too late.

“OK,” I said, starting down the stairs.

“You’ve got exactly two minutes to get in position,” Eric replied steadily - always so steady over the airwaves when we needed him - “and then Nick and Charlie will be moving in.”

“You’ve cut me off from their channel?” I queried.

“Only while we set this up. I’ll be hooking you back in again once you’re in place.”

I ran down the stairs, suddenly desperate to get to that fucking fluffy pink abomination of a lingerie shop, and made my way across High Street in super stealth mode in seconds. Take that, fucking highly trained spies!

One look in the lingerie shop and I knew I was fucked beyond measure.

“Hi, buying something for your girlfriend?” the sales assistant cheerfully asked as soon as I walked in the door, giving me a once over while she did it.

I panicked. There’s no other word for it. My eyes scanning the rows of neatly hanging itty-bitty bikini briefs and slightly better endowed bras, and coming up blank.

Oh, fuck me.

I reach out and grabbed the nearest silky set and held them up.

“Got this in an extra large?”

Eric snorted over the earpiece. I could hear Amber rolling around control in unchecked amusement. I thanked fuck the rest of ASI was on a separate channel, but I was pretty damn certain I wouldn’t be lucky enough for them
not
to hear the recording later.

Later. If there was a later.

I straightened my shoulders, stared the assistant in the eye, and raised my eyebrows in question.

She made a choking sound, reached into the back of the rack and produced a hideously sized number. It reminded me of a tent.

“Awesome,” I said, snatching up the article of endless embarrassment and moving towards the back of the shop.

“Mind if I try these on?” I asked, throwing a look over my shoulder and catching the sales girl shaking her head. She might have mumbled something as well. My ego hoped it was along the lines of “The good looking ones are always gay” and not something else.

I shut the stall door behind me, leaning against the wall as though I couldn’t stand on my own two feet, and just breathed.

Fuck that! Charlie was going to owe me, big time.

“I’m in,” I said quietly.

“Switching to main channel now,” Eric advised. All professional again. Completely steady, helping to steady my heart.

I rubbed a hand across my chest, flung the parachute sized underwear down on the changing room’s bench, and started investigating the false wall.

Eric was right. It was particle board with minimal stud work. In the exact shape of a door. The two shops had at one time been connected. And this was my way inside.

“Where does this come out?” I said, almost to myself, before realising Charlie wasn’t meant to know where I was. I quickly added, “Clear?”

“Standby,” Eric replied, as Charlie said, “Going in.”

She hadn’t asked, as Eric had guessed she wouldn’t. She hadn’t even acknowledged me, even though I was back on her channel. I fisted my hand against the false wall, hung my head, and closed my eyes.

“Are you good in there?” the sales assistant suddenly asked from the other side of the swing doors.

I straightened up, stared at the wall, then at the knife I’d already grabbed from my thigh holster in my hand, and then swung back to look at the doors into the changing room.

Time wasn’t on our side.

“Love it!” I exclaimed, cringing. “What other colours have you got it in?”

“Oh,” came the reply. “I’ll go check.”

I waited to hear her footsteps clop away on the wooden floor and then got to work.

By the time Eric shouted “Now!” I was already in, the sound of my heartbeat accompanied by rapid gunfire.

By the time I confirmed the music cave was empty, Charlie had already faced her boss.

By the time all hell had broken loose, he’d already said the words.

I was too late.

My eyes connected with dull grey, as I watched the woman I loved, who I could have sworn loved me, lift her arm up and fire her gun towards my head.

The last thing I thought was what a crack shot a spy had to be.

Lethal. Highly trained. Professional.

A fucking killing machine.