Task Force Bride (20 page)

“Yes, you are,” she interrupted him, making sure that her voice stayed low so that none of the other dancers would overhear. “Because you've been sent down here for no reason. I
don't
need you.”

The song ended. Thankfully. Blessedly.

She tried to pull away from him.

He didn't let her go.

“Are you sure about that?” he asked.

“Yes,” she hissed. “I'm sure. I'm perfectly fine. This place is safe—”

A scream cut through the ballroom. At the high-pitched, desperate sound, everyone froze.

Cassidy's blood iced.
Genevieve.
That had been her scream. She
knew
Genevieve's scream.

Cassidy's gaze flew to the right as she looked for her friend. There, near the staircase. One glance and Cassidy knew why her friend had screamed. Men in black—men wearing ski masks and armed with handguns—surrounded Genevieve. One man had a gun to her side. The other three men were fanning out, advancing toward the unarmed guests.

“Anyone moves,” the man holding Genevieve shouted, “I kill her.” No accent covered his words.

Cassidy's breath heaved in her lungs. No, no, this could not be happening now. It shouldn't be happening—not to Genevieve!

But it
was
happening. She was staring at a nightmare straight from her past. The armed men swept into the crowd.

And—

“Cassidy Sherridan!” the man holding Genevieve shouted. “We want her.”

Cassidy took a step forward.

Only to be halted by the man who was quickly becoming the bane of her existence.

“Too bad,” the EOD agent whispered—a whisper that reached only Cassidy's ears. “Because I'm not letting them get you.”

He didn't understand what was happening. She did. She was also more than ready to trade herself for Genevieve.

So while everyone else was frozen, she jerked away from the agent and called out, “You want me? I'm right here.”

The agent swore.

The masked man shoved Genevieve away and began closing in on Cassidy. His gun was aimed dead center at her chest.

Cassidy lifted her chin and waited.

Only in the next second she wasn't staring at the gun. The EOD agent had grabbed her and pushed her behind him.

No!

“Don't play hero,” the masked man snarled. “It's a surefire way to end up dead.”

“That's a chance I'll take,” the agent drawled, letting his Texas accent slip in once more as he pulled out his own weapon. A gun she hadn't even noticed when they'd been dancing.

The men in masks inched closer as everyone else in the room started to rush for the doors.

So much for everyone freezing.
I'm the one they want.

And if tall, dark and handsome hadn't just tried to be a white knight, the gunmen would have gotten her.

The EOD agent had just ruined her plans.

* * *

“
FOUR
MEN
,
ALL
ARMED
,” Logan Quinn murmured into his mouthpiece as he kept his eyes on the scene unfolding before him. His fingers tightened around the binoculars. He sure hadn't been expecting the attack to be so public.

There were at least a hundred civilians in that ballroom. Some very well-connected civilians with pull in too many countries to count. If the gunmen started firing...

We can't let that happen.

“It's time for us to go in,” Logan said, knowing that the man listening to his comm feed would be ready to attack. Gunner Ortez was always ready.

Now, if Cale Lane would just get the pretty blonde out of harm's way, then the Shadow Agents could attack.

* * *

“T
HERE
ARE
FOUR
of us,” the gunman growled, “and only one of you. It's a bad night to play hero.”

Cale kept his weapon up and ready. Chaos surrounded him, and while most of the people were running for any exit they could find, Cassidy hadn't so much as budged an inch behind him. The woman
should
have fled for safety.

She also shouldn't have offered herself up as a willing sacrifice. They'd deal with that part later.

After he got rid of the gunmen.

“What makes you so sure I'm alone?” Cale asked. The ballroom, with all of its windows that looked out over the city—well, it sure allowed plenty of people the opportunity to look back in. “Drop your weapons,” Cale ordered. “
All
of you—drop them while you still have the chance.”

Laughter. He'd expected that. They'd foolishly think that he was bluffing. They'd find out, too late, that he wasn't.

The laughter died away. The guy's finger began to tighten around the trigger as he took aim at Cale. “Mister, you're dead.”

No, he wasn't.

Cale shot his own weapon, firing right at the man in black. The two shots blasted almost simultaneously.

More screams. More shouts.

More chaos.

Cale grabbed Cassidy and rushed toward the exit—the back door that she'd tried to get him to take earlier. The gunman's bullet had grazed his side, barely scraping him, while his own had sunk into the man's right shoulder.

Aiming wouldn't be so easy for the guy now.

“No!” Cassidy yelled as she dug in her heels. “Stop! I can't leave!”

Yes, she could. Staying wasn't an option for her. His mission—his assigned duty—was to protect her.

When she tried to break free of his grip and run back toward the gunman, Cale just held her tighter. Then he lifted her over his shoulder.

“What are you doing?” She kicked him, hard, her heels coming close to his new wound. “Let me go!”

Why? Hell, the woman must have a death wish.

Figured.

Gunfire exploded.
Rat-a-tat.
Ah, the sound he was so familiar with...only they weren't in a jungle, and the civilians weren't safe.

I need cover, here...come on...come on...

His team was out there, lurking in the shadows. An EOD agent didn't head into a mission without support, even a strange mission like this one.

Logan Quinn and Gunner Ortez were out there. They would have his back, they would—

Logan burst into the ballroom. He didn't fire his weapon. Logan just launched right at one of the masked men.

As he hesitated at the staff exit, Cale's gaze swept the room. Another masked man was aiming his gun at the redhead, the woman who'd been talking with Cassidy earlier. The man looked like he was about to kill her—

But a bullet hit him instead. A bullet that hadn't come from
inside
the ballroom.

Instead, it had burst through the window on the far left, shattering the glass. Cale knew exactly who'd fired the shot.

Gunner.
The ex-SEAL sniper never missed a target.

His cover was there.

Now, time to get the lady
out.

Cale kicked out with his foot, throwing open the exit. Others had already started down the narrow staircase. Cassidy was screaming. Yeah, what a way to show her appreciation.

Hell was breaking loose behind them. He just needed to get her to safety, then he could go back and help Gunner and Logan contain the scene.

He made it down to the first floor, easily holding his struggling captive.

As soon as he stepped out of the stairwell, Cale saw security guards rushing forward.
Better late than never, huh?
At least they'd finally decided to join the party.

He thrust Cassidy at one of them. “Take care of her!”

Cassidy yanked free. “I don't need taking care of!” Her hair had come loose. It tumbled around her shoulders. With her flushed cheeks, glittering eyes and that wild mane of hair, she didn't look so ice-princess perfect anymore.

It grated but...she was even more beautiful that way.

The guard who'd held Cassidy for all of three seconds started stuttering. Cale ignored him and leaned in close to Cassidy. “If you want to keep living, you'll stay down here. Stay with the guards, and I'll take care of the men upstairs.”

Only...was that smoke coming from upstairs? Hell, it was. And when he strained, he could hear the crackle of flames.

The stampede for the main door became even wilder as everyone caught the scent in the air. The security guards didn't stay to help Cassidy. They fled.

Everyone fled.

Everyone but Cale.

And Cassidy.

Actually, that crazy woman tried to go back
up
the stairs. He caught her arm and yanked her against him.
Death wish.
He pulled out the small transmitter that would connect him to the other agents. “What the hell is going on up there?” Cale demanded.

“Leave the scene,” Logan's voice immediately blasted back. “Two attackers are dead. The others retreated but left a fire in their wake.”

Not the news he wanted to hear.

Cassidy kept trying to run for the stairs. The woman was trying to drive him insane.

“Come on!” He locked his arm around her stomach and pulled her back against him.

“No! My friend is up there! Genevieve! Gen—”

Other people were rushing down the service stairs. They were about to be crushed.

He could hear sirens blasting. More help, coming as quickly as they could.

“Ballroom is clear,” Logan barked. “Get the target
out.
”

When the team leader gave an order, you didn't question him. Cale picked Cassidy up into his arms and carried her out.

“No!” Cassidy yelled. “Genevieve, I need—”

“She's clear!” They were outside. Fresh air hit him. He glanced back. Saw the flash of flames in the upstairs windows. And...saw the shadow of a man dropping down the side of the building.

Logan. Rappelling down.

Had the gunmen used the same method of escape?

And why had they targeted—

“Cassidy!”

When he heard the cry, Cale's hold tightened on Cassidy. But the woman calling her—that was the redhead. Cassidy's friend.

“Genevieve?” Cassidy whispered, voice breaking with hope.

Cale's gaze swept the scene. Men and women in their fancy gowns and their tuxes now stood, shaken, in the shadows, as they stared up at the burning building.

A night of fun, now a night of fear.

“Let me go,” Cassidy told him. “Please.”

He eased her to her feet. She'd lost her high heels someplace, and her bare feet pressed into the cement. Cale stared into her eyes.

He wasn't letting her go. Not really.

But for now, he
would
let her walk away.

Cassidy turned from him. She hurried away. Her hands locked around her friend as she held Genevieve tight. Genevieve was talking quickly in French.

Since he spoke French as easily as he did English, Cale understood her words and her frantic fear that
mort
had almost taken them both.

But, no, Cale hadn't been about to let death get close to Cassidy.

He eased back from the scene, keeping Cassidy in his sights. More of the local authorities arrived, rushing frantically to the rescue.

With Carnival in swing, this was the last thing that the powers-that-be in Rio would want. An attack on wealthy tourists? No way would they want that bit of info leaking to the media.

Medics were checking out the shaken men and women.

Logan was in the shadows, scanning the area. Cale saw him, but he doubted that anyone else noticed the other agent.

They were all too busy dealing with the fear and the fire.

A fire that was still spreading. Still slowly destroying the historic building.

The gunmen had seemingly vanished.

They'd come for Cassidy.... Would they try to return for her?

His hand clenched as he remembered her walking toward the masked man.

Yes, he realized, they would come for her, but he would make absolutely sure that they'd find him standing in their way.

Cassidy looked up, then, and her gaze met his. So much emotion was in her eyes, blazing just as brightly as the flames. Anger, no, fury...and fear.

He forced his hands to unclench as he watched her. Soon, he would have her alone, and when he did, he would discover all of her secrets.

Every. Last. One.

He would find out just why armed men had stormed the party looking for her.

And he'd learn just how the rich debutante knew all about the most covert group of agents currently working for the U.S. government.

Cale was quickly realizing that there was a whole lot more to Cassidy Sherridan than he'd initially realized.

The woman could prove to be very, very dangerous.

ISBN: 9781460318768

Copyright © 2013 by Julie Miller

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