Vortex (18 page)

Senator Healy
.

How did he do that right under my nose? Because I was too distracted by Holly. But
seriously, the guy was getting creepier by the minute. And more suspicious. He reminded
me a lot of Chief Marshall.

Holly looked completely humiliated when she stood next to me in the center of the
glass dance floor.

“How did we get picked for this?” she whispered.

Lily Kendrick, my idiot partner
. “Random drawing.”

“This would be much easier if we weren’t the only ones dancing,” she said with a nervous
laugh.

Nope. Wouldn’t change a thing.
I forced a smile and held out my hand for her. “It’s for a good cause, right?”

Her arms went around me tentatively, and then she laughed again once the music started.
“I guess they really con you into it, don’t they? Either dance with a stranger or
some kid doesn’t get their dying wish to go to SeaWorld.”

“Exactly. Only a complete asshole would say no.” I laughed with her and tried to act
cool … or at least halfway normal. But without even thinking about it, I pulled her
closer and tightened my fingers around her hand. “So, have you seen any other Jackson
Meyers lately?” I asked.

She glanced up at me and smiled. “Nope, but I know why you looked familiar … the other
day.”

Now,
that
sent my heart racing, and I had to slow it down right away because she was pressed
up against my chest. “Oh, yeah?”

“Your picture’s up in the boardroom at the Ninety-second Street Y.” She grinned sheepishly.
“On behalf of your family’s very large donation to the after-school programs.”

I sighed with relief. It wasn’t some weird flash of 007 Holly’s memories like Stewart
and Melvin had. “Yeah, I’ve spent a lot of time there.”

“I interviewed for a job as camp counselor,” she said. “Went to training for a couple
weeks…”

“You mean you don’t work there?” I pulled myself together, letting out a slow careful
breath. Obviously I’d changed my life, so Holly’s could have been altered as well.
“I mean … how did that work out for you?”

“It sounded great, but an opportunity came up for me to start classes this summer,
so…”

“Oh … right.” All the agent training in the world couldn’t keep me from slipping out
of cover tonight.

Being officially (and mutually) in love with someone for a few days hardly makes me
an expert on the subject, but I knew one thing for sure. Standing here with Holly,
I felt the complete opposite of empty.

I brushed my fingers over her cheek, feeling the heat as pink crept up from her neck.
Just one more inch closer and I could touch my nose to the top of her hair. My eyes
immediately closed and I inhaled deeply. I would have paid a hundred times the donation
to feel this good forever. Even with my eyes shut tight, I knew my fingers could find
their way to the tiny mole on her lower back and if I touched the bare skin on her
right side, I’d run into the light pink, smooth-as-silk scar. There wasn’t an inch
of Holly that didn’t feel familiar to me, etched into my memory. I just never realized
how much I’d enjoy knowing this stuff and how much I hated the idea of someone else
knowing.

I felt myself leaning farther forward. She was staring at me now, eyes locked with
mine, and I forgot what I was doing. Forgot she didn’t know me. Forgot everything.
My mouth moved closer to hers, my fingers glided up and down her back. My chin tilted
downward a little bit more and my heart pounded with anticipation, this perfect rhythm
that lurched me forward until only a thin sheet of air separated my mouth from hers.

That was exactly when reality smacked me right in the face. Holly’s entire body stiffened.
Her eyes darted awkwardly around the room, like she needed someone to come rescue
her.

From me.

The final notes of the song played and I dropped my arms, absorbing the icy air that
blew right between us. She didn’t back up at first, so I stuttered out an apology:
“Um … sorry … that was … Never mind,” I said finally, and then turned my back on her
before it got any worse. From the corner of my eye, I saw Senator Healy move toward
her and whisper something.

Probably apologizing or explaining my obvious insanity.

My chest felt so tight, but I wasn’t sure if it was grief or a panic attack on the
rise. Either way, I had to get out of there, fast.

I darted around people left and right until I could push through the exit door and
lean against the wall in the hotel lobby.

Oh, God, this is bad. Very bad
. All those witnesses seeing me and Holly together. The Tempest and Eyewall agents …
Senator Healy. I closed my eyes and tried to breathe and think of an explanation.
A cover, maybe?

“Dude, who’s the blond chick?” Mason asked.

I opened my eyes. He was right beside me, leaning against the wall. “Um … no one.
It was just some stupid drawing and I got roped into it.”

Mason’s eyes moved around the room, scanning, inspecting, like the agent he truly
was. “Stewart kinda freaked about it. You think she’s jealous?”

I barely had a second to roll my eyes before he snorted loudly and then explained.
“The girl is
gifted
. She just said ‘fuck you’ in four different languages.”

He wiggled his ear, and I had to assume Stewart must have been shouting into her communications
unit.

“It’s not like that with Stewart. Not for either of us,” I told him, hoping he’d believe
me, but guessing he wouldn’t.

He pressed his finger over the tiny piece of metal under his shirt collar and whispered,
“But you … you know … hooked up with her, right?”

I rubbed my hands over my face and sighed. “Can we talk about this later?”

He shrugged. “No big deal.”

Mason started to walk away, but I stopped him and grinned, attempting to look sane
and unaffected by tonight’s drama. “How’d it go with that girl the other day?”

The other day, I had helped Mason talk to this girl we met doing surveillance outside
the hotel. He ended up asking her out and I hadn’t heard the outcome of his date yet.

His face broke into a grin. “Not bad. Not bad at all.” He pulled a tiny bottle of
Jack Daniel’s out of his jacket pocket and tossed it to me. “I swiped this from a
minibar on the fifth floor. You look like you could use a drink.”

I stared down at the bottle of liquid courage. I should have started drinking the
second I saw Holly. Everyone expected me to play the part of “party guest” tonight.
Could I help it if that included alcohol consumption? It wasn’t like they were giving
me anything important to do, other than waltz around with my hidden cameras and recording
devices for someone to review later on. “Thanks, man.”

“No problem. I owed you one.”

The ballroom doors opened and music flooded into the lobby. Mason disappeared within
seconds and I quickly drank the whiskey in two large gulps. Senator Healy strode through
the doors, eyes moving around until they rested on mine. He pointed silently into
the ballroom. When I walked past him, he muttered under his breath, “What the hell
is wrong with you? We’ve got a room full of potential Eyewall agents and international
terrorists and you’re out here playing around.”

My fists balled up, but I forced them open again and pressed the empty bottle into
his palm. “Throw this away for me, would you?”

Kendrick was all the way across the room, sitting alone at the bar. I slid into a
seat next to her and ordered another drink. “Tell me the truth, okay? I looked like
an asshole, didn’t I?”

She wrapped both her fingers around the glass of wine in front of her and kept her
eyes focused on the counter. “You know how everyone likes to joke about you being
the average guy turned secret agent?”

“Yep,” I said, gulping my drink quickly and enjoying the burn of alcohol running down
my throat.

“Well … I’m one of the few who didn’t know of you before you became … this.” She gestured
at me as if I had
Secret Agent
written across my forehead. “But I did guess something about you.”

“What’s that?”

She stared at me. “There’s only one thing that would make someone go from your life
to
this
life.”

“Stock market crash?”

She dropped her eyes again. “Revenge.”

That was when I remembered the dark look that had crossed her face when she told me
her family had lived in Chicago … and the other day, when she said her parents and
younger brother were dead. “Like you, right?”

She nodded. “But it doesn’t work. Not for long, anyway. Eventually all that sad stuff
turns to anger and then you just don’t feel much of anything.”

It was like she took every fear and worry from the back of my mind and waved them
in front of my face, and I didn’t want to hear it. Not now. I polished off my drink
and started to get up. “I’m gonna go … look around.”

Kendrick shook her head and waved to the bartender to bring me another drink. “I’m
done with my lecture, so you can quit squirming. I just wanted you to know … it was
Michael who brought me back to life. I didn’t want to feel that way, either. Didn’t
want to give in. But I’m a better agent this way. He can’t be wrong for me. Not when
being with him makes me better at saving other people … doing all this crazy shit
we do.”

I relaxed into my seat and drank in silence for a few minutes and then she started
laughing. “What’s so funny?”

“I totally went all Oprah on you, didn’t I?”

I smiled a little. “More like Dr. Phil … except much prettier.”

She held out her arms. “So sweet. Do I get a hug?”

I glanced around the room with mock embarrassment. “Not in public. I’ve got a rep
to protect.”

She gave me a devious grin and leaned over and kissed my cheek. I could feel the lipstick
that lingered on my skin. “Now you’re wearing pink like you were supposed to.”

I spun around on my stool so I could keep an eye on the room. “You think a little
lipstick will help me pick up a hot chick tonight?”

“Assuming you don’t chase them away,” she teased, nodding toward Holly, who was now
chatting with Brian and the doctor who was supposed to fix his shoulder.

“Believe it or not, I have a history of striking out at very important moments,” I
admitted.

I looked at my watch and groaned, realizing only an hour and a half had passed. Still
four more to go. It felt like an eternity. I couldn’t wait to get back on that plane
to France or wherever we had to go next. New York wasn’t my favorite city anymore.
Not when being here caused insanity.

The view from my barstool allowed me to see everything at once and gave me a good
excuse to stay put and drink more. Kendrick shuffled around the room engaging in charming
conversation, while I sat on my ass and got a little drunk.
Okay, more than a little drunk
. I started out doing a good job of scanning every small detail throughout the room.
Calculating. Memorizing. All while trying to make sense of Kendrick’s mini-psych session.
It reminded me of the time 007 Adam pointed out that I didn’t really act like I was
serious about Holly.

Now it was just the opposite. Being without her out of guilt.

But after a few more drinks I stopped thinking about what Kendrick said and slacked
a little on watching the so-called potential international terrorists because Holly
was dancing with Brian and I had the perfect view of her back. I rested my elbows
on the bar countertop and let my gaze fall on Holly and her sexy swaying hips. It
was actually nice to just be a typical guy again, staring at a girl’s ass and not
really thinking about anything else. None of that life-or-death shit.

“Which one have you got your eye on?” the bartender asked from over my shoulder.

I pointed the end of my beer bottle at Holly. “The blonde in the middle, the short
one with five-inch heels.”

The bartender chuckled and clasped my shoulder with his hand. “No wonder you’re all
the way over here. Her boyfriend looks like he could crush you with one hand.”

I snorted into my beer. “I can take him.”

“Keep dreaming, kid, keep dreaming,” he said, shaking his head.

Unfortunately, I was drunk enough to consider proving him wrong. Just for fun. But
after a couple minutes of watching Kendrick chatting with the Russian dude, hoping
she’d wrap it up soon enough so I could get her opinion, someone slid right beside
me and spoke to the bartender. “What do you have on tap?”

I spun around in my seat again and saw Holly standing there, glancing hopefully at
the bartender, who crossed his arms and said, “For you, Coke or water.”

Even in my drunken state, I was ready for her to start twisting her hands nervously
or scoot away from me after our awkward almost-kiss. Her eyes fell on mine for a second
and she smiled (without blushing). “I thought you left.”

I returned the smile and then glanced at the bartender again. “She’s a special guest
of Senator Healy. I’m sure he won’t mind.”

“Bud Light?” Holly asked with a little more confidence.

“Of course,” he said, and left to retrieve her drink.

I was still waiting for nervous Holly to emerge, but she sat right next to me and
even turned to face me. “Pretty smooth. You’ve done this before? The intimidation
factor … name-dropping?”

The alcohol, mixed with Holly’s familiar scent and the images of her dancing just
seconds ago, didn’t leave any room for worry or apprehension.
Or logical thought.
I hoped an Eyewall agent wouldn’t choose this moment to come out of nowhere and assassinate
me.

“What do you think?” I asked as the bartender slid the drink in front of her.

She took a long sip before answering. “I’ll guess that you’ve been to a fair share
of fancy parties.”

“You guessed right,” I admitted, and then added, “But tonight was my first fifty-thousand-dollar
dance.”

She laughed and had the smallest hint of nerves in her voice, but she kept her eyes
on mine. “You sure know how to invade a girl’s personal space.”