Chapter Nine
Kate stood at the doorway next to Chase as he knocked later that evening, fidgeting nervously in her new little black dress. It was weird to be here in this capacity, but she supposed it would happen as those around the office learned of her existence, that they’d want to meet his newest agent. This was professional. Not a date, because he didn’t date, and neither did she.
He looked down at her and smiled, trying to give her confidence. “They won’t eat you.”
The door opened, and an older woman smiled at them. She was in her late fifties or early sixties and very pretty in a simple yet elegant blue dress. “Chase, and this must be Kate. Welcome. Come in.”
“Thanks, Aunt Sophie.”
“Aunt Sophie?” He was raised by his aunt and uncle. She was about to meet the equivalent of his parents, with absolutely no warning. Her heart had been beating a bit briskly before, but now it hammered in her chest.
He stiffened as he realized his mistake. “I wasn’t going to greet her that way. I’m so sorry, Kate, I should have just told you.”
Why would he lie to her? “You said we were going to dine with a general and his wife.”
“My uncle, the general and my aunt, his wife?” Chase had the decency to look sheepish. “I didn’t want you to be any more nervous than I know you are. It’s bad enough he’s a general. He’s my boss, if that makes you feel any better.”
“No, that doesn’t make me feel any better.” She smacked him on the chest, hard. “You should have told me.”
Aunt Sophie laughed. “I don’t think you hit him hard enough, dear. Really, Chase. You could have disclosed us. We’re not classified information in your life. She is your girlfriend.”
A blush crept up her cheeks, and she didn’t dare to glance at him as they followed his aunt into the other room. She wasn’t a girlfriend. She was a work project. And Chase didn’t disclose anything to anyone, girlfriend or not.
“You’re a jerk,” she hissed under her breath.
At least his secretary, Helen, had given her the name of a perfect boutique where she’d purchased the little black dress she wore. Chase’s gaze had been more than appreciative when he had seen her, but it was still an appropriate meet-the-parents dress.
“This is your fault,” he whispered back. “If you hadn’t made me late for work, Helen wouldn’t have known and wouldn’t have assumed we were dating now and wouldn’t have called my aunt.”
And then his uncle was there, a tall man in his late fifties, still incredibly handsome with gray at his temple, reminding her of Chase when they’d aged him to be Alexander Bishop. Chase would get even better looking with age. This man was proof.
Chase’s uncle smiled down at her “Kate. So glad to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you in meetings. It’s nice to place the face with the name.”
She shook his large hand, and the dimple in his cheek was the same as Chase’s, only on the left side. “Thank you, General Sanders. I hope I do the chatter justice.”
“I’m sure you will. I’m sure you will.” The general nodded to Chase. “Ladies, will you excuse Chase and me? We have much to talk about.”
Judgment time. Chase despised leaving Kate, knowing the following meeting would be hell. He nodded to Kate, giving her reassurance as his aunt swept her away, into the kitchen. His aunt would love Kate and would be just as enthusiastic as Helen had been. Lucky for Kate, unlucky, as usual, for him.
Though he schooled his features to hide his nervousness, the butterflies fluttering in his stomach, the anxiety growing with every step toward his uncle’s back office, a secure place they could chat. He had his uncle to thank for that talent, being able to hide behind the mask of doom, as Jake so fondly referred to it. His uncle had a nose for weakness, and like a shark out for blood, if there was a hole in Chase’s armor, he would circle until he could attack.
It was a hard relationship because his uncle was a hard man. Chase worshipped him, loved him, and hated him all at the same time. He’d raised Chase since he was one, offered him the best of everything money could buy—education, travel, cars, guns.
But nothing Chase did was ever good enough. If he sniped at under two thousand meters, then why couldn’t it have been more? His uncle wanted faster, harder, stronger. His best, not better, and his best was always second best.
His uncle hated that Chase was attractive and pointed out many times what a weakness it was. Chase couldn’t go deep under cover because the fucking women remembered him. Jake had no problem blending despite being easy on the eyes. Jake could go anywhere, do anything, and if he chose to not be remembered, he wasn’t.
But Chase couldn’t walk across a goddamned parking lot without someone remembering him, and that was a fate worse than death for a spy. If someone remembered you were there, then they could very easily connect two and two, and you were a dead man.
“Pretty girl,” his uncle observed as they entered the room. He gestured for Chase to sit in one of the two chairs before the mahogany desk. His uncle poured himself a glass of the amber liquid from a crystal decanter behind his desk. “You did a good job coordinating her plastic surgery. I didn’t recognize her at all.” He lifted the decanter in Chase’s direction. “You?”
“You know I hate Scotch.” Chase sat in the chair closest to the door and grabbed a paper clip from the holder in front of him. He began unbending it. “Kate passes all facial recognition scans. No one would know who she was.”
His uncle nodded. “I was surprised when Sophie called me about having you and the girl over for dinner. You realize she has jumped to the wrong conclusion?”
“Yes, sir.” He bent the paper clip around his finger.
“I’m surprised at you, Chase. You’re usually a hell of a lot more discreet.” His uncle sipped and then studied the glass in his hand appreciatively. “So. Has her problem been taken care of? Does she have enough training?”
Kate’s virginity or lack thereof shouldn’t be part of the discussion, but there wasn’t much Chase could do about it. He cleared his throat and crossed his ankle over his opposite knee. “Yes. She’s set for the mission. On all accounts.”
“Taking one for the team, eh, Chase?” His uncle laughed and took another a sip of his drink. “That’s a hell of a government-issued birthday present.”
“I know you’re not my dad by blood, but this discussion is just as uncomfortable for me as if you were, sir.”
“Right now, I am your boss.” His uncle looked hard at him and then set his drink down. “Son, are you truly aware of what this girl is going to face in a couple of weeks?”
“I’ve been in on all the meetings, sir.” Chase shifted in his chair, the bile bubbling up in his throat from the stress. He bent another section of metal around his finger, the end pressing in to the side of his finger, the pain biting.
He knew all too well what she was facing. He had been the one to plan it, down to the last detail, and he still hadn’t found a solution. And when she found out, she was going to hate every bone in his body.
“Then as your boss, I’m telling you—not asking, but telling you to stop whatever you’re doing before this goes too far and put some distance between the two of you. You know the chances of her returning are slim.”
“It was a weekend. That’s it. Helen jumped to conclusions.”
“I know how you lived your life before she came into the picture. A weekend of sex didn’t put you to work late and looking like…Jake.”
“No, sir.” He shoved the metal deeper into his finger, wishing the pain would take away the churning in his stomach. His uncle hated Jake.
“You don’t need to feel responsible for her.”
Here, Chase had to put his foot down. “If she hadn’t run that night, we would have closed in on her father, and she’d be here under different circumstances, not because she was a victim. She’d be in witness protection somewhere, living a quiet life, not roped into being something she isn’t because the powers-that-be wish to utilize her as a sacrificial lamb for their cause. Sir.”
His uncle raised his brows, and Chase realized that was probably the most outspoken he’d ever been. Jesus, what was Kate doing to him?
“It’s not your fault she ran.”
“It’s not her fault she’s the product of a mission gone wrong, one I was in charge of. You don’t need to send her off on some kamikaze assignment because I fucked up.”
His uncle sighed. “Just walk away, son. You did what you were told to do. You made her able to fulfill her part of the job. You gave her the tools to get into that wacko’s bedroom and destroy him.” His uncle leaned forward. “She’s just what that man likes, Chase. She’s perfect for this job. You know it, I know it. She’ll get in deeper than any other agent has been able to. Don’t you want this, for America’s safety?”
Chase wanted to scream, fuck America, but he couldn’t. He loved his country too much. Instead, he motioned for his uncle to give him the decanter of Scotch and a glass. He knocked the first one back, ignoring the burn, welcoming the fire down his throat. The second one was smoother. He set the empty glass down on the desk and leveled a gaze at his uncle. “Yes, sir.”
“Now she’s driving you to drink, after one weekend? You can’t continue having a relationship with her if you know damned well she’s low on the totem pole when it comes to priority. She’s expendable.”
Not to me. “Yes, sir.”
His uncle poured more Scotch for himself. “You should have had Jake take her.”
Yes. Yes, he should have. “She had already shot him down several times. We had a connection, and it was easier to work off that in this short amount of time.”
“A connection?” His uncle leaned forward, and Chase was so glad for the mask until he closed his eyes and sighed. “Oh, son, don’t tell me you’d gotten into her pants when you were there to bust her father. That’s why she ran?”
Chase shifted uneasily, the walls of the small den closing in. He’d left that small detail out of the debriefing. Fuck if his uncle didn’t know everything. He’d gotten that skill from him as well, but he hated when the tables were turned. “Yes, sir.”
“Goddamn, Chase. I thought you were the one we didn’t have to worry about. Jake, we expect that from him. Not you.”
“Yes, sir.” Chase closed his eyes for a moment while his uncle paused. Fucking Paris. Every time his uncle could, he tossed that mission in his face indirectly. None of it had been Jake’s fault. It had been his. Jake had done what he could to salvage things to save them both. He couldn’t help if his uncle didn’t like what they had done to save their asses. But it wasn’t Jake’s fault.
“How do you plan to make this right? You can’t collect collateral damage like you would stamps. It’s bad enough the two of you cater to that English girl. But she’s a hell of an agent, every bit as good as your buddy, which is why we keep them. This girl, she’s nothing.”
“Kate’s an asset. Have you seen her in the lab? She’s every bit as smart as her father, and she’s on our side. Imagine what we could gain in the weapons department.”
“We have his notes. We have his technology. All we need her to do is her job. You convince her that screwing this man is worth her life. That’s your next job. Do you understand?”
“I can’t do this.” God help him, he couldn’t send her to die.
“Then you’re out of a job. So make a decision. You can play house with Blondie and someone else can do your job, or you can be a man and do it and make her feel like a patriot for her sacrifice.” His uncle sat back, the chair creaking as he used that stare that searched a man’s soul. His stare. “Where’s she staying, son.”
Chase swallowed back the bile. “With me until she finds a place to live, sir.” Bad idea.
“Then I suggest you take the day off tomorrow and start pounding the pavement for somewhere for her to be other than in your bed. Then zip your pants and keep her at an arm’s length. She’s going to be pissed as hell when she discovers what you’re going to make her do. And we both know it won’t matter when she doesn’t come back.”
Chase’s stomach churned harder, the contents threatening to spill as they often did when he sat here, in this chair, and his uncle flayed his soul to shreds. As much as he loved the man, right now he hated him more than he’d ever hated anyone. And his uncle was right. Kate was going to hate him, too, just like this.
His uncle leaned forward. “I’m saying this as your uncle. I love you, son. I don’t want you falling for this girl when she’s going to die. You were a mess after your divorce. This is going nowhere, and you are the one who is going to hurt.”
“She doesn’t have to die.” Chase swallowed again, hard, wishing he could beg and plead. Make him see what he was doing to her, to him. You don’t do this to someone you love. “Sir.”
“Sometimes, someone has to take one for the team,” he said softly. “She is our someone. Let her go.”
“Will you excuse me for a moment, sir?” Chase’s stomach could take no more. He had to get out of there, quickly, while he had some composure, even if it was all an act.
“Go on, son.”
“Thanks.” He excused himself, tossing the paperclip in the trash as he left. He took the stairs to the second floor two at a time, rounding the corner as he heaved. He made it to the toilet, though, and vomited, hating how weak he was. Fucking weak pussy.
When he was finished, he rifled through the medicine cabinet and used toothpaste to freshen his breath. He hated his uncle for doing this. Sentencing her to death like that, like she was nothing. No one. If Chase had begged and said he loved her, his uncle wouldn’t have changed his mind. That’s the way it went. He rested his head on the door and tried to find the control he had lost.
Usually, he was in total control, everywhere. He’d lost control during his divorce, but before and after that dark time, he reigned as control freak supreme. Here, in bed, and at work. Ever since Kate had come into his life, he’d lost control, in every area it seemed. He didn’t think he could take much more. More importantly, he couldn’t live with himself if she ended up dying because of events he had put into play. He loved her too much.
He sighed and stood, straightening his tie. His stomach still churned, but not quite as bad. There was no way he could keep dinner down. His mind flew a mile a minute through the information he had stored there, looking for a clue, a way out, anything. Maybe to the world it had only been a weekend, but he had a year invested in this already. He couldn’t lose her.
And then he came up with the beginnings of a solution, one that just might work so Kate could live. God help him, he’d have to pitch the idea when he got details hammered out. But he’d face his uncle again if it meant she could live. He whipped out his phone, his hands shaking, and called Jake.
Jake answered on the second ring, and Chase asked, “Can you meet me at the office? I’ll text you when I’m out of here. I have a favor to ask of you.”
****
Chase parked the car in the garage next to Kate’s and sighed. He’d picked his way through the meal and tried his best to make small talk. Kate had been concerned, knowing something was wrong with him, though he wore his very best, most impenetrable mask.
She’d been so charming, filling in the conversation holes where he lacked enthusiasm—his aunt had loved her. His uncle still saw her as a prize, one Chase didn’t deserve. He knew from the looks his uncle gave him over dinner, glances that made his stomach churn again.
“Chase, are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m good. I must be fighting a stomach bug or something. I’m not feeling so hot.” He pinched the bridge of his nose at his forehead, wishing the tension would go. Just go.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I felt queasy today, at the lab. Maybe it’s going around.”
The lab. He let go of his face and stared over at her in the dim light. At this moment, she was Kate, fucking hot killing machine with a one-seventy IQ, not the woman he loved. His mind raced, connecting the dots between Kate’s job and paperwork on his desk. “What are you working on?”
She smirked at him. “Confidential, Sanders.”
“I have clearance.” His mind accelerated, faster than ever, trying to recall the header in the memos. This could be her ticket to safety. “I saw something, about weight sensitive triggers for smaller explosive devices.”
Her brows flew up. Obviously, she didn’t believe he had clearance. “Yes.”
Bingo. “Can you make one?”
“Yes.”
Jesus, she just may have saved her own life. “Could you wire…me? Someone my size? No collateral damage?”
Now her mind was racing. He could see it in her eyes. “You told me I would hate you. Are you worried about repercussions?”
He wanted to laugh, but the situation was too dire. “Cease fire, love? You don’t wire me, I won’t snipe you.”
“Is the devil trustworthy?” He nodded, and she extended her hand. “Then deal.”
He let a smile quirk the corner of his lips as he kissed the back of her hand, feeling a small slice of hope for the first time in eons. “If you can do this, it would make me the happiest man on Earth.”
She gave him a breathtaking smile. “I live to please you, sir. Just let the powers-that-be know what I need.”
He kissed her goodbye, she went home, and he went in to the office to meet with Jake and hopefully have a plan in place by tomorrow.
Jake entered his office five minutes later. Chase looked up from his desk and sighed. This would be the other component to saving her. Jake agreeing. “Thanks for coming.”
“You don’t look so good. Did dinner not go well?”
“Dinner was fine. My aunt loved Kate.”
“And your uncle?”
“He wants me to keep it professional. I am to find her a place to live and keep my pants zipped.”
“He’s a judgmental bastard.” Jake went to the sofa and hopped on, stretching out the full length, hands behind his head. “Why? She’s good for you. You took time off. You’re getting laid. It doesn’t get much better than that.”
“Please don’t tell my uncle that.” Chase unbent a paper clip and then bent it around his left index finger, the metal digging into his flesh, taking his mind off the image of how his uncle would react if Jake faced him.
“So why is your uncle pushing you to get rid of the best thing that’s happened to you in a long time?”
Chase pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. This, teamed with the paperclip on his other hand, reduced the stress. Quelled his stomach. “I can’t tell you all the details. God help me, you know I want to, but I can’t. But this next mission is hers.”
Jake sat up then, concerned. “So soon? Jesus, usually they wait.”
“They want to move with her fast, so the target isn’t aware that she’s an agent. She’s under the radar, and she’s perfect for what they want accomplished.”
“Stupid on their part because she’s not ready. Why don’t they send Charlotte?”
“Charlotte has more baggage than a commercial airliner.”
That made Jake’s eyes widen because Charlotte Smith was as hardcore an agent as they came. But his favorite English spy didn’t do anything sexual. Period. She would kiss Jake or himself if she had to, and he didn’t have the heart to make her do more. They needed someone they could make go all the way on this one.
“What the fuck do they want Kate to do?”
Chase hesitated. Telling Jake, now, was a huge breach in clearance. But Jake had to know what he was about to do, even if he wasn’t allowed to tell Kate yet.
He looked Jake square in the eye. “They want her to seduce this crazy-assed terrorist bastard and plant a bomb in his bedroom. We’ve tried reaching him in other ways, but he’s underground, and only surfaces to see to his needs. He’s a sex addict, and he has a thing for pretty blondes in their twenties. That’s the only thing moving in and out of the compound right now.”
“Like Kate.”
Chase nodded, feeling sick to think of what that man would do to Kate. “They want her to be one of those pretty blondes, and they don’t expect her to return.”
“Just like that?”
Chase shrugged, feigning nonchalance, but inside his stomach knotted with tension so thick he didn’t think it would ever unravel. “They think what she can accomplish is worth the expense they’ve put into her so far. They have the notes from her father’s experiments. They’re happy to cut their losses.”
“Jesus. They won’t use a timer? So she can get in and out?”
“They want her there, under him. They want a low death toll.” The mental picture alone made him ill.
Jake shot him a calculating glare. “And you knew this? How the hell did you spend the weekend with her, knowing you were sending the lamb to slaughter?”
“It wasn’t a given until today. I met with my uncle earlier. Basically, he let me know that those above think this is the best plan.” Chase wrapped the paper clip another wrap tighter. “It gets worse. They are the ones who ordered me to…uh…”
Chase closed his eyes and pictured her blue eyes, wide with wonder as he entered her the first time. So fucking beautiful. Yep. He was an asshole.
“They ordered you to take her virginity? If she finds out, she’ll wire your ass to kingdom come with C-4.”
He’d let her if it would save her.
“She knew it would have to be taken care of eventually. I was honest about that. But I didn’t tell her why.” It was the only thing he was able to be honest about, and he wished he could quit his job and run away somewhere, with her—maybe Australia. He’d always wanted to go there. Farm sheep. Or kangaroos. Or something.
“This is a fucking mess.” Jake ran his palm over his face as if the motion could wipe away the tension. “But you already know that. So, how do I come into this?”
How could he ask his best friend to do this for him? Chase sighed. “I came up with a way to get her in, and hopefully get her out, without having her seduce a madman. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if this will work, either, and if it doesn’t, I lose you, too. So, I’m not going to order you to do this one. I’m asking you, as a friend.”
“You love her.” Jake knew him better than anyone. To have Jake confirm the incredulous ache in the region of his heart made him want to weep with joy and vomit again, all at once.
“She’s my collateral damage, just like Charlotte was yours.”
“Bullshit.” Jake shook his head. “That’s why you made me train her. You love her.”
“Jake—”
“You could have said something, asshole. Jesus, do you know how hard I was hitting on her? I’ve been this close,” he held his thumb and forefinger a hair’s distance apart, “from scoring. You would have sniped me if she gave in and it wouldn’t have been my fault.”
Yes, he knew Jake had been that close, but Kate had been stronger. A part of him had hoped she’d sleep with Jake, so he could banish her from his system. If she were Jake’s leftovers, maybe he’d love her less. “Jake—”
“I’m in.”
Jake’s offer took a hundred pounds of weight off Chase’s shoulders. “Don’t be so quick to jump to the rescue. Not without details.”
“I’ve done this for a lot longer than you, Chase. If you were our last boss, I’d be waiting for details, because more often than not, he fucked up and I had to blast myself out of trouble. You—you, I trust.” Jake nodded. “I’ll have her back, buddy. I’ll bring her home.”
Chase sucked in a breath, glad for Jake’s vote of confidence, but hesitated. “There’s one catch.”
“Shoot.”
It killed him to say this, but Chase buried every ounce of pride he had and laid it all on the table. “She has to become intimate with you. If I can get her in a position to show them how attractive and open she is, she’ll get in.”
Jake’s brows flew up. “I’m game, but how are you going to feel about sharing her with me? You’ve never shared anyone you’ve remotely cared about. You can’t even get through one of our workouts without glaring at me.”
“That’s only the first step.” Chase closed his eyes. He didn’t want to think of her with Jake. Not yet. “Unfortunately, these guys know who you are, and I need to use that information to get her in and out, safely. If they think you’ve used her to breach the compound, that she’s innocent, but you’re a spy, maybe they won’t kill her right out, and she’ll have time to plant the bomb. But I don’t want them to kill you, either.”
“You’re going to use me to offer her as bait to the sex addict? So I can get her out when it’s over.” Jake waved that information away with his hand. “I can get out. I’m more concerned that you’d share her, with me, without being there to dictate what goes on. I don’t think this falls into our normal threesome rules. You do a much better job of dealing with crap like this when the sharing is on your terms.”
“These are my terms, and I’m willing to share. I trust you.” Chase pushed the paper clip deeper into his finger, drawing blood. “It’s this, or she doesn’t come home. I’m desperate. Do what you need to do to her, Jake. Just bring her home.”