Radclyffe - Oath of Honor

Jennifer Pattee the night before after Daniels and Block left to

follow Captain Masters home. The other agents only knew they were

maintaining surveillance on a person of interest and didn’t need to

know more. The intercept this morning had to be carried out by a

small, select team in the know, and she needed to be there to assure the

details of the plan weren’t made public. Knowledge of a threat could

be almost as dangerous as the event itself.

“I’m not even going to ask how dangerous you think this might

be,” Blair said, running her fingers over the buttons on Cam’s shirt.

“I already know. And I understand why you have to do this. Just be

careful.”

“I will be. I’ll call you as soon as I can, but it might be a while.”

Blair rubbed her cheek on Cam’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about

me. Just do your job and remember, part of your job is coming back to

me.” “I won’t forget.” Cam kissed her. “It’s the best assignment I’ve

ever had.”

v

Wes judged the time to be nearing 0430. They’d need to leave soon

so Evyn could meet up with the intercept team and she could join the

surveillance team and provide medical containment if necessary. She’d

be in a van somewhere, safely observing. Evyn would be in the hot zone.

The virus, if released, would be as lethal as a bullet, although not quite

as rapid. The diner was a public place—and the agents’ body armor

would be no protection at all. She had nothing other than supportive

measures to counteract its destructive potential—no vaccine, no drugs.

Exposure could be a death sentence.

Evyn slept with her head on Wes’s shoulder. She fit into the curve

of Wes’s body as if she’d always been there. Wes stroked the slope of

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Evyn’s shoulder. Her skin was soft, warm. Her breasts were firm and

full, nestling against hers in a sensuous embrace. The brush of Evyn’s

nipple over her breast teased her clit, and she tensed with a sharp thrum

of arousal. She tightened her grip on Evyn’s shoulder and held her

closer.Evyn murmured and shifted above her, easing her leg between

Wes’s thighs. Her pelvis rocked into Wes’s and the tight knot of need

between Wes’s thighs grew. She’d come hard the night before—the first

time when Evyn had taken her with her mouth, then more slowly as

Evyn had stroked her, and now she was ready again. Cupping Evyn’s

ass in her palm, she guided Evyn’s leg to the place she needed her.

“I like waking up with you,” Evyn whispered, her lips against

Wes’s throat. She kissed her way up and tugged lightly on her earlobe.

The tiny points of pain sent pleasure streaking down Wes’s spine.

She raised her hips so her clitoris rubbed against Evyn’s thigh. “I like

sleeping with you. I like waking up with you. I like everything about

being with you.”

Evyn chuckled. “Handy, that, because I plan on being around a

lot.” “I think I’ll need you around a lot.”

Evyn propped herself up on her forearms, the first rays of morning

light breaking over her face. Her eyes were blue-gray in the dusky

dawn. “We haven’t talked about the future.”

Wes cradled Evyn’s face, scooped her fingers through her hair,

kissed her. “I want one.”

“So do I.” Evyn kissed her, exploring, teasing, tasting. She slid

deeper, claiming. “I want you. Just you. I know always sounds like a

line, but I mean it.”

Wes’s concentration faltered—gave way under the sensation of

Evyn’s mouth and hands. She pressed harder against Evyn’s thigh,

climbing faster. Too fast. Gasping, she pulled away. “I’m going to come

soon.”“Mmm—then don’t stop.”

“I want—I need—to say this first. I love you. I’ve never wanted

anyone else and I never will. Always sounds like the beginning.”

Evyn shuddered. “I never even wanted tomorrow with anyone

before. Now I want every single one of yours to be mine.”

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“They will be.” Wes’s muscles clenched and she rode the plume of

pleasure higher. “I’m sorry, I can’t…I’m coming for you.”

“Yes. For me.” Evyn scored her teeth down Wes’s neck, biting

gently. “Yes,” she breathed against Wes’s skin, hearing the startled cry

as Wes’s control unraveled. Her clitoris twitched, pulsed, thickened.

She needed to come but she held back. She needed Wes more. “Mine.

All mine. Come for me.”

Wes cried out, body shattering with pleasure. She crushed her face

to Evyn’s neck. “Yours. Yes.”

Pushing up on one arm, Evyn fumbled for Wes’s hand with the

other. She pressed Wes’s fingers between her legs. “Touch me. I need

to come for you.”

Wes stroked her, slid lower, pressed inside, and Evyn exploded

in her hand. “I love you,” Wes whispered. “No chances today, Evyn. I

can’t lose you.”

Evyn sighed and stretched, trailing her fingers down Wes’s back—

sated, supremely content. “You won’t lose me, I promise. I’m here for

the long term.”

Wes kissed her, choosing to believe for a little while longer they

could control the future.

v

Hooker opened the minifridge tucked in the corner of his motel

room and removed a small plain cardboard box the size of a ballpoint

pen case. The clear plastic vial with the screw top was nestled inside,

surrounded by a Styrofoam cut-out. A half-inch of milky white fluid

filled the end of the tube—at least it had when he’d checked it when

he’d accepted it from the woman in Georgia. He hadn’t looked at it

again. He didn’t want to look at it, he didn’t want to touch it. He wasn’t

superstitious, but he didn’t ride around with a loaded gun and the safety

off pointed at his chest, either. If all he’d been told was true, whatever

was in the tube was ten kinds of deadly dangerous. He couldn’t hand it

off soon enough.

He placed the small, narrow box in a white plastic cooler along

with a couple of cans of beer and a burrito from the minimart where

he’d gassed up the rental car he’d used to drive north the night before.

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Russo had pushed the timetable forward, and haste was never a good

idea, but Russo lived by the polls. If the numbers showed Powell

gaining in popularity, that was all that mattered to Russo—after all, he

wasn’t taking any risks. Hooker didn’t concern himself with politics—

politicians came and went as frequently as the weather shifted, and he’d

never seen that whoever held power changed things very much. Money

was the only true power, and Russo had plenty of that. He’d follow

Russo’s lead as long as the money held up.

He packed his travel bag and meticulously wiped down everything

he’d touched in the motel room, which hadn’t been much. He’d just

arrived the night before after dark in another rental car that he’d

procured with one of his aliases. He’d eaten at a fast-food place across

the highway from the motel and slept in his clothes. He’d shower at his

next stop. Satisfied that he hadn’t left anything of himself behind, he

grabbed his bag and the cooler, left his room key on the rickety table

by the door, and walked out just as the sun came up. He couldn’t finish

this job fast enough. In five hours, he’d be at the airport headed home

for Christmas Eve.

v

Jennifer stepped out of the shower and wrapped a fluffy white bath

sheet around her chest. It fell to her thighs, chasing away the slight chill

in the bathroom. The temperature had dropped again, and the old town

house let in a little of the night air through hidden cracks and crevices.

A small price to pay for its historic beauty, except on mornings like

these. She hurried into her bedroom, drying herself as she went, and

dressed hastily in a navy suit, white shirt, and low dark heels. She

didn’t plan to stay very long in the diner and doubted the man, Tom,

would want to linger, either. Twenty minutes, really, ought to be enough

for two people whose only connection was a common friend to share a

cup of coffee, make small talk, and go their separate ways. She’d timed

the meeting so she’d finish up and arrive at the clinic at shift change,

when she’d slide her lunch bag into the staff refrigerator just as she did

every morning. Only today, the bag would be a little fuller. Her stomach

trembled when she thought about the next step.

She wasn’t frightened, she was excited. Proud to be the one to

ultimately carry out the mission. Her family would be proud that she

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had fulfilled her destiny—that she’d learned her lessons well and had

struck a blow for true freedom and independence. If she was very lucky

and everything went according to plan, she might even survive. But if

she didn’t, she would die knowing she’d made a difference. And after

all, that’s what she’d been born for.

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chapter thirty-twO

Wes sat in the van beside Block and two Secret Service agents

she didn’t know, watching the monitor from a camera

trained on the front of Eva’s Diner. She’d been watching patrons come

and go since 0600. Two other video feeds—from cameras above the

restroom hallway in the rear and over the kitchen door behind the

counter—revealed the interior. A directional audio receiver that Block

could reposition remotely from his control panel had been secured to

an overhead light fixture. The place was small—a long, narrow room

with eight booths against the plate glass front windows and a dozen

black-vinyl-topped stools in front of the counter. At zero-seven twenty,

almost every space was occupied.

Roberts had advised the diner owner who’d arrived to open the

place at 0530 that the team, from an unnamed federal agency, needed

surveillance to document unspecified criminal activity. The owner, a

bottle-blonde of indeterminate age, was thrilled by the whole thing and

a very good actress. She worked the counter and never once glanced at

the cameras—or at the undercover agents posing as patrons.

Wes couldn’t see Evyn, who was posted inside the kitchen with

a view through the circular window on the swinging door. In order to

protect the civilians, the plan was to record the exchange on video and

apprehend both Jennifer and her contact outside the building in a safe

zone. Wes’s job was to receive the virus and supervise its transport to a

secure lab. The second part of her assignment—the part she hoped she

would not have to carry out—was to limit civilian exposure in the event

the virus was released and oversee the treatment of any individuals who

were exposed.

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The other agents inside the diner posed as a businessman reading

a newspaper at the far end of the counter opposite the rear exit and a

young couple having breakfast at a booth just inside the front door.