A Deadly Business. Desiree Holt

into his organization undercover. Because he’s been burned, and badly, he’s twice as suspicious of everyone and everything.” She studied Marissa. “Those people are probably just a small piece of a larger network checking everywhere for you. Maes still has plenty of money to fund an operation like that.”

      “I know he’ll be playing this very close to the vest, like you said.” Marissa swallowed back the tendril of fear trying to curl its way through her. “He wouldn’t want word to leak out until he’s ready to pounce.”

      “Right,” Avery agreed. “He wouldn’t risk sending you into hiding someplace else. He didn’t count on your instincts still being as good as they are.”

      Marissa rubbed her face. “I feel like I’m in a bad dream and can’t wake up.”

      “Speaking of hiding,” Avery continued, “that’s exactly where we’re going with this. We need to get you out of here until we can figure out how to neutralize him.”

      “Good luck with that.” Marissa inhaled a deep, steadying breath, trying to think of all the loose threads here. “If I leave so suddenly, just the way I disappeared from London, won’t that be sending a signal to him that it’s really me? What about the gallery? Won’t people think it’s weird if all of a sudden, it’s closed? And what if that couple comes back again just to check on me for Maes and start asking questions?”

      “I’ll have someone at the gallery.” Avery made notes on her tablet. “If anyone asks, we’ll say you were called away on an emergency. We’ll cover everything here.” She curved her lips in a reassuring smile. “This isn’t our first rodeo, Marissa.”

      “I know, I know. I just feel as if the last two years have been for nothing.”

      “Not for nothing,” Avery assured her. “You’ve made a life here, friends, and all those things will still be here when we shut down Maes.”

      “But what can I do? Where can I go?” She wanted to scream and throw things. “This just sucks.”

      “What we can do is get you out of here until this Maes situation can be handled and this whole thing comes to an end.”

      Marissa raked her fingers through her hair. Didn’t she know that shutting down Maes was a near impossible task? “God. Am I going to be running from him for the rest of my life?”

      “No. Not gonna happen.” Avery took Marissa’s hands. “They—we—will stop him, I promise you. But you can’t hang around until that happens.”

      “Where will I go that he can’t find me?” God! “Montana? It gets very cold there. Or maybe the Yukon Territory. It’s even colder.”

      “I have an idea, but I need a few minutes to take care of the arrangements. Justin will take you to your cottage while I make some calls. Pack only personal items. Write down your clothing and shoe sizes for me, and I’ll take care of the rest.”

      “Sizes?” Marissa frowned. “What for?”

      “You’ve made it a habit to dress down here in Arrowhead Bay. Nothing outstanding in your clothing that would call attention to you. I want you to blend in with the crowd where you’re going.”

      “What crowd? Where? What kind of clothes? No cold weather gear. Please?”

      Avery chuckled. “No Yukon Territory, I promise. This is very private resort that’s the only thing on a small Caribbean island. I know the owners and they owe me. No one will be able to track you there.”

      Marissa chewed her bottom lip. “I don’t know. Are you sure it’s the best place for me?”

      “It’s perfect. The people who vacation there do it because they are protected from the outside world. They get a lot of very wealthy European businessmen and their wives. Some of them come for private meetings and combine business with pleasure. No reporters. No place where they could be spied on. No commercial transportation to leave a trail. The only access is by boat or water and unexpected arrivals are not permitted. Rosewood has a trained security force to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

      “Europeans?” Marissa froze. “Don’t you think—”

      “No.” Avery shook her head. “I don’t. It so happens last year the Morgansterns hired us to vet all their guests, including repeaters in case anything changed. But just to be sure, I’m going to run the current list through the rest of the month past Brian Gould. If it’s a problem, we’ll look elsewhere. Now get going. I’ll take care of your clothes.”

      “My car,” Marissa began.

      “No worries. We’ll bring your car here and store it in the Vigilance garage. That way people will have to guess whether you drove, or flew and left your car at the airport. Or whatever.”

      Marissa tried to sort everything through in her mind. It’s a good thing, she thought, that the CIA had trained me in the art of disappearing at a moment’s notice.

      “When you get back here I’ll have all the details. And Justin will be going with you.”

      She looked at Justin, who just smiled as if this was an everyday occurrence in his life. But there was something else swirling in his eyes, too. Something that made her nerve endings tingle.

      “With me?” Marissa’s eyes widened as her body responded. Good lord. She was going into hiding with the man who starred in all her fantasies?

      “Of course.” Ignoring them, Avery made some notes on her tablet. “You didn’t think I’d let you go off without protection, did you? Justin’s one of the best I’ve got. Plus, you know him and will be more comfortable than with a stranger.”

      “But can he just take off like this? Doesn’t he have assignments?”

      “Yes.” Avery nodded. “This one, right here. Just like any other I might send him on.”

      “Avery, that’s really very nice of you, but I can’t afford your prices. Or the cost of wherever you’re sending me.”

      “This one is on the house, my friend. I owe Brian Gould and I like to think we’ve become close these past couple of years. I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t do this and something happened to you that we could have prevented. Now let’s get this show on the road.”

      As she rose from her chair, Marissa thought again about being in a secluded, exclusive resort with Justin. Alone. With the first man in years who had made her body sit up and take notice of what it was missing. Just how was she supposed to deal with these feelings that kept cropping up whenever she saw him or heard his name? Sure, they’d danced around this a little, each testing the other, but in reality, she didn’t know how he felt. What if she was misreading his signals and somehow made a fool of herself?

      Was she leaving one kind of danger only to walk into another?