realized that she didn’t believe him. Maybe that was good—because Drew hated making promises he couldn’t keep.
* * *
“MR. MERCER?”
Bruce Mercer looked up from the files that were spread across his desk. His assistant, Judith Rogers, stood in the doorway. Judith hated buzzing him. She’d said once that buzzing was too impersonal for her, and she usually came in to tell him when he had a visitor.
So her standing there...walking in unannounced...that wasn’t unusual.
The fear in Judith’s eyes was unusual.
“Tina Jamison is missing,” Judith told him as she twisted her hands into fists. “I just got the call from an agent at her hotel. The lock on her door was broken, and Tina—she’s gone.”
Mercer didn’t let the expression on his face alter.
This situation had been one that he feared. He was playing a deadly game, and Tina could have just become a pawn in that game.
If he wasn’t careful, he might lose his pawn.
He might lose the whole damn game.
“Get me Dylan Foxx,” Mercer demanded. “Right now.” Because he was going to need agents in the field to work this case and to make sure that Tina survived the battle that was coming.
He’d foolishly positioned Tina right in the middle of that battle.
I’m sorry, Tina.
He didn’t make mistakes often, but when he did...they were deadly.
Chapter Two
“It’s time for me to take over.” The gruff voice had Tina’s head jerking up.
She’d actually fallen asleep. How was that even possible? Tina blinked bleary eyes and found herself staring at Drew.
He was right in front of her. His gaze held hers an instant, then he turned his head and looked at the guy who’d just come into the room.
Tina had no idea who this blond man was. As he watched her, his hard brown eyes glittered. There was a holster at his hip—she could see the butt of his gun. And he had a knife strapped to his left side.
After her last encounter with a knife, Tina wasn’t exactly eager to go another round with a blade.
“Lee said for me to relieve you,” the man said in that same gruff voice. He shrugged. “So here I am.”
Tina wanted to reach out and hold tight to Drew, but that wasn’t possible.
Mostly because she was still tied up, but at least the gag was gone. That horrible, terrible gag. If she hadn’t gotten her medicine just a few hours before the men had taken her, she wouldn’t have been able to handle the gag. Tina wouldn’t have been able to breathe.
“Keep that knife in its sheath, Carl,” Drew told him flatly.
Oh, no. Oh, that wasn’t good.
Drew’s face—handsome, hard, fierce—seemed to tighten even more as he studied the other man.
Drew Lancaster was a warrior. She knew it. Had known it from the first moment she’d seen him. He’d been dripping blood at the time, courtesy of a fresh bullet wound. He hadn’t even flinched when she’d dug that bullet out of him.
He was big; about six foot three, with wide shoulders, narrow hips and what she thought of as a go-to-hell golden gaze. His skin was tanned from hours under the Mississippi sun, and that slow drawl that crept out every now and then...
That drawl was temptation in a dangerous package.
She knew how lethal Drew was. She’d gotten a glimpse into his file once, thanks to her friend Sydney Ortez. Sydney controlled all the intel at the EOD, and when she’d noticed that Tina was spending a bit too much time gazing after Drew, Syd had wanted Tina to know exactly who she was day dreaming about.
Not a white knight.
More like a killing machine.
Drew’s gaze slid to her once more. His face was all tough angles and planes. The scar that cut across his right cheekbone just made him appear all the more dangerous.
Her breath felt too hot in her lungs.
After a tense moment Drew gave a curt nod and rose to his feet. There was a tiny window in the room and sunlight spilled inside that window. The light fell on Drew as he passed it.
“Told you she was pretty,” the one he’d called Carl mumbled.
Drew leaped at the other man. In an instant Drew’s lower arm was under the guy’s chin and Drew had him pinned against the wall. “And I’m telling you...keep your hands off her.”
The other man blinked. Then Carl smiled. “Like that, huh? Calling her yours already?”
I am in a nightmare. And Drew wasn’t calling her anything.
But he was leaning in even closer to the blond male. “If you hurt her, if you so much as bruise her, I’ll make you pay.” A deadly promise.
The blond man gulped. “No worries, man. I’m just watchin’ her.”
Drew stepped back. “See that you do.” He fired one more glance at Tina.
She had to press her lips together so she wouldn’t cry out and basically beg him to stay.
He was undercover. He had a job to do. But she knew that he’d get her out of there.
She just had to hold on long enough for the rescue to work.
Drew turned and left the room without another word.
Carl eased toward her. “Guess you two got cozy, huh? Figured old Stone was a secret ladies’ man.”
He dropped into the chair near her. His hand went to the hilt of his knife.
Tina tensed, but he made no move to pull out the weapon.
His gaze swept over her face. “Such a pity,” he murmured. “I hate it when pretty girls have to die.”
* * *
HEWASTAKINGa risk. A huge one, Drew knew it, but he had to make the call. He slipped away from the others at the compound and headed toward the old fence on the right side of the property. He’d scouted before, and this was the weak spot in security. No cameras could see this location, but, thank goodness, there was actually cell service here.
Sydney Ortez had been the one to tell him about this sweet spot. Before Drew had gone in undercover, Sydney had used her satellites and her computer magic to try to find him a safe contact zone.
Safe, but not one hundred percent secure. Because in a situation such as this one, you never knew when the enemy might decide to take a stroll and blow your plans to hell.
Drew fired a quick glance over his shoulder. The phone was clutched tightly to his ear. One ring...
“I know about your problem,” the voice on the other end of the line said. No identification was necessary. Drew instantly recognized the voice of his team leader, Dylan Foxx. The former SEAL had been the one to convince Drew to join the EOD in the first place. The two men had become old friends on the battlefield, on missions that they’d never discuss. So many years—so many missions. Through them all, Dylan always had Drew’s back.
“Yeah?” Drew surveyed the area around him, trying to make sure no one was close enough to hear him. “So what the hell are we going to do?”
“Keep her alive,” Dylan responded instantly. “Mercer knows what’s happening. He says that Dr. Jamison’s survival is priority.”
Mercer knew. Right. The guy had eyes and ears everywhere.
I’m a set of eyes and ears for him now.