"I have heard rumors here and there," she told him. "Rumors that the senator makes the bulk of his money dealing in illegal arms to terrorists. In Africa and the Middle East," she added, then leaned back and waited to see if he called her crazy. But instead, he sat there, fixing her with that penetrating gaze, his expression giving away nothing. "You think I'm nuts, right?" She shrugged. "What I expected. But what were you doing there? What were you looking for?" Although his face gave nothing away, she could sense him debating with himself exactly how much to tell her. "Where are your credentials?" he asked at last. "Where's your identification?" "What? In my car. Locked in the glove compartment." She frowned. "Now you ask for it?" "Do you have some kind of magic ignition?" he asked. "You sure don't have any hiding places on you for a key." She laughed and lifted one foot, resting it on her knee, and undid the laces on her shoe. Carefully, she opened the little pocket
Grey looked at the woman sitting across the table from him. She was almost as much a hard case as he was, but he could tell Lucky's story had moved her deeply. Some intangible something gave him the sense he could trust her, so he walked her through the basics of his plan, making sure she understood all of the risks involved. He also checked her out on some of the electronics he'd purchased. He wasn't yet ready to read her in on everything he'd found on Bostic's thumb drives, but he gave her a brief overview. By tomorrow, if his gut still told him to trust her, he'd be ready to formulate some plans with her. She knew far more about Bostic and about Tampa than he did, and it paid to take advantage of that. They had finished the pot of coffee, although they were both so fueled by adrenaline he doubted they'd even needed it. What they did need, however, was some rest so they could get to the meat of the planning. He had been meticulous about leaving no trace at Bostic's house, but with
Jesus! The contact was like nothing he could imagine. Her lips were soft and warm, pliant beneath his, molding to him. He traced the closed seam of her mouth before exerting enough pressure to force her to open. When he swept his tongue inside, the fiery electricity that shot through him singed every single nerve in his body. Her tongue was a liquid flame, dueling with his, following the erotic dance he was leading her in. When she moaned into his mouth his pulse leaped into the stratosphere. Tightening his grip on her hair, he wrapped one hard-muscled arm around her and pulled her in tight to his body. He felt the outline of her sex where his harder-than-concrete cock pushed into it, and the softness of her breasts against his chest. Her nipples pierced him like diamonds. He wanted nothing more than to rip off both their clothes and plunge himself into her. It was only the need to breathe that forced him to lift his mouth from hers. When he tilted her head back he saw astonis
She blinked. A tiny smile teased at the corners of her mouth as she looked up at him from beneath lowered lids. "I think so. I'm not sure what hit me, though." "That's just the first act," he told her in a low, rough voice. "Does the second act involve removing your clothes?" she teased. "Damn straight." He pressed his mouth to hers. "Taste yourself on me. See how great your flavor is." When she slowly swiped her tongue across her lower lip, he thought his cock would explode. "Don't move," he ordered, pushing himself to his feet. "I'll be right back." He hurried to his bathroom where he grabbed a condom from his Dopp kit. Back in the bedroom, he was pleased to see she hadn't moved even an inch. His gaze locked with hers and never drifted as he divested himself of his shoes and socks, shucked off his shirt, jeans, and boxer briefs. When he was fully naked, he shifted her on the bed so he could climb up beside her, pulling her warm body against his. The scent of her musk ta
"It's about pinpointing the dates of the shipment and Bostic's communications immediately preceding them." Athena looked at him over her coffee mug. "You got all that from the information you, uh, borrowed?" He grinned. "As a matter of fact, yes." "So, you're focusing on the one particular shipment, the one where you all got caught in the firefight." He nodded. "I want the details so I can trace back and see just how it went down and who leaked the information." "I meant to ask you." She set her mug on the table and picked up a piece of toast. "How in hell did you copy that stuff so fast? I know you didn't spend a lot of time in his study." He set his mug down, walked to his enormous workstation desk, and picked up a small square box. He carried it back to the kitchen table and placed it in front of her. "High-powered thumb drive duplicator." He lifted it, hefting it easily in his palm. "Small, lightweight, efficient. Copies a thousand times faster than your average dupli
"Grey, I might have a suggestion, if you don't mind my bringing it up." He stared at her. "You know someone who can help us with this?" She liked the word us and wondered if he'd even realized he'd used it. "I do. You can judge for yourself if he's the right person, but if I'm hearing correctly, right now we've got no one." He nodded, the muscles in his face taut with tension. "Planning a mission is my strength, not the contacts to use the information." He rubbed his neck. "I thought of going to a reporter, but how do I get one I can trust? One who won't sell me out for whatever reason? So, you think you have a contact who's just what we need?" Again she liked his use of the word we. "Maybe. Possibly. I'm not totally sure, but I think so." "A rousing endorsement if I ever heard one." He twisted his lips in a wry smile. "And forgive me, but I can't imagine you get too many people engaging in the sale of massive amounts of illegal arms processing through the Tampa Police De
Grey had Athena hold the cell so he could also hear the conversation when she called Adam Wahlberg. From the sound of his voice, he could tell the man was shocked to hear from her after all this time, and even more stunned when he realized the call wasn't a social one. "You want to play in my playpen?" He was incredulous. "Wait until you hear what we have," she told him. "We?" Grey heard the question in his voice, and Athena looked at him. He nodded, but mouthed, "Just say former military who is a victim of what we're investigating." When she repeated it, Adam said, "Athena, you gotta give me something more than just a hint. If I'm going to stick my neck out even a little, I need to have an idea of what might chop my head off." "What if I told you a very high-profile politician is involved in massive illegal arms deals and has controlled politics in some countries to increase the lucrative nature of his deals." There was dead silence on the other end of the call, a sile
Adam nodded. "I trust Athena's word on you." He leaned across the table in the booth, lowering his voice. "So let me get this straight. You have the goods on he who shall be nameless, but you need to figure out what to do with them." Grey nodded. "That's correct. And we're expecting more information, just as soon as I can get home and check the equipment again." "Okay, let's go over it in detail, if you don't mind. We've been gathering a file on this fucker for a long time, but we're missing a lot of key information. Proof positive of what he's doing. That's what I'm hoping you brought to the table here." "I can promise you that's what we have," Grey assured him. Focusing on the specifics of what he'd learned, he laid out for the man everything he'd pulled from the thumb drives: arms deals, drugs for arms, paid assassinations to control the political situation in third world countries. A muscle twitched in Adam's jaw as he listened. The expression on his face and the look in his e