Alpha One (Shadow Agents #1)(24)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Come for her yourself. Come and face me.

Because Logan wasn’t the type of man to ever stop, either.

* * *

SHE DIDN’T KNOW how long they drove. She didn’t really care. Juliana sat hunched in the car and saw the image of a man taking his own life flash before her eyes.

That man—Luis—had been so afraid of Guerrero that he’d killed himself instead of betraying his boss.

Logan hadn’t so much as flinched.

During the ride, he’d been on the phone beside her, talking to the mysterious Mercer and demanding explanations. He wanted to know who’d leaked their location.

But every now and then, she could feel Logan’s eyes on her. And she could have sworn there was suspicion in his gaze.

Why?

The vehicle slowed. Juliana blinked and glanced around even as the engine died away. “Another safe house?” she whispered, and yes, she’d put too much emphasis on safe. At this point, she didn’t think anyplace was safe. Guerrero was going to keep coming.

The man could track like no one she’d ever seen before.

“Not exactly,” Logan said. His voice was guarded, carefully emotionless. In the closed interior of the vehicle, she was too conscious of his body pressing next to hers.

Had she really been moaning in his arms just an hour or two before? That memory seemed surreal. The death, the violence—that had been reality for her.

Then Logan opened his door. She turned away and shoved open the door on her side and rushed out into what looked like a parking garage. A deserted one.

Jasper was by her side, waiting. “You all right, ma’am?” he asked.

He actually seemed worried. More worried than Logan. Juliana nodded.

“It’s for your safety,” Jasper said. “It might hurt, but…”

Wow. Hold up. She lifted a hand. “What’s going to hurt?”

Jasper pointed to the left. Juliana turned and saw a redheaded woman in a white lab coat heading her way. Her gut knotted and she asked, “What’s going on?”

“Just a small procedure,” Jasper told her. He even put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a little stroke. As if that was supposed to be reassuring. “To make certain that you stay safe.”

“So far, I sure haven’t felt safe.” Her own words snapped out.

Jasper winced. “This isn’t the way things were planned. No one should have found out about your location, not so fast, anyway. We were going to wait until—”

“Jasper.” Logan’s snarl shut up the other EOD agent. Jasper rocked back on his heels.

But it was too late. He’d said too much. Suspicion rolled within Juliana. “Tell me that he’s wrong.” He wasn’t wrong. She knew it, but denial could be a fierce beast.

We were going to wait.

Wait and then leak her location to Guerrero? Wait and set a trap for the arms dealer, using her as the unknowing bait?

But Logan didn’t speak; the doctor did. “I’m ready for her in the operating room. The implant can be placed immediately.”

Implant? Juliana shook her head and backed up fast. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anyplace for her to go, and her elbows rammed into the side of the SUV. “I’m not ready for you, lady.” The doctor could just back off.

The redhead’s lips thinned. “Do we need sedation for the patient?”

“What?” Juliana wasn’t sure her voice could get higher than that startled yelp. “I’m not your patient! Stay away from me.” Her gaze found Logan’s. “You asked if I trusted you.” First at that run-down hotel, then back at the cabin, in the middle of all that death. “I said that I did, but Logan, you’ve got to give me something here. Tell me—tell me that you weren’t using me.”

He still didn’t speak. Maybe because he’d finally stopped lying.

It was Jasper who reached for her. “Come inside with us, Juliana, and I’ll explain what’s going to happen.”

“It’s a simple enough procedure,” the doctor said.

Juliana felt her face flush. “Lady, I just came from a bloodbath, okay?”

Now it was the doctor who backed up a step.

Good for her.

Juliana ignored Jasper’s outstretched hand. Her gaze locked on Logan. “Did you set me up as bait?” Her breath caught in her throat as she waited for his response.

“Yes.”

That breath froze in her lungs.

“No,” Jasper said in almost the same instant. “He didn’t.”

Her gaze darted to him, saw his lips tighten as he told her, “We did. Our EOD team had its orders. Logan didn’t have a choice, still doesn’t.”

That was a fat line of bull. “There’s always a choice.” She rubbed her arms, chilled. She was standing there barefoot, wearing shorts and a T-shirt. She smelled like death and Logan’s touch seemed to have branded her skin.

How wrong was that?

“Not always,” Logan said. She became aware of the others then, men who’d been hanging back in the shadows. Armed. Wasn’t everyone in the EOD always carrying a weapon? “My goal is to bring in Guerrero.”

Her laugh was bitter. “I thought the goal was to keep me alive.” So much for thinking she ranked high on his priorities.

And damn it, she caught a flash of pity in Jasper’s eyes. Not what she needed to see right then. Her chin shot up.

“It is,” Logan growled. Then he looked around at their audience and swore. In the next instant, he was pulling her toward the double doors on the right. Juliana was marching on his heels, more than ready to clear the air between them.

His palm slammed into the door and then they were inside a small hallway. More guards were assembled. Logan turned to the left and pushed open the door that led into what looked like a small waiting room.

Or an interrogation room. Her gaze darted to the wall on the right. A wall that looked as if it was just a mirror, only, she’d seen walls like that on television shows. Two-way mirrors. “Where are we?”

“Government facility. Off-the-books.”

Wasn’t just about everything off-the-books these days?

“I’m not… Hell, it’s not about using you.”

At his outburst, she spun around. “You were going to lure Guerrero to that house! Dangle me in front of him as bait!” She was so angry her words came out rapid-fire.

“I was—am—going to keep you under guard. We have to take out Guerrero. You’re not going to be safe until he’s in custody or until he’s dead.”