Alpha One (Shadow Agents #1)(25)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Her breath panted out. “You should have told me the truth.” She felt as if Sydney was the only one giving her real insight into what was happening. Yes, they all wanted Guerrero stopped, she understood that. But did they have to lead her around like a lamb to a slaughter?

He shook his head. “There are some truths you don’t want to hear.”

That did it. Juliana shot across the room and jammed her finger into his chest. “Don’t.”

His brows rose.

“I’m not a child, Logan. I’ve handled death, disillusionment and betrayal just fine for years.” Handled it and kept going. She wasn’t going to break, not now and not ever. “So don’t make decisions for me. Don’t hide the truth from me.” Her father had done that for the past ten years. “Just…tell me.”

His gaze searched hers, then he gave a slow nod. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

Damn straight he should be. And sorry wasn’t going to cut it for her. “Sydney told me about Gunner’s brother. About how Guerrero was responsible for the attack that killed him.” Her breath heaved out. “I get that your team has a personal stake in this, all right? I get it. But we’re not just talking about your team. We’re talking about my life.”

His eyes blazed.

“Talk to me.” Now she was the one giving orders. “Tell me what’s going on.”

His nod was brief. Then “You’re in a government medical facility, one that was set up to assist agents in tracking their witnesses.”

She realized her finger was still stabbing into his chest. Juliana dropped her hand. “Tracking them how?”

“A small chip is implanted just under the skin. With that chip, we’re able to track a person anyplace that he or she goes.”

Anyplace. “You mean in case Guerrero gets to me—”

“He won’t—”

She waved that away. “If he gets to me, this chip is going to help you follow me.”

His jaw clenched. “Yes.”

Suspicion made her push because the trust she’d had…it was brittle. “Are you going to let his men take me…act like I’m protected but really ease back so they can grab me?”

His eyes chilled.

But she kept going. “Then you can just follow my tracking signal—what, some kind of GPS?—all the way back to Guerrero. You can get him. Get what you want, and hell, maybe all I’ll have to do is get tortured or killed so you can bring him down.”

His hands wrapped around her arms and Logan pulled her against him. “That’s not going to happen.”

“Promises, promises?” The taunt snapped out. “Because I don’t think I can trust you on this, Logan.” The pain from the past struck out at her. “I trusted you before, remember? We were going away together. I was there that night. Ready to leave everything I knew behind. I was there for hours.” She couldn’t hold back any longer. “Where the hell were you?”

Chapter Seven

His fingers were too tight on her arms. Logan knew it. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to step back. There was so much anger, no, rage in Juliana’s eyes. He hated that.

Even as he knew he could do nothing to change the past. “We were just kids, Julie. Two confused kids.”

“I was twenty. You were twenty-two. It’s not like we were playing in the sandbox back then.”

She wouldn’t make him flinch. Terrorists, killers—he’d faced plenty in his time. He’d taken bullets and been sliced by knives. He hadn’t flinched then.

I hate the way she’s looking at me. “We were too young. It wasn’t love. Wasn’t meant to be forever.”

She just kept staring at him, as if she could see through his lies. “No, it wasn’t.” Her breath rushed out. “I counted the minutes on that stupid clock in the bus station. That stupid, huge clock that hangs over the counter. I counted until midnight, when I had to give up.” Her stare was burning him alive. “At midnight, I promised myself I’d never let you betray me again. But…I guess I was wrong about that, too.”

The woman was carving his heart out of his chest with every word she uttered.

“Forget it.” Then she shoved away from him with more force than he’d expected. “So I get an implant, huh? That’s the next big deal? Someone to slice me open, whether I want it or not.”

He wanted the tracker on her, just as a precaution. After the way things had gone down at the cabin, he wanted to make sure he’d have a way of finding her. “Hostages, witnesses—they’ve been taken before. They’re stripped, their bags are tossed. We realized a few years ago that we needed technology that wouldn’t be ditched so easily.” The tracker was tiny, barely noticeable at all, and easily inserted under the skin. A little piece of tech that Uncle Sam hadn’t shared with many others.

“A few hours after the insertion, you’ll barely even notice it’s there.”

She finally glanced away from him. “I’ll notice.” Her words were clipped. So unlike her usual voice. “But I’ll do it anyway because if Guerrero does get to me, the EOD had better haul butt to save my life.”

He would.

Juliana had already turned from him and headed for the door. He should let her go but he had to speak. “I really am…sorry.” The apology came out sounding rusty and broken.

She pulled open the door. “For what?” Juliana didn’t bother looking back at him. “Leaving me before…or setting me up now?”

Both. “I wanted you to be happy. You wouldn’t—you wouldn’t have been happy with me.” The line he’d told himself for years. She deserved better. She’d have better. It was only a matter of time until some Prince Charming took her away.

His hands were clenched so tightly that his knuckles ached.

“Don’t tell me what I’d be,” she said, her spine stiff and too straight. “I’m the only one who understands how I feel and what I want.”

Then she walked through the door, calm and poised. So what if she was barefoot and her cute little toenails were flashing bright red? The woman had held court too long in her life not to walk with that easy grace.

“Come on, Doctor,” she called out and he knew that Liz Donaldson had to be close by. “Let’s get this over with.”

Logan exhaled slowly. He looked up and stared straight into the mirror that was less than five feet from him. His reflection stared back. His jaw was lined with stubble, eyes and face worn.