Undercover Captor (Shadow Agents #5)(13)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Gorgeous.

“I can’t,” she told him. Then she was the one to wiggle their cuff. “I can’t go any place without you.”

The darkness pressed in on him. “Damn straight,” Drew heard himself mumble. “That’s the way it’s going be…here on out…”

And, with Tina’s hands on him, with her smile the last sight he’d seen, Drew let the pain finally take him away.

* * *

“WHERE ARE THEY?”

Lee Slater froze at the demand. Oh, hell, he hadn’t thought the boss would be showing up so soon.

“Did you think I wouldn’t hear about this screw-up?” Anton Devast demanded as he stepped forward. Lee could easily hear his footsteps and the thud, thud, thud of his cane. “The men here are loyal to me, not you, Lee.”

Lee squared his shoulders and spun to face the boss. The guy in front of him didn’t look intimidating. Older, with gray hair at his temples, a slight slump to his shoulders, and the fingers of his right hand curling so tightly around that cane—the guy didn’t look like a threat at all.

He was. He was the deadliest man that Lee had ever met. “I’ve got men tracking them now—”

“You let Bruce Mercer’s daughter escape.”

Cold. But when he looked into the boss’s eyes, that dark blue gaze seemed to burn.

“Sh-she had help.” He was stuttering. Because he’d seen the boss in action. The guy was faster than men half his age. “We think… We think an EOD agent was undercover.”

“I know. Carl told me.”

Carl. Damn it. The guy should have waited for Lee to break the news to the boss.

“Don’t be angry at Carl. I convinced him to tell me everything as soon as I arrived.”

Lee realized that there was blood at the bottom of that cane.

It wasn’t just a cane, he knew. A deadly blade could extend from that tip. Sorry, Carl.

“An EOD agent, in my operation.” The boss began to pace around the room. Thud, thud, thud. “I should’ve eliminated Mercer years ago. The same way he tried to eliminate me.”

The boss had to use the cane because Bruce Mercer had nearly killed him twenty years before. The boss had almost lost his leg in that explosion.

He had lost his son.

Devast stopped pacing. He lifted the cane and pointed it at Lee. “You have six hours to find them.”

Lee nodded quickly. “My men—”

The cane pushed against his throat. The blade extended just a bit. “No, not your men. You. Get out there. Kill the EOD agent and bring that woman back to me.”

Lee nodded.

The blade withdrew. The cane dropped.

Lee rushed for the door.

“If you can’t bring her back to me, then you’ll be the next one to die.”

It wasn’t an idle threat. Lee grabbed for his backup weapon. He hurried out of the compound and headed toward the helicopter. They hadn’t been able to see much at night, but now that day had broken, he was sure he’d be able to track the agent and the woman.

He wasn’t dying.

They were.

Chapter Four

The knife was coming toward her hand. The man with the cold eyes smiled as he prepared to slice off her finger. Tina tried to jerk her hand back, but it was caught on something.

“Easy.”

Her eyelids flew open.

Drew stared down at her. “You’re safe,” he said, the words a low, deep rumble. “You’re with me.”

Her breath eased out as the nightmare—memory—faded.

They were on the old bed. Still cuffed. And Drew was leaning over her.

A much more aware, focused Drew than she’d seen a few hours ago. Right before he’d passed out on her.

Tina swallowed. Her throat was parched. It must have been at least eight hours since she’d had something to drink, but she figured the dry throat was the least of her worries. Her voice was husky when she asked him, “How are you feeling?”

“More human.”

Good. A fast glance showed that there had been no additional bleeding since she’d last checked him. “I don’t even know how you stood on your feet for that long. Much less controlled that bike.” Anyone else would have been down the instant the bullet hit.

Not Drew. The guy seemed to have a will made of iron.

And now that he wasn’t down for the count, she became aware of the fact that they were in a highly intimate situation.

In bed.

His body over hers, his arm curving around her.

Her heart slid into a double-time beat, and that faster pounding wasn’t just from fear.

His eyes were on hers. Golden eyes. She’d never seen a man with eyes like his before. They always looked a little wild.

His eyes were so startling because other than his wild stare, he’d always been so controlled in every encounter they’d had back at the EOD offices.

“I—I’m not Mercer’s daughter.” She wasn’t sure why she blurted that out right then. Especially since she’d been staring at him and thinking that his lashes were incredibly long… That his lips were sexy…

That she wanted him to kiss her.

“I know.”

He was— Wait. “You do? How?”

He just stared back at her.

He knows who Mercer’s real daughter is.

But then, so did Tina. But she only knew because Mercer had been so determined to protect one particular agency “asset” a few months ago. On a case that had caused Drew to wind up with more bullet wounds and an emergency trip to the hospital.

The asset had been in that hospital, too, and guarded by other EOD agents. Mercer had wanted to transfer the woman out of that hospital, to move her ASAP. He’d even gone so far as to order the woman drugged.

But, fortunately for the woman in question, EOD Agent Cale Lane had been there. Cale had fallen fast and hard for the asset and he hadn’t been about to let anyone threaten her.

Not even the woman’s own father.

“You…you worked on her protection detail,” Tina said slowly as she put the puzzle pieces together. That was how he knew her identity.

Drew shook his head. “Bruce Mercer doesn’t have a daughter.” Flat. Hard.

Her brows lifted.

“Bruce Mercer doesn’t have a daughter,” he said again. “Because if he did, the woman would be a constant target. She’d never be safe.”

She understood. Oh, heck, yes, after the past twenty-four hours, Tina definitely understood. “He doesn’t have a daughter,” Tina repeated. Did Drew think that she wouldn’t protect the other woman? She could have sold her out at any time, if that was what she wanted. “I’m not like that,” Tina said, suddenly angry because, after everything that had happened, Drew actually thought she’d trade someone else’s life for her own. She shoved against him.