She swallowed and tried to appear bored. “Did anybody ever tell you that you look a little like Shemar Moore?”
He lifted his chin. “No, but I did have a girlfriend tell me I looked like Taye Diggs once.”
She studied him. “Humph.”
“I didn’t think so, either.” No. There was a hardness to Damon that came from real life and not television. “Why, Sami?”
“I wasn’t lying. Maybe you are, or perhaps you didn’t know every single cop in LA. I mean, ten thousand people worked for the LAPD before Scorpius.” She’d learned to speak slower and almost in a drawl when lying.
He nodded. “You’re right, but I also can discern a lie, and you’re definitely not being truthful. Who was your deputy chief? Your commander? Your captain?”
“I’m not doing this.” She brushed by him toward a large garden shed beyond an overgrown lawn.
“That’s why I don’t believe you. Hell, that’s why nobody believes you,” Damon continued from behind her. “Of course there’s a chance I wouldn’t know you—there were tons of cops. But you don’t move like a cop, Sami.”
She pivoted. “You’ve seen me fight.”
“Oh, you can fight, but you don’t move like a cop. You don’t scout the area like a cop, and you sure as shit don’t hold yourself like one.” He shook his head. “It’s something learned on the job, and you have never been on that job.”
She crossed her arms, bluffing for all she had. “I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree.”
“No. I can cause trouble for you within Vanguard if I push this, lady.” He moved toward her, all muscled grace.
Heat ignited down her back. “What are you saying?”
He narrowed his gaze as if thinking. “I’ll keep quiet, maybe even remember you as a rookie, but you owe me.”
She stepped back, more than ready to kick his ass. But from the way he moved, she knew he could fight. What was he saying? She shivered. How long had it been since the ex-cop had had a woman? “Excuse me? What exactly do you want in trade, asshole?”
His head jerked. “Geez. Not that. Give me a break.”
She glared and the world seemed to close in on her. “Right.”
“I look like Shemar, remember? I don’t need to blackmail women for sex. Ever.” He did appear a little affronted.
Sami studied him. “You don’t really look like him. I take it back.”
“Okay.” Damon sighed. “Listen. Just give me schematics of Vanguard territory, locations of provisions, a breakdown of the fighting forces, and we’ll call it even. I’ll back your story up with Tace, and nobody will ever be the wiser about your lying.”
She reared back. “You want to blackmail me to betray Vanguard?”
He shrugged. “Same information you’ve been trying to get on us the whole time you’ve been here. Give me the information, and I won’t turn you in to your own people.”
She crossed her arms. “You Mercs all use blackmail. That’s weak and pathetic.”
“Answer the questions.”
“No.” She didn’t even need to stop and think.
“You’d sacrifice your position there to protect them?” he asked.
For so long, she’d been running and hiding. Now she’d found a place of safety, and giving Damon the information he wanted would keep her there. But she thought of Tace, Jax, and Raze. Her fellow soldiers. She thought of Lynne Harmony with her blue heart, and Vinnie Wellington, who’d shown Raze he had a heart. And she thought of little blond Lena, who might already know her secret. There was really only one answer. “Yeah. So turn me in and do your worst. I’m not giving you shit about Vanguard.”
Damon’s chin lowered. “Fine. Then turn back, and let’s go talk with Greyson about your scouting activities here today.”
“No.” She settled her stance, wanting nothing more than to kick Damon’s butt.
He stilled. “You don’t want to fight me, little warrior. The guys you’ve been training with are on your side and make sure not to harm you. I’m not on your side.”
