“Why’d you get out?” she asked.
His harsh laugh punctured the relative quiet of the car, the puff of air from his lips faintly visible in the chill. “Getting blown up has a way of changing your perspective. By the time I was fully recovered, the mission had changed. I wasn’t sure I fit into it anymore.” He rubbed his left hip. “And honestly,” his voice turned low and rough, “I doubted my ability to protect my teammates, so I chose not to reenlist.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, amazed and grateful that he had opened up to her so completely.
He cleared his throat. “Me too.”
At some point, he must have changed his mind about his skills or he wouldn’t be working with Steele now. She could only hope it provided some of the brotherhood and sense of family that the Marines had given him.
What she wouldn’t give for her own tribe, for people she could trust to have her back, for Scott to be the first—the heart—of that elusive group.
They sat in silence for another half hour as the moon slipped toward the horizon, dropping the night further into darkness. Her thoughts raced round and round like a greyhound on a track, desperately searching for some magical way to prove her and Scott’s innocence and coming up empty.
“He’s moving,” Scott said.
Down the street, partially blocked from view by rows of leafless branches, the BMW’s lights flicked on, and the car backed down the long asphalt driveway.
Her heart sped up. “Did you see if he was alone?”
“Yep. Just him.” Scott peered through the pair of night vision goggles—NVGs—Dan had left in the apartment for him and watched the luxury car through the windshield. “What do you think? Did they forget the cranberries?”
Five minutes later, she and Scott had tailed the car to a nearby VABC store, Virginia’s commonwealth-run liquor retailer, and parked in a dim corner of the lot with a view into the brightly lit storefront through floor-to-ceiling windows.
“Watch for a drop, a brush pass, or anything unusual,” Scott said, raising his large Nikon to his eye and peering through the telephoto lens. He snapped photos continuously as they both scrutinized the man’s every movement.
“Catch anything?” she asked once her boss had returned to his car. Impotent rage ran through her like an earthquake, causing tremors from head to toe. How could Duncan toss her to the wolves and then go about his life as if he hadn’t thoroughly ruined hers?
“No.”
She heaved a disappointed sigh, even though she knew better than to expect to catch him in the act on their first day of watching him. “Me either.” Realistically, it’d be a miracle to catch him doing anything illegal…ever. She and Scott could sit surveillance for the rest of their lives, hiding in the shadows, phishing Aggressor’s employees, and never get what they needed.
Mexico was looking better by the minute.
As soon as he’d locked the door to Dan’s apartment, Scott pinned Valerie to the wall and kissed her. Sitting beside her all evening without being able to touch had been a new kind of torture. Not to mention a distraction that made it hard to do his job.
She responded to his overture with an enthusiasm as addictive as heroin. What was it about her? She tasted like heaven and had a body like the Devil’s own temptation. Every slide of her tongue, every caress of her hands down his backside sent him spiraling.
Reluctantly, he pulled away and paused to catch his breath, head hanging low. “You’re dangerous.”
“I’m not the only one,” she said, her beautiful brown eyes sparkling with desire and amusement. “You’re distracting me from work.”
He gave her another quick kiss, forcing himself to release her from the cage of his arms and step away.
She set her laptop on the breakfast bar and moved the stool out of the way to stand in front of the screen. “I’m tired of sitting.”
A small, green sticky flag covered what he assumed was the camera lens at the top of her screen. “What’s that for?” he asked, pointing.
“In case someone hacks my computer. This way they won’t be able to get video if they activate the camera.”
Jesus, was nothing safe?
Within minutes, she had downloaded all the photos from his camera and they sifted through them. The images from their surveillance were a bust. Nothing about Hollowell’s transaction in the liquor store appeared suspicious, even when they zoomed in. Of course, a simple exchange of words was all it would take for him to set up a meeting or a drop. “We’ll have to keep following him,” Scott said, pushing away from the counter to start the coffee maker.
Valerie sighed and continued to peruse the downloaded images. She inhaled sharply and then frowned. “You took pictures of me?” Her gaze met his over the wide counter. “Why?”
Shit.He swallowed hard, but really, how shocked could she be? She knew he’d followed her for weeks. Still, it must have felt like an invasion. “Yes. I’m sorry.”
“This one I get.” She turned her computer so he could see the photo of her getting into her Prius. “And this one,” she said, switching to an image of her talking to a blond man at the rock climbing gym.
