Page 37 of Deadly Alliance

“What if I can’t?” he asked, emotion making his voice tight.

“You will.”

“You won’t be on your own with this, Shane. We can bring in more people if necessary to watch Emme. I don’t like using any of my team as bait, but this is the best option. We won’t let anything happen to you, Emme.” Zack seemed so sure, so confident as if him saying it made it so.

“So, what next?”

“You go back to the house and carry on as before. We think this person is so desperate to get to Bea that they won’t be able to resist Emme even if they think it’s a trap. Bea is setting up a profile for us. But it seems we had a few things wrong initially.”

“How so?”

“We now think there is the possibility that the perp is someone that Bea has rejected in some way—be it through work or personally. This is personal to whoever it is.

“I’m going to have some more back-up near the house. Kanan and Roz have agreed to pose as new renters two doors down. Emme, make friends with Roz so it looks more natural. Maybe invite them around for a BBQ. We want you visible but not vulnerable.”

“Who are Roz and Kanan?” Shane asked, not liking the idea of anyone he didn’t know watching his six.

“Roz Phillips is perhaps one of the deadliest women I have ever met. She’s the leader of the elite all-female group Zenobi. I would have hired her for Purgatory, but she had her own agenda and reasons, which I respect,” Bea said. Her face almost held a look of proud respect.

“She is also Zin’s older sister,” Zack replied.

Shane thought on that for a second. He had heard of Zenobi, but he hadn’t been sure if they were real or a myth. That changed things to a certain degree. But he didn’t know Kanan.

“K is one of my guys and ex-SIS. He’s also my oldest friend. I will vouch for him personally,” Zack said as if reading his mind.

“Fine, and you think our cover is still in place?”

“We think Emme’s cover is. Some searches have been done on your marriage licence and thanks to Dee they have held up. Whoever is behind this thinks that you and Emme are newlyweds. For them, it would be an even bigger statement to get near Emme as you work for Bea. She’s an irresistible target now.”

Shane pushed his hands through his hair in frustration. He hated that she had to be part of this, he had to keep reminding himself that she was a good operative, better, she was a great operative and he had met her because of the op. It had all gotten so blurry, what was real and what was fake.

He felt like the relationship was real and the op was the ruse. He needed to get his head back in the game and start seeing things clearly again. The aim was to catch the sick bastard that had killed his friend’s baby sister and stop them from hurting anyone else. He looked at Emme; she seemed so young and beautiful but had a core of steel running through her.

He owed it to her to trust her. He owed it to her to pull back from the feelings he had been developing for her and be the man she needed. Unfortunately, that did not necessarily mean it was the man either of them wanted him to be.

“Fine, let’s get going.” His neck itched, knowing something didn’t feel right and he couldn’t figure out what it was. It wasn’t a feeling he liked. He glanced at Beatrice, then Zack, and knew they felt it too.

* * *

Emme watchedhim as they drove back to the home they were sharing for this op. He seemed tense and not just because he had nearly been blown up earlier, this seemed different. As if he was waiting for the axe to fall somehow.

His jaw was hard, his shoulders stiff. Emme wondered if he was angry that he had not been able to return to the States. His initial reaction to seeing her had been relief and back at the safe house, he had been affectionate even. What had caused him to retreat from her?

She had her suspicions, but she didn’t want to acknowledge them because that would mean facing the genuine possibility that the man she was falling for didn’t think she was good enough.

They pulled into the drive and she slipped her rings back on, her heart catching at the sight of them. She had taken them off after Shane left and put them in her pocket, not able to bear to look at the reminder of what she couldn’t have. She saw Roz and Kanan making a show of unpacking a mover’s van. She had no clue how they had managed to get the place that had been occupied until yesterday and was now somehow suddenly available.

Picking up her jacket, she exited the car, checking her surroundings as she did. Her movements were subtle as she looked over at Roz and Kanan as they carried a chair into the property. Roz was laughing at something Kanan said, her head thrown back. She looked exactly like what she was—a newly-wed in love with her husband. What that scene didn’t show was the deadly couple they really were. She felt a hand on her back and looked up to see Shane smiling down at her. His face and actions seemed utterly different from the message his eyes were sending. He had locked himself away, removing himself from her. He was fucking hiding and she wasn’t having it.

“Everything okay, sweetheart?” he asked his voice pitched slightly louder than necessary.

“Absolutely perfect,” she said so sweetly that it was practically dripping with honey. Bewilderment and confusion crossed his handsome features as he saw the look on her face. His eyes wandered down over her body with a slow perusal; her traitorous nipples hardened at his heated gaze.

“Are you mad at me about something, beautiful?”

She rolled her eyes and then tossed her head, before turning her back on him and taking a step towards the house. If he wanted to put on a performance, she would give him one. She’d only taken a step before she felt herself suddenly being thrown up and over his shoulder, her legs clamped tight to his body.

“I’m not sure what you’re pissed about, beautiful, but it turns me on when you get that sexy, fiery look in your eyes.”