drink and bar stool with her and leaving a cloud of expensive perfume in
her wake.
Fox turned to face him. “Why would IA be looking at you? What did you
do?”
Alex frowned. “Not a damn thing. Unless they can read my mind and know
what I
plan
to do.”
Six
If, as Internal Affairs suspected, Alexander Stone was a rogue operative,
Lexi’s directive was clear and specific.
Terminate.
She considered that irrevocable step as she turned her back to the
deliciously hot pulsing shower to rinse conditioner out of her hair. The hot
water stung the crease in her shoulder. But thanks to Alex, it wasn’t as
bad as it could’ve been.
Stone and Fox had gone up to the restaurant to have dinner and catch up.
Since Lexi had nothing to catch up
on,
and an hour or two by herself
sounded like bliss, she let them go without quibbling. A nice long shower
fol owed by a little Internet research and an early night would serve her
wel .
Where the two men planned to sleep wasn’t her problem. It was a nice
night, the temp a balmy seventy-eight. For all she cared, they could sleep
on the beach. She’d have that nice, big, white-draped bed out in the other
room all to herself.
She’d killed six men her first day on the job. Killing someone she’d kissed
was going to take a lot more balls than she had. She was going to have to
deal with it.
“No more kissing.” She rested her foot on the side of the tub to shave her
leg. “No more kissing, touching, wishing to be kissed, or thinking about
touching, Ms. Operative,” she said, continuing the ongoing lecture she’d
been giving herself for the last several hours.
If push came to shove, she was expected to kil Alexander Stone
efficiently. Without hesitation. There was no rule that said she had to do it
with no remorse.
39
Night Shadow
“Next time I think about how incredible it feels when he sticks his tongue
in my mouth, I’ll think about shooting him point blank instead.”
That
should give her pause.
She’d taken the job, accepting that proviso. Kill Alex if necessary. Kil ing
people was part of the job. She accepted that. Killing Alex was a whole
other ball game.
They’d told her his behavior in the past three months was suspect. He
wasn’t working up to his own high standards. He was disappearing in the
middle of ops, and not returning until it was too late for him to be
effective. Even given the nature of the psi unit, this behavior was still
unusual enough to raise a few hackles.
It was as atypical as it was becoming consistent.
There
must
be more to it than this, Lexi thought for the hundredth time.
Terminating an operative for being lazy, or lax, or whatever it sounded as
though he were doing, seemed . . . overkil . Maybe he just needed a
vacation. She was a show-me-the-facts kind of girl. Logical, methodical,
by the book, especially when things were black-and-white. The problem
was, there were too many shades of gray at the moment.
But she’d do it—she’d terminate Alex Stone—if and when she had the
requisite proof that his elimination was unavoidable. The fact that the man
made her hot and bothered, and thrived on ruffling her feathers, could
have absolutely no part in her decision-making process. Black was black
and white was white.
Seeing him waiting in the safe house in Moscow was a case in point, and
highlighted his unusual behavior. He should have been back at the train
station getting people out as fast as possible. Instead he’d gone to take a
nap or see a girlfriend or whatever had happened. What the hel was
that
about? That dereliction of duty was black.
Then there was the situation on Taiwan. He’d almost gotten them both
killed when he hadn’t teleported before the explosion. He’d told his team
to leave, but stayed himself. Very un-Alex-like behavior, since it appeared
the man lived to teleport every-damn-where. Why didn’t he leave when it
would benefit him most to do so? A death wish?
Lexi frowned as she shaved her other leg. “With me?” If he was suicidal,
why would he want to take her with him? Why would he have wrapped
himself around her like a super-hefty LockOut suit, keeping her safe? That
was gray.
She didn’t trust gray.
And
suicidal
reminded her of that terrifying, muddled, and powerful desire
she’d experienced up on the Moscow rooftops. She nicked her leg, the
soap bubbles turning red from the small cut, and her stomach knotted.
She’d pushed that out of her mind to analyze later.
And she would.
Later.
Maybe Alex was sick. Maybe he was just sick and tired of the never-
ending parade of bad guys doing unspeakable things. Maybe he liked
being a bad guy better than being a good guy.
Maybe he
had
turned.
40
Night Shadow
Hard to imagine someone like Stone turning, though. He didn’t appear to
care about either money or power. What other reason would there be to
join terrorists? It was always either money or world domination. Or
fanaticism of some sort. Hmm. He seemed too laid-back to give a damn
about any of that. But she hadn’t been watching him long enough to know
who he was, really.
Even though there was stil plenty of lovely hot water, unlike the safe
house in Moscow, Lexi turned off the shower and dried off in the steamy
bathroom. Fox had offered her the use of a wardrobe fil ed with women’s
clothing. The woman in question was shorter, curvier, and a lot more
fashionable than Lexi aspired to be.
She chose the most conservative thing she could find. Navy capris and a
navy top with little green beads on it. Both a little on the snug side. But
better than getting back into her sweaty work clothes.
After hanging the towels back on the rod to dry, she ran her fingers
through her new short hair, then went into the main room of the cabana.
She sat on the bed cross-legged and booted up the laptop Alex had hocus-
pocused for her.
With her own special encryption, Lexi logged into the e-mail account for
her reports to Internal Affairs. The report was short and succinct. She
couldn’t make a judgment call based on so little. She certainly wasn’t
going to terminate a fel ow operative because he was . . .
lazy.
After checking her personal e-mail—one from her mother, one from Carrie
Anne at work—Lexi turned off the computer and put it aside.
There was nothing to read, and she wasn’t in the mood for TV. What she’d
really like was a swim. She’d made Alex believe she didn’t like swimming,
but that was just an effort to maintain distance from him. She loved the
freedom of water. Made her feel as though she could fly. She got off the
bed and went to open the front door, then stood there breathing in the
refreshing smel of salt air.
The moon glistened on the water enticingly, creating a shimmering path to
the horizon. The beach between the bungalow and the water gleamed
white in its light. The lap of the waves and the susurrus of the water
sweeping up the sand mingled with the faint samba beat of steel drums
up at the main part of the resort.
There wasn’t a soul in sight.
She had a crazy urge to swim nude, but quickly dispel ed that notion. The
idea of being naked anywhere near Stone was horrifying. Horrifyingly
appealing.
After only a moment’s hesitation, Lexi turned back inside and went in
search of a swimsuit.
Bikinis and more bikinis fil ed one of the drawers of the dresser in the
bedroom area of the bungalow. Not her style. She opted for the bottom of
the most conservative suit, and her own black tank top. Grabbing a towel,
and feeling like a kid let out of school early, she pul ed the door closed
behind her, then jogged down the soft sand.
Placing her towel and keycard aside in a clearly visible spot, she turned
and ran into the water. The shock of cold against her warm skin was
41
Night Shadow
invigorating and she launched her body into an incoming wave, her spirit
as buoyant as her body.
Lexi swam in strong sure strokes along the moon’s path toward what
looked like the edge of the earth. Fanciful, but what the hel . She was not
going to feel guilty taking a few hours off. She hadn’t taken a vacation in
five years and seven months.
Estimating that she was about a mile offshore, she turned back in a
leisurely backstroke so she could continue admiring the huge expanse of
black sky. The mil ions of stars made her feel small and insignificant.
Vulnerable and powerful at the same time. The concerns of the world
seemed small compared to the infinite universe she lived in.
Letting the gentle swel s of the sheltered sea of the harbor rock her, she
felt the tension knotting her body and mind release her from its grip. This
was almost like being in an immersion tank.
Completely relaxed, almost boneless, Lexi drifted with the waves. One
moment, she was almost in a trance, the next, hands grabbed her head,
violently shoving her underwater.
Alex?
Struggling against the implacable hold, Lexi kicked and bucked her body,
clawing the hands clamped around her head with her short nails. The
unexpected assault pissed her off. God damn it, if he kept this up, he’d
drown her for real.
Her heart kicked into overdrive as she realized the person doing his best
to drown her wasn’t Alex. Hands and wrists were too small. A woman? No,
those hands weren’t that small and she felt the tensile strength of sinew
and muscle in his arms—definitely of the Y chromosome type. Her vision
blurred and her lungs struggled to sustain her last breath.
Underwater combat training had been an eighteen-hour course. She
remembered every one of those one thousand and eighty minutes of
drown-proof classes. She’d been top of her class. Straight As. She’d been
trained in waterborne operations. Deep dives, diving physics, both day
and night ocean subsurface navigation swims. She’d mastered drown-
proofing. She knew what she was doing, and she could whip this son of a
bitch’s ass.
If she could only get one freaking deep breath before she got started.
Unfortunately, the guy knew that giving her a breath was going to give
her the game. His fingers tightened around her head, digging into her
cheekbones, his thumbs relentlessly squeezing the back of her skul .
The water was too deep to put her feet on the ocean floor, and she
couldn’t hold her breath much longer. Releasing a sip of air from her lungs
to take some of the pressure off her chest, Lexi pivoted her body to bring
her feet up over her head. Not much force because of the water, but she
managed a hard enough rabbit kick to snap the guy’s head back.
Bastard didn’t release his hold on her head, however. He just took her
with him as he jettisoned backward, shoving her deeper on impact.
Her bare feet hadn’t encountered any sort of breathing device when she’d
struck his face, so he was holding his breath as wel . Good. She could hold
hers for nine point three minutes. A record at the academy.
Let’s see if
you could hold yours that long, asshole.
42
Night Shadow
Of course, her adrenaline hadn’t been pumping all the oxygen out of her
blood in training, and she’d breathed in pure oxygen before the test . . .
In one fluid motion, Lexi twisted her body as far as she could against his
unshakable grip on her head. As she fought for her life, she counted off
the seconds.
Her lungs screamed, black blotches obscured her already limited visibility.
She was contorted like a damn pretzel, but this time she managed to dig
her nails into his arm. She managed to pry one finger on the bastard’s
hand back, loosening his hold. Tucking her knees under her body, she
used his arm as a fulcrum and swung into him, kneeing him in the balls.
Hard.
His rapidly released air bubbles caught a glint of surface moonlight.
Suddenly, she was free. Lexi shot to the surface like a cork, gasping,
fil ing her lungs with wonderful air. Blinking the water out of her eyes, she
spun in a circle, looking for the guy. He’d be easy to spot in the
moonlight. But there was no sign of him. She imagined hearing the
soundtrack from
Jaws
playing in her head and shook it off.
Maybe he’d drowned?
She didn’t think so.