looked at him out of the corner of her eye and shifted slightly in her seat. “Yeah, you’re too smart not to have been guessing about me. And I’d also be willing to bet that Ian is on the phone to Michael Whittaker right this minute, demanding some answers.”
“You’re not a bodyguard, are you?”
She shook her head.
“Then who…?”
“I’m an FBI special agent, Marcus. I’ve been assigned to offer you a deal to turn over any information that could help the federal attorney convict the cartel.”
“FBI agent?” After his initial shock, he knew in his gut that what she’d said was true. “I suppose you can prove that?” he asked anyway.
“Not at the moment. I’ve been undercover…you understand. But I want to take you to someone who can prove it for me. He’s someone I think you should talk to.”
“Just a minute.” Marc’s mind was swimming with all the things she’d said. “Why are you telling me this now? What’s changed?”
“I’ve changed. I don’t think you’re guilty of racketeering anymore.”
“Gee, thanks.” He reached over and took her chin in his hand, forcing her to look at him. “You mean when I first told you I wasn’t guilty you thought I was lying?”
She pulled her chin from his grip, but turned in her seat to face him. “That’s how I was trained. Suspect everyone and trust no one. It isn’t personal. It’s just my job.”
Not personal? And here he’d been dreaming of making things between them as personal as you can get. He still wanted that. In fact, his fingers ached right now with wanting to touch her again.
“Okay, Dana. Let’s go see the man who can prove who you are.” This revelation of hers was going to take a bit of getting used to.
She bent to crank the ignition, but he suddenly thought of something and stopped her. “Hey. Dana Aldrich is your real name, isn’t it?”
“It’s the name I’ve always used,” she told him flatly. “That’s all I can tell you.”
Marc sat in stony silence while Dana drove them all over town, ending up only a few blocks from where they’d started. She’d made two mobile-phone calls, but he didn’t catch much from her side of the conversation.
A war was going on inside him. He was mad. Confused. Slightly frightened and…still desperate to find a way into Dana’s bed. She was totally different than any woman he’d ever known. And he’d never figured that he would be so attracted to a tough, professional law-woman.
In fact, he never figured he would be attracted to any woman ever again after that monumentally embarrassing fiasco of last year. Yet, here he was, lusting after a woman with long, soft curls and the biggest brown eyes he’d ever seen.
They finally pulled into a darkened garage behind a nondescript building on East Bryan Street and parked the car. “Where are we?” he asked.
“The FBI Resident Agency office. Luckily, my boss is here in Savannah from the Atlanta field office. I want him to meet you.”
They climbed the back stairs to the fourth floor. “The office is open at this hour?” he asked.
She shook her head and led him into a shadowed hallway. “The public reception area closes at five. We’re headed to a small conference suite in back.”
Dana opened a door for him to walk through. As he stepped inside, he saw a medium sized room, absolutely crammed with high-tech equipment. When his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he recognized state-of-the-art computers and a screen that seemed to be some kind of radar scanner. A young man was sitting in front of communications-style machines that blinked with lights and buzzed with noises.
But Dana didn’t acknowledge the man who was operating the computers. She walked right past the guy.
“This way.” Dana motioned Marc to follow her into a side room. “Good evening, SAC Simon,” she said as she closed the door.
“Dana.” A middle-aged man with steel blue eyes and a little gray at his temples stood and walked toward them. “And this must be Marcus Danforth. I’m Special Agent-In-Charge Steve Simon. Please just call me Steve.” He shook hands. “How’re you doing?”
“I’m not so hot, at the moment,” Marc grumbled. “This morning I was in jail, and tonight I seem to have been dropped into some kind of weird espionage movie. I’m not thrilled about either one.”
“Have a seat, son. I think we’d better talk.” Steve moved to the polished wood conference table and took a chair.
When the three of them were seated, Marc couldn’t wait to start asking questions. “Why am I here? What do you want from me?”
“You’re here in our covert operations office because Dana has disobeyed standard procedures and told you who she really is,” Steve replied. “You are also here because you may be able to help both your family and your country. Are you willing to listen to and then consider a proposition to do both of those things?”
Marc nodded his head but kept his mouth shut. He wasn’t sure how he’d gotten himself into this mess, but now he knew he needed advice on how to get out of it.
“Good. But first, I want to assure you that the woman you’ve known as your bodyguard is indeed Special Agent Dana Aldrich. I’ve already received a call from my old friend, Michael Whittaker, saying your brother Ian is determined to find out the truth about her. I’ll call Ian later and explain. We’ll probably be needing his assistance on this investigation anyway.”
Steve sat back in his chair and studied both Marc and Dana. “I understand your brother received a phone call tonight from Ernesto Escalante. If he is determined to get your family’s assistance in his schemes, there is no way you can escape his wrath. He’s one of the most dangerous men on earth. So far you have all been very lucky.”
“Lucky? I wouldn’t say that what we’ve been through qualifies as anything but bad luck.” Marc gritted his teeth in frustration. “Don’t tell me there’s no hope of besting the cartel. I refuse to believe it. I intend to get the proof I need to beat my frame-up.”
Steve smiled at him. “I believe you would try it. But you might die trying. And then what? Escalante would just keep the pressure on Ian to do what he wants. Killing off your family members one by one would be his next move.”
“That’s what Ian said.” Marcus was annoyed as hell now. There had to be a way out of this.
“Your brother is a smart man who’s been in a terrible bind. But I have an idea for something that might end your family’s terror right here. Will you listen?”
Marc sat up in his chair and looked from Dana to Steve and back again. “I’ll listen.”
Steve spent the next hour outlining a plan for him and Dana to investigate the whereabouts of Escalante and then for them to participate in a sting designed to capture the man and put an end to the blackmail once and for all. Marc wasn’t positive the plan would work. But he figured it was worth a shot. After
