Radclyffe - Oath of Honor

being with you.”

Evyn chuckled. “Handy, that, because I plan on being around a

lot.” “I think I’ll need you around a lot.”

Evyn propped herself up on her forearms, the first rays of morning

light breaking over her face. Her eyes were blue-gray in the dusky

dawn. “We haven’t talked about the future.”

Wes cradled Evyn’s face, scooped her fingers through her hair,

kissed her. “I want one.”

“So do I.” Evyn kissed her, exploring, teasing, tasting. She slid

deeper, claiming. “I want you. Just you. I know always sounds like a

line, but I mean it.”

Wes’s concentration faltered—gave way under the sensation of

Evyn’s mouth and hands. She pressed harder against Evyn’s thigh,

climbing faster. Too fast. Gasping, she pulled away. “I’m going to come

soon.”“Mmm—then don’t stop.”

“I want—I need—to say this first. I love you. I’ve never wanted

anyone else and I never will. Always sounds like the beginning.”

Evyn shuddered. “I never even wanted tomorrow with anyone

before. Now I want every single one of yours to be mine.”

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“They will be.” Wes’s muscles clenched and she rode the plume of

pleasure higher. “I’m sorry, I can’t…I’m coming for you.”

“Yes. For me.” Evyn scored her teeth down Wes’s neck, biting

gently. “Yes,” she breathed against Wes’s skin, hearing the startled cry

as Wes’s control unraveled. Her clitoris twitched, pulsed, thickened.

She needed to come but she held back. She needed Wes more. “Mine.

All mine. Come for me.”

Wes cried out, body shattering with pleasure. She crushed her face

to Evyn’s neck. “Yours. Yes.”

Pushing up on one arm, Evyn fumbled for Wes’s hand with the

other. She pressed Wes’s fingers between her legs. “Touch me. I need

to come for you.”

Wes stroked her, slid lower, pressed inside, and Evyn exploded

in her hand. “I love you,” Wes whispered. “No chances today, Evyn. I

can’t lose you.”

Evyn sighed and stretched, trailing her fingers down Wes’s back—

sated, supremely content. “You won’t lose me, I promise. I’m here for

the long term.”

Wes kissed her, choosing to believe for a little while longer they

could control the future.

v

Hooker opened the minifridge tucked in the corner of his motel

room and removed a small plain cardboard box the size of a ballpoint

pen case. The clear plastic vial with the screw top was nestled inside,

surrounded by a Styrofoam cut-out. A half-inch of milky white fluid

filled the end of the tube—at least it had when he’d checked it when

he’d accepted it from the woman in Georgia. He hadn’t looked at it

again. He didn’t want to look at it, he didn’t want to touch it. He wasn’t

superstitious, but he didn’t ride around with a loaded gun and the safety

off pointed at his chest, either. If all he’d been told was true, whatever

was in the tube was ten kinds of deadly dangerous. He couldn’t hand it

off soon enough.

He placed the small, narrow box in a white plastic cooler along

with a couple of cans of beer and a burrito from the minimart where

he’d gassed up the rental car he’d used to drive north the night before.

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RADCLY fFE

Russo had pushed the timetable forward, and haste was never a good

idea, but Russo lived by the polls. If the numbers showed Powell

gaining in popularity, that was all that mattered to Russo—after all, he

wasn’t taking any risks. Hooker didn’t concern himself with politics—

politicians came and went as frequently as the weather shifted, and he’d

never seen that whoever held power changed things very much. Money

was the only true power, and Russo had plenty of that. He’d follow

Russo’s lead as long as the money held up.

He packed his travel bag and meticulously wiped down everything

he’d touched in the motel room, which hadn’t been much. He’d just

arrived the night before after dark in another rental car that he’d

procured with one of his aliases. He’d eaten at a fast-food place across

the highway from the motel and slept in his clothes. He’d shower at his

next stop. Satisfied that he hadn’t left anything of himself behind, he

grabbed his bag and the cooler, left his room key on the rickety table

by the door, and walked out just as the sun came up. He couldn’t finish

this job fast enough. In five hours, he’d be at the airport headed home

for Christmas Eve.

v

Jennifer stepped out of the shower and wrapped a fluffy white bath

sheet around her chest. It fell to her thighs, chasing away the slight chill

in the bathroom. The temperature had dropped again, and the old town

house let in a little of the night air through hidden cracks and crevices.

A small price to pay for its historic beauty, except on mornings like

these. She hurried into her bedroom, drying herself as she went, and

dressed hastily in a navy suit, white shirt, and low dark heels. She

didn’t plan to stay very long in the diner and doubted the man, Tom,

would want to linger, either. Twenty minutes, really, ought to be enough

for two people whose only connection was a common friend to share a

cup of coffee, make small talk, and go their separate ways. She’d timed

the meeting so she’d finish up and arrive at the clinic at shift change,

when she’d slide her lunch bag into the staff refrigerator just as she did

every morning. Only today, the bag would be a little fuller. Her stomach

trembled when she thought about the next step.

She wasn’t frightened, she was excited. Proud to be the one to

ultimately carry out the mission. Her family would be proud that she

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had fulfilled her destiny—that she’d learned her lessons well and had

struck a blow for true freedom and independence. If she was very lucky

and everything went according to plan, she might even survive. But if

she didn’t, she would die knowing she’d made a difference. And after

all, that’s what she’d been born for.

• 257 •

RADCLY fFE

chapter thirty-twO

Wes sat in the van beside Block and two Secret Service agents

she didn’t know, watching the monitor from a camera

trained on the front of Eva’s Diner. She’d been watching patrons come

and go since 0600. Two other video feeds—from cameras above the

restroom hallway in the rear and over the kitchen door behind the

counter—revealed the interior. A directional audio receiver that Block

could reposition remotely from his control panel had been secured to

an overhead light fixture. The place was small—a long, narrow room

with eight booths against the plate glass front windows and a dozen

black-vinyl-topped stools in front of the counter. At zero-seven twenty,

almost every space was occupied.

Roberts had advised the diner owner who’d arrived to open the

place at 0530 that the team, from an unnamed federal agency, needed

surveillance to document unspecified criminal activity. The owner, a

bottle-blonde of indeterminate age, was thrilled by the whole thing and

a very good actress. She worked the counter and never once glanced at

the cameras—or at the undercover agents posing as patrons.

Wes couldn’t see Evyn, who was posted inside the kitchen with

a view through the circular window on the swinging door. In order to

protect the civilians, the plan was to record the exchange on video and

apprehend both Jennifer and her contact outside the building in a safe

zone. Wes’s job was to receive the virus and supervise its transport to a

secure lab. The second part of her assignment—the part she hoped she

would not have to carry out—was to limit civilian exposure in the event

the virus was released and oversee the treatment of any individuals who

were exposed.

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Oath Of hOnOr

The other agents inside the diner posed as a businessman reading

a newspaper at the far end of the counter opposite the rear exit and a

young couple having breakfast at a booth just inside the front door.

They blended in with the morning business crowd and neighborhood

diners, and Wes doubted even someone looking for it would pick up

their constant survey of anyone coming in the door.

“Here comes the subject,” Block murmured, and Wes swiveled

on her stool to get a view of his monitor. Jennifer Pattee, a large black

leather bag over one shoulder, walked briskly up to the diner door and

inside. The kitchen feed picked her up as she walked a few feet down

the aisle and then slowed as if searching for someone she planned to

meet. With a sudden smile, she hurried on and sat down across from a

single man in a Redskins cap drinking coffee in a booth. Wes had looked

at him a half dozen times and noted nothing out of the ordinary—mid-

thirties, possibly older, rugged outdoor type in a flannel shirt with faint

dark stubble along his jaw. He half rose as Jennifer sat, and Block

adjusted the audio receiver for maximum reception.

“Hi,” Jennifer said as she settled across from the man. “You must

be Tom.”

“And you’re Jennifer. Ellie’s told me so much about you.”

“She hasn’t told me nearly enough about you,” Jennifer said. “It’s

great to finally meet you. I’m sorry you won’t be able to stay longer in

the city. I could play tour guide.”

He smiled, sipped his coffee, and said nothing while a waitress

approached. Jennifer asked for coffee and a plain croissant.

“Maybe next time I’m through,” he said.

“That would be great.” Jennifer picked at the pastry, although she

didn’t appear nervous. She glanced at her watch several times while her

contact passed on a refill on his coffee and watched the door as other

customers came and went.

“Excuse me,” he said, fishing his cell phone from his pocket. “I’m

expecting a message.”

“Please—go ahead,” Jennifer said quickly.

He checked the readout and grimaced. “I’m so sorry, a business

message from a client overseas. They’re available now and I have to get

back to them. It may take a while. I hate to have gotten you all the way

out here only to run out on you.”

“That’s okay—if you can get free for lunch or dinner in the next

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RADCLY fFE

day or so, you have my number. If not, maybe I’ll see you the next time

I visit Ellie.”

“Absolutely.” He started to rise and paused. “Oh, I almost

forgot…” He reached into a backpack beside him and drew out a small

narrow box. “Ellie asked me to give you this. A Christmas present. She

said she didn’t get her shopping done in time to mail it to you.”

Laughing, Jennifer slid the small box into her oversized bag. “That

sounds like her. Thanks for bringing it along.”

“No problem. Well—I should go.”

“All right. Hopefully we’ll meet again sometime soon.”

He held her gaze a moment. “I hope so too. Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas,” Jennifer said softly.

v

Roberts’s voice came over the COM. “Team one, subject is on his

way out. Take him at the corner…Go.”

Wes watched as two men closed in from either side and a woman

stepped from a parked SUV into his path, forcing him to slow. The

subject’s expression went from surprised to wary, and he quickly scanned

up and down the street as if considering his chances of escaping. Within

seconds, the two male agents each grabbed an arm and the trio pushed

him forward into the back of the idling SUV. The agents followed him

in, and the vehicle sped away. The whole thing was over in less than a

minute.

Wes scanned all the monitors for Evyn and didn’t see her

anywhere. Her mouth went dry but her pulse stayed steady. She glanced

at the masks and hazmat suits stacked by the van door. Evyn knew her

job, and she knew hers. No matter what happened out there, she’d find

Evyn.Inside the diner, Jennifer searched through the large shoulder

bag and came out with bills that she laid on the table next to her

uneaten croissant and nearly full cup of coffee. Wes wondered if she’d

transferred the stolen sample to another container inside the bag. Any

unnecessary handling risked rupturing the seal on the tube or, even

worse, breakage.

“Showtime,” Block muttered as Jennifer stood and pulled on her

topcoat, slipped the strap of her black leather bag securely onto her

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Oath Of hOnOr

shoulder, and strode directly toward the front door. The next second,

she stepped out into the morning.

v

“Go,” Roberts said over the COM.

Evyn pushed away from the side of the diner and strode around

the corner to the front. Jennifer was thirty feet away, one hand in the

pocket of her coat, the other on top of her bag.

“Hi, Jen,” Evyn said brightly, watching the hand on the bag. As far

as she could tell, the bag was closed. She looked past Jennifer down the

block, saw Paula Stark intercept a woman with a stroller and redirect

her back the way she had come. The sidewalk right in front of the diner

was clear—the inside team would have prevented anyone from exiting

until the intercept was over and the area secured. Directly across from

Jennifer, Roberts stepped out of a parked SUV.

“Oh hi, Evyn.”

Twenty-five feet.

“How about I give you a ride to work.”

Twenty feet.

Jennifer’s friendly smile dimmed. “I’m not due in for another hour

or so. Thanks anyhow.”

Fifteen feet.

“I’ll give you a lift home, then.” And focused on shoulder bag, on

Jennifer’s fingers gripping the zipper along its top edge.

Jennifer glanced over her shoulder. Stark strode rapidly toward her.

Her gaze cut across the street. Cam, joined by another agent, arrowed

toward her. Jennifer’s eyes widened.

Ten feet.

“You’ll want to say yes, Jen,” Evyn said, watching Jennifer’s hand