Dean can't really believe that he and Thalia succeeded their scheme against Dr. Lucas. Yet here he was, sitting in the front seat of an unmarked sedan and monitoring the movements of a rogue scientist who was about to meet a bona fide terrorist for a clandestine rendezvous. To Dean's delight, Dr. Lucas had signed that forged immunity agreement. He'd told them about the gambling debts he'd accrued over the past few years, admitted to having a bit of a cocaine problem, confessed that he'd been paid a substantial amount of dough for his work on Project Taurus, yet apparently not substantial enough to put even a chip in his mountain of debt. When the loan sharks and creditors came knocking, Dr. Lucas had panicked and done the only thing he could think of - sold a deadly virus to a terrorist group. Right, because for him that is the only way to solve his money problem. Dean just focused on the corner of the coffee shop, watching Dr. Lucas every move. The scientist was at a table on the

When Dean finally returned to their motel room, Thalia had never been happier to see anyone in her entire life. It's true that Dean kept his promise and called her on a prepaid phone to let her know that he was on the way back, but she still couldn't breathe properly, not until she saw him in person and saw with her own two eyes that he was okay.Good thing he looked more than okay. Her warrior was back, his eyes glittering with menace as he spotted Dr. Steve Lucas sitting stiffly at the kitchenette. Thalia had brought the scientist back to their motel room claiming that it was for his own protection, and that he needed to be away from the terrorist's eyes. She'd led Dr. Lucas to believe that Dean and an entire team of special agents were pursuing the terrorist, when in fact it was Dean's solo mission on his part. Yet he was no longer working solo, she realized once two men in dark suits followed him into the room. Real federal agents, she thought as she noticed their Department of

When Dean was suddenly quiet, she didn't push him to continue. The pain in his eyes sent an ache to her heart, and the dull note in his voice brought the fresh sting of tears to her eyes. "But he's the one who got hurt in the end," Dean said. "One night I convinced him to go out in the middle of the night so we could go late-night fishing in the lake near our house. He didn't want to come with me, but he still thought about my welfare. After fifteen minutes without a single bite, I got bored of catching fish and decided to swim in the lake."Dean was quiet again. Thalia suddenly felt queasy. "So Maverick also accompanied me to swim in the lake. We really enjoyed ourselves while bathing, we even played a game of holding our breath under the water. I won with a time of ninety seconds. But me being me, I'm bored of our game again. But Maverick still wanted to stay in the water for a while, so I left him in the middle of the lake. When I reached the shore, I turned around to look at Mav

"We've got a visual on Apollo. I repeat, visual on Apollo. He appears to be asleep in the back bedroom, west side, clear shot." The hushed report came from the sniper positioned on the roof of the house bordering the terrorist nest. "Roger that. Maintain visual." Faust's voice, in that same monotone murmur, echoed in Dean's earpiece. "Visual on two tangos in the back bedroom, east side," the operative covering the side of the house whispered. "Andromeda One and Two. No movement.""Andromeda Three, Four and Five in the kitchen. Visual on back door," came another whisper. "Awake but no movement."From his position in the hedges separating the UFF nest from the neighboring home, Dean fixed his gaze on the front of the house. The light was on in the living room, and he saw someone lying on the sofa, a man watching television. The bluish light from the TV screen reflected off the glass of the large front window. "Tango in the living room. Awake but no movement," Dean murmured. "That mak

Instead of going back to their motel room, Dean and Thalia checked into a hotel using Dean's fake identity. The only available room ended up being a suite with a huge Jacuzzi tub that brought a delighted grin to Thalia's face. Dean loved seeing her so happy, and she was much cuddlier now than usual. Linking arms when they walked, snuggling close during the car ride, planting a spontaneous and unbelievably passionate kiss on his lips in the hotel elevator. That kiss had succeeded in getting him harder than concrete, but neither of them had been in the mood for sex as they got settled in the suite. They haven't slept in the past twenty-four hours, so that's the reason why they just fell asleep when they got to their hotel room. When Dean's eyes opened a few hours later to find that it was dark beyond the floor-to-ceiling window, and he groaned with unhappiness. Thalia lay next to him, her warm ass wiggling into his groin. "What's wrong?" she asked sleepily."Imagine, we've been slee