Alex shook his hands in the bowl of the sink and reached for the hand towel hanging from a ring in the wall next to the light switch. In the mirror, he met her gaze. “i don't doubt it. There aren't a lot of foreign dignitaries in town, so maybe the Connery family are involved, the target was you or it was a warning to you, the buildings were a temptation too great to pass up. Whoever did it had it planned well in advance though. Packing two separate trucks with that amount of explosive and finding their way to an open route in that mess? they definitely knew we were going to  be there.” He shook his head, the light casting bronze-tinted highlights in his dark hair. “Either they got lucky with the accident clogging up traffic, or they set it up that way in the first place. My money’s on the second guess.”She shivered at the certainty in his voice, in his eyes and at the the thought of what they were up against, for all the years she has built her company alone she had

The weight of responsibility on her shoulders, the grief in her eyes—they hit Alex like a kick to the gut. He squeezed his fingers around the padded arms of the chair, fighting the urge to walk over there and wrap her up in his arms. For Christ’s sake, he was only human. To see this confident, polished woman so lost and vulnerable turned him inside out. She was clearly afraid to be here, yet she’d somehow found the strength to overcome it and do what she felt necessary.“And these greedy men.” She pushed a hand through the tangle of her hair and blew out a breath, then drew her knees up to her chest and looped her arms around them. “They have taken a lot of lifes badly, your men have done enough to risk their lives by simply coming to site. How the hell can this still be happening in this day and age? I’m not brave, never have been. I’m scared to death about going into battle with them, because of what happened to my father, but if he had the courage to defy the Connery fam

After a restless night without much sleep, Michelle answered Joanne’s door for her when someone knocked at seven a.m. She glanced up from the desk where she and Michelle had their laptops running and piles of papers spread between them to find Alex standing between the jambs.Her welcoming smile faded and her heart tripped when she saw his tight expression. Even though she’d only known him two days, she already knew that look meant trouble. “What’s wrong?”Striding to the desk, he pulled a copy of the morning paper out of his back pocket, unfolded it and set it in front of her to see. “This isn’t exactly the low profile we’re looking for,” he said, keeping his tone even despite his obvious irritation.Joanne peered down at the article. It showed a picture of her with the Cuban Minister, and the article was based on an interview he’d apparently given after she’d left yesterday. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened in denial before she

The four men with her in the vehicle seemed relaxed enough once they passed through the final military checkpoint in their journey, but Joanne’s stomach was in knots as they drove deeper into the northern part of the infamous Cuban Village. Alex had come to her room late last night to give her a brief rundown of emergency and safety procedures for the site. He’d listed them quickly and calmly, stressed he was only reviewing them all with her as standard procedure, and when she didn’t have any questions for him, he’d left. Surprisingly, knowing the procedures ahead of time actually made her feel more secure and she’d managed to sleep until her alarm woke her well before dawn.Once known as the Switzerland of the region, it was easy to see why. If she hadn’t known it was Cuba, she’d half expect to see Julie Andrews come running over the hill at any moment, dressed in a nun’s habit and singing her heart out. The high mountain peaks soared skyward, yet untouched by the coming Mists, and lu

Through his high-powered binoculars, Alex tracked the men's steady progress across the grassy plain. Joanne was bringing up the rear, carrying a little boy. When she at last reached the emergency bunker and disappeared inside it, some of the tension in his shoulders eased. Good girl.“They’re secure,” he said in a low voice to Marshall over the squad radio. “Let’s move.” Grabbing his rifle, he climbed to his feet and prepared to make the fifty yard run across the open space to a clump of bushes he’d chosen for his next cover.Currently making their way down the hillsides on two sides of the valley wall, the attackers seemed to be converging. So far Alex’s team had spotted fourteen in total. That didn’t account for any others hidden from view or possible reinforcements coming in from other areas.Charging over the grass to his new position, he dropped to one knee and took another look around. “I’m in position. Duke, give me status.”The spotter’s steady voice ca