Oh, fuck! this was the last thing they needed.
Alex gauged Joanne’s reaction to the news. With everything that had happened he kept waiting for her to crack under the strain, and so far she’d hung in there better than he ever could have expected. Even so, he couldn’t help but feel like this was the tipping point and he couldn’t stand the thought of watching her break. And with this new strain he was very afraid she might.Her mouth was pinched, her forehead creased with an anxious frown as she stared at her phone. She squeezed his hand so tight her fingers were white. The room was deathly silent in the wake of Pam’s announcement.“Is it Pablo?” she demanded, a quaver in her voice.“We don’t know yet,” Tom answered.A muscle jumped in her jaw, her gaze still on the phone’s screen, then she gave a sharp shake of her head. “I can’t tell anything from that picture, it’s too small. Give me my laptop.” She reached an ar
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Risen To The Top CHAPTER 60
Joanne glanced up at Alex. “The go-between for the Connery family and the Cuban officials the State Department told me about?”He took her hand again and stroked his thumb across her cold knuckles, trying to ease the anxiety he sensed in her. “Not sure, but they were specifically targeting you with this. And we’ll have barely enough time to get there even if we leave right now.” Each passing second wound him tighter inside. These assholes were part of the cell responsible for Joanne’s father’s death and the men they worked for were responsible for ruining her family and his life.. Alex wanted them taken out. If that meant having to take Joanne along to draw them out of hiding, he’d do it as long as he could be there to guarantee her safety and make sure she didn’t get too close.“Can we bring backup to this meeting?” he asked Pam.“Negative, they were very clear that it has to be just Joanne and one other person to the final destination. I’m
Risen To The Top CHAPTER 61
Marshall left to get his own gear together. Alex put on his tactical vest and grabbed his weapons while Joanne changed in the bathroom. Less than a minute later she reappeared in the black robe with a scarf covering her dark curls. Her face was pale but her eyes burned with conviction.Hold that thought, sweetheart. She was going to need every last bit of the fire burning in her gut to see this through. Shit he admired her. He held out another vest for her. “Put this on under your robe.”She did, paling a little at the stark reminder of the danger ahead. Wrapping his fingers around hers when she finished, he squeezed tight in reassurance and led her out to the parking lot. Sean and Duke were already standing next to the first of the two SUVs, both engines running.“Marshall brought us up to speed. We following you?” Sean asked.“With Marshall, and just until we hit the outskirts of Marianao,” Alex answered. “No idea what’s goin
Risen To The Top CHAPTER 62
Fuck. Twenty two minutes to find and verify the location for the Cuban police, on foot in this city? He pulled them out of traffic and put the SUV in park close to a police checkpoint, alerting Marshall over the radio. When Alex opened his door seconds later, Marshall was already there.“Stay here and wait for an update,” Alex told him. He rounded the hood and took Joanne by the arm to lead her to the checkpoint as he called Pam and gave him the heads up.The first of three heavily armed policemen took their ID. His face tensed in sudden recognition and he quickly got on the radio to someone. Another officer squared off with Alex. “You will wait here.”Like hell he would. If the local police already knew who they were then they knew what was going down and Alex wasn’t going to deal with any bureaucratic bullshit when so much hinged on this op and Joanne’s life was in danger just by being in the city. Here he didn’t trust anyone outside of hi
Risen To The Top CHAPTER 63
Joanne’s heart clattered against her ribs as Alex finally slowed to a walk.“Stand tall and look straight ahead, like you belong here,” he whispered.God, she was having trouble catching her breath, and he wasn’t even breathing hard. It went against every instinct to do as he said instead of constantly looking around to scan for threats, but she knew he was right. Giving off that sort of nervous energy would only look suspicious and make her stand out more. Right now the only things giving her the courage to see this through were having Alex right next to her and feeling the strength of his hand around hers. Wanting justice for her father and putting her own life on the line to see it done were two very different things.The map on her phone showed the address as being just a few blocks from where they stood. Here amongst the back alleys and quieter residential streets the night seemed hushed and ominous. The narrow street they were on was d
Risen To The Top CHAPTER 64
The sharp command cracked like a whip through the haze engulfing her. She put her head down and ran, focused only on keeping up with Alex. At the end of the third block he paused to glance back. With a curse he steered her around the corner, propelling her forward with a hard hand between her shoulder blades as he got on the radio to Marshall. " The police went in and triggered a bomb. Either a hidden tripwire or someone remote detonated it.”Joanne shuddered and kept going, driven by the desperate urge to escape and that implacable hand at her back.“Someone’s tailing us,” Alex added.What? She almost spun around to look but Alex pushed her around the next corner in a sharp left turn and kept talking to Marshall.“We’ll keep moving east but you may have to lead us out… Roger that.”“Someone’s after us?” she demanded, terror stealing more strength from her legs.“We’re okay. Just keep running.”He didn’t need to tell her she was slowing them down. Sh
Risen To The Top CHAPTER 65
Alex kept a hand braced on Joanne’s back as Marshall took a sharp right and floored it. He anchored her to stop her from sliding across the seat, felt her shuddering with the force of her sobs. Those heartbroken sounds cut straight through him, all the more unbearable because she was trying so hard to hold them back.Ah, shit. Just…shit. With Marshall in the vehicle they had no privacy but he couldn’t take watching her hurt like this. Alex rubbed a soothing hand over her back in a gentle circle, not knowing what to say. There was nothing he could say to make this any easier on her.At his touch she curled further into herself and turned her face away, burying it in her arms to hide from him, as though ashamed of him seeing her crying. Something sharp twisted in his chest and a burning pressure took hold of his lungs.Wedging his hip close to hers, he slid his hands beneath her shoulders and pulled her upward. She resisted, flinging one arm out and attempting to scut
Risen To The Top CHAPTER 66
Joanne stood beneath the spray of hot water from the showerhead, hands braced on the slick fiberglass wall, her forehead resting against the backs of her fingers. A little over two hours ago she’d survived yet another bombing then listened to the sound of an innocent man’s throat being slit. The same thing that had been done to her mother and brother, maybe even by the same hands. Ever since their death she’d imagined a thousand times what they must have gone through, but hearing the real thing tonight across the phone line was too horrific to bear.Blowing out a breath, she stretched the taut muscles in her neck. It was the middle of the night. She’d woken when the team had reached Havana to change vehicles, and after that it had been a blur of traffic and hotels as they searched for a safe place to stay. Alex had checked them in and whisked her straight up to the room without saying anything to her.There were no more tears to be shed. She’d cried them out in pai
Risen To The Top CHAPTER 67
Face buried in Joanne’s neck, Alex fought to slow his thundering heart.He’d never experienced anything like that in his life. He loved sex, always had, but this was so much more than sex it had rocked him to his core.Sweet Jesus. Whatever this emotional and physical connection between them was, he wanted more of it with Joanne. As much as he could have before he put her on that plane in a few hours. Being with her was the only thing that truly eased the constant bombardment of guilt and restlessness he’d felt since the night Scottie died.She was still wound around him, holding him deep inside her and he didn’t want to break the connection. But her legs and arms were trembling with fatigue and he didn’t want her to be uncomfortable for even a moment longer.He eased out of her and gently unwound her legs from his waist, noting the wince she tried to cover when he set her feet on the shower floor. He paused again to stroke his hands through her damp hair that c