Stephanie Doyle - Calculated Risk

He released one of her wrists and his hand followed a path until he was cupping her swollen breast. She heard him growl and knew that he was frustrated by the barrier of clothes. For that matter so was she. It had been too long for them to take this slow. The liquid heat pooling between her legs needed to be satisfied quickly. The only thought racing through her mind was fast. She wanted him inside her, pounding hard and fast and deep. She needed to feel that connection now and she didn’t want to wait for the time it took to mess with bras or belts.

With her free hand she reached down and cupped the heavy erection that was urgently pressing against the confines of his pants.

“Wait,” he muttered.

“No waiting,” she whispered and struggled to reach for his belt.

He reached down, grabbed her hand and again pressed it to the bed. She wanted to howl, her frustration was so keen.

“Damn it, Q.”

He looked into her eyes and she could see the fog of desire in the cold gray irises. He wanted her. Desperately. She knew it deep inside. But he was holding back. He always had, except for that one night when she had caught him off guard.

Sadly, she shook her head. “Why won’t you trust me enough to let go? Just once.”

“Is that what this is about? You want me to trust you?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

His eyes stayed pinned on hers for a moment, then asked, “You think you can seduce me into going after Kahsan?”

It was as if he’d hit her. Only she’d been hit by him before so knew for a fact that this hurt worse. He thought she was using him. That’s how deep his suspicion of her went. The fact that he was right, that on some level she was using him, didn’t enter into it. Because for a few minutes, she hadn’t been playing.

“Get off me.”

When he didn’t move fast enough, she shifted her leg that was pressed between his thighs and pushed her knee to his groin. “You really don’t want to test me right now,” she threatened.

He rolled off her and stood next to the bed and she rolled to the other side.

“You’re right,” she lied as she straightened her sweater. “Cheap trick, I suppose. A woman’s wiles and all that.” She moved toward the window. Looking outside she saw only what she had seen before-cars passing by at high speeds.

“Sabrina…”

She wouldn’t look at him. “If sex won’t work to convince you that now is our best opportunity to go after Kahsan, what will?” She hadn’t been thinking about Kahsan at all. Not the second that Quinlan’s mouth touched hers.

That was wrong. Sabrina could see how wrong that was.

She’d been given this mission to accomplish. She’d taken it on as her personal crusade to right the wrong she’d let happen for the past ten years. Letting a man tied to her past distract her from that was criminal. And she knew it.

“I told you. I have orders. And maybe… I still don’t understand what’s driving you to do this.”

“You mean you don’t believe me when I tell you I want a chance to catch a bad guy,” she clarified, her voice tight as she tried to keep the anger at bay. “Fine. You want some other motivation other than the fact that you and I both know this man is evil incarnate? How about I’m searching for approval? You read my psych profile. My father didn’t pay enough attention to me so I’m forever seeking out male attention and recognition, blah, blah, blah.”

“You’re telling me you’re doing this for your father?” His skepticism was obvious.

She didn’t care. Time was running out. He was either going to be with her or he wasn’t. She needed to know that now. But before he would commit he needed a reason. Briefly, she contemplated telling him the truth. Problem was there was no reason to think that he would believe she’d been chosen for this assignment any more than he believed she had volunteered for it.

“Dad, Arnold, you. Pick one.” She watched his face but his expression remained unchanged. “Still not buying it, huh.”

Rather than answer her, he looked away. “The agents will be here soon.”

“Super. Let me ask you something. Do you know how long it took Arnold to develop the encryption code that you guys decided to use on the satellite data?”

There was a sudden silence in the room as she waited for him to remember how long Arnold had worked as an outside contractor to the agency. When he didn’t answer, she knew that she had made her point.

“Twelve years,” she said. “He’d started tinkering with it when I first met him. Twelve years of development and testing until it was foolproof. It had to be in order to be chosen as the method of security for the isotope project.”

“What’s your point?”

“I’m good, Q. Maybe the best. But I wasn’t exaggerating before when I told you that it could take me months to break his code. Possibly even years. We lost track of that cell that was in this country. They’re gone. And the likelihood is they will stay gone until they either act or the FBI finds them through regular old fieldwork. But Kahsan is here. Within our grasp. Not acting now while we have this chance would be the real crime against this country. I think you know it, too.”

His lips twitched in a half smile. “You’re always telling me what I know.”

“Can’t help it. Occupational hazard.”

“You really want to get him?” he asked her.

“Only because I am so sure we can.”

Quinlan sighed thoughtfully. At that moment they heard two cars pull into the motel parking lot. Sabrina pulled the curtain back and watched as two men got out of their respective vehicles. They had “spook” written all over them.

“They’re here,” she told him. “This is your last chance. What are you going to do?”

The knock on the door didn’t startle Sabrina since she’d seen their approach. “It’s now or never.”

“Open the door,” Quinlan told her.

She cursed under her breath, but did as he asked. There was only one option left to her now. She was going to have to take out the agents and Quinlan, incapacitate them to the point where she’d be able to make her escape and send her message to Kahsan. Looking over her shoulder, she realized Quinlan was right behind her. His size was suddenly more apparent to her now.

Yeah, taking him out wasn’t going to be a whole lot of fun. Then she thought about his accusation of seducing him in order to get him to cooperate and decided a flesh wound wasn’t a horrible price to pay. Maybe something high and neat on his upper thigh, somewhere a little too close for comfort to the family jewels.

Sabrina opened the door and the two men each flashed identification. They were of equal size and girth, dressed similarly in khakis, boots and ski jackets. One, however, was clearly younger than the other. She backed away from the door and Quinlan nodded. He must have recognized the older of the two agents from the Farm.

“We brought two cars. Agent Patterson will take Ms. Masters, and you and I-” he pointed to Quinlan “-will follow and act as a shield in case anyone tries to intercept. We also brought some gear for you.” The agent dropped a gym bag at Quinlan’s feet.

There was a change of clothes for him and her. Quinlan showed the bag to Sabrina but she shook her head not wanting to take the time to change. For himself he took out a ski jacket and a pair of gloves.

Then Quinlan stood and said casually, “If it’s all the same to you I’ll drive with Ms. Masters. I think she would be more comfortable with me.”

Sabrina glanced at him sharply, but his face showed nothing.

The two agents looked at each other. The younger one, Patterson, shrugged as if to suggest that he didn’t see a problem. The older man concurred. “That’s fine.” He tossed the set of keys to Quinlan who snatched them out of midair.