Lynette Eason - Threat of Exposure

She parked at the entrance to EPIC—the El Paso Intelligence Center. Agencies currently represented in the building included the Drug Enforcement Agency and almost every division of law enforcement one could think of. Their job was to keep the border—and the citizens in the surrounding small towns and cities—safe.

And she was going to have a hand in that.

Climbing out of her car, she headed inside and made her way to the department she’d left only a couple of hours ago in order to rescue her temporary partner.

Sitting at her desk in the office she’d been assigned upon her arrival, she stared at the desk opposite hers.

Brock Martin. DEA agent. One who sometimes acted as the Lone Ranger. Sometimes followed the rules, sometimes not. But still, from all appearances, a good man who got the job done.

“Lord, I hope You’ll let me in on this plan of Yours that seems to be unfolding.”

“Talking to yourself?”

Gisella jerked at the deep voice and whirled to find Brock standing in the doorway looking at her. She felt the heat crawl into her neck and knew within seconds her cheeks would be fiery in spite of her olive skin. “Something like that. You got here fast.”

He pulled off his gloves then shrugged out of his heavy coat to drape it over the back of his chair. As he lowered himself into the seat, he said, “Backup got there pretty quick. I didn’t have to hang around much longer.” He steepled his fingers under his chin. “So. We’re going to be partners for a while, huh?”

“Looks that way.” She tried to ignore how well he filled out his pullover gray sweatshirt and how his blue eyes regarded her with an intensity that seemed to reach into her very soul. She cleared her throat. “So…why didn’t you have any backup tonight?”

“Not everybody takes backup with them when they meet an informant.”

She eyed him. “The smart ones do.”

He blinked. Then barked a laugh. “Right. Well, it just so happens that I had backup with me, but he got a call that his wife was in labor. Needless to say, I sent him on his way.” He rubbed a hand across his lips then frowned. “I’ll admit, Lenny surprised me. For over a year, the man has provided solid information—and made a small fortune off of me.” He shrugged. “I had no reason to suspect tonight would be any different.” Another pause as he looked at her. “I’m glad you tracked me down.”

Without another word, she nodded. She was glad, too. His last sentence might be considered a thank you. She decided she liked him a little better after all.

“So, show me what you’ve got.” He rolled his chair around so that he sat shoulder to shoulder with her. Unprepared for the sudden move or the next wave of awareness that shot through her, she gave a small jump. Wow, he smelled good—even after that tussle with Lenny.

She cleared her throat and reached into her briefcase. “All we have to go on right now is this information. It was on a flash drive that was found in Melora Hudson’s house. She was married to a man who was involved in the Lions and was killed two years ago because of it. His body was only found recently—near a drug drop site. It just goes to show you that these people will stop at nothing to protect their interests.” She waved the book at him. “I printed all of the information on the drive off and made this little black book here. I needed it on paper form to study. Anyway, so far, we’ve uncovered the fact that drug shipments are coming out of Juarez, Mexico.”

“Which is why you’re here, right?”

“Right. And here.” She pointed to the initials B.H.TX. “This is Boot Hill, Texas. We’ve already figured that much out. However, the rest of this is gibberish to me. You, however, know the border, you know the towns, you know the people. Surely, if there’s something in here, you’ll be able to zero in on it.”

He held out a hand and she placed the book in it. When she did, her knuckles brushed his palm and sent shivers dancing all the way up her arm.

Jerking back, she looked at him and saw the surprise and awareness on his face, too.

Before he could say anything, she blurted, “Look on page seven. There are a lot of initials and numbers we haven’t been able to decipher. Like I said, we figured out Boot Hill, but the others…” She bit off her words. She was repeating herself and sounding like an idiot. Clearing her throat, she shrugged. “Would you take a look at those and see if anything comes to you?”

“Sure.” His warm gaze lingered on her face a moment longer and she swallowed hard.

After what seemed like years, he let his blue eyes fall to the book in front of him. “So,” he drawled. “They sent you here all by yourself? With no backup?”

“Excuse me?” She understood the question, she just hoped she misunderstood the meaning behind it.

“No offense, but this is a really sticky situation and…”

At his doubtful look, Gisella bristled. She hadn’t misunderstood. And just when she was starting to think he wasn’t all bad. “What? You don’t think I can handle this assignment because I’m a woman?”

Disdain dripped from her voice but she didn’t care. She had no use for men who thought because she was female and pretty, she was somehow less than capable. Did she need to remind him of who’d saved whom only a short time ago?

He must have read her thoughts because he backpedaled and held up a hand as though in surrender. “No, no. That’s not what I’m saying—exactly. I’m just saying that this is an extremely dangerous playground. If these people find out about you and you were to get caught…” He swallowed. “I don’t have to tell you what the consequences would be. I just have a hard time believing your superiors would choose someone…”

She turned her head so that she came nose to nose with him.

And lip to lip.

Putting some distance between them, she held on to her ire and said, “I’m a big girl, Martin. I can handle it. They chose me because I can handle it. So don’t give me any grief about being a woman in a man’s world. I won’t listen to it.” She refused to bring up the incident with the informant. If she hadn’t proved herself there, it would be hopeless to get into a discussion with the man about her skills.

Over the years, she’d found arguing with the men in law enforcement about her abilities was fruitless. She just had to do her job, do it well and keep her mouth shut. She’d also found the old adage that actions spoke louder than words was true.

But Gisella’s gut tightened at the thought of the added tension Brock’s skepticism would bring to the table. She forced herself not to worry about it now. She’d just deal with it.

Like she had when she first became a Ranger and the men had looked at her with a mixture of disbelief that she’d infiltrated their ranks, and a haughty, arrogant assurance that she wouldn’t be around long.

She’d proven them all wrong and was now a respected and well-thought-of member of Company D. But it definitely hadn’t been an easy road to travel.

And while she might keep her cool and ignore a lot of stuff she considered silly, that didn’t mean she didn’t have a backbone. “Can we focus on what we need to do? You go over that book while I fill out these papers on the shooting.”

He just looked at her for a moment. Then sighed. “Yeah, sure.” He glanced down, then back up. “I didn’t mean to offend you, I was just…concerned.”

“No need to be,” she clipped.

She’d already called Ben and filled him in on the shooting incident. He wasn’t happy at the tap dancing he was going to have to do in order for her to continue her current investigation. After a shooting, an officer was generally placed on administrative leave during the investigation. But Ben had pull in a lot of places. And the videotape from Brock’s car that she’d sent him would go a long way with Internal Affairs.