Linda O. Johnston - Covert Alliance

Ella had called this man Alan. He had just reentered the restaurant behind the group, but now he slid in front, approaching Kelly. She wanted to flee into the kitchen. Instead, she stood her ground.

The last thing she wanted was to do anything that might make her conspicuous, especially now, with Stan in the room.

Besides, her suspicion of this guy could just be a self-protective instinct. She couldn’t trust anyone. She didn’t dare.

“Good job getting this set up, Kelly,” Alan said to her immediately. Ella had told him her name earlier, too.

A feeling of warmth passed through her—unwanted heat. Sure, he was attractive. Sexy.

But she didn’t dare even hint at flirting with him.

“Thanks,” she said, making sure she did everything possible to stay within her role.

Alan was over six feet tall. His deep brown eyes regarded her from beneath craggy dark brows that matched his short hair, and he smiled.

But something in his expression made Kelly think he was trying to keep up appearances, too. Maybe because she suspected everyone these days.

Or maybe because she actually knew who this guy was.

“Hey, can we place our orders now?” someone called from beside her. “We’re in a hurry.”

Kelly needed to move away from Alan, and so she turned to respond. But she knew that voice. It was Stan’s.

Which would be less risky—staying here and talking with this possible security guy who might have a different agenda from the rest of his team?

Or confronting Stan for the first time?

“Go ahead,” Ella said from her other side, and the choice was taken from her.

When she glanced in Alan’s direction, she saw him nod slightly, with a small grin on his rugged, amused face that suggested he understood her dilemma.

Was she just reading into his appearance, his actions, because she suspected there would be someone in this town who was also undercover, but officially so?

Well, this wasn’t the time to worry about it. Right now, she needed to confront Stan. Sort of. While staying in character, and praying that her new appearance worked, and Stan didn’t recognize her.

And thus she would at last be able to accomplish what had become her life’s mission: protecting Eli and finally getting the evidence on Stan.

* * *

Alan Correy watched the gorgeous waitress who turned toward the tables of city council members.

The woman he had never met, yet already knew.

When he had come in before as a staff member of Blue Haven Security—his job here, while undercover—to request the tables, Ella had said her name was Kelly. And Alan had previously been instructed to keep an eye out for the woman now known as Kelly Ladd. He had been sent her photo as she’d looked originally, along with the last time they’d seen her, by his boss over his secure phone connection. Was this her?

Maybe.

That woman had taken full advantage of his real employer, the ID Division of the US Marshals Service. They had provided her protection as well as an identity change. But she left the job she had been given in her new life, disappeared without permission from the division’s head, Judge Treena Avalon, or anyone else.

She had been expected to show up here. Apparently she had.

This Kelly resembled the photo, although her hair was softer, curlier and a darker brown, pulled away from her face with a narrow band. Her cheekbones were more prominent, her lips narrower. Her face could have won beauty contests.

But the real Kelly, in addition to having had her looks modified, would also have been instructed in ways to further disguise herself if necessary.

Instead of immediately rushing over to the tables to take orders, Kelly continued looking at Alan for an instant. He had a sense that she was assessing him the way he was assessing her. That she suspected who he was, too.

But then she quickly pulled a pad from the pocket of her skimpy skirt and approached the table.

The person nearest to her, who’d just commanded her attention, was the reason Alan was here in Blue Haven.

And if he was right about who she was, Stan Grodon might in fact be the reason this attractive waitress was here, too. For similar reasons to his.

If so, she was endangering everything Alan stood for. Endangering herself—again—as well.

He would need to stop her. Oh, yeah.

But for now, he would ignore his deep-seated irritation—and her sexiness—and simply observe.

* * *

Could she do this?

She had to. Eli’s well-being was at stake.

Kelly quickly turned her back on the man who sent sparks of nervousness up her spine, whom she believed could ruin everything here for her—and for Eli.

But if she tried, she could ruin everything for him, too. Not that she wanted to.

The tables, all pushed together, seated four on each side and two along the end. A small bouquet of pink roses decorated the middle. The council group members were chatting amiably, although Kelly caught occasional brief eye rolls from some of them.

“Hello,” she said with a huge, contrived smile as she planted herself between Stan and another council member, one who looked familiar but whom she didn’t place. “What can I bring you gentlemen?”

“A tall mug of your strongest and best coffee,” said the short, older man.

“Me, too,” said Stan. “Get yourself one, as well. Then you can sit on my lap and drink it.”

It was all Kelly could do to prevent herself from gagging. Or, more preferable, grabbing the pitcher of water from the table and bashing Stan in the head with it.

His face was round, his hair thinning, his wide grin evil and unsexy, but he undoubtedly still considered himself the world’s greatest gift to women.

For now, Kelly had to go along with it. “Well, thank you, sir,” she said in the new soft and lower voice in which she’d been coached. “But I’m sure you’ll understand that I have to help your friends get their meals, too.”

She did it. She looked straight into his eyes and all but batted her lashes.

If he was going to recognize her, better that it happen now, with all these people around, than later.

“Oh, I understand, all right,” he responded, giving her a huge and ugly wink. “But I come here often. We’ll grab coffee—and more—another time. You’re new at the Haven, aren’t you?”

“Yes, sir.” She made herself pause. “It’s such a wonderful place. Filled with wonderful people.” She didn’t glance away, despite how painful it was to watch him.

Did he know who she was?

Apparently not. A brief feeling of relief shot through her as he continued to treat her like a total stranger. A total female stranger he chose to flirt with.

“Sure is,” he said. “Like the rest of our Blue Haven. Welcome, and I hope you stay a long, long time. I’m Stan, by the way.”

“Me, too, sir,” she lied. “And I’m Kelly.”

She forced herself to continue to take his order—ham and eggs and all the makings of a big breakfast. The others also gave their orders, although a couple of additional waitstaff now joined Kelly to help.

When she was finally finished, she saw that Alan, the good-looking guy she didn’t dare trust, had seated himself with another man in a suit at a smaller table nearby.

He was watching her. And as she hurried into the kitchen to place the orders, she turned back. Alan’s gaze hadn’t left her. As sexy as she considered the man, she felt certain that physical attraction was far from his motive for observing her.

Alan might be the person who was supposed to be here, undercover, to bring Stan down.

But at the same time he might bring Kelly down, too.

Chapter 2

Kelly wished she could stand there and eavesdrop on Stan’s conversations—unobtrusively, without encouraging his disgusting flirtation with her. But she knew she had to stay on top of the requests made by all customers at the tables to which she’d been assigned. At least that included the one where Stan sat.