Debra Webb - Striking Distance

There was only one thing she could do now.

Wait.

Chapter 15

Tasha moaned softly as the steam rose around her. It felt so good to just soak for a while. She’d taken a shower after her debrief this morning, then a power nap that lasted for three hours. But this...this was pure luxury. She needed this. Her muscles loosened...relaxed as the heat chased away the stress and soreness. It might just take hours to soothe all the kinks and stiffness.

She apparently had the time. He hadn’t called.

Her eyes opened and she lay there, her gaze searching for anything in the foggy room to focus on. She didn’t want to think about him...not yet. Draping her arms along the sides of the tub, she forced his image away.

But not quickly enough. An entirely different kind of heat coiled inside her. She cursed herself for allowing it. He was a killer...the enemy. And yet, somehow he’d gotten to her on a level over which she had no control. It was totally unbelievable. She tried hard to pinpoint the precise root of the feeling. It wasn’t sympathy. There was a definite physical attraction, despite his lack of personality. But that wasn’t such a big deal. As Ramon would say, she wasn’t dead. Any woman breathing would be attracted to Seth on a physical level. But she could handle that. He was an assassin...a very dangerous man...a bad guy...the enemy. Taking him down wouldn’t be a problem.

That last thought echoed hollowly. “Shit,” she muttered. This couldn’t happen. She’d just met the guy. Taking him down was her mission...but something felt wrong.

How could she even think about screwing up this badly? She shook her head slowly from side to side. This was the opportunity of a lifetime. Lucas Camp had come to her! She couldn’t let anything get in the way. Why the hell had she chosen psychology for her major, anyway? If she hadn’t, maybe then she wouldn’t have bothered looking beneath the surface.

She scrubbed a hand over her face and cursed herself again. This wasn’t about what made the guy tick. This was about stopping a killer—a hired assassin—before he accomplished his mission. Her primary goal, outside seeing that he didn’t accomplish his, was making the connection between him and the man who hired him. Nothing else mattered. All those scars... The overwhelming feeling that he was as much a victim as those he hunted was of no consequence.

He would be stopped, one way or another. And so would the man who’d hired him. Lucas’s intentions were crystal clear. He wanted this guy dead. Tasha felt it all the way to her bones. It was personal somehow.

A knock at the front door jerked her from her troubling thoughts. Water sloshed as she pushed upright. Her heart kicked into a faster rhythm.

She shifted to her feet, the steam rising off her skin, and stepped out of the tub onto the fluffy bath mat. Shouldering into the robe without bothering to towel dry, she reached for her weapon next.

As she padded down the short hall, her bare feet leaving a trail of water, she chambered a round in the weapon Maverick had given her. Another knock rattled the hinges as she crossed the living room. She peered through the peephole, her heart pounding, and saw Maverick.

Heaving a relieved sigh, she shook off the tension and opened the door. “What’s up?”

Maverick stepped inside, and she closed the door behind him. “Just wanted you to know that we lifted his prints from your cell phone but they were useless.” He passed the phone back to her.

A frown nagged at her forehead. “He wasn’t in the system?” The guy was clearly a high-end professional, getting caught wouldn’t be in keeping with his skill level. And unless he’d been caught and charged with some crime, he wouldn’t be in any system.

He shook his head and handed her the boots she’d worn last night. “Can’t tell. There’s too much alteration, not enough legible lines to go for a match.”

“He doesn’t intend to be ID’d.” This just kept getting better and better. Seth was really on top of his game. He’d had his fingerprints altered.

“It’s professional work, too, not a homemade job.”

That’s why she hadn’t felt any particular roughness when he’d touched her. This wasn’t a hack job to alter any prints he’d leave behind, this was one of those cutting-edge “escape clinic” laser jobs. Very expensive, very cleverly done. Either Seth or the man he worked for knew how to remain anonymous.

“If he calls,” she offered, “I can try and get a look around his place. See what I can find.”

Maverick nodded. “Just be careful.” He looked at her a moment before he continued. “Lucas would like you to try and get a DNA sample. We don’t know how much good it’ll do, but it’s another avenue of identification.”

The various ways a sample could be obtained flashed quickly through her mind. “All right.”

Maverick looked away briefly before adding, “You know a shed hair won’t get us what we need. If you could lift his toothbrush or razor, assuming it’s not the electric type, that would be better.”

She nodded. “Got it.”

“Just be careful, North.” Maverick shook his head, his expression cluttered with more concern than she would have expected from a man of his background. “You’re right when you said there’s something off about this guy. He worries me more than most I’ve run across in my time. Lucas said the same thing.”

At least she wasn’t the only one picking up those vibes. “Don’t worry, I’ve got it under control.”

That was a flat-out lie, but he didn’t need to know it. In the event that he was fishing for Lucas, she wasn’t about to give him any information that could discredit her in any way.

“I’ll be right downstairs.” He glanced at her robe. “Don’t forget to put another patch in place.”

“Will do.”

When he’d gone, she retraced her damp path to the bathroom, drained the tub and cleaned up the mess she’d made. She set her weapon aside, reached into the medicine cabinet and got the box that contained the patches. To anyone else they looked like a simple birth control prescription. Lucas’s people covered every base. If her target decided to check her out, he’d find nothing that would suggest she wasn’t who she said she was. They’d even furnished the second bedroom of the apartment, complete with young, female wardrobe, to give the illusion of a roommate.

Tasha pressed the patch into place and checked out her reflection. The bruise on her cheek was pretty much gone now, and her lip was way better. A dab of makeup and she’d be good to go. Her side was still a little tender, but not so bad.

The firm knock on her front door made her jump. Damn, she was edgy. Forgetting her appearance for the moment she strode back into the living room. What did Maverick want now?

She opened the door without bothering to check the peephole.

Her target filled the doorway, those piercing blue eyes covered by dark shades.

For one second she was sure she had to be imagining things, but she blinked and he was still there.

He removed the concealing eyewear and focused that fierce gaze on her. “Ask me in.”

A shiver raced across her skin as much from the sound of his deep voice as from those eyes. She summoned a semblance of control and stepped back, opening the door wide. “Come on in.”

He reached down and picked up a bag she hadn’t noticed since she was too busy staring at those unsettling eyes. Idiot, she railed silently. Details. She wasn’t supposed to miss any.

Once he’d stepped inside, he closed and locked the door behind him. That move should have set her on edge but didn’t. Maverick and Ramon would be watching. Her apartment was rigged for surveillance. Seth looked at her, surveyed her lack of proper attire and then settled his gaze on hers. “I have a job for you.”