Special Forces Saviour. Janie Crouch
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were very few people who could have done that effectively. A dirty agent inside the Critical Response Division could, but having one there was unlikely.
And since Derek and this investigation had been under such close scrutiny by high-ranking government officials, any one of them could be responsible, too. Which was uglier, but made more sense in a lot of ways.
“Gentlemen,” Steve said. “It looks like there’s every possibility that we’ve got some high-ranking US official who is tied in with the Chicago terrorist attack.”
Jon pointed at the now-destroyed lab. “And we’re looking at the third extreme example of what that person, or people, might be willing to do to keep us from making any progress on the case.”
“Whoever it is has also put us back at square one in terms of evidence.” Derek could feel his teeth grinding, knowing they’d been so close to a real breakthrough only to lose it. “Nothing in the lab survived that explosion. It was definitely important, but now it’s gone.”
All three men looked at the smoke still rising from the building. The fire was out, but the smoke would linger for a while.
“Well, they may have successfully destroyed whatever evidence we’d gotten yesterday, but they also tipped their hand a little too far,” Jon said. “They’ve given us an edge they don’t know we have by revealing they have inside knowledge. We should use that to our advantage.”
The director nodded at both men. “I agree. I’m going to start keeping much more careful track of what information is going to which offices. The committee we report to every day hasn’t been the only ones requesting information. I’ll see what I can narrow down. And I damn sure won’t be sharing actual pertinent info about the case any longer.”
Steve turned away from the lab. “Go home, get some rest,” he continued. “Tomorrow you guys head back out to the house in West Philly, see if anything there can be salvaged. Track down where the lead came from and see if you can get any further info.”
Derek nodded. He needed to get Molly home, let her rest. But then he’d be coming right back, or at least working out of his house. Sleep could wait for him. He glanced over at Jon and knew the other man felt the same way.
“I’ll let you know when the building is open,” Steve said. “This fire is meant not only to destroy evidence, but to misdirect us. Give us a lot of other stuff to be worrying about. We’re not going to let that happen.”
“Damn right we’re not,” Jon said.
Some of the firefighters were beginning to pack up their equipment.
“I’ve got to go sign off on all this,” Drackett said, shaking his head. “I’ll see you later.”
He began walking toward the fire trucks, but then turned back. “And boys, watch your backs. If this goes as high up as I’m afraid it might, we all have targets on us.”
Derek nodded. He could feel it, too.
He got back into the car and looked over at Molly. She was sitting in the exact position as when he had left, staring straight out the windshield.
“You doing okay?”
“Yeah.” She finally nodded. “I’m just trying to go over in my mind if anything we had out in the lab could’ve caused this.”
He wasn’t sure if he should tell her that it might have been a deliberate attack. “Molly, we’re looking into a lot of possibilities for what happened. But believe me, no one is assuming you’re at fault. You run a pretty tight ship in that lab.”
She seemed to relax just a little bit. “Everyone’s safety is always my first priority.”
“I know that. Everyone knows that.”
She seemed tiny inside his blazer, huddled in the seat as he drove out of the Omega parking lot and toward her house.
“You know where I live, right?” she said in a small voice.
Did he know where she lived? Was she kidding? He was guilty of driving by her condo sometimes even when it was almost the opposite direction of the way he needed to go.
And every single time he wanted to stop and knock on her door like that one night three years ago.
Knowing she wouldn’t slam the door in his face, wouldn’t tell him to go to hell, was the only thing that kept him from doing so. She was too gentle, too kind, too soft to send him away.
And he wasn’t so much of a bastard that he was willing to drag her down into the dark world he lived in. He didn’t want her touched by the ugliness of the sordid things he’d seen and done.
But damned if that wasn’t the hardest thing he’d ever done.
“Yeah, I know where you live.”
He could almost see the flush move up her cheeks.
“I just mean... The one time you were there you were...not your normal self. A-and I just wondered.”
“Hey.” He reached over and grabbed her hand. “You’ve gone the entire evening without being nervous around me.”
“That’s because I was upset.”
“Then stay upset, at me if you need to. No need to go back to nervous.”
She shrugged. He knew he made her nervous, made her uncomfortable.
Just like he knew the way she looked at him when she thought he couldn’t see. And he cherished it even as he tried to keep himself distant from it.
Her condo wasn’t far from Omega Headquarters and soon he pulled up and into her parking space. She was already opening her door when he came around to help her.
“I’m okay,” she said, and although her voice was soft, it wasn’t shaky. “Thanks for the ride. My purse was in the lab with my keys in it. Let me get the spare.”
He watched as she hunted around her bushes, and saw her pull it out from where she had used electrical tape to attach it to the main branch. Much better than just slipping it under a front doormat.
“Found it!” The small victory had evidently thrilled her.
“May I?” He took the key when she offered it and opened the door for her. “Do you have another set inside?”
“Yes. This is just for true emergencies.”
“Okay, I’ll put it back out for you.” He slipped it into his pocket.
She stood there in the doorway swamped in his jacket, plaster in her hair, smelling like smoke, smiling her slightly awkward smile that always seemed to be uniquely for him.
She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
All the lecturing he’d given himself on the drive here about not dragging her down into his darkness completely vanished.
Molly was alive and he had to taste her.
He slipped one arm around her small waist under his jacket and threaded his other hand through the hair at her scalp underneath her long brown braid. He backed her up against the door frame and brought his lips down to hers.
He heard her soft gasp of surprise and took advantage of it to slip his tongue into her mouth. A knot of need twisted inside him as he drew her closer. He felt her arms wrap around his neck as her tongue dueled with his.
His jacket falling from her shoulders and pooling at their feet brought some sense of reality back to Derek.
This could not happen. As much as he wanted it to.
He dropped both hands to her waist and took a step back. “Molly...”
She blinked up at him, arms still around his neck.
“Molly, this isn’t a good idea.”
“Why?”