Jesus! The contact was like nothing he could imagine. Her lips were soft and warm, pliant beneath his, molding to him. He traced the closed seam of her mouth before exerting enough pressure to force her to open. When he swept his tongue inside, the fiery electricity that shot through him singed every single nerve in his body. Her tongue was a liquid flame, dueling with his, following the erotic dance he was leading her in. When she moaned into his mouth his pulse leaped into the stratosphere. Tightening his grip on her hair, he wrapped one hard-muscled arm around her and pulled her in tight to his body. He felt the outline of her sex where his harder-than-concrete cock pushed into it, and the softness of her breasts against his chest. Her nipples pierced him like diamonds. He wanted nothing more than to rip off both their clothes and plunge himself into her. It was only the need to breathe that forced him to lift his mouth from hers. When he tilted her head back he saw astonis

"It's about pinpointing the dates of the shipment and Bostic's communications immediately preceding them." Athena looked at him over her coffee mug. "You got all that from the information you, uh, borrowed?" He grinned. "As a matter of fact, yes." "So, you're focusing on the one particular shipment, the one where you all got caught in the firefight." He nodded. "I want the details so I can trace back and see just how it went down and who leaked the information." "I meant to ask you." She set her mug on the table and picked up a piece of toast. "How in hell did you copy that stuff so fast? I know you didn't spend a lot of time in his study." He set his mug down, walked to his enormous workstation desk, and picked up a small square box. He carried it back to the kitchen table and placed it in front of her. "High-powered thumb drive duplicator." He lifted it, hefting it easily in his palm. "Small, lightweight, efficient. Copies a thousand times faster than your average dupli

Grey had Athena hold the cell so he could also hear the conversation when she called Adam Wahlberg. From the sound of his voice, he could tell the man was shocked to hear from her after all this time, and even more stunned when he realized the call wasn't a social one. "You want to play in my playpen?" He was incredulous. "Wait until you hear what we have," she told him. "We?" Grey heard the question in his voice, and Athena looked at him. He nodded, but mouthed, "Just say former military who is a victim of what we're investigating." When she repeated it, Adam said, "Athena, you gotta give me something more than just a hint. If I'm going to stick my neck out even a little, I need to have an idea of what might chop my head off." "What if I told you a very high-profile politician is involved in massive illegal arms deals and has controlled politics in some countries to increase the lucrative nature of his deals." There was dead silence on the other end of the call, a sile

Grey had Athena drive, so he could check out Ezra Burns on his cell phone. According to everything he pulled up, the guy looked solid. Strong agency history. Excellent record. Grey knew he was just a suspicious son of a bitch, especially after what happened the night Lucky was killed, but that was how he'd stayed alive for so long. Old habits never changed. At the hotel, they parked the car at the far end of the parking lot and entered through a side door. They rode up in the elevator in silence, Grey tense in anticipation of trouble. At the door of room 510 he knocked, and Adam opened it at once. "Come in." He stood aside to let them enter. Grey didn't know what he'd expected of Ezra Burns, maybe another suit-and-tie guy like Adam Wahlberg. It certainly wasn't the dark-haired man in jeans and a plaid shirt wearing cowboy boots and a deep tan. He had all he could do to restrain himself from some smartass remark. Burns laughed. "I kind of surprise myself," he joked. "But I just

She was quiet as they headed back to the house, but then, so was Grey. It had been a very long, very full day, with a lot of tense moments and many new things to chew over. She knew the silence had more to do with each of them running thoughts through their minds, analyzing the conversations they'd had today, looking for loopholes. She was sure that he, like her, was turning over and over in his mind today's conversations. She'd love to get his reaction to the two men, but even though she'd barely known him for forty-eight hours, she knew he'd tell her when he was ready. Asking would get her nothing. She sensed, however, Grey wasn't quite as sold on Adam as she was and neither of them knew Ezra Burns. They had to rely on Adam's assurances his boss could be trusted, not always the best situation. Grey would have to make his own decision on her friend, but she hoped she could help him feel better about it. Since he chose to ride in silence, she occupied herself with her own thoughts,