Deadly Allure

Nicole left the road, drove down a steep embankment and up to the other side, crossed a wide-open field and headed into a wooded area. She didn’t slow until she was completely surrounded by trees.

As close as the police had come, they had to be tracking her. Nicole stopped long enough to ditch her cell phone, the only tracking device she had on her. Somehow her position had been compromised. With Fontaine and Geek offline, the entire operation could have been compromised. Her best bet was to get as far away from L.A. and her cell phone as possible and lay low until things died down and she could contact her boss.

She knew of only one place far enough off the grid she could hide where she could keep in contact with other members of the close-knit SOS team.

Having ditched her cell phone, she drove out of Santa Clarita and headed north toward Oregon and Cape Churn. The legendary Devil’s Shroud that could hide the rocks jutting out of the ocean from view of passing ships would be a great place to disappear to until she could decrypt the data she’d stolen from Ryan Technologies. Now all she had to do was to survive the more than nine-hundred-mile trip and avoid all members of the law-enforcement community.

Chapter 2

Dave Logsdon slowed for a four-way stop. The fog had drifted in off the sea, blanketing the shoreline, homes and roads of Cape Churn, discouraging the residents from getting out. They called it the Devil’s Shroud. When it settled over the town, everyone hunkered down and waited until it cleared. Only the naive or desperate went out on nights such as this.

Unfortunately, Dave had been in Portland to purchase additional supplies for the old yacht he’d been refurbishing. He rarely took a day off from his fishing and dive boat business until the end of the summer season when business slacked off. Today had been the first day in a month he hadn’t had a booking. If he hadn’t had to wait in line for the guy behind the paint counter to get to him, he’d have been back at least an hour earlier, before the fog settled in over the coast. Instead he’d been stuck in Portland rush hour, behind thousands of other motorists trying to get home from their day jobs.

No sooner had he crossed the mountains, he’d run into the first signs of fog formed by warm air over the cool Pacific Ocean, the resulting formation of ground-hugging clouds pushed inland by a slight breeze.

About the time he pulled into the intersection, he received a text from Sal and Olie. The marina owners asked him to pick up a loaf of bread on his way through town.

He smiled and increased his speed, his thoughts on the only grocery in Cape Churn, hoping it was still open. He didn’t mind stopping for the Olanders. They were a nice, older husband and wife who’d taken him in as though he was the son they’d never had. He got a chuckle out of their nicknames. Olie, he understood, was short for Olaf. But how you got Sal out of Gladys was a mystery. But they loved each other and were very special to him.

Out of the corner of his eye, something moved in the mist. The next thing he knew a speeding motorcyclist burst through the fog, turned sharply in an attempt to avoid hitting him, slammed into the truck and lost control.

Dave hit his brakes.

The motorcycle slid in front of the truck and the rider tumbled into the ditch.

Dave shoved the shift into Park and left the truck in the middle of the intersection, hoping to keep other traffic from running over the cycle or the rider. He dropped down and ran to the ditch.

A black-clad body lay facedown, groaning in his helmet.

“Hey, buddy, are you all right?” Dave asked, kneeling and touching a hand to his shoulder.

In a flash of movement the biker rolled onto his back, grabbed Dave’s wrist, planted a foot in his chest and launched him into the air.

Performing a perfect head over heels, Dave landed flat on his back, the wind knocked from his lungs.

The helmeted rider stood over him, a lipstick tube held out in front of him.

“What the hell?” Dave tried to get up, but the cyclist planted a booted foot on top of his gut.

Anger surged and, with it, all the combat training he’d acquired while serving in the Army Special Forces.

His arm shot out, grabbed the ankle of his leather-clad attacker and yanked him off his feet.

He landed beside Dave on his back, the helmet bouncing off the dirt.

Dave rolled over and pinned the rider to the ground, arms trapped at his sides. “I should have left you in the ditch,” he grumbled.

“Then why didn’t you?”

The voice coming from behind the helmet’s face shield didn’t sound much like a man’s voice, though he was tall and slight. “Damn.”

With his knees clamping his assailant’s arms against his body, Dave unbuckled the helmet and shoved it up and off.

Long, straight, silky blond hair spilled out onto the ground and angry blue eyes flashed up at him, sparkling in the beam from his truck’s headlights. He’d been bested by a woman. His buddies back on active duty would have gotten a good laugh out of that.

Dave glared down at her, recognizing something familiar about her, something to do with her and two of her teammates nabbing a bad guy a couple months’ back right there in Cape Churn.

“Don’t I know you? Nicole Steele, right? Your friends call you Tazer.” If he remembered correctly, she had the body and face of a runway model.

“Give the guy a prize. And you’re the fish boy from the Cape Churn Marina. Sorry if I don’t recall your name.” She rocked beneath him, wrinkling her nose, looking not in the least sorry about forgetting his name. She arched her back, pressing her breasts against him. “Get off me.”

“I will.” He couldn’t help his body’s natural reaction to this beautiful woman’s breasts rubbing against his chest or the way her pelvis rose with each attempt to unseat him. “I’ll let you up as soon as you promise not to throw me again.”

She seemed to think about it, finally saying, “I promise. Now move.” Her words were strained, tight and insolent.

To Dave, her whole attitude proved to be more of a red cape flung in the face of a bull.

Her last visit to Cape Churn she had been aloof, distant to everyone and completely unruffled by the terrorist threatening the small town.

She’d also given him one brief glance and then treated him as if he were a pesky fly to be shooed away. Her whole attitude had rubbed him the wrong way. He’d blown it off, knowing she wouldn’t be around long. But here she was, back in his town. Lying beneath his body.

Interesting.

Now that he knew she wasn’t a threat, he wasn’t as eager to let her go. Especially since he wasn’t entirely sure she’d keep her promise. Dave smiled down into her angry face.

“I promised,” she reminded him. “You can move.”

He chuckled. “I don’t know. I’m thinking I need to check you over...for injuries, of course.”

“I can take care of myself,” she insisted.

He eased to the side, his hands sliding across her arms. “You could have a broken bone.”

She slapped his hand away. “I think I could tell if I had a broken bone. I’d feel the pain. And right now the only pain I’m feeling is the pain in my neck. And that’s you.” She shoved him back and tried to stand.

As soon as she did, her face blanched. She swayed and would have fallen had Dave not risen with her and grabbed her on her way down.

He scooped her up in his arms. “All kidding aside, you need to see a doctor.”

“No!” She fought, her feet kicking out. She almost kneed him in the face.

Dave grunted, struggling to keep his grip. “Really, you took a pretty significant spill. You might have a concussion.”

“No hospitals, no police... Can’t trust...” Her eyes rolled back and she passed out. From a wiggling, spitting she-cat to a deadweight, she lay in his arms, her body completely limp.

Great. Now what was he supposed to do with her?

He loaded her into the passenger seat of his truck and went to stash her motorcycle behind a bush on the side of the road until he could get back to pick it up. First, he had to get Nicole Steele some medical attention. He punched a number on his cell phone and waited.

“Emma?”

“Dave, is that you?” Emma’s voice sounded concerned. “Everything okay?”

“I don’t know. Where are you?”

“At the Seaside Café with friends. What do you need?”

“Meet me at my boat at the marina ASAP.”

“Dave, what’s going on?” she asked.

“Just meet me there and I’ll explain.” He clicked the phone off, shifted his truck into Drive and hurried to the marina, his safe haven. The one place he felt at home. Hopefully, once Emma got there, she’d talk sense into this woman and get her to see a doctor.

He glanced down at her still body, sprawled out across the bench seat of his old truck. For the first time since he’d known her, she appeared vulnerable, not the kick-ass female that looked like a model but could knock the stuffing out of any guy who thought she was a cream puff. Hadn’t she just kicked his butt?

Then why was every protective instinct in him coming to life? The woman obviously didn’t want his help, though she needed it, considering she was out cold. Wasn’t she?

Dave pressed two fingers to the base of her throat and held his breath, waiting for the thump of blood passing through her veins. He let out a long-held breath when he felt the steady thrum of life. So she wasn’t dead. The fact she was unconscious couldn’t be good.

Hopefully, Emma could get her to go to the emergency room. An ambulance could pick her up and she’d be off his hands and out of his truck. He didn’t particularly want to be saddled with her, but having hit her with his truck, he figured he at least owed her the courtesy of getting her medical attention, even if the accident had been her fault. She’d run the stop sign.

Dave knew Steele and her teammates were some kind of government special agents, he just wasn’t sure which branch—FBI, CIA or something else. She’d arrived a few months ago to help stop a terrorist plot going down in Cape Churn. She’d worked with two other men: Creed Thomas and Casanova Valdez.

Whoever they were, they were on their game, something Dave could appreciate. When he’d been a member of the U.S. Army Special Forces, he’d been equally dedicated to his country and his commanding officers. Until his unit had been fed faulty intel and bad orders.

It was while he’d served in Afghanistan he’d learned that getting too close to someone, male or female, left you vulnerable to the devastating pain of loss. He was better off keeping his distance.

When he pulled into the parking lot of the marina, three other vehicles were already there. A Jeep and two other SUVs.

Emma was the first to greet him, stepping up to his door as he climbed down from his truck. “Where’s the fire? Why the secretive call?”

He moved aside.

The overhead light shone down on Tazer’s light blond hair.

“Nicole.” Emma’s eyes rounded. “Is she...?”

“She’s alive, just passed out.”

Emma rounded to the other side of the truck and opened the door, climbing up on the running board. “What happened?”

He told her about almost running her over and that she’d taken a spill from her motorcycle.

Casanova Valdez stood behind Emma, holding Molly McGregor’s hand. “What the hell was she doing here anyway? I thought she was on assignment.”

“Nicole.” Emma tapped her arm gently. When she didn’t respond, she lightly slapped her face. “Nicole,” she said sharply.

“Let me.” Valdez switched places with Emma and said in a stern voice, “Tazer, quit foolin’ around. It’s time to go to work.”

Dave’s fists clenched and he stepped forward, ready to punch Valdez’s lights out for being so forceful when the woman wasn’t capable of holding her head up, much less going to work.

“Nova?” Nicole blinked her eyes open and stared up into her fellow agent’s face.

“Yeah, it’s me. You look like hell.” Valdez held out his hand and she grabbed it, letting him pull her into a sitting position.

“Way to make a girl self-conscious,” she grumbled.

He snorted, giving her a derisive grin. “Like you’ve ever been that.” His lips turned downward. “What the hell happened? I didn’t know you were scheduled to be here.”

She pressed a hand to the back of her neck. “I wasn’t.”

Creed Thomas stepped up behind Valdez. “Tazer, what’s going on?”

“I was hoping you could tell me.” Her voice was stronger, clipped and, if Dave wasn’t mistaken, strained. “I need your help,” she admitted. “Is there somewhere we can meet that’s not so out in the open?”

Valdez and Thomas converged and helped her down from the truck.

Emma glanced at Dave. “Can we meet on your dive boat?”

He shook his head. “Better take her to the Freedom’s Price,” he said, immediately regretting getting involved, but leading the way to the far end of the marina where the yacht was tied to the end of the dock. Everything about Nicole Steele spelled trouble, from her slim figure to the swell of her breasts and hips beneath the black leather.

When she set her feet on the ground, her knees buckled. Her teammates caught her before she hit the ground.

She laughed shakily. “I’ve been on that bike for two days just to get here.”

“Two days?” Thomas asked. “I thought you were back in D.C.?”

“No. I was on assignment in L.A.” She straightened, her brows forming a tight V over her nose. “Tell me, what’s going on at headquarters? Why aren’t Royce or Geek answering their phones? I couldn’t get them to answer calls or texts.”

“Nothing that I know of. I heard from Royce three days ago.” Thomas frowned. “Come to think of it, he was going to contact me today with my next assignment.” He glanced at his watch and cell phone. “I’ve gotten nothing.”

Valdez scrolled down through the contact list on his phone. “I just returned from a short assignment two days ago and had requested a week off. I didn’t expect to hear from anyone back at HQ.” He hit the send button on his phone and pressed it to his ear. After a moment his gaze met Tazer’s in the light from the post hanging over the dock. “Nothing.”

“Let me get in touch with Sam. I think he and his wife, Kat, were supposed to be in D.C. this week.” Thomas scrolled through his phone contacts, selected the one he wanted and pressed Send, then put the phone on speaker.

After a moment a gravelly voice answered. “Yeah.”

“Sam, it’s Creed.”

“Thank God. Kat and I contacted as many people on the team as I dared to let them know what went down, but couldn’t get them all. One minute it was business as usual, the next, FBI was raiding headquarters. Then all hell broke loose. They nabbed Royce and Geek and all of the SOS computers, and took them to an undisclosed location.”

“Damn,” Thomas said. “What’s going on?”

“We’re not sure. Look, I don’t want to stay on this phone long, in case someone’s somehow monitoring this call. I suggest you ditch all your SOS phones, now. Contact me on Kat’s personal phone, if you need us. Out here.”

Dave’s fists clenched. He wasn’t sure what Thomas and Valdez did, but his gut told him they were the good guys. He had yet another reason not to trust the government or those who considered themselves “in charge.”

Valdez swore softly. “We need to get back to D.C. to find out what happened.” He started for the parking lot.

“Wait.” Nicole stuck out an arm. “I have a bad feeling it has something to do with my last assignment.” She glanced toward Dave.

Dave shrugged. “Don’t worry about me. I have better things to do than listen to conspiracy theories.”

Emma backhanded him in the belly. “Don’t mind Dave, he can be grumpy in his best mood.” She winked at him and leaned into the conversation. “Want me to leave so you three can talk all the supersecret stuff you do so well?”

Nicole glanced from Thomas to Emma and back to Thomas.

“We can trust her,” Creed said.

“And Molly,” Valdez confirmed.

“I’m just a mere mortal small-town cop, maybe Kayla and I should bug out.” Gabe McGregor glanced at his watch. “Dakota should be ready to climb the walls babysitting Tonya.”

“He’s so good with her, I know I take advantage of him,” Kayla said softly, pushing a strand of her curls behind her ear. “We can leave.”

“No.” Nicole put out her hand and touched Kayla’s arm as she and Gabe turned to leave. “Now that you know I’m here, you need to know what I’m up against.” She glanced at Dave. “You, too.”

Dave snorted. “No, thanks. I have to secure the boat for the night.”

“Yeah, right,” Emma said. “Stay and hear what Tazer has to say.”

“Could we take it inside?” Nicole asked, glancing over her shoulder again as if she expected the boogeyman to pop out of the shadows.

Not really wanting to be dragged into the drama of special agents, Dave motioned toward the dilapidated yacht. “Take her inside. There should be enough room for all of us below.”

They followed him aboard his yacht fixer-upper and descended the steps into the living area, crowding around the tiny dining table. Dave had been in the process of repairing the teak wood paneling. Some of the doors were missing and the cushions had seen better days.

“If someone’s following you, perhaps we should take you directly to the police,” Kayla said as they settled on the worn cushions.

“No.” Nicole held up her hand. “I don’t know who to trust. I barely got away from L.A. and though I might have lost my tail, something tells me they’ll find me soon enough.”

“Tazer, slow down. Who’s following you? And why?” Valdez reached out and gripped her hands. “Good God, woman, you’re shaking.”

Dave stared at the beautiful blonde. “You’ve been on the road for more than two days straight? On that motorcycle?”

She nodded, the shadows beneath her eyes appearing even darker in the cabin’s limited lighting.

“Have you eaten?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I had a couple candy bars from rest-area vending machines. I didn’t want to stop long enough for anyone to catch up to me.”

Dave reached into the fridge and pulled out sandwich meat and cheese slices. In less than a minute he’d slapped them on bread and handed it to her. “Eat this.”

Nicole took it, glancing up at him with a tired smile. “Thanks.”

“Start from the beginning,” Creed Thomas said. “Don’t leave anything out.”

* * *

Dave hated to admit it, but he was glad they hadn’t excluded him from Tazer’s story. He hadn’t heard a story that good since the last action movie he’d seen at the theater in Portland.

He glanced at the model-thin woman with the glorious mane of blond hair and shook his head. He found it hard to believe she was some undercover secret agent. Not when she looked weak enough to be broken in two with his bare hands. After she’d thrown him, however, he’d known how deceiving her looks could be.

When she finished her story, he was even more amazed. “So what you’re telling us is that you have some data someone’s willing to move heaven and earth to retrieve?”

“Looks that way.” She shoved a hand through her hair, her face pale with exhaustion.

“I’d call that breaking and entering, which constitutes a felony.” Dave shook his head. “Which means I’m harboring a felon. Nice.”

Nicole stared at him with narrowed eyes. “We do what has to be done to protect our country from criminals.”

“By becoming criminals yourselves?” Dave snorted. “I’m sure cults and fundamental extremists believe the same. What makes you any different?”

She gave him a cold, hard stare. “We aren’t out for ourselves.”

“Dave, we’re the good guys, even if we’re breaking and entering. The guy she went after could be selling weapons to our military and our enemies. Guns for the people killing our troops.” Thomas tapped his fingers on the table. “And it sounds like he’s in bed with someone in D.C., especially considering they’ve taken hostage Royce, Geek and our entire operating system, probably holding them until Tazer gives back what she’s taken.”

Nicole swore softly. “We can’t let them get away with it.”

Valdez’s leg bounced with nervous energy. “Sam said it was the FBI and CIA that stormed headquarters.”

Thomas picked up from there. “Which means someone with clout in the government has a stake in that data and probably doesn’t want it exposed.”

“So we can’t just turn it over,” Nicole concluded.

“We have to decrypt the data.” Thomas glanced across at Valdez then back at Steele. “I’m not an IT guy.”

Valdez held up his hands in surrender. “I know my way around hardware, but Geek’s the one I go to for software. The guy’s a wizard at hacking passwords, data encryption and decryption.”

Nicole sighed. “That leaves it to me. I had some training in military intel, but it’s been a while. So many things have changed, gotten more complicated and semifoolproof.”

“If you can break the code, it might reveal who in the government is determined to see the data deep-sixed.”

Nicole pinched the bridge of her nose. “It’ll take time.”

“You’ll need a place to hide out,” Valdez said.

Her hand dropped to her lap and she gave a wan smile. “That’s why I’m here. Cape Churn is like falling off the map.”

Kayla McGregor laughed softly. “Then why do we manage to attract serial killers, terrorists and relatives of drug lords?”

“I don’t know. It seems like such a nice little town,” Emma added.

Valdez squeezed Nicole’s hand reassuringly. “The main thing is to lie low while you’re working the data.”

“First things first.” Nicole ran a hand through her hair. “I could use a shower and a bed. If I could, I’d sleep until the problem went away.”

“Sorry, we need you on it.” Thomas glanced across at Valdez then back at the woman they called Tazer. “We’ll run interference the best we can, but you’ll have to break the code so that we can take the information to the right people and possibly get Royce and Geek out of hot water.”

Thomas nodded toward Molly. “You can stay in a room at the B and B.”

Molly’s lips twisted. “Except I have a group coming in for a wedding. It’ll be anything but private and there will be too many people around. Not to mention all the rooms will be full.”

“You could stay at our little bungalow, but the renovations on the spare bedroom aren’t complete and you’d have to sleep on the couch.”

“All my bedrooms are full at the lighthouse cottage,” Kayla offered. “It would be a couch there, too, and it’s exposed to the windows.”

“I’d sleep anywhere with a pillow.” Nicole leaned against the wall.

Emma grinned. “I know the perfect place. It’s quiet, secluded and no one would think to look for you there.”

With frown, Dave braced himself, intuition telling him he wasn’t going to like what Emma had to say next. “Where did you have in mind?”

“The answer to the perfect place to hide.” She turned to face him. “Why doesn’t she stay here? What do you say, Dave?”

All gazes turned toward Dave. “Why can’t she stay at one of the hotels in town?”

Valdez shook his head. “Too public.”

“She could rent a vacation cottage,” he offered.

“They’re all full,” Molly said. “The wedding guests took over a lot of them and most of the hotel rooms.”

Dave crossed his arms. “She’s not staying here.”

“But it makes sense. If she needs to get out of town, why not go by boat?” Emma continued to grin, making Dave’s teeth grind.

“No.” He shook his head. “Besides, haven’t you heard of sitting ducks? A boat is easy to spot in the water.”

Nicole glanced around, her brows rising. “I seriously doubt this old boat’s engines even work.”

Dave glared at Tazer. “The engines work great. I refurbished them first, now I’m working on the cosmetics.”

Valdez chuckled. “Sorry, Dave, but it is a good solution. If the people who are looking for her get close, you can head out to sea at night.”