LITMIR.BIZ

      He drove the BMW back to the airport, dropped it at the rental place and bought a seat on the shuttle to New York.

      Anything was better than another few hours spent breathing the air in a town where politicians kissed babies while the agencies they funded dealt in death plots hatched by cold-eyed men who lived in the shadows.

      He knew it was the same in every other government across the planet, but that didn’t make it easier to accept.

      He had almost a full hour to kill, so he settled into the first-class lounge. The attendant poured him a double bourbon; the brunette sitting across from him looked up from reading Vanity Fair, looked back down, then did a double-take and looked up again.

      Her smile would have made her dentist proud.

      Somehow, the already short skirt of her Armani suit slid up another couple of inches. That was fine with Alex.

      The lady had great legs.

      Come to think of it, she had great everything. When she smiled a second time, he picked up his drink, crossed the room and took the chair beside hers.

      A little while later, he knew a lot about her. Actually he knew all a man needed to know, including the fact that she lived in Austin. Not too far from Dallas.

      And she was definitely interested.

      But even though he kept smiling, Alex suddenly realized that he wasn’t.

      Maybe it was that session with the director. Maybe it was being back in D.C. It had stirred up a lot of memories, most of them unwanted, including what a young innocent he’d been when he’d taken the Agency oath.

      Nobody had told him that words like “serve” and “honor” could be perverted into something that stole a man’s soul.

      His obligation to the Agency had ended the day he’d resigned. Besides, from what Shaw had said, this didn’t have a damned thing to do with defending and serving his country.

      It had to do with a crime family and a witness.

      A witness whose life was in danger.

      The brunette leaned closer, said something and smiled. Alex didn’t hear a word of it, but he smiled back.

      Shaw wasn’t given to hyperbole. He used words like those only when he meant them.

      Damn it, he should have listened to Matt and Cam. They’d had dinner together at their father’s home. Things had changed in their relationship with the old man. It wasn’t perfect but it was a lot better than when they’d been growing up. All it had taken to accomplish that, Alex thought wryly, was Cam almost dying and Matt involved in a shoot-out.

      His sisters-in-law had bustled off to the kitchen to get coffee and dessert. He and his brothers had joked around for a while, even the old man joining in, and then Alex had casually mentioned that the director had asked to see him.

      “He wants me to fly down tomorrow.”

      Matt laughed. “He must be nuts, thinking you’d come.”

      “You told him what he could do with his request, right?” Cam said.

      Alex hesitated. “I have to admit, I’m curious.”

      “To hell with curiosity,” Matt said bluntly. “Whatever Shaw wants, you can bet your ass it isn’t good.”

      Later, his father had drawn him aside. He’d been quiet through the conversation, so quiet Alex had almost forgotten he was there.

      “You never talk about your time in the Agency,” Avery said quietly, “which makes me suspect it wasn’t all pleasant. But you must have believed in it once, son, or you’d never have taken the oath that made you part of it.”

      It was true. He had believed. In the oath to serve and respect his nation, its people…

      Damn it. A pledge was a pledge.

      He was on his feet before he remembered the brunette. Hell. He’d completely tuned her out. The fixed smile on her face made him wince.

      “Sorry,” he said, and cleared his throat. “I, ah, I’ve changed my plans. I’ll be staying in D.C. Business, you know?”

      She looked surprised but she made a quick recovery, dug in her purse and handed him a small vellum card.

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