LITMIR.BIZ

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pulled into the parking lot behind the station house but remained in her car.

      She’d have to come up with a logical reason for requesting time off. If she didn’t, Asia would wonder what was going on and she knew how relentless her partner could be if he smelled any kind of a mystery.

      A rush of adrenaline filled her as the full realization of what she’d agreed to hit her. White Rose was back in action.

      Kane sat in a car parked in the lot of a Motel 6 located on the north side of Kansas City. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel then checked his watch.

      Quarter until eight. Another fifteen minutes and she should arrive at this location. He’d never known Cassie to be late.

      He leaned back against the headrest and thought of the woman who had been his partner five years ago.

      Cassandra Newton had been the best partner he’d ever had. She’d not only been exceptionally bright, but tough as nails as well. She had amazing physical ability. She could punch like a man, kick like a kangaroo, and had moves that would made Jackie Chan turn green with envy.

      She was almost as deadly with a gun as she was with her knives and she had a natural cunning that made her a survivor. She’d been a hell of a partner. She’d been the one lover he hadn’t been able to forget.

      He leaned forward and switched the air-conditioner fan from low to high, his thoughts still consumed by Cassie. He’d kept tabs on her over the past five years even though he knew if she found this out she’d despise him for it.

      He knew she liked her toast light, her pizza with mushrooms and her coffee black. He knew she worked out at a gym near her home four or five times a week, that she’d received nearly a dozen commendations as a police officer and that she hadn’t dated anyone in the five years since they’d been together.

      He knew all that about her, but he didn’t know why she’d walked out on him and the agency when he’d needed her most. An edge of anger rose up inside him and he consciously shoved it aside. He couldn’t let their past complicate the job they had to do now.

      The streak of color he’d enjoyed in the sky lasted only minutes, then was gone in the purple shades of early night. There were only a few cars parked in the spaces in front of the motel rooms. Business wasn’t booming for this particular motel.

      He tapped his fingers once again on the steering wheel as he waited impatiently for her to show up.

      He hadn’t wanted to bring her back in. She’d managed to do what so many agents found impossible…build a normal life as a productive citizen. He hadn’t wanted to screw things up for her, pluck her from her ordinary existence and place her into danger.

      However, Cole had insisted that she was the right woman, the only woman for this particular job. Kane knew there was nothing Cole would like better than to pull Cassie back into the fold, to get out of her “retirement” and working once again for the agency.

      But, Kane had to admit, Cassie was the best woman for this job. She was not only Adam Mercer’s type, but she knew the city. If she was going to work it, then Kane wouldn’t allow any other agent to work with her but him. He knew her. He knew how she thought, how she worked. He knew her strengths and her weaknesses. There was no way he’d allow any other man to back her up.

      Deep in his heart, he’d known she would take the job. Cassie was an adrenaline junkie. In this they were on the same wavelength. And if that hadn’t been incentive enough to bring her on board, he’d known the information about her family would entice her. He’d felt guilty

      about using that particular card to get her back into the game but he knew it was a shoe-in.

      When she’d first joined the agency a search had been conducted for the mother who had abandoned her and the brother she’d never seen again. But even the agency, with its far-reaching tentacles and information highways couldn’t find the scent of a ghost.

      He sat up straighter in his seat as he saw Cassie’s red Mustang approach, then turn into the parking lot. She pulled up in front of room 115 just as she’d been instructed and parked.

      She slid out of the car, her long blond ponytail keeping time with her subtle hip movement as she strode from the car to the door of the motel room. She carried nothing with her but the motel room key, but he knew beneath her short skirt and blouse she had no less than two knives hidden. Cassie never went anywhere without her knives.

      He knew the minute she spied him. Her gaze met his, then slid away as if she didn’t know him. But her back stiffened and her gait appeared less fluid.

      Working with her again was going to be both exhilarating and torturous. She was the most complicated woman he’d ever known, independent and competent and yet exuding a vulnerability that she seemed unaware of and would anger her if she became aware of it.

      Working with her again would have been so much easier if they hadn’t shared a past…an intense past both as partners and lovers.

      She didn’t seem to suffer any regrets about walking away from him. In the brief time he’d seen her two nights ago in her apartment and again yesterday in Cole’s mobile office, she’d been cool and collected.

      Again a burn of anger built inside him, but he forced it down. There was no place for anger…or any other kind of emotion where she was concerned. Emotion was dangerous. He had to remember that, it might make the difference between life and death.

      As she disappeared into the motel room, he shut off the engine of his car and got out. It was just after eight but the lateness of the hour hadn’t done much to ease the heat and humidity of the day. Early June and already records were being broken. July would be a killer unless the current weather pattern broke.

      From the trunk of his car he removed a suitcase, then headed toward the motel room where Cassie would be staying for the next couple of days.

      If Cassie thought this was going to be all business, she was in for a shock. Because he still had questions she’d never answered. Questions that would finally let him close the door on their past.

      Let the games begin.

      Chapter 4

      Cassie stepped into the motel room and looked around, knowing she had only moments before Kane would come in. A quick glance around the room showed it to be like any other budget motel room in the city.

      Two beds covered with identical shabby gold spreads, shag carpeting that was probably older than Cassie’s thirty years. A small table took up the space of one corner and a television was bolted to the top of a set of dresser drawers.

      This would be her home for the next couple of days, until Kane deemed her ready for the undercover task ahead of her. She would not be lounging in bed and ordering up room service. She would be spending her time learning everything there was to know about Adam Mercer and whatever persona they had chosen for her to become.

      She heard a brisk knock on the door. Kane. She drew a deep breath, steeling herself for what lay ahead and opened the door.

      He breezed past her and dropped the suitcase he carried on top of the bed closest to the door. She closed and locked the door behind him, then turned to face him.

      “Ready to begin?” he asked.

      No hello, no how are you. All business. If that’s the way he wanted it, fine with her. “Whenever you are,” she replied. She sat in one of the chairs at the tiny round table in the corner of the room.

      He opened the suitcase and withdrew a thick manila folder. “You took care of what you needed to in order to disappear for an extended period of time?”

      She nodded. “I’m on vacation with the police force and I told my partner that I was leaving town to chase down a lead on my mother and didn’t know when I’d return.”

      Kane tossed the folder onto the top of the table and sat down in the chair opposite her. “Everything you need to

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