Dark waters lapped the century-old palace's foundation,
eager to claim the forgotten building on one of Venice's
backstreet canals. At four on the February morning,
tourists still partied on in the distance, drunk on love,
youth and full-bodied Italian wine. Gabe Cannon could hear
both the water and the faint beat of the music, but he
couldn't hear the half dozen men in the building with him.
His new commando team spread out like ghosts moving through
the night.
"Target on the roof," the team leader's voice whispered in
his earpiece.
He stole up the crumbling stairs, ready for the rogue
soldier who needed to be brought in before he caused more
damage. He'd known Jake Tekla ten years ago in the army--a
decent guy back then, but war could change a person, could
even twist a man's mind.
Static hissed in his earpiece before the words, "Kill order
authorized. Repeat, authorized to shoot on sight."
His instincts prickled. Standard procedure called for an
attempt to capture first, and see what information they
could gain during interrogation. Usable intelligence
trumped a quick kill, every time. Then again, he worked for
a private security firm now: XO-ST. Xtreme Ops Shadow
Teams. They did things differently than his previous
employers, the army and the FBI.
Gabe reached the roof. Plywood patches formed a psychedelic
pattern in the moonlightβan unexpected break. Not having to
sneak around on crumbling Mediterranean roof tiles would
make this much easier. He stole forward and eased into the
cover of a crooked chimney stack.
He caught a silent shadow at the door he'd come through--
Troy, one of his teammates, joining him. Odd how Gabe had
been last into the building, but first on the roof. Maybe
the others had pulled back on purpose, testing the new guy.
Another person might have been annoyed, but he'd expected
this much. He wasn't afraid of having to earn his stripes.
Dormers, chimneys and ridges blocked visibility. Clouds
kept drifting over the moon. Scan. Move forward. Take
cover. A night game of hide and seek in a labyrinth, with a
fair chance that the ramshackle roof could open up under
his feet any minute.
Then he stole around a dormer and spotted the target at
last. Jake Tekla blended into the night in black fatigues,
similar to Gabe's, black ski mask in place. A lot slighter
than Gabe remembered. Looked like being on the run had
taken its toll on him. The man crept toward the edge of the
roof, his focus on the jump he was considering.
No visible weapons.
Yet another thing that didn't add up. Not for a government-
trained, seasoned soldier.
Gabe inched closer, watching for a trap. He flicked the
safety off his gun. Come on. Turn. He moved another step
closer then stopped with his feet apart, gun raised,
silencer in place.
His target sensed him at last and spun around.
Oh, hell.
Gabe caught the curve of a breast in the moonlight, and his
finger froze on the trigger as he stared at the woman.
She could be a trap--Tekla's accomplice or a decoy.
He had a kill order.
Most of the men he worked with squeezed the trigger each
and every time, preferring to err on the safe side. He'd
been like that once. A muscle jumped in his cheek. He
pushed the North Village incident from his mind.
The woman stared at him for a startled moment, then her
instincts kicked in and she ran. Or tried. He lunged after
her, caught up in three leaps and brought her down hard.
She was lean, yet soft, every inch unmistakably feminine.
But none of that feminine softness showed in her fighting
spirit. She shoved against him with all she had. She had to
know she was conquered, yet she refused to yield, stirring
some of his base instincts.
"Stop," he hissed the single word into her ear as he did
his best to subdue her.
Plywood gave an ominous creak on the other side of the
ridge, the team moving into position to cover the roof and
inspect all its nooks and crannies. Something stopped Gabe
from calling out even as the woman did her best to scratch
his eyes out, fighting in silence. Enough small things
about this op had triggered alarms in his mind for him to
want to see what he had here before he called the rest of
the team in.
He patted her down one-handed, although if she had a knife
she would have probably used it on him by now. He kept his
voice low. "Did Tekla send you?"
She tried to buck him off. He managed to hold her down with
one hand and ripped her black mask off with the other. Wavy
dark hair tumbled free, eyes going wide with panic even as
her full lips snarled. Despite the semidarkness, he
couldn't miss her beauty, or the fact that she had Tekla's
eyes and nose.
"Who are you?" he asked, even as the answer was already
forming in his mind.
The man had two sisters, the younger one a teenager and the
other somewhat older. The one under Gabe now was all woman
and then some. Definitely not the teenage sister.
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