Excerpt of Infiltration by Janie Crouch

Cameron knew he had to think fast. A single word from
Sophia, any sort of gesture that she knew him, would mean
both their lives. In a split second, Cameron made a
decision.

But he knew it wasn't going to be pretty.

He stormed up to Marco and grabbed Sophia out of his
grasp. "What the hell, Marco? Is this a cop?"

Cameron pushed Sophia, probably a little rougher than
necessary, face-first up against the warehouse wall. He
heard her indrawn breath, but steeled himself against any
thought of her pain or fear.

It was going to get much worse.

Cameron kept his hand pressed against Sophia's back,
keeping her forced against the wall. Behind him he heard
Fin and the other guys draw their weapons.

He willed Sophia to keep quiet.

Marco, a little shocked by Cameron's aggressive behavior,
stuttered, "I just found her inside. She said she was an
artist and was taking pictures of the warehouse."

"Did you check to see if she was wearing a wire or
anything?" Cameron demanded.
Marco looked sheepish and shook his head. Cameron made a
big show of running his hands all over Sophia's body, as
if looking for surveillance equipment. Behind him the
guys made a couple of catcalls. Sophia shuddered.

When his body search led to her hands, he could feel
Sophia press some sort of card into his palm--he wasn't
sure what. He moved so he more clearly blocked her from
Fin and the men's view, and palmed whatever she had given
him without looking at it. As he turned, he slipped it
into the pocket of his jeans.

"She's clean," Cameron said as he spun her around. Sophia
attempted to straighten the clothes Cameron had lifted
and moved during his search, her face burning.

"Listen..." Sophia began.

Cameron backhanded her.

Oh, God. He pulled the slap as much as he could without
making it obvious, but he knew it still had to hurt. Her
head flew to the side. He watched as a bit of blood began
to ooze from a split in her lip. Cameron thought he might
vomit.

But if she had said his name, they would both be dead, or
at the very least his undercover work would be blown. He
couldn't take the chance.

He stuck his finger in her face. "You shut the hell up
unless I ask you a specific question, got it?"

Cameron prayed like he had never prayed before that
Sophia would keep quiet. He felt a bit of relief when she
nodded slowly, staring at the ground.

"Whoa, Cam. I didn't think you had that in you." Fin
chuckled.