Athena stood in the living room, holding the Walmart bag and trying to figure out where to put her stuff. She could take it into the bathroom with her and keep what she wasn't using in the bag. Just find a place to stash it. Somewhere. Wherever that might be. She didn't want to presume on one hot night between the sheets with Grey and take her stuff into his room. Bathroom it was for the moment. She looked at Grey fiddling with his electronics setup "Anything new come in?" He shook his head. "And we haven't heard back yet from Adam." He checked his phone automatically. I'll give him another hour or so before I try him." "It may take him a while to find out where the leak is. And it could be outside the ATF," she added, "which widens the search parameters." He nodded. "Still, he sounded as angry about it as we are, so I have the feeling he'll be all over it." "Well, before I put anything new on my body," she said, "I need a long, hot shower." She paused. "Any problem with

The meeting was set to take place at the supplier's warehouse. Adam had called them with the details as well as the information that he, Ezra Burns, and Lige Riddick would all be present. The takedown would happen with a support team from the Tampa office. Grey was already on the alert. Because of the listening devices he had placed in both the man's house and office, he and Athena knew exactly when he got the call, what his reaction was, and what he planned to do. Grey and Athena met the ATF team at the site a good two hours before the time specified, so they could all be in position. The core group had hidden around the warehouse and parking lot itself, the rest stood ready at another industrial site about a block away, prepared to move in on Riddick's signal. Grey had taken a private moment to do two things before they left the house, hoping he was wrong on all counts but he'd be prepared nevertheless. And he hoped Athena wouldn't be too pissed at him for not telling her. He h

Part Two: Mission Control"Thanks for the update. Yeah, I'll be sure they check in when they get here."Mason Rowell disconnected his call and leaned back in his desk chair. Heaving a sigh, he rubbed his hands over the scruff on his chin. He hadn't bothered to shave that morning. He'd only that minute gotten back from rounding up the strays and leaving two of the hands to repair the cut fencing. This was getting to be a damn fucking habit, and he was sick and tired of it."Nothing this whole year has gone right," he muttered. "First that damn woman, then the lost cattle, and now the fucking smugglers."He had the feeling a cloud had opened up and rained all over his life.And, yeah, it had all started with that woman. That female. Both of them half-looped in the hotel bar. Each of them searching for something—her for a way to ease back into civilian life after too much time in Afghanistan and Iraq, him to erase the memory of another woman who'd screwed him over. Badly. A woman he'

Finally, the door on the other side of the chopper opened. The pilot leaped down to the ground and came around to greet Mason.Who nearly had a heart attack.Holy fucking shit. This was the team leader? Was this a joke of some kind?Standing in front of him was not the tough leader he'd expected, well-muscled and a hardened veteran of the battles in the sandbox. Instead, he stared at the woman who'd burned up his sheets in that hotel room a year ago. The one who wouldn't stay out of his dreams or his memory. The one he considered his omen of bad luck.Although her sunglasses partially obscured her face, there was no mistaking the delicate jawline or the body he'd explored every inch of. Lithe and slender, she came nearly to his shoulder. An Omega Team T-shirt fell softly against rounded breasts his hands had cupped and kneaded. Worn jeans clung to nicely curved hips and long, slender legs. High cheekbones highlighted an oval a face and a mouth with full lips—a face he knew he'd nev

He had an instant vision of Kris on horseback. With him. Seated in front of him in the saddle, her sweet little ass tucked up against his hard shaft, rubbing it as the horse trotted along. And if he didn't quit with those thoughts, he'd be in big trouble. He shifted in his chair, trying to ease the pressure in his jeans."Okay." Kris gave him a narrowed-eyed stare again. "Your turn."Mason unrolled the drawings he was holding. These people were all business, and they couldn't get started a minute too soon for him. He smoothed his hand over one of the maps, pressing down the corners."The Double R Ranch covers ten thousand acres and borders with Mexico here." He drew a line with his forefinger. "The Rio Grande is narrow enough to row across in minutes at that point, and certainly you can wade or swim it without a problem." He traced another line. "We spent a fortune installing barbed wire strategically enough to discourage people. We thought. But they just cut it. We fix it, and they