Enemy Lover by Karin Harlow Read Free Book Online Page B

country?”
    Rowland dug in and harshly said, “This is exactly what I’m talking about. I’ ve seen it coming, like a goddamn train wreck! You’ ve gotten too damn big for your own britches. It’s a checks-and-balances game, and you have tipped the scale one too many times into the mud. There is no debating here. I’m pulling the plug.”
    “No, Senator, you are not.” The colonel slid his hand inside his sleek black jacket. Rowland nodded ever so slightly. Within seconds, two large sunglassed gorillas flanked The Solution’s CEO. Sharp teeth glittered in the sunlight, and the colonel slowly pulled his hand from his jacket. His pale eyes lasered into Rowland. He swallowed hard.
    “So the trust has been broken, Senator.” Lazarus nodded, acknowledging the security detail. “And now, it will be what it will be.”
    He turned slowly and disappeared into the onslaughtof sun-starved tourists. “Sir?” Rowland’s bodyguard asked, inclining his head toward the colonel.
    Rowland slowly shook his head. “Leave it be.” And knew as he said the words that one did not leave a man like Colonel Lazarus be and stay clean. But he had no choice. This was an election year, and he could not have his bodyguard take out the man in front of the Lincoln Memorial, no matter how much he deserved it.

SIX

    Two weeks later
Las Vegas
    The bright, flamboyant lights of the Vegas strip oscillated across the car windows like an electric kaleidoscope, beckoning gamblers from every walk of life with the promise of instant fortune but rarely delivering.
    Jax was on her way to a party she wasn’t invited to. Although the party’s host would deliver on his promise of fortune, she knew that for most guests it would come at a far higher cost than monies lost at the gaming tables.
    L.O.S.T. operative Shane Donovan chauffeured the sleek limo. Jax glanced over at Gage, her partner in what should be a simple extraction op. The lights of the strip flickered across his handsome face. “Why am I nervous?” she asked.
    He reached over and squeezed her hand, a gesture that would have cost him a few digits several months ago. Now, it merely caused her a ripple of nerves, which she quickly willed away. A hint of a smile tipped her lips.
    In just six months, she’d traveled thousands of emotional miles, learning to overcome her past and accept her future. She was fortunate and more than grateful for her second chance at life and to be a part of somethingso big and so powerful as Last Option Special Team. L.O.S.T.
    Briefly, she closed her eyes.
    She could do this. She could do this and more.
    Angela Giacomelli was a ghost and Jax Cassidy was, as Godfather liked to remind anyone who would listen, a force of nature to be reckoned with. He believed it. Promoted it. And Jax had bought it, hook, line and sinker.
    Most of the time, anyway.
    She opened her eyes when Gage squeezed her hand again.
    “First-time jitters. Once you step out of this car, it’s showtime, and when it’s showtime, all you’ ll see is the bad guy with a target on his forehead.”
    She squeezed his hand back and released it. Their mission was simple: walk into arms dealer Andre Kozovic’s private club as if they’d owned it, get past the goons guarding his office, tap into his hard drive, and download the arming codes for the Scuds he’d just sold to a Sudanese terrorist. While they were at it, they’d get hold of Kozovic’s Zurich bank account numbers and pass codes, then, as a parting gift, fry his server, which would effectively shut down his operation.
    A cinch.
    The stretch rolled to a slow, easy stop outside a mini Sung Dynasty–style castle. Out in front, two valets and several “doormen” dressed in black-and-red satin wushu uniforms managed the comings and goings of all guests. Each one of them looked like a Dallas Cowboy linebacker stuffed in satin pj’ s.
    Jax shook her head as she looked up at the “castle.” Everything was possible in Vegas. The structure was