INTO DANGER (Secret Assassins (S.A.S.S.) Book 1) by Gennita Low Read Free Book Online Page A

party. Who in D.C. would invite someone like Marlena? Was there any connection with the contact TIARA was trying to find out? He hoped so. He sure didn’t want to attend any fancy-schmancy do and stand around like an idiot.
    Maybe he ought to just give in to Harden and let him go after Marlena Maxwell and press her for details. Shopping and partying weren’t his way of working for Uncle Sam. More than once he had wondered why he’d allowed himself to be transferred. D.C. was too formal for him, too bland.
    Well, last night and today had added some color. This assignment had been the most action he’d seen in a while. It was the sitting around in intel work that had him climbing the walls. More than once he’d jerked out of a daydream of hiking in jungles or racing through the desert in his favorite dune buggy, the Desert Patrol Vehicle. And God, of all things, he missed the rubber duck, the amphibious thirty-foot inflatable boat his fire team fondly named Joy, for the great ride home after a recon mission.
    Steve grimaced. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t done info gathering before. He’d dealt with similar situations that had required him to sweet-talk a woman into giving him information. He glanced in the direction of the bathroom. The sound of water running and music came from behind the closed doors. What was so different now was that he felt myopic. Whereas, in fatigues, everything was twenty-twenty—black was black; white was white. Now he had to fight himself, his new team, and his instinct. That, as any experienced soldier would tell him, was suicidal in any mission.
    He surveyed the group of shopping bags, picturing Marlena emptying them all over the plush carpet. He wanted her. What healthy hot-blooded man wouldn’t? What he was fighting was something more than the usual urges. He just wanted to know her. What drove a woman like her to be on the other side of the law? And why didn’t her background bother him? He ought to be disgusted, abhorred by her nature, but he wasn’t. Was Marlena really so good at manipulating him that he would be blind to what she was? He shook off the thought.
    Sitting down on the big bed, half listening to the water in the background, Steve played with all the stray wires and parts courtesy of the same woman on his mind. Then there was his second problem. His mouth twisted, as he threw one of the micro eyes in the air and caught it, then repeated the motion. Task Force Two was a different kind of team. He was a sudden replacement, and not from the usual ranks. The admiral had told him the transfer would add to his skills for later. He’d been trying to fit in since day one. Not that his new team weren’t good operatives, far from that. But they weren’t military and they didn’t like his methods. CIA training was very different from SEAL training.
    As for his instincts...well, his instincts were either still as trustworthy as he believed, or he was going to get the worst dressing-down from the admiral in the history of the STAR SEAL teams. His restless gaze caught sight of Marlena’s small suitcase by the dressing table. His back straightened. And maybe, just maybe, Steve McMillan was still a damn good SEAL operative.
    He looked toward the bathroom door briefly. She’d been in there ten minutes. All he needed was another five. Picking up the suitcase, he strode out of the room and headed to the kitchen. He placed it down on the kitchen table, then looked up at the hidden camera eye.
    There was a small rocket pocket gun, a silver Walther PPK and the Bersa from last night, with a silencer. He used the tablecloth to handle them, checking the chambers. Surprisingly, the weapons weren’t loaded. Leather gloves. A jewelry box. There was a small black book. He didn’t have time to do more than flip through it. Poetry? Looked like poetry. He frowned. Glancing up at the electronic eye, he shook his head, indicating that he didn’t think the book was important. Then he pulled out a