Payback by Vanessa Kier Read Free Book Online Page B

protect her.
    All that and he’d scarcely known the woman more than a couple of hours.
    He’d heard of men falling in love at first sight. Was that what had happened to him? God, he hoped not. This was the worst possible time for him to become distracted. If he was going to be successful in bringing Jamieson down, he had to use all his wits and tread with extreme caution.
    He glanced down and realized that he didn’t know if this was his third or fourth glass of vodka. When had he stopped counting?
    Not really caring, he shrugged and threw back what was in his glass. Then he set the glass aside and headed upstairs to his bedroom before he did something really stupid, like get drunk.
    Although how there could be anything stupider than falling for an unknown like Faith Andrews, he didn’t know.
    She could be a plant from Jamieson, meant to trick him into betraying his true agenda.
    Mark considered that a moment, then tossed the idea aside along with his necktie. His years as a street kid in Moscow and his eventual move into the upper levels of the intelligence community had taught him how to read people.
    Every instinct told him Faith was telling the truth. And that she was equally attracted to him. The beginnings of a smug smile teased at his lips as he finished stripping.
    The game he was playing with Jamieson had him riding an adrenaline high. He felt more alive than he had in years. But after meeting Faith, he realized that part of him had still been sleeping.
    He wondered idly if this newfound sense of power and freedom was how addicts felt during a high. Had heroic knights experienced this delicious anticipation when tasked with quests from their ladies?
    And Faith had given him a task, hadn’t she? Still suspicious, she’d refused to turn over her notes until he gave her proof that he was searching for Toby. Which meant he needed deeper access to Kerberos’s files.
    He stepped into the double-headed shower enclosure and turned the water on hot.
    Knowing that Jamieson was watching him, knowing that his boss must be wondering if Mark had made the connection between Jamieson and his father’s death, meant he had to plan every move down to the last detail, including what he’d say should he be caught. While he knew a fair amount about computer hacking—any spy these days working among businessmen had better be prepared to steal secrets off a computer—he didn’t possess the skills necessary to break through the level of security Jamieson would have in place.
    If luck was with him, though, he might not have to call for help hacking Jamieson’s computer. Over the past several days Jamieson had made it clear that he wanted Mark to take a more active role in Kerberos. He suspected it wasn’t an indication of trust, but Jamieson’s way of ensuring he’d be a viable scapegoat if the program came under scrutiny.
    For now he was willing to play along. He needed concrete proof that Jamieson had ordered certain military and law enforcement men to be diverted against their will into Kaufmann’s lab, turned into enhanced soldiers, then sent on assignment by Kerberos.
    And he needed to find out whether or not Faith’s brother had been among those men.
    Mark hated that Faith had refused to stay at his safe house. She had no idea how uncharacteristic his offer had been. He was not good at sharing. Particularly when his safety or comfort were involved. Despite Faith being a stranger, and therefore a potential risk, his preference had actually been to bring her home with him. Which would have been far too dangerous for both of them.
    Now that his attempt to keep tabs on her had failed, he couldn’t help worrying about her.
    Which was another entirely new feeling.
    Tomorrow he’d run a background check on Faith. If her story panned out, which he expected it would, then he’d set up their next meeting. In the meantime, he’d work on getting access to more of Kerberos’s data so he could search for her brother.
    Because