The Maze (ATCOM) by Jennifer Lowery Read Free Book Online Page A

away into one of his holes after ATCOM destroyed his estate in South
America and he hadn’t surfaced until now. Which could only mean bad things.
He’d had time to plan what he had waiting for Attie.
    Max
had agreed to let Noah be the one to go, not only because of his experience as
an agent, but for his skills as a Navy SEAL. His expertise as a sharpshooter
would prevent Santiago from hurting Attie again. He just hoped she could hold
it together long enough for him to do his job.
    Noah
sighed. Attie wasn’t to blame for her behavior. Santiago was. If she hadn’t
been thrown into his underground prison and tortured for three days, she
wouldn’t be living with nightmares.
    Damn.
He’d agonized over this for six months and it still didn’t ease the pain of
knowing he’d let his agents fall into the hands of a madman. One was dead and
the other retired because of it. Two good agents. Seth had been the best at
what he did, falling into the role of coffee bean broker easily. He had
possessed the ability to blend into a crowd and his easy manner had encouraged
people to trust and talk to him, making him an expert in undercover work.
    Attie
had built a strong case against Santiago but the price she had to pay made it
null and void. Seth had paid with his life and Attie was still paying.
    No
one knew what had gone on behind closed doors, so to speak, or what Attie had
to do to gather evidence, and she made sure no one knew now. Her reports had
only included the details of her mission and intel she gathered. Nothing
personal. Seeing her tonight made him want to know the personal stuff. More
than her imprisonment haunted her. The realization only made him want to rid
the world of Carlos Santiago even more. His trigger finger itched to have
Santiago in his sights. This particular nightmare needed to be put to rest so
Attie could put her past to rest.
    A
strong wind blew through the opening of the cave, brushing the bare skin of his
arms. Noah welcomed the cold, letting it douse emotions that rarely traveled
close to the surface, but when it came to the mission gone wrong six months ago
he couldn’t help it. He was partly responsible for what had gone down and he
fully intended to make it right. He would take responsibility for sending Seth
in without communicating with Attie first. But, her calls had gotten so sparse
he couldn’t wait. Not when his gut was screaming at him to act.
    He’d
done the right thing, dammit. And Attie was just going to have to accept that.
     

 
    Chapter 5
     
    Her
anger wouldn’t let her sleep.
    Frustrated,
she flopped onto her back. She resisted touching a hand to her swollen lips.
Her body thrummed. No man had ever evoked this kind of response in her. Why
Noah? She hadn’t been interested in a relationship with any of her other fellow
agents. Not even Rogan St. Klare, a real live walking Adonis who turned heads
whenever he walked into a room. His buff, beach bum look had certainly turned
her head. To her he was a fellow agent. She’d managed to keep her relationships
strictly professional until Noah.
    Oh,
who was she fooling? Most of the men she had worked with were good looking. And
not one of them made her heart pound like Noah did. She’d kept things
professional, but it was always there in the back of her mind. Tormenting her.
    Attie
squeezed her eyes shut.
    Not
one used to worrying about vanity, she found herself wondering what Noah would
think if he’d seen her naked. Dangerous thoughts she couldn’t stop. During her
imprisonment Carlos had tortured her and she bore the scars, mostly internal,
but a few remained outside, visible only to a lover. If she ever took a lover
he would ask about them and she was in no position to explain. The scars were a
part of her past she didn’t talk about.
    Too
exhausted to think about this, she sighed. Tonight she had revealed more to
Noah than she’d intended, but once she’d started she hadn’t been able to stop.
She had been holding it inside