Chances Are(5)

“I think you’ll be impressed with her skills. I’ve asked her to complete a two-day refresher. Dylan will oversee it, but I’d like you to be there, too.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re going to be her partner on the op.”

Hell, hell and double damn hell. So much for staying out of her way. Still, even as he cursed, he couldn’t deny the relief. He would protect her. He had failed in protecting the last woman he cared for…he would not fail Angela.

McCall stood. “The other operatives will be here tomorrow afternoon. Be back here at three for the briefing.”

Still feeling off-center, Jake got to his feet and followed McCall to the door. “How many are on the op?”

“Ten, including you and Angela.”

He didn’t know whether to be concerned with the size of the op or not. Having that many experienced operatives should ensure Angela’s safety. “So what’s the mission?”

“We’ve been asked by British authorities to assist in apprehending the Red Rose Killer.”

Jake froze mid-stride. No way could he hide his reaction at the news. Angela was going to be working to capture a man who had been deemed one of England’s most horrific murderers of the 21st century? A killer who had been referred to as a modern day Jack the Ripper. And the bastard liked only one kind of victim: Tall, beautiful brunettes…just like Angela Delvecchio.

Shit!





Chapter Three

Anxious for the meeting to begin, Angela tapped her pen impatiently against the conference room table. As she waited, her gaze wandered around the room, touching on each operative assigned to this mission. She knew some of them almost as well as she had known her own family. Now they were her only family. Familiar grief clutched at her heart, causing a stabbing ache in her chest and a burn of tears behind her eyes. Taking slow, even breaths, Angela battled the pain.

Samara had told her it would be like that, perhaps for years to come. She’d be doing fine, carrying on with her life, and then it would hit her like a sledgehammer, making it all seem fresh and newly horrific. Her entire family was gone.

Losing her parents had been excruciatingly painful but in some ways easier than losing her brother and sister. Though her parents’ health had improved significantly, they still hadn’t been completely well. For years, Angela had lived with the knowledge that she could lose one or both of them at any time. She had learned to appreciate each day as it came.

Her sister and brother were different. They had just begun their lives—young, exuberant and full of life. She could become exasperated with either one of them and then they’d do something to make her laugh and she'd completely forget her aggravation. Having taken on so much responsibility at an early age, Angela often felt like a third parent. In some ways, she felt as though she’d not only lost her brother and sister but also her children.

A slender hand touched her shoulder affectionately. Angela pushed aside her grief and turned to the surreally beautiful woman next to her—Eden St. Claire.

“How are you holding up?”

Angela smiled her gratitude. “I’m better. Still have some rough days.”

Eden smiled in sympathy, her soft gray eyes revealing an understanding and awareness few people could fathom. This woman knew all about loss and its aftermath. She had lived through her own hell.

“So do you know what the op is? Noah’s been even more closed-mouth than usual.”

Angela wasn’t surprised. Not only had Noah struggled with whether LCR should take on this mission, she knew he had wrestled with the assignments. In the end, with the exception of Angela, he’d chosen some of his most experienced and lethal operatives.

“I can’t say, other than to tell you to start looking for either a black wig or some expensive hair dye and lots of make-up.”

Eyes dancing with excitement, Eden murmured, “Hmm. Sounds intriguing.”

Physically, with the exception of her hair color, which was a lovely white-blonde, Eden fit the criteria that seemed to attract the killer. And she was as deadly as she was stunningly beautiful. If the killer chose to go after her, he would be in a world of hurt.

The handsome man sitting beside Eden, her husband Jordan Montgomery, was just as lethal. Not only that, if anyone looked at Eden the wrong way, Jordan had a tendency to get very upset. Angela had seen Eden become very amused by her husband’s over-protectiveness.

At the sound of soft, husky laughter, Angela turned her gaze to LCR operatives Shea and Ethan Bishop, who were whispering to each other. Shea’s eyes were bubbling with merriment as she smiled up at her husband. Ethan’s face said something else. If they weren’t in a roomful of people, Angela had a feeling that Shea would have been thoroughly kissed.

The auburn-haired Shea wasn’t the killer’s preferred type either, but with a disguise, she would blend in beautifully. Slender, with creamy skin and sparkling green eyes, she would attract any man’s attention. And the fierce-looking Ethan would make sure anyone who came close enough to hurt his wife would answer to him.

One of the things Angela loved and admired about the married LCR operatives was their intense devotion to each other. They watched each other’s back and trusted their spouse implicitly.

And though they weren’t married or even romantically involved, soon she and Jake would be sharing a partnership where they would need to trust each other the same way. She already trusted Jake, but would he return that trust? Since this was her first op, would he doubt her abilities? She pulled back from her worry. No point in borrowing trouble or creating more doubts than she already had. They could and would work through any difficulties. She and Jake had a good relationship. He might see her as a friend and nothing more, but he liked and respected her. Once they started working this case, she would prove to him that she was just as capable as any other LCR operative.

A huff of exasperation caught her attention. Sabrina Fox, a vibrant redhead with the personality to match, was rolling her eyes and talking animatedly to the golden-haired man sitting beside her, Aidan Thorne. Of all the LCR operatives, Sabrina might well be the most lethal. A few months back, Angela had walked in on a training session in the LCR gym and watched in awe while Sabrina took on three men at once, all seasoned operatives. And then, unscathed and barely out of breath, the woman had laughingly walked away, leaving all three on their asses.

Sabrina was most often teamed with Aidan. Though there was speculation that the two were romantically involved, Angela knew that wasn’t true. Sabrina talked about Aidan as if he were a slightly irritating but much-loved brother.

Angela turned her attention to Aidan and held back a dreamy sigh. There wasn’t a heterosexual woman in this world who could look at Aidan Thorne and not feel something. Nicknamed ‘the golden Adonis’ by a few of the single LCR employees, Aidan could make the most married and committed woman’s heart skip a few beats. Even as crazy as she was about Jake, she couldn’t look at Aidan without appreciating the view. No mortal man should look that good. And if that wasn’t enough, he had a great sense of humor and was a genuinely nice guy.

Tearing her eyes away from Aidan, Angela looked to the other end of the table where a quiet and pensive Riley Ingram sat unmoving, patiently waiting for the meeting to start. An unknown in every sense of the word, Riley had been an operative for almost two years and was the most mysterious LCR employee they’d ever had. She had read her file, done the necessary research for Noah to bring her in as an LCR operative and yet, Angela still felt she didn’t know anything about her.

The man sitting beside Riley, and politely ignoring her, was Justin Kelly. He had been hired last year without Angela’s knowledge, which was a rarity since she usually dug up every minutia of background on a prospective operative before Noah made the decision. It wasn’t until after Justin was hired that she learned he was former military and had apparently encountered LCR years ago when he had been trying to rescue his kidnapped sister from a human trafficker. From all accounts, it hadn’t been a good first meeting.

According to Noah, Justin was the one who had made the contact and requested an interview. She remembered that Noah had left for the meeting sure that the man intended retribution. Three hours later her boss had returned and said, “We’ve got new employ, Justin Kelly. He’ll start in a couple of weeks.” And that had been that.

Since then, Justin and Riley had apparently developed a love-hate relationship. Angela had heard that they worked together better than many operatives who’d been together for years, seemingly able to read each other without words. Outside an op, they acted as if they didn’t know the other existed. Angela found their dynamics fascinating.

Finally she allowed herself to focus on Jake, who was sitting beside Noah. Her boss had the usual grim, determined expression locked on his face. Jake looked equally forbidding. When his eyes shot to her, they seemed to pierce straight through. Angela’s heart rate increased, thudding hard against her chest.