A Covert Affair (Deadly Ops #5)(13)

Tightening his jaw, he shoved those thoughts out of his head. He had a job to do. At least fifty women had gone missing and were likely being sold into slavery. He wasn’t going to rest until they were found and the operation running them was smashed to pieces.

He couldn’t imagine that Amelia was involved in any of it, but if she was, history or not, he’d do his job and she’d pay for her crimes.

Sid watched from the front seat of his SUV as his target strode across the nearly empty parking lot, her purse held against her side tightly. She was walking straight toward him and had no idea. He’d parked in a neighboring parking lot so that his vehicle was only yards away from her little car. They were separated by only a line of palm trees so he’d be able to move in from the shadows, knock her out, and carry her to his SUV with no chance of being seen by anyone at the restaurant if they happened to come out.

She was a looker at eighteen years old, the type of woman who’d only get hotter as she got older. Her long, dark hair was pulled up, the tail streaming down her back like a waterfall. Too bad he couldn’t touch the merchandise, because he wouldn’t mind tangling with that one.

His boss had ordered him to take the girl tonight. It had to be tonight for some reason and he wasn’t certain why, but he didn’t ask questions. Not when the money was so good.

He had to be careful with her, though. He was under strict instructions to never hurt their products. So he’d have to take her carefully. She couldn’t be more than a hundred and fifteen pounds, so even if she put up a fight, overpowering her wouldn’t be a struggle.

Not with his training. He might have been kicked out of the Army, but they’d trained him well beforehand.

Moving quietly, he opened his driver’s-side door and gently let it move back into place, not letting it click completely shut. The dome light didn’t come on, because he’d disabled it. He didn’t want her to see him until it was too late. Doing another visual sweep of the lot, he checked to make sure none of her coworkers at the seafood restaurant had followed her out, but he’d already done a head count as other employees left throughout the evening. According to the information he had on her, she was closing tonight, so there would be a cook or two inside still closing up and a manager, but she was the last waitress out.

It was shitty that no one walked her to her vehicle, but good for him. His information on his targets had never been wrong. He didn’t like that all the facets of their operation were kept insulated, but he got paid well, so he kept his concerns to himself. Money made it easy to do a lot of things.

His friends thought he was a bounty hunter, so it was easy to explain away his odd hours. In a way, he did hunt people down for a bounty, so the title was fitting.

Smiling to himself, he watched as she let out a curse and started to bend down in front of her back tire. He’d punctured it a couple of hours ago and later he’d have one of his contacts tow the vehicle for him, but it gave him the perfect opening to subdue her without a struggle. Taser in hand, he stepped closer to the line of trees, thankful for the darkness to cover his movements.

He was close enough to her that he could hear her creative, colorful curses. Heart pounding at the thrill of bagging his prey, he had started to step out from behind one of the trees when a loud male voice stopped him.

“Hey!”

Sid froze for just a second, looking behind him. The other parking lot was completely empty.

“What happened to your car?” the male voice asked.

Sid turned and realized the man hadn’t been talking to him. From the file he had on the restaurant employees, he knew the man was one of the fry cooks. He wasn’t wearing work clothes, but jeans, a T-shirt, and a light windbreaker. He must have come from the rear of the restaurant, which was why Sid hadn’t seen the guy. Still, he inwardly cursed. He could have been seen. Taking out someone else wouldn’t have been an issue, but he wouldn’t leave any witnesses. It was easier for everyone if his jobs stayed clean.

“I must have run over a nail or something,” the girl said, irritation in her voice.

“I’ll give you a ride home. You can call a tow truck in the morning.”

Sid blended back into the shadows as they continued talking, his heart rate jacked up. That had been close. Too close.

This girl wasn’t like their normal quarry from what he understood. Normally they found women and lied to them about a job opportunity. With this woman, they were just taking her. It felt like an unnecessary risk, but the boss wanted her for a reason. If he had to guess, it was because a client had requested a woman with a certain look or ethnicity and this girl fit the bill. Gonna be disappointed tonight, Sid thought as he slid back into his SUV. He didn’t start it, though, waiting until the girl and fry cook were long gone.

He’d follow her home. Maybe he’d just take her from there instead. It was only eleven; he had plenty of time to still kidnap her. Because he couldn’t afford to screw up. The last guy who’d failed had ended up with a bullet right between the eyes.





Chapter 4


Cover: facade, vocation, purpose, activity, false identity maintained by an undercover operative.





Amelia couldn’t stop the edginess that had settled in her bones since getting in her Jeep. Too many old conversations and memories kept playing in her mind. Now that she was away from the noisy auction, she had too much time alone. Too much time to wallow in her thoughts.