Alpha One (Shadow Agents 1)

“I’m not... Hell, it’s not about using you.”

At his outburst, she spun around. “You were going to lure Guerrero to that house! Dangle me in front of him as bait!” She was so angry her words came out rapid-fire.

“I was—am—going to keep you under guard. We have to take out Guerrero. You’re not going to be safe until he’s in custody or until he’s dead.”

Her breath panted out. “You should have told me the truth.” She felt as if Sydney was the only one giving her real insight into what was happening. Yes, they all wanted Guerrero stopped, she understood that. But did they have to lead her around like a lamb to a slaughte

r?

He shook his head. “There are some truths you don’t want to hear.”

That did it. Juliana shot across the room and jammed her finger into his chest. “Don’t.”

His brows rose.

“I’m not a child, Logan. I’ve handled death, disillusionment and betrayal just fine for years.” Handled it and kept going. She wasn’t going to break, not now and not ever. “So don’t make decisions for me. Don’t hide the truth from me.” Her father had done that for the past ten years. “Just...tell me.”

His gaze searched hers, then he gave a slow nod. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

Damn straight he should be. And sorry wasn’t going to cut it for her. “Sydney told me about Gunner’s brother. About how Guerrero was responsible for the attack that killed him.” Her breath heaved out. “I get that your team has a personal stake in this, all right? I get it. But we’re not just talking about your team. We’re talking about my life.”

His eyes blazed.

“Talk to me.” Now she was the one giving orders. “Tell me what’s going on.”

His nod was brief. Then “You’re in a government medical facility, one that was set up to assist agents in tracking their witnesses.”

She realized her finger was still stabbing into his chest. Juliana dropped her hand. “Tracking them how?”

“A small chip is implanted just under the skin. With that chip, we’re able to track a person anyplace that he or she goes.”

Anyplace. “You mean in case Guerrero gets to me—”

“He won’t—”

She waved that away. “If he gets to me, this chip is going to help you follow me.”

His jaw clenched. “Yes.”

Suspicion made her push because the trust she’d had...it was brittle. “Are you going to let his men take me...act like I’m protected but really ease back so they can grab me?”

His eyes chilled.

But she kept going. “Then you can just follow my tracking signal—what, some kind of GPS?—all the way back to Guerrero. You can get him. Get what you want, and hell, maybe all I’ll have to do is get tortured or killed so you can bring him down.”

His hands wrapped around her arms and Logan pulled her against him. “That’s not going to happen.”

“Promises, promises?” The taunt snapped out. “Because I don’t think I can trust you on this, Logan.” The pain from the past struck out at her. “I trusted you before, remember? We were going away together. I was there that night. Ready to leave everything I knew behind. I was there for hours.” She couldn’t hold back any longer. “Where the hell were you?”

Chapter Seven

His fingers were too tight on her arms. Logan knew it. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to step back. There was so much anger, no, rage in Juliana’s eyes. He hated that.

Even as he knew he could do nothing to change the past. “We were just kids, Julie. Two confused kids.”

“I was twenty. You were twenty-two. It’s not like we were playing in the sandbox back then.”

She wouldn’t make him flinch. Terrorists, killers—he’d faced plenty in his time. He’d taken bullets and been sliced by knives. He hadn’t flinched then.