The Doomsday Key (Sigma Force 6)

“That’s not the point,” Kat said.

Monk recognized that. He reached forward, slid his hands under the bottom of her blouse, and gently palmed her bare belly. Her skin was hot under his palms. She trembled at his touch.

“I know the point,” Monk said huskily. “My memory might be a little like Swiss cheese, but I don’t forget what’s truly important, not for one second of any day. And that’s why I’m going to make sure nothing happens.”

“You can’t control everything.”

Monk stared up at her. “Neither can you, Kat.”

Her eyes remained wounded. He knew how hard she had fought to watch over him during his recovery, how she hated being apart. Even now. Her protectiveness was born out of raw fear. For months she had believed Monk was dead. He could only imagine what that must have been like. So, though it wasn’t healthy for either of them, he didn’t press the matter.

Even now, he refused to force her hand.

If she didn’t want him to go, he wouldn’t.

“I hate the idea of you out in the field,” Kat said. She pulled his hands out of her shirt and clutched them tightly between hers. “But I’d hate myself more for telling you not to.”

“You don’t have to tell me,” he said quietly, suddenly feeling selfish. “You know that. I get it. There will be other missions. When we’re both ready.”

Kat stared hard at him. Then she sagged slightly, rolled her eyes, and reached out to grab the back of his head. She pulled him forward. Her lips hovered over his. “Always the martyr, aren’t you, Kokkalis?”

“What—?”

She silenced him with her lips, pressing hard, parting her mouth, tasting him. Then she pulled back, leaving him gasping, leaning forward for more.

“Just make sure you come back with all your parts intact this time,” she said, poking his prosthetic with a finger.

Always the slower of the two, Monk struggled to catch up with her thoughts. “Are you saying—?”

“Oh, dear God, Monk. Yes, you can go.”

Joy, along with a large measure of relief, swept through him. He cracked a huge smile, but it just as suddenly slipped into something more lascivious.

Kat read his thoughts and pressed a finger over his mouth. “No, not even one joke about you being a big stick.”

“Oh, c’mon, babe…would I do that?”

She removed her finger, leaned down, and kissed him again. He slid his hands under her rear and dragged her onto his lap.

He whispered as he pulled her fully to him, “Why say it, when I can prove it?”

10:15 P.M.

Terni, Italy

Gray stood guard before the window, staring out at the dark garden behind the old country farmhouse. He also had a view of the parking lot and the nearby Via Tiberina road. They had traveled eighty miles to reach the small town in the Umbria region, noted for its ancient Roman ruins and baths.

Rachel had suggested the location. The two-story farmhouse had been converted into a hotel, but still retained much of its original charm, with chestnut beams, bricked archways, and iron chandeliers. It was also remote and off the beaten path.

Still, Gray refused to let his guard down. After events in Rome, he wasn’t taking any chances. And he wasn’t the only one.

Down in the garden, he noted a flicker of red ash. He hadn’t known Seichan smoked—but then again, he knew almost nothing about her. She was an unknown quantity and a needless risk. He knew the standing orders out of Washington: capture her at any cost.

Still, she’d guarded their backs today, saved his life in the past.

As he watched her patrol the grounds, he heard the water shut off in the neighboring bathroom with a heavy thunk of the pipes. Rachel had finished her shower. After an hour in the sewers, they’d all needed some time with soap and very hot water.

They also needed a moment to regroup, to decide on a course of action. Moments later, Rachel exited the steaming bathroom, barefooted, wrapped only in a towel, her hair still dripping.

“Shower’s free,” she said, then glanced around the room. “Where’s your partner?”

“Kowalski’s gone downstairs. Fetching a late dinner from the kitchen.”

“Oh.” She remained standing in the doorway, her arms around her chest, suddenly awkward. She wouldn’t meet his eyes. They hadn’t been truly alone together since crashing back into each other’s lives. He knew he should turn away, allow her a moment of privacy, but he couldn’t.

She slowly stepped over to the bed, still favoring her left leg. Tylenol and a brace had helped her wrenched knee, but she needed at least a day of rest. On the bed was a stack of new clothes, still tagged and wrapped in tissue: for her, jeans, a midnight blue blouse, and a calf-length coat.

As she walked, she clung to her towel like a shield. There was no need. Gray knew intimately what lay under that towel. What his hands hadn’t explored, his lips had. But it wasn’t just the flesh that stirred him now. It was the memory of warmth, of soft words in the night, of promises that were never fulfilled.

He finally had to turn back to the window—driven away not by shyness, nor even out of politeness, but from an overwhelming sense of loss for what might have been.

He heard her shuffle by the bed, listened to the rustle of tissue paper. She didn’t return to the bathroom to change. She shed her towel and dressed behind him. He sensed no seduction in her boldness, more an act of defiance, challenging him, knowing it both pained him and shamed him.

Then again, maybe it was all his imagination.

Once dressed, she joined him at the window and stood at his shoulder. “Still keeping watch, I see,” she said softly.

He didn’t answer.

She stood with him for a quiet moment. Down in the gardens, the sudden flare of a match illuminated Seichan’s form as she lit another cigarette. Gray felt Rachel stiffen beside him. She glanced at him, then turned swiftly away and crossed back toward the bed.

Before either could speak, a rap on the door drew their attention. Kowalski entered, burdened by a wide wooden tray and two bottles of wine under one arm.

“Room service,” he said.

As he stepped inside, he quickly noted the discarded towel in the middle of the floor. His eyes flickered between Rachel and Gray, then rolled slightly. He carried his burden to the room’s table, whistling under his breath.

He left the tray on the table, but kept hold of both bottles of wine. “If you need me, I’m going to take a long hot bath. And I do mean long. I may be in there for at least an hour.”