Ben Parker fired, taking down the last of the security. The black-clad guard hit the floor with a thud and Ben breathed a long sigh of relief. There had been twelve, a ridiculous number for a facility that was supposedly used to study the effects of climate change high in the Himalayas. But then Ben’s higher-ups in the CFI knew what was really going on in this remote site deep in Nepal.

The “climate” scientists were actually virologists and engineers who had seemingly made evil their minors in college. Or greed perhaps, but given what they were brewing up here, he had to think it was pure evil.

A new delivery system for anthrax was being researched in this complex and Canada was going to make damn sure that was one research project that didn’t get completed.

Ben was silent for a moment, waiting for any sound to reach his ear. The floors in this part of the complex were metal and any sudden movement rattled. Nothing. It appeared the intelligence had been correct and the facility had been evacuated except for security personnel and a few lead scientists. Now all he had to do was find the big bad guy and he could call it a day.

He touched the comm system attached to his left ear. It was sleek and small, nothing more than a dot that sat on the outer edge of his ear. He could walk around with it all day and no one would notice. “Tim, are you there? I’m past the inner perimeter. I need the code to get into the lab.”

A garbled sound came over the line.

One of the best reasons to hide a lab in the middle of the Himalayas was the fact that technology sometimes went awry out here. He stared at the door in front of him. It was massive and made of four-inch-thick steel. He wasn’t going to kick that sucker in no matter how many leg days he’d suffered through.

He knew he should have brought some damn C-4, but no, his handler was worried they would blow up the anthrax and kill the population of Nepal. There was no optimism left in his world.

He had one shot and damn but he hadn’t wanted to take it. He’d wanted to get this thing done before the other team showed up. It would have made things infinitely easier, but it looked like there was no way around it. He hadn’t come across anyone with the key to the inner sanctum. Behind that door was the part of the building not even security got into.

He glanced around, touching his comm again. “Tell me the damn Americans came through. I can’t move forward without a code. I wasn’t able to find anyone with the proper key card. You were right. All the scientists are gone. Huisman’s in there somewhere and I think he’s crazy enough to go down with the ship, eh?”

“Americans…code…coming. Sorry, there’s a storm. Moving in…five…hang…” The line went dead.

Outside, the wind was whipping through the mountains. Tim and the team were roughly ten thousand feet below. He’d been forced to climb the damn mountain to get to the facility. He’d started in the dark, taken hours of moving quietly and steadily so they didn’t see him coming. Though they were no longer worried about being seen, Ben didn’t see his skinny-ass tech hauling butt up the mountain any time soon.

He stared at the door that separated him from the prize. From what he’d learned about the facility, this door led to the promised land—to the laboratory and the private office and residence of the man who had started this all. Dr. Huisman was in there somewhere, working on his plans.

The Chinese had gotten a foothold in North America, and Europe was rattling sabers. The world was changing rapidly and it was a renaissance time for the spy. Ever since the Mexican revolution had sent the entire continent into chaos, Ben had known he would wind up here. Maybe not this particular location, but in times when the whole world was on the brink, there was always some asshole willing to push them all over.

The world was a powder keg and if this new threat got in the wrong hands, Ben was worried it would blow sky-high.

And now he was literally one door away from reaching the prize, and the Americans hadn’t come through with the code. They’d had one job. One.

He heard a slight squeak coming from the hallway to his left. He brought up his gun, ready to take out whoever came down that hall. Had he missed someone? Had their intelligence been off?

One breath in and he was focused.

And then he wasn’t. A glimpse of pink hair made him stop. He lowered the gun because shooting this particular player wasn’t what he wanted to do.

Nope. He sometimes wanted to throttle her, but mostly his intentions were far more sexual.

The woman he knew as Ms. Magenta stood at the end of the hall, dressed all in white for a change. She had on a huge white parka, but he knew what it hid—curves and hips and breasts he couldn’t get out of his head.

The Magenta name was her play on her agency’s time-honored tradition of calling its operatives Mr. Black or Mr. Green, or some other color that was meant to protect the operative’s true identity. The woman in front of him was roughly five foot eight in flats and when she wore heels like she had on the mission in Macau, she could look him straight in the eyes.

Let other men covet petite, delicate females. He wanted this one. She was the Alpha female, cool and competent and often at odds with him. Maggie. Since he didn’t know her real name, he called her Maggie.

He stared at her for a moment, trying to figure out which Maggie he was dealing with. Sometimes she showed up and he could feel how dangerous she was, how reckless and ruthless. Other times she nearly melted in his arms, coming so close to kissing him that he’d ached with the loss.

“Ben, I’m sorry I’m late.” She strode up to him, pulling back the hood of her parka and setting free all that pink hair that was sort of her signature. He’d seen her with almost every color of the rainbow including her natural reddish blonde. There was something about the softness of her face that made him relax. She wasn’t here to fight. “We had trouble with the helo, but it looks like you handled everything with your usual aplomb. That was a lot of bodies out there, buddy.”

He loved that slight Texas twang that came out when she wasn’t thinking too hard. He loved that it came out more and more when they were alone. But he frowned because they weren’t supposed to be alone today. The US was still friendly with Canada, but the last thing he wanted was Maggie walking out of here with the prize.

The prize, in this case, was something he firmly intended to destroy.

“I didn’t realize you were late because you’re not supposed to be here at all,” he returned.

She stopped a few feet away from him, her blue eyes narrowing. Ah, there was the dangerous girl. “You know we were responsible for getting the code. How did you think I would get it to you?”

“Text works.” If she was here, she had a mission and it was likely to get that formula for the Agency.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a card. “You need this along with the code. I took it off one of Huisman’s men last night at a bar. He’s still sleeping it off so I doubt he’ll miss it. Now, if you don’t mind, I’ll open that door and we can be home in time for dinner.”

Since they were on a completely different continent from home, he took it as pure sarcasm. She seemed to breathe sarcasm at times.

What was his play? He could fight her for the card, but she wouldn’t give him the code. He could argue that she wasn’t going with him, perhaps even slip in and lock her out.

And then she would take his balls off, and that wasn’t how he wanted her to get introduced to his balls. He would have to get in, find the formula, and destroy it before they ever left here.

“Did you get the vaccine?” If they hadn’t inoculated her against inhalation anthrax, there was zero way he was taking her with him.

She rolled those gorgeous eyes of hers. “Of course. Do you think I have a death wish?”

He’d seen her jump out of a plane at nearly 35,000 feet, so yes, he often thought she did. Of course, he’d jumped out after her because they were about to be murdered and she’d taken the only parachute.

Maybe he was the one with a death wish. His dick seemed incredibly stupid.

“All right, I’m going first,” he said. “I don’t know if Huisman is behind that door or not. According to our intelligence, he hasn’t left the base in a week, but he sent home the rest of the non-security employees a few days ago. Be careful, eh? He might be a doctor, but he gave up on his Hippocratic oath a long time ago. He will be armed and he won’t hesitate to kill you. Stay behind me.”

She moved to the door, flashing the key card and punching in a five-digit code. “You know I love it when you say, eh. And hey, if you want to get murdered first, who am I to stop you? What’s wrong with the comms? I can’t get my team on the line.”

So hers wasn’t working either. It was good to know they were completely blind. “Apparently the storm is wreaking havoc on our electronics. Stay behind me.”

He started to move through the room, catching sight of the SIG Sauer in her right hand. The whole three years he’d worked with her off and on, she’d always used that weapon, though there were far more technologically advanced guns out there. She always claimed if it had been good enough for her father, it was good enough for her.

The door closed behind her and he turned on the light. “According to the plans we stole, this is where Huisman works.”

“This outer section is part of his office. The lab is in the back. It’s a level-four biosafety lab so we’ll have to change if we go in there,” she explained.

Did she think he was a moron? “Yes, I got that intel. And we don’t have to change at all. I’ll deal with it and you’ll stay out here and watch for any stragglers. And Huisman. I haven’t found him yet. He’s got to be here somewhere.”

She stopped in the middle of the hallway, one hand on her hip. “I’m not going to sit out here like a good little girl and wait for you. I can bet what would happen. You would go in and the formula would mysteriously disappear.”

He wasn’t playing these games with her. He strode down the hallway. Huisman’s compound was multi-tiered, but this was definitely the level with the most security.

So why were the doors all open?

“If you think I’m going to allow something that deadly to fall into your country’s hands, you don’t know me at all,” she insisted as she followed him.

The door to the lab was closed, but there was a green light blinking above, indicating that it wasn’t locked. The lab was on one end of the hall and, if he was correct, Huisman’s office was on the other. Perhaps he should check the office first. He didn’t want to get caught with his pants down.

“I don’t know you at all, sweetheart. I don’t even know your real name. The only thing I know is that you’ll do anything for your country, including turning over a weapon of mass destruction when you would be better off destroying the formula.” He strode down the hallway well aware that they were making far too much noise. He couldn’t seem to help it around her. “And don’t even talk to me about our countries. Let’s see which one is known for being involved in every war it can send its troops into, and which one is known for maple syrup and delicious donuts.”

“We have excellent donuts, too,” she shot back. “And maple syrup. Have you never been to Vermont? Name me one thing Canada has that America doesn’t. Face facts. You’re nothing but America North, buddy.”

She irritated him to no freaking end. So why did he dream about her at night? Why did every woman he slept with morph into her at some point? He was young, fit, and in a job that seemed to attract women even though he couldn’t talk about it. Somehow they seemed to know he was dangerous and it drew them to him. He should be having the time of his life, but no, all he could think about was a woman with pink hair who challenged him at every turn. “You know what we have that you don’t, baby? It’s called common sense. Sweet, sane common sense. Which is precisely why you’re not stealing this formula.”

He stopped at the doorway. Not because he was worried about Huisman getting the jump on them.

They weren’t alone. Not that it mattered.

“Is he dead?” Maggie moved in behind him.

Yep. Dr. Emmanuel Huisman was totally dead on the floor of his office. Unless he’d managed to fake the bullet hole to his left temple. Ben kicked the revolver away from the bad doctor’s hand anyway. Never hurt to be cautious in his line of work. More than one person had come back from the “dead” and tried to kill him.

“He must have decided to kill himself rather than face the Agency.” Maggie stared down at him.

“Maybe he knew he was facing CFI.” Canadian Foreign Intelligence. His group.

She laughed. “You’ve been around for five years, buddy. You’re not known for being particularly ferocious when it comes to dealing with prisoners. You do tend to give them donuts and hope they like you enough to talk.”

There was another thing his country had on hers. Niceness. The Canadian version of the CIA hadn’t existed until five years before, when the Chinese and Russians had started moving in on South America and Mexico.

Maybe they weren’t great at all things torture, but damn it, he wasn’t going to allow his country to go down.

He stopped and stared at the desk in front of him. Huisman’s office was totally different from the utilitarian rooms outside it. This office was luxurious and built for comfort. There were several laptops and a big, sturdy desktop that likely held the secrets of this facility. A monitor sat on the desk, a sticky note hastily attached to the side. It was barely clinging there.

Play Me

“I don’t think we should go down that rabbit hole,” Maggie said, her boot tapping against the floor. “Let’s get into the lab and get out of here. If he wanted to monologue like a good villain, he should have stayed alive.”

Somehow Ben couldn’t see it going so smoothly. Huisman was the kind of man who tended to get what he wanted. If he wanted them to listen, he would have found a way.

Still, he agreed that he wasn’t simply going to stand there and comply. He glanced around and saw there was another door. There was a room beyond the office.

He stepped in and found something the reports hadn’t mentioned. Huisman had a beautifully decadent bedroom. He should have known the fucker wasn’t sleeping on some military-grade cot. The whole space was white and cream-colored, dominated by a massive four-poster bed. He had to wonder what it had cost to get that gorgeous monstrosity up a mountain.

Was that a fucking Picasso above the bed?

“What is that?” Maggie stepped in behind him.

She wasn’t talking about the bed. Right there in the middle of the room was a large piece of equipment with tons of wires and compartments attached. On top of it sat a digital clock.

The door behind them slid closed with a nasty hiss and Ben watched in horror as the clock blinked to life.

1:00:00

0:59:59

0:59:58

“Shit. It’s a bomb,” Maggie said.

Yes, the other quality the Americans possessed was the unquestionable ability to state the obvious.

He turned and tried to open the door. It held firm. “Try the key card.”

She waved it over the security box. Nothing. Well, not nothing. They got nothing from the door. It didn’t budge, merely blinked red to let them know it wasn’t opening. But a monitor did slip down from the ceiling. It was perfectly placed to be seen from the bed. Ben moved back, taking in the monitor that was now full of Huisman’s self-satisfied smile.

“Welcome, Benjamin,” the man on the monitor said. He spoke in softly accented English, French being his native tongue. “I figured you wouldn’t follow my very reasonable orders, so I had to set a bit of a trap to get you to hear me out. If you are not Benjamin Parker of Canadian Intelligence, I apologize. But I think it will be you. You and the American girl. I seem to find you together so very often. Welcome. You finally found me. I applaud you and you’ve managed to catch me at a delicate time. Even now you’re at work in the outside perimeter, taking out my soldiers. I went cheap on the mercenaries. I suppose thrift really was my downfall. The good news is the bomb you are currently sharing space with is not cheap. It’s quite expensive, filled with all the best uranium China could get to me. It’s certainly enough to blow the top off this mountain. And it will be enough to send my enriched and hearty anthrax all over the country of Nepal.”

“Why the fuck does he care about Nepal?” Maggie asked.

Huisman wasn’t finished. “Why do I care about Nepal, you might ask? I don’t, but the Chinese want it destroyed and they paid me an enormous amount of money to do it. The explosion will destabilize this part of the world. In addition to blowing off the top of this mountain, I’ve rigged something special up there. When my new anthrax hits the upper atmosphere, it will breed and form clouds. It will rain down on the people of this region. Imagine that. Not acid rain. Anthrax rain that only the Chinese and their select friends will be immune to. It will seep into the soil. Perhaps my new bacteria will continue to breed. It will be a brave new world, my friends. Unfortunately, you and I will not live to see it. I think I’ll go out on a high note, but I wanted to leave you a bit of time to contemplate the end of your existence. This is my final gift to you, Benjamin. I give you the gift of time. What will you do with the final hour of your life? I think you will be like a rat on a sinking ship, scratching and panicking to save your own pathetic life. You see, there are worse things than dying. Au revoir, mon ami.”

Ben felt her hand slip into his. He squeezed it tight.

They were so fucked.

* * *

41:34

The clock kept ticking.

“I think we should cut the blue wire.” Maggie had been carefully inspecting the bomb that would likely end their lives. “The only problem is I’m fairly certain this sucker has a couple of land mines attached. I don’t mean that literally, of course, but I think bad crap could happen if I clip the wrong wire. The red wire goes to something that looks like it’s empty, so it’s probably a gas.”

“I wouldn’t put it past him to release some sarin on us if we did something wrong.” He could see what she was talking about. The bomb was a complete mess of wires. It would take hours to figure out where each of them went. Hours they didn’t have.

Maggie sat up, pushing her hot-pink hair out of her face. She’d gotten out of the massive parka she’d been wearing and underneath had been a white jumpsuit that would have looked utilitarian on someone else. It just made her look like a freaking walking wet dream. “I could use a little optimism.”

“I don’t have any when it comes to that bomb. I think we should try to work on the comms. Neither one of us is a bomb expert.” He’d tried everything he could to get that damn door open. It wasn’t budging and he’d nearly taken off his own head by trying to shoot the locking mechanism. Luckily, he was excellent with some forms of technology. He touched the ultralight tablet he carried with him at all times and felt a thrill go through him as the TV screen switched from Huisman’s face to a computer screen. “I’m in his computer system.”

She stood, her eyes going wide. “How did you manage that? Can you get the door open?”

Probably not, since he’d shot the mechanism. Yeah, not his best moment. He started typing on the tablet. “The TV is a smart screen. It should be able to connect to any system with a signal. Huisman sprang for the best. The satellite connection is still working. It looks like he’s shut down electrical to all the doors. No one can get in or out.”

“Send out a message before his handlers figure out they should shut down the satellite.” She was close to him again. He could smell the citrus scent of her shampoo. He lied to himself, trying to force his brain away from dangerous territory. She wasn’t his type. He liked normal women. Women who didn’t jump out of planes and have pink hair. Women who weren’t incredibly skilled assassins. Women who didn’t make his heart pound the way this one did.

He quickly typed a message to his handler. Tim was in a camp at the base of the mountain and they would all need to evacuate as quickly as possible. He sent it off but couldn’t get through to Tim’s mobile. He passed Maggie the tablet.

“Thanks,” she said, turning away slightly. “At least I can warn my team.”

“Where are they?” He knew next to nothing about her team. He’d only dealt with her.

“They’re probably with Tim by now,” she said. “They were taking the helo down the mountain after they dropped me off. My partner was worried about losing the bird. It’s brand-new and it’s capable of getting up to almost thirty thousand feet, but it’s struggling with the storm. Langley will potentially murder us if we crash that chopper. It’s their baby and we might or might not have had permission to take it out for this op.”

Somehow it didn’t surprise him. She was likely a massive pain in the ass to her boss. “You stole a helo?”

She finished typing and looked back up at him. “I think they will discover that we were simply mistaken about which helo we were supposed to take. It was really early and that requisition form can be hard to read before I’ve had a cup of coffee.”

“Let me see if I can affect this bomb from here.” He took the tablet from her and started poking around the system. “I have no idea how you get away with that shit. If I did it, I would be fired.”

“It helps to have friends. We work with some of the best Special Ops teams in the world, and I happen to have grown up with some of those guys. I’m sure if times weren’t what they are those relationships would cost me plenty, but I’m incredibly valuable for them now. My helo pilot used to steal cookies from my mom’s cookie jar. Though I’m not the only one who seems to have connections. Why did Huisman call you friend?” If she was upset about the fact that they were locked in a room with a bomb big enough to take out a mountain, she didn’t show it. She made a slow circle around the room, trailing her hand over the comforter on the bed. “Or more specifically mon ami.”

“Because he’s an asshole.” He didn’t want to go into this. It wasn’t any of her business. He should leave it at that, but he found himself going on. “We were friends when we were kids.”

Why had he said that?

“I knew he was from Quebec,” she said, sitting at the end of the bed. “I didn’t realize you knew him.”

Frustration welled inside him as he pored over the system. Any way he went, he got blocked. Huisman had been a brilliant doctor, but he’d known computer systems, too. He might have gone cheap on the mercenaries hired to protect him, but he’d been smart enough to hire the best when it came to setting up his cyber security systems. Of course, it wasn’t like Ben himself was some brilliant hacker. He knew just enough to think he could do things he obviously couldn’t. That was why he had Tim. But he was worried Tim wouldn’t be able to get into a closed system.

It was up to him. The whole fucking fate of this region was up to him.

“Hey, it’s okay.” She was suddenly behind him, her hands on his shoulders. “None of this is your fault. Unless Huisman was your secret lover and you cheated on him and that’s why he hates the world.”

He rounded on her. This was not the time to joke. “He was not my secret lover.”

She shrugged, the motion making her breasts move. Gorgeous fucking breasts. Those breasts made his mouth water. They made his brain soft, because he was looking down the barrel of a massive, uranium-enriched gun and all he could think about was how he could see a hint of nipple through that white shirt. And it wasn’t cold in here. It might be freezing outside, but Huisman had managed to keep it nice and toasty in his evil lair.

“I always wondered.”

He turned, forgetting about the tablet for a moment. “You wondered if I was gay? I’m not gay. What exactly gave you the impression that I’m gay? If you say it’s because I’m Canadian, I swear I’ll be done with you.”

Her lips curled up in the sexiest smile. “That sounds like something my dad would say. He’s pretty rah-rah USA. Spent some time in the military. But no, your Canadianness doesn’t make me question your sexuality, merely your choice of bacon.”

She was so frustrating and he suddenly got the idea that he should show her just how not gay he was. “My choice of bacon is fine. It leads to far less heart disease than yours. Let me explain a few things to you, sweetheart. There’s nothing wrong with homosexuality. It’s a perfectly natural state. My natural state is different. I like women. I like breasts and hips and pussies. I really like soft, welcoming pussies, especially when they’re attached to smart, sexy, dangerous women.”

She held her ground and, yes, those nipples were definitely out and that had not a thing to do with the temperature. “Well, we’ve worked together a couple of times now and you’ve never once hit on me. It makes a girl think.”

So arrogant. “So if a man doesn’t hit on you, he’s obviously gay? Maybe you’re not my type.”

“Oh, I’m you’re type. Don’t get me wrong, Ben. I can be arrogant, but I’m self-aware, too. I know perfectly well that I’m not every man’s type. I’m a brat of the highest order and I was probably raised to have ridiculously high standards, but we’re alike, you and I. If you prefer women, I’m your natural mate.”

What was she trying to do? They had less than forty minutes before the world blew up and she was hitting on him? She wanted to do this now? “Natural mate? In your world do natural mates take the last parachute and leave the other to die? Do they shoot their mate in the shoulder? How about the throwdown in the alley in Beijing when you kicked me in the balls and stole the only invite to that auction the cartel was having?”

She rolled those gorgeous blue eyes. “Don’t be such a drama queen. I took the parachute because I knew damn well you would follow me. If I hadn’t, you would have stood there and talked that asshole to death. Excuse me for getting bored. And I shot you through the shoulder because that was the only way to kill the bad guy. His heart was behind your shoulder. I knew what I was doing and I wasn’t about to let him drag you away and use you as a human shield. As for the auction…I know you won’t believe me but I felt bad about that. I should have found another way but it worked out. That invite led to us all getting valuable intelligence. I’m sorry about…well, I’m just sorry.”

He tried to keep his eyes on the monitor, but he could feel her moving behind him. “You halfway sound like you care, Maggie.”

“I did and I do,” she said quietly. “You’re not going to be able to untangle that mess, Ben. We don’t have near enough time.”

She cared? About him? “I need some optimism.”

That was the moment the lights went out. They were plunged into complete darkness. Ben reached out, putting the tablet down.

He stepped back, turning and reaching out for her. “Maggie?”

“I’m here.” She moved close to him, bumping up against his chest. Her arms went around him. “I don’t want to lose you. I can’t see a thing.”

He couldn’t see a damn thing either, but he could already feel something. A chill went through the room. If the power had gone out, then the climate control would go as well. It was possible the venting had opened and they were about to get a big dose of what it meant to be twenty-three thousand feet above sea level.

The truth was even if he could get them out, it wouldn’t matter now. They could try to climb down, but their time was running out and this was the kind of climb that took hours and hours without the aid of a helicopter.

And they couldn’t hack into a system when the wireless was down.

He held her for a moment, taking in the gravity of the situation. His eyes adjusted and he realized something was still working. “Is the timer still ticking down?”

“Yes.” She laid her head on his shoulder, the same one she’d shot. “It’s on some kind of battery, but if I try to clip it, it looks like it triggers the system.”

Naturally.

“And the sensor that connects it to the bomb on top of the mountain is very likely battery operated, too.” It’s what he would do. Huisman would have left nothing to chance. He’d set everything up perfectly. He’d even left them in the dark.

Like rats on a sinking ship.

How did he want to spend the last half hour of his life?

“I think I can see enough to get around now.” Maggie took a step back. He heard her boots move across the floor. “Damn it. Well, the power going out didn’t kill the security system. That door is not budging.”

Because the man on the other side of it would have been very careful. Had Huisman hurried and hustled to make this happen? Had he realized he was going down and scrambled to catch the hunter in a trap of his own? Or had this always been his plan?

Ben rather thought it was the latter.

He heard a long sigh and then a single stream of light cut through the darkness. Maggie moved through the room, toward the big four-poster bed. She opened the nightstand and started going through it.

“Oh, look. The good doctor believed in safe sex,” she murmured. “And a shocking amount of lube. Who needs that much lube? Ah, there we go.”

She set down the small flashlight and there was the scratching sound of a match striking. She lit the candles that had decorated the room.

“Do you think he used this place as his pleasure palace?” Maggie asked as she filled the room with soft light.

Ben realized that he hadn’t moved. Not an inch. Since that moment when Huisman’s words had whispered through his brain—how will you spend your last hour?—he’d been locked in place, his focus shifting from survival to something else.

Her.

She turned, her pink hair still somehow so vibrant in the candlelight. It had softened all of her other features. “You okay?”

It was a ridiculous question. They were trapped inside a mountain that was going to blow up and decimate a whole lot of the population of their planet. He was not okay. “No.”

Maggie stepped in front of him. “You need to have a little faith. We’re stuck. There’s nothing we can do, but our people know what’s going on. They won’t let this happen. I assure you that my team is taking that state-of-the-art helo up the mountain right now and they will move that bomb or they will find a way to ensure that it doesn’t go off. They’re the best. They won’t let me down.”

“But there’s no way for them to stop the bomb that’s five feet away from us.”

She glanced over at it and sighed. “No. I don’t think they can and they know what their priorities are. I’ve already assessed this and the most likely outcome is that my team takes out the big bomb and we die in here anyway.”

“Yes, I think you’re right.” He wasn’t going down like a desperate rat. He’d known this would be his fate. He would die on a mission, trying to save his country—the world, really. He reached out and did what came naturally. He touched her, touched that spun-sugar hair of hers. It was ridiculously soft against his skin. “I wish you weren’t here with me.”

“That’s funny because I was thinking that there was no place I would rather be.” She stepped in closer, tilting her head slightly up. “You took your time, Ben. You’re not good at reading signals because I’ve been sending them out forever.”

He let his hands sink into her hair, the sense of anticipation flooding his system. Yes, this was the way he would spend the last moments of his life. With her. Warm and happy with her. “Your signals suck, baby. All you ever had to do was this.”

He lowered his head and brushed his lips over hers. So long. He’d waited forever to feel those velvet-soft lips under his. He moved slowly despite the fact that there was a bomb ticking down the time. It didn’t matter anymore. That clock could move on and he would stay here, doing this, kissing her and exploring her like he’d wanted to from the first moment. Oddly enough, now that he was here, time seemed to slow and the destination wasn’t half as important as the journey. If the world blew up, at least their bodies would mingle. No one would be able to tell the difference between them. In that moment, he was all right. It was a better fate than any other he’d been offered.

She moved with him, her mouth flowering open at the mere hint of his tongue. She welcomed him inside, her hands going to his hips. He felt her sigh as he deepened the kiss. Their bodies brushed each other and then she moved against him, bringing her breasts to his chest as she wrapped her arms around him.

Had they been anywhere else, he wouldn’t have trusted the moment. He would have been on his guard, thinking she was trying to distract him. She was, but he wanted this distraction.

No. It wasn’t the distraction he wanted and he hoped she wasn’t using sex simply to get her mind off the fact that they were going to die.

“Maggie, I’m crazy about you. I’ve wanted to touch you since the moment I saw you. Well, most of the time,” he whispered against her mouth. He dragged his tongue across her lower lip, loving the way she shuddered in his arms. “Sometimes it’s like you’re a different person.”

She shook her head. “Don’t think about that. That was all work. This is different, Ben. I want you so badly sometimes I can’t stand it. My friends know it, too. They know you’re the reason I haven’t had a damn boyfriend in a year.”

He kissed her again, drugged by her softness, the feeling of being able to lose himself in her. He took her mouth over and over again, thanking Huisman for being so slavishly devoted to his own comfort that he would have a bedroom built for sex even on this remote mountain.

He let his hands roam over her back and down to that perfect ass he thought about all the time. Maggie was fit and strong, but she had curves in all the right places. Her backside fit into the palms of his hands like it’d been made for him. He pulled her close, letting her feel what she did to him. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to work with you? I get this any time you’re around.”

She frowned at him. “Even when I’m busting your balls?”

“Okay, so there are times when you seem more pissed off than others.” Sometimes she seemed deeply dismissive of him, as though she didn’t remember or care about the times when they’d talked and worked together in harmony. Those tended to be the times he had to watch because he ended up shot or kicked in the balls. “I often wonder who hurt you.”

Her hands moved up his chest. “One day I’ll explain everything, but for now, please kiss me again, Ben.”

One day would have to be had in Heaven or Hell, or wherever operatives went after they got their asses blown to bits, but he wasn’t about to argue with her now. He gave in and kissed her again, their tongues sliding against each other.

He moved from her mouth to her cheek and down toward her neck. He wanted to kiss her everywhere, but that damn jumpsuit she wore covered her well and he couldn’t find the zipper. “Baby, I want to see you. I want to touch you. I know we don’t have much time, but I want to spend every single second we have left getting inside you. It’s all I want now.”

He wanted her more than breathing. If the door opened at this point, he would ignore it. He wouldn’t waste his time trying to flee. He would spend it wrapping himself up in her.

She stepped back, the sweetest smile on her face. He loved seeing her like this. This was the Maggie who haunted his dreams. Not that she wasn’t competent in the field, but this side of the woman seemed devoted to working with him instead of showing him what a dumbass he was.

“You know we have all the best toys, Ben.” She turned slowly and he could see there wasn’t a zipper anywhere and yet it was plastered to her body. It fit perfectly. “Nanites. They conform to whoever’s wearing them. They’re also resistant to bullets and weapons. Oh, push hard enough and you can still get a knife through there, but it gives me some protection.”

Yes, the Americans did have all the best tech. “How do I get it off you?”

He didn’t give a damn about how it worked except to get her naked. Normally he would ask a hundred questions because he’d never seen nanite tech like this before, but he couldn’t care less. He was all about finally seeing how gorgeous she truly was.

“It’s easy,” she said. “It’s voice-activated. Undress.”

The white jumpsuit flowed down her body like a metallic cascade, unveiling her skin. Her hair spilled around her shoulders, falling almost to her nipples. The sight of her breasts made his dick harden even further. How hard could he get before he died from it? It didn’t matter because he was watching as the nanites retreated and showed him her hips and the gorgeous spot between her legs. Her pussy was smooth and bare and he could see the glistening arousal there. Even the damn boots she was wearing disappeared into a cube that formed at her feet. She reached down and placed it on the nightstand. “Cute, huh?”

That wasn’t the word he would use. “I take it that voice control is only for you. Because I could find a definite use for that. Damn, but you’re gorgeous. Come here. It’s cold and I don’t want you to feel the chill for even a second.”

“I didn’t notice, Ben. I’m perfectly warm.” She moved toward him, slowly, as though well aware of his eyes on her. “And I would never give you that code. I know what you would do with it.”

He would have her naked whenever the mood sparked him, and it would spark him a lot. He would keep her on her toes, and the second they had any privacy at all, he would find a corner and give the command that would have her naked. “I don’t have clothes that undress themselves. I think I need you to help me.”

She moved right in, her hands going to the bottom of his sweater. “I should have known you would be needy. Lucky for you, I don’t mind a little work.”

She eased her hands under the sweater and thermals he was wearing underneath. Ben bit back a moan the minute he felt her hands on his flesh. She slid them up, running along his abs and up to his chest, and he was happy he’d kept up a hard-core gym routine because this woman deserved a lover who could keep up with her. He stared down at her while she stared up.

He wished he hadn’t wasted so much time. They’d been on a dozen ops together over the past three years and now he wished he’d kissed her the first time they’d met.

She dragged the layers over his head and tossed them to the side. Then her hands were on him, palms flat on his chest as she leaned over and kissed the curve of his neck. Yeah, he wasn’t feeling the chill anymore. A delicious heat stroked through his body as he allowed her to explore. She cuddled up against him, her nipples rubbing. He cradled the back of her neck as she kissed her way down his torso. She stopped briefly at the scar on his left shoulder, the bullet wound now raised and white.

“So sorry about that, babe.” She kissed the scar and then ran her tongue around it before continuing down.

When she dropped to her knees, it took everything he had not to come then and there. There was something almost formal about the way she did it, as though she was offering him something he didn’t entirely understand. He wasn’t about to turn it down though. He watched in breathless anticipation as she unbuckled his belt and eased down the heavy fabric of his slacks and thermals. They’d kept him warm, but now the heat in her eyes would do the trick.

She glanced down as his cock came free. He bit back the need to beg her to touch him. He didn’t care how much time was left on that fucking clock. He wasn’t going to make this some rushed thing. It was their first time.

Their only time.

“I knew you would be beautiful, Ben. I win that bet.”

He was about to ask her what she meant by that, but she leaned forward and gripped his cock in her hand. When she tongued his cockhead, he gasped and fought the urge to come. Nope. Wasn’t happening.

She sucked the head behind those sinful lips of hers and he thought he was going to die. Heat sparked through his system and he felt his balls drawing up. That was all it took. She was so gorgeous, so hot and perfect that it was a fight to stay calm.

Her tongue whirled around his cock and he let his hands find her hair, sinking in and drawing her closer.

“Take more.” He wasn’t going to come in her mouth. No. He wanted to get inside her body, wanted so badly to feel that sweet pussy sucking him inside. But he would know her mouth, too. Fully.

“You have no idea what that deep voice does to me, Ben. One day we’re going to have a long talk about my personal kinks, but for now just know that I can take orders. I want to please you.”

Fuck, that did something for him. It made his heart speed up and his dick throb. He had a sudden vision of tying her up and torturing her body in the sweetest way. He would make her come again and again, and only when she begged him would he find his own release and relent. Then she would be his. His own spy girl with pink hair and cherry lips. She would fight against everyone except him because she would know he would protect and care for her.

Oh, the life they could have had.

“You please me in every single way, baby. Now take me. Suck me hard and fast and don’t stop until I tell you to.”

She licked her lips and settled back down, sucking him in long passes. So good. It felt so good, but he couldn’t let it last. Her mouth moved over him, infusing him with energy like he’d never felt before. It hummed through his body and made him feel more alive than he’d ever felt before. He pushed into her mouth, taking control and feeling the moment when she surrendered. She let him use her mouth, sucking him hard and submitting in a way that nearly sent him over the edge.

This was what she wanted. She was trying to show him what she wanted from him. He tugged on her hair, just enough so she would feel it.

She came off him, her face tilting up and showing him red, gloriously swollen lips. Her blue eyes stared up at him as she waited.

She was waiting for him to take control. The idea made his cock jump and it damn straight made him want to show her exactly how good he could make this.

“Get on the bed and spread your legs for me. I want to see that pretty pussy before I eat it like a starving man.” Something about her brought out the dirty talk. Sex before this had been good but polite. He’d been taught to be respectful and gentlemanly, but now he realized he could be both. He could respect the hell out of her and give her every dirty, filthy fantasy he’d ever had.

He kicked out of his boots, watching her while she spread herself on the bed. Her hair made a halo around her, but there the angelic references ended. She was a siren, calling a man to temptation, and he didn’t care if it all led to tragedy.

“Touch yourself. I want you to rub your little clit and get it hot and ready for me. I want that pussy wet. I want to lick that pussy and get cream all over my tongue. Do you understand me?”

“You’re killing me, Ben.” She drew her hand down her body until she found her pussy and brushed manicured fingers over the pearl of her clitoris.

Ben stepped out of his pants and stroked his cock as he looked down at her. She was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. So feminine and perfect. Sure, she had scars, but so did he. Those scars marked them, and if he’d had time, he would map her body. He would kiss every inch of her, moving from scar to scar and having the story of each one so he could know her soul as well as he would learn her flesh.

He climbed on the bed with her. “Give me a taste.”

Maggie offered up her fingers and he brought them to his lips, sucking them inside. He was perfectly satisfied with the way she flushed. He sucked on her fingers, drawing the taste of her inside and letting it coat his tongue.

“You taste perfect, but I’m going to need more.” He leaned over and took her mouth, giving the taste of her own arousal back to her before kissing his way down her body.

Her hands fisted in the covers as he sucked on one nipple and then the other, laving them with his affection. Her breasts were so beautifully sensitive, responding to him by puckering up.

He could stay there forever, but their time was limited so he kissed his way over the soft swell of her belly and down to where he’d wanted to be since the moment he’d laid eyes on her.

He breathed her in, the smell of her sex lighting a fire inside him.

“Please, Ben.” The words came out of her mouth on a low moan as she spread her legs even farther.

What happened next would definitely please Ben. He lowered his mouth and covered her pussy. He settled in, loving the way she tasted, and he could feel her shaking under him. She was already so close. He could taste it, sense it in her little whimpers and cries. Her hands came up, fingers tangling in his hair, trying to keep him in a place he had absolutely no intention of leaving. Not until he was sure she’d been satisfied.

This was everything he’d wanted from her and more. He settled in, grinding his tongue over her clit as he eased his finger into her. She was so tight. Those muscles of hers clenched around him as he started to fuck her in time to the rhythm of his tongue. He curled his finger up inside her, looking for that sweet spot.

Her whole body stiffened and she came around him, her arousal flooding his senses.

And now it was his time. He got to his knees, stroking his cock. He glanced over at the condoms, but damn it, it was the end of the fucking world. Still, force of habit had him reaching out and opening the packet before he could really consider the fact that it didn’t matter.

Then nothing mattered except the woman underneath him. Her skin had flushed to a gorgeous pink and he couldn’t deny himself a second longer.

He pressed in, working his way in inch by inch. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think past the next thrust. She was silky and perfect around him. So tight he could barely move, but also slick and ready to take him. He pulled back out, her muscles sucking at him and sending a thrill through him like never before.

This was good. This was right. Finally the right woman at the right time.

It was perfection.

He fucked her hard, rubbing his pelvis over her clit and watching every expression on her face. Her eyes would widen with each thrust and she would clutch him when he retreated. He could feel the way her nails bit into the skin of his back, and it hurt so much that he wouldn’t wake up in the morning and stretch and feel that pain and know she’d been right here with him.

He wanted tomorrow with her. All the fucking tomorrows.

He wanted to take this one moment and make it stretch forever, make it last until he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t take another single second.

But he was only human and long before he wanted it to end, he felt her tighten around him, her pussy milking his cock as she flushed again and called out his name.

He couldn’t fight it. His balls drew up and his spine tingled. He gritted his teeth as he came harder than he’d ever come before. He unleashed himself and pounded inside her, the need to mark her as his own a primitive and undeniable instinct.

Pleasure coursed through him and he held himself tight against her, giving up everything he had.

He dropped down on top of her, giving her his weight as the blood pounded through his system in a pleasurable way. Her hands came up and she stroked his hair, sighing as she cuddled close to him. He buried his face against her neck and let peace flood him.

How could it all be ending when he’d just found her? He’d spent his whole adult life fighting for his country, but something had been missing, something hadn’t been whole inside him, and now he knew what had always been missing.

Her.

A long moment passed and he realized she was shaking a bit. Cold. The cold suddenly bit into him.

“Baby, let’s get under the covers. I want to hold you.” He wanted to spend every second in her arms.

She smiled and kissed him briefly. “I can get with that. But go and get rid of that condom first. I do not want that slipping off and going everywhere. Sticky is not the new black.”

Even here she teased him. He kissed her again and reluctantly pushed off her. “I’ll be right back. Get under the covers. I want you warm.”

Her lips curled up. “Yes, sir.”

Something about the way she said sir made his cock spark all over again. He moved toward the door that would likely lead to either a bathroom or closet. He didn’t care which. It wasn’t like there would be some cleaning crew that would get embarrassed if he tossed a condom where Huisman stored his suits and shoes.

He glanced down and couldn’t miss the red lights shining in the dim.

3:10

God. Three minutes. He opened the door and found himself in what seemed to be a gorgeous bathroom. The room was in shadows, the only light coming from the candles Maggie had lit. He pulled the condom off and dropped it in the trash and then tried the sink. The water still worked.

He wanted to touch her again, with clean hands. There wasn’t time to make love again, but he could hold her. He could cuddle her close and kiss her over and over until the end.

Make love. He’d never used those words with the act before. He’d had sex, fucked, gotten laid, but he’d never made love.

He loved Maggie. She was the one woman in the world who held a piece of his soul, and he was about to lose her.

He forced the dark thought back because he wasn’t going to panic. There wasn’t anything that panic would solve, and he would spend his final moments in peace.

He would spend them with her.

He strode back out, barely registering the clock as he moved to her.

2:37

Two minutes and thirty-seven seconds left to hold her, to love her.

She was under the covers and she drew them back, welcoming him in. He immediately pulled her into his arms.

“I hate that I wasted all this time,” he whispered, kissing her forehead. “I should have made a move, should have told you that first time that I thought you were the most gorgeous thing I’d ever seen, but you seemed so cold.”

“About that,” she began. She rubbed her cheek against his chest like a kitten looking for affection. “I’m glad you didn’t because it would have been awkward.”

“The second time I saw you I wanted to kiss you. Do you remember?”

She smiled against his chest. “I remember. We were in Croatia trying to track down that bomb maker and we had to pretend to be lovers. You danced with me.”

Such a sweet memory. He’d thought she was gorgeous the first time, but the second time they’d worked together something had been utterly different. Something had slipped into place that had been missing before. “Your hair was flaming red and you were wearing that ridiculous green dress that had every man in the room panting after you.”

“Including you?”

“Oh, so including me. That was when I knew I wanted you. You were distant before and then we clicked.” They’d danced all night and brought that man down. Together.

Her head came up. “I should explain that. Why I seemed like two different people at times. Ben, I want to be honest with you.”

Their time was running out. So fast. God, he needed more time with her. She looked over and her face fell.

1:10

She shook her head and wrapped her arms around him. “It doesn’t matter. Just know that I always wanted you, Ben. I knew it from the moment I saw you. I knew you were the one for me and even though it was complicated, I was always going to end up right here. With you. This is how we end, Ben Parker. We end together.”

He held on to her and found her lips with his. He kissed her again and again, this time with no expectations of anything but to die in her arms. His cock thickened, but he could ignore it in favor of telling her how gorgeous she was, how lucky he’d been to meet her, to know her.

To love her.

She wrapped her arms around him and held on.

For way longer than a minute.

What the hell was going on? He glanced over and the clock read 0:00.

It held for one second and then another.

And that was when he heard the clang of someone knocking on the door.

“I’m coming in. Dear god, please cover up and don’t be doing something that will make me vomit,” a familiar voice said.

“Oh, shit.” Maggie turned and practically leapt out of bed.

The door came open and he was facing…well, he was facing a second Maggie, except her hair was a brilliant purple.

“Okay, sis, there’s good news and bad news,” Second Maggie said.

Maggie was reaching for her clothes cube. “I take it the good news is that we didn’t blow up and that’s awesome. How did you manage to shut down the bombs?”

“I didn’t,” Second Maggie said. “Tris did. He and that Canadian dude worked some serious mojo while Coop and I took the helo up and tried to take the bomb somewhere safe. Luckily we didn’t need to because the geeks came through. By the way, the comm problem was totally one-way. We could hear everything, and also, there are cameras that fed out even after the power went off, so way to make a sex tape, sis. Dad’s totally getting hold of that one, you know.” She finally looked his way. “He’s going to kill you, dude. And you should know that it was totally me who shot you and kicked you in the balls.”

Yes, he could see that now. Damn it. She was twins. His head was kind of reeling because they weren’t dead and now there were two of her and apparently she had some crazed father who wouldn’t appreciate his sexual performance.

“Maggie?”

She was dressed again, the nanites covering her gorgeous body in an instant. She gave him a brilliant smile. “It’s Kenzie. Kenzie Taggart.”

His brain caught on that last name and his stomach kind of took a deep dive. That last name was iconic in the industry. It couldn’t be a coincidence. “Taggart? Tell me he’s not your father.”

She sighed and rolled her eyes and looked like that perfect brat she’d called herself. “He’s not that bad.”

Ian Taggart was known as the single scariest dude in the whole of the intelligence community, and apparently he’d just made passionate, end-of-time love to the man’s daughter.

The other Kenzie grinned but managed to make it slightly sinister. “Oh, he’s so going to want to meet you, dude. Now let’s go because we still have a crazy scientist to hunt down. I have no idea how he managed it, but he took a helo off the mountain twenty minutes ago while we were trying to make sure he didn’t blow up the world.”

Ben stood, not caring that he was naked. “Huisman is dead. His body is out there in the office.”

“Nope,” the twin said. “He faked it all and got out with the formula. We’re starting from scratch. I believe you’re wanted in a debrief and then our agencies are going to form a team. That should be fun now that little sister scratched her itch.”

Maggie…Kenzie frowned her sister’s way. “He wasn’t an itch. You know that, Kala.”

Kala sent her what seemed to be a sad smile. “I know. But we have to move. We have to get that helo back or Coop will be in trouble.” Kala winked at him. “And nice package, Parker. I’m glad I didn’t wreck it.”

Kenzie turned his way and rushed to him. “I have to go, but I’ll see you soon, Ben.”

She kissed him briefly and then walked out the door.

Ben stood there utterly shocked.

“Hey, clothes, man.” Tim walked in the room. “You might have made a sex tape but I don’t need to see it up close and in person.”

“Sorry.” He was still looking at the door she’d walked through. “My clothes don’t work on their own. Start talking. I want to hear everything.”

Tim started the debrief as Ben dressed, but his mind was on something else. Someone else.

The game wasn’t over. Huisman was still out there, but that was secondary in Ben’s brain.

Kenzie Taggart could run. She could try to hide behind her legendary family, but he knew one thing.

That woman would be his.