Chapter Two
“W hat do you think, Lieutenant Gunn?”
US Army Intelligence officer Lieutenant Evander Gunn watched the security camera screens, taking in the body language of the two people in the small holding room. He struggled to keep his own posture neutral and his expression impassive. He was feeling anything but.
The woman was covered in blood, her own.
She sat on the bloodstained gurney as if she were reclining on her living room couch. She was tiny, maybe five feet tall, with a slim build and long brown hair done up in a fancy braid. Some of her hair had escaped its confinement and haloed around her head. Especially at the back.
A half smile curved one corner of her mouth upward, as if she knew something no one else knew, and that knowledge would fuck someone up. It made him want to grab some popcorn and settle in for a great show.
Her features were regular, even pretty, but it was the force of her personality that made her striking, even on the black and white, grainy screens.
The guy sitting on one of the two chairs in the room, young, fit, and with an openness to him that made you want to grab the other chair and chat, was an FBI agent. He was wearing a suit covered in blood spatter. More blood soaked the fabric around his left arm. As Evan watched, he saw blood dripping from his arm onto the floor.
The woman should not be walking around, talking, and knocking out an experienced soldier as if he were nothing more than a door to slam shut. He’d been shown the body camera footage of her being shot in the head. The gun had been within a foot of her when it went off. The bullet had obliterated the back of her skull.
“She should be dead,” Evan answered, in a flat tone. Hot, hard anger surged through his body in a deadly wave, pulling all the solid ground out from under his feet. Disgust twisted his guts and vocal cords into knots.
The first video he’d been shown had been her execution. The second, her waking up as if nothing had happened. As if she hadn’t been murdered, then come back to life. And now this asshole next to him was planning to do it again and again until he figured her out or killed her permanently.
What the asshole didn’t know: Evan had seen this woman before. Many times. He’d never gotten closer than the view through a pair of binoculars or security camera footage, but he knew her.
He’d seen her confront some very bad people, once when she had to kill a man in self-defense. She did it with her bare hands.
But she hadn’t played with the guy or tortured him. She’d been fast and efficient, and the guy hadn’t known what hit him.
Exactly like she was in the stories his grandfather told him about her. From WWII. He’d thought his grandpa had lost his mind when, on his deathbed, he’d told Evan that she was an immortal vampire. He’d been sure she was the granddaughter of the French resistance fighter who’d saved his gramps’ life, not the woman herself.
It took the man standing next to him a couple of seconds to understand that Evan wasn’t going to add anything else to his observation.
“Do you recognize her?” the man asked.
“Anna Breznik,” Evan said. “Slovenian, Minister of Culture and the president of a small private financial institution. Head of the Breznik Family. She’s been investigated for a variety of corporate crimes, but no concrete evidence has ever come forward or been found.” He turned his gaze on the man standing next to him. In his mid-fifties, balding, and in need of a gym membership, Gerry Ledger was the Counterterrorism Coordinator for Homeland Security.
“Why am I here, Mr. Ledger?”
“Have you met Anna Breznik, Gunn? In person?”
“No, sir. I’ve observed her in the past for a variety of reasons, but never met her face to face.”
“What reasons?” There was more than idle curiosity in Ledger’s voice. This was his operation, and it wasn’t going exactly the way he thought it would.
“There was enough intelligence to indicate a terrorist threat at last year’s World Finance Banking Symposium in Lithuania to set up robust monitoring of the attendees. She attended. My team and I intercepted and stopped a man who’d strapped a suicide bomb to his chest before he could get into the venue. Because of the rumors of her family’s involvement in organized crime, she was one of the people we had on our radar as a possible target or collaborator with the bomber.”
“What did you discover?”
“We couldn’t find a connection between her or her family and the bomber. He was connected to an anti-immigrant conspiracy theory group. We ended up helping the Lithuanians arrest a dozen people from three countries.”
“What else?” Ledger asked.
“After her grandmother was killed in a car bombing a few years ago, she was suspected of orchestrating the assassination of a rival family in Belarus. That case is still open. Army Intelligence has confirmed she’s secretly helping support the Ukrainian military by providing transport for weapons, supplies, and even getting people into and out of Ukraine.”
“So, she’s a good guy?” Ledger asked, sarcasm giving his words a serrated edge.
Evan grunted, hanging onto his desire to punch the other man in the face by the thinnest of threads. He funneled his rage into his voice. Let the asshole think he was dangerous and unforgiving once pointed in the right direction. “I think she’s a ruthless operator who is very good at walking the line between the criminal and not quite criminal enough when it comes to the law.”
“And her miraculous recovery?”
What the hell did Ledger want from him? Her recovery was just that, miraculous. Anyone watching the video of her head knitting back together would think so.
Why had he been yanked out of the operation he’d been in and flown back to the United States as if it had been an emergency? That only happened when the suspected terrorist, operative, or operation was in the wind.
What had Ledger told Army Intelligence...the answer hit him between the eyes.
Ledger hadn’t been honest when he’d asked for an experienced interrogator. He’d given the least amount of information he could, citing vague terrorist possibilities and a short window of opportunity. He’d lied.
Lying to Army Intelligence was never a good idea, which meant everyone involved was in a very dangerous place.
“That shit is right out of a science fiction novel,” Evan said, with a shrug. “And if you don’t mind me saying, above my pay grade. I’m a field operative, not a...” he waved his hand around to indicate the facility they were in. “Glorified security guard. Why am I here, sir?”
“We know very little about her,” Ledger said, with a gleeful edge to his voice.
It made Evan’s gut twist in warning.
“Is she the only one who can survive injuries that would kill most people?” Ledger asked, talking too fast. “What else can she do? We need a lot more information about her. We need to be able to control her.” He finally stopped long enough to suck in another breath.
“And if you can’t?” Evan asked, though he was pretty sure he knew the answer.
“I’ll destroy her.” Ledger waved one hand, as if the murder of another person was of no consequence. “She can’t be permitted to be used against us.”
He went from I to we damn quick, keeping to the megalomaniacal politician’s playbook perfectly.
“That’s always the problem with powerful weapons,” Evan said, testing Ledger’s reaction to some of the typical garbage power-hungry assholes like to spout. “They’re great until they end up in your enemy’s hands.”
“Exactly.” Ledger sounded both relieved and pleased.
Evan’s stomach clenched and twisted until it was strangling him.
How the fuck had this idiot gotten his job? Was he aware of how many laws he was breaking with this stunt?
Given his attitude and behavior so far, Evan didn’t think Ledger would care. All he could see were the next few steps on the power-ladder he was climbing.
To put a stop to it, Evan needed more information and evidence. Which meant he had to play along.
“How many in my team?”
“No team, just you.”
At Evan’s raised eyebrow, Ledger continued with, “Right now, we need to question her and do a number of medical tests. Our other priority is to limit how many people know about her.”
“Too many people already know,” Evan said, his voice a drawl. “Every one of those soldiers who witnessed her smacking that guy into next week is going to tell someone. Maybe not right away, but they will talk. Information like that can be worth enough to fund someone’s retirement plan.”
Ledger’s face hardened. “I’ll take care of that. Have no fear.” He stared at the screens.
How was he going to do that? Kill everyone who... shit . All Evan had were guesses and body language cues to go by, but his gut was 100% certain. Ledger no longer followed any law or rule that might be inconvenient for him. He would kill anyone who got between him and his goal, whatever it was.
Was this the guy’s normal? Or had he gotten drunk on the power of his current position and decided he’d found his ticket to greater things?
Evan grunted and turned his attention to the two people on the surveillance camera. Making contact with them was priority number one.
The woman and agent weren’t speaking. He was sitting on his chair with his face in his hands while the woman seemed content to rest.
“Just to clarify my priorities,” Evan said. “The goal is to turn her into an asset? Destruction only if that can’t be attained?”
Ledger hesitated long enough for Evan to wonder if the guy had any kind of a game plan at all. “Yes.”
“What are we willing to do or offer to gain her trust?”
“She gets to stay alive,” Ledger said, his voice so cold Evan was surprised there were no icicles on him. “Her little boy toy too.”
Evan sighed. Great, this asshole didn’t have the first clue how to negotiate with dangerous people. Politicians made for poor leaders of soldiers and law enforcement.
“Sir, in order for her to trust us, we have to offer a life worth living. Threats and leverage are only useful as short-term tools to maintain compliance. If that’s all we’ve got, she’ll turn on us at the worst possible moment.”
Ledger seemed to consider that for a few seconds. Finally, he said, “You’re right, we need to think long term. Which means I need to talk to the Secretary...”
“Before I can start my job,” Evan said. “I need more information. I’d like an opportunity to question both of them alone.”
“ No .” The word shot out of Ledger’s mouth, powered by hostility and fear.
Evan just waited.
It took the man a moment to regain his composure and clear his throat. “We really can’t take them anywhere right now. There’s nowhere secure enough.”
That was why he wanted to question them now. Nowhere was secure enough. Still, they were inside the medical wing at the Fort Hamilton base. The current situation was as secure as it could get.
Evan studied Ledger’s face. The other man was sweating, and his gaze darted around the security office like he was looking for an escape route. It didn’t take much to get him jittery.
The stink from the situation was getting worse by the second.
Evan was going to have to manage Ledger the same way he managed informants in-country. Very carefully.
“I can question them where they are, and you can watch via the security cameras,” Evan said, in a casual tone. “I won’t be asking any substantive questions. My main goal with this first interaction will be to establish a rapport with her. Nothing more.”
“Yes...that makes sense.” Ledger nodded, his gaze focused on a point about a foot in front of his face. “Very well, proceed.”
“Thank you, sir.” Evan didn’t salute, but he did come to attention before taking his duffle bag and stashing it between a couple of the workstations in the room. Then he turned on his heel and marched out.
He didn’t stop to arm himself, not yet. No, he needed to go in looking non-threatening. Or as non-threatening as a guy his size could look confronting a woman who only came up to his shoulders.
When he entered the corridor where the holding room was located, he found the knot of soldiers who’d appeared on the security video standing about ten feet away from his destination. They stared at the doorway to the occupied exam room like it was the door to doom .
“Sir,” the unit lead said. “Where do you want us?”
“Actually,” he said slowly, as if giving the question a lot of consideration. “I’d like you guys to be out of sight and hearing. I don’t want her to feel threatened. At least, not yet.”
“Yes, sir.” He flashed a hand signal to the rest of his team, and they quickly filed out of the hallway.
He continued to the door of the holding room and noted the simple deadbolt lock. And no way to unlock it from the inside. That was fine, as far as it went, which wasn’t very far. She could probably yank the door open, lock or no lock.
He knocked on the door.
A woman’s voice called out, “Come in.”
Shit, she sounded like she was in a hotel room, waiting for room service.
He unlocked the door and opened it, neither too fast nor too slow.
She was sitting on her bloodied gurney, facing the door, her hands in clear view, resting on the blood-spattered fabric covering the thin mat.
She smiled, and it punched him in the gut. Hard. The room grew smaller and all the air got sucked out of his lungs.
He’d been wrong.
She wasn’t pretty.
She was gorgeous , with dark eyes that told you she knew a thousand naughty tales, each more sensuous than the last.
He should have been ready for the emotional reaction to seeing her up close and in person for the first time, but he wasn’t.
He used the few seconds it took for him to walk into the room and prop the door open, to regain his composure, restart his breathing, and don his good ol’ boy mask.
“Good morning, my name is Evander Gunn,” he said, giving her a nod.
“Anna Breznik,” she replied, her voice sounding softer in person than it had been on the tape. It hit a button inside him that sent a shaft of heat straight to his groin.
She extended her hand toward the FBI agent as if she were conducting a formal introduction in her own home. “And this is FBI Agent Brian Stettler, as I’m sure you know.”
Evan had to wrench his gaze off her. If he didn’t, he was going to do or say something completely inappropriate.
He looked at the agent, who was watching him with a wary expression. That guarded mistrust cooled his response to Anna, allowing him to think clearly. To do his fucking job. “My apologies, Agent Stettler,” he said. “For inconveniencing you.”
At that, the younger man surged to his feet, though he stayed planted right where he was. “Inconveniencing me? Inconveniencing —” he cut himself off, turned around to give the room his back, and swore a blue streak for twenty seconds straight.
He turned around and bowed slightly to Anna. “My apologies for the bad language.”
She waved it off like she was a queen. “I think you’re allowed to have feelings about our unexpected and illegal incarceration.” She turned her attention on Evan and her soft voice sharpened into a blade. “Why are we here, Mr. Gunn?”
Fuck, hearing her say his name shouldn’t make him hot, but it did. If she glanced down at the erection he was trying hard to suppress, he’d be in a whole lot of shit.
He crossed his arms over his chest to draw her gaze, ensuring that his left hand was visible, resting on his right biceps. “Well, ma’am, there’s an issue with the fact that you’re not dead, when you really should be.”
She blinked at him. Then tilted her head to one side and studied him again. Her gaze paused for a moment on his hand, then darted up to scrutinize his face.
She’d seen the ring. Did she recognize it? It had been a lot of years since she’d last seen it at the end of World War II. When she’d given it to Evan’s grandfather in thanks for saving her life and getting her out of German hands.
Finally, she said, “Well, Mr. Stettler, at least they sent someone who isn’t going to feed us cow shit.”
“Bullshit, ma’am,” Stettler said, in a tired voice. “We say bullshit.”
“I see no difference,” she said, her tone cool. “It all tastes bad.”
Stettler shrugged as if they’d had this conversation more than a few times before. Interesting.
“So, about that not dying thing,” Evan said, with a casualness he didn’t feel. “Care to explain?”
“I am not a doctor, Mr. Gunn, I work for a bank. My skills are with numbers.”
That almost made him laugh. “Would you consent to some tests?”
She smiled, showing off a set of canines that had been filed to sharp points. “You mean, like I consented to be kidnapped and brought here against my will?” Her voice was so sweet it could have been dipped in honey, but he bet it came with a side order of cyanide.
Evan glanced at the baby agent and found the young man watching him with a gaze that, for the first time, appeared focused and astute.
Huh, maybe the FBI hadn’t made a mistake putting him in the Breznik corporation.
Out of the corner of his eye, Evan noted Anna fidgeting a little. Concern regarding his interest in Stettler? Who was he to her?
“What is your relationship with Ms. Breznik?” Evan asked him.
“She is my employer’s aunt.”
“The FBI has an aunt?” Evan asked, lightening his tone. Camaraderie might work with the kid.
“Yvgeny Breznik,” The agent said, with only a little impatience. “I signed an employment contract with him, too.”
This was even more interesting. “Does the FBI know you’ve gotten a better offer?”
The kid shook his head. “They’re not a conflict of interest, if that’s what you’re asking?”
“No?” Evan asked. “You sure about that?”
“Lots of people in the United States have two jobs,” Anna added, a hair too fast for her participation in the conversation to be offhand. “Isn’t that right?”
“Not when you work for a law enforcement agency,” Evan answered without looking at her. He had to maintain eye contact with the kid in order to keep the pressure on, maybe trigger a slipup or show he was lying.
“The FBI is very happy to have me in the position of Yvgeny Breznik’s assistant,” Stettler said. “And Mr. Breznik is okay with it as well.”
Everyone knew the baby agent was working for both sides and none of them had objections?
“Why would Mr. Breznik be okay with it?” Evan asked, genuinely curious.
“Because he sees it as a game,” Stettler said, rolling his eyes. “He thinks it’s funny that he’s being investigated.”
“An international crime boss thinks it’s funny the FBI is investigating him?”
“That’s just it,” Stettler said, leaning forward. “I don’t think he is a crime boss.”
Yeah right . Evan sighed audibly, shook his head, and stared at the kid.
Stettler stared back for several seconds before his bravado left him again. “You don’t believe me.”
“I think you’ve been played, kid.”
“ I don’t play games, Mr. Gunn,” Anna said, her tone now hard and cold. It cooled all kinds of things in him. “Not like the people who brought us here—who are they and why are we wherever we are?”
Evan forced a half smile onto his face. “Well, ma’am, I’m just a lowly soldier. I’m given orders, not engraved invitations.” He turned back to the kid. “So, let’s get back to my earlier question. What’s your relationship with Ms. Breznik?”
He shrugged. “I only met her a couple of hours before we were forced to come here, wherever here is.”
“Ah, so for you, this is a wrong place at the wrong time thing?”
“My nephew is fond of him,” Anna said, before Stettler could answer. “That is enough for me to treat him with some curtesy.”
“Really?” Evan asked the agent. “You’ve only been working for him for a few days. How did that happen so fast?”
The agent rolled his eyes. “I told you. He thinks I’m funny.”
“You tell jokes?”
“No,” Stettler snapped. “ I’m the joke. Everyone, and I mean everyone at the hotel, all his employees, right down to the housekeeping and maintenance staff, knows I’m an FBI agent trying to find dirt on their boss. I’m being laughed at .”
It was Evan’s turn to blink. “That...is sort of funny.”
Stettler threw up his hands and sat down with a thump. “My life is over,” he moaned, at the ceiling.
“What is it you want Mr. Gunn?” Anna held up her hand to stop him from answering right away. “And please, no bull shit. I prefer direct speaking.”
“The people who brought you here want to understand you.”
She gave him a look that would have cut glass. “Men have been trying to understand women for thousands of years. I highly doubt the people who kidnapped us are going to succeed where the rest of your sex has utterly failed.”
Heh, there was the sense of humor his grandfather mentioned. So sharp you didn’t know you’d been cut until your guts spilled out onto the ground.
“They want to understand why you aren’t dead.”
Her eyes narrowed before she spoke. “When a man says he wants to understand a woman, what he really needs is to know how to get her to do what he wants. The people who brought Mr. Stettler and I here want to use me, they don’t want to understand me.”
Evan sighed. “Are you saying no one uses you now?” he shook his head. “I would have a hard time believing it if you say no. Anyone with skills as rare as yours would be the object of interest to many.”
“That’s the problem, Mr. Gunn. I’m not an object. I’m a person. A person with diplomatic immunity who has been incarcerated illegally.”
Yeah, he figured that, given her station in her government. Gerry Ledger might have bitten off more than he could chew.
“That other guy told me, everyone thinks we’re dead,” Stettler said to Anna Breznik. He gestured at Evan. “This one isn’t going to care either.”
“Is that true?” Anna asked Evan.
He gave her, and whoever was watching this interaction, his charming smile. “I have only just arrived. Give me some time to find out a bit more information. I’ll return shortly.” He headed for the door, but paused on the threshold to ask, “Is there anything I can get for you while I’m out?”
Shit, he probably sounded like he was just going to pick up some milk at the grocery store.
“Perhaps some water?” Anna asked, with all the graciousness of royalty. “It has been some time since either of us has had a...drink, and both of us have lost blood.”
At that, Stettler sat up straight and stared at Anna, terror on his face. He shut it down fast enough, but Evan had seen it.
The kid knew exactly what Anna Breznik was, the same as he did.
A blood-sucking vampire.