Chapter 10
Cate woke curled up against Draco, his naked body a furnace warming her backside.
Memories of the night before brought a smile to her face. Whatever happened next between them, she’d have those memories to reflect on. To cherish.
He’d talked about many more nights than just the one. She didn’t dare get her hopes up that he would follow through. Then again, he’d absolutely followed through on his promise to give her two incredible orgasms she wouldn’t soon forget.
She lay in his arms, unwilling to wake him, almost afraid the magic of the night before had all been a dream or that they would be awkward around each other, acting like professional colleagues in front of the others when they’d been naked and had sex a few short hours before.
“Don’t make it weird,” Draco’s voice rumbled through his chest into her back. He draped his arm around her stomach and pulled her closer, his morning erection nudging the crease of her butt cheeks.
Heat spontaneously blossomed at her core, making her want to forget about the day and return to the night before. “Why do you think I’d make it weird?”
“I can hear the gears turning in your brain,” he said and nuzzled the back of her neck.
“And you stiffened like a flight risk.” He raised his hand from her belly to cup one of her breasts, massaging it between his fingers.
“We’re grown adults who find each other incredibly attractive.
Making love is the most natural result.”
“But we’re working a case. We’re professional colleagues.”
“Colleagues by day and sex-addicts by night.” He swept his hand low to cover her sex. “And mornings. Definitely mornings.” He scooted fractionally lower and slid his cock between her legs.
“We should get moving,” Cate said as she arched her back, pressing her ass into him, opening her legs wider for him to find her sex. “Besides, we’re out of protection.”
He paused in his quest to make a connection. “You’re correct. What are we going to do about it?”
When he started to pull back, she reached between her legs and guided him into her. “You don’t have to come inside me,” she said, loving the position and eager to feel him inside her, taking her from behind.
“Woman, you’re living life on the edge,” he said.
Cate chuckled. “I have you where I want you. Or almost.”
He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “You turn me inside out, you know that?”
“Good,” she said, tugging gently. “That makes two of us.”
“Just in and out, and we get dressed and go to work,” he said.
She could feel his commonsense eroding with her hand around his cock.
“In and out,” she said, stroking his length. She had him where she wanted him, and it gave her a sense of power. She made him lose control.
But when he gripped her hips and eased into her so slowly and back out, it was she who lost control. It wasn’t enough. She had to have more, even if she had to beg.
“Again,” she said, breathlessly.
Five minutes and an orgasm later, they rose, showered and dressed for work, touching each other every time the other turned around.
Cate ignored all the warning bells going off in her head, telling herself it was just a fling. He wouldn’t stay. She shouldn’t get her hopes up or expect anything more.
They grabbed coffee and a pastry from Frau Bieri on their way out and walked the blocks to the Brotherhood Protectors International headquarters.
A block away from the building, both of their cell phones chirped with incoming texts.
Cate shifted her coffee cup to her other hand and dug her phone out of her pocket and frowned down at the message. “Did you get the same message?”
“The one about meeting at headquarters ASAP?” Draco asked.
“That’s the one.” Cate picked up her pace to match Draco’s as they hurried into the building and up to the conference room.
Half a dozen people were gearing up with weapons, body armor and communications devices.
“What’s happening?” Draco asked.
Hammer appeared in front of him, buckling body armor over his T-shirt. “Dmytro and Lucie zeroed in on Marcus Calloway. He’s been in Zurich for the past month.”
Cate’s pulse picked up. “You know where he’s staying?”
“Not precisely,” Dmytro strode to the conference table with a remote control and a keyboard.
He raised the remote, clicked a button and a large screen on the wall at the end of the table blinked to life.
He set the remote down and tapped on the keyboard until an array of images appeared.
“We started at the tram platform from three days ago and worked our way through the days before and after, tapping into the CCTV footage of stores and buildings in a six-block radius of the platform. Facial recognition software identified him on a number of the streets to the west of the platform.” Dmytro pointed to several frozen images of Marcus Calloway walking along streets.
“He alternates which streets he travels, probably in an attempt to keep from establishing a pattern someone can follow.”
Lucie came to stand with Dmytro, her bright purple hair almost too much that early in the morning.
“But he always ends up on the same platform around the same time every morning.” She glanced down at her watch.
“If he remains a creature of habit, he’ll be at that platform in forty-five minutes, give or take a few. ”
“We should notify Inspector Brandt,” Cate said.
“I thought she was a red flag in the Alpenhorn ledger,” Hammer said.
Cate gave him half a smile. “She showed up at our hotel last night and explained what happened with the ten grand deposited in her account. She thinks she was getting too close to discovering who was laundering money through Alpenhorn, and they set her up to appear as if she was part of the theft ring. She reported the money and then donated to a charity.”
“Her donation was made as she said, the money going from her account into the charity’s account,” Dmytro said.
Cate frowned. “How—”
Dmytro nodded toward Draco.
Draco’s lips twisted. “I texted the information to Dmytro last night so he could verify her story.”
“Next time, let me know when you do things like that.” She turned to Hammer. “She’s our contact at local law enforcement and has been trying to corner Calloway for the past eight months.”
Hammer nodded. “Call her. If she can get here in the next twenty minutes, she can ride shotgun.”
Cate dug Inspector Brandt’s card out of her pocket and placed the call.
The woman answered immediately. “Inspector Brandt.”
Cate gave her the information and their timeframe.
“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” she said and ended the call.
Dmytro turned off the screen, grabbed his keyboard and started for his desk with the computer in the corner. He’d only taken two steps when he spun back. “Hammer, I meant to tell you,” he said, “we’re getting closer to accessing the bank account holding the nine million dollars.”
“Great. Keep me informed.” He shrugged into a leather jacket that covered the body armor and his handgun. “Dmytro and Lucie are our base for communications support. We all need to get fitted for radios before we head out.”
Once Inspector Brandt arrived, she, Cate, Brandt, Hammer—and two members of his team—plus Dax, Franklin and Fearghas—along with Draco and his teammates, Crusher and Phantom—climbed into two SUVs.
They drove to two separate locations within a block of the tram platform Dmytro had identified through his search of CCTV footage.
Cate had convinced the team to let her be the one to approach Calloway, though Draco was not a fan of the idea.
“I know him. I’ve had dinner with him and Dana at their home a couple of times. Being female, he might not see me as a threat and take off immediately.” She’d glanced at the former military men and shook her head. “If any one of you gets within twenty yards of him, he might run.”
“That might work,” Hammer said. “If Cate gets close to the target and distracts him, the team can move in.”
Draco’s lips were pressed into a tight line as if he was fighting hard not to give his opinion, going along with Cate’s rule that she handle the investigation while he was in charge of security.
The van carrying Cate, Inspector Brandt, Hammer, Crusher and Draco parked in an alley behind a bakery.
Hammer touched his radio earbuds and spoke, “We have a short amount of time to get in place and blend in. If you spot Calloway, speak up and give his location.”
Cate could hear every word clearly, which relieved some of her trepidation of confronting the man who’d put his wife in jail on false charges. She had to keep cool and lull Marcus into thinking she was alone, and he had nothing to fear from her. The team would take care of the rest.
Hammer turned to Cate. “Ready?”
She nodded and looked for Draco.
He met her gaze, held out his hand and said, “Walk with me.”
“I don’t have much time.”
“Just a few steps,” he said.
She laid her hand in his and walked in the direction they’d agreed on after studying the images of the approaches to the platform.
“You don’t have to do this,” he said.
“I do.” Cate sighed. “You’ll be close. If I feel threatened, I’ll walk away. There will be other people at the platform. He won’t attack.”
“I worry about you.” Draco squeezed her hand. “I want more than one night.”
She gave him a crooked smile. “I’m counting on it.” At least until the mission was over. After that, she didn’t really know what he’d do.
“See you in a few,” she said and released his hand.
Draco stopped walking, letting her continue on her own until she was a sufficient distance from him that they would not appear to be together.