Hard Night by Jackie Ashenden

Author:Jackie Ashenden
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2018-09-11T16:00:00+00:00

The shitty bar was full of cigarette smoke—no one cared about anti-smoking laws down in this part of South America—the fan turning the dead air only slowly. Tinny music played on an old jukebox and the dirt floor was dusty, something crunching under her boots as she’d stepped inside, but the light was too dim to see what it was so she ignored it.

Josh was there at one of the tables, obviously waiting, and as soon as she entered, he kicked his chair back and stared at her. A challenge.

Her heart leapt even though she’d told it not to—she hadn’t seen him for two years and she’d missed him, God, so much—because she wasn’t here for old times’ sake. She was here with a mission.

And her mission was to take him out.

Yet she didn’t go for her Sig. She walked over to the table and sat down instead. Because she’d promised herself that she’d find out why first. Why he’d betrayed the team the way he had done.

“I know why you’re here,” he said, pushing a glass over the table toward her, then filling it up with some kind of clear liquid from the bottle in front of him. “You’re here to kill me, aren’t you?”

The Beach Boys were playing on the jukebox. “Surfin’ USA.” Such a strange counterpoint to his blunt statement.

She wasn’t surprised he knew. He’d never been a stupid man and he would have guessed their superiors wouldn’t let him go without some kind of comeback.

So she didn’t waste time denying it. Instead she picked up the glass and sipped. Vodka. Cheap vodka, the taste sharp and raw. She drained the glass without a grimace, then put it down with a click. “I just want to know why, Josh.”

His eyes gleamed. He looked good, if thinner, not that that detracted in any way from his looks. Six-four and built like a linebacker, with a strong jaw and high cheekbones, deeply set black eyes, and a mouth to die for, he was devastatingly attractive.

When he’d first joined the team, she’d found him distracting, but liaisons were forbidden among team members and she hadn’t wanted anything to do with men anyway, so she’d never gone there. But emotionally . . . well, that had been a different story.

Her mother had told her there were no princes left in the world, but her mother hadn’t met Joshua. He was the first man she’d met who seemed good. Decent. Kind. He’d gotten past her defenses and made a friend of her—the first she’d ever had—which was why his betrayal had hit her so hard.

It was why she was here in this bar, ready to talk and not taking out her gun and finishing her mission.

He was her friend and he’d betrayed her and their team and she just . . . wanted to know why.

He watched her silently. He’d never been a man who spoke unnecessarily. “Why do you want to know?”

“Why do you think?” She reached around and took out her Sig.

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