The Guardian Series Box Set by Karen Robards

Author:Karen Robards
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MIRA Books
Published: 2019-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

The cop from San Jose—it couldn’t be. It was almost impossible. Maybe—please God—Doc was mistaken. After all, he’d seen him only once.

Bianca’s chest felt tight, making it harder to breathe. She turned her head to her left, directing a sweeping gaze over the players at the blackjack tables and the five-card-stud tables beyond them, over the people milling around the tables, over—

The dealer flipped her an ace to go with her eight.

“Stand,” Bianca said, her attention of necessity recalled to the table. One thing about the rules: they made it possible for her to continue playing while (fatally? She really hoped not) distracted.

She looked again toward her nine o’clock. Carefully, casually, she scanned the Pai Gow area and the wide, crowded aisle that ran through it, looked toward the eastern entrance and over the busy casino floor on the other side of the aisle.

It wasn’t a mistake, she realized a moment later: there he was, standing over by the cashier window.

The cop from San Jose: Mickey.

Not his real name, but it was the best name Bianca had for him.

As it turned out, he was on her nine, much closer than she’d expected. He was less than a hundred feet away.

Her heart leaped. Her pulse shot into overdrive. She barely managed to stay in her seat as the impact of his presence hit her.

And that would be because her first impulse was to run.

No way was the fact that he was here a coincidence.

Be cool. You’re Kangana, remember? He won’t recognize you.

Groans all around as the dealer took the hand. Bianca forced her gaze back to the table as the chips were raked in and the cards collected.

All the while she was battling the urge to stand up, to walk away from the table. To slowly, casually, unobtrusively flee.

She couldn’t leave Mason. Or Doc. And any such move might attract the very attention she was trying to avoid.

Keep your game face on. She placed her bet, was dealt a nine.

The dealer continued on around the table. Unable to control the urge, Bianca snuck another look at Mickey.

He stood with his hands in his pockets, a still figure in a classic black tux amid the colorful ebb and flow of tourists moving past him. His eyes were on the players around the roulette wheels, moving from face-to-face. He was a good-looking guy, tall, broad-shouldered, leanly muscular, with wavy raven hair that could use a trim and a deep tan that spoke of quite a bit of time spent in a really hot (no, probably not that one) place. His forehead was wide, his cheekbones broad, his chin square and clean-shaven. His nose was aquiline, a small bump on the bridge. His mouth was long, a little thin, a little cruel looking. She happened to know that he was a really good kisser.

He worked for Mason’s nemesis, Laurent Durand of Interpol, and there was absolutely no doubt in her mind that he was there in his official capacity as some kind of international cop.

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