he were acting in his normal way, Clarissa never would have been taken in the first place since she’s nothing like his usual victim.”
“Could be he’s added a new type to his preferences.”
“If that’s the case, then he’s going to be even more elusive. This woman is like thousands of women in the workforce.”
“Want me back on the op with someone else?”
McCall shook his head. “No. Riley, Eden, Shea and Sabrina will stay on the case until he’s caught. Be back here tomorrow morning at ten. There’s a case in the States I’m considering. I should know more by morning. I was going to send Dylan but I know he’d rather stay in Paris with Jamie. Their baby is due next month.”
That was another thing Jake liked about LCR. Their missions might be top secret and dangerous as hell but many of the operatives had families. Having someone to come home to after a grueling op could make all the difference in the mental health of an operative. That wasn’t something he’d given a lot of thought to. Having been on his own for several years, not having someone to come home to was the norm for him. When he’d been a cop, coming home to Teresa hadn’t been that great. She had worked as many or more hours than he had. He didn’t even let himself think what it would feel like to have someone waiting on him. It was never going to happen, so what was the point?
Could that be one of the reasons for Angela’s difficulty? Having no family to come back to made her more uncertain, less confident? No, that couldn’t be it. She had said more than once that LCR was her family, so why—
A light bulb clicked on in his mind. Hell, it was no wonder Angela had failed at her first op. Last Chance Rescue was her family. And she would hold herself up to the standard of every LCR operative. That was a damn tough thing to live up to. The first time she had experienced a scare and panicked, she had probably thought of women like Eden St. Claire or Shea Bishop, two seasoned operatives. They would have handled the situation differently now but how would they have reacted if it was their first time out?
Jake went to his feet. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
McCall’s dark eyes narrowed. “I can’t stop you from seeing Angela outside of work but you damn well better not break her heart.”
How the hell the man knew he was going to see Angela wasn’t something Jake even contemplated. The LCR leader sometimes read people like a damn psychic. However, his reasons for going to see Angela had nothing to do with romance and everything to do with her job.
He repeated what he’d told himself a million times before. “I’d die before I hurt Angela.”
“And I’d be glad to assist you in getting there if you did.”
Jake couldn’t help but grin. As death threats went, it was one of the mildest ones he’d ever received. Mild though it was, he knew McCall spoke the truth. And if he hurt Angela, Jake figured he deserved it.
She was being followed.
Angela picked up the pear from the trunk of her car that had fallen from her grocery bag. Pretending to exam the fruit for bruises, she peeked out of the corner of her eye. Yes, there he was. A man, maybe six feet tall, with shaggy, light brown hair, wire-rimmed glasses and a goatee. He was in a parking space a few yards away, looking under the hood of a white Volkswagen van. He seemed immersed in his tasks, however, as she turned her head away, she saw his gaze zero in on her again.
This was the third time she had seen him. The first time was two days ago when she’d been window-shopping on Rue Beaurepaire. She had spotted him standing at a doorway across the street from her. She had paid little attention. Years of men staring at her had accustomed her to their curious or glazed expressions. Having long legs and exotic features seemed to attract a certain kind of gawker and she’d had her share over the years. With so much on her mind, she had dismissed him as just another leerer. But she recalled a man of medium height and build, fair-skinned, and wispy, light brown hair.
Yesterday, she had run errands and had seen a man standing across the street from her dry cleaners. Since there