“Get a grip.” He buttoned his pants,then reached for his shirt.
The two of them had a mission and he wasn’t about to let one sexual encounter ruin it.
At least he hoped he didn’t.
Chapter Four
“I knew it! Look at them. Did I not tell you that all that sniping was because they were seriously attracted to each other?”
Joe looked up at Tee’s words to see Rhea and Ace through the two-way mirror of his office. Damn, Tee had been right. They were making goo-goo eyes at each other.
“Shit,” he said under his breath.
“What?” Tee asked innocently.
“Work and play don’t mix.”
Tee gave him an arched look.“Since when?”
“Since we have to send her in practically naked to beat information out of an arm’s dealer.Given the way Ace is eyeballing her, I don’t think he’s going to approve.”
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“What has that got to do with anything? Ace is a good enough agent to do what he has to.”
“Yeah, right.”
Tee gave Joe an angry frown. “You and I are best friends, and how many times have you sent me into danger?”
“That’s because you’re the Dragon Lady. You’d take the head off anyone dumb enough to cross you.”
She cocked her head at him and spoke pointedly, “I haven’t killed you yet.”
“Not from lack of trying on your part, and personally, I’d rather you kill me than make me sit down and talk to your mom. That woman hates my guts with an unfounded reasoning.”
“You keep talking like that about my mother, Joe Public, and I just might make sure that your automatic car payment gets misrouted.” She looked back at Rhea and Ace. “Trust me. This’ll be fine.”
Now it was Joe’s turn to scoff. “The last time I trusted you, I got three bullets in my back.”
“No, you got shot because you trusted me and then you didn’t listen to what I said and did your own stupid thing.”
He mocked her by screwing up his face and repeating her words back at her.
“That’s it. I’m emailing my mother to come have lunch here tomorrow.”
“No!” Joe snapped, immediately contrite. “She makes me crazy. She won’t even speak English when I’m around and I know she speaks it better than I do.”
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“We will finish this later,” Tee snapped before she opened the door to let Ace and Rhea in.
Ace looked a bit sheepish as he came to stand in front of Joe’s desk, while Rhea took a seat in the black leather chair in front of it.
“So how was your morning?” Tee asked as she came to lean against the side of the desk. “Did Beullah do her job?”
Ace nodded.“Oh, yeah. They hog-tied me in a manner to make you proud, Tee.”
“Good. Pity they let you up.”
Ignoring her, Ace looked at Joe. “So what’s the new information?”
Joe shuffled through a couple of folders. “Bender’s on the move. You two are going to have to head out toGermany tonight.”
Both Ace and Rhea gaped.
“What?” Ace asked.
“You heard him,” Tee said. “I already have your flight booked.”
The news went over Ace like sandpaper. “She can’t go in alone. She hasn’t had time to prepare herself yet. Hell, she barely knows what she’s doing.”
“Excuse me?”Rhea asked, her tone extremely offended. “I think I should havebeat you harder.”
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He glared at her.
“Don’t worry, Ace.” Tee pulled an envelope off Joe’s desk. “You’re going in as Hermann the towel boy.”
“Pardon?”
Joe tossed Ace a passport. “You and Dieter will be right outside the room, listening in case she needs backup. Retter will be on recording detail along with Dagmar. There shouldn’t be any trouble you guys can’t handle. God knows you’ve all had worse.”
Tee handed the entire file to Ace. “You two are technically on vacation for the next few days while Rhea learns her stuff over inGermany . I’ve ordered some training DVDs for you to study so that you can learn how to beat him black-and-blue. Bender that is, not Ace.”
Rhea nodded. “Okay.”
“We don’t know when Bender is going to show up, looking for Ute,” Joe said. “But according to Ute, he always gets feisty right before a big coup, and his latest find definitely qualifies. I figure you guys have three days to a week before he shows himself. What do you think, Ace? You know him better than anyone.”
“You’re right,” he said. “He usually books time with Ute the night before he pulls off his shit. We need to get over there and be ready.”
“Then you two go ahead. Retter is already inGermany and waiting for your orders. The rest of us will follow you over there on a later flight.”
Ace handed Rhea her passport and printout for her plane ticket, then led the way out of Joe’s office.