Stop thinking of Catherine. There was work to be done.
His gaze raked the clusters of rock ahead for signs of Nagoles. By nature, he was a hunter, and Nagoles was fair game. Not only was he a killer, but he was a threat to Erin and Catherine. Besides, he didn’t often get the chance to go one-on-one. To his infinite disgust, the committee regarded him as too valuable to the project to risk.
He could see the red-and-cream helicopter on the horizon. It was losing altitude, preparing to land.
Nagoles had still not come out of the rocks.
Wait.
Watch.
He dodged to one side for cover as he reached the rocks.
The helicopter was hovering.
Shit. There was a missile mounted on either side of the copter.
A complication.
Where the hell was Nagoles?
Then the helicopter was on the ground, rotors blowing snow in all directions.
“Here!” Nagoles was running through the boulders toward the helicopter, his right hand clenching on his rifle.
In a minute, he’d be out of the rocks and a few yards from the helicopter. That would be the time to take him down.
Just a little closer …
He carefully aimed his rifle at the door of the helicopter.
He’d do better to send the bastard straight to hell, but Catherine wanted information. He’d see if he could get it for her without damaging his own agenda.
Nagoles sprinted into view, only four yards from the helicopter.
Now.
He pulled the trigger.
Nagoles screamed as the bullet hit his back. He stumbled and went down.
Blood on the snow.
Cameron could hear the pilot cursing as he started to lift off.
And his second act would be lethal.
Move.
Cameron dodged to the right, just as a missile exploded and shattered the rocks where he’d been only seconds before.
Get in position for another shot. Fast. If that pilot gained altitude, he’d have a clear shot of anyone on the ground below him.
He was already ten feet off the ground when Cameron reached a boulder and rested his rifle on the surface and aimed at the helicopter.
Fifteen feet.
He aimed five feet above his actual target.
Gas tank. Take out the gas tank.
The pilot swiveled the aircraft around, spoiling the shot.
Aim again.
Now.
He pressed the trigger.
The helicopter exploded into a fiery ball as the gas tank blew.
Cameron moved to the edge of the plateau and watched as the flaming remnants of the aircraft fell out of the sky to the valley below.
Nagoles groaned on the ground behind him.
Cameron turned and looked at him.
Bleeding. Snarling. Trying to crawl to reach his rifle.
Conscious enough to want to kill.
Therefore, he should be conscious enough for Cameron’s purpose.
Before he made sure that the bastard was never a threat to either Erin or Catherine again.
“Hello, Nagoles, I’m Cameron.” He squatted next to Nagoles and shoved the man’s rifle farther out of his reach. “We have to have a chat. You need to pay close attention, because I have a terrible temper, and that could bring you intense pain…”
*
“The shooter’s name is Nagoles,” Catherine told Venable as soon as he picked up. “Cameron’s men tracked him down. And he’s freelance, not one of Santos’s usual goons. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have information that I can use.” She added in frustration, “If Cameron will give me the chance to get it out of him.”
“Cameron?” Venable wasn’t pleased. “Where is he? I’ll send agents to intercept him and make sure we get our hands on Nagoles.”
“Fat chance. Cameron is being protective, which means that Nagoles is a dead man. I just hope that he deigns to get me some of the information that I need before he sends Nagoles to hell.”
“Where is he?” Venable repeated.
“Tibet. Don’t send anyone near him. You know that Cameron and the CIA have been dancing around each other for months. You don’t want a confrontation with him unless it’s over something important to global security. Not about some drug dealer trying to take an agent out.”
“I’ll do what I please, Catherine. We want Santos back in custody on a charge that will stick. Or we want him dead. You’re important to us, but there are other motivations. Once Santos is finished with revenging himself on you, he’ll turn his attention to rebuilding the empire we tore down. So Cameron can keep his hands off anything to do with Santos, or I’ll have to take him down.”
“Good luck.” She hung up.
The last thing she wanted was for Venable to go after Cameron. As she’d said, so far their encounters with Cameron and the committee had been glancing blows, not worth extending their full strength. He was more a figure of mystery, an enigma, than an enemy. But that could change in a heartbeat, and where would that leave her?
Why was she even questioning? She was an agent, and she would do her duty and go after Cameron if given the command.
But the order hadn’t been given, and she’d let Cameron deal with his own problems. God knows, she had enough to worry about at the moment. She would lie here and rest and try to sleep.
And hope that Cameron would call her back and tell her that Nagoles had given him a hint where she could find Santos.
She would not think of what she’d felt when she’d first seen him in that cave. The shock, the erotic sensation that had electrified every muscle, the searing memory of the ways he had touched, probed, rubbed—
And she was doing exactly what she had sworn she would not do.
She drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. Relax. Cameron was being Cameron, and that meant totally his own person, stubborn, and unpredictable. Both his men and the committee under whom he worked regarded him more as crown prince than Guardian of the project. Which also meant he was arrogant as hell.
But she didn’t have to accept that arrogance. She didn’t have to accept anything about the man.
She closed her eyes.
Go away, Cameron. I’m through with you for tonight.