"Senator, have a seat." Mullins was tall and imposing, and had the looks and the athletic body of a man half his age. His hair was just the right amount of salt and pepper to instill wisdom and youth, as if he walked that fine line, keeping the balance like a pro. The American public loved him.

The man unbuttoned his lightweight suit jacket and settled in one of the leather chairs in front of the big, imposing mahogany desk.

"What can I do for you?"

"I think it might be what I can do for you."

Stephen felt a little tingle of wariness at the base of his neck. This would be a formidable opponent, but a powerful ally. He knew it instinctively, one predator to another, could feel the power of his personality in his gaze, even while he could read nothing of his thoughts.

"Oh. What is that?"

"I have feelers everywhere, Stephen. I know you were involved in Brad Jones's death."

"I don't know where you're getting your-"

"Does it matter?" Stephen's lips pinched together over what he was going to say. "I thought not. I don't really care why you had him killed, but it served my purposes well. Brad was getting tiresome. I am impressed. You know that family. You're their mentor. Hell, man, you attended their wedding. I have to admire someone who will go to any lengths for power."

Stephen's smile was thin. "What do you want?"

Mullins smiled his J. R. Ewing smile. "I have a cash flow need. I want the Oval Office and you want that bill dead. The whole fiasco with Outcast has really blown up in your face." Shock coursed through Stephen. He thought he was being so damned discreet. But it seemed that Mullins wasn't being modest. He really did have what it took to be president and Stephen liked to back winners. "That could be really embarrassing and will likely destroy you and your company if it got out to the press that you hired them to murder navy SEALs and a US senator."

Apparently a little blackmail wasn't off the playing table. "I'm listening."

"I'm former CIA. I have the contacts to make this go away, if you make my cash flow problem go away."

Stephen stood and the senator rose with him. He reached out his hand. "Done."

Robert Mullins smiled. "Consider this handled."

He turned and walked out of the office and Stephen looked back out the window. This bill was damaging in several ways. No one in the business world wanted to lose corporate freedom. The cost of reorganizing his company and making it more socially sound was a big cost factor. He tried to talk sense into both Brad and Piper on each occasion. But Brad wouldn't listen and Piper had dedicated herself to carrying out her late husband's wishes.

He had done his best to talk Piper out of taking her late husband's seat for grief purposes, tried to steer her away from the corporate law change, and he'd hated like hell to order her elimination. But Tyler was smart, and when he started looking into the car accident, he couldn't let either of them live. Tyler was supposed to die a hero on the battlefield and Piper had been slated for an overdose. The poor dear couldn't ever get over her husband's and daughter's deaths, but when she impetuously ran off to Afghanistan when Tyler was wounded, he saw a chance to take them both out without anything blowing back at him.

He wasn't going to let anyone tell him what he could and couldn't do. He was the ruler of his empire, had slaved for years to make it a powerhouse in the tech world. He didn't want anyone to diminish his control.

Washington was a cutthroat place to do business and politics were part of a means to an end.

Business was-after all-business. Sometimes it was ugly, sometimes it was messy and sometimes it was downright deadly.

Chapter 12.

The Montgomery Group,

New Jersey Avenue, NW, Washington, DC

Robert Mullins settled into the Lincoln town car. His assistant sat back in the shadows. "Did he go for it?"

"Hook, line and sinker."

"As you predicted, the tail lost Kaczewski and Jones downtown."

"I am surrounded by incompetence." He ran his hand through his hair. Everything did not go to plan for the first time in his life. He had had a backup, but Hatch bungled it, got himself killed. Who the hell was this navy SEAL? A frigging fly in the ointment. But no one was going to stand between him and his Oval Office chair. No one.

Brad Jones had been a more devious and skilled player than Robert had expected. Encouraging and pretending to support Jones's corporate bill to incite Stephen Montgomery was a calculated risk, but it got Jones out of the picture and Montgomery in his pocket. He didn't really give a damn about the bill, but Montgomery did. Mullins knew Montgomery was a proud man who wouldn't like anyone taking away his power. That would make him do something drastic and then Mullins would get his big payday by blackmailing Montgomery to give him consistent and large donations to his campaign fund-all above board.

A lot of Mullins's constituents wanted that bill dead now. He wanted to keep his backers happy, so he'd put his might behind defeating it. Now that he had Montgomery on the line, it was time to put this bill to bed.

He hadn't anticipated his widow would take up Brad's seat and try to pass it herself. Still, Robert needed to find that evidence Brad had on him, but after eighteen months of searching, he had come up short. Maybe with some prodding, Piper would lead him to it? Hmm. That was a thought. "Give me your cell." The man handed it over and Robert pressed in a number, then he tapped in the code when prompted.

Five minutes later, as the town car turned onto Constitution Avenue, the cell rang. "Nyx." A name that was whispered in underworld circles.

"What do you have for me?" The soft voice rasped in Robert's ear.

"You will be sent four pictures in the next fifteen minutes. For the first two pictures, Dexter Kaczewski and Piper Jones, I want them found, terrorized, but don't kill them until I give you the word."

"Deep-sixing on your command."

"I want all this done quietly. It would be even better if their bodies were never found.

For the third picture, Jones's brother, Keighley. Make it look like a medication overdose. His whereabouts will be at the bottom of his picture, but take care of the two in DC first."

"And the fourth picture?"

"A PI. DC is full of violence. Poor Mr. Utley. Just another unsolved street crime."

"It will be done," came the chilling response.

Suburbs of Washington, DC The air-conditioning kicked on and the blinds in the window of the dim room fluttered, the sound intruding on Piper's dream. She came awake and popped up in bed. A bed? For a moment, she was disoriented. Where was she?

It wasn't the DC hospital. Her hand went to her abdomen and she gasped on a soft breath. Her heart pounded in her ears and her breathing was labored. She felt as if she'd been running. She closed her eyes and then opened them, blinked. An unfamiliar but well-appointed room. Cathedral ceiling with an inordinately beautiful disk in the center, a decorative accent. The bed was comfortable, the headboard a cream tufted leather. Antique end tables with Tiffany lamps.

The safe house. The one Dex had gotten access to from his father. Her head whipped around, but the place beside her was empty.

She pushed the covers off her, realized she was naked and a full blush enveloped her. That black wispy thing hadn't stayed on her long after they had gotten into bed.

Dex...damn. He was so freaking good in bed. She was actually a little sore. The man was rough and she discovered that she liked it very much.

She went to the window and looked out. The pool was right off the bedroom. A small sun room opened out to the pool deck. Dex was in the crystal-blue water, streaking across her sight as he swam laps.

She pressed her hot face to the cool glass. Usually she spent her time after one of those nightmares trying to block out the memories, but now, she wanted to remember what had happened.

Had her husband been murdered? Had someone so callously deliberately run them off the road?

She closed her eyes, her stomach churning. She'd woken to pitch-black, except for the one street lamp that had illuminated her husband's face. His open eyes. The blood running from his nose and ears.

A sudden sweep of dread made her whole body tense and she closed her eyes, feeling sick and shaky.

She'd screamed then, the sound reverberating in her ears. She pressed harder against the glass, trying to remember how the car had been hit. What had happened?

It was no use. It was just a bunch of jumbled memories. Trapped in the car for hours, someone finally coming, firefighters prying open the doors, being barely conscious, the only sensation was blood and fluid sliding down her leg. During the ride in the ambulance, her questions about Brad went unanswered, then at the hospital, the loss of her child confirmed, the news about her husband.

Her throat tight, tears slipped down her cheeks, but she brushed them away and took a deep breath. She went to the closet and found a silk turquoise robe. Shrugging into it, she opened the bedroom door and stepped into the heat and humidity of a Washington, DC, summer.

She stood there for a minute, soaking up the warmth as she felt clammy and cold. She hadn't thought that was possible after the heat, sand and sweat of Afghanistan.

He barely made a ripple; he was all tanned, sleek skin and muscles slicing through the water.

He stopped when he hit the end of the pool and flashed her a grin. She walked to the lip. Looking up at her, he said, "You wanna learn how to swim, cutie?"

She shook her head.

"Ah, come on. The water is really refreshing." He reached up and tugged on the end of the robe.

She arched a brow and gave him a dry look. "So is coffee."

He chuckled. "I'll teach you how to blow bubbles and dog paddle."

He clasped her around the ankle, and even with all the weight of her past and the danger of her present, she huffed out a laugh and said firmly, "Don't you dare. Remember, I know how to handle a weapon."

His voice dropped an octave and he said, "Yeah, I've experienced that firsthand."

The man was definitely a sexy tease.

She crouched down, placing her hand on his forehead, and shoved him back into the water. "Go soak your head."

"You want to be specific about that?" He treaded water like a dolphin. Or was that more like a killer whale?

"You're a very bad man." She leaned over and used the heel of her palm to splash water at him. He dove like a fish and came up laughing. Then he turned his powerful body and cut through the water again. He sure had been right. The man knew how to swim.

Leaving him to his exercise, she headed to the sliding glass door and the kitchen. Still feeling strung out, she started the coffee. She didn't even want to know what she looked like. She had to pull herself together and talk about the past. It was now overshadowing her future, one she wouldn't have if she didn't figure out who wanted her dead.

That car accident was the key.

Forcing herself to take a calming breath, she went to the fridge and was delighted to see that Dex had been shopping. She reached for a grapefruit and sliced it in half.

The door opened and Dex came in, the stitches still dark and running down his left side. He was dry, except for his hair, which he was rubbing with a towel around his shoulders. From the delicious scent of him, he'd obviously showered and changed into the gray shorts.

He glanced at her, his expression going still. Without saying anything more, he studied her a moment longer, his gaze narrowing, but if he read something in her face, he left it alone. His tone was noncommittal. "Good morning, babe."

She gave him a warm smile. The soft way he said babe curling into a glow in her stomach. She could so get used to domestic life with this man. But this would only be fleeting and in between deployments. She was kidding herself if she thought she could handle that.

"You're up early."

"I couldn't sleep."

"You had another nightmare?" he said as he came to her and wrapped her in his arms. He smelled heavenly, citrus and cinnamon. This was what she needed. She leaned into his warmth. She had to get a grip or she'd never make it through the day.

He let her go and she grabbed her half of a grapefruit and coffee and settled at the island. Dex poured himself some coffee, then leaned back against the counter to drink it.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Yes and no," she admitted, and he came over to the counter. He reached over and tucked her hair behind her ear.

She would have thought she'd be over how he affected her. But her heart skipped a beat, her pulse ramping up. She suddenly felt as if she had too much blood in her body. Too much heat. Too heavy a response. She worked at bringing her body under control. Dex had ramped her up from a low-keyed woman to this responsive fireball, all in six days. This had all started out as a simple mission-Dex rescuing her-but all of a sudden it had gone way beyond that.

"I don't remember much."

"Why don't you tell me what you remember?" He caressed her forearm. Dex was mixing it up and it was hard to deny he had a steadying, calming influence on her now.

He was always so in control, so certain of himself and his abilities. It wasn't arrogance so much as assuredness, and that was powerful stuff for her at the moment. It was hard not to be tempted to lean some more on him. Just a tiny moment more. He was sturdy and strong.

She'd better get the stars out of her eyes and keep her two feet planted squarely on Planet Earth.

She told him the bits and pieces she remembered.

"The police investigated the accident, correct?"

"Yes, and came to the conclusion that Brad just lost control. I checked with them several times."

"I know that you weren't thinking this back then, but now that you've had some distance and the fact that Tyler was targeted after he hired the PI to look into the accident, do you think someone could have wanted Brad out of the picture enough to kill him?"

That had her looking up. "I-I don't know. I can't think of anything that would be damaging enough to want him dead. He was a senator, for God's sake, not a SEAL."

"People kill for a variety of reasons, Piper."

She shivered. In all the times she'd relived that night, over and over again, awake and in endless nightmares, she'd never once contemplated that possibility.

"Honestly, no. I didn't think he was murdered. If I had, I would have pushed much harder to find the person. But now I believe you're right. It can't be a coincidence that both Tyler and I were marked for death right after he started snooping around. When they find us, they're going to kill us."

He reached out and put his hand on her arm. "Not while I'm still breathing. I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

She held his gaze a bit longer, then finally sighed. "I'm lucky you were there."