Stalking The Cat: Romantic Suspense

Stalking The Cat

Kate Harper

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2011 Kate Harper

]Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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Chapter One

Cassandra Garret watched the big 747 set down on the runway and acknowledged the sudden tightening of her stomach muscles with a wry grimace. Mitch’s voice sounded through her ear-piece, as clear as if he were standing next to her, bringing her focus back to where it belonged.

The job at hand.

How’s it looking?

He’s down. I’ll do one more sweep before the passengers come through the gate.

Roger that.

Cassandra turned to study her surroundings, her eyes moving across the people who were waiting for the plane to disembark. There was nothing jarring; nobody appeared to be out of place. Those waiting around were all airport employees, to all intents and purposes doing the job they were paid to do, which was to process the arrivals on flight 673. After baggage check, most of the passengers would be going through duty free or customs. All of the people present were supposed to have security clearance to be there. Of course, that didn’t necessarily mean anything. Edmund Delaney was a powerful man; there would be few places he couldn’t infiltrate. It was quite possible he’d managed to slip one of his hired guns into the airport personnel. Despite the secrecy surrounding this delivery, it wasn’t a possibility Cass was prepared to rule out.

Across the room Jason Burke was going through the same routine checks as she was, his eyes scanning his surroundings, searching for something out of place; off key. The Federal Police had assigned eleven agents to this hand over.

Jake Embery would probably be delighted at all the attention he was receiving.

Mitch’s voice sounded again. As operational leader it was his call who was assigned to what positions on the team. The safety of Jake Embery was riding on his shoulders. Small wonder Mitch was sounding so tense. Okay, Cass, Jason... move into position. We can’t afford any leeway on this one.

Moving into position now. She responded quietly.

Jason joined her and together they went to stand by the arrivals gate. They would be the two Federal agents that would take Embery into custody, running in tandem with the FBI officers who were transporting him until the transfer was complete.

Cassandra hadn’t wanted this detail. She hadn’t wanted any personal contact whatsoever with Embery and would have preferred riding shotgun or taking surveillance but her reluctance to meet Embery was hardly something she could bring up in the ops room. Not and keep a shred of credibility as a Federal agent, anyway. Just the same, her heart was beginning to pound, the prospect of actually being face to face with Jake for the first time in three years pushing her blood pressure way up. This was just the sort of situation they warned you about in training. The need to keep a clear head during an operation was essential. Stay focused. Stay alert.

Cassandra straightened her shoulders and hoped she could keep her expression impassive during the approaching encounter. Perhaps he won’t even acknowledge you. It had been three years, after all, she reasoned.

But she knew just how unlikely that was. The experiences she had once shared with Jake Embery were not the kind that were easily forgotten. She’d certainly never managed to bury the memories of their time together and she’d had more than enough incentive to try. Jason gave her a quick smile. Here we go, he murmured, as the people from flight 673 began to stream through the arrivals gates, heading across to the baggage areas. Time to get my first look at a bona fide turncoat!

Cassandra gave him a quick glance, but didn’t respond. Jason was relatively new to the section. He’d never met Jake Embery although, in the past three years, he’d probably heard a hell of a lot about him. His curiosity was perfectly natural. Still, it was surprisingly hard not to react.

Automatically, she studied the faces as they passed, her training kicking in. It was remotely possible that Delaney had managed to get somebody on board the flight itself in the hope of taking Embery out before he reached Australia. If they’d had no opportunity on the plane then an attempt on the ground was surely going to be on the cards. She and Jason watched, trying to pick something up but everyone seemed more than happy to keep moving, heading towards the baggage check. There were two other agents seeded around the customs area who would continue to monitor the arriving passengers and the crowd of friends and family that were waiting for them. Cassandra knew her main task was Embery. They would bring him off when the last passenger had disappeared. It minimized the crowds, allowing a far better assessment of the risk factors. If anyone was taking undue interest in Embery after the area was clear of passengers, at least they’d have a better chance of spotting it.

This whole operation was covert. Nobody but the FBI and the Federal Police were supposed to know that Jake Embery was coming back to Australia. But despite the precautions, the encrypted exchange of information, the ever changing arrangements the two organizations had made to keep the details of the transfer from leaking out, everybody knew that Delaney had at least one mole – probably more - on the inside of either the FBI or the AFP... or both. They were expecting trouble.

The arrest of Jake Embery in Chicago five days before meant trouble for Edmund Delaney. Embery was coming back because he knew an awful lot about Delaney’s drug business, information the AFP were desperate to obtain.

No matter what, they had to keep Jake Embery alive...

Cassandra glanced down at herself, reassured by the plain black suit she’d chosen, the flat, practical shoes. Business like. No nonsense. Today of all days she needed to present herself as a competent police officer whose only interest was getting the job done. She always tamed her mass of tawny hair into a thick plait but that morning she had made sure it was more severe than ever and had skipped any hint of makeup.

Cassandra was determined to be all business. Nothing was going to deflect her from doing her job.

As soon as the plane had disembarked, a flight attendant emerged, walking across to them rather hesitantly. She appeared a little uncertain, maybe because she wasn’t used to dangerous criminals being transported on her shift but more likely because the swarm of sober suited personnel that were focused on the plane and the tarmac were making her uneasy. She looked from Jason to Cassandra, uncertain who she was supposed to be talking to.

Federal Agent Garret? When Cassandra inclined her head, she continued on, All the passengers have disembarked apart from the... from the...

Detainee. Cassandra supplied easily, Thank you. If you’ll just show us the way?

The plan was for the FBI agents to accompany Embery to the safe house - a little extra protection along the way to ensure all went smoothly. That was also the reason they’d decided to fly him into Canberra instead of Sydney. Even though it was in Sydney that both she and Jake had been working when he’d disappeared, the Federal Police’s main base of operation was Canberra, the nation’s capitol. As Delaney lived in Sydney and he ran his business - both legal and illegal from there - Mitch had decided that the capital might prove the safer option.

After the two FBI agents had co-delivered their package, the prisoner would be fully released into AFP custody. Cassandra swallowed, unable to control the way her breath quickened as she and Jason followed the attendant. No matter how much prep work she’d done, working towards this meeting, the next few minutes were going to be tough.

Jake Embery had been seated in the middle seat of three at the rear of the plane so it took some moments to reach him. He was flanked by the two FBI agents who had accompanied him, both wearing the same expressions that gave away absolutely nothing. Each of them wore sunglasses and, despite her preoccupation, Cassandra couldn’t help but marvel at how well the two men measured up to the stereotypical image of FBI agents that movies and television so loved. They looked like they’d come straight out of Hollywood instead of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Reluctantly, unable to put off the moment any longer, she allowed her eyes to travel to the man who had created so much anxiety within herself and the AFP for the past week.

When she met Jake Embery’s cool green eyes, a jolt of alarm went through her, wicked heat chasing hard on the heels of cold shock, jerking her stunned nervous system into life.

She had honestly thought she would be impervious to him. After three years she had thought that she had escaped the shadows of the past well enough to get on with the future. If that future had meant bringing Jake to justice, then so be it. Today was to be the day that all of the hard work she had put in to forget the man finally paid off. The day when she was face to face with him once again. She was really hoping it would be the day when the sight of him would do nothing more than cause her a professional headache instead of the emotional heartache she had once gone through.

He looked completely different and yet strangely unchanged. It was an anomaly her brain was unable to immediately process. The black hair was longer now, and a little shaggy, a far cry from the clipped crew-cuts he’d once favoured. The face hadn’t changed, however. It was a little leaner, a little more battle weary. It was also sporting a couple of livid bruises - one to the left of the chin, the other on the left cheek.

Cassandra sucked in a long breath. She hadn’t known what to expect. Hell, she’d postponed thinking at all, unwilling to dwell on what would happen if this moment ever came, although in retrospect that might have been a mistake. More thought might have given her something to fall back on, a backup plan to resort to if her feelings threatened to overwhelm her. Like they were right now. All she could really think of was that Jake was just as sexy, just as dangerous, just as damn he-man gorgeous as ever. She wondered, with a surprising stab of pain, who it was that had put those bruises on his face, but immediately pushed the question away. It was irrelevant. Besides, she knew the other guy was probably looking a whole lot worse!

What was relevant was that she was going to have to deal with him. Right here. Right now.

His eyes were unreadable but he gave her a slow smile, the same sort of smile that had once been capable of turning her knees to mush. Hello Cass. I wondered if you’d be on this detail. Long time, no see.

Cassandra felt Jason’s start of surprise at her back. Only a couple of the team knew that she had a previous association with Embery - three years was a long time and they’d been discreet, their relationship kept quiet for obvious reasons. Jason’s reaction prompted her remember just what it was she was there for, however.

Jake. she said, surprised that her voice sounded so steady. She glanced at the two agents who were looking at her. At least, she assumed they were looking at her. In those sunglasses it was hard to tell.

The one nearest to her nodded. Agents Tyrell and Glietzman ma’am. He said, voice laconic.

Nice to meet you both. Gentlemen, transport is in place. We’re ready to move.

They rose to their feet. Jake was still watching Cassandra. Those wicked green eyes hadn’t left her for a moment. You’re looking good. He observed, still in that cool, even voice. Dark and slumberous, that voice had called her name in the height of passion. He had whispered it as they’d both lain entwined afterwards, whispering promises about the future that had all turned out to be lies. She stared at him and for a moment, memory threatening to topple her.

I’ll check our exit. Turning hastily, Cassandra moved past Jason and retreated down the aisle. She would get through this, she assured herself, grinding her teeth. Jake Embery had finally been caught and now it was time for him to face the music, to face up to all of the things that he’d left behind.

His ruined, discarded career as a Federal police officer.

His friends, who had been betrayed by the knowledge that the person they had thought they’d known was little more than a mercenary with a price tag.

And most importantly of all, he’d have to face the questions surrounding the death of Steven Butler, the man who had once been his partner and who had been mysteriously killed three years ago when the two of them had been trying to penetrate a drug ring on the docks. Steven’s body had been found in an empty storage warehouse in Port Botany but there’d been no sign of Embery. Later they’d received intelligence that Jake Embery was in Thailand. The word was that he’d turned dirty, bought body and soul by Edmund Delaney.

It had taken a few months for the awful truth to sink in, for Cassandra to accept what everyone else seemed certain of. She hadn’t wanted to believe it. For months she’d struggled with the concept that the man she had fallen for so heavily was a villain.

But time had proved just how true that was. Jake was a traitor. He’d sold information and his experience as a Federal officer to Edmund Delaney.

For a time nothing had seemed to ease the pain of his betrayal. It had almost overwhelmed her and for months she had dragged herself around like she was in some kind of bad dream. She’d even considered resigning from the AFP but a couple of her close friends on the force had urged her to stick it out. She was a good cop. All she needed was to focus on the future and time would deal with the past.

It had turned out to be true, more or less. Time had dulled the legacy of Jake’s actions even if it hadn’t actually eradicated the pain. She hoped that one day it would, that she would be free of the past.

Her first glimpse of Embery told her she still had a long way to go. Walking back out into the arrivals terminal, Cassandra forced herself to concentrate. A quick glance told her that customs had efficiently dealt with most the passengers. She noted the positions of several of her fellow officers and was reassured; they seemed to have the place covered. Okay, she said, knowing she would be heard by everybody on the team, It’s looking good. Bring him out.

The cars - three in all - would be picking them up directly from the front of the arrivals building. The car parks at Canberra International were too remote - nobody had been comfortable with the idea of exposing their prisoner for that length of time in an open space.

How’s he looking? Mitch demanded and Cassandra remembered that he and Jake had been friends before it had all gone horribly wrong. This wouldn’t be easy for him, either, but it said a lot about what the AFP thought of his abilities, in as much as they had given him control of the operation.

Somebody’s been taking a swing at him, by the look of it. Apart from that he’s pretty much the same as usual. She returned, voice even. She knew he wanted to ask about her reactions to the meeting but wouldn’t do so with everybody listening in. That would come later during a debrief.

Jason took point, followed by the two FBI agents flanking Embery. She fell into step with Jason and together they moved in close formation through the echoing expanse of Canberra International, heading for the collection point.

Cassandra scanned her surroundings relentlessly, intent on picking up anything that would indicate transport had been compromised. Her job was to make sure the prisoner stayed alive long enough to supply answers to all of the questions his disappearance three years ago had left behind. Right now there was no room for emotions - if she was going to fall apart she could do it later. While all the information seemed to indicate that Jake Embery was as dangerous as a cornered rattlesnake, with pretty much the same survival instincts, he was vulnerable right now. Intel suggested that in three years he had risen high in Edmund Delaney’s organization, to the point where there were few areas he hadn’t accessed. If that was the case then Delaney would be desperate to either break him free or kill him. Either option was not in the interests of the AFP.

Mitch had warned her that her job wouldn’t be easy when he’d given her the assignment that had been additional to the one she was now on. He’d taken her aside the previous evening just as she was leaving headquarters.

Cass, can I have a word? His words had come as no surprise; she’d been expecting him to say something. What she hadn’t been expecting was the conversation they’d ended up having. He’d taken her into a small office, closing the door behind him. Cass had taken a chair, expecting Big Brother Mitch, the guy that had been so sympathetic during the long, painful months after Jake’s disappearance. I wanted to have a word with you away from the rest of the team, he’d begun, You know that it’s quite likely that Jake is going to try and make a break for it while he’s in custody?

Cass had shrugged. "He can try but he won’t