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“So. You nearly started a war this night. You have put many good Russian men at risk. What are we to do with you?”

Frowning, he braced himself mentally. What in the hell was someone of this rank doing out here in person to clean up his mess? He answered carefully, “I gather by your presence here, that you have something in mind, Ambassador.”

The big man threw his head back and laughed. “Ahh, you are so much like Roman. I do, indeed, have a proposal for you.”

Alex’s arm tightened around Katie’s shoulders. Nothing this guy could say would make him leave her again, nor make him betray everything she loved and believed in. he could never do that to the woman he loved…even if he were prepared to betray his oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States…which he was never going to be prepared to do.

As the Russian ambassador cleared his throat and opened his mouth, Alex frowned. The man was going to lay out his offer toAlex in front of his CIA handler? What the hell? Alex glanced over at André, who was listening closely to the exchange as if he understood Russian fluently. Which he probably did.

“What might your offer be?” Alex asked cautiously.

“Your mother. She works for the CIA. Your father. He works for the FSB. How are you supposed to choose sides? No child should be asked to do this.” The ambassador shrugged. “Besides, who would trust you, no matter which side you choose? Neither, I am thinking.”

Alex nodded. He’d already lived that exact dilemma. The ambassador was correct on all counts. But Alex failed to see where the man was going with this line of reasoning.

The ambassador added shrewdly, “Or maybe both sides would trust him.”

“How’s that?”

“From time to time, our countries need to exchange information. To share certain...sensitive…pieces of intelligence with each other. Discreet channels for such transfers of information are difficult to come by. We propose that you and your companion consider continuing your employment with Doctors Unlimited.”

The Russian paused for a moment, and then continued carefully, “And, we propose that the two of you also join the employ of a similar Russian aid organization. Doctors of such skill as yourself and your indispensable nurse assistant…” The man glanced in Katie’s direction, “...are few and far between. Surely the Americans would not mind sharing your talent with others. After all, your mission as a doctor is to help all patients, no matter what their nationality may be.”

Alex’s jaw dropped. They wanted him and Katie to work for both the CIA and FSB…with the full knowledge and approval ofbothagencies? “I’ve never heard of such a thing,” he blurted.

“I think we can all agree your situation is unique, can we not?”

André interjected, “We most certainly can.”

Katie muttered urgently, “What’s he saying?”

Alex answered quickly, “He wants me to work for both the CIA and the FSB and act as an information conduit from time to time.”

Her jaw dropped in shock. He knew the feeling.

“Does that mean everyone will stop trying to kill us?” she asked.

He glanced up at the ambassador, who nodded. Fortinay nodded as well.

“Are you going to do it, Alex?” she breathed.

He gazed down at her lovingly. “What doyouthink? We’re in this together, after all.”

“Really?” she asked in a tiny, hopeful voice.

“Really,” he answered firmly. “Not only do I love you, I think Ineedyou.”

Her jaw went slack for a moment. Then she gathered herself. “Well, in that case, I’d say the two of us will make a heck of a tightrope walking act together. And I’m all for open lines of communication between our countries.”

Alex looked up at the ambassador and André, who were both staring back expectantly. “The lady has spoken. We’ll do it.”

Here’s a sneak peek at Katie’s brother, Ian McCloud, in the next Love in Danger book,Edge of Danger, meeting Piper Roth, the one woman who can keep up with him in a fight and in love…

A hot breath of air wafted across Ian McCloud’s left cheek, carrying with it grit and a hint of death. The metal plate beside his face, almost too hot to touch, made his right cheek sweat. He eased his left hand forward, reaching up awkwardly from his prone position to dial in a minute windage adjustment to his tricked-out Barrett XM 500 sniper rifle’s scope.

He scanned the street below, beige on beige, sand blowing across dirt, dust devils rising from shimmering waves of heat. Khartoum. Once a great city straddling the vast Nubian plains of the Sudan, now a certified armpit of the universe. Abandoned by the civilized world to wallow in its atrocities of violence and filth of body and soul.

He looked out across the skyline, dirty brown in the morning sun—brown mud buildings that had long since lost their stucco, a few brown stunted trees coated with dust like skeletal ghosts. Brown people in streets brown with crusted clay. But beneath the brown surface lay a black hole of the human soul.