Page 23 of Fatal Intent

“Running every morning with Rayne.”

“Well, it’s working. Keep it up.”

“Yes, sir.”

Seth clapped him on the shoulder and jogged ahead to catch up with his wife.

“They’re such a great couple,” Rayne murmured. “He’s so good for and to Teagan.”

“Teagan changed his entire life,” Grant admitted. “I’ve never seen him happier.”

“Noah and Violet are the same.”

“They’re special, all right.” He glanced at Rayne. “So are you.”

Rayne’s cheeks burned. “Thank you, Grant.”

He raised her hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckles. “Stick with me, sweetheart, and you’ll hear more of the same every day.”

She remained silent for a moment, then said, “How long do you think we have before the Hartman detectives show up?”

“We’ll be lucky if we make it to noon. The boss won’t be happy to have our training session interrupted a second time today.”

At 10:05 a.m., Rayne’s phone signaled an incoming message while in the middle of the kill house, stretched along a beam near the ceiling. She ignored the interruption, focusing instead on the shadows in front of her. While she heard nothing, her gut saidone of her opponents from the other team lay in wait to take her down.

Rayne waited in the gloomy light of the kill house, senses attuned to everything around her. A slight breeze caressed her face, carrying a fresh ocean scent on the currents. Definitely not the norm for this building. A member of the opposing team was nearby, and he’d made the mistake of wearing aftershave or cologne.

Again, she waited and watched. A short time later, something moved in the darkness to her left. She sighted down the barrel of her laser weapon at the area with movement. Within seconds, her target shifted his position, inching toward the door to the darkened hall. Rayne pulled the trigger. A split second later, her opponent’s vest emitted a signal, indicating a direct hit.

A series of vicious curses spewed from her opponent’s mouth as a buzzer sounded throughout the building and lights came on. Brandon Cartwright yanked off his safety glasses and glowered at the empty room. “Come out of hiding, you coward,” he yelled. “I know you’re in here somewhere. Show yourself.”

Rayne’s eyebrows soared. Someone was in a foul mood today. She rose, walked easily along the beam to the wall, then lowered herself to the top of a bookcase. From there, she leaped onto the wooden desk and onto the ground.

Cartwright glared at her. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Winning a competition,” she said mildly.

Behind Cartwright, Grant and Seth paused in the doorway.

“You cheated,” the irate operative accused. “Should have known you’d pull a stunt like this just to win since you can’t come out ahead any other way.”

Grant walked further into the room and stood beside Rayne. “What’s your problem, Cartwright?”

He jabbed a finger in Rayne’s direction. “She hit me with laser fire while hiding like a coward near the ceiling. That wasn’t part of our instructions.”

Iona and Andre entered the room along with the rest of their teammates and surrounded the angry operative.

“The point of the exercise was to outwit your opponent and finish without being tagged by a laser,” Seth said. “Rayne did what she was supposed to do. You walked into this exercise with an attitude and a chip on your shoulder. Instead of assuming Rayne was a worthy opponent, you figured she was just another pretty face.”

“Women like her shouldn’t be in the field,” Cartwright muttered.

Grant stiffened. “What does that mean?”

“Exactly what I said. Just because she can distract the enemy with a smile and meaningless flirting doesn’t mean she will be any help on your missions. You shouldn’t allow Maddox to pair you with her on ops. It’s not right, and doesn’t give the rest of the teams a chance to work with you and the other elite teams.”

Andre folded his arms across his chest. “You really are an idiot, Cartwright.”

He glared at Andre. “You let one of them get their claws into you, then we’ll see if you’re singing the same song, Marsh. You can’t deny the boss uses these women as a distraction. They’re not qualified to do anything in the field. I’ve heard how many times they’re paired with Echo.” Cartwright sneered. “If they were as good as the rumors say, they wouldn’t need teams like ours to bail them out of trouble all the time.”