Page 30 of Hot Pursuit

“What makes you think she’ll turn on her own flesh and blood?” the boss asked once they got the undercover agent into position.

“I’m going to show her that they turned on her first,” Nate answered, thinking back to that moment in the middle of the museum, surrounded by crowds yet all he could see was the flash of doubt in Jo’s eyes as he asked if she really understood who her father was. The answer was no, she didn’t. Nate would bet his life on that fact. “She has no idea what she’s participating in. No idea that whatever trick they’re trying to pull in the next few days is part of a much larger scheme, a much darker one than fulfilling the whims of an aging criminal on his way out. I can’t explain it, sir. I just have a gut instinct.”

“I’m not sure your gut will be enough to convince a court to grant immunity,” the boss drawled.

“Give me a day, sir. To work her for information.”

“A day?” the boss replied.

A flurry of activity came through on the tablet.

“Hold on, Parker,” the boss said, seeing the same action Nate was. “She’s on her phone again.”

He read the screen.

She turned on her camera app.

Then her messaging app.

Sent a text—What do you think?

The image was loading. Damn things took forever.

“Do we recognize the number she’s communicating with? Is it Carter? Ryder?” The boss’s scratchy voice came through the line—he was talking to the tech team, not directly into his mic. But Nate shifted his attention to the ten-digit number, reading it twice as his brows pushed together.

Wait a minute—

The phone in his pocket buzzed.

Goddamn that woman.

“It’s my phone, sir,” Nate grumbled. “Somehow she got my number.”

He shifted his weight to reach for the phone in his back pocket. Before he had a chance to pull it free, a sharply sucked in breath came through the comm.

“Hot damn,” the boss muttered.

Leo pounced before Nate could stop him and grabbed the tablet from his lap. He slid it onto the wheel while the image finished loading, then promptly let out a soft whistle as his knee started bouncing with the hilarity he was trying his best to suppress.

What the hell did she do now?

Nate closed his eyes and dropped his head against the back of his seat, squeezing the bridge of his nose with his fingers.

“You better get it over with, man,” Leo muttered.

Nate hated when his partner was right. But he was. With a sigh, he picked his head up and looked down at the phone in his lap, just as it buzzed a second time.

I seem to remember you liking the color red…

Jo. Again.

Nate took a deep breath and slid his finger across the screen, unlocking it. Then promptly started choking on his own breath.

Jo.

In a red lace bra and panty set.

No more revealing than her bikini, but it set his blood on fire.