Page 23 of Perfect Vengeance (FBI Strike Force #1)

Chapter Ten

“ Girl , he is smokin’ hot .” Kinsey whistled for emphasis as Margo maneuvered the rented black Charger out of Gina’s parking garage. “ The man makes sweaty look g-o-o-d good .”

Anna giggled from the front passenger seat. “ Did you see how that black sweater stuck to his super buff bod?” She made a suggestive, gurgling sound in her throat. “ Yowza .”

Resisting the urge to elbow Kinsey in the ribs and smack Anna in the back of the head, Gina leaned forward between the headrests and pointed to Jack’s SUV double-parked ahead.

“ Pull up behind that Expedition and try to keep your libidos in check. We’ve got a job to do, and if we botch it, we could all wind up wearing orange jumpsuits for the next decade.

You should be focusing on that visual.” While she knew her friends were only teasing, it was irritating to hear them discussing Jack like he was a piece of grade A sirloin they were about to gobble up.

Not that she disagreed with their observations.

Kinsey snickered. “ Oooh , someone’s a little possessive.”

“ What do you mean possessive ?” She frowned as she caught the smirk on Kinsey’s face.

“ Oh , come on, Gina ,” Margo said as she pulled up behind Jack’s Expedition . “ Even I can see the chemistry between you two. It was so hot in your apartment I thought the fire alarm would go off.”

“ You should have seen his face when you yanked open your suit and your boobs practically popped out,” Kinsey said. “ He clenched his manly jaw so hard I heard his teeth crack.”

This time, she did elbow Kinsey in the ribs, and her friend let out a little grunt mingled with more laughter.

“ You could do a lot worse,” Anna added. “ Take Paul , for instance. The guy might have been loaded, but he was sooo boring. I wonder what Jack’s like in bed.”

Kinsey’s dark brows bobbed. “ The things you can do with a set of handcuffs.”

Gina rolled her eyes. “ Do I have to remind you what Jack is?” Somehow , despite the do-what- I -tell-you-or-else choke hold he had on all of them, his hidden charms seemed to have wormed their way past her friends’ normally bone-deep sense of caution.

“ He’s an FBI agent, and we’re a fly’s hiccup away from getting arrested.

The only thing between us and a jail cell is getting this freaking bug planted.

After tonight, we should all be praying we never see Jack Gates again. ”

“ Point taken.” Margo put the car in park. “ Beneath all that twisted steel and federal agent sex appeal is a man we should never cross.”

Headlights illuminated Jack’s tall form as he got out of the SUV . Even the street’s semidarkness couldn’t hide the man’s aura of tightly reined-in power. Power he could unleash if they got on his bad side. Again , that was. She’d lost count of how many times that had already happened.

Margo lowered her window. Jack’s cast made a thunk as he rested his forearms on the window frame. He handed Margo a slim, black radio. “ It’s turned on and tuned to a discrete FBI frequency. All you have to do is key the button on the side to talk.”

“ Ten -four,” Anna declared as she took the radio from Margo . She was loving this Elliot Ness thing far too much, in Gina’s opinion.

“ Ready , ladies?” Jack asked, but it was Gina’s eye he caught.

“ As ever.” Though she didn’t think she’d ever be ready for this job. Not in a hundred years. Not in a thousand. “ Let’s get it done.”

After getting out of the Charger , she hefted her utility belt and a coil of knotted rope over her shoulder. Kinsey joined her and headed for the driver’s side of the SUV . Cold , wintry air bit through her polar fleece jacket and the microfiber of her suit.

Jack waited for Kinsey to slip in behind the wheel of his Expedition . As he shut the door, Gina realized he must have deactivated the SUV’s interior lights so they wouldn’t light up when the doors opened. She could just barely make out Kinsey stripping off her sweat suit.

She and Jack both reached for the rear passenger door’s handle at the same time. Their hands brushed, but when she tried letting go of the handle, he held his hand firmly on top of hers. The handle was cold. Jack’s fingers were warm.

“ You okay?” His eyes were hooded by shadow, but there was unexpected concern in his voice.

“ You asked me that back in my apartment. And yeah, I’m always okay before a B and E . Turns me on, actually.” She could have been imagining the spark in his eyes, but she definitely felt it from his touch.

He released her hand as she opened the door, then waited for her to get in before shutting the door behind her. Who’d have suspected a gentleman lurked behind the badge?

Ironically , in the last few days, Jack had touched her— literally —more than Paul ever had in their entire two-month relationship.

No , that wasn’t exactly true. But Jack’s professional searches of her body for weapons and wiring her up for that earpiece had gotten her oodles hotter than Paul ever had.

She let the utility belt and rope drop to the seat so she could shrug out of her sweat suit.

“ Head to the Holland Tunnel ,” Jack ordered Kinsey after he’d gotten into the front passenger seat and shut the door.

“ Nice ride.” Kinsey gunned the SUV down the block. “ Whatcha got under the hood?”

“ Six speed, V8 , 5.4-liter engine, 310 horsepower, 365 pound-feet of torque.”

While he outlined more of the Expedition’s vital statistics as if it were a hot chick, Gina couldn’t tear her eyes from his mouth. Those lips. Not for the first time, she wondered what his kisses would be like.

She rolled her eyes. FBI . Remember that.

Besides , he might be gorgeous and hunky and everything Kinsey and Anna said he was, but he was such a tight-assed control freak.

He probably kissed like a robot—stiff, with no passion.

One of the reasons she’d broken it off with Paul was because he was boring, and his kisses were an extension of that personality trait.

Locking lips with him had been like kissing a limp noodle.

Major ick. So why did her skin ignite every time Mr . Uber - Robocop touched her?

“ Niiiice .” Kinsey stroked the dashboard. “ I love having all that power beneath me.”

Kinsey looked about five seconds away from having an orgasm. Gina couldn’t be sure whether it was from flirting with Jack or from driving his SUV . The woman did love a souped-up vehicle.

As they whizzed past a streetlight, Jack smiled at Kinsey , and a brief stab of jealousy kicked in. Why , for the life of her, she couldn’t imagine. Kinsey was gorgeous. If he wanted to flirt back at her friend like a lovesick teenager, why should she care?

With Kinsey’s lead foot, they crossed into New Jersey and were now heading west toward Montclair . Gina cinched her utility belt around her waist, tightening it over her suit before slipping on her black gloves.

A short time later, Jack directed Kinsey onto Psycho’s block. “ Pull over here while we do a radio check.” He pointed to the sidewalk about fifty feet before Psycho’s driveway. As Kinsey pulled over, he keyed the radio. “ Annabelle , radio check.”

Jack’s deep voice came through Gina’s earpiece.

“ Loud and clear,” Anna answered. “ We’re in position one street over. Negative countersurveillance.”

Jack twisted in the seat to face her. “ Did you get that?”

“ Ten -four, good buddy.” Ignoring the annoyed look he shot her in the dark, Gina pulled on her hood and stuffed her hair beneath the snug-fitting garment, being careful not to dislodge the earpiece. Next , she adjusted the attached microphone until it was a quarter inch from her lips.

“ Your mic will automatically transmit anything you say over the radio,” Jack said. “ Ready ?”

“ Ready .”

He nodded once. “ Let me know when you’re in.”

She slung the rope over her shoulder and opened the door.

“ Wait .” He caught her arm. “ I already verified the house is empty, but if anything goes wrong, don’t stop to think. Just get out. I mean it.”

“ You don’t need to pretend to care about me. About us.” She tipped her chin to Kinsey , who watched them with a curious expression. “ Don’t worry. I’ll get you inside so you can get your precious bug planted.” She yanked her arm away and stepped onto the sidewalk.

Quietly , she nudged the door closed. Adrenaline surged through her body as she sprinted to Psycho’s driveway. The padded hook at the end of the rope slapped against her shoulder as she ran.

Though it was a moonless night, between the streetlights and the lamp over the house’s front door, the place was lit up like Times Square .

The rest of the house and the property were dark.

No light shined from any of the windows.

She stayed in the shadows as much as possible, being careful to step over the invisible line running between the two motion sensors on either side of the driveway.

If she tripped it, a signal would probably go directly to Psycho’s cell phone.

The same thing would happen if she messed up picking the balcony door’s lock.

Her heart rate kicked up as she ran into the backyard, hugging the side of the house. Frost -covered grass crunched beneath her boots. She paused with her back against the stucco and quickly scanned the yard. Wisps of condensed breath swirled before her face.

She slowed her breathing to listen. Aside from the pulsing of her own heartbeat in her ears, the neighborhood was as quiet as could be expected.

It was only ten o’clock. Gina and her friends didn’t normally do rips this early.

People weren’t solidly in their REM sleep stage until around two or three in the morning, making that the preferred time for a break-in.

If it were up to her, she would have waited until at least after midnight, but Jack was calling the shots, and Psycho wasn’t supposed to be at home.

Just because the driveway was empty didn’t automatically mean the house was.