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Damn. She could wait longer than four weeks before returning to this office or Deerfield's questionable mercies. The man was a fiend. She would have nightmares while on vacation concerning her return.
"Thank you, sir. " Rising to her feet, she gave him a short-lived, less than sincere smile. "I'll see you in a month. "
Marty turned on her heel and walked quickly to the door, desperate to get away from the malevolence she could feel pouring from her boss.
Running to her godfather wasn't going to be a problem, though, because she had a feeling her time at the agency was history. At the moment, she was being courted by more than one private protection firm and she was seriously considering one very lucrative offer.
Closing the door behind her, Marty strode quickly from the bureau's unassuming offices and into the heated warmth of a D. C. summer day.
The first day of her vacation. A month free of strife and Deerfield's screaming rages because she hadn't managed to come up with so much as a shred of suspicion against Mustafa.
If the man only knew exactly who Khalid was to the bureau. His code name was Desert Lion and the missions he had successfully completed for the bureau had been imperative, both nationally and in the Middle East.
But why didn't Deerfield have the information that Khalid was one of her father's independent agents? Why had she been told but he hadn't been? That was information that Zachary Jennings still hadn't given her, but she had her own suspicions.
Deerfield was likely on his way out, if she knew her godfather. Otherwise Vince Deerfield would have been given the information that would have exonerated Khalid of the suspicions Deerfield had against him.
While she was striding along the sidewalk, a small smile tipped her lips. Two years investigating Khalid and she knew more about him than she may have known about herself. She knew the brooding, dangerous reflection of the man that hid behind cal
m, often amused black eyes. She knew him for the male sexual animal he was, and as the aloof "other" lover he played in his relationships.
And often she wondered what would happen if she wasn't an agent, if she wasn't shadowing him, if she wasn't the goddaughter of the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a woman who he knew wasn't content to merely "play"?
Would he be in her bed or simply demand to be a third, should she choose a lover within the circle of his friends who shared their lovers?
It sounded depraved. Perverted. Marty knew the protective and loving lifestyle environment her parents had created for her instead. Her father, her mother, and her godfather.
Walking into the parking lot behind the FBI offices, she moved quickly to her car, engaged the auto lock, and pulled the door open before sliding inside.
Her hands gripped the steering wheel as she stared along the walkway in front of her, the profusion of flowers and shrubbery holding her gaze with their splashes of color. She had one month to attempt the seduction of a man who seemed determined to remain as aloof as possible.
She had four weeks to steal his heart. If he had one to steal.
THE CLUB, SINCLAIR ESTATE
VIRGINIA
Khalid watched as U. S. Senator Joe Mathews and the third he had chosen more than thirty years ago, FBI director Zachary Jennings, walked into the bar of the club, glancing around until they spotted Khalid.
Lifting his glass of whiskey, Khalid took a sip of the dark liquid as he tracked their progress through the room to the small seating area where he sat. If their expressions were anything to go by, then the news was good. Perhaps. The somber seriousness that had tightened their faces for the past two years had eased, and with it, hopefully, their tempers as well.
The two men were both trim, fit for their ages. The senator was nearing sixty, the director was only a few years behind, but both men appeared years younger. They swore it was due to a peaceful, stress-free home life.
There were days Khalid sincerely doubted that. He knew who they claimed as a daughter.
"Khalid. " Zach sat down in the settee across from the leather recliner that Khalid was currently relaxing in. The senator took a seat in the chair beside the director, leaned back, and allowed a self-satisfied smile to tip his lips.
"Consider your problems over," Joe announced softly, his deep voice tinged with amusement as Khalid's brow lifted in curiousity.
"Really?" he drawled. "All of them?"
"The majority, perhaps," Zach chuckled. "The FBI has dropped their investigation of you. Deerfield was forced to pull the assignment this afternoon. Marty's on her way home for a vacation, and I'll be submitting my report on Deerfield next week. We should have his resignation within the next month. "
"Before Marty returns to the office, I assume?" Khalid felt his fingers tingle with the need to curl into a fist at the thought of the hell Deerfield had been putting her through.
There were agents in the club, men who reported to Jennings, and who had revealed information concerning Marty to Khalid. Those men had kept them both apprised of the insults Deerfield had heaped upon her concerning her inability to find evidence against Khalid and his supposed terrorist activities.
"Before Marty returns to the office. " Zach nodded, his expression tensing with anger. "The bastard has stepped over the line one time too many. "
