Page 4 of Deadly Alliance

Chapter Two

Emme wipedthe sweat from her hands as she stood outside Zack Cunningham’s office. The man was a king to her and she still had to pinch herself that she worked for him, well any of them. Every single member of Fortis was a legend in their own right.

Lucy, one of the members of Fortis and a former member of the deadly all-women group Zenobi, was her mentor. Every one of them was highly trained in undercover work of the most lethal kind. They had taken her under their wing, teaching her everything they knew.

Blowing out a breath she lifted her hand and gave a sharp knock.

“Come in,” a loud voice said from inside. If she was being honest with herself, she had a slight crush on her boss. Opening the door, she walked in, head high as she tried not to blush under his gaze.

At over six feet tall, with blond hair and bright blue eyes, Zack looked like a romance novel hero, muscles rippling under his shirt, which was rolled up his forearms.

He smiled and indicated a chair. “Sit, please.” He looked back down at his computer as she looked around the room. His desk had a picture of his wife Ava and him on their wedding day and then one with them and their son. It was his obvious love and devotion to his family that made him go from a solid ten to an off-the-charts eleven in her book.

The fact that he loved his wife and child so much made her want that for herself. Not with him though, sure she crushed on him, but she had a thing for older guys. Plus, she had a pulse. Everyone who met him felt the same. Jesus, the entire team was made up of hot alpha males who adored their wives or girlfriends.

“I expect you are wondering why I called you here?” he said as he looked up, his hands crossed over his chest as he sat back in the chair and pinned her with his intense stare.

“Have I done something wrong?” she asked hating that she sounded so unsure of herself.

“On the contrary, you have proven to be a complete asset and Lucy speaks extremely highly of you.” She felt herself blush under the compliment. “No, I’ve called you here because I have an extremely sensitive mission for you. You will receive back-up from Fortis, among others but this will not be a simple mission and may be very dangerous. I wanted to get your take on it before I speak to the others. If you do not feel ready or have any doubts, you need to be upfront about it. No bullshit, no blame.”

“Can you tell me a little more?” she asked, and he nodded giving her a grin of approval. Reaching into his desk, he pulled out a folder and opened it pushing it across the desk.

Emme saw the images of several dead women, their hair had been cut at weird angles and they had what appeared to be an X-shaped wound on their hips. If she had to guess and based on the ligature marks on their necks, they had been strangled. Zack remained silent as she looked through every image. Though they were horrific and filled her stomach with bile, she kept her cool and analysed them as Lucy had taught her.

Closing the file, she looked at Zack. “A serial killer targeting women in the forces with shoulder-length dark hair.”

He nodded, seeming pleased by her assessment. “Exactly, and it isn’t just in the UK. This person, and we think it’s a man from the profile that has been done, has also killed women in the US forces and maybe others around the world. Whoever did that, they are clever, cunning, and highly skilled at becoming a ghost. So far the authorities have zip on them.”

She stayed silent while her mind ran through everything he had said, putting together the details. “So where do I come into this?”

“We need someone to go undercover and draw them out.”

“But why me? Don’t get me wrong, I want to do it and will, but Lucy is the obvious choice.”

He nodded and seemed to weigh his words before speaking. “She normally would be, but Lucy is known to some in the military and as we have no idea what rank this person is, we can’t tell if it’s a General or the office cleaner. Therefore, we need an unknown.”

“Enter me.”

“Enter you, yes.”

Emme thought about those poor women. All they had wanted to do was to serve their country and give back to the world, but instead, some sick bastard had seen fit to snuff out their lives before they’d had had a chance to live at all.

“Have you spoken to Lucy about this?”

Zack stood and came around the desk, leaning against it next to her and crossing his arms. He looked at her thoughtfully as if deciding how to word what he had to say next. “If you aren’t ready for this, it’s okay to say so. I have no intention of making you and it won’t affect your standing at Fortis, we realise what we are asking is a lot. If you’re asking if we have faith in you, then absolutely. To be honest, it was actually Lucy’s idea.”

She sucked in a breath at that admission. Emme looked up to Lucy, working hard to prove that her belief in her was warranted.

She looked up at her boss and grinned. “Let’s go get this bastard then.”

Zack grinned, and she fought a swoon. Jesus Christ, his poor wife. “Hang fire, there are a few other things you need to know,” he said as he crossed to behind his desk and sat. “We will be working with another agency on this, one I respect and trust. Beatrice Dante runs Purgatory, a very secret organisation predominantly made up of women that are brought in when other, more standard, channels can’t be used for whatever reason. She looks like a tiny fairy but is as deadly as anyone I have ever known. She will assign you a direct contact on her team, they will be your first reference and you will likely be undercover with them. We need to work out the details, but I suspect it will be as lovers.”

Emme wondered about this Purgatory. It was not an agency she had ever heard of, but she was pretty new to this life. If Zack and the others trusted them, then so did she.

“Fine. When do I meet them?”

Zack stood and walked towards her. “Now. They’re in the conference room,” he said as he opened the door for her.