AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Three
Katrina
I hated the rain.I especially hated thunderstorms.
From my perch way up in a tree, I wipe the lenses of my binoculars. This was by far the stupidest thing I’d ever done but being up this high was the only way I could keep track of my target.
He’d just gotten home and disappeared inside after unloading a bunch of bags. I’d yet to get a good look at his face. When I had been following him down the mountain, people had kept getting in my way. Added to that, the man had a bushy beard that hid half his face.
With the rain pouring down around me, even under the cover of branches, I couldn’t determine the layout of the house. Usually I would be able to hide in plain sight and walk around the property, but the mud would give me away today.
Instead, I had to rely on my instincts when I got into the house sometime tonight. I couldn’t prep any more than watching my mark and memorizing his movements. While the file that Carlos had given me about this man and mission had been very sparse, it did mention that this guy had been in the military. Weird that he had only a mediocre security system at his front door and didn’t cheek his grounds.
I don’t care how long this man had been out of the military, assessing your surroundings was second nature. I’d learned that the hard way, after years of doing Carlos’s dirty work.
I needed this job handled. In and out. Then done forever.
This would be an easier job than I originally thought, thank God.
Slowly pulling myself forward on the thick branch, I adjust my binoculars and focus in on my target. He was pulling the bags into the house, his clothes sticking to him thanks to the rain.
I still hadn’t gotten a good look at his face yet, but his body was big and strong. Even through the wet fabric I could see the way his muscles flexed and bulged. A warm tingle began to spread in my lower abdomen.
“Oh holy mother of hotness,” I whisper to myself, my voice coming out low and husky. The man was stripping in his hallway.
Inch after inch of golden, toned flesh was revealed to me. I couldn’t look away.
“Damn it,” I complain when he walks out of sight. No doubt to change. Sighing at how ridiculous I was being, I wait for him to show again.
My body begins to shake with the cold. Squinting up into the dark sky, I silently pray for the rain to stop. Cold and miserable is not how I wanted to spend the whole night. Tight, cold muscles would not help me stealthily enter the house or find the USB.
What feels like a decade later but is really only thirty minutes, the target appears again.
“Shoot.” I’ve lost my clear angle of him. Bracing my hands on the branch under me, I shift my feet and come to a balanced stand. I need to move to the next tree in order to see him better. No way can I stay here and risk missing something.
Leaping to the next strong branch, I make my way to a better vantage point. When I’ve landed on the spot I think will give me the best view, I raise a hand to the branch above to steady my body. The thin branch cracks under my arm’s weight and crashes to the ground.
“Shit.” As fast as I can, I lay my body gently down and scope out the kitchen. He’s gone. But I can now see a ripped yellow envelope on his counter. He’s opened the package. That’s not good. I need to get to it before—
He appears again out of nowhere, giving me a fright.
He turns, facing out the window, and I get my first good look at this rugged mountain man.
My breath shudders out of me. Every muscle in my body locks tight, rendering me stiff with shock.
No.
No. This wasn’t right. That couldn’t be—
But my eyes weren’t deceiving me.It was him.
The beard he now had made him harder to recognize, but I would know that look of predatory pride anywhere. Those eyes and those cheekbones too.
Lennox.
Oh my God.
I squeeze the binoculars too tight, straining to get a better look, and they slip from my grasp. My fingers fumble to grab on to the slippery plastic and fail. Jerking to the side to catch the strap before they fall to the ground, my arm extends too far, throwing me off balance.
I’m too slow to stop myself from slipping off the branch. Desperately reaching out, I try to grab on to any branch as I fall down through the tree. My eyes grow wide as lightning pierces the sky and I hit the ground.
The edges of my vision fade to black as pain radiates up my back.
The last thing I see is Lennox’s face before I give in to the heavy pull of sleep.
