Kat Attalla Special Edition by Kat Attalla Page B

assignment. He didn’t envy Victoria her situation either. Give the woman complex mathematical equations and she could solve them in her sleep. Violent criminals were beyond her realm of experience.
    Victoria hit the pause button. “That’s her,” she said.
    Steven focused on the screen. “The nurse?”
    “She’s not a nurse,” she grumbled.
    “I thought the courier was a brunette.”
    “She’s not a blonde either.”
    Steven swallowed a groan. Poor Victoria was the stereotypical absent-minded professor, oblivious to anything outside her work. “You never questioned why the woman walked through the airport in disguise?”
    She squirmed in the chair, avoiding eye contact and looking uncomfortable. “No. She had a good reason.”
    “What reason?”
    “Forget it.”
    “No. What reason did the woman have?”
    She sunk deeper into the chair. “Something to do with role playing.”
    “I’m not following.”
    “No, I don’t imagine you would.”
    Out of the corner of his eye he caught Sanders smirking. Steven tried to control his temper. “Explain it to me.”
    She shot a pointed glare at the two agents. “Do we have to get into this now?”
    “Yes, we do.” Damn. What could possibly be more important than her safety? Didn’t she realize the danger?
    After a long pause, she blurted out, “She likes to dress up like Nurse Betty and play hide the thermometer with her boyfriend.”
    “Excuse me?” he spit out in shock.
    “Some people experience heightened sexual stimulation while engaging in fantasy. Did you get it that time?” An embarrassed flush stained her cheeks. She sprang out of the chair and bolted from the room in a wake of riotous laughter.
    He wasn’t sure which bothered him more— that Victoria knew such things or that he didn’t. She couldn’t give him the suspect’s last name but she knew the sexual idiosyncrasies of the woman. To make matters worse, she’d managed to undermine his authority in front of two field agents. In every other aspect of his career, he remained distant and reserved. Cold and calculating, his co-workers often commented. Ice water in his veins.
    Except when it came to Victoria . She was his only soft spot. Despite her chronological age and doctoral degrees, she was naïve in the ways of world. No wonder this high-tech spy ring set her up. Her innate goodness blinded her to the faults in other people. Even if it meant going back to fieldwork, he would find the scheming woman who set her up.
    Victoria might resent his interference in her life right now, but he couldn’t back down. He’d taken care of her and protected her from the outside world for nearly twenty years. He couldn’t change now.

 
    Chapter Six
     
     
    Victoria sucked in a calming breath. It didn’t help. All her energy went to keeping up the pretense of control. Self-consciously, she brushed her hand through her hair. The short strands slipped through her fingers. Until she could grow out the short style, the mirror would constantly remind her of her own foolishness. A man like Erik would have no interest in her romantically. She was nothing more than a job. Obviously, he didn’t want this babysitting position.
    She could kill Steven. That her brother wasn’t responsible for her current predicament didn’t matter. Any normal citizen could refuse protection, but not her, because of her brother’s position in the bureaucratic food chain. He would have her watched regardless.
    Steven grinned hopefully. “Will you be going to Susan’s on Thanksgiving? Carol is coming down with the kids.”
    Although she’d been looking forward to seeing her nieces and nephews, she wouldn’t expose her family to danger. Did he picture an intimate family holiday with a dozen agents stationed around the house?
    “I don’t think it would be wise. Unless you can catch this Becker before then.”
    “Catching him would be easy, Tori. We have to catch him in the act. But don’t worry. You’re safe.”
    Safe?