Free Operation: Midnight Tango by Linda Castillo Page A

Heat flared, and Emily felt herself begin to melt. The need was like a dagger, sharp and endless and dangerously tempting, and for the first time in her life she knew what it was like to want a man’s touch with such desperation that she would cry for it.
    She opened to him, wanting, straining to relieve the throbbing arousal between her legs….
    “Emily. Hey, it’s me, Zack. Wake up.”
    She jerked awake and opened her eyes to see Zack kneeling over her, his expression concerned. She was lying on her side in front of the hearth with her coat wrapped around her.
    A dream, she thought with relief. But the pulse of wet heat between her legs was not her imagination. Neither was the ripple of disappointment that went through her body when she realized Zack Devlin was not kissing her.
    “You cried out,” he said.
    Feeling her cheeks blush, Emily sat up abruptly. “It was just a dream,” she said.
    He was still kneeling, and she was keenly aware that he was too close. That her body was reacting to his proximity. She saw by the look on his face that if she reached out to him, he would respond.
    She couldn’t meet his gaze, found herself instead looking at his mouth. That was a mistake because it only made her remember the dream…and the kiss they’d shared back at the prison locker room.
    “The storm broke.” He rose, and the moment was gone. “In another hour this place is going to be crawling with Lockdown, Inc. people. We need to leave.”
    Emily scrambled to her feet. “Where are we going?”
    “I’m going into Signal Research and Development. I’ll find a secure place for you to wait—”
    “If you go in, I go in.”
    “That means if I get caught, so do you,” he shot back. “Are you prepared for that?”
    “If everything you’ve told me is true, I want these bastards stopped.”
    “Emily…”
    “I mean it, Zack. I need to do this. I can help. Don’t shut me out.” She didn’t give him a chance to argue. “I’m assuming you have a plan to get in.”
    “Yeah, it’s called winging it.”
    “Signal Research and Development is a fortress.”
    “Fortresses are my specialty.” Looking nonchalant, he reached into his pocket and withdrew a smallbag. “I had room service deliver breakfast while you were sleeping.”
    The dream she’d been having drifted disturbingly through her mind before she could stop it. Feeling her cheeks heat once again, she looked down at the small bag in his hand. “Chocolate-covered apricots? Where on earth did you get them?”
    “I found them in the pocket of this coat.” He grinned. “It’s not meat and potatoes, but it should get us through the night.” He grimaced. “If my calculations are correct, we’ve got quite a hike ahead of us.”
    “How far?” she asked.
    “Two miles or so. The snow and lack of gear is going to make it tough going.” He motioned to her coat, which was still on the floor where she’d been lying. “Let’s get out of here before the goons come calling.”
    MARCUS UNDERWOOD GLARED at Lieutenant Riley Cooper, clenching his hands into fists to keep from doing him physical harm. “You had better have a damn good reason why that chopper is grounded.”
    “As soon as we’re cleared by the FAA, the pilot has been instructed to take her up.”
    “I want that chopper in the air, Cooper. And I want it in the air yesterday.”
    “The FAA should give the go-ahead at anytime, Mr. Underwood.”
    “And meanwhile a dangerous convict and his accomplice are on the loose somewhere in these mountains.” Cursing in frustration and fury, he swept hishand toward the wall map. “What other resources are available to us?”
    “We’ve got four snowmobiles.”
    “Send them out and get me ten more. I want the officers armed and given orders to shoot on sight.”
    “Sir—”
    “Do it, damn it!”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “What else?”
    “We’ve got several ATVs, but they’re pretty much useless with all this snow. The mountain roads are