Free All In by Gabra Zackman Page A

being a jealous douche bag, apparently. Hm. Maybe she should give it some thought? Her libido was on high in this foreign place, with all of them in hot pursuit of some crazy criminal magnate. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to let off some steam. And for sure Jackson knew what he was doing. He’d certainly had enough practice. But what about their friendship? Wouldn’t sex ruin it? And what about Mahmoud? Did she actually have a thing forhim? But maybe Mahmoud didn’t have a thing for her. Well, he wasn’t her type anyway. Right? Good Lord, this was confusing!
    She took a deep breath, felt her shoulders drop a bit, and realized how tense she’d been. Being abroad was all pretty new to her; she’d always been more of an office girl, and that was where she was most comfortable. But she had mad skills that were rarely put to the test. Maybe this was her chance . Ever since the last case—the one in Paris that had begun all of this—she’d become an international traveler. Previously, Lisa Bee was happy to have the others handle the international stuff: She was great with a computer, could organize, link, upload, and hack. Basic stuff, of course, nothing extraordinary. Her skills were not as advanced as AJ’s, and she was no assassin, like Tyka. She wasn’t a great marksman like Susannah, either. She was comfortable with a gun around her thigh—hell, she and her four older brothers knew their way around guns, thanks to her dad. She just hoped she’d never have to use one for more than target practice on beer cans or taking out the local possum population in her hometown. She filled a very important position with FTP on their home turf: holding down the fort. And frankly, she was happy being at home. But what about her potential and all those things she dreamed about as a kid? Being the hero, saving the day. Wasn’t this her chance to prove her worth? And couldn’t she fill a niche that none of the others could?In this foreign place on this unusual mission, she felt her heart beat with rare excitement at the possibilities.
    Lisa Bee sighed and thought about her real home. She hadn’t been back to New Orleans in a while now, and she hadn’t seen her parents or any of her brothers in over a year. She needed to make a trip back as soon as this was all over. She tried to imagine Jackson in her hometown. He’d fit in pretty well, with his kooky sense of humor and flirty ways. Above all, that’s what was most important to her: She wanted to be with someone who could hang with her friends and family, become a real part of her world. The last guy had turned out to be a jerk, and she hadn’t been with anyone in two years. She had walled up. Blocked it all out. Protected her heart and her body and thrown herself into her work. But now she felt herself coming alive again, wondering about the possibilities with Jackson. Could it be a real thing? Sitting in this foreign bar while life shifted around her, she vowed to allow herself to be open to whatever might come.
    ‡‡‡
    JACKSON WALKED BACK IN and saw Lisa Bee sitting with a shot in front of her, Madonna blasting from the stereo. She looked at him and smiled, and he felt his heart grow so big that it almost leaped right out of his chest. God, she was gorgeous! All that curly red hair and creamy, freckled skin. And her petite form made him feel like such a man when he was next to her. He wanted to kiss her right now, right here in the bar where he grew up. But they had work to do. Hassan had heard something on the streets a while back that could be a lead. Jackson had been right: Throughout Morocco were terrorist cells that operated almost like small gangs, with a main contact controlling all of them. It was thought that BS was this contact. So if they could find someone who knew something, that could lead them to the mastermind they hunted.
    Jackson had decided that he and Lisa Bee would use the info to do a little recon, posing as boyfriend/girlfriend tourists, hoping to