Free Dangerous to Know by Merline Lovelace Page B

coiled as he was now.
    Claire’s clear voice cut through the heavy silence at last.
    â€œCyrene here. I’ve got Thunder with me. Go ahead, Chameleon.”
    Maggie smiled as she lifted the transceiver. She’d just won a bet with herself. She’d fully expected Adam Ridgeway to come up to the OMEGA control center once Claire had given him the startling news that Doc’s fiancée needed immediate extraction. The director would make it his personal responsibility to ensure his agent’s loved one was out of danger.
    â€œThe situation I briefed you on a few moments ago has changed a bit,” Maggie announced, with slight understatement.
    â€œHow so, Chameleon?”
    â€œWe won’t need the transportation I requested for the subject. Not just yet, anyway.”
    â€œWhy not?” Adam asked sharply. “Is she all right?”
    â€œShe’s fine. She’s right here, with me and Doc. But she understands that she’s been mistaken for me. She wants to make the contact in my place.” Flicking an apologetic glance at Doc, Maggie finished her transmission. “I think we should let her.”
    For several long moments, Adam didn’t respond. Maggie held her breath, not quite sure whether or not she wanted the director to approve this highly irregular request. What they were proposing was well outside OMEGA’s operating parameters. As far as she knew, Adam had never allowed anyone other than fully cleared, well-trained agents to become involved in the organization’s desperate and often deadly operations.
    On the other hand, he had two of his best-trained operatives in the field with Paige right now. If anyone could keep her safe, and still pull off this dangerous charade, Maggie and Doc could. She hoped.
    â€œLet me get this straight,” Adam said at last. “You want meto authorize a civilian to impersonate a secret agent who’s impersonating a call girl?”
    â€œThat’s it,” Maggie confirmed.
    â€œDoes Doc concur with this?”
    Maggie flicked a quick glance at David’s rigid face. Strange she’d never quite appreciated the phrase carved in granite before. Without a word, she handed him the compact.
    David sent his former and perhaps current fiancée a cold stare.
    Paige started to shrink back into the cocoon of his wool jacket, but caught herself just in time. Squaring her shoulders, she returned his look.
    His mouth compressed to a thin line, David lifted the compact. The gold case looked tiny and fragile in his big hands, but he operated the transmit button with a sure, competent touch.
    â€œDoc here. I concur. With specific conditions.”
    Maggie frowned. In the heated discussion that had preceded this transmission, David hadn’t mentioned any conditions.
    â€œThe subject isn’t to be out of our contact, not for a moment,” he stated with grim emphasis. “I want to know where she is every second. She’ll need a tracking device implanted under her skin. Today.”
    â€œI can have someone there in a few hours,” Adam replied slowly.
    â€œWait a minute!” Paige protested. “What tracking device? Implanted where under my skin?”
    â€œDon’t worry,” Maggie assured her. “It’s just a small chip. So tiny, you won’t even know it’s there.”
    â€œI won’t know it’s where? ”
    Ignoring their exchange, David continued laying out his conditions. “I’m altering my cover to provide her closer surveillance. I haven’t worked out all the details yet. I’ll get back to you as soon as I do.”
    â€œFine.”
    The lines bracketing either side of his mouth deepened. “And I reserve the right to extract her without prior consultation. Anytime I deem it necessary.”
    â€œAgreed.”
    â€œNot by me!” Thoroughly indignant, Paige reached for the compact. “I want to talk to him.”
    With obvious