Free Badass: Deadly Target (Complete): Military Romantic Suspense by Leslie Johnson, Elle Dawson Page B

shouts. “Sink your bullet in my head, just get it over with. At least I won’t have to… to… smell you anymore.”
    Smell me?
    “What the fuck are you talking about?”
    She plops back down on the floor, her now red face planted back into her hands. I take the opportunity to do a pit sniff. Nothing but deodorant. I lift the neck of my shirt up to my nose. Fabric softener.
    I shake my head, pissed at myself for getting distracted.
    She growls and pulls her hands down from her face, and looks up at me with those big gray eyes. “I know you want those… whatever they are… just as much as I do,” she mutters. “I know you think my mom was a bad woman. I’m not stupid.” I look away as her chin quivers. “But she wasn’t bad to me. She was wonderful. I just…” She sniffs and I turn to walk back to the window.
    Damn it. I can see the headlines now: CIA Agent Suckered By A Pretty Face.
    “Fine,” I snap. “Read them quietly to yourself first, then pass them to me. I will read them next, you hear me?”
    She gives me a watery smile and my gaze falls to her lips. I curse and walk to the door. I need to resign this job tomorrow and rescue strays for a living.
    I hear her take out the envelope and turn, on guard to make sure she doesn’t attempt to destroy it. She shoots me a warning look as she pulls out the folded piece of paper. I simply stand there, watching, my arms folded over my chest.
    With one last scowl, she drops her eyes to the letter and I watch her face morph through a number of emotions. Love. Confusion. Fear. Finally, she sits back and leans her head against the wall, thumping it a couple times, then wincing.
    “Well?”
    She exhales. “She wants me to take the contents to a man named Sergei Aslanov in Saint Petersburg.” She sticks the letter out and I scan it quickly.
    “My darling Mia. I’m so sorry for placing this burden on your shoulders. I had hoped you’d always only think of me as your loving mother. I never wanted you to know of the monster I once was. Forgive me, my love. Please forgive me my sins. And for the safety of the world, take this to my dear friend Sergei Aslanov in Saint Petersburg. I love you, my sweet Mia. Forever.”
    Below is what I assume to be Aslanov’s address.
    “Mom was born in Russia,” Mia says in a very small voice.
    I stare at her, rage darkening the corner of my vision. “And you only thought to tell me this now?”
    “I thought… I.” She pushes her hair back again. “I thought it would make her look guilty.”
    “Well, no shit,” I growl at her. I want to shake her. Kiss her. Make love to her over and over. Instead, I shout, “Your mother was probably some sort of double agent, Mia! And you know what?” I tower over her. “You’re probably one too.”
    She blinks at me.
    “Yeah,” I continue. “I wasn’t sure before, but now I am. This whole innocent act you’ve been feeding me. You really expect me to believe you never made the connection between your mother’s place of birth and the fact that she supposedly worked for the US military at some point? And that she retired, what, nearly twenty-five years ago, but still moved around every year or two for fourteen or fifteen years? Come on. Nobody’s that blind!”
    “I’m not blind!” she shouts, her voice echoing through the empty space. “I knew there was something funny, okay? I thought my mother was losing it. Or had dementia. Something wrong up here.” She strikes herself in the head. “But, to tell you the truth, I didn’t really want to think about it much. She was still my mother.” Tears stream down her face and she pushes herself to her feet. “I knew there was something she didn’t want to tell me but… come on! Who draws that conclusion? Never in a million years would I have guessed something like this!”
    I scoff. “Give me a break. I should have let that bald asshole take you.”
    “Why didn’t you?”
    That shut me up. Why didn’t I? Because my instinct