Free Codename: Romeo by Kat Attalla Page B

Whatever it takes to close the case. Wasn’t that the mantra of the NSB?
     
    * * * *
     
    Victoria flopped onto the oak rocking chair near the window. Her fingers gripped the handrails. For a card-carrying member of MENSA, genius IQ failed her when it came to choosing men. Then again, she hadn’t chosen Erik. He’d lied his way into her house and her heart. She wiped away a tear and cursed herself for crying.
    What did the NSB want with her after all this time? Who was Becker? She’d never worked with anyone by that name. She thought about the mess in the other room. She didn’t keep anything of value in there. A few inexpensive trinkets from her travels, a few research books and test papers. Nothing that would interest a would-be thief or the NSB.
    She thought she’d gotten her life back. For close to two years, she’d had one agent or another looking over her shoulder, her house bugged, and her friends investigated. She’d accepted the precautions of the agency because of the sensitive nature of her work.
    Stupid, stupid, stupid.
    Usually, she could spot an NSB agent at a glance. Erik fooled her. Did she have a sign on her back reading gullible? One sexy smile from a handsome man, a few well-chosen compliments, and she fell like a love struck adolescent.
    A hollow ache settled over her chest, and she felt nauseous. She wrapped her arms around bent knees and rocked the chair in a slow, steady rhythm. Once her queasiness subsided, she tried to get her anger under control. She should have known a man like him would have no interest in her. He was just doing his job. And he’d done it well. What had he hoped to gain by seducing her?
    She snapped the portable phone off the bedside table. Other than asking the lying Adonis in the other room, she had only one way to find out. She punched in the telephone number and waited for a connection.
     
    * * * *
     
    Erik checked the damage in the living room. Becker’s man seemed to have confined his search to the one area. Who knew how far he might have gone if Victoria had returned later? Erik shuddered to think what could have happened.
    He picked up Victoria’s book and settled in a chair in the dining room. Until a forensics team went through the living room, he didn’t want to disturb the evidence. Not that he thought the intruder left fingerprints, but he never knew.
    A little over an hour later, Erik opened the door for Daniels and another man. He pushed his way into the house and flashed his identification. Steven DeMarco, the NSB’s Eastern Regional Bureau Chief, a man whose cold, efficient reputation preceded him. Supervisors were usually sent out to cover damage control. They issued statements to the press and took credit on behalf of the agency. Why was a suit sent out on this case?
    “Where is she?” DeMarco barked out.
    “In her room. Second door on the—”
    “I know where her room is.” He stormed down the hall and banged on the door. “Victoria, open up.”
    Erik expected her to give DeMarco the same stony silence he’d received for the past sixty minutes. Instead, she stepped into the hall.
    “You lousy rat. You promised me this was over.” Her angry words echoed off the walls.
    DeMarco leaned forward and whispered something to her. She lowered her voice.
    Erik watched the hushed exchange. “What’s going on?” he asked his partner.
    “She called DeMarco. Must know him well. He left an agency meeting and practically flew down here from Burlington.”
    Erik frowned. He knew she had a past with the NSB. How personal, he wondered? The new and uncomfortable emotion of jealousy washed over him.
    Victoria reluctantly followed the man into the dining room. She shot Erik a nasty glare.
    “What’s the problem here?” the bureau chief asked.
    Fury put a healthy glow on her cheeks. “You tell me, Steven. My house has more bugs than the Amazon Rainforest, some lunatic destroyed my living room, and two of your peeping Toms have taken more than a passing