The Unseen Enemy Series

Chapter 253

The next day at six minutes before noon, Sully pulled up to the office building. He parked right in front – in case we need to make a fast getaway – and turned off the engine. He looked over at Cordelia.

“You doing alright?” he said.

She met his eyes and stayed silent. She looked scared to death and for the hundredth time, he was reminded that she was, for all intents and purposes, an untrained civilian who was walking into some pretty major criminal activity. God only knows what was waiting for them in that building.

“Listen.” He spoke quietly but with intensity. “It’s OK to be nervous and frightened, and it’s totally OK to show that.”

“It is?” she choked out.

“It is. Millie Baker is a law-abiding woman, right? She does charity work, and she loves cooking for her friends and family. She’s educated and happily married – and she’s been trying to have a baby for twelve years.”

Cordelia nodded.

“For years, she’s watched her girlfriends get pregnant and have babies, she’s watched her neighbors with their kids. She’s seen children born in her family, year after year. Her sister-in-law and her cousins have had healthy, beautiful babies, and she’s been happy and devastated at the same time. She’s become pregnant eight times with Garrett’s baby – and she’s lost all eight.”

She was watching him closely now, really listening.

“By this point, she’s desperate. She wants this more than she wants her next breath. She’s willing to do anything – including going against every single ethical code or belief she may have ever held – to get a baby. And now? Inside that building? There’s a person who says that if we just hand over this briefcase of money, Millie gets her baby.”

Hunter took a deep breath.

“How’s she going to feel, knowing that?” he said. “Well, she’s nervous about doing something that she knows good and well is illegal, even if she truly thinks she’s saving an abused child. She’s scared that it’s a police trap or a scam. She’s angry that it’s come to this, after all her years of playing by the rules. She’s happy that she may get a baby, at long last. She’s confused and she’s conflicted, and so there’s no need – no need at all – for you to be calm and collected. Alright?”

“Yes.”

“The more human and emotional you are right now, the more believable you are as a desperate, determined woman, so don’t feel any pressure to be a detached operative. You’re a mother, Cordelia, so you know what Millie Baker wants so badly. You get it, so use that knowledge. But don’t get into this so deep that you lose your ability to observe non-verbal cues… OK?”

“OK.”

“As for the detached, emotionless person in the room? That’s me. I’m an analyst and a very rich man, and I negotiate and take risks for a living. I understand the power of money, and I have no trouble at all exchanging it for what I deem to have value. And making Millie happy is all that I want to do now, it’s all I value – so for Garrett, this is a simple transaction. He can be cold and collected so you don’t have to be. You hearing me?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” He undid his seatbelt and leaned over to her. He lightly brushed her lips, a lingering kiss that could be seen as a supportive husband’s promise by anyone watching from the building, then he started to pull back. But Cordelia needed more and before she could stop herself, she grasped the back of his jacket. She pulled him to her again, burrowing into his chest.

Right away, his arms went around her. He held her tight and close, his hands clenched in her hair, his forehead pressed to hers. He shut his eyes, just inhaled her sweet scent and held on. She was soft and she was scared and she needed this right now – he was damned if he wasn’t going to be there for her.

Cordelia felt her heartbeat slow down as Hunter cradled her, murmuring that it was all going to be OK. His back muscles were hard and huge under her fingers, and she longed to take off his jacket and dress shirt. The primal need to be close to him was overwhelming her, and she knew that it was her fear that was now in control. She was seeking comfort and safety, and Hunter’s strong body was offering both; no wonder she was clinging to him like all the bones in her body had melted.

Hating to do it but needing to, she took one final deep breath and moved away. His arms released her slowly, almost reluctantly, and she looked up at him, showed him both her fear and determination. Trusted him with what she was showing him.

Everything that she was was there in her eyes and in this moment, she was pure Cordelia: she was that amazing and intoxicating essence of incredible strength and sweet vulnerability. He knew that if he got a taste, even just once, he’d be addicted forever.