Hot Rebel Read Online Free PDF

her, and he shouldn’t have. Just because she was soft and vulnerable beneath him back in that cellar.
    “No, I’d rather live so I can find you again. Because I will find you—and I’ll make you pay. You can count on that.”
    “You can try.”
    He took a step back and then another. He’d wanted to bring her in to HOT, but they didn’t have time for this shit right now.  
    “Come on, Dex. Let’s find our ride.”
    The two of them backed away from her and then turned and started running down the road.  
    “You have no intention of leaving her there,” Dex said as they jogged along.
    “Nope.”
    But when they doubled back and tried to sneak up on her, Victoria was gone. Nick cursed a blue streak.  
    “Man, we gotta go,” Dex said. “If we aren’t to the rendezvous point in fifteen minutes, it’ll fuck everything up.”
    “Yeah.” Nick cast one last look over the area where they’d left Victoria not more than two minutes ago, amazed that she was gone. The NVGs didn’t pick up a heat signature anywhere.
    She’d disappeared, just like three years ago.
    *   *   *
    Ian was waiting for her in Baq. Victoria was bone-tired as she entered the house where her boss was headquartered. The guard watching the door was someone new, but she’d given her information and waited while he called it in. A few seconds later, she was walking into the cool interior of the nondescript house and yanking the burka off. She dropped it on a chair along with her gear and continued through the room.  
    Ian came out into the hallway and let his gaze slide over her as she approached. He was a good-looking guy, big and dark and intense, but there were no sparks between them. At least not for her. She’d never been sure about him, but then he’d never attempted anything so maybe he didn’t feel a thing for her either.
    “You made the shot without Jonah. Good job.”
    She stopped when she reached him. “If that Russian hadn’t killed him, I would have,” she said coolly. “He was an asshole.”
    Ian shrugged and turned back toward the room he’d emerged from. “Sometimes we can’t be picky in this business. But nature has a way, right?”
    “I guess so.”
    Victoria followed him into the room and flopped onto a chair. She knew she looked like hell. A week in the desert with no shower—and the last day spent on the run—had done a number on her hair. Not to mention the lingering odor of sweat that clung to her. If Ian noticed, he didn’t let it show. He simply sat at his desk and continued to flip through the maps and papers there.
    Victoria tried not to let her impatience show, but she couldn’t help the burst of air that rushed from her when Ian continued to sit there so calmly. He looked up, his blue eyes piercing hers.
    “You wish to say something?”
    Victoria leaned forward, her elbows on her knees. “I wanted to kill that bastard, but I didn’t because of my sister.”
    He eased back in the chair, the leather creaking. “We’re not talking about Jonah anymore, I take it.”
    “You know we’re not. You promised me if I did this job, we’d find Emily. That Zaran bin Yusuf would lead us to her. So where is she? When can I see her?”
    Ian’s expression didn’t soften one bit. “It’s complicated.”
    “Bullshit!” She shot to her feet and stalked toward the desk, slapping both her hands down on it as she faced him. “You promised, Ian! You swore if I protected that asshole, if I made sure the opposition didn’t kill him, we’d find her.”
    Ian’s mouth was a grim line. “It’s not up to me. I told you that from the beginning.”
    Victoria swore. Tears of frustration knotted in her throat. “How do you do this? How do you justify working for those bastards when you know what they want to do?”
    It was the first time she’d voiced her fears. That Ian was actually taking money from terrorists—which meant she’d been working for them too.  
    Maybe Nick was right when he called her a traitor.