Dangerous Moves

I'm back! For everyone who read the first parts of my Seduced by Sin line, thanks for all your wonderful feedback and requests for more! I promise I will work on getting another installment of that story in here soon. The holiday season is always crazy for me and I just haven't found the time to write. I wanted to move in a different direction for a bit, so here is a little something new. Be forewarned, the first chapter or two have no sex, character must be built… I promise once I have the ground work laid, it will be there. Thanks for reading, and don't forget to vote!

Renee

*

Peering anxiously out the windows of her car, Joanna Saunders silently cursed her best friend's terrible directions. They were supposed to meet at the Williamson hotel for a costume party both had been invited to, but so far she hadn't seen any signs of life in this run down neighborhood, never mind a hotel as upscale as the Williamson.

As her car slowly circled the block, she looked at the weeds growing out of the sidewalk and the dark worn exterior of the buildings, feeling a shiver run down her spine. This wouldn't be a good neighborhood to get stranded in, that's for sure.

She drove a little further down the block, passing an old fashioned building, with a big display window that had been broken, large pieces of jagged glass still hanging from the edges. Finally, she saw a light; maybe she could find a phone to call her friend.

Pulling into a parking lot full of potholes, she noticed a partial lit neon sign that said: LENNYS BAR, only the second N and the R had burned out, so it looked like LEN YS BA.

"Great," Joanna muttered under her breath, "this place looks sooo safe compared to the rest of the neighborhood."

She grabbed her small black handbag and her keys, locked the doors of her Volkswagen Jetta and pulled her knee length, summer coat closed, making sure her costume was completely hidden. The last thing she needed was to have some rough rednecks catching a glimpse of her outfit. A skimpy leather top covered more than her bikini would, but was designed to push her full breasts out and made her feel exposed. The bottom piece was little more than a fancy long loincloth, designed to tease and tempt rather than for coverage.

Gingerly grasping the worn metal handle of the rusty front door, she pulled it open, her hopes of quietly using a telephone blown to bits when the equally-rusty hinges squealed like a bad horror movie.

Immediately, almost a dozen heads turned to take in the new arrival, all of them men. There wasn't a single other woman in the room, and none of the men who watched her step into the bar looked trustworthy. In fact, most of them looked downright scary.

Seeing a bartender at the far end of the beat up counter to the left, she quickly headed in his direction intending to ask about using a phone. Three big, rough looking characters where playing pool in the right hand corner by the door, eyeing her up and down.

Skirting around two rumpled older men with dirty bandanas on their heads, obviously bikers, Joanna ignored a slurred, "Hey baby, wanna drink?"

Leaning over the counter, she had the bartender's full attention; at a glance, she guessed he was probably in his early 30's, with close cropped black hair, a fair amount of stubble on his strong jaw. Wearing a clean black t-shirt stretched tight over his biceps and long legs in faded jeans, he came around the counter to talk to her.

"Hi, I was wondering if you had a phone I could use for a quick call? I was supposed to meet my friend and I'm hopelessly lost," she asked, keeping her voice low, with a hopeful smile.

**********************************

The moment Eric looked up from wiping down the bar and saw the gorgeous brunette walk in the door, he knew it was gonna be a long night. He could always sense when a situation was going to become dangerous, and Miss Tall Dark and Sexy had just blown to hell every chance of his getting out of here with the information he needed.

As it was, he'd be lucky if he could get the girl out without getting them both killed. Fuck, he was so tired of this cloak and dagger shit.

While he might look like your average, down on his luck and probably a convict, bartender, in reality Eric De Luca was an agent of the great U S of A, only unlike the agents of the FBI, NSA and CIA, no one would find his name in a file somewhere. His boss liked to call his men ghosts, for their ability to go where other departments couldn't, gather information and when needed, terminate a threat.

The non-existent agency he work for had recruited him when he was 19, he'd been busted for grand theft auto, assault and attempted manslaughter. His parents had been dead since he was 15 and he'd been in and out of the foster system for a year before running off to be on his own. He'd gotten into a fight with some drunk asshole who had insulted his mother, beat the shit out of him and put him in the hospital, then stole the guy's car and wrapped it around a streetlight.

Eric's contact, known only as Agent Grey, had visited him before his arranged transfer to lockup and offered him a deal. If he would clean up his act, complete their training program and prove himself as a soldier, he would receive a regular paycheck and continue to live as a free man. A year later, he completed his first mission and had never looked back.

This mission involved a highly classified area of a nearby federal research facility and more importantly, a leak that needed plugging. One of the biochemists had witnessed an assistant stealing information on an extremely dangerous virus recently developed as a biological weapon.

The research assistant had been caught but was later "persuaded" to tell authorities that this was not the first time he'd filched classified information. They discovered he had sold incomplete formulas to an international buyer and had arranged for a final payment in four weeks time when he would meet with his contact and provide the missing data.

Eric had been playing the bartender in this hole in the wall for three weeks now, his role low-key and purposely in the background; he thought he'd finally convinced the bar's regulars and his target that he was just what he appeared to be, a part of the woodwork, someone who would keep their mouth shut out of self preservation.

The plan had been to have the research assistant suggest this bar as a safe zone for negotiations, and so far each meeting had gone smoothly. An exchange had been arranged for tonight, all parties were to bring each piece of information, as they only made sense put together. Eric had orders to terminate the key player in the game, a man with links to Russian terrorists, and destroy all the stolen data.

Thinking on his feet was always something Eric did well, which was part of the reason he'd gotten this assignment. So after considering his options in the 3 seconds it took her to cross the bar, he chose the craziest one of all; with a heaping amount of luck, it just might work. Everything hung on the next moments….

Even as she asked quietly to use a phone to call her friend, Eric closed the distance between them and snaked an arm around her waist, pulling her body tightly to his. Her startled midnight blue eyes shot to his brown ones and her arms reached up to push him away, her mouth opening to tell him off, Eric pulled her head back and covered her mouth with his.

A frisson of pleasure ignited deep in his gut, even as he slowly pulled back and pretending to nuzzle the side of her face, whispered in her ear…

Joanna was in shock, the devastatingly hot bartender, though a bit on the rough side for her taste, had her in a lip lock and the effect was unlike anything she had felt before. She had been prepared to tell him off in no uncertain terms when he had kissed her, and she felt her whole body go up in flames. He pulled away, his mouth moved to her ear and her senses returned as the reality of what he was telling her became clear.

"Name's Eric, I'm a government agent and you just walked into a viper pit that's about to blow sky high. Follow my lead and play along, just maybe we'll get out of this alive."

Grabbing her arm, he pulled her roughly towards the back, saying loudly, "I thought I told you I was working late tonight? How come you can't do what I tell you?"

Seeing the three foreign men at a table in the back watching with a menancing stillness, Johanna decided to play along, at least for now.

"Hey! Let go of me!" she cried, instinct making her drag her heels when she notice they were headed to the back and those dangerous looking men.

"I don't appreciate you spending my hard earned money on a damn taxi cab! You're gonna stay in the back room until my shift is over."

The Russian and his two armed contacts had their hands inside their overcoats, not a good sign. Eric didn't think they were buying this whole he said she said routine. Sigh, its always the hard way…

Shoving the girl through a door at the back, hearing her startled cry as she stumbled, Eric pulled his Springfield 9mm before the two thugs could get their own guns out and squeezed the trigger. The Russian was half out of his chair and turned towards Eric, yelling, his own hand reaching for a weapon when a black hole appeared in the center of his forehead.

He dove for the back door as bullets from the two thugs rained bits of plaster down, shoving it closed behind him and wedging it closed with a metal spike he'd placed there earlier, in case he needed to make a quick getaway.

He didn't have the documents, but another team would be here shortly to clean up the mess and if necessary, burn the place to the ground to ensure it was secure. Grabbing the girl's wrist, he pulled her to her feet, heading for the car he had stashed for a quick getaway.

***************

Joanna let out a startled shriek when Eric shoved her unceremoniously through the back door, tripping over the threshold and scuffing her hand as she landed on the rough pavement. Immediately a gun exploded, so close, with a sickening thud inside the door, then more bullets as Eric dove through the door and wedged it closed.

When he grabbed her wrist, she tried to pull back, "Where are we going? Who were those men and why are they shooting at us?"

"Look, sweetheart, now isn't the best time for explanations. We need to get out of here, now!"

He pulled her across the rough pavement, giving silent thanks he'd rebuilt the engine of his beat up 1968 Camaro. He shoved her in the driver's side door, planting his hand on her bottom and pushed her into the passenger side. Slamming the car door and jamming the key in the ignition, he shifted into drive and tore out of the parking lot.

Eric gunned the engine and swerved around the next corner at 35 miles an hour, his eyes moving between watching for headlights in the rearview mirror and up ahead for a place to hide out. Seeing a dark alleyway into a warehouse under construction, he quickly drove in and spotting a huge bundle of material covered by a tarp parallel to the building, pulled up sharply behind it.

During the short but wild ride, Joanna had her hands full trying to stay on the seat and away from the mad man driving the car. Her hand ached from when she had fallen and she lost a shoe in the scramble to the car.

"Stay here, don't move and don't touch anything." It was an order, not a request, as he jumped out of the car.

Joanna was tempted to just get out and run, but her instincts told her she was safer with him than on the street with those guys with guns running around.

Eric pulled the big tarp off the pile of materials they had parked behind and quickly pulled it over the Camaro. Thankfully it was a warm autumn night and they wouldn't be cold sitting here in the dark. He carefully opened the driver's side door and closed it behind him, letting the tarp fall enclosing them for the night.

"That should keep us under the radar for the night. A sweeper team will have been through by now, but its best to lay low until we can get out of town for a few days."

"Oh, no, no no no! I can't be gone for days! What will my friends think? I was supposed to meet my friend Megan tonight, she'll be frantic! Besides, its you those guys were shooting at, right? They won't care about me. " Joanna looked at him hopefully, her eyes begging him to agree.

Eric dropped his head back against the seat, closed his eyes and dragged a hand down his face. His gaze was weary as he looked her in the eye.

"I'm sorry you got dragged into this, but you can't go home for awhile. They know what you look like and unfortunately in trying to protect you, you are now linked to me. Until we can get a confirmation from my superiors I'm afraid you're stuck with me."

The front seat in the car was a long bench style, so the night wouldn't be too uncomfortable. Eric reached into the backseat and grabbed a old quilt he kept folded up in case of a cold night.

"Its still warm right now, but its gonna get cold in a few hours. Scoot up here and we can share the blanket, otherwise it'll be a long night."

She looked at him for a moment, not entirely comfortable with cuddling up with this stranger.

"No, its fine, I'll just prop myself up here."

He raised his eyebrows and shrugged, "Suit yourself." Stretching his long torso out as much as he could inside the car, Eric pulled the blanket around his shoulders and closed his eyes. It was going to be a long night.