THE GIRL NEXT DOOR Read online

  And what? He was supposed to follow in Mercer’s footsteps? Hell, no. Cooper would make his own way in this world, and he’d make his own choices. “If you think I’m backing away from Gabrielle, you’re dead wrong—”

  “I backed away,” Mercer’s voice cut though his words, “because I thought I was protecting them. But it turns out, my leaving just meant that I wasn’t there when they needed me the most.”

  Cooper blinked. Okay. Now that he hadn’t been expecting. “I thought you were going to say I should stay away from her. You said emotions compromise agents.”

  “They do. So be aware of that danger, but, no, I’m not telling you to back away from her.” Mercer turned away and paced toward the window. “I had a sister. She was younger than me—ten years younger. So beautiful and sweet. After I lost my wife, I didn’t want to run the risk of losing her, too.”

  Mercer had never gotten this personal with him. As far as Cooper knew, Mercer didn’t get personal with anyone.

  “I didn’t want one of my enemies to get close to my sister,” Mercer said, gazing out of that window. “I had—still have—so many folks who’d love to hurt me, and they’d do it in an instant by taking out the ones I care about in this world.”

  Like a sister.

  Mercer’s shoulders were stiff and straight, his spine tense. “But it wasn’t an enemy who took her.” Sadness deepened his tone. “Cancer did that. It came in an instant. It took her from me too soon. I blinked, and she was just—gone.”

  Cooper rubbed his chest, pushing at the ache that was always there when he remembered his mother. “I’m sorry. My...my mother died of cancer.” He could understand the pain Mercer felt.

  “Did she?” The sadness deepened in Mercer’s voice. “I’m sorry for your loss, too, son. So sorry...” Mercer’s voice trailed away. He didn’t look back at Cooper, but stared straight ahead. Cooper could see Mercer’s reflection in the window’s glass. “We do our best in this world. We try to protect those we love. We try to make a difference, but, in the end, we can still fail. We can still hurt. And we can still lose....”

  I don’t want to lose Gabrielle.

  “There’s one lesson I’ve learned. If you want to be happy in this world, then you need to find the one thing that you care about the most. When you find it, you move heaven and hell and you do anything you can to protect that thing.” Mercer finally turned toward him. “Do you understand what I’m saying to you?”

  He did. Mercer wasn’t pulling him from the case. He was clearing him to do anything necessary—to protect Gabrielle. He hadn’t expected that response from Mercer. Cooper had thought that he’d have to fight in order to stay at her side.

  “Go on, get down to that fourth floor. And remember, if you need anything...day or night, you call me. You can count on me to be there for you, Marshall.”

  Everyone was wrong about Mercer. He wasn’t the cold, emotionless director.

  Cooper spun for the door.

  “Annalise should’ve had a different ending.” Mercer’s words were a low mumble.

  Yet Cooper heard him clearly, and he froze. “How do you know my mother’s name?”

  Silence. Then, “Do you really think you’d get an offer to join the EOD without me reviewing every single detail of your life?”

  So Mercer had already known about his mother’s cancer before he’d told his own story. Maybe that was why the director had revealed his past to Cooper. He knew I’d understand.

  “The fourth floor’s waiting,” Mercer reminded him.

  Cooper didn’t want Gabrielle waiting any longer.

  * * *

  THE DOOR CLICKED shut behind Cooper.

  Mercer glanced down. His hands were shaking. When he’d been talking with Cooper, the old pain had come back. The hurt, for what he’d lost.

  Annalise. He hadn’t needed to dig into Cooper’s past to learn about her.

  He could just close his eyes and picture sweet Anna. That long blond hair. Her wide smile and glinting eyes—the same shade as Cooper’s.

  She should’ve had a perfect life. A long life.

  “I’m doing my best to protect him,” Mercer whispered. By staying away, he’d missed out on being close when Annalise needed him.

  So he’d made sure to keep a good eye on Cooper. When the man had been taken in Afghanistan, Mercer immediately ordered his agents to sweep in for a rescue mission.

  Cooper had a love of danger—a love that put him in too much jeopardy.

  If Cooper could love something more than that wild rush of adrenaline, if he could love someone else more...

  Then the man might actually have a chance of living the life Annalise would have wanted for him.

  Cooper just had to feel a deep connection for someone else. He had to need someone more than he needed the next mission.

  Judging by the rage and fear that Mercer had seen in his eyes, the reporter was making Cooper feel that connection, all right.

  Now, the trick was going to be actually keeping her alive—and convincing Gabrielle Harper that Cooper deserved a second chance with her.

  Luckily, Mercer had plenty of resources at his disposal.

  Besides, if Cooper was anything like his mother had been, the boy should be able to work his charm.

  Mercer would just see how that charm worked on Gabrielle.

  * * *

  THE DOOR SQUEAKED OPEN.

  Gabrielle’s head lifted. Her eyes locked on the man who’d just entered her little prison.

  Betrayal stabbed in her gut. She jumped to her feet, but the cuff around her left wrist—the cuff that was currently attaching her to the table leg—prevented her from charging across the room at Cooper.

  He stilled. “I didn’t realize... I’ll get that cuff off you.”

  He’d better do a whole lot more than just that.

  Cooper turned back around toward the door. The dark-haired, green-eyed agent—the one who’d called himself Deuce—stood behind Cooper.

  “Give me the keys,” Cooper demanded.

  Deuce whistled as he rocked back on his heels. “Are you sure that you want to do that, man? She’s likely to go right for your throat.”

  “The keys,” Cooper gritted, and he opened his hand.

  Deuce tossed him the keys. “It’s a good thing you had combat training.” His stare swept toward Gabrielle. “I’ll just...ah...leave you two alone.” He backed out of the room.

  Cooper hurried toward her.

  She was so furious Gabrielle didn’t even know where to start. She had to bite her lip to hold back the furious yells that wanted to erupt.

  His fingers closed around her wrist. His touch was warm and solid and— “You really do look good for a dead man,” she told him, her eyes angry slits.

  The cuff clicked open. He didn’t let her wrist go. Instead, he lightly rubbed the flesh. She knew he had to feel the frantic race of her pulse beneath his fingers.

  “How did you find out?” While her voice had been heated, his was soft.

  “Sources, Cooper. Sources. I have them, you know.” She wasn’t about to throw Hugh under the bus. It was a good thing she’d taken the liberty of hiding the flash drive in Penelope’s car. Otherwise, she would’ve lost that evidence during her little confinement time. That flash drive was her ace in the hole. It was her—

  “They found the flash drive,” Cooper told her. “And, soon enough, I will have the name of your source.”

  Could the night get any worse? “I guess you like going through my things.” She snatched her hand back from him. “I figured it out, you know, that mysterious crash of my computer days ago...that was you, right? You and your EOD buddies.”

  She wanted him to deny it. To tell her that she was wrong. He hadn’t really snuck into her house and sabotaged her
system.

  But he nodded.

  Gabrielle took a step away from him as she sucked in a deep gulp of air.

  “Let me explain,” Cooper began. To the right, a large mirror stretched along the wall and threw their reflections back at them. She looked tired and scared and angry.

  And he, damn him, looked strong and determined and too handsome.

  The fact that he looked so controlled just increased her fury. “Explain? I’m a prisoner! This shouldn’t be happening to me. I’ve got rights, but those rights were ignored when your buddies dragged me in here.” She tossed her hands into the air as she backed away from him. “I wasn’t Mirandized—”

  “—because you aren’t charged with anything,” he muttered, yanking a hand through his blond hair.

  “This is kidnapping.” She wondered if she could run past him and make a break out of the door. They’d blindfolded her before she was brought into this building. She had no idea where she was—or even if she was still in D.C. They’d seemed to drive around for hours in that car.

  And she’d been terrified every moment.

  Cooper exhaled. “Believe it or not, you’re here for your protection.”

  A bitter laugh escaped her. “I’ll go with the ‘not’ option on there. I’m here because I found out your secret and you don’t want me telling the world what I know.”

  He stalked toward her.

  Coward that she was, Gabrielle backed up even more. She backed up until there was no place left to go, and she hit the wall.

  Cooper kept coming.

  His hands rose and flattened on either side of her head, caging her between him and the hard wall. He wasn’t touching her, a very good thing, because his touch just twisted things within her even more.

  “This isn’t about me,” he said, staring deeply into her eyes. “It’s about the agents in the field. About the work that they do that requires secrecy. You can’t print what you’ve learned about the EOD. You do that, and you compromise their lives.”

  “And what if the EOD is killing? What then?” She threw her accusation at him. She wanted to hurt him as she was hurting. I trusted you. More, she’d started to fall for the guy when he’d just been playing her.

  She and Lane hadn’t worked out because he wanted to put her in a glass bubble and stop her from doing everything that she loved. They’d crashed and burned fast because she hadn’t wanted to give up the person who she was in order to please him. The breakup had hurt, but—

  With Cooper, the pain was worse. So much worse. She’d really thought that he’d been on her side. A true partner, an equal. She’d believed that he supported what she was doing.

  When he’d been sabotaging her all along.

  She swallowed and tried to calm her racing heart. “Van McAdams left a very clear message—”

  “Van was EOD,” Cooper revealed, voice rumbling. “So was Lockwood. Why do you think I’m on the case? They weren’t active-duty EOD any longer, but they were still ours. I’m trying to find their killer, and I’m working to make sure that no more agents go down.”

  There was more there. She’d already figured the pieces out. When she’d been cuffed in this room, Gabrielle had been given plenty of time to think. “One of your own is killing. He scaled McAdams’s building, right? He did it, the same way that you told Carmichael you could do it. He got easy access to those men because they knew him. They trusted him. He’s one of yours.”

  And that terrified her. Because it sure sounded like EOD agents were trained killing machines.

  “The killer is a rogue,” Cooper said as he leaned in even closer. “He killed two other agents that you don’t even know about. He took them out, then he started going after civilians.”

  Her breath caught. “Kylie Archer.”

  “From what we can tell, she was the first non–EOD agent.” His face hardened. “The agents you don’t know about yet were Jessica Flintwood and Frank Malone. They were partners, a team.”

  Just like she’d been partners with Cooper.

  “He killed Jessica first. He slit her throat, just like with the others. Then he took out Frank a few weeks later.”

  Her eyelids flickered. “He kills a woman, then a man.” But...with Kylie and Lockwood, they’d been a couple. So had Melanie and Van. Her gaze widened. “Were Jessica and—ah, Frank, were they involved?”

  He frowned at her. “What?”

  “Were they involved?” She could see the pattern, it was right there. “A couple. Just like the others.”

  “I don’t know...” His head cocked to the right. “They worked together closely. Agents aren’t supposed to cross that line, so if they were, they would’ve kept it quiet.”

  “But he found out.” It made sense to her, but Cooper was still frowning. “He’s targeting the women first, then going after their men.” She didn’t know why, but the killer had a pattern, a routine that he was following.”

  “Right now,” his voice roughened, “I’m worried he’s going after you.” A grim pause, then Cooper said, “He’s calling you, breaking into your house, targeting you.”

  His words made her afraid, but she wasn’t about to give into fear then.

  “But it’s not going to happen,” he promised her. “Because I am not going to let anyone hurt you.”

  Before she could say anything else, his head lowered, and his mouth pressed to hers.

  * * *

  NOELLE EVERS JOLTED. “That’s it. That’s why he does it!”

  Deuce Porter glanced at her. “Ma’am, that’s a kiss.” His smile was wide. “Maybe we should step out of observation and give those two some privacy.”

  Mercer had sent her down to watch the interaction between Cooper and Gabrielle, because he’d thought Gabrielle might speak more freely to that agent.

  Mercer had been right.

  But what she’d learned, the profile that was developing before her, it wasn’t what she’d expected. “I have to see Mercer.”

  Deuce’s brows climbed. “I thought you’d be talking to all of us. You know...figuring out which one of us has snapped and gone crazy.” He shrugged. “Though you’ll no doubt have a hard time picking just one candidate. I think we’re all a little crazy.”

  “I know what he’s doing,” she said, excitement growing within her. “Why he’s doing it.” The why was the most important part. Once you understood a killer’s motivation, that made the perp vulnerable. You could manipulate him then.

  Trap him.

  She hurried for the door.

  “Why?” Deuce asked, the question a growl. “I’d like to know why he killed my friend. Lockwood and I—we worked plenty of missions together. He was a good man. He didn’t deserve to go down like that.”

  She couldn’t tell the agent why. She was only supposed to talk with Mercer. Just him.

  Noelle opened the door and hurried into the hallway. She was in such a hurry to get to Mercer that she slammed straight into the man standing there.

  Big, strong, with midnight-black hair and dark, golden eyes, the fellow caught her in an instant and held her in a steady grip.

  “Dragon, you don’t want to be getting too close to her...” Deuce warned from behind her. “She’s Mercer’s profiler. She’s here to find out which one of us has gone psychotic.”

  Dragon?

  The man before her slowly released his hold on her.

  “Of course, after what happened to you on that last mission, maybe you should be talking to her,” Deuce mused. “How many of your captors did you kill? And all without even a single weapon.”

  She shouldn’t be hearing this. She should be rushing for the elevator and hurrying up to see Mercer.

  Instead, Noelle found it hard to look away from that man’s golden eyes. She frowned at him, a pulse of recognition st
irring within her. “Have we met before, agent?”

  His lips curved in the faintest of smiles. “I’ve seen you, but I don’t think you’ve seen me, Doctor.”

  Then he turned around and headed down the hallway. His movements were absolutely soundless, and he moved with an easy, catlike grace.

  Deuce came to her side. “Be careful with him,” he murmured. “I mean it, Agent Evers. I’ve never seen a more deadly agent, and I’ve been here for almost seven years now. That guy doesn’t get close to anyone, and when he kills...” His breath rushed out. “We’re supposed to have remorse, aren’t we? We’re supposed to be more than just machines, following orders.” His hands shoved into his pockets. “People should matter more than just mission orders.”

  Yes, they should.

  She cleared her throat and hurried for the elevator. Noelle slipped inside.

  She wasn’t in that elevator alone.

  The man Deuce had called “Dragon” was there. He didn’t speak as they rode up that elevator together.

  Goose bumps rose on her arms.

  There was something about him.

  One look, and he’d scared her.

  One look, and he’d—

  The elevator chimed. The doors opened. Noelle nearly tripped as she rushed out and toward the desk of Mercer’s assistant.

  Before she could even ask to see the director, he was there, frowning at her. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

  It wasn’t what had already happened that made her fear so much.

  They went back into Mercer’s office. He closed the door, sealing them inside. She tried to calm her racing heartbeat. “Kylie Archer was involved with Keith Lockwood.”

  His brow furrowed. “I already told you—”

  “Your rogue killed her in order to get at Lockwood. She was the easy kill, the one who wouldn’t expect his attack. Then, while Lockwood was grieving, while he was weak with his loss, the killer went after him.”

  The pairs made so much sense to her now. Once she’d realized that the first two victims were also intimately connected, she understood why the rogue was taking out the women first. Because he wants the men to suffer more. He wants them to mourn for what they’ve lost.