Oath of Honor

twitching thing it had done yesterday when Wes had touched her. Wes

made her so freaking hot—didn’t mean a thing, though. Just good old

reflexes. Never mind the way Wes had looked at her when she’d been

moving her shoulder around—so serious, so right there. Wes looked at

her—looked into her, and okay, that freaked her out too. She’d grown

up in a houseful of men she wanted to be just like—tough, competitive

men who taught her to win. And any fear or uncertainty—and, God

forbid, tears—that cropped up along the way, she hid. And eventually

she didn’t need to hide those things because she didn’t feel them any

longer.

Except when Wes touched her, she felt the doors opening and light

leaking into the closed rooms where she kept her secrets. Not good.

Didn’t matter, though. She had a handle on it. She slid her hand down

her belly. Had a hand on it too. She was hard all right, and wet, and

damn if she couldn’t get Wes’s scent out of her head. So she closed

her eyes and let the green of Wes’s gaze and the piercing winter-bright

scent of her fill her mind as she came.

• 108 •

Oath Of hOnOr

v

“Morning,” Wes said when she found Evyn in the ready room at

0730. A box, empty save for a lone white powdered doughnut, sat in

the middle of the round table. Evyn was dressed for fieldwork again—

khakis and a blue polo shirt with the USSS logo on the chest.

“Hi,” Evyn said, rising abruptly and dumping the remains of her

coffee in the sink. “Ready?”

“Another sim? Sure.”

“Nope. Today we go live.” Evyn raised her left wrist and said,

“Team One, ready to move out.”

Wes followed her out into the hall, waiting for Evyn to fill her

in on what was happening. They’d reached the south exit before she

finally asked, “Isn’t it customary to brief me?”

“There is no customary.” Evyn reached the door first and held

it open. “The only thing you can count on in this detail is that plans

always change. Today’s already have.”

“Am I the only medic?”

“You’ll have the usual backup in the follow car.”

Wes caught the door and followed Evyn outside. A limo idled with

the three black SUVs on the circular drive. Gary waited by the open

rear door of the first vehicle, sunglasses on, earbud just visible behind

his left ear. He nodded briefly to Evyn, and Wes thought she saw his

eyebrow quirk before his stony expression returned. Several other men

and a woman stood waiting by the other vehicles, and the profiles of

additional agents were visible inside each one. She hadn’t expected

so many people to be involved in a training scenario but said nothing.

Evyn obviously wasn’t planning to answer any of her questions.

“We’ll be in the first follow car,” Evyn said. “Eagle is on his

way.”Wes hesitated. “I thought this was a training scenario.”

Evyn met her gaze, no trace of humor in her eyes. “Did I give you

that impression? This is as real as it gets.”

Wes adjusted her expectations and reassessed the situation. “Then

shouldn’t I ride with the president?”

Evyn opened the rear door of the SUV directly behind the limo and

gestured for Wes to climb in. “Under most circumstances, no. You’re

• 109 •

RADCLYfFE

part of the secure package now—we need you out of the kill zone. You

can’t treat Eagle if you’re dead.”

“Makes sense,” Wes muttered. She accepted the reasoning behind

safeguarding the first responder, but in light of the sim the day before,

she didn’t like it. If the vehicles were separated or the president’s

vehicle took a direct hit, she wanted to be closer than she would be in

a follow car.

Evyn must have read her displeasure, because she said, “If a threat

arises, we’ll do our jobs and you’ll stay out of the way until needed.”

“I know the protocol, Agent Daniels.”

“Then we’re all happy.” Evyn pulled out her handheld and started

flicking through screens. Conversation over.

Wes settled onto the black leather bench seat and watched out

the window as a group emerged from the White House. She caught a

fleeting glimpse of President Powell, flanked by four agents, striding

briskly toward the limo. Seconds later, they pulled away and exited

the South Grounds onto E Street. The streets had been plowed and

snowbanks lined the curbs. Somewhere in front of them, motorcycle

engines rumbled, probably a police escort clearing the way. Across

from her, Evyn texted.

Wes wondered what would happen next, and when. The thrum of

anxiety in her belly was probably something she was going to live with

indefinitely. Every trip the president took outside the White House was

akin to a military engagement. Danger was always imminent. Stress

and uncertainty didn’t bother her, as long as she knew she was prepared.

And she planned to be.

Forty minutes later, the motorcade pulled off the highway onto

a wide drive and stopped in front of a row of large stone buildings.

Car doors slammed, and Wes saw the group from the first car moving

inside. Evyn opened the door and said, “You’ll stay here with one of the

military aides. If you’re needed, he’ll inform you. I hope you brought