Laced Impulse Read Online Free Page A

placing every hope on Bianca. His neophyte agent. A woman he’d taken a personal interest in. It had been several years since he’d mentored an agent. The odds were solidly stacked against her but there was little time to waste. He knew this and even if she never learned why he'd thought to choose her for this mission; he wouldn't regret it. Because the truth was simple. Week after week, she'd trained, then returned to her desk; doing whatever he asked of her. It didn’t pass his notice that she quietly envied the other agents. It wasn't until she crossed his field of vision. Seeing her in that instant; Vance realized that she could be a secret weapon, and the field agent had been right to suggest her. Bianca Milton was a woman too fresh to know that she should be afraid and not knowing the full extent of this danger. Ignorance would be her valor. A cloak-and-dagger that would shield and safeguard her return home.
     
    The ivory colored tower lit brightly in the evening sun; surrounded by hedges trimmed to perfection and circular flower beds. Bianca sighed.
    "Ah, Paris." This was her first real trip outside of the country. On more than one occasion she'd told whomever asked the question about world travels.
    Bianca would summarily say...
    "Canada is attached...so technically it doesn't count as out of the country travels. The same can be said about the countries south of the border."
    She'd visited her cousin Candice countless times; driving over the Ambassador Bridge or taking their chances, using the tunnel. But until today, her passport hadn't received a lick of ink.
    She stepped back from her window view. After checking into her hotel room, she unpacked a few dresses to avoid further wrinkling. With that chore done, Bianca perched herself in the window seat, watching the garden and church below. There were small children accompanied by their parents. Laughing, running, picnics and all manner of enjoyment. How could anything possibly be wrong, she'd thought? These people were the personification of familial compassion. She had to tear her eyes away from the view. Nothing in life is perfect. Everything is flawed, requiring minor or major adjustments. She told herself this. The mental exercise had been meant to corral her thoughts. She told herself; she'd been sent here, across the Atlantic to perform just that thing. There was something out of whack. A situation was no longer in sync and she'd come to perform an adjustment. It was her job to restore the imperfection.
     
     
    ***************
     
    Chapter 4
    Three days later
    That evening, at 2045, Bianca's gold plated watch sounded. She'd set the alarm as a precaution. She didn't dare be late. Her body was coiled like a spring. It would take little to send her spinning out of control. Truth be told. There had been no need for setting alarms. After she showered, primped, got dressed, then did up her hair. Bianca had been ready to leave hours ago.
    Lifting from the cushioned seat, she crossed the room. She took one final look in the mirror beside the door. Perfection. The word paraded across her brain, then the words...
    "Don't get cocky." Danced off her tongue.
    "Steady..." she said, reminding herself to breathe and not to panic.
    Bianca opened the door, then stepped out into the hallway. There was no turning back now. For all her reading and preparation; inside and out, her nerves were unleashed, firing at will. Walking down the long hallway, she stopped short of the lift. On the wall above a half moon sofa table, Bianca caught her reflection in an oval mirror. She turned to assess her makeup, then her hair. Her eyes lowered to the outfit she'd been instructed to wear. The woman staring back at her was a mystery. A person so unlike her true self. But she reminded herself; while being here, she wasn't supposed to be herself.
    She stepped back, turning her head, deciding that she'd seen enough. When she stood near the elevator, her ears recognized the ding. In the next