SASSY IN STILETTOS ARe version Read Online Free

talk to your partner?”
    “Ex-Partner.” After he’d left the Diplomatic
Security Service, he’d severed all ties to his life. For the most part he’d
locked away all that death and devastation, reserving the nightmares for the
dark of night while he tossed in bed. Hearing the melodic lilt of Sabine’s
voice brought all the horror crashing back to him.
    “Whatever. You know the rules—once partners,
always partners. Hell, we were even married.”
    Her voice was light and rhythmic and reminded him
of the day he’d first met her. He thought she was sweet then. He hadn’t dared
imagine how treacherous she could be. They’d been married for a mission in Venezuela to adopt the daughter of a former cartel leader before his enemies realized she
was the key to his empire.
    In predominantly Catholic South America, Caleb and
Sabine’s bosses had wanted their marriage to be as real as possible. Once they
had the girl, they’d almost died, thanks to Sabine’s recklessness and hot
temper. They’d obtained a divorce the moment they touched foot stateside. “Sabine,
what do you want?”
    “Maybe I wanted to hear your voice again.”
    “Bullshit.”
    Her laugh was feminine and light. “Fair enough. I’m
calling to do you a favor.”
    “You don’t do favors for anyone unless there’s
something in it for you.”
    “That might be true.” She paused as if considering
what to tell him. “Remember the Sanderson case?”
    Caleb’s heart hammered as a thin film of ice
settled over his flesh. His brain stuttered, refusing to believe what she was
asking. The Sanderson case was the reason he’d left the DSS detail.
    “No one’s mentioned their names to me in over six
years.” No one in his present life knew of it, except Alec, and the only reason
he knew was because Caleb had been so fucked up after that mission that he’d
spent some quality time at the bottom of a bottle and let it slip one night.
    “What would you say if I told you I had a bead on Cabrillo’s
Cartel?”
    “I’d tell you that you were full of shit and not
to waste my time,” he ground out.
    “Look. I know you have reason to hate me. You
think I sold you out. You think I’m a loose cannon, untrustworthy, and you
blame me in part for that family’s death. But I’m telling you, Cabrillo had an
inside man on our team. He knew the route. He knew we’d be there, and he knew
our security protocols.”
    Blood rushed between Caleb’s ears. Everyone on the
team had been vetted. Twice. “This is an old argument, Sabine. You were the one
who broke protocol. You were the one who left that little girl.”
    “What was I supposed to do? The whole team was
taking fire. I saved your life. She was safer in the car than out of it.”
    Caleb ground his teeth. “Let’s not forget I didn’t
need saving. But you left your post, coming after me when I didn’t need you.
You left that girl in the car on her own. Then you went and got yourself shot,
and someone bombed that car. Annie Sanderson died in that car all alone.”
    When they’d been debriefed, she’d thrown Caleb
under the bus, blaming him for the mission gone wrong. Sabine had stayed in the
service for another two years after he’d left. Then she’d gone private sector,
to the kind of people who stayed in the shadows but helped form governments.
Not quite illegal enterprises, but certainly not legal.
    “And I think about her every day, Caleb. I do.” She
sniffed. “Listen for two minutes. Cabrillo and Juarez have been in talks to
move against The Monteblanco brothers and take over the coke trade. It’s no
secret that Cabrillo has wanted to move against the Monteblancos for several
years, but he doesn’t have the manpower. With Juarez, he’ll run the biggest
cartel in Mexico.”
    Bits of knowledge of the cartels seeped into Caleb’s
conscious mind. Information he’d tried to forget. “Juarez and the Monteblancos
have been allies for generations. Juarez would never move against them.”
    “