Top Gun Guardian

“Not so fast, Raven.” He ran a finger along the seam of his lips. Truth was President Okeke didn’t want his daughter anywhere near him. He didn’t want his proximity to put her in danger. And neither one of them could go home right now with trouble brewing.

Raven dug into her suitcase-sized handbag and pulled out a pair of shoes—high heels with lethal-looking points on the ends. She slipped her feet into them and grew four inches in stature. “What is your involvement, anyway? I thought you’d retired from Prospero and were flying the friendly skies for a living. What are you doing here?”

“Special assignment.” A special assignment that had everything to do with Prospero. Jack Coburn, the former team leader of Prospero, was missing and his disappearance had been linked to the upheaval in Burumanda. Buzz needed to stay involved in this investigation and follow the trail that had begun with his former Prospero team members, Riley Hammond and Ian Dempsey.

“So I repeat—” Raven tugged at the hem of her jacket “—what next?”

Buzz studied the toes of his boots. “We’re going to let President Okeke know his daughter is safe and take our cue from him.”

“Hold it. Put your hands out where I can see them.”

Buzz raised his head to see two cops at the end of the hallway…both pointing guns. He held his hands out in front of him and told Raven to do the same.

Raven coughed as she shook her hand loose from Malika’s. “Can’t they see we have a child here? They shouldn’t be pointing their weapons at us.”

Buzz murmured under his breath. “Unless they think we’re in the process of kidnapping her.”

Raven called out to the approaching cops. “This is President Okeke’s daughter. I’m a U.N. translator. I was with her when the shots were fired in the General Assembly.”

One of the cops spoke into the radio on his shoulder. Then he tightened the grip on his gun. “Until we can verify that, get on the ground.”

As Raven grumbled about the general condition of her silk suit and dropped to her knees, Malika screamed and threw her arms around Raven’s waist.

“Do not hurt Raven.”

Buzz’s eyes nearly popped out of his skull. Raven and this little girl had sure forged a bond over the past hour.

And he had every intention of using it to his advantage.

RAVEN TAPPED HER STOCKINGED feet together as she sipped a diet soda and furrowed her brow at the cartoon on TV. The cartoon hero was a sponge living underwater. How could that be funny?

Malika giggled and bounced on the bed next to Raven. “He is very funny but stupid.”

Raven smiled at her. Malika hadn’t wanted to leave her side ever since the cops turned them over to a phalanx of security people and eventually Malika’s father at the hotel.

The president had been so relieved to see his daughter and had showered so much praise on Raven, she thought he was going to offer her a position in his new government. Or what was left of that government after the renewed rebel attacks.

Raven’s gaze shifted to the closed door between the hotel suite and the conference room. High government mucky-mucks were in there now with President Okeke…and Buzz.

How had Buzz known she’d been hiding in that closet? He’d maintained that he had super-duper radar where it concerned her. She’d almost given him a big kiss, well, after she’d almost shot him. Warm relief had flooded her body when she’d looked into his baby blues. That man always could make her feel safer than an egg packed in cotton.

“See.” Malika poked her in the ribs. “Very funny sponge.”

“He’s hilarious.” Raven rolled her eyes. Holding up her soda can, she asked, “Do you want another one?”

Malika nodded and bounced on the mattress again. Raven rolled off the bed and padded to the minibar. Why not? The kid deserved a double shot of sugar and caffeine after the morning she’d had.

She handed Malika a frosty can and settled against the pillows. She’d known Prospero had disbanded and had heard that Buzz was working as a commercial airline pilot. Did he have a wife and baby to go along with his white picket fence? She hadn’t noticed a wedding ring on his long, strong fingers—and she’d been looking.

Sighing, she wiggled her toes. They had gotten engaged when they were both still working with Prospero, the covert ops group headed by Jack Coburn. Jack was the one who had recruited her to translate some of their bugged conversations between terrorists.

She still couldn’t figure out why she’d fallen for Buzz instead of Jack. Jack had been as commitment-phobic as she was, a loner. Maybe that was it. She would’ve had to try too hard to maintain any kind of relationship with Jack, while a relationship with Buzz had been inevitable from the moment they met.

Once Buzz had decided on her, there was no holding him back. With his slow Oklahoma drawl and his easy grin, he’d swept her off her feet before she even knew his true intentions. Once he had a ring on her finger, he’d revealed his plans for settling in the small Oklahoma town where he grew up and raising a passel of kids. He’d even used the word passel.

Raven had taken off faster than one of those jets Buzz maneuvered through the sky like a paper airplane.

The connecting door swung open, and Raven’s fingers clawed into the bedspread. She still hadn’t regained her composure after the wild escape at the U.N. But she always put up a good front.

President Okeke opened his arms, and Malika hurled herself off the bed and against his chest. He smiled and winked at Raven over Malika’s head. “Are you happy here with Miss Pierre?”

“Yes, she gave me soda pop and fixed my hair.” Malika twirled one finger around her pigtail.

Raven had bounded off the bed and stuffed her feet into her heels when the president had entered the room with Buzz lounging against the doorjamb behind him. Her cheeks heated and she spoke in the president’s dialect to restore her dignity. “I hope the soda is not a problem, Mr. President.”

He waved his hands. “A small treat for a difficult morning, and please speak English. We do not want to be rude to our friend Mr. Richardson.”

Friend? Raven narrowed her eyes, giving Buzz a sidelong glance. He sure had gotten chummy with the president in a short space of time. Leave it to Buzz. He could charm just about anyone into anything.

She should know.

“Are you finished in there? Have they found a safe place for you and your daughter?” Not that Raven wanted to dump Malika. The girl had grown on her…a little. But she did have a life and a fabulous apartment on the Upper East Side and even a date for dinner.

Her gaze wandered across Buzz’s wide shoulders and broad chest. Her date didn’t have a fraction of Buzz’s mouthwatering physical attributes. But he had something Buzz lacked—a big-city, superficial nonchalance that suited Raven just fine.

President Okeke shifted his gaze to Buzz and then back to her. “We’re not quite finished. We have a few more details to arrange.”

Buzz stepped to the side as the door behind him nudged open. A suit stuck his head into the room. “Everything fine with your daughter, President Okeke? We’ll have the two of you out of this hotel and installed in a secure location in no time at all.”

The president nodded and crouched next to Malika. He whispered something in her ear in their own language, and Raven caught just one word—safe.

The Secret Service agent ushered President Okeke back into the conference room and held the door open for Buzz. “Are you joining us?”

The agent’s clipped tone made it clear he didn’t think Buzz warranted a place at the table with the Secretary of State and the other high-level security representatives.

Buzz shrugged. “You don’t really need me in there. I’ll hang out here and watch—” he cocked his head at the TV “—the sponge.”

The agent smirked and snapped the door shut.

Buzz pressed his ear against the door for several seconds and then locked the deadbolt with a soft click. He pointed to the minibar fridge. “Can I have one of those five-dollar sodas?”

Raven frowned at the door. Did Buzz think they were in danger from anyone in that room? Not likely.

Tapping Malika on the head as she walked by, Raven said, “We’ve pretty much decimated the colas. Do you want a root beer?”

“Sure. Give me a root beer for the road.”

Raven swiveled her head around. “For the road? Where are you going? I thought you’d want to see this thing through.”