Serious Risks

Serious Risks
Rachel Lee

Computer programmer Jessica Kilmer's life changed the moment she realized classified documents had been stolen from her safe. She knew contacting the FBI would turn her life upside down, but she never expected what would happen when she met special agent Arlen Coulter.For even as Arlen assured her that he would keep her safe, his quiet intensity awakened her heart to another danger altogether….It seemed to Arlen that the greatest risk in this case was the effect Jessica had on him. She aroused feelings he'd long believed dead–and preferred to keep buried. But the danger that Jessica faced was real–could Arlen get her out before it was too late?

Serious Risks

Rachel Lee

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

RACHEL LEE

wrote her first play in the third grade for a school assembly, and by the age of twelve she was hooked on writing. She’s lived all over the United States and now resides in Florida. Having held jobs as a security officer, real-estate agent and optician, she uses these experiences, as well as her natural flair for creativity, to write stories that are undeniably romantic. Rachel Lee has garnered numerous industry awards, including an RT Book Reviews award for Best Series Romance and Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Romantic Suspense, as well as landing a Romance Writers of America RITA

Award nomination.

For

Markey—who believed

Gil—who is my hero

Bob—who shored me up when I got scared

Aaron—who is my biggest fan

Heather—who shares my excitement

And

All the men and women who perform the thankless task

of protecting the nation’s security.

I feel privileged to have worked with you.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 1

“Somebody stole a classified document from my safe last night.”

The breathless, nervous claim over the telephone brought Special Agent Arlen Coulter upright in his chair and banished every other thought from his head. A perfectly routine afternoon of reviewing case reports from his agents lost the last vestige of ordinariness. Swiftly reaching across his desk, he pulled over a legal pad and a pen.

“What’s your name?” he asked the woman. “And where are you calling from?”

“My name is Jessica Kilmer, and I’m calling from a pay phone on the interstate.”

“Give me the number in case we get disconnected.” He made her recite it twice to be sure he got it right. In the background he could hear the whiz and roar of the late-afternoon traffic. “Okay, Ms. Kilmer,” he said. “Tell me about it.”

There was a shuddery breath from the other end of the phone. “I work for MTI—Military Technologies, Inc. We do a lot of defense work.”

“I’m familiar with MTI,” Arlen said. Indeed he was. MTI ranked as the area’s second-largest defense contractor. “Go on, ma’am.”

“Someone took a classified document from my safe during the night,” she repeated unsteadily, as if she couldn’t quite believe her own words. “I’m the only one who has the combination, except for the copy that security keeps in their vault.”

Arlen leaned forward tensely. Possibilities were already flitting through his head, not the least of them that this was a crank call. In the past he had worked in counterintelligence in the Washington, D.C., area, so he knew just how common espionage was. Nevertheless, this was the first hint of it that he had gotten during his entire six years in Austin, Texas. Still, the woman knew things that only someone engaged in classified work would know, such as the fact that security would have the only other combination to a classified safe. “You’re sure the document is missing?”

“Oh, yes.” She expelled the words on another unsteady breath. “I went through every folder in the safe, in case it was misfiled.”

“It couldn’t have been left out by accident?” Arlen kept his voice calm, nonaccusatory. Once a witness was put on the defensive, you could forget any hope of getting a straight story.

“No. I haven’t had it out of the safe in several weeks. It was there last night when I filed the document that comes just before it. I know it was there!”

The rising tone of her voice conveyed her frustration and concern as no words could have. Arlen felt a small twinge of sympathy for her, but he put it firmly aside. He couldn’t afford to allow his mind or his judgment to be clouded by sympathy.

“I believe you, Ms. Kilmer,” he said soothingly. “Have you told anyone else about the theft?”

“I reported it to security,” she answered, and now her tone was indignant. “They’re insisting I must have mislaid it or misfiled it or loaned it to someone, because I’m the only one with the combination to the safe. That’s the whole point, and they’re missing it. That’s why I’m calling you! The point is, someone opened that safe last night. Someone else has the combination!”

Arlen didn’t need to have the ramifications of that statement spelled out. If someone else had the combination, there was no telling how often that person had gained access to Jessica Kilmer’s safe. There was no way to know how many other safes at MTI this supposed spy might have combinations for, or how often he might have invaded them. Or how many classified documents he might have stolen, photographed, copied—the list of potential abuses was catastrophic.

Arlen addressed Jessica Kilmer. “Are you going back to work?”