Midnight Assignment

Noah clenched his teeth. “The flight was canceled. I briefed my team at the airport while we waited. If anything goes wrong, it won’t be on our watch.”

“You’d better hope not. Or you’re going to regret the time you put into flirting with flight attendants instead of prepping for the job.” With that, she swung around and stalked out to the tiny lobby.

Noah watched the rest of the team jump at some quiet word from her. She was sharp and exacting and one of the smartest people he’d ever met. She demanded excellence and expected miracles, and everyone on her team knew it.

She was damn good at what she did, and that made him crazy. After all, it would’ve been easy to get her out of his head if she weren’t as sharp as a razor blade. That kind of weapon sunk deep and true. His only consolation was that since moving to Denver, he didn’t waste so much time looking up whenever the elevator door opened, just in case it was Elise wandering down to his floor.

Noah followed the rest of the team toward the door, sparing a second to glare promises of retribution at Tex. But Tex was busy hitting on one of the new girls and he only gave Noah a distracted wave in response.

Taking a deep breath, Noah looked down at his watch. Three minutes.

“It’s time,” he said, and his second in command stepped up to his side.

They both unsnapped the guards on their holsters but left the safety on their weapons.

Elise tossed him a glance. He gave a careful nod in answer and they both stepped toward the door, confident the other ten team members would follow. Ten more were assembled in the conference room, waiting for the signal to go, and two more teams were stationed outside the other two branches of the bank.

“Mrs. Smith!” a perky blonde receptionist called out as they moved past.

At the sound of the name she’d assumed for the case, Elise paused, her brown hair swinging forward as if she wanted to keep moving. “Yes?”

“Are you sure you guys want to go out in the cold? It’ll be below zero by eight o’clock. We’ve got an arrangement with the local market, and I’d be happy to have dinner sent over. Maybe sandwiches or barbecue?”

“No, thank you. We’re fine.”

“Oh. Well… All right. It’s just so weird to have a conference and no food service, but I guess, if it’s an emergency meeting, like you said…”

Elise stared at the girl as if she were speaking another language. The girl’s face turned pink, and Noah watched as Elise physically braced herself for the kind of polite talk people in places like Omaha expected. “Thank you so much for the offer, but we’re fine. We’ll have dinner out and then we’ll be back for another meeting later, so keep the coffee brewing.”

“Oh, I’ll get some fresh cookies in the oven!” the receptionist responded.

Noah almost laughed out loud at the horrified expression on Elise’s face. “That won’t be necessary.”

The men and women around her groaned.

“But…they’re complimentary,” the girl murmured in disbelief, but Elise was already walking away.

Noah rolled his eyes at her before following Elise out the door. “Make the cookies,” he tossed over his shoulder, happy to needle Elise any way he could.

The frigid Omaha air hit him with a cruel blow as they stepped past the heated comfort of the lobby. He was used to the occasional arctic cold front, but Elise shivered as she raised a phone to her ear.

Noah listened while she checked in with each team. Behind her, downtown Omaha rose, huddled against the dreary twilight. The sight made the air feel colder, so Noah slid his eyes toward their target.

The main branch of the bank was directly across the street, though Noah would be making trips to the other two branches soon enough. This branch looked cozy and cheerful in the darkening evening. The desks inside were decked out in faux pine boughs and holly, and a few employees moved behind the glass, waiting for the clock to strike six and send them back home to their families. One of the tellers wore a Santa hat.

In a moment, Noah and all the rest were going to rush in and change their lives. He watched twinkling Christmas lights come to life in the plate glass windows of the bank. To Noah, the sight was the opposite of cheerful.

Elise snapped her phone shut. “All teams are in place. Is everyone ready? Let’s go.”

They were only a few hundred feet away, but they needed their equipment, so they slipped into two black SUVs and pulled out onto the street to drive straight across. The team in the conference room of the hotel wouldn’t be needed for another five minutes, so they hung back.

Just as Elise slid out of the truck, the security guard approached the doors to shut the bank for the night. Elise reached into her pocket and moved forward. Ten feet from the door, Noah stepped into place beside her and signaled his men to stay close. The guard’s eyes widened. He froze for a second, then swept his hand toward the lock on the glass doors, fear taking his mouth in a grimace that looked a lot like a smile.

Elise pulled her hand from her pocket and pressed the black square against the door. Metal clanked. The gold badge glinted its reflection against the glass. “Sir,” she said so firmly that the man stood straighter, even as his expression limped toward confusion. “Please step away from the door.”

The guard lurched back, Elise pushed open the doors, and they were in control of the bank. Just like that.

* * *

ELISE LOOKED AROUND at the frightened people and felt her gut clench, but she didn’t let even a hint of pain show on her face. Yes, they were scared, but truthfully, they were better off now than they had been ten minutes ago. Platte Regional Bank had been teetering on the edge of collapse for months. Now the last tether holding them in place was about to snap, and Elise and her fellow FDIC agents were here to save this place from smashing into ruin.

“I’m Elise Watson, assistant director with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The FDIC has determined that Platte Regional Bank has become critically undercapitalized and is at immediate risk of collapse. In order to prevent this collapse, we have assumed control of the bank and all its assets and liabilities. As of 6:00 p.m., you are all employees of the FDIC.”

Elise ignored the gasps around her and hurried on. “No one has lost his or her job. Your pay will remain the same until the new buyer takes control of the bank. And you do have a buyer. The new owner will be Simpson Finance, and they have assured us that once the riskiest assets are underwritten by the FDIC, the bank will be in sound financial condition and none of the branches will close. I know this is frightening news, but…” Her throat dried. Elise was at a loss, as she always was once she reached this part of the speech. She didn’t know how to connect with people or offer comfort.

Unable to pull the right words from her brain, Elise turned helplessly toward Lara, the head of the human resources team. Lara stepped forward with a smile that promised comfort and understanding to all who walked near her outstretched arms.

“Most of you can go home in just a few minutes,” Lara started. “The bank will open at its normal hour tomorrow, and your jobs will be here waiting for you. In fact, we can expect it to be quite busy. I’m here to answer any and every question you might have, but first I want to reassure you—”

Elise slipped toward the hallway on her right, knowing she’d left the employees in good hands. Lara was only twenty-eight, but she oozed assurance like a veteran mother hen. People loved and trusted her. People did not love and trust Elise. She knew about football and finances and accounting. She did not know how to make her face show the things she was feeling inside.

But she was good at taking control. She could run a team of fifty people with efficiency and confidence. She could choose the right people for the right positions. She was damn good at her job. And lately that was all she was good at.

Passing a large room filled with half a dozen computers and just as many agents, Elise raised her eyebrows in Tex’s direction. He gave her a smile and sauntered over, letting his eyes drag down her body with a comically lecherous look.

“Cut it out,” she said quietly, “or I’ll write you up.”

“God, you are so sexy when you lie.”

He was right about the lying, unfortunately. She’d never write him up. He was her best source of comic relief on stressful trips. “You’ve got everything under control?”

“All clear here, boss. I’ll let you know if we run into any trouble.”

“Good.” She moved on, totally comfortable with Tex’s assurances. Hound dog, he might be, but she trusted him completely on the job.

Her last stop was the bank president’s office, and Noah James stood straight in the doorway, his strong shoulders promising safety.

Noah was second in command at his branch office, but on this job, he was head of security, both physical and electronic, and he answered to her.

Despite their difficult history, she was glad to have him on the team. He was cool and calm and so smart he scared her. Or…he did something else to her that made her heart beat and her skin prickle and her breath come faster. To tell the truth, she knew it wasn’t fear. She hadn’t been the least bit afraid of him on their first job together.

Elise shook off that memory and took a deep breath before stepping into the office. She had to slide past his back to fit into the crowded room, and her arm tingled where it rubbed him. That tingle spread through her whole body, like fingers dragging down her skin, but Elise ignored it.

The chemistry was…a phantom. An illusion. Because true chemistry couldn’t be one-sided and there was no doubt this was.

“All right, Mrs. Castle,” Elise said. “Your staff is in good hands, and they’ll all be back at work tomorrow morning.”

The white-haired old woman behind the desk nodded, and when she smiled, half her skin seemed to disappear into the wrinkles. Elise had been shocked at her first sight of this frail old woman, and she only grew more surprised. The woman had to be close to ninety. Her son, standing behind her, was at least fifty-five. He put his hand on his mother’s shoulder.