Chapter Seven
Maureen waited for the door to close behind Sophia before she joined Sam in the other room. He remained sitting at the desk, staring at the monitor, looking dazed.
She waited for him to speak. When he didn’t, she began, “What do you think? Were you as shocked as I was that the FBI is sending a woman agent?”
His amazed glare cut her way. “Truthfully, it never dawned on me. When she stepped into the room, I’ll admit to being floored. But they wouldn’t be sending anyone they didn’t trust to be able to handle this assignment, you know that, Sissy.”
“Yes. In fact, I liked her immediately. By the time she left, I felt better. Somehow, she gave me faith that this scheme will work. She came across as a person comfortable with her own abilities. And… we both know my annoying spouse loves the ladies. That’s never been in doubt.”
“Well, if it’s any solace, I’ve just run a background check on the woman, and she’s one of the top agents around here, efficient and follows protocol. Very highly thought of and takes on a lot of the tougher cases. You can relax, sis. That silver-haired chick will do a good job.”
***
Sam hadn’t shared everything he’d learned in Google about Special Agent Sophia Dunne. About her sharpshooter trophies won at FBI tournaments from all over the country, and how she was known to take shots others would never try.
The fact she hardly ever aimed to kill – just the opposite – put her in a category few others ever reached. She’d wound her victims whenever possible and was commended for those abilities. The reporter had disclosed only two cases where she’d gone all the way. Both involved hardened killers. Once, when a baby’s life hung in the balance. The other, a twelve-year-old who’d been brutalized and faced imminent death by his stepfather if she didn’t take the kill shot. According to the story, she hadn’t hesitated.
Reading the continuous comments about a female hero who anyone would hold in high esteem made him count his blessings that she’d appeared in the picture at a time when they needed her most.
Sam couldn’t come out in the open in Rhodes as himself. Any impersonation he adopted might work, providing he didn’t meet up with Manos. His brother-in-law would recognize him immediately and be forced to make the kids disappear yet again.
The fact that Manos held them in his villa on the Greek island where he came from was a bonus. He obviously felt safe having them there with him, protected by his government, and no doubt, scads of security.
Sam understood the need to keep a low profile, stay off the radar and let Agent Sophia work in the open. And as long as they knew where the children were, and they had a good chance to recover them, he’d behave.
But he also knew if they didn’t return those two kids to their grieving mother soon, Maureen would fade away before his very eyes. Always fragile, but only when it came to her family. The woman had the hide of a rhino over politics, the voice of a lion when she stood up for other’s rights, but the delicate heart of a vulnerable woman for those she loved. And she adored her babies.
***
Maureen had never seen Sam bemused before, not like this. His stunned expression worried her until he spoke and admitted he liked the agent and had already begun delving into her background – nothing she hadn’t expected from her efficient brother.
That he’d confirmed Sophia’s career background didn’t surprise her. Knowing her brother’s demand for excellence, she’d expected no less. And his acceptance was exactly what she needed to verify her own opinion.
However, the dazed look on his face came as a shock. Not bragging, her brother turned most every woman’s head he encountered. Which she never did understand. It wasn’t like he was movie-star handsome. His stature, not overly tall, was strong but not with Schwarzenegger-like muscles. In fact, his medium height didn’t intimidate or present a menacing figure to those he stood against until they tried to take him on.
Nevertheless, he had a charisma about him that caught a woman’s attention. Once they looked into his smiling brown eyes and caught the seductive vibe he’d perfected, they’d invariably fold and become sucked into his special attraction. Wavy hair, black with silvery strands, cut short in a military-style always managed to look sexy and windblown. His self-possessed manner gave everyone the feeling he’d protect them no matter what, and his cheeky smile drew in even the most impervious.
For her, it was his heart, his big beautiful heart he kept hidden away from the world that was his best feature. She never did understand what had bruised that organ. Something happened when he’d been younger, something he’d never shared, but from the time he’d been in his early twenties, he’d changed. A brittle shield had formed, and he’d closed off that sweet portion which she’d loved the most.
Still, he was her big brother, the man she admired above all others and relied on more than anyone else alive. Sure, she’d lost the pal of her youth, and she missed that person terribly. But, when it came to depending on someone to get back her children, her big brother Sam would be her first choice.
As the head of the Reagan Group, who held the respect and command over so many other specialists in that arena, he was sought after by governments and major companies all over the globe.
She was blessed. She knew it. It’s what kept her from going completely insane.