THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

you. We’ll work through this tomorrow. Okay?”
    She nodded into his chest when he hugged her tight.
    Reluctantly, he let her ease away from him, watching her until she disappeared down the hallway.
    Zane settled back into his chair and listened to a seagull call in the distance. Wheels in his brain churned with the new information. He’d learned Angel was only twelve when her mother had died. She didn’t even mention her father. What had life thrown at her after losing her mother? He had to know. Every minute with her tied him in one more knot.
    Tomorrow he’d persuade her to tell him her full name, and he’d tell her about Ben. He couldn’t tell her he worked with the DEA because keeping that secret was part of the gig. Even Trish didn’t know. But he would find a way to convince Angel that she could trust his friend.
     
    Chapter 30
     
    Zane was sure he’d only just fallen asleep when his cell phone woke him. He checked the digital clock on his DVD player. Four-ten in the morning. He flipped the phone open.
    “Zane.”
    “Sammy here. Got a High Vision shipment being cleared at the docks in Jacksonville. Will you be able to pick it up and deliver to Birmingham by 1900 local time?”
    If not, Sammy would call one of the other two charter groups who would jump at the chance to shut out Black Jack Charters.
    Zane stretched his stiff neck. This was the shipment he hoped would seal the deal. “What time do I need to be in Jacksonville?”
    “They want you there at oh-nine hundred today.” 
    Couldn’t they have informed Zane yesterday, even last night, that he had to fly this morning? This had to be the test he’d expected. He’d bet the shipment didn’t have to be picked up on a holiday weekend, but High Vision wanted to see how he’d handle this. In fact, now that he thought about it, they probably had both of the other charter groups flying this weekend as well.
    They’d test everyone. See who put their business ahead of personal life.
    He assured Sammy, “I’ll be there.”
    Sammy gave him the numbers he’d need to verify he had the correct shipment, then said, “Anything else?” 
    Yeah, dude. Fix my woman problems by the time I get back. “No. I’ll check in before I fly out with the cargo.”  He twisted right and left trying to unkink his aching back. The sofa bed needed a new mattress, one that would hold his bulk.
    Unless he figured out Angel’s problem and fixed it.
    They could share his bed then.
    Talk about screwed up logic, but he was a guy. All equations involving a woman ended with sex, especially when he was going to do his damnedest to keep said woman.
    By the time he’d made up the bed and dashed through a shower, the coffee had finished perking. He sipped a cup of the hot brew and glanced around the spotless kitchen. He couldn’t take credit for a cleaning that well done.
    An uneasy feeling settled over him at the thought of leaving Angel alone. He knew she’d take care of Trish until Heidi arrived, but would he come home to find her gone again?
    He’d been absentmindedly studying the room when his eyes passed the door, then stopped. Yellow running shoes were parked to the right of the entrance.
    Oh, yeah. Thanks again to Ben-the-techno-wizard teaching him stuff he probably shouldn’t, Zane knew what to do and had the tools for the job.
    Next to his laundry, he unlocked the utility room and snapped the light on. Hidden under piles of boxes and junk he used for camouflage was a locked toolbox. Inside was a mix of tools he had from black ops assignments he’d participated in during his Air Force days – stuff that had needed to disappear for the good of the op – along with electronic surveillance and tracking equipment he’d gotten from Ben.
    Ben might not ever pick up a weapon, but he’d always had Zane’s back, even as a teen.
    Zane’s gadget-happy friend had given him every possible toy Ben could come up with, knowing Zane might make use of them for clandestine surveillance at some point. Not always kosher for the agents to do that, but no case would hinge on whether a nonexistent informant like Zane followed the rules.
    He pointed the agents in the right direction.
    They gathered hard evidence.
    Nobody was the wiser or needed to be. There was even a gadget or two that Ben had designed and built. He’d given the units to Zane for testing.
    After he found a GPS transmitter the size of a shirt button, he put everything back in place. He took the sneakers and