Covert Alliance

Passion flares between a mysterious woman and a covert investigator who knows her secret…

With death threats behind her and a hot new appearance, “Kelly Ladd” defies Identity Division rules to go undercover in Blue Haven. She’s determined to bring down her sister’s killer and protect her nephew. A job as a waitress seems like the perfect disguise…until she’s recognized by Alan Correy, a security expert with a competing agenda! Although Kelly mistrusts Alan as much as he disdains her rule breaking, they agree to work together, even pretending to date. But as they close in on the killer, the romance becomes real…as real as the death the murderer leaves in his wake.

“So what do you want to talk about?”

“You, Kelly. And Shereen Alsop.”

Even though she’d expected this, at least somewhat, she flinched but didn’t stop walking.

“Who’s that?” she asked. Part of her training when provided a new identity was to admit nothing, so she wasn’t about to tell Alan she recognized that name. Her real name.

“That’s good,” he said. “You’re at least complying with some of the instructions you were given. But you shouldn’t have come here. That was completely against what you were told.”

“Oh, really?” She kept her tone light. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The hand holding hers moved enough to swing her around, and suddenly Alan was looking down at her. Kelly could still see the anger on her companion’s face, and it made her wince.

“I…” Before she could figure out how to finish, his mouth came down on hers.

His kiss was startlingly sexy, and so was the way his body soon molded to hers.

Get away from him, something inside her screamed. She could be in danger.

* * *

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Dear Reader,

This is my second book about the ID Division of the US Marshals Service. The first was Covert Attraction (12/13).

I created the ID Division for the situation where a person knows about a crime that affects her but didn’t witness it and can’t provide other evidence against the guilty party. And then the guilty party threatens that person, but remains subtle about it.

In that case, the endangered person can’t get into a witness protection program, since she can’t testify in court or provide other evidence to help convict the guilty party. But she still needs help. And the guilty party still needs to be prosecuted.

That’s where my ID Division comes in. It both helps create a new identity for the person in trouble, and also sends a team member undercover to locate the missing evidence to convict that guilty party.

And once again, in Covert Alliance, the woman whose identity was changed and the undercover operative looking for that evidence clash—yet find their mutual attraction irresistible.

I hope you enjoy Covert Alliance. Please come visit me at my website, lindaojohnston.com, and at my weekly blog, killerhobbies.blogspot.com. And yes, I’m on Facebook, too.

LINDA O. JOHNSTON loves to write. While honing her writing skills, she worked in advertising and public relations, then became a lawyer…and enjoyed writing contracts. Linda’s first published fiction appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and won a Robert L. Fish Memorial Award for Best First Mystery Short Story of the Year. Linda now spends most of her time creating memorable tales of paranormal romance, romantic suspense and mystery. Visit her on the web at www.lindaojohnston.com.

MILLS & BOON

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As with Covert Attraction, Covert Alliance is dedicated to those in danger, and those in love.

And yes, as always, I dedicate this book to my wonderful husband, Fred.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

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 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Extract

Copyright

Chapter 1

“Yes, I’ll be glad to bring you—” Kelly Ladd froze in the middle of her response to her customer’s question. She had just glanced toward the restaurant’s front door.

Stan Grodon stood in the crowd that was just entering.

Stan Grodon, the murderous SOB. The reason she had returned to Blue Haven, California—as well as the reason she’d previously been forced to flee for her life. And now—

“Miss? Miss? I’d really like sausage instead of bacon in my three-cheese omelet. Is that okay?”

Kelly’s attention returned quickly to the glare of the middle-aged lady in a too-tight Blue Haven Bulldogs T-shirt who sat with a couple of other similarly clad women at the round table nearest her. She stood between two of them, leaning slightly forward, a pad of paper and a pen in her hand to jot down their orders.

“I’m terribly sorry,” she said soothingly, glad her voice wasn’t cracking. “Of course you can have sausage instead of bacon. Are the types of cheese okay?”

Kelly forced herself to concentrate on taking the orders of all the women at the table, not watching the entrance of the city council members and others with them. Or at least not doing so overtly. She stood sideways so she wouldn’t be too obvious.

But she did manage to observe them as they waited to be seated. Especially the man who had gotten away—so far—with killing his wife. Who had attempted to kill Kelly.

And who was now endangering his own son.

When Kelly headed to the next customer at the table, she allowed herself to turn just a little, to grab a quick look at the group. She had known that a few Blue Haven City Council members and some staff were expected here for a 9:00 a.m. breakfast. They’d sent someone ahead to make sure tables would be ready for them.

Which had also given Kelly time to prepare herself mentally—as much as she could—assuming Stan might be among them. And maybe the other man she anticipated, his aide, Paul Tirths.

Paul was not here, but Stan was. Kelly had played out this moment hundreds of times in her mind. Thousands. Yet she knew reality was unlikely to unfold exactly as she’d imagined.

She just hoped it soon allowed her, at last, to achieve her goals. And stay alive.

She forced herself to smile and act as if she was paying complete attention to what the next customer said. In fact, she was paying some attention. She had to. She was a waitress here, which included taking orders, serving and more. That was the cover she had created for herself. A perfect cover, since she had been fully aware of how popular this family-style café was with the local city council.

Plus, she now knew how to be the ultimate server, thanks to her new identity—although she’d unfortunately had to walk out on the job she had been given to start her new life.

And in doing so, she had undoubtedly incurred a lot of wrath that she would ultimately have to face.

But not yet. Now it was almost time. Time to see if her new looks, that new identity, her new persona, had all been changed sufficiently to make sure Stan couldn’t recognize that she was actually Shereen Alsop, sister to Andi Grodon, the woman who’d been his wife.

The woman he had murdered just over a year ago. Whose body was never found.

“Thanks,” Kelly finally said, smiling brightly at her customers. “I’ll be back with your food soon.”

She barely noticed their startled looks. Had they finished telling her what they wanted? No matter. She couldn’t just stay there. Not now.

Along with the rest of his crowd, Stan now moved toward her as they followed the hostess. He was dressed nattily in an expensive-looking suit and was smiling, damn him, as he chatted with his fellow council members and others like he had nothing in the world on his conscience.

Kelly ached to confront him. Smash that smile right off his ugly, falsely charming face.

But not here. Not now. Not without answers—or Eli. She’d taken on a different identity on social media, too, and the scared recent posts from her nephew were the primary reason she had returned so impulsively.

If there had been any way of helping Eli remotely, she would have done it. She had tried to think of some way to do that so she wouldn’t have to put herself in danger once more.

But she hadn’t been able to just sit back and watch Eli’s terror grow.

“They’re here.” Ella Berdeen, the restaurant’s co-owner and manager, had joined Kelly near the row of tables that she had, at Ella’s instruction, helped to set up. That had involved obtaining more information about timing and numbers from the guy who had requested the rearrangement, then getting enough patrons to move to different tables in the busy restaurant to provide space for the city council.

It had taken a little bribery, some drinks and pastries that were on the house, but it had all worked out in the end.

“I’ll go tell the other servers,” Kelly said hurriedly, feeling like a coward. But she didn’t want to just stand there. And she would simply help to serve the food. She wouldn’t take orders. The waitresses were more noticeable than the ones who simply brought the food out and set it quickly down in front of the patrons—perhaps having an opportunity to eavesdrop a little on what they said.

Even so, she wished her waitress uniform weren’t so skimpy—a short black skirt beneath a snug and sleeveless white blouse. She knew Stan was a womanizer, and if he looked at her now, she wouldn’t necessarily be able to tell if he was undressing her in his mind—or recognizing her.

“No, I’ll tell them, and give me the orders you just wrote down. You start taking the orders of the council members and their staff. We have to accommodate their schedule.” Ella’s expression appeared irritated. In the few days since Kelly had started working here, she’d observed that despite what she made female servers wear, Ella liked to wear chic dresses over comfortable shoes, as she did now. Her hair was short and blond, and her smile never-ending—at least with her customers.

With her employees, like Kelly, she didn’t try to hide it if she felt annoyed. Like now.

“Okay,” Kelly said. But it wasn’t okay. Her first protective measure was now decimated.

On the other hand, maybe it would be better if she knew right away if all the changes that had been made to her, via cosmetic surgery, dyed and restyled hair, lessons in makeup and comportment and posture, voice and more, had changed her appearance enough.

She would soon find out.

Kelly started to turn toward the table when she saw the man in a suit who’d been in here before. He had returned—the guy who had come to make sure things could be set up for this group quickly and who had answered her questions about the arrangement.

Not surprising. He would want to make sure that all was ready, as promised.

But that might not be all he was doing here. And that worried Kelly.

At first she’d thought him an aide to the council members. But as he’d continued to ask questions as well as answer them, she had begun to wonder if he was with the private security company hired to protect the council.

She—no, her alter ego, Shereen Alsop—had had some familiarity with Blue Haven Security and with its staff...then. Before she had fled the town of Blue Haven to avoid the threats to her life that she knew, but could not prove, had come from Stan.

Ella had called this man Alan. He had just reentered the restaurant behind the group, but now he slid in front, approaching Kelly. She wanted to flee into the kitchen. Instead, she stood her ground.

The last thing she wanted was to do anything that might make her conspicuous, especially now, with Stan in the room.

Besides, her suspicion of this guy could just be a self-protective instinct. She couldn’t trust anyone. She didn’t dare.

“Good job getting this set up, Kelly,” Alan said to her immediately. Ella had told him her name earlier, too.

A feeling of warmth passed through her—unwanted heat. Sure, he was attractive. Sexy.

But she didn’t dare even hint at flirting with him.

“Thanks,” she said, making sure she did everything possible to stay within her role.

Alan was over six feet tall. His deep brown eyes regarded her from beneath craggy dark brows that matched his short hair, and he smiled.

But something in his expression made Kelly think he was trying to keep up appearances, too. Maybe because she suspected everyone these days.

Or maybe because she actually knew who this guy was.

“Hey, can we place our orders now?” someone called from beside her. “We’re in a hurry.”

Kelly needed to move away from Alan, and so she turned to respond. But she knew that voice. It was Stan’s.

Which would be less risky—staying here and talking with this possible security guy who might have a different agenda from the rest of his team?

Or confronting Stan for the first time?

“Go ahead,” Ella said from her other side, and the choice was taken from her.

When she glanced in Alan’s direction, she saw him nod slightly, with a small grin on his rugged, amused face that suggested he understood her dilemma.

Was she just reading into his appearance, his actions, because she suspected there would be someone in this town who was also undercover, but officially so?

Well, this wasn’t the time to worry about it. Right now, she needed to confront Stan. Sort of. While staying in character, and praying that her new appearance worked, and Stan didn’t recognize her.

And thus she would at last be able to accomplish what had become her life’s mission: protecting Eli and finally getting the evidence on Stan.

* * *

Alan Correy watched the gorgeous waitress who turned toward the tables of city council members.

The woman he had never met, yet already knew.

When he had come in before as a staff member of Blue Haven Security—his job here, while undercover—to request the tables, Ella had said her name was Kelly. And Alan had previously been instructed to keep an eye out for the woman now known as Kelly Ladd. He had been sent her photo as she’d looked originally, along with the last time they’d seen her, by his boss over his secure phone connection. Was this her?

Maybe.

That woman had taken full advantage of his real employer, the ID Division of the US Marshals Service. They had provided her protection as well as an identity change. But she left the job she had been given in her new life, disappeared without permission from the division’s head, Judge Treena Avalon, or anyone else.

She had been expected to show up here. Apparently she had.

This Kelly resembled the photo, although her hair was softer, curlier and a darker brown, pulled away from her face with a narrow band. Her cheekbones were more prominent, her lips narrower. Her face could have won beauty contests.

But the real Kelly, in addition to having had her looks modified, would also have been instructed in ways to further disguise herself if necessary.

Instead of immediately rushing over to the tables to take orders, Kelly continued looking at Alan for an instant. He had a sense that she was assessing him the way he was assessing her. That she suspected who he was, too.

But then she quickly pulled a pad from the pocket of her skimpy skirt and approached the table.

The person nearest to her, who’d just commanded her attention, was the reason Alan was here in Blue Haven.

And if he was right about who she was, Stan Grodon might in fact be the reason this attractive waitress was here, too. For similar reasons to his.

If so, she was endangering everything Alan stood for. Endangering herself—again—as well.

He would need to stop her. Oh, yeah.

But for now, he would ignore his deep-seated irritation—and her sexiness—and simply observe.

* * *

Could she do this?

She had to. Eli’s well-being was at stake.

Kelly quickly turned her back on the man who sent sparks of nervousness up her spine, whom she believed could ruin everything here for her—and for Eli.

But if she tried, she could ruin everything for him, too. Not that she wanted to.

The tables, all pushed together, seated four on each side and two along the end. A small bouquet of pink roses decorated the middle. The council group members were chatting amiably, although Kelly caught occasional brief eye rolls from some of them.

“Hello,” she said with a huge, contrived smile as she planted herself between Stan and another council member, one who looked familiar but whom she didn’t place. “What can I bring you gentlemen?”

“A tall mug of your strongest and best coffee,” said the short, older man.

“Me, too,” said Stan. “Get yourself one, as well. Then you can sit on my lap and drink it.”

It was all Kelly could do to prevent herself from gagging. Or, more preferable, grabbing the pitcher of water from the table and bashing Stan in the head with it.

His face was round, his hair thinning, his wide grin evil and unsexy, but he undoubtedly still considered himself the world’s greatest gift to women.

For now, Kelly had to go along with it. “Well, thank you, sir,” she said in the new soft and lower voice in which she’d been coached. “But I’m sure you’ll understand that I have to help your friends get their meals, too.”

She did it. She looked straight into his eyes and all but batted her lashes.

If he was going to recognize her, better that it happen now, with all these people around, than later.

“Oh, I understand, all right,” he responded, giving her a huge and ugly wink. “But I come here often. We’ll grab coffee—and more—another time. You’re new at the Haven, aren’t you?”

“Yes, sir.” She made herself pause. “It’s such a wonderful place. Filled with wonderful people.” She didn’t glance away, despite how painful it was to watch him.

Did he know who she was?

Apparently not. A brief feeling of relief shot through her as he continued to treat her like a total stranger. A total female stranger he chose to flirt with.

“Sure is,” he said. “Like the rest of our Blue Haven. Welcome, and I hope you stay a long, long time. I’m Stan, by the way.”

“Me, too, sir,” she lied. “And I’m Kelly.”

She forced herself to continue to take his order—ham and eggs and all the makings of a big breakfast. The others also gave their orders, although a couple of additional waitstaff now joined Kelly to help.

When she was finally finished, she saw that Alan, the good-looking guy she didn’t dare trust, had seated himself with another man in a suit at a smaller table nearby.

He was watching her. And as she hurried into the kitchen to place the orders, she turned back. Alan’s gaze hadn’t left her. As sexy as she considered the man, she felt certain that physical attraction was far from his motive for observing her.

Alan might be the person who was supposed to be here, undercover, to bring Stan down.

But at the same time he might bring Kelly down, too.

Chapter 2

Kelly wished she could stand there and eavesdrop on Stan’s conversations—unobtrusively, without encouraging his disgusting flirtation with her. But she knew she had to stay on top of the requests made by all customers at the tables to which she’d been assigned. At least that included the one where Stan sat.

She didn’t believe he would spill the information she sought right here, in public. But he might drop even just a tiny hint that could lead her, eventually, to what she needed.

Consequently, she passed the table often, refilling water glasses and coffee cups, smiling and inquiring whether everything was okay. Stan had started a loud, friendly conversation with one of his colleagues and more or less ignored her, except to ask for a coffee refill now and then. Kelly also made sure that Alan, as well as his tablemate, were satisfied with the service. To them, she was a server here, and that was all.

She hoped.

Kelly didn’t realize how much of a strain it all was until the entire group, presumed security guys included, finally filed out of the restaurant. Only then did she start breathing normally again.

“Good job,” Ella told the entire group of servers as they stood in the kitchen awaiting the next food items to bring out to remaining and new customers.

“She always says that,” Tobi Marolo whispered out of the corner of her mouth. Tobi had told Kelly she had worked there for decades, even though she was only in her late twenties, around Kelly’s age. When Kelly gently called her on it, she admitted it only felt like she’d practically been born working at this place. “It’s supposed to make us feel happy and actually do a good job...next time,” Tobi continued.

Kelly laughed. She really did feel happy—or at least relieved. Her second hurdle since arriving back in Blue Haven had been leaped, and seemed to have been successful. The first had been landing this job. The second was seeing Stan in person and not being identified by him. He’d never have simply ignored her if he’d thought she could possibly be Shereen—or anyone else who mattered to him.

She still had no idea how she would accomplish hurdle number three: seeing her nephew, Eli, the real reason she had broken promises and rules when her identity had been changed for her protection, and she’d returned to Blue Haven.

Hurdle number four? She had anticipated she might face it—having to deal with someone undercover here who was part of the Identity Division, the government agency that had helped her tremendously but whose commands she was now ignoring. She just hadn’t thought she’d have to face it this soon. If Alan was who she believed he was, that obstacle was now potentially as urgent as the others.

And then there was the most critical, number five: finding a way, at last, to bring Stan down and help Eli.

For the rest of the morning, Kelly went through the usual rituals of greeting customers, handing them menus, making suggestions and taking their orders. Then she served them with a smile, making sure their experiences here were completely positive.

She didn’t always love the aromas floating through the kitchen, particularly the occasional burning of a dish. And it was tiring to be on her feet all the time. Plus, trays full of food could be quite heavy.