Read Online An Unlikely Hero (1) by Tierney James - Free Book Online

events began to be absorbed. The rise and fall of Benjamin’s chest slowed to a steady rhythm as the silence of the room began to smother the fire of his temper. When Benjamin sighed, Chase knew it was safe to speak.
    “The doc fixed Jamaal up. He’s waiting downstairs to be interrogated.” Grasping the arm of the chair, Chase pushed himself up. A stiffness began to attack his bones. It had been a hell of a morning. The adrenalin rush prevented pain earlier, but now that order had returned to his world, Chase felt his age. “I’ll take Zoric with me.”
    Zoric and Chase shared a history neither talked about to others. Each knew the other had their back. Chase regretted that the men helping earlier in the day nearly lost their lives at the hands of the terrorists, but was grateful that Zoric had not been available for the job. Few got Chase’s respect and trust. Nicholas Zoric was one of them.
    Taking Zoric into an interrogation situation usually proved successful. His dark hollow looks made him seem more like a vampire than an American agent with Enigma. His cold bloodshot eyes showed no emotion. The scars across his cheek and neck hinted at a dangerous past. A thick, black mustache peppered with gray spoke of middle age unlike his straight black hair he pulled back into a ponytail that rested on his lean neck. Zoric wasn’t a big man, only five foot eleven compared to Chase’s six foot one frame.
    He had been an accomplished artist in Sarajevo before the war. Young, optimistic and talented, Nicholas Zoric married his childhood sweetheart and quickly started a family. The war took everything; his family, his talent, his reason to live. He became a cold blooded killer in the name of justice. Zoric became one of the walking dead of Serbia. Now, when he wasn’t on mission, he taught art classes at the university. His ability to inflict pain on the deserving proved a great asset to Enigma and they took advantage of that talent whenever it suited them.
    Nicholas Zoric marveled at how Vernon Kemp had suddenly emerged from his shy, awkward self into a babbling idiot as the pretty lady handcuffed to the chair drew him into a normal conversation. He’d never seen Vernon so relaxed around a woman. Zoric admitted even though Mrs. Scott was disheveled, the bruises, smudges and ripped clothing failed to hide a pretty woman. Those blue eyes swallowed a man’s common sense. Their intense attention to Vernon’s voice swayed even him, a lost soul.
    Zoric nudged Vernon’s shoulder with a fist. “Boss waitin’. Better come,” he said moving toward the glass wall where Benjamin and Chase watched with sour looks. “Now, Vernon.”
    Vernon said one more thing to Mrs. Scott. It sounded like some kind of promise. He passed Zoric as he shoved his hands back into his jean pockets. His whistling drowned out Zoric’s warning, but Vernon ambled into the glass office carefree and smiling.
    “What the hell were you doing?” Chase’s low controlled voice sent a disgruntled message.
    “Nothin’.” Vernon suddenly looked confused. Chase gave a side long glance at Mrs. Scott then back to him. “Oh. Tessa and I were just...”
    “Tessa?” Benjamin Clark interrupted as his strange grey eyes focused on Vernon with a kind of liquid fire consistency. “Tessa! Who gave you permission to fraternize with the prisoner?”
    Vernon blinked rapidly. “You’re right. I shouldn’t let people who humiliate us know we’re human.” Vernon’s habit of trivializing a reprimand annoyed Benjamin Clark’s ‘total control’ attitude. Just as Benjamin straightened to his full height and pulled back his shoulders, Chase stepped in front of Vernon.
    “Until we get this straightened out its best not to talk to Mrs. Scott.”
    Vernon shoved his hands deeper into his pockets and rolled his eyes disrespectfully. “Whatever, dude.” The pleasure he got from irritating Benjamin Clark would be put on hold. The thought of angering Chase was another