Read Online Undercover by Danielle Steel - Free Book Online Page A

undercover, but was hesitant to ask him about them. Only Brad hounded him to tell him stories, once he heard about it from the other agents, but Marshall never would. Brad said he wanted to work for the CIA one day, and Marshall always teased him that the DEA was better. He had an easy rapport with both kids, and enormous respect for their parents, how good they were with their children, and kind to their employees. And he was sorry to leave Aspen, where he had enjoyed the skiing and the relaxed time with Melissa and the kids.
    Once back in Washington, he was on the job with the president again. Marshall still had no social life of his own, and didn’t want one. He showed no interest in the women he met at the office. The one thing he knew after losing Paloma and their baby, and years earlier his parents, was that he never wanted to love anyone and lose them again. His work was enough for him.
    They had a busy winter and spring, with state dinners, political meetings, a trip to Europe, another to Asia, another trip to Australia, appearances in Texas, California, and other states, and a brief stay in Oklahoma when a series of tornadoes devastated the state and the president went to observe the damage. It startled Marshall to realize that he had been back from Colombia for fifteen months, by the time things settled down in May, and he had been assigned to the president for seven months.
    Amelia made him a birthday card herself and gave him a cupcake with a candle in it when he turned thirty. And Brad gave him a football autographed by Aaron Rodgers, which had been given to him and was one of his prize possessions. Marshall was hesitant to accept it, but Brad insisted he wanted him to have it, and Marshall promised to put it in a place of honor in his apartment, which still looked stark and sterile. He kept meaning to fix it up, but now he had no time. And Georgetown still didn’t feel like home. The last place that had felt like home to him was his hut in Raul’s camp, but that was because of who was there.
    He thought of Paloma a little less often now, although she still haunted him, with her heavy round belly. And in the back of his mind, he still wanted to hunt Raul down and kill him one day. He had heard through his DEA sources that his operation had been severely hampered, and he was back in Colombia by then, in a different location. The DEA had an operative in his camp, working at a low level, but no one had been able to infiltrate into the operation to the degree that Marshall had. Raul was even more careful now, and had learned a painful lesson when he realized that Marshall had betrayed him, and outsmarted him for three years. But Raul had won in the end, when he killed Paloma, and struck at the heart of everything that mattered to Marshall.
    In July, Marshall got a call from Bill Carter to tell him the news. They had enough information to move on Raul’s camp again. They had effected a devastating raid, and Raul had been killed, along with two of his brothers. Bill wanted Marshall to know, and thought he’d be relieved. But all Marshall felt was emptiness, like a giant hole in his stomach or his heart. He was surprised to discover that his death didn’t matter. Paloma was dead, whether Raul was dead or alive. Their child had never been born, and a beautiful young woman he had loved had been snuffed out. It felt right that Raul was dead now too, but it didn’t change anything. It was all in the past.
    The next day Marshall was thinking about them, staring into space, and remembering Raul and Paloma and the life they had shared. It seemed like only yesterday and yet was so long ago. He was at a compound the president had rented for the month on Long Island, and Marshall was standing guard outside the house, when he felt someone tug at his sleeve, and he looked down and saw Amelia. He had been a million miles away, and she was wearing her bathing suit and gazed up at him with worried eyes.
    “Are you sad?” she