Guardian Agent by Dana Marton Page B

his headset, then, “Did he look hurt?”
    “No.”
    “I could have sworn I clipped him before we lost him last week.” A moment of silence. “Spread out.”
    As the team scattered, Gabe made his way back to the old palace, trying to think of the woman’s name, not expecting much after ten years, surprised when it did pop into his brain: Jasmine .
    She was going to take him to Tekla. He would bring the man in himself, making sure she didn’t get hurt in the process. Things could get out of hand when a cornered person was confronted with an entire commando team. For all he knew, the other sister was here, too. His jaw muscles tightened. He had no respect for a man who would use his sisters as a shield. Gabe vaulted from roof to roof, watching out for crumbling edges.
    If he could complete the mission without bloodshed, he wanted to give it a try. Maybe saving a few lives, after having taken so many, would even the scales a little.
    Except, he found the palace roof empty.
    He stared at the sawed through plastic cuff next to a shattered roof tile and its sharp shards. He should have thought of that, dammit. Anger coursed through him as he moved to look over the edge, not seeing her anywhere below.
    A few hardy tourists strolled the sidewalks, out doing the whole ‘Venice by starlight’ thing. He considered going down among them, even as he knew it would be futile. She could be anywhere by now. Closer to the city center, St. Mark’s Square and the areas around the major hotels, would be even busier. A lot of visitors had arrived already for the famous Carnival that would start next week. They enjoyed taking their fancy costumes out for a test drive. He would never find her tonight.
    He’d underestimated her. She wouldn’t be easily defeated. Of course, she was trying to protect her brother, which he could respect. But he was going to bring Tekla in.
    He needed the money badly. Lives depended on it.

Chapter Two

    Jasmine hurried along the Grand Canal, dodging a group of die-hard revelers, glancing back over her shoulder for the hundredth time. She couldn’t see Gabe Cannon anywhere.
    Her teenage fantasy man was hunting her brother. She sure hadn’t seen that coming. Freaking surreal.
    He looked just as good as when she’d first met him at that airport and had fallen instantly in love while they’d all gone out for pizza. One of those unavoidable pitfalls of life, really. He’d been more handsome than any of her pop idols, and her teenage emotions had been just begging for an outlet. She cringed in embarrassment when she thought of all the melodramatic drivel she’d written about him in her diary in high school.
    His dark hair was a little longer now and his face had developed a few more hard edges, but the sight of him could still knock the air from her lungs. He probably didn’t even recognize her. Last time he’d seen her, she’d been a gangly teenager with braces.
    “ Permesso.” Jasmine moved around an older woman who held half-dozen poodles on leashes, barely registering the dogs, her mind on other things.
    Gabe Cannon could have killed her on that roof.
    She reached the next bridge and touched the wing of the carved angel on the right post in a silent prayer, as she did every time she passed through here. She needed a guardian angel and badly. And maybe she had one. Maybe he’d been looking out for her tonight.
    That Gabe hadn’t handed her over to his team was nothing short of a miracle. She’d broken free, thanks to some quick thinking. “You are never unarmed,” her brother had taught her shortly after they’d gone on the run. “Everything around you can be used either as a tool or a weapon.”
    Of course, could be Gabe had meant for her to escape. Maybe he thought he could follow her from a distance. Good luck with that. She’d become a master of evasion in the last few weeks, learned every island, every canal in the city. With her twists and turns and doubling back, she was confident that