Dangerous Pasts

By Moira Callahan

The past should remain where it belongs, in the past.

Chandra Devons has a checkered past, one she’s not prepared to discuss with anyone. She’s happy with how her life is now, including the very sexy FBI agent in the spotlight of all her fantasies. But she knows it’s only a matter of time before he starts to ask questions.

Special Agent Zachary Parker of the FBI knows when someone is hiding something, and the woman in his life is most definitely keeping secrets. While this normally wouldn’t be an issue, just part of the intrigue of the opposite sex, he has the distinct impression her secrets could end up haunting them both. When Chandra is kidnapped by an unknown group, Zachary will do anything necessary to ensure she doesn’t succumb to her dangerous past.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Evernight Publishing
• Release date: Jan 28, 2015
• ISBN: 9781772332223

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Published by Evernight Publishing ® at Smashwords

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2015 Moira Callahan

ISBN: 978-1-77233-222-3

Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

Editor: Laurie Temple

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

Thank you to my wonderful editor, Laurie Temple, once again for the fun journey of getting this book ready. You are truly amazing, and I can’t tell you how happy I am we got paired up for all my books thus far. Hope you're ready for a few more down the road.

To my readers, you are some of the most enthusiastic, crazy, and fun people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. You make writing these books so much more fun than I think is legal. Thank you for your support, your enthusiasm, and encouragement along the way.

And to my publisher for making my foray into being an author smooth, and wonderful. I couldn’t have done any of this without the support of the Evernight Family. Thank you.

DANGEROUS PASTS

C&M Security, 5

Moira Callahan

Copyright © 2015

Prologue

When things go sideways, they really go sideways. Chandra Devons knew that better than most.

A benefit of growing up in a military, nearly all male family was learning how to anticipate and then recover from shit going out of control. With a father who was a lifer, and six older brothers that all followed in his footsteps, Chandra knew a thing or two about how wrong things really could go.

After high school her father expected her to marry, settle down, have the standard two-point-five kids, and maybe even a dog. Thankfully, her mother had stepped in, in her very quiet way, and told Chandra’s father to stick his out-of-date delusions back in the box. So off Chandra had gone to university.

Her only problem was, she didn’t know what she wanted to be when she grew up. Not exactly atypical for any university-aged person. It wasn’t like there was a manual that said: Be this. Even those stupid sheets the guidance counsellors had made her fill out hadn’t provided any great insight.

So she went with what she knew—languages. It was something she was good at. She’d always had an ear for picking them up. Another bonus of a career military father was plenty of places around the globe to pick up a few languages. University was her time to refine what she’d already learned and then take it to a new level.

Then came the time to leave school behind, and get a job. She truly didn’t know what to do with all she’d learned. Thankfully, one of her brothers gave her a hand and got her an interview. From there her life took one hell of a turn.

Rules were never exactly her best friends. Growing up with all the testosterone surrounding her, Chandra learned that sometimes a woman had to get creative to get what she wanted. Definitely something she refined during her time working for the CIA. And her language skills came into play once or twice.

Only bad thing about working for the company was the fact Chandra couldn’t tell anyone what she did. Not that they’d believe her anyway. The only one in her life who actually knew anything was her youngest brother, the one that had gotten her the interview. He wasn’t the sort that would rat her out, and he was a help over the years.

Then came the case that changed her mind about working for the government. In retrospect, it really wasn’t one thing, it was the culmination of a number of things that led to one giant cluster-fuck. It got her captured, tortured, and very nearly killed. If not for a singular event that happened at the absolute right moment, she never would have made it out of that shit hole.

But, she did. At which point Chandra promptly handed in her resignation, and went on a much needed vacation.

Upon her return, she went looking for something a little lower key, and that was how she ended up working for C&M Security with Shawn Camden, and Robyn Matthews. Practically everyone working there was ex-military, or an ex-Fed from one agency or another.

Chandra had been taught never to lie. It did no one any good, and it could complicate an already complicated situation beyond all measure. Not including her time working for the CIA, she only ever lied twice in her life.

Once to her mother about what happened to the vase when she’d been six. The second time was on her application to work for C&M. Not that they could have verified her work for the CIA anyway. As far as the company was concerned, Chandra Devons didn’t exist in their universe. Never had and never would.

Unfortunately, sometimes the past isn’t as at rest as we’d like, and it comes back to bite you in the ass.

Chapter One

Her wrists burned from the restraints, her face felt two times too big, and her breathing was labored. Chandra knew she’d been worked over real well. Now if only she could remember some of the details.

She remembered dinner out. There had been dancing at a club, some drinks, and then nothing. Absolutely nothing. All she had was a big ass blank spot in her memory.

No, wait. A voice asking questions over and over again. Pain, she definitely recalled some pain. Nothing like the training she’d gone through to withstand interrogations of course, but it had made it onto her radar.

With care, she worked at prying her eyelids open. When that didn’t work, she went with a little more force. Didn’t really help, but she did gain a tiny slit of a view. Not that the view was worth writing home about. Concrete walls and floor, a solid-looking door with a chair sitting next to it, and her. There appeared to be some form of light, likely a single bulb given how weak it appeared to be.

Then again, it could be her shitty eyesight, and all those little dancing spots. Trying to tip her head back for a look at what had her hands caught proved too much. She was weak and sore, her mouth was parched, and her head swam. Which meant she’d been there for a damn long time. Not good, not good at all.

The door creaked open, just like in all those good old-fashioned horror movies, giving a nice squeal at the end. Set quite the mood for whatever was going on.

Wake her up, a voice said. Male, eastern European accent, cultured with a smooth edge of brutality. Her host was her guess.

A wave of icy cold water hit her body causing her to jolt, and gasp. It also told her that she didn’t have a hell of a lot of clothing on, her strapless bra and panties would be her assumption. Damn. That seriously sucked, especially when she couldn’t remember anything of importance. She’d been out of the game long enough to probably be considered archaic.

Someone grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her head back. Oh, hey, she was dangling from some sort of hook that reminded her of those used for hanging beef. Not a great comparison, but her brain was a little sluggish. Her hands were cuffed with some sort of leather banding, that then was looped over the hook, and kept her up on her feet. Nifty little setup, really.

Ms. Dubois, the cultured voice said. Shall we begin again?

Dubois? Dubois? What the ever loving hell was this guy talking about? Her name was Devons, not that she’d share that detail with the guy in the four thousand dollar suit. But it did make her squint a little harder at him to try and figure out who the hell he was.

Did she know him? Maybe. Fuck, anything was possible given her past. But it should have been impossible for anyone from that life to ever find her. She didn’t look the same, didn’t dress the same, had even relearned all her mannerisms