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  “Sounds doable.” She tiptoed and nipped his bottom lip with her teeth. “We’re known for slow and easy in the south.”

  “Then I’m going to love living in Alabama.” He covered her mouth with his own. She melted into him.

  The telephone rang.

  Jonathan reluctantly drew back enough to take a breath. “Do we really need a phone in Alabama?”

  Melissa laughed. “We’ll have to negotiate that.”

  The answering machine picked up and the voice of his former boss from the Equalizers filled the silence. “Your final case has been closed out, Foley. Good luck in your new endeavor.” The line disconnected.

  “Now—” Jonathan cupped her face “—where were we?”

  3:30 p.m.

  SLADE CLOSED THE FILE he’d been reviewing. The assignment was exactly the sort of case Dakota Garrett could handle. Ex Special Forces. Kicked out of the military for disobeying orders. Definitely the right man for the job. No worries there.

  He closed the file and turned off the light on his desk. He locked up on his way out of the brownstone. He never visited the office unless his secretary was gone for the day or away on lunch. Never met face-to-face with his investigators. For now that was the way it had to stay.

  Since Foley had resigned, Slade would need to consider a new hire. None of the former owner’s staff had remained with the Equalizers firm. Not that Slade wanted anyone who knew the former owner, Jim Colby, to stay. Still, he needed to keep the Equalizers operational until he was finished here. Staying operational required staff.

  Slade pointed his SUV in the direction of downtown. He had something to do. The same thing he did every day at this time. His destination had a transit time of about twenty minutes, depending upon traffic. Once at the location, he parked his SUV and then parked himself at the same table he always chose at Maggie’s Coffee House.

  The table provided the best view of the comings and goings at the Colby Agency. He placed his same order, medium black coffee, dark Columbian roast. Then he settled in to observe his prey.

  No one at the Colby Agency knew him. Even Jim, the man from whom he’d bought the brownstone and the Equalizers firm, didn’t know his name or his face.

  Slade Keaton wasn’t even his real name.

  He hadn’t used that sham of a name in over a decade. He never would again.

  Slade had taken charge of his life. He’d clawed his way up from rock bottom and now he owned whatever he chose to own, whomever he chose to own.

  And not a soul had a clue who he was or what he was up to. Certainly not anyone at the Colby Agency.

  But they would know very soon.

  Very, very soon they would all know him.

  One of them in particular, the illustrious Lucas Camp, would come face-to-face with that long ago mistake he’d made and quickly forgotten.

  And he would pay.

  Victoria Colby-Camp had better brace herself.

  Her whole perfect world was about to be turned upside down.

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-8954-7

  MISSING

  Copyright © 2011 by Debra Webb

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

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  * Colby Agency

  ^ The Equalizers

  ‡ Colby Agency: Elite Reconnaissance Division

  ** Colby Agency: Under Siege

  # Colby Agency: Merger

  ##Colby Agency: Christmas Miracles

  +Colby Agency: The New Equalizers