"Bang. You're dead."

Ryder jumped as the empty gun clicked off a shot. Ava was smirking as she watched the shock on his face. "What the fuck? Are you crazy?"

"No. If I had been anyone else you would have been dead. You're a dumb ass who's thinking with his dick." Ava walked into the sleazy apartment and perched herself on the edge of the bed. She surveyed the room slowly, shaking her head at the scene before her. Loading a clip into her gun, she smiled. "What the hell have you gotten yourself into?"

"It's none of your business," he muttered. How the hell had she followed him? He'd been so careful!

She was suddenly up in his face. "Fuck you! It is my business and the business of our team! You are fucking around with a Fed!"

He pushed her back onto the bed. "Sit down and get out of my face. You're a new addition to my team and you don't know what you're talking about." Shit, how the hell did she know? And God damnit why was she so gorgeous? Ava Spartan was 5'6, with long black, curly hair that fell clear past her elbows. She had the face of a goddess, the body of a porn star, and the mind of a professional killer. It had been a while, he thought with a smile.

"No, you sit down," she said as she swung out her leg and knocked him on his ass. Fucking hell, she was going to be hard to deal with. "Okay. I think we've bullshitted around enough. I'm not fucking her."

She interrupted him with a skeptical snort.

"-I'm not fucking her. I'm trying to get information out of her."

Ava's eyes glimmered with a heat that his own suddenly mirrored. This woman liked a war, a good, strategized, bloody war. No wonder she was a fucking assassin."Well, well. That's quite interesting. So you're using her. I like it. Not usually ATF's style." She shifted closer to him, her breasts nearly spilling out of the black button-up she wore. "So, what do you have?"

"She and her team are working the Zarkan Trial, too."

Her face expressed shock. "Really? Why was I not informed?"

"Because I wasn't informed."

"So let me get this straight. The Feds and the ATF are both working the same case, and neither outfit knows about it."

Ryder nodded as he collapsed on the bed next to her and lit up a cigarette. Ava fell back next to him and stared at him, propping her head up on her hand.

"Well fuck me," she whispered as she took one of his cigarettes. "So you and Blondie figured it out and have been trading info."

"General info," he corrected. "I haven't told her anything of our movements, just the generic shit that is handed out through the initial briefing. I'm still trying to figure out how to ask the commander about this," he said thoughtfully as he blew out a cloud of smoke.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not?" he asked as he looked over at her. They were close, almost nose to nose. It really had been a while.

"I think we need to roll with this and see what happens."

He laughed as he blew out smoke. "You forget what it's like to be under someone's rules. To have someone in charge of you. I have to report to my commander. I can't just forget to mention something to him."

"Well mention it or not, I don't care. That isn't my game." She looked over at him as he laughed and smoked trailed out through his lips. He hadn't changed a bit.

"No, it's not your game."

"So I say we use Blondie to get the extra intel we need to save this case."

"That's playing dirty," he smirked.

"Politics are dirty."

"Okay, we'll run with it." Ryder agreed but he couldn't get the nagging feeling out of the back of his mind. "I'll schedule a meeting with the rest of the group and expose 'Blondie' and the movements of the Feds and see what their up to."

"Anything else, your Highness?" she said with a laugh.

"Yeah, don't ever sneak up on me again."