Flashback by Justine Davis (reading e books .TXT) 📗

Alex didn’t even try to deflect any of it. These were her beloved sister Cassandras, and she was too delighted to see them. Especially back here at Athena, the place they all thought of as their home, finally out from under the shadow of its founder’s brutal murder.

She looked around, eyes stopping on each woman so dear to her—dark-haired, honey-skinned Kayla; petite, bubbly Darcy who finally had the smile back on her face after escaping forever her abusive husband; and trim, brunette Josie, who had a few days’ leave from the air force base in California. Missing were golden-haired Sam, who was off on another CIA adventure, no doubt, and of course Tory Patton, whose TV news show kept her tied to New York for the moment. They’d called Sam and Tory and left messages for them to enjoy whenever they could check in. And of course, they and Marion Gracelyn’s family had all been filled in on this latest Athena triumph.

Athena Force had banded together once more, and it felt good.

Christine Evans called for their attention by flicking her champagne glass with a fingernail.

“Enough, all of you incorrigibles,” she said with a laugh. “I need your attention. I want to propose a toast. To Alex, for bringing Athena out of the darkness, and bringing justice at last to the woman who had the dream and made it happen.”

“Here, here,” they chorused, and clinked glasses together.

The phone rang and Christine went to answer it as Darcy called out, “Speech, speech.”

“Oh, please,” Alex laughed.

“Yeah, come on, girlfriend,” Kayla urged.

“Look,” Alex said, “I didn’t do this alone. Besides my grandfather, Christine helped. Kayla was with me every step of the way, and Eric Hunt was beyond helpful. Samantha pulled some of our evidence out of a deep, dark computer hole. And Tory provided that rarest of creatures, an honest news report. And Josie’s little sister, Diana, warning the White House so they were ready.”

“And Justin?” Kayla said archly.

“Of course.” Alex kept her voice level. “Not only did he go through all this and get hurt in the process, he’s the one who got Senator Rankin to confess that he’d been the point man all along.”

“And that’s all he did?” Josie said, waggling an eyebrow.

“Oh, he did enough. More than enough.” Alex finally lost her cool then, and the Cassandras hooted as she blushed furiously.

Her cell phone rang, and she was silently thankful for the interruption. And for once she wasn’t wishing it was Justin; that would just let her in for even more harassment.

She looked at the Caller ID, and smiled as she flipped open the phone.

“Eric.”

“Hi, Alex. I just got through your full report. That was an amazing bit of work you did.”

“More like rattling a lot of cages until the snake fell out.”

“Whatever, it worked. You did it.”

“I had something you didn’t,” she said. “I grew up in that world, or on the fringe of it, anyway. I knew just how evil those big boys can get.”

“Thanks, but I don’t need the excuses. I know I was in way over my head back then. Now I’d like to think I’d do better.”

“Don’t think it, Eric. Know it. You’re a fine cop. They’re lucky to have you. And if it’s what you want, go for that sergeant’s exam Kayla told me is coming up in a couple of months. You’ve got the stuff.”

For a moment there was silence. And then a quiet “Thank you,” that fairly echoed with sincerity.

She’d barely hung up when someone called her name.

“Alex?”

It was Christine, holding the phone out to her. She took it, wondering who’d be calling her here.

“Alex? It’s Allison. I wanted to thank you. More than words can say.”

“No thanks necessary,” Alex assured her.

“Thank you, anyway. From me, my brother and my father. He’s at peace for the first time in years.”

“I’m glad,” Alex said, meaning it.

“If you ever get tired of that FBI lab, you call me. Promise.”

Alex was puzzled, but said, “Okay. I will. Did anything turn up about that other situation?”

“No. Not yet.”

After another round of thank-yous and a repetition of her sharing of the credit, Alex hung up and went back to the party. She hadn’t realized how much she missed the camaraderie until she was back here among her closest friends.

“Athena Force,” she announced, “needs to get better at staying in touch.”

They all agreed, and the chatter about how to do that began. Alex joined in, smiling and laughing with her sister Cassandras.

But beneath the feeling of closure and camaraderie was a single, hovering thought, suspended in the back of her mind as if by a thread. A silken thread like that of the spider whose scribbled image she couldn’t quite erase from her mind.

Marion had been blackmailed, and they still didn’t know by whom. Or over what. But she had the feeling that spider was the key.

I guess the Cassandras aren’t quite through with history yet.

Silhouette Bombshell and the women of

ATHENA FORCE

have more thrilling adventures to share!

Don’t miss the next story in this popular

continuity series, featuring CIA agent

Samantha St. John

and her Russian-spy twin sister, Elle.

LOOK-ALIKE

By Meredith Fletcher

Available May 2006

wherever Silhouette Books are sold.

Athena Academy for the Advancement of Women Outside Athens, Arizona

Controlling the outrage that stirred within her, Samantha St. John sat at the conference table across from Alexandra Forsythe and Allison Gracelyn.

“I know you’re angry, Sam.” Alex spoke softly, in her professional voice, and that irritated Sam more.

At five-feet-eight inches tall with long, curly red-gold hair and blue eyes, Alex was a hard woman to miss in a crowd. Currently, she lived in Washington, D.C., and worked for the FBI.

“You’re right,” Sam said in a quiet, controlled voice. “I’m angry. I had a vacation planned with my sister. A quiet time where we could get away and get to know more about each other—”

“We didn’t plan this,” Alex said.

“—and, instead, I ended up in