The Wedding Trap (Second Service) Read Free

for a moment about going back up to Isobel’s room, but quickly discarded the idea. It would be selfish of her to bring down her friend’s happiness with her own petty problems.
    And they were petty. Beth knew it. Just like she knew she had brought all of this grief on herself.
    She strode past the bar and headed straight for the set of double doors at the end of the hall. If she just got some air, maybe she could think a little clearer.
    She had gotten herself into this mess. Now she was going to have to figure a way out.

Chapter 2
     
    Alex Tanner jumped over the short fence that separated the valet lot from the rest of the Kensington Hotel parking. The cherry red BMW wasn’t hard to find. It was at the far edge of the lot, right up against the edge of the perfectly landscaped hill.
    He did a quick scan of the area before approaching the car. There was a cluster of people just outside the hotel entrance. The small crowd that was milling around down by the corner looked like they were waiting for a bus. A woman walking through the small garden to the right of the lot was the only person close enough to see his face, but she was busy looking down at her own feet, seemingly too absorbed by her own troubles to concern herself with his.
    Alex kept walking and pressed the button on the keychain device in his pocket. Every car alarm in a ten foot radius silently disabled. The button next to it unlocked the doors. A little B&E had never been easier thanks to his friends over at DARPA.
    Alex opened the driver’s side door, keeping one leg on the ground outside as he sat down on the leather seat. He flipped both sun visors down. Nothing.
    He popped open the glove box. Car manual. Registration. Insurance information. That was it.
    He wasn’t surprised. The chance of finding anything useful in the best man’s car had been a long shot. There were three more vehicles to check after this, and, though Alex wasn’t holding out much hope for any of them, he still had to try.
    His best bet had been the rooms, and he’d already had the opportunity to go through three of the four—the groom, the best man, the maid of honor. That only left the bride. She had been the only one who hadn’t left her room today.
    But a quick glance at the hotel restaurant reservation book had shown that she would be out for dinner in a little over an hour.
    Not that Alex expected to discover anything. Every piece of information they had on Isobel Munoz indicated that she had little contact with her father’s family in Venezuela. It was unlikely that she had any knowledge that her uncle was using her wedding as a cover to buy intelligence on the US strategic oil reserves from a leak in the CIA.
    Unlikely, but not impossible.
    That’s why the Agency had shipped him all the way out from Virginia to partner with an old friend in the Department of Homeland Security on this one. The DHS was taking care of Munoz. With the man’s violent past and strong ties to the most extreme anti-American factions of the Venezuelan government, it surprised Alex that he had been allowed into the country at all. But apparently the DHS had felt that it was worth the risk to catch him in the act on American soil. That way the international community would have to accept his capture.
    His friend John had this place covered. Besides the usual visual and audio surveillance, John and his team were wired to intercept and filter through every cellular transmission inside the walls of the Kensington Hotel.
    Alex’s role in the mission was clear. He was here to find the CIA leak, plain and simple. The Agency didn’t mind sharing information and helping out the Department of Homeland Security in taking down Munoz, but when it came to double agents, the Agency insisted on taking care of those on their own.
    He took one more quick glance around the car. He wasn’t expecting to see any familiar names on the Munoz-Masterson invite list, but he wasn’t ruling anything out. Besides, he had