Mark Vincent has risen from senior special agent to Director of Interior Affairs in the WBIS. Lately, life has been sweet for him -- in addition to his promotion, he's found a partner in Quinton Mann, who can almost match his ability in the intelligence field, in spite of the fact Quinn's CIA. Mark has also found a condo in Alexandria with the help of Portia Mann, Quinn's mother, and it's closer to Quinn's town house than Mark's present apartment. Sweetest of all, Mark plans to take Quinn to his island in the Caribbean for the holidays.<br><br>Quinn's glad he has the holiday with Mark to look forward to -- something is going on at Langley, and he feels he's being kept out of the loop. To make matters even worse, useless missions and sleepless nights filled with nightmares are leaving him exhausted. But then his mother's life if threatened, and Quinn discovers the accident that resulted in her hospitalization was no accident. The obsessively self-absorbed Senator Wexler is involved, and while Quinn considers himself a civilized man, now he's out for blood.<br><br>Up until this point, Mark has stayed out of Quinn's CIA business. But hurting Quinn and those he loves isn't a smart move, and Mark has every intention of seeing Wexler pays. Quinn demands to come along, and while Mark isn't happy, he finally agrees, and they set out together to deal with the senator. There's just one catch: this will be the first time Quinn sees Mark at his deadly best, and Mark isn't sure how his lover will react.

Forever

I knew I was dreaming—this had the same quality as the nightmares I’d suffered after Paris—but that didn’t help. I stood watching helplessly as the car took the curve too fast and overturned, but this time, instead of coming to a relatively harmless halt, the gas tank ignited with a roar and the car burst into flames.


I could hear Wexler’s screams from the car, and Mark crying out as well.


“Quinn, help me! God in heaven, please! Help me!”


But as hard as I struggled to take a step forward, it was as if my feet were encased in cement, and I couldn’t get them to move.


“Quinn.” My name was a soft breath in my ear. “Quinn. It’s okay, baby. I’ve got you.”


“Mark?” His name came out as a croak. “It’s not okay.”


“No, I guess it isn’t. Here, I’ve got some water. Drink it.” He helped me to sit up and then held the bottle to my lips.


“Thanks.” I drank from it, a few long gulps before pushing it away. “Dammit. I thought I was done with nightmares.”


Chapter 141