For Ages
12 to 99

Close Quarters is a part of the Alias collection.

Keeping tabs on Marianna, the daughter of Italy’s president, isn’t the type of assignment Michael Vaughn was expecting. He’s a newly minted CIA officer—not a babysitter.

Never mind that there’s a plot to assassinate Marianna’s father. Or that she’s incredibly beautiful. Or that ditching her security detail makes her laugh.

Political assassins are no laughing matter.

And neither are gorgeous girls undercover.

An Excerpt fromClose Quarters

1

Michael Vaughn would never have admitted it, but sometimes he still felt beyond cool when he walked into Central Intelligence Agency headquarters. He'd step across the CIA seal on the floor in the center of the lobby, his head held a bit higher than usual, a casual smile on his chiseled face, and think, Check me out. I'm a CIA agent. Yeah, that's right, I'm a badass.

Then he'd laugh at himself and try to keep a straight face until he got past security.

This wasn't CIA agent behavior, he knew. It wasn't even adult behavior. But he couldn't help it. It had started back when he'd reported for training at the Farm. That first day it had hit him: He was finally fulfilling his lifelong dream to be one of the good guys, to protect the United States and its citizens from all threats, foreign or domestic. That day he'd gotten a sort of adrenaline-fueled thrill. And now, more than a year later, he still felt it. He was cool. James Bond cool. Han Solo cool.