Chapter Thirteen

 

“You did what?” Robert stared at Sasha, his gut twisting at the words he’d just heard come from the other man’s mouth.

Sasha sat across the kitchen table from him. They weren’t alone. Dante had a mug of coffee in front of him but had so far been silent.

“I read the files Green gave to us.” Morning light filtered in but it did nothing to soften Sasha’s harsh features. His eyes were always bloodshot, his face marked with the scars he’d taken during their time with McDonald. “I took the drive from you because I knew what would happen. I knew you would rethink things the moment you laid eyes on Ariel again and then you wouldn’t share it.”

Sasha wasn’t wrong. He’d opened the files and browsed through them, but he hadn’t called the guys in for a meeting. Ariel hadn’t tried to take it from him, hadn’t denied her former occupation. And he’d decided to think the whole thing over. Then the scene with Emily had happened and he’d known he would wake up in the morning and give the drive to Ariel. He’d allow her to share what she felt comfortable sharing. He’d intended to give her the power back because deep down he trusted her.

Her past was over. She was a therapist now and on their side. She’d quit MI6 a long time ago, and surely the meeting with Solo was about finding out how she could help them now. He’d justified all of it in his head this morning.

“You had no right to do that.” The words came out of Robert’s mouth in a harsh grind.

When had Sasha taken the thumb drive? He’d kept it on him the night before. Or he’d thought he had. By the time he’d gone to bed he hadn’t been thinking about the drive, and this morning when he’d woken, it had been gone. He’d come out to accuse Ezra of taking it, but the boss had already left. He and Ariel and Peter were on their way to pick up Solo and bring her back for a briefing. He’d come to the kitchen to prep his men and found out they were the very ones who’d taken the drive.

Sasha frowned his way. His laptop was open in front of him. “I had every right. That information was given to you but it affects all of us. Do you know they’re bringing in Solo?”

“Yes, I know. They’re picking her up because they don’t want her coming here on her own.” At least that was what Ezra had told him over the phone. “They should be back in half an hour or so.”

“And you’re all right with that?” Sasha asked. “You know what’s going to happen. She’s going to come into this club and start dictating how we live. I thought we were trying to avoid becoming CIA stooges.”

“Or they just wanted to string us all along until they could find a way to use us to get what they want,” Dante said. “They seem to have found the right combination now. I never thought Ezra would be the one to bring in his ex-wife. Perhaps they have lied about their animosity.”

“Why would they do that?” He was sick of this. They needed to have it out and it wouldn’t wait until they were back in London.

“To keep us off balance.” Sasha shook his head and looked at him like he was a pathetic, naïve child. “We are inconvenient to them now. I’m sure they started this with the thought to help out, but as you Americans say, the shit is getting real now. We know too much and so does McKay-Taggart. If the Agency decides to come down on them, the best play they have is to give us up. Not Owen and probably not you. But the rest of us are fair game, and this is not a game I wish to lose.”

“No one is selling you out to the Agency. If they’d wanted to do it, why wait? And why sell us at all?” Robert asked. “We all know that Levi got an enormous amount of data from Colorado.”

“It wasn’t enough,” Sasha replied. “It couldn’t have been or they would leave us alone. And we’re dealing with several different factions within the CIA. If Solo can be trusted, she claims she’s working for someone who is diametrically opposed to Levi’s bosses.”

Dante shrugged. “I don’t know why they do anything. I only know that they are lying to us. They are covering up their dealings and I’m done. I say we go to Kronberg and get this intelligence ourselves. Then we will have power. Then we can force them all to do our bidding for once.”

“You’re talking about the file Ariel thinks Kronberg is holding on to?” Owen walked into the room, followed by Rebecca. “I read her memo this morning. Apparently we’re saving the briefing for later.”

“Ariel is bringing Solo in to talk to us.” He felt a weird numbness. “We’ll have a briefing then.”

“Well, we’ll hear what the Agency wants us to hear,” Dante grumbled, his accent thick. “Has anyone thought about the fact that yesterday we find out there is some kind of blackmail documents out there, a file that ties powerful people to Dr. Walsh, and today Solo shows up? Do you understand what we could do with that file?”

“What’s going on here?” Owen seemed to be figuring out that this wasn’t a casual breakfast conversation.

Sasha’s brow rose and he looked directly at Rebecca. “I think this is a meeting for the men.”

“Sexist much?” Rebecca asked, going to the cabinet and grabbing a coffee mug.

“If you were a woman who McDonald had erased, you would be more than welcome, so really the misogyny was on her,” Sasha quipped.

“I think we should have this meeting in private,” Dante insisted.

“If something’s going on, Rebecca’s affected, too.” Owen stood in front of Dante. “I’m sick of all this shite about who’s a real member of this team and who’s not. We’re all in this together.”

“Are we?” Sasha asked. “Then why has Ariel been meeting with Solo and not mentioning this fact to us? Solo is the one who followed you that first day. Ariel knew that, too. She did not mention this to me. Did she to you? Or did she keep it to herself so we would be afraid of leaving the club?”

She’d known who’d followed them?

“She doesn’t keep her phone as private as she thinks.” Sasha’s jaw tightened as though he knew he was in for a fight. “I duped it two days ago when I got seriously worried we were being placed into a position we can’t get out of. Solo texted her shortly after we got to the club. They’ve been talking regularly.”

The betrayal hit him like a kick in the gut, and he wasn’t sure which betrayal was worse. Ariel hadn’t mentioned she’d been talking to Solo. “You duped Ariel’s phone?”

“Someone had to.” Sasha turned the laptop around. “Someone has to make you see what’s happening.”

“Rebecca, I think you should come stand next to me,” Owen said slowly.

“I think I’ll wait for you in our room,” she replied.

Dante stood. “If you’re thinking about calling your friend, you should know she’s out with Ezra. They’re picking up Solo and bringing her back here where I’m sure we’re going to get a bunch of crap about how the Agency wants to save us all. She’ll ride in on a fucking unicorn and we’re supposed to believe everything she says.”

Rebecca had left her coffee mug behind. She joined Owen and quickly found herself placed behind him. “I wasn’t planning on calling anyone.”

He needed to ratchet down the emotion. “No one is going to simply buy everything Solo is selling, least of all Ezra. I think when they get back, we should all sit down and figure this out. We won’t do anything else until we’re one hundred percent certain we know what’s going on. Okay? I’ll go wake up Tucker and we can sit down and discuss the situation.”

“Of course you want to talk,” Sasha said, frustration in his tone. “Talk is all you want to do. Ariel will walk in and she’ll work her magic on you. She figured out very quickly that you were the one to manipulate. We all follow you so she made sure she could lead you around by your dick.”

“Stop talking about her that way.” He wasn’t going to let anyone insult Ariel or the relationship he’d had with her up until now. “I understand she didn’t tell us the truth about what she used to do for a living. She’s a different person now and her records are obviously classified.”

“Used to do?” Dante asked.

“Maybe we should slow down, lads,” Owen began.

Sasha wasn’t listening. He turned the laptop around. “She still works for them. Do you remember all those trips to Paris? She says she’s going off to meet with a girlfriend.  That girlfriend is Solo. Ariel was working at The Garden at the time. And surprise, there was a rumored terrorist killed in the streets that same weekend. I wonder how they celebrated.”

“She did not.” Maybe he should have read all the files. She wasn’t still working for them. Her past was one thing. He could understand that, but actively working for an intelligence agency and not telling him?

Sasha seemed to know he’d just gotten the upper hand. He calmed visibly. “She did according to the later records. You should read them. She’s even given MI6 reports on her progress with us.”

She wouldn’t do that. God, he might be sick again. “We can’t trust any of this. Levi Green sent it.”

“But we can trust Solo?” Dante asked. “Wake up. We can’t trust any of them. We need to get out of here while we can. We’ve been lucky so far, but now we’re here in a place where it would be easy for them to turn us over. We need our own leverage.”

“Or you could come with me,” a new voice said.

Robert tensed. Emily stood in the doorway dressed in the same clothes she’d worn the day before. Her hair was up in a neat ponytail and she looked young and pretty.

So why did the sight of her turn his stomach?

She walked in and there was determination in her eyes. “I know people, too. I have a place where we can all lay low while you guys figure out what’s going on. We can get on a train and get the hell out of town.”

“We’re not going anywhere.” He needed to slow this down.

“If you stay here, they’ll keep you dumb, Russ…Robert.” Emily moved toward him. “I know the doctor has made you believe you’re a completely different person, but I can still see the old you. Have you thought about the fact that she wants to keep you here for another reason, one that has nothing to do with helping you?”

“You don’t know Ariel,” Rebecca said. “And you don’t know this group of men.”

“I know her type,” Emily replied. “She’s an opportunist.”

“She’s also an assassin,” Sasha pointed out. “I bet you didn’t know that about her, Rebecca.”

Rebecca’s eyes flared. “I know she saved me and she saved Owen. She didn’t have to. It would have been so easy to not come after us.”

“I’m sure she had her reasons.” Dante shook his head.

“You’ve made up your mind.” Owen’s hands were on his hips. “No one is holding you here. I don’t think there’s a reason to talk. I think anyone who doesn’t want to be here should go.”

“And have Ezra call the police on us?” Sasha asked. “We’ve always known they had that to hold over our heads.”

“Ezra didn’t cause the problem,” Robert argued.

Dante didn’t back down. “But he can certainly use it to make us do what he wants to. I can’t believe you didn’t learn. Years you spent with Dr. McDonald and you’re still letting yourself be manipulated. I think she wiped your memory far too many times.”

“And I think you’re far too cynical. Ariel…I need to talk to her.” He couldn’t simply believe some files. He needed to listen to her.

“You think she can honestly love you after everything you’ve done?” Sasha asked. “She knows the things we’ve done. Owen and Jax managed to find women who they never have to tell the truth to, but Ariel knows.”

“Rebecca knows everything I’ve done,” Owen replied.

“I’m going to go downstairs for a bit. I think you guys really do need to work this out.” Rebecca reached into her pocket. “Look, I’ll even leave my cell phone behind. I’ll wake Tucker up because he should be here. Emily, I think the guys need some time.”

“I think they need to start thinking about their own futures,” Emily replied.

Rebecca shook her head and walked out.

Robert turned to Sasha. “You need to back off. I don’t want to talk about Ariel right now.”

Sasha leaned against the counter, obviously settling in for a long argument. “She is the only reason we’re still in this position. You won’t see what’s going on.”

Emily put a hand on Robert’s arm. “I know you’ve been through hell. I don’t care what you’ve done. You did it to survive. We can get through this.”

He ignored her. It was time for him to take charge. “I am the leader of this group. You two stand down. We’re going to talk about this after we hear what Solo has to say.”

And he would talk to Ariel.

Dante shook his head. “Why would anyone follow you? This is what I have been telling Sasha for months. You are nothing. You are weak. Even with your so-called brothers.”

“I have been beside you all this time. I could have gone anywhere else.” He didn’t have warrants out on him. He’d been offered other jobs, a more normal life. “I chose to stay with you. To fight with you.”

A derisive laugh came from Dante’s throat. “God, why would anyone fight beside you? Why would they trust you? Everyone here thinks you’re such a good man, that you will be the one to save them. Did you save Theo Taggart’s face? What did you do when they were carving him up? Nothing. You sat there and did exactly what McDonald told you to do. You’re nothing but a piece of shit like the rest of us.”

The whole room seemed to go cold. Robert knew what had happened to Theo’s face only because Tony had told him. Tony had been the man who disciplined them. He’d worked for McDonald. Theo didn’t remember how he’d gotten his scars.

“You know there wasn’t anything he could have done,” Owen argued.

Sasha had gone still, his eyes on Dante. “How would you know? How would you know what Robert did or didn’t do?”

“It doesn’t matter what happened when he was with that woman,” Emily said. “Come on. We need to cool off. It seems like you guys are saying things you really don’t mean. Why don’t we take a few minutes?”

Sasha was shaking his head and looking at Dante like he didn’t know the man. “No. I want to know how you would know what happened to Theo.”

“I do, too, since I didn’t even know I was there when Theo got that scar,” Robert said. He and Dante hadn’t been on the same team. They hadn’t even known each other until Taggart had found the secret lab.

“Tony told me,” Dante said with a shrug.

“What’s going on?” Tucker walked in, yawning.

Sasha ignored him, choosing to turn on the man who was so frequently his partner. “Tony died long ago. You would have had your memory wiped after he died.”

“I read about Tony,” Tucker said, heading for the coffee pot. “He sounded like a dick.”

“Yes, but no one but Robert should remember him.” Sasha’s stillness had taken on the air of a predator.

“Then I must have read it in the reports we got in Colorado,” Dante replied. “Or I’m being fanciful. The point is Robert isn’t perfect and he needs to stop pretending to be our leader.”

“No.” The significance washed over Robert like cold rain. “You knew what happened. That wasn’t something you made up in your head. You were very specific. You knew what happened even though you weren’t there. Or were you? You’re the one talking to Levi Green. You’re the traitor.”

“Dante’s the traitor?” Tucker yawned again. “I need to wake up.”

“He’s more than a traitor.” Owen stood in the doorway as if he felt like he needed to block it.

“Were you ever one of us?” Sasha breathed the question.

“No.” Robert could see the truth plainly now. It all made sense. “He was the plant. He was always the one who did her bidding. He was the one who told her when we were remembering. I wouldn’t have given myself away, and yet according to those notes, she knew when the drug was losing its control. You were her man in the trenches.”

“You never had the fucking drug in the first place,” Sasha accused.

There was suddenly a gun in Dante’s hand. “Don’t move. Not any of you.”

“Rebecca woke me up for this?” Tucker complained.

Yeah, it might have been better if they’d all stayed asleep.

 

* * * *

 

“We are not going to mention where we picked up Kim to Robert.” Ariel watched as the gorgeous blonde stepped out of the Charles Hotel and waved. The door was held open by a uniformed bellman. The whole place looked elegant and expensive. “Ever.”

Would things have gone differently if they’d ended up at this beautiful hotel instead of staying at the club? Probably not, but their drama would have played out in more romantic surroundings. She would have cried it out on thousand thread count sheets.

Peter got out of the van and opened the door for her. Despite the fact that there was plenty of room in the back, Ezra was sitting in the front with Peter. Coward. He’d been sitting in that chair long before Ariel had even been ready to go, as if he wasn’t taking any chance of having to sit next to his ex-wife.

“Morning,” Kim said with a sunny smile. She was chic in tailored slacks and a blouse that showed off her curves. She’d likely spent the better part of the morning deciding what to wear given the fact that she’d known who she would be seeing. “Peter, it’s good to see you. Been a long time. Ari, not so long.” She stopped as she realized who was sitting in the front seat. Her smile dimmed and for once she seemed less than confident. “Beckett. I wasn’t expecting to see you until we got to the club.”

“Solo.” He didn’t turn to look at her. Not that she could have gotten anything off his expression. He’d had his poker face on all morning and his eyes were covered in mirrored sunglasses. He was fully armored up.

Kim stepped into the van and the smile was back on her face. “Thanks for coming to get me. It would have been very difficult to get a cab or take public transportation or even rent a car in a major European city. They’re so behind the times, you know.”

The sarcasm was going to be flowing. If she could ever get these two on her couch…

“You’re lucky I don’t blindfold you and drive you around for a couple of hours before I allow you into the safe house,” Ezra shot back.

“I know where the club is,” Kim replied as the door to the van closed and she clicked her seatbelt into place. “So I would have to suspect that you just want to spend time with me.”

“Which shows how bad your instincts have gotten.” Ezra kept his face forward.

Ariel sighed. She would bet a lot that he was staring at Kim through the rearview mirror, and that was precisely why he’d worn the sunglasses. So his ex-wife wouldn’t know he was staring at her while he was pretending to ignore her. “Are you going to bicker like children the whole time?”

Peter slid into the driver’s seat. “They sounded more like an old married couple to me.”

“We’re not married.” Ezra slapped the denial out as quickly as he could.

“I was going to say we’re not old.” Kim sighed and settled into her seat. “And no, we’re done bickering from my end. I promise to be perfectly pleasant. I can’t say the same for Beck.”

“Did you realize you’re staying in a hotel German intelligence has under surveillance?” Ezra asked.

It was precisely why they hadn’t been able to stay in the luxury hotel. Of course if they’d stayed at the Charles, she and Robert wouldn’t have had that insanely wild night at the club. She could still feel the pinch of those pins against her skin, remembered the rush of ecstasy as he’d brushed them off her body.

And she could still see the look in his eyes when he’d asked her if she’d lied to him.

“Of course.” Kim waved off Ezra’s worry as Peter pulled the van out of the circular drive. “I love the Charles. Bastien makes the best martinis. Seriously. I think half of why he’s so effective a spy is his restraint when it comes to vermouth. And I got a hell of a deal. Someone had booked the eighth floor and then canceled at the last minute. Who does that? I’ve got a sweet balcony. By the way, that balcony has an incredible view, Ari. You parade your little problem anywhere close to this hotel and I can take care of it for you.”

Ariel glanced up and didn’t miss the way Ezra’s lips quirked before he managed to school his expression again.

“Somehow I don’t think sniping Emily Seeger is going to fix the problem,” Ezra said.

“Though I do have an excellent rifle.” Peter made a left, his eyes on the road. “And there’s a long history of assassinations in Bavaria.”

She needed to head off the history lesson. “I think we should talk to Emily. She might actually be able to give us something, though we need to treat her carefully. She’s not what she seems. I’m starting to get suspicious.”

“I am, too,” Ezra agreed. “Though I’m also suspicious about where the tip about her came from. Big Tag said he’s gotten several leads from sources he wasn’t willing to name.”

“Well, if you had known it came from me, you wouldn’t have listened. And that’s precisely why I went around you.” Kim turned to Ariel. “I got a tip about some people who worked with McDonald before she went on the run. I sent it to Big Tag. He had his brother run down a couple of people, but I guess he decided Seeger was the best. I had no way of knowing she would turn out to be married to Robert. He couldn’t have either. McDonald did a spectacular job of getting rid of evidence. I suspect it was actually her father’s office who did that.”

“Come on. We both know it was someone in the Agency.” Ezra’s words came out with a bitter huff. “No one else could erase a person so thoroughly. It was one of ours. Well, one of yours.”

“I called in a couple of favors and I’m trying to run down some info.” Kim frowned. “I didn’t know. About the wife part. You have to know I would have given my friend a heads-up. Well, maybe I wouldn’t have. I would have just taken care of it. I hate that it surprised me. I’m off my game.”

“Kim, you can’t murder people to solve my problems.” Sometimes having Kim Solomon for a friend could be scary.

“You wouldn’t have known.” Both Kim and Ezra managed to say it at the same time.

Kim blushed but went on. “I believe in true love.”

Ezra coughed.

“I do. I have way more faith than other people,” Kim continued. “But sometimes true love needs a little help. I think of myself as a cupid.”

“A psychopathic cupid,” Ezra said under his breath. He sat up straighter. “I do accept that you didn’t know about Emily’s connection to Robert. Did you know Levi Green turned over files on Ariel’s previous work?”

“What?” Kim slid the sunglasses off her face and looked genuinely shocked. “To who? Why would he do that? He’s an asshole but he’s never put an operative in danger before.”

“I’ve got a bullet wound that proves you’re wrong, and Kayla Summers still has problems taking baths.” Ezra’s voice had gone arctic. “You know he had her waterboarded, right? He did it so she would tell him how to get into The Garden. He wanted to steal one of the Lost Boys and do god knows what to him.”

“She wasn’t working for the Agency,” Kim replied. “And there was nothing about that in his report.”

“Surprise, he lies.” Ezra’s mouth had turned down. “Stop trying to justify Levi’s actions. Or just come out and tell me you’re working with him.”

“I’m not.” Kim’s hands had fisted. “I was only saying he’s been careful up to now and I don’t understand what he’s doing. Why would he out Ariel? Everyone already knows.”

“Robert didn’t.” She hadn’t talked to Kim about what had happened.

Kim sighed. “Of course he didn’t. You wouldn’t want him to worry about divided loyalties. There’s a reason we work in secret. I will definitely report Levi to the Agency for outing you. Those files are classified. It’s a gross violation of his job.”

“He’ll have someone cover it up for him,” Ezra said. “And the only person who can confirm it was Levi is Robert, who we rather want to keep out of the Agency’s clutches.”

“No, that’s the thing.” Kim sounded hopeful again. “The tide’s turning and that’s probably why Levi’s getting desperate. He got the notes Dr. McDonald left in Colorado, but the formulary wasn’t in them. He understands the basic protocols but without the formulary, there’s not a lot he can do. I think he’s put his whole career on the line to deliver this to his people. The heat is on now, and if he doesn’t find something soon, they’ll have to let him go.”

“You mean fire him?” Ariel asked.

“Or worse.” The smile was back on Ezra’s face. “The group he’s working for is very aware of what could happen if it got out that they’ve been trying to gain access to highly unethical medical research. The easy play is to say they knew nothing about it and Levi was acting as a rogue agent. It’s the way the game goes and Levi knows it. You’re right. He is getting desperate.”

“And a desperate man is a dangerous man,” Ariel pointed out.

“I have to ask, why would Robert or any of the men be shocked that Ariel used to work intelligence?” Peter stopped at the light. “Almost all of the company’s employees used to work for some form of intelligence agency.”

“Robert has an emotional attachment to Ariel that comes from her ability to empathize,” Kim began.

“Yeah, it’s got nothing to do with her boobs.” The eyeroll from Ezra was implicit. She didn’t need to see it to know it was there.

“Beck.” Kim could still sound like an embarrassed wife. “Though they are nice. Have you shown them to Robert lately? It could be the distraction you need.”

“Could we stop talking about my breasts?” She needed to steer the conversation back to the professional. “What Kim is trying to say is I’ve forged meaningful ties with these men on the basis of therapy. They trust me. I didn’t tell them I used to work for one of the agencies that’s very interested in them. I certainly haven’t told them I’m still in touch with the same agency. It’s going to cause trouble.”

“Yet you didn’t stop him from looking at the files.” Now Ezra took off the shades and turned to look back at her. “I could have ordered him to give it up. He told us flat out what he had. He didn’t have to keep it.”

“And that would have made things worse.” She’d sat up all night thinking about it. Even after she’d seen him with Emily, she’d wondered if he was awake and reading through every bloody thing she’d ever done. “It’s better to get it out in the open. Let’s hope Levi gave him the real files and not something he’s doctored. Reality is bad enough.”

“You were working in the best interests of your country. Hell, in the best interests of the world.” Kim put a hand on her arm. “You did nothing you should be ashamed of. Lives were saved. He’s going to see that.”

She shook off the thought. “It doesn’t matter. Robert has other things to worry about now. And we’ve got to figure out if we should take the risk and try breaking into Kronberg to see if there really is proof of who all worked with McDonald. That could be leverage.”

“That could be everything,” Kim corrected. “It could be exactly what I need to give my boss the broom he’ll use to clean up the Agency, and then Levi won’t have any power at all. We can work toward getting the men pardoned. If that file exists, it could give them all their lives back.”

Ezra’s eyes narrowed. “You can’t expect us to do all the work and hand over the prize to you.”

“You can’t do anything with it. I can. It’s not like I wouldn’t give you a copy. And honestly, I expect you to come in with me. We can show my boss together,” Kim offered.

Ezra stared at his ex. “Somehow I don’t think the president is going to want a disgraced CIA agent in his office.”

“You won’t be disgraced when I’m done,” Kim promised.

Ariel noted she hadn’t argued about who her boss was. “None of this is meaningful if we can’t find that file. Do we think Veronica Croft might be the key?”

Ezra sat back again and shook his head. “She’s the key to who Tucker used to be. We can’t think that means she knows about Kronberg’s internal processes. According to Rebecca she was an intern. I seriously doubt she knew what McDonald was doing if Rebecca didn’t. We still need to look for her, but I think we should shift our immediate focus to the potential list of people who actively knew what McDonald was up to.”

“And we need to figure out who the hell Emily Seeger is.” That was Ariel’s focus. What would she do if Robert decided to go home with the woman? She knew it wouldn’t be for anything beyond a curiosity about his past, but after the night before she couldn’t trust him to be alone with her. Something was off. Maybe she was simply being jealous, but there had been something threatening about the woman the night before.

Emily wasn’t going to go away until she got what she wanted, and what she wanted was Robert. She’d been very concerned about his memory. Of course she would be, but she kept harping over the chances of him getting it back. Rebecca was probably being deluged with questions at this very moment.

“Well, she’s not afraid of Dante, that’s for sure.” Peter turned again, finding one of the main streets in town. It would take them the few miles to the club.

“Why would you say that?” Ariel had been curious about how the afternoon had gone between the two of them. She’d expected they wouldn’t speak at all. Dante rarely talked. He was the most introverted of all of the men.

“I think she should be very afraid of Dante. Every woman should be.” Ezra crossed one leg over the other. “I did not think it was a good idea to leave him behind, but he insisted he wasn’t feeling well and didn’t want to go out. Not that he would let Rebecca examine him.”

“I always glance at the security tapes in the mornings,” Peter explained. “Something tripped the one in the yard yesterday afternoon. I thought it was probably one of them sitting outside for a bit. I noticed Tucker seems to enjoy being outside. But it was the two of them. Ms. Seeger went out first and then Dante followed her. They seemed to have some kind of argument, but I guess they worked it out because they were perfectly pleasant to each other this morning before we left.”

Why on earth would those two have been fighting? “You got the argument on tape?”

“Yes, most of it. They went back inside after a bit. But it did not turn violent.” Peter slowed as they approached a red light. “I would have come straight to you if that had happened. It seemed more like Ms. Seeger was upset and Dante was trying to calm her down. Given what had happened earlier that day, it seemed a reasonable response. I would have been upset if I’d learned my husband had come back from the dead.”

“But Dante wouldn’t care enough to comfort anyone,” Ezra pointed out as the van came to a stop. “It’s not in his nature. Do you have access to the camera feed on your phone?”

“Sure. Though my tablet will show it better.” Peter reached in the console between the front seats and pulled out a tablet. He opened the cover and used his thumb to activate the device. “It’s under the security app. It’s the last segment I watched. I’m sorry. I didn’t think it was important.”

“I would very much like to see it.” She would be able to tell a lot about how Emily reacted when she wasn’t around. “Does it have sound?”

“No. I’m sorry. It’s video only. I got out of this game a long time ago. The system is only there for basic security. Because of the club, I like to know who is coming to either door.” Peter handed over the tablet as the light turned green and he started down the street again.

“Solo, if you don’t mind.” Ezra passed it off. “One of Solo’s many talents is the ability to read lips.”

“Hey, it’s come in handy over the years. I don’t speak all the fancy languages you do.” Kim pressed play on the recording and leaned in so Ariel could see.

On the screen Emily strode out into the yard, a hand on her head. She wasn’t angry. Her body language told Ariel something else was present. “She’s afraid.”

“Wait for it,” Peter promised. “She is not afraid for long.”

Emily wiped tears from her face and then took a long breath.

That was when Dante walked out.

“He’s telling her to stay calm.” Kim’s eyes were intent on the screen. “He says we’ll know something’s wrong if she doesn’t stay calm and think about every single word coming out of her mouth.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” Ezra’s whole body had gone tight. “What would be wrong?”

Ariel looked back to the screen in time to see the moment Emily went from afraid to angry. She turned to Dante and pointed a finger at him.

And what Solo said next made her heart race.

“We have to get back,” Ariel said.

Robert was in danger. More danger than she could have imagined.