Chapter Six

 

 

“Levi Green is now the head of his own department.” Chelsea Weston sat down at the tiny table made even smaller with the addition of Big Tag’s enormous body. They’d shown up at their door only moments before, the sound of the knock a shock to Ezra’s system.

The morning had been peaceful, and hearing that fucker’s name reminded him of everything that was wrong with the world. “How did he go from being interrogated for treasonous acts to head of his own freaking team in the course of a couple of weeks?”

“I should have known something had gone wrong when they didn’t want me to come back to Langley.” Kim had a mug of coffee in front of her. She’d puttered around the tiny kitchen after they’d gotten up, and he’d had a sweet sense of domesticity that he’d been missing for years.

“He’s a cockroach,” Tag said with a humorless chuckle.

Chelsea nodded her agreement. “I don’t know the whole story, but I can confirm that he has the authority to arrest Solo and take her to a place of his choosing for interrogation.”

He sat next to Kim, their legs brushing against each other. He wanted to reach out and hold her hand.

So he did. He drew her palm against his. He had the right and the duty to comfort her. She’d given herself to him last night and they were starting something this morning, something softer than they’d had before. “He wants to use the drug on her.”

Big Tag had shown up bright and early along with his twin daughters and sister-in-law. The girls were currently at Rene’s apartment, the club owner and his wife watching over them. Ezra had been told they only had a brief time to go over everything they needed to before Tag intended to be back at the airport. He still didn’t fully understand what Tag was here to do, but the most important thing was ensuring they all knew what Levi was capable of.

“I’ve talked to a couple of people at the Agency who owe me some favors.” Chelsea yawned behind her hand. If he was correct, she’d recently had a baby, too. The McKay-Taggart team bred like rabbits. “I believe the formulary he has is one of the older ones. It’s not as devastating as the final drug, the one she used on Tucker and Jax. Though from what I understand even they’re getting some of their memories back. In Tucker’s case, I think being in his hometown and with his family has helped enormously.”

“So he’ll only take part of my brain. Good to know. And I don’t have any close family. I guess I could walk around my childhood home and maybe remember my parents didn’t care about much except money.” The words sounded bitter coming out of Kim’s mouth, but her hand squeezed his.

“He won’t take anything at all.” Tag glanced down at his phone. The man was utterly preoccupied. “Chelsea and I have been talking and we need to do a timeline of where you were and what you were doing during the six-month period when Levi is accusing you of working with McDonald.”

It was good to have a finite period of time to work with. They could focus in and find the crack in Levi’s plan. There had to be one.

“I can tell you that I was definitely in Europe during most of that time,” Kim replied. “I was working on tying a couple of organizations to arms dealers. Surprisingly enough, some of my best leads came from Levi. So I would suspect he can place me in some suspicious places.”

No one said the fucker wasn’t smart. “Still, there has to be proof.”

“We’ll find it,” Tag promised. “But we need to figure out how fucked she is, and that means asking some uncomfortable questions.”

Kim’s shoulders straightened as she obviously braced herself for the worst. “It’s fine.”

“Were you aware that one of the companies your family owns had connections to Kronberg Pharmaceutical?” Chelsea asked.

Kim pulled her hand away, seeming to draw into herself. Her family was a sore point for her. She rarely talked about them and when she did, she tended to get emotional. “No. I don’t pay much attention to what the corporation does. I didn’t have any interest in it when my parents were alive. I have even less now. My cousins handle all the business. I don’t even make decisions for the charities anymore.”

He didn’t like the fact that it was one more thing connecting her to McDonald. “When did the company get in bed with Kronberg?”

Tag sighed and sat back. “A few months before Solo’s so-called work began. I’ve got someone looking into whether or not Levi had been in contact with anyone from the company. It’s a neat way to set Solo up to take a bad fall. We’ve got the additional problem of the plane crash that killed your parents.”

Kim’s eyes went wide. “I thought it was mechanical failure.”

“It’s awfully coincidental that all these dominoes fell at the precise right time to put Levi in a position of extreme power. The plane crash happened a few weeks before all of this was set to go down,” Chelsea said.

“Okay, let me make sure I understand this.” Ezra was putting it all together in his head, the plot of Levi’s forming like a spider’s web. “He set Tucker in motion. Tucker works for McDonald, and anything he gets his hands on will be considered above suspicion. Somehow Levi gets your name in the records that are smuggled out on the data drive.”

“The same one that was lost in Paris when McDonald caught him,” Tag continued. “But Green couldn’t have known that would happen. He assumed his plan would work and that he would have the data, including the shit he falsified. When he’s sure he’s got everything in place, he sets it all in motion.”

Kim stared down at the table. “He likely had my parents killed.”

Chelsea’s expression had gone distinctly sympathetic. “Tell me what would have happened if you’d been arrested shortly after your parents died. Before you had a chance to settle things.”

“Everything would have come to me. Because he didn’t, I divested myself of a lot of the responsibilities that came with inheriting,” Kim explained. “If he’d arrested me back then and he’d managed to dose me and convince me to marry him, legally he could have done a lot with those shares. Honestly, he still could. There’s no permanent legal document giving my cousins my shares. All I would have to do is show up and the vote would be mine.”

“So this might be a play to take over the company your family runs.” Tag nodded to Chelsea. “Can you have Phoebe put together an overview? I’d like to know all the financial dealings of the company.”

“It’ll take a while.” That company had multiple arms and they went into a whole lot of pies. “So Levi wants power, and he set himself up to be the head of Kim’s family.”

“It probably would have worked, too, if Tucker hadn’t lost the data,” Tag pointed out. “He could have had you swept away quietly. Ezra was working in Africa at the time.”

“I wouldn’t have even known she’d been arrested.” Levi had planned carefully, and he’d been incredibly patient. He wouldn’t have heard a thing until he’d gotten back to the States, and then likely he would have been told that Levi and Solo had gotten married. He wouldn’t have looked in on her. He wouldn’t have made sure she was okay. He would have quit and walked away and been a bitter fucking drunk the rest of his life. “But once the data was lost, he couldn’t fake it again. He’d placed his bet and if he’d come up with proof in another way, it wouldn’t have worked. I bet he really talked up this project, and its failure in the beginning is why he got moved to less than stellar ops.”

“It must have killed him knowing that shot was gone.” Kim sounded a bit hollow and he wished she hadn’t needed to hear these hard truths.

He wished they were still in bed and she was clinging to him the way she had this morning. They’d been in complete darkness, but he’d woken with the knowledge that she was right beside him. He’d rolled her over and kissed her awake. When her arms had come around him, the world had felt right for the first time in forever.

“And it must have thrilled him when he realized Tucker wasn’t dead. So that’s where we are right now. I’m moving cautiously on this one. Solo, I know you want your name cleared,” Tag began.

She shook her head. “Of course I do, but I understand it could take a while.”

Tag paused for a moment as though he wasn’t quite sure how to handle her. “If it’s at all meaningful, Connor Sparks reached out to me and asked to be kept up to date. I’ve put him in our loop.”

“The president could shut all this down.” It bugged him that he hadn’t already.

“No, he can’t.” Chelsea closed her laptop. “Not unless he wants to start congressional hearings on his overreach and put the guy he recently endorsed in the crosshairs, too.”

“Does the president know Levi’s planning on forcing the competition out? I put it in my report,” Kim said.

“Yes, I talked to him this morning and he’s looking into it. The situation is delicate,” Tag explained. “Apparently that was something Levi didn’t have to fake. I don’t want you to worry about it. The president can handle the political stuff. Our job is to prove Levi’s data wrong, and that begins with you documenting every job you did during that time. I need all the information you can give me. Damon will hunt down people who can support your alibi in Europe.”

Kim groaned. “I don’t suppose you can get into my place in DC and get my calendars? I don’t put my schedule on my phone because it can be hacked, but I do keep detailed journals. The old ones would be in DC.”

“I assure you, he’s already got them,” Chelsea replied. “From what I’ve been able to gather in the short time I’ve had, he’s already been inside your DC apartment, your Manhattan brownstone, and the London flat. He’ll take everything he can and either burn it or use it to his own gain. I’m sorry. I know how much it sucks. Charlotte and I spent years on the run, and every time we had to leave a place, I felt like I’d lost some piece of me.”

How much had Kim lost in the last two days? “I want to see the warrants.”

“You know he doesn’t really need them.” Kim sounded weary. “He’ll have legal documents to show my property managers, but he can also easily make something up. How long do we need to be here in Paris?”

“A few more days. I’m working on moving you to Italy,” Tag explained. “Chelsea and Si have a place in Venice. From there we’ll get you back to the States. Sanctum is the perfect place. You can work and live there, and you won’t have to hide out on club nights, so you’ll have some company.”

“Is there any way I could go to Colorado?” There was a wistful quality to Kim’s question.

He felt his heart threaten to seize at the hope in her voice. And actually it wasn’t a terrible idea. “They don’t have CCTV there. We could find a quiet cabin and have a little freedom.”

Kim liked to hike and take long walks. Being stuck in one place would be difficult for her.

“I would have to talk to John…I mean Henry.” Tag fiddled with his phone again, typing something in. “But I don’t know if it’s a good idea.”

Kim sat back. “Of course. Dallas it is. And thank you so much, Chelsea. Please thank your husband for me, too. I appreciate you letting me stay at your place. I know it’s risky.”

Chelsea shrugged. “Nah. I know what it means to be on both sides of this. I’ve worked for the Agency and pretty much been hunted by them. It all sucks. I should also let you know that I’m trying to run down the hacker Green used. He’s honestly our best bet at proving this data is forged. If he or she has half a brain, they likely kept a record. It’s like a before and after shot. I would do it in case I needed to prove something.”

Tag sent his sister-in-law a glare. “You did it so you could blackmail your clients.”

“I…” Chelsea began and then gave up. “It was a different world, and most of my clients were assholes. I haven’t blackmailed anyone in years. I kind of miss it.”

“Yeah, we desperately need to get you back in the game,” Tag said under his breath before looking to Ezra. “Look, we’re going to find a way to fix this. You’ve got two teams on your side, and we won’t let you down. Solo, I owe you for what’s happening today, and I don’t forget to pay my debts. Chelsea and I have to go get the girls. Our package is being delivered shortly, and I suspect it’s going to coincide with Levi’s arrival. How’s that for perfect timing?”

“Well, you are Satan,” Chelsea said with a grin. “You do have the devil’s luck.”

“What I have is a kid on the inside. At least I hope I do. We’re about to find out.” Tag pocketed his cell and stood up. “Rene showed you how to work the security cameras, right? You might find this interesting. I kind of like the idea that you’ll be watching the fucker while he’s trying to figure out where you’re hiding. You two stick together. And Ezra, I’m glad you followed my advice. Now don’t fuck it up.”

Chelsea picked up her bag. “This is going to be the fastest trip to Europe ever. The good news is I sleep well on that Lawless jet. Most sleep I’ve had since Sophy was born.”

“And I don’t sleep at all so I’m cranky,” Tag shot back. “Let’s go. I want to get this over with and make Levi feel like a massive asshole.”

“Is she okay?” Kim asked.

He was curious about Sasha’s daughter, too.

Chelsea stopped at the top of the stairs. “She’s spent the last two years in an orphanage in Siberia because her mother died under mysterious circumstances. We think she was looking for her husband and someone silenced her and then dumped her daughter far, far from home.”

“But we’re going to take care of her, right?” He owed Sasha. They all did.

Tag’s brow rose over his eyes. “You’re kidding, right? You honestly believe my Charlie could find a seven-year-old girl who’s been abandoned and not bring her home? I’m not here to check up on Tasha. I’m here to pick up my daughter because that’s what she’ll be in a few months.”

“I thought one of the Lost Boys would take her if she needed a home.” He knew Robert and Tucker had talked about it.

“She only speaks Russian,” Chelsea explained. “That’s why I’m here, and the girls. Ian’s Russian is shit.”

“It is not.” Tag’s hands were on his hips. “My Russian is excellent. I talk to the kids in Russian all the time.”

“Yes, and they laugh at you behind your back,” Chelsea retorted as she started down the stairs.

Big Tag grimaced. “They don’t bother. They laugh to my front. The word for fact in Russian is pronounced a whole lot like fuck. So naturally my girls point out a lot of fucks to me. It’s a whole thing at school. You two stay safe. We won’t come back after the meeting. We’ve got to get home.”

“Thanks for this,” Kim said.

Tag nodded and descended the stairs. Ezra closed the door behind him and turned to his ex-wife. His new sub. “Are you all right? He’s going to be here, inside this building. Do you want to watch it or pretend it’s not happening?”

He could think of a million different ways to distract her. They didn’t need to be down in the club.

“I want to see Tasha. I want to make sure she’s all right. And I think it’s better for me to see that he’s here in the building than to let my imagination go wild. Besides, I’m super interested in who he brought with him.” She moved back to the table and opened the laptop.

He sat down beside her. “I’m sorry we can’t go to Colorado.”

“Me, too,” she said, her eyes on the screen. “They don’t trust me, and I would likely bring more danger into their lives, so I don’t blame them.”

“I could reach out to Henry Flanders.” He would point out that yes, Kim had lied about who she was, but she’d done it to protect Henry as well. She’d been the one to tell the Agency he wasn’t a threat.

She shook her head. “No. He’s got enough on his hands. It’s okay. I’m worried we shouldn’t go to Dallas, either. I can’t stand the thought of bringing the Agency down on their heads. They’ve got families. I shouldn’t put them in danger. I’ve got a couple of places no one at the Agency knows about. I’ve built a few more nests since we broke up.”

Nests. That was what she called those little apartments or homes she kept in foreign countries. He’d kept a few himself. “I think we should trust our friends.”

She went quiet as she pulled up the security cameras.

“Kim, what’s wrong?”

“They’re not our friends,” she said quietly. “They’re your friends. I know Big Tag says he owes me, but he owes you more.”

“Then he’ll help us more.”

She was silent for a moment. “Why did you hold my hand? And what did he mean by advice?”

“I held your hand because I wanted to,” he explained. “He called last night. You know Big Tag. He’s the world’s worst busybody.”

“Really? I don’t know him except for the few times I’ve worked with him. He’s pretty standoffish with me.”

“Well, as Adam Miles has said on many occasions, beneath all the meathead muscles lies the beating heart of an eighty-year-old grandma who wants all her kids to get married.”

“So he gave you advice about me?”

“He told me I should give you a break.” He wasn’t going into all the crap Big Tag had said. “He pointed out that time only heals wounds if you don’t continually rip them back open.”

A slight smile crossed her face. “He’s a smart old lady.”

Ezra chuckled as Tag closed the door on the screen. The big guy stared at the wall as though trying to make damn sure no one could see the seam of the door. It reminded him that this wasn’t a game. “If anything goes wrong, I want you to barricade yourself in the bathroom and don’t open the door until you hear from me or Tag.”

She slid him what he liked to think of as her “dumbass said what” stare. “So I can run where? Because we’re pretty much in a cage here. Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy for the cage, but we’ve got nowhere to go if Levi figures out where we are. If that happens, you have to promise that you’ll let him take me.”

Now it was his turn for the dumbass stare. “I’m not doing that.”

“So we’re going to go down like Bonnie and Clyde?” She turned her attention back to the screen. She switched to the lobby camera where Big Tag and Chelsea greeted twin girls racing down the stairs. They were going on and on about how hot chocolate was better here.

“I don’t know. I need some kind of plan. I feel helpless without one.”

“We can’t plan this out, Beck. We are helpless in this case, and the best way to handle it is to let me go and try to get me back later. That’s what Tag would tell you to do. You should be the one hiding in the bathroom and I’ll talk Levi out of murdering you. I couldn’t handle that.”

He wasn’t about to agree to letting her go. “Well, let’s hope Tag is as smart as he says he is. Wow. That’s her. She looks so much like Sasha. Can you turn up the volume? You know a little Russian, right?”

She smiled as she stared at the screen. A thin girl was led into the lobby of the club. She was carrying a small suitcase and wearing a plain dress and black shoes. She had her father’s eyes and that frown of his.

The woman who was traveling with Tasha said something and nodded toward Big Tag.

“She’s telling Tasha that this is her new family and she needs to go with them now,” Kim translated.

Tasha shrank back and Kenzie and Kala stared at her.

Big Tag stayed where he was and let Chelsea take the lead.

Chelsea got down on one knee and addressed the child in Russian.

“She’s telling her not to be afraid. She says she knows what it’s like to lose her mom and end up going to a strange country.” She glanced his way. “She was only nine when she went to Russia?”

He nodded. “That was when her mobster dad killed her mom and kidnapped Chelsea and Charlotte.”

Kim laughed suddenly. “She told Tasha that Big Tag looks scary but he’s a marshmallow and that she’ll quickly learn how to manipulate him.”

Tasha set her pitiful suitcase down and walked over to Tag. She looked up at him and asked a quiet question.

“She asked if he knew her papa.”

Big Tag got to his knee and he still loomed over her.

“He’s says that yes, he knew her father, and he knows lots of people who knew her dad. He wants to honor her father by taking care of her and making sure she has a good life. He says he knows she’s scared but he’s going to make sure no one hurts her again.” Tasha’s nose wrinkled and one of the twins said something. “His Russian isn’t as good as he thinks it is. That’s what Kenzie pointed out. Or Kala. I can’t tell the difference.”

Tasha looked back to Tag, her face so serious. “I will be going with you then.”

Tag looked as soft as a man that big could. “I’m glad. We’re going to take care of you. These are my little monsters. They speak better Russian than me so you can plot with them. Kenzie and Kala. If you can’t tell them apart, use a marker in their sleep. It’s what I do.”

“Dad!” they managed to say in one voice.

Then the girls were off, talking in a mix of Russian and English, and he understood why Tag had dragged his daughters halfway across the globe. Because he was kind and knew Tasha would be far more comfortable with other kids around. Tag stood back and watched the girls while Chelsea had a conversation with the woman who’d brought Tasha to the club.

“She’s telling Chelsea that all the paperwork is in order.” Kim bit her bottom lip as she listened. “She’s got a passport, and everything is done on her end for the adoption. Apparently someone named Dusan greased those wheels. Is she talking about Dusan Denisovitch? The head of the syndicate?”

“He’s Charlotte’s cousin.” A flutter went through him when he realized someone was at the door. A shadow had crossed the frosted glass of the windows. “Someone’s here. Switch to the outside camera.”

Her spine went stiff and she stared at the screen as Rene went to open the door.

“We don’t have to. He’ll be inside in a minute. This was all part of Tag’s plan.” Kim’s words were proven true as Levi stepped into the lobby.

“Taggart, I’m not surprised you’re here.” Levi was dressed in all black, a hat on his head. It was one of those hats worn by college dudes who only listened to vinyl and liked things in an ironic fashion.

He was joined by another man, one he hadn’t met before. He was younger, looked barely twenty, though he dressed down in black slacks and a collared shirt. He definitely didn’t look like the typical CIA employee. He had boy-band hair. “Who is that kid?”

Kim whistled as though she really hadn’t expected that. “Drake Radcliffe. He’s a wunderkind brought in by one of the big bosses. He’s a genius at finding patterns. I think he’s connected on the political side, but I haven’t figured it out yet. He’s only been on the scene for the last six months, and I’ve spent most of that time either in Colorado or Europe. I haven’t been in the office much. If he’s here then Levi’s pulled some strings.”

“He makes you nervous?”

Kim shrugged. “Like I said, he’s known for being able to see patterns, for his incredible deductive powers. Some people at Langley call him Sherlock.”

On the screen Taggart was watching as the girls headed up the stairs. “Don’t get comfortable. We leave for the airport in thirty minutes.” He turned back to Levi. “Well, I’m not so happy to see you. If you’ve come to try to stop me from taking Sasha’s daughter home with me, you better have brought the big guns.”

Levi actually seemed taken aback, and Ezra realized that was all part of Tag’s plan. “No. That was Sasha’s daughter? You found her?”

“I did, and I’m taking her back to Dallas with me. So if you’re not here to fuck with those plans, why are you here?” Tag asked.

Chelsea leaned against the reception desk. “He thinks you’re hiding Solo. He tried to arrest her yesterday and she got away.”

“Got away?” Levi zeroed in on Chelsea. “She didn’t get away. The London team freed her from a lawful arrest and nearly killed me in the process.”

“If it was a lawful arrest, she would have been taken in by the London metro police or Scotland Yard.” Chelsea didn’t back down at all. “She would have had a trial to determine whether her extradition was legal under British law. I don’t think you were taking her to the police station, right? You know the funny thing is I haven’t heard an outcry in the media.”

“You know we do things differently. It wasn’t so long ago you were one of us.” Levi was talking to Chelsea, who had worked as a data analyst and all-around walking computer for the Agency until she’d quit to start a company with Adam Miles.

“Yeah, and I thought you were all assholes then, too,” Chelsea shot back. “Now, why are you here in Paris if you’re not trying to fuck up a little girl’s adoption? She was in Siberia, you know. First they took her father and sold him to McDonald, and then they killed her mother and shipped Tasha to somewhere cold and quiet so they didn’t have to look at her. You here to send her back?”

Levi threw up his hands in obvious disgust. “Why would I care about some kid? Tag wants another one, good on him. I’m here because this is one of the spots I suspect you might hide Solo in.”

Tag proved he could have been an actor because the surprise on his face seemed totally real. “Why the hell would I hide Solo? I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I don’t hang out with a bunch of Agency fuckwits. I left a long time ago and I haven’t looked back. Solo’s been a pain in my ass for over a year and you’re welcome to her.”

He turned to Kim. “He doesn’t mean that.”

Kim rolled her eyes his way. “He can’t exactly proclaim his deep affection. He’s not going to be nice about you either if he’s smart.”

Levi turned his attention to Tag. “Okay, I’ll give you that my girl can be troublesome, but I know you’re loyal to Beck…Ezra Fain. He’s been working with you for over a year.”

“And he did what I needed him to do,” Tag replied simply. “Now he’s a pain in my ass, too. I assure you I didn’t give him a thumbs-up to do anything. If I see him again, I’ll fire his ass. Do you honestly think I want the Agency all over me right now?”

“You’ve got friends at the Agency. You’ve always got someone willing to cover for you,” Levi pointed out.

Drake was walking around the room, studying it. “He’s adopting a kid from a country that no longer allows foreign adoptions. He’s basically smuggling her into the US. Where do her papers say she’s from?”

Chelsea crossed her arms over her chest. “Her papers are from the Ukraine. They’ll hold up under scrutiny. You’re not taking her back. She was in an orphanage and she was never getting out. She wasn’t getting a proper schooling, and I don’t think they were feeding her enough.”

Drake didn’t bother to look at her, merely kept staring at the walls like he could see through them. “I wasn’t suggesting we take some kid away from her newfound Daddy Warbucks. I was simply explaining Mr. Taggart’s problem to my colleague. It’s not a good time for him to have the Agency looking into his activities, so I can see where he might be upset about what Mr. Fain did. Is there a dungeon? I assume this is a BDSM club.”

Levi frowned. “Yes, but how did you know that? I didn’t tell you anything about it because I wanted you to come in cold.”

“Don’t be surprised that the guy you brought in for his deductive reasoning powers deduces things correctly.” Drake seemed to find the walls fascinating.

“You’ll have to forgive my friend, Taggart.” Levi was frowning Drake’s way. “Mr. Brown is a bit of a savant when it comes to finding things.”

“Mr. Brown?” Tag asked, a suspicious brow arched. “Really?”

“No, of course not,” Drake replied. “But it’s better than Magenta.”

“I like magenta,” a voice said.

Tag turned and his face tilted up. “Girls. When I said upstairs, I meant all the way.”

“Okay, but Magenta’s a cool name,” the voice said and then there was much giggling.

Chelsea sighed. “I think you can handle the rest of this on your own. I’ll go make sure the girls stay out of trouble. And maybe I can find a cup of coffee.”

Chelsea strode up the stairs.

Drake turned to Levi. “Can I look through the dungeon?”

Rene had been standing in the back, but he came forward. “Of course. I don’t want trouble with the Agency either. Are you old enough to be in a club? You look like you’re thirteen.”

Drake frowned. “I’m twenty-three. You can’t shock me. I’ve had some kink in my life recently, I assure you. I’m not looking to join. Can you tell me about the building? Some of these older buildings have interesting architectural elements, I hear.”

“Fuck. How good is this kid?” Ezra stood and went to the small table where he’d set the Beretta he’d brought along.

Kim was bringing up the camera that was focused on the wall that hid their door. Rene had explained that there was only one camera in the dungeon, and it was only pointed at the hidden door. It was a small micro camera camouflaged in one of the light fixtures. Kim adjusted the feed so she had a split screen of the lobby and the camera that was there to help protect whoever was hiding behind the walls.

“Don’t tell me.” Drake’s voice came over as a whisper. “I want to see if I can find it.”

He knew. He knew something was here. Ezra felt every muscle in his body flood with adrenaline. “I’m going to be waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs.”

“No. You’re going to stay right here. He can’t hear us moving around if we’re still,” Kim said, her voice low. “Sit down, Beck. You have to be patient. You have to trust Tag.”

He didn’t want to be patient. He didn’t want to trust anyone. Over the last year he’d come to depend on the men they’d called the Lost Boys, but they were off on their own now, living their own lives.

Drake came into view after agonizing moments. He walked past the camera and Ezra breathed a sigh of relief. It didn’t last long because Drake moved into frame again, his back to the camera. He stayed there for a moment, still as a ghost.

He eased the safety off the gun.

“Don’t, Beck,” Kim whispered. “You can’t kill him. If he opens that door, I’m going in.”

He wasn’t sure he could allow that, but he snapped the safety back on and held his breath as Drake stepped up to the panel that hid the door and put a hand on it.

“Tag said you were good.” Rene’s voice was barely above a whisper.

Kim’s shoulders sagged. “Oh, thank god.”

Drake turned, and as though he knew exactly where the camera was and who was watching, he gave a wink and walked away. “I’ll need to inspect the kitchen, too. I want to be able to say I was thorough. And your office.”

“Of course,” Rene said. “The Velvet Collar is completely open.”

“Tag knows him.” He sank back onto the chair and reached for her hand, tugging on it.

She let herself be pulled onto his lap, and after a brief moment of awkwardness, cuddled against him. “I told you to trust him.”

“No, I told you to trust him.” He loved the feel of her against him. He let himself really breathe for the first time since Levi had entered the building. He wanted to walk downstairs and kill the fucker, but she needed more than that. Eliminating Levi wouldn’t solve all of their problems. “And it’s all good now.”

“He’s still not out of the building,” she said with her head on his shoulder. “I won’t feel safe until then. And safe is a relative term.”

Didn’t he know it? They wouldn’t be safe for a very long time, but at least he knew Levi wouldn’t come storming up the stairs. They had a shot, and after the night before, that shot wasn’t all about surviving.

He’d felt more the night before than in the last decade without her. Maybe it was time to start talking about what happened, to start thinking about forgiveness. Being angry with her had done nothing but cost them years, and god he’d missed this soft feeling. He’d missed giving her the things she needed, being a part of her world. It was easy to fall back into old habits, and sitting with her, just breathing her in, was a habit he remembered so well.

“Damon had to have given Ezra the go-ahead,” Levi was saying. “I suspect some of the London team was there, too.”

“Take that up with Damon,” Tag shot back. “Man, I am running on very little sleep. I’ve got a newborn at home and now I have to figure out what that girl upstairs has been through and how to help her. I do not give a flying fuck about Agency games. As far as I’m concerned, Ezra Fain is on his own.”

“I suppose you’ll let me into Sanctum, then.”

“If that’s what it takes to get the Agency off my back, but you need to understand that there will be no more favors. You feel free to fly in and inspect my private property and then we’ll be done, and I’m not talking about you and me,” Tag explained. “You mean less than nothing to me. I’m talking about your bosses who love to come whining to me that they need help. My door will be closed.”

“I suppose that goes for Miles and Dean, too. It must be handy to have that ax to wield,” Levi complained.

“Is he talking about Adam Miles?” Kim asked, not looking up. She had her face buried in the crook of his neck.

Big Tag was making a power play. “Adam’s facial identification software is something the Agency is very interested in, but he’s smart. He’s kept most of the really innovative programming completely private. He’s got a server that no one can touch, and I’m sure they’ve tried.”

“That is smart because the Agency would steal it and use it however they want.”

Well at least she was willing to admit the Agency had a dark side.

“Adam makes his own decisions,” Tag replied with a weary sigh. He obviously wasn’t faking his tiredness. “You’ll have to talk to him.”

Levi snorted. “You know damn well he won’t take my calls. And when he won’t take my boss’s calls, I wonder who they’re going to blame. So that’s your play.”

Even through the screen Ezra could feel the weight of Tag’s stare as the man replied. “I’m not playing. That’s what you need to understand. I don’t know why Ezra did what he did. I don’t know if Damon had anything to do with it. I don’t care right now. All I care about is my family and getting home to them. So if you want to push me, you’ll find out what happens when I do play.”

“He’s very intimidating when he wants to be,” Kim murmured.

Ezra stared at the screen, watching every move Levi made. He still didn’t completely trust that this was over. It wouldn’t be until Levi was on another continent, and even then they would still have problems.

“I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary,” Drake said as he reentered the lobby, coming down the stairs. “Mr. DuBois was very forthcoming. As far as I can tell there’s nowhere to have hidden them. I inspected every room and saw no evidence that anyone is living here. Like I tried to tell you before, I think they’re still in England. I would like to take a look at Knight’s country home.”

“I told you Knight isn’t being very forthcoming,” Levi replied through clenched teeth.

“Have you thought about the fact that Solo has multiple homes and likely still has plenty of cash?” Drake asked. “My profile of her was pretty plain. She’s got several places she would be able to go, and bank accounts I think she would hide from everyone. She’s got the resources to go to ground for years. I think we’ve seen the last of her.”

“Absolutely not. She won’t go away,” Levi insisted.

Drake turned to him. “Why? Criminals usually run and hide when they’re caught. Criminals with Solo’s resources are generally never heard from again if they’re smart, and I believe Solo’s smart. I still don’t fully understand why she would work with a person like McDonald unless she was undercover.”

“I told you, I know Solo better than anyone.” Levi stood in front of the kid. “I don’t need you to profile her. The evidence against her is unassailable.”

Drake merely shrugged one lanky shoulder. “I still think she’s not going to resurface for a long time. Like I said, she’s highly intelligent, and if she believes she’s been caught, she’ll hide.”

“She’s very dumb if she thinks she can get away from me,” Levi replied. “But I can see I’m going to get nowhere with Tag. I’ll deal with this on my own. There’s more than one way to handle this. I can see I’ll have to use some finesse.” He looked to Tag. “Tell Solo when you see her—and I don’t believe for a second you won’t—that this is far from over.”

He turned on his ridiculously expensive loafer and strode out.

“He’ll likely still be watching,” Kim said, and he noticed she wasn’t as relaxed as she had been.

“I don’t know. He won’t have much manpower.” He knew how the Agency worked. Levi had his one real shot at bringing her in. He wouldn’t be allowed to keep ten operatives working at all times. He might get an analyst or two watching the web for any evidence of her whereabouts, but that would be it. If Drake really could convince him to go back to England, they would be safe. They could wait a week or two here and then begin the slow move to Dallas. “We’ll have to wait and see.”

“Thank you for your hospitality, Mr. DuBois.” Drake nodded the club owner’s way. “Your building is lovely. Mr. Taggart, I wish you luck with your family. I think we’ll be going back to England, and then perhaps looking at some other places where Solo might have hidden. I doubt we’ll bother you for a while.”

Drake turned and walked out.

Ezra reached over and flipped the laptop lid down. “Excellent, now we can take a breath and relax for a few minutes. Kiss me.”

She sat up. “Are you sure this is a good idea? Maybe we should talk.”

He didn’t want to talk. He wanted to find a way to use all the adrenaline that had coursed through his body. “We’ve had a stressful morning. If we talk, we’ll likely argue. I know we’re due a really good argument and we’ll have it, but can we have some peace for now?”

Her hand came up to brush his jaw and she stared in his eyes for a moment as though trying to figure out what to say. Or how honest to be. “I don’t want to fall in love with you again.”

When she looked at him like that he remembered what it felt like to like himself. “You never fell out.”

She’d chased after him and he’d treated her like crap. He’d been angry and felt betrayed, but hadn’t he owed her more?

“But I wish I had because I think you’ll break my heart again. I worry I won’t be able to put it back together. If you break it this time, it’ll die.”

He seriously doubted that. Her heart was a mighty thing. “If it helps, I don’t think I ever truly fell out of love with you.”

“You did a good job of convincing everyone.”

He actually chuckled at the thought. Maybe he’d convinced her, but he hadn’t convinced a lot of the people who knew him. Now that he was here with her, he had to wonder how much he’d fooled himself. “Did I? I think I was good at focusing my anger on you. I know we need to talk about it, but I’m tired. I don’t want to hash it out. I want to pretend like it didn’t happen for one afternoon.”

“But it did happen, and what do I do if you can’t forgive me?”

He asked the only question he could. “Did you mean to get my brother killed?”

She frowned up at him. “Of course not.”

“You were young and arrogant.” He’d had years to think about it and he’d come to this conclusion. “You thought you could prove you knew more than I did.”

She’d always been competitive. Even with him when it came to the job. She could be reckless. At least she had been back then. And she’d had a deep desire to prove that she wasn’t merely the rich girl in the group. She’d wanted to belong, and that had led to a tragedy. Did he have to be angry with her for the rest of his life?

She sighed. “You’re right. I don’t want to fight either.”

She would probably never admit why she hadn’t followed his advice that day, and he might have to live with it. He didn’t know what was going to happen when they got out of this place, but he knew what he wanted while they were here. He wanted her. He needed this time with her without the influence of anyone else. It was the two of them for now, and maybe that was what it would take to rebuild their relationship. “Then kiss me.”

She only hesitated for a moment and then she raised her lips to his.

He stood up, lifted her into his arms, and carried her to the bedroom. Levi wasn’t going to occupy another second of his time.

 

 

But later that night, after he’d finished spending the whole afternoon with her, Levi showed him that he would not be denied.

 

* * * *

 

Kim glanced at the clock and wondered how long it would be before the light came on and they could go downstairs and play. The club wasn’t open this evening according to Rene, but he worked out of an office upstairs and had a late call. Outside it would already be dark and the city would be bustling with couples going out to dinner and workers heading home. Her own apartment wasn’t far from here, and the lights would have come on. They were on a timer connected to the security system. The soft lights would be on and anyone who didn’t know better would think there was a family inside.

She wanted to walk outside with Beck’s hand in hers. The last time they’d been in Paris together they’d only been married for a few weeks. They’d taken a long weekend and stayed at the tiny flat she kept near the Louvre. They’d walked the length of the Tuileries Garden and talked about the future.

It was fitting they were here again. Starting again.

She moved out of the bedroom where she’d been making some notes about dates and places she could remember. Putting together her schedule from years before would be a hard task, but she was determined in a way she hadn’t been before. Being with Beck made her want a future more than she had in years. She realized now that she’d been drifting. It was good to want again.

He sat at the tiny table, his face illuminated by the light from the laptop. He was staring intently at whatever was on the screen.

He’d done the few dishes she’d used to heat up the soup they’d had for dinner, and the tiny kitchen was neat and clean. The wall beside the little stove, however, was covered in sticky notes they’d worked on all afternoon. He’d been completely true to his word about allowing her to lead the investigation. He’d been helpful, taking notes on everything she could remember about that time and then placing them on the wall where they could sort them into a rough calendar. While they’d been working together, she’d actually felt a sense of hope that they might be able to figure this thing out.

That they might actually have a shot at being together after this.

“Hey, you look serious,” she said quietly. “I thought you were closing up shop for the evening.”

He didn’t look her way, merely kept his eyes on the computer. “I got a couple of emails I need to deal with.”

She could understand that. He’d dropped his whole life for her. She glanced up as the light over the door came on and she felt her body shift. “I hope it doesn’t take you too long. It looks like Rene’s locked up for the night.”

That meant it was his time. Beck’s. She’d worked with him all day on the case, and now she would serve her Dom. She would pay him back for everything he’d given her. Would he force her down on her knees, command her to take his cock in her mouth and swallow him down?

He stood and turned on the overhead light. “It was from Levi.”

A chill went down her spine. She’d managed to forget Levi much of the day even though she’d been working on the problem he presented. Somehow she’d found a way to pretend it was just her and Beck working together again. “Is he coming back here?”

Beck’s eyes were lasers staring through her. “I don’t think so. I think Tag’s plan worked, but remember when Levi promised he would find another way to get to us?”

She nodded. What had Levi done?

“He meant me. He had a way to get to me. Tell me how long you knew he was investigating my brother.”

Her heart dropped, gut tightening. This was the moment she’d feared for years, even more than she’d feared telling him Ezra was dead. “Beck, you can’t believe everything in that report.”

She’d worked so hard to hide this from him, to keep the promise she’d made to his brother. She’d promised the real Ezra Fain she’d go to her grave with this secret, a last plea from a desperate man.

“Believe it?” Beck pointed to the laptop. “You think I honestly believe my brother would run drugs? Would dishonor himself and our family in that fashion? He wouldn’t be my brother if he’d done that.”

Yes, there it was. That was exactly why Ezra had been so desperate. Beck had placed his brother on a pedestal. He could be so judgmental about certain things, and this was one of them. She kept her mouth shut because she’d promised there wouldn’t be lies between them again. Unfortunately, this might be a lie she couldn’t avoid.

His gaze pierced through her. “Levi was setting my brother up and you knew.”

Yes, she remembered this feeling well. This was exactly how she’d felt when he’d accused her of sending his brother to his death. His righteous nature was taking over. “I knew he was investigating Ezra’s unit.”

“And you didn’t bother to mention that fact to me?”

Her gut was in knots. She wasn’t sure she could do this again. “I went to Ezra about it.”

“But not to me.”

Did he remember anything about what had happened back then? “You weren’t in the country at the time. Not when I found out he was being investigated. You were on an assignment. I didn’t even talk to you for two months.”

“And then I was home for three before my brother was killed. Not once did you mention to me that he was in trouble.”

“Because he’d asked me not to.” She was treading a fine line. “You have to listen to me. It was such a weird time. Ezra was desperate and he was trying to find a way out. He got stuck in something he couldn’t handle, but the last thing he wanted was for you to know how low he’d gotten.”

“What are you trying to tell me?”

How much could she say now? What did she still owe the real Ezra Fain? She’d given up her marriage because she’d promised him she wouldn’t tell his secrets.

Was that true? Maybe her marriage had been doomed either way because she wasn’t sure Beck would ever have been able to handle the truth about his brother, and that rage would have needed a place to go. It would have always fallen on her because Beck refused to believe he had a problem. When she thought about it, both of the brothers had an addiction problem. “Ezra got addicted to pain killers after he broke his leg. Like really addicted. He would go on missions high.”

“That’s complete bullshit,” he replied. “Who told you that? Levi?”

“Ezra.” If she was going to tell him, she would at least be honest about what happened before that last mission. Maybe they would have a chance then. “He changed teams and the one he ended up on…well, the CO had been doing shady shit for a long time.”

“But he specifically asked to be on that team.”

“Yes, because he knew he could get the drugs he needed and no one would bat an eye as long as he did his part.”

“His part being helping to run drugs in the area. My do-gooder, go-to-mass-every-week brother did this.” His hands were on his hips, a look of utter disbelief on his face.

She wasn’t sure how to make him believe her. “Why would I lie to you at this point?”

“That’s a very good question and I can think of a couple of answers. One is that you got caught. You got caught working with Levi. Again. And you were working against my best interest.”

She started to reply but he held up a hand.

“No, I get to finish. Two. Levi was the one running drugs and he was your friend, so you helped him cover it up and you made my brother the scapegoat.” He started moving toward her, ice in his eyes where a mere hour before he’d looked at her with such tenderness.

But this was the nature of Beck’s beast. He was the sweetest man until his anger took over, and then he could brutalize her with words.

“Did you send my brother in to die to protect Levi? I know he was your close friend back then. Did you have to choose between your friend and my brother?”

“No, but I won’t be able to convince you. You’re judge, jury, and executioner, and you always have been.” He hadn’t even given her a chance to try to explain. Three days after his brother’s death, he’d moved out, and she hadn’t heard from him again until he’d sent her divorce papers. He hadn’t fought for their marriage. He’d decided she wasn’t worth fighting for and he’d moved on.

He pointed to the computer. “How else am I supposed to make sense of this? You hid an entire investigation from me.”

“We knew we would have to keep secrets when we got married. We both worked for the Agency and that meant putting a wall up when it came to certain missions. It was classified and beyond that, Ezra didn’t want you to know he was using drugs. He begged me. I was worried if I told you, he would hurt himself. He couldn’t deal with the shame you would have heaped on him.” She felt every bit as helpless now as she had then.

His jaw went tight and he started to pace like a lion in a cage. “So now this is my fault? I’m the bad guy here? Apparently I was the only one who wasn’t doing something criminal. If you knew my brother was doing drugs and you didn’t pull him off of his team, you’re just as bad as him. He was the fucking medic.”

She was screwed. It didn’t matter which way she went. This was always how they ended. “I was trying to protect him the only way I could. By that time there were some bad people after him.”

“So you took his team on an op and decided it would be better to let him die?” His face was an angry mask.

“I’m done, Beck.” If she talked much more the real truth would come out, and she suddenly realized it wouldn’t save her. It would bury her deeper, and she would have given up a piece of her soul.

“You’re not done. This is now an investigation of you, and if you don’t want me to turn you over to Levi, you’ll comply with everything I tell you to do. And no, I’m not going to touch you again, so you can get that straight out of your head. You’re the same snake I always knew you were. The stupid thing is I’d convinced myself we had a chance. That pretty pussy of yours made me think you could do no wrong and I was the one who fucked up. I was actually thinking about a future with you, about kids and a house.”

“Well, it’s good that you know the truth then.”

“Yeah, because wouldn’t you make a hell of a mother. You’d be exactly like your own. You’d use that kid to make yourself look respectable, but you wouldn’t give a shit.”

Something inside her died in that moment, some light that had started to flicker back to life.

He went quiet as though he realized he’d gone too far, but the damage had been done.

She turned away. “I’m going to bed.”

“I shouldn’t have said that,” he said on a sigh. “I’m mad and I’m struggling to understand.”

She nodded. “You’ll figure it out. You always do.”

She would be the bad guy. It was the role she played in his life and she was done.

“I’m not joking about the investigation,” he said, his tone back to commanding. “I’m going to find out what happened then, and you are going to tell me everything you know.”

Sure she would. He thought that because for the most part she’d been indulgent with him. She’d dealt with his anger because she’d loved him, and she’d thought somewhere deep down that she could fix him. In some ways he was every bit as bad as Levi. He thought he loved her when what he mostly did was hurt her.

She’d done things she wasn’t proud of, done things she deserved his scorn for, but she’d loved him. She’d wanted the best for him even if it meant sacrificing.

“Of course.” She would agree to anything to get away from him. She needed to plan because she couldn’t stay with him. She had no one who would help her. Well, no one she could call. There was one person in all the world who couldn’t deny her aid.

“I’m going down for a run,” he said. “There’s a treadmill on the second floor. I shouldn’t talk to you when I’m this angry. I need to burn some of this off and then maybe I can look at you and be somewhat civil.”

He wouldn’t have to look at her ever again. Drake had been very correct in what he’d said. She had resources Beck didn’t know about.

She stood and watched him walk away from her and planned her escape.

In the end, it was easy. She packed a small bag, put a hoodie on, and walked out the door. The security system gave her a full minute before the alarm went off, and that was more than enough time to get lost on the streets of Paris.

She made her way to the apartment she kept and took the chance to enter. It took her exactly five minutes to get to the safe, get the cash, gun, and passport she kept there. She was hiding in the tree in the back of the building when Beck got there. She waited until he’d strode out, yelling at someone on his cell.

When she was sure he was gone, she walked to the road and hitched a ride out of town. From there she took a train to the south of France and chartered a small plane to take her into Italy. Every now and then she would feel eyes on her and change direction. She knew Beck had found her once when she recognized one of the McKay-Taggart guys at a train station in Turin, but she managed to elude him.

Two weeks after she’d left Paris she felt comfortable enough to take the ferry from Catania, Sicily, to her final destination, the tiny island nation of Malta. The ferry landed in Valletta and she took a cab to the Birgu waterfront and walked to the base of Fort Saint Angelo. It was late and she jumped the fence that barred her access to the long winding path that led to the top of the fort.

The sun was slipping into the Mediterranean as she made it to the top. A lone figure stood, blocking her path.

“Kim?” a familiar voice asked. “Is that you?”

She stood in front of the man who owed her everything. “Yes. It’s me. I need some help.”

He stepped toward her and she could see the collar around his neck that denoted he was a priest. The real Ezra Fain held his arms open. “Of course. What’s my brother done now? He’s the only one who could put that look on your face.”

She hugged the man who had been her brother-in-law and let the tears fall.

She knew in that moment that she would never love another man.

She was wrong.