Eleven

Zurich, Switzerland

Monday, 25 January, 6:21 p.m.

––––––––

None of us spoke while we ate. My mind preoccupied by my stupidity. How didn't I realise sooner that we were looking for more than one killer? An additional question to answer – how many unsubs?

Aidan stepped into the bedroom to take a call, and I cleared the table and pushed the trolley into the hallway. Defeat visible on Aidan's face when he returned. "I'm heading out, going to meet with our operative. Fin, do you want to come with me?"

"No, take Rowan with you. I need to put the skills Eli taught me to use. No point going with you if I can't see the body. Photos will do."

Rowan laughed. "I'll ask reception to send up ice for your knuckles."

I frowned. "Why?"

"If you're going to go ballistic on Liam, you might need to ice your knuckles afterwards." Rowan stood and repositioned the Glock at his back.

"No, I'm going to do my own hacking. While Eli focuses on our unsubs I need to dig into our victims' pasts. How is he, or they, finding the victims? We're not talking about prostitutes or people abducted from the street. In one country, or on one continent, it would be much easier. The murders are all over the globe."

"Perhaps you're looking for one killer, but he has help in each country." Liam added.

Plausible, but I didn't think so. If too many people knew, the risk of someone talking would be too big. Unless they have a reason to keep their mouths shut.

Aidan pulled me against him and kissed me until I was breathless. "See you later, Wife."

I nodded and slapped his delectable derriere.

"If you left any other woman alone with Liam, I would've told you you're crazy." Rowan shook his head as he followed Aidan.

Liam turned to me as soon as the door closed. A playboy type grin plastered across his face. "We might as well. It's not like we haven't slept together before."

I removed a bottle of water from the minibar and found a stationary pad and pen in the desk's drawer. With my back to the room, I kept my eyes on the paper on the desk, but my focus remained on Liam. He made himself comfortable on the L-shaped couch and switched on the television, keeping the sound low.

"I take it you never told Aidan about our night together," Liam said while flicking through the channels.

"Of course, I told my husband. We don't keep any secrets from each other."

Liam's laughter interrupted by the ringing of his mobile phone. He spoke in German to whoever called him. It was time I learned at least two other languages in order to keep up with the Walkers. They all speak multiple languages. Fluent in each, without even a hint of an accent. Ryan and Heather had prepared their sons from a young age for the roles they would one day play in Fortius. I thought about my precious little girl and wondered what it must be like for Heather to have three of her sons in constant danger. The shape of the danger differed, but its presence constant. It lurks around every corner, and even though we're all trained soldiers, no one is bulletproof. Unless you wear Kevlar, of course, but still.

"Ich bin tot," Liam said.

It took me a few seconds to realise he spoke to me. Tot means dead. Ich bin? I am. Perhaps my German wasn't as bad as I thought. "Das ist gut."

Liam whipped his head in my direction, my back still to him. Perfect place for a mirror. In this mirror, or any other, Aidan will always be the most beautiful of all, and then Rowan, except when he wore his hair in a man bun. Liam's lips moved, but I didn't understand a word.

"My German isn't fluent. Learned a few words while Lizzie and I travelled across Europe years ago with my parents. So, how many times have you died?" I asked and turned to face him.

"This is the first time. Ludwig Schneider no longer exists."

"What happened?"

"Rob Granger likes pipe bombs. Rowan's cover is solid, people will be reminded of how dangerous he is on tonight's news. As for me, I'm going to be unemployed as soon as we land in Marcel."

I returned my attention to the note pad on the desk. "No, you won't. We'll create a new cover identity for you, and you will work with Rowan again. This time following his every order. If you as much as huff, or roll your eyes, I'll have you sent to the furthest, most isolated place in the world. Better yet, perhaps you should spend a year on Grey Island."

My parents had a thing for manors, the Walkers have a thing for grey. The island in question is a black site, a tropical prison where our enemies are kept. Mine included.

"Anything to get me as far away from you as possible. You can't deny it, Finley. There's something between us."

I pushed to my feet and sat on the edge of the desk. "Yes, there is. My husband. Stop the crap, Liam. You've known better than to flirt with me since the first day we met. You can throw around the little sleeping together comment as much as you like. There's a big difference between having sex with me and sleeping in the same room."

I returned my bum to the chair and refocused on the words scribbled on the A5 size piece of paper. "For the record, if you have sex with me once, no other woman will ever satisfy you." I winked when his big eyes met mine in the mirror. "Thank you again for staying with Ainsley and me the first time Aidan went away for work."

Aidan and I had planned it all out. He had told Liam he didn't want to leave his wife and daughter alone, while I wanted to get to know Liam better. A ruse. An opportunity to bond with Liam and gain his trust. It was time for him to grow up and get over his passive-aggressive hatred towards Rowan. Men in their thirties shouldn't act like children, even less so in our line of work.

"Why is Aidan the only one of us lucky enough to meet the perfect woman and convince her to marry him? Nathan's marriage went up in flames. Rowan avoids relationships. And I'm the family slut."

"Slut? That's the word you want to go with?" Strange how much Liam and I bonded in that one night. The following morning, he had asked Aidan not to spend another night with me and Ainsley; seeing me breastfeed made him uncomfortable. Liam never even saw my breasts; he had closed his eyes and fell asleep on the couch in the bedroom. I suspect him not wanting to spend another night could come down to him realising what domestic life can be like. After returning from an operation in Nigeria, being home with a woman who understood the horrors he had seen, and a beautiful baby girl who reminded him of what we fought for, it might've been too much for a man who has never had a meaningful relationship.

"Well, what would you call me?"

"Lost. With the mother of all chips on your shoulder." I turned to face him. "I would love to delve into your psyche and psychoanalyse every aspect of your personality, and the reasons for all of your various bad decisions. But I have murder victims waiting for me to catch their killer. Or killers."

I took a deep breath and joined him on the couch. "Nevertheless, you're my brother, and I'll always make time for you. Now listen up, buttercup, because this is about to get real. You have meaningless sex because you're afraid of rejection. This doesn't stem from Quinn choosing Rowan when you were young. No, this comes from you concocting a made-up scenario where your mother chose him over you. Have you even considered how hard a decision it must've been for your parents? They already had three sons, you were barely a year old, and then they brought a newborn into the house. Instead of seeing your parents' actions as them rejecting you, consider the remarkable people they are."

Liam stood and made coffee for both of us. "You're wrong."

I laughed, holding onto my stomach. "No, I'm not. This goes way beyond Quinn falling in love with Rowan and not you. You're so self-centred that you never even considered the fact that their pasts forged their bond. They're outsiders. They don't share your blood. Fair enough, Quinn didn't live with you on a full-time basis or have your surname, but she and Rowan are more Walker than you've ever been. Unless you cut your bullshit, grow up, and realise what a remarkable family you have. Think about their pasts. Where they came from. Do you think it's easy for them? They'll forever feel they need to earn the love and respect of this family. That, my dear brother, is why they chose each other. Not everything in this life is about you, Liam Walker. I love you, but if you don't stop playing the victim I will, from this day forward, slap you every time I see you."

I thanked him for the coffee and continued. "Captain Walker, you're a formidable soldier. I saw your records; I know the people you served with. They all speak highly of you, and of your bravery in combat."

Liam opened his mouth, but no words came out. He placed the mug on the coffee table and stared at his hands. "Aidan's the genius, the world-record-holding sniper, the perfect husband and father. Nathan has a way with people; you can't not love him, and he's very good with numbers. Not as good as Aidan, but still. Rowan's the larger than life, deadly teddy bear, who has no idea of the way women look at him. He has that whole tall, dark, handsome, and dangerous thing about him. I'm just Liam the super soldier."

I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him tight. "I get it, more than you can imagine. Do you think it was easy growing up in Lizzie's shadow? She's the epitome of the perfect woman. Intelligent, beautiful, and classy. Well now, not so much when we were students. Every family has a slut; our family had two. Don't tell anyone I said that. Lizzie will try to put me in a choke hold. All of my mother's grey hairs had been my doing. I was the tomboy, the wild child. The one that other children liked, teachers not so much. I broke every rule I could, and then to top it all off, I joined the army. Best decision I ever made. I found myself." And almost lost my life.

I took lives and watched my squad get murdered. Perhaps I didn't find myself, but rather lost myself, and morphed into who I became.

Liam increased his hold on me, but remained quiet, so I continued. "We are who we are. As long as our actions don't hurt anyone else, we can continue being us. Your actions are hurting people, and almost got us killed today, but you're hurting yourself the most. When we get back to Marcel, take some time off, go to the house in Wild Bay and breathe. Take time to think about everything and you'll realise your parents bringing Rowan into the family shows their kindness, selflessness, and loving hearts. Consider what I said about Quinn and Rowan's bond. And for the record, it's nothing more than a bond. You know why they ended their short romance. It borders on cousin kissing."

"They did more than just kissing." Liam pulled away and took my hand in his.

I shrugged; I would never break their trust by telling anyone they recently had sex. "It's all in the past. Now, seeing as you called dibs on all the brunettes in the world, find yourself the right one. And please leave the blondes to Rowan. That's your deal, remember?"

"All bets are off. He slept with Anna."

"First, and then you slept with her to prove a point. Stop being childish. Stop thinking with your penis." We both laughed.

I pressed my lips to his cheek and stood. He squeezed my hand. "I love you, Fin. Is this the way sisters talk to their brothers?"

"I don't know, but this is what I would say to Lizzie. I love you too, brother. Now, that will be 5000 euros." I held my palm out to him.

"What?"

"Did you expect therapy to be free?"

Liam laughed and released his death grip on my hand. "I tell you what, Dr Williams-Walker, I'll pay you by not screwing up again. Okay?"

Deep down I knew he would try but doubted this would be the end of Liam's long list of screw-ups. As long as no one gets hurt or killed, his cheek would remain free of my handprint. "Deal."

Liam shook his head. "If I screw up again, you can slap me."

"If anyone in this family or Fortius gets injured or killed because of your recklessness, I will make it my personal mission to destroy you."

Liam grinned. "You can always lock me up next to your ex on Grey Island. Nothing like some white torture to destroy someone."

I returned to the desk and picked up the pen. "He's dead. Chewed his own wrists. At least he saw some colour before death came for him." Gabriel lasted longer than I had expected him to. His death hadn't bothered me one bit, and this was the second time I spoke about it. The first time being when Aidan informed me. My response had been a single word: okay.