by Lexi Blake
“Thanks, sweetie,” Charlotte said, patting her oldest daughter’s hand.
“Mom, there’s something wrong with Mr. Kent’s brother,” one of the twins said with a frown on her face. “He’s weird.”
For a second she’d been scared, but Ezra was weird. “What did he do?”
The girl with strawberry blonde hair turned toward her, one brow arched over her eyes in an amazing imitation of her father. “He overheard me talking to Kenzie about this girl in camp last year who was mean to me and how I’m not taking it this year.”
“You didn’t take it last year,” Charlotte pointed out. “You punched her.”
“She punched me first,” the girl who was definitely Kala announced. “And Mr. Kent’s brother told me I should turn the other cheek. Why would I do that, Mom? Do I want her to hit my other cheek?”
“I believe he’s talking about the Christian principle of nonviolence.” Charlotte winced. “We need to go to church more often. You see Mr. Kent’s brother is a priest.”
“I thought that was his cover,” Tasha said, her arms folding over her chest. “I heard he was a criminal on the run.”
Charlotte was the one arching a brow now. “Where did you hear that?”
Tasha flushed slightly. “I’ve just heard rumors around the office. I wasn’t eavesdropping. Uhm, Uncle Alex is loud.”
“Your Uncle Alex said Father Ezra was a criminal?” Charlotte asked.
“I didn’t hear him say that,” Kenzie replied. “I heard him say that it was good we had a priest around now because someone should make Kala exercise.”
Kala’s eyes rolled. “He said he wanted someone to exorcise me.”
“What did you do?” Charlotte asked.
It didn’t get by Kim that Tasha had retreated to the door.
Kala shrugged. “I put a couple of bugs in Cooper’s lunch box. Or I thought it was Coop’s box. Turned out Aunt Eve used it, and she does not get a joke. They weren’t real or anything. They were plastic.”
Charlotte leaned over and put her hands on Kala’s shoulders. “You are never going to get Cooper to like you by playing practical jokes on him, baby.”
Kala made a gagging sound and backed away. “Like I want him to like me. I don’t even like boys.”
“You keep that up, baby girl. Boys are stinky and gross and bad for you.” Ian Taggart walked in and winked Tasha’s way. “Any chance I can get you on the no boys train?”
“Sure, Dad.” Tasha gave her dad a hug. “After all, you smell stinky lots of the time.”
Ian simply chuckled and kissed the top of her head. “True. And that’s what you’re in for. Now go, my daughters. I’m paying you. You gotta work before you go to camp.”
The girls all rushed out.
Ian raised an arm and gave himself a sniff. “I’m not stinky. I took a shower and everything.”
“I don’t think your daughter likes me very much.” It was good to have something to distract her from her previous thoughts. Not that it was a problem for her. She’d had lots of people not like her, but she usually had to do something to them first.
Tag waved a hand and took a seat by his wife. “I wouldn’t worry about it. Kala doesn’t like anyone.”
“Except Cooper,” Charlotte said.
Tag flinched. “I reject that notion.”
“I was talking about Tasha.” There was something going on with that girl. “Does she have a thing for Beck?”
Ian’s whole body shuddered. “No. Ewww. That is a sweet baby girl we are talking about, and she doesn’t like boys much less super-old dudes who haven’t smiled in seven years.”
Charlotte frowned and glanced out the conference room windows. “She did seem a little off. I’ll talk to her. I’ve never noticed her paying Beck any attention. Not more than she pays any of the adults. I would be less surprised if she had a crush on the younger guys. We’ve got some attractive bodyguards.”
“And they’re smart, too, because none of them would be interested in fourteen-year-old girls,” Tag said and then seemed to get serious. “Has Tash been rude? That’s not like her. She’s the sweetest of my kids. Probably because she doesn’t actually have any of my DNA. I swear Kala got a double shot.”
“I wouldn’t say she’s rude exactly.” Kim shook her head. “Or I’m being paranoid. It’s been a long time since I hung out in an office. Forget I said anything.”
“She’s a teen. They’re all on the moody side.” Charlotte nodded as the door came open again. “And honestly, she gets a bit emotional any time the fact that she’s adopted comes up. It’s why we don’t talk about her dad often.”
Tag sobered. “When she’s ready, we’ll tell her everything.”
“God, don’t.” Beck had a grin on his face as he held the door open for his brother. “Sasha could be on the wild side.”
Beck was smiling like nothing was wrong. Like everything was going right in his world. The man who hadn’t smiled for seven years.
Well, she hadn’t been the one who pushed him away. She hated that she was suddenly having these thoughts. They’d crept up on her. Or perhaps they were leaking. Perhaps last night had exposed some cracks in the walls she’d built, and years of pain were beginning to seep out.
She needed to patch those up and quick.
“Hey, you need anything?” Beck asked as he set a folder on the table, claiming the seat beside her. “Coffee?”
She shook her head. “No, I’m good. Thank you.”
He settled in as Ezra took his other side. “So, Tag, what’s the word? Did you hear back from your DPD contacts?”
“It was Beck’s bad driving, right?” Ezra asked.
It was odd to sit here with them. She hadn’t thought about it before, but it had been so very long since she’d been with the both of them. Even back when she and Beck had been married, Ezra had been deployed or on assignment, or Beck had been out of the country. They hadn’t spent much time together as a family. They hadn’t all sat around the breakfast table making jokes and enjoying the morning.
Had she ever truly had that? What would it be like to have it and lose it?
Was that what she was setting Roman up for? Even back in Malta her uncle had spent a lot of time traveling. It was usually her and Roman and Ezra in the mornings.
“I wish I could agree with you.” Tag sat back. “Adam did a deep dive on your officer yesterday. I don’t like the situation. Derek Brighton is our police department contact and he told me that Officer Gates has been bragging that he’s going to get a job with the feds. According to Adam, he’s been in DC recently.”
“Any overt ties to Levi?” Beck asked.
For her the fact that he was applying for a federal job was all the ties she needed. “He wanted to get a look at you. I would bet he had his body cam on the whole time. We have to assume Levi now knows Ezra is alive. The question is how did he even know to look? We know for a fact he didn’t see Ezra in Malta.”
“Do we?” Beck asked. “I know if I’d been Levi I would have had someone use their phone to tape the helicopter rescue.”
“It was rainy and Owen got pretty low.” The walls to the upper fort were high. “I don’t think that’s where he saw Ezra.”
What she didn’t say was how worrying it was.
“It’s possible that Levi was trying to figure out if you’re staying with Beck,” Charlotte mused.
“Why pull me over?” Beck slid a look her way like he was coming around to her way of thinking. Or trusting her instincts. “It would be far easier to put someone on surveillance. We’ve been coming and going. We’re not hiding. Ezra is, and we need to consider that Levi won’t be happy he’s alive.”
“But why would he even think to check if I’m alive?” Ezra asked. “Unless he saw me or someone told him. I’ve been in Europe for years and not once have I thought someone was looking for me.”
“I can assure you he thought you were dead,” Kim said. “If he hadn’t, he would have moved heaven and earth to kill you. You’re
a loose end, and Levi doesn’t like those. You could potentially testify against him.”
“Ezra and I talked about this.” Beck sat back, looking thoughtful. “We decided he shouldn’t try to testify. He isn’t the best witness because of what he was doing back then.”
Ezra held up a hand. “Drugs. I was doing drugs. I’m betting there aren’t many people who would listen to me. There’s also the fact that I didn’t really interact with him. I remember his face, but he talked to my CO and my CO relayed his orders.”
“That sounds like Levi.” She needed to start thinking like an operative again. “I want to do some homework on the missions you went on back then.”
“That’ll be hard,” Ian pointed out. “I’m going to assume most of them were classified.”
“Yes, but I think if Ezra can tell us where he was and what he was doing, Kim and I might be able to piece some things together,” Beck offered.
“It was a lot of running guns, especially in North Africa, but I suspect those guns found their way to the Middle East.” Ezra fiddled with the mug of coffee in front of him. “There were a couple of rebel forces the Agency wanted to support.”
She knew the play. “Yeah, they’ll arm everyone to see who comes out on top. They do it quietly because Congress almost always has a problem with us fucking around in other countries. Levi’s bosses loved to do that. The question is can we get enough proof?”
“We would need something that made everyone above him nervous.” Ian proved he knew how to play this game.
All they needed to do was get the higher-ups scared enough that they threw Levi Green to the wolves. It was a sad fact of their world.
Which was why she didn’t want to have anything to do with that world again. Even McKay-Taggart felt too close. One good thing about having those seven years away had been not being worried every day that she was doing the right thing, that she was being part of the solution instead of the problem. She’d forgotten that knot in her stomach that she’d been forced to live with.
“If there’s anything we’ve learned from history it’s that the big dogs will let someone like Levi take the fall.” Beck seemed to be thinking the same thing she was. “If we can prove he was involved with evading Congress’s oversight, they’ll either quietly ship him to prison or take care of the situation.”
“You mean they’ll kill him,” Ezra said solemnly.
Beck turned to his brother. “I’m trying to save you and make sure that asshole never comes after my…after Kim and Roman. Make no doubt. He’ll use Roman someday. He’ll find a way to put him in a bad position. Just like he did with you.”
Ezra held his hands up as though conceding the point. “I get it. Hey, I’m all for this plan. I’m a priest. Not a saint. I wish there was another way though. Are we sure I shouldn’t go to the press? I know it’ll cost me a lot, but if it helps…”
“Not a saint? You’re looking to be a martyr, Father.” Tag shook his head.
“I’m not.” Ezra took a long breath. “I don’t want to go to jail, and I definitely have no interest in being assassinated, and those are likely my two options. But I cannot sit by if I can help. I wouldn’t do it to a stranger. I’m certainly not going to do it to the most important people in my life. Kim saved me. In so many ways. Roman gave me purpose and hope. My brother was the single most influential person in my life. I cannot fail them.”
Beck stared at the conference table before reaching out and patting his brother’s arm. “I don’t think we’ve exhausted our possibilities, and even when we do we’ll need to really think about our chances that it could work. Levi is in a different place than he was back then. He’s on far more solid ground.”
“After President Hayes left office, a more Agency-friendly administration took over,” Charlotte explained.
“Helped along by Levi, who used intel he found in the documents Tucker smuggled out of Kronberg,” Ian continued. “I saw those papers. That same year we had a candidate drop out six weeks before the election citing health reasons, despite there being no rumors before or after about his health. That candidate had ties to Kronberg.”
“I’m absolutely certain Levi used the information from Kronberg against him.” She could still remember that day in the limo. “He told me he was going to do it. So he’s responsible for this president being in office, and he’s marrying the VP’s daughter. I think he’s made himself bulletproof.”
“Unless we find a specialized bullet,” Beck mused. “No one is untouchable, and Levi’s made mistakes. It’s all about finding the right mistake. Have we figured out who sent the message Kim got in Malta? I find the timing interesting.”
“I’ve tracked the package back to Berlin.” Charlotte had her cell in hand as though she was waiting for something to come through. “Now the interesting thing is Levi himself was in Berlin up until that very day. I think we’re dealing with someone inside the Agency.”
“My contacts aren’t so great there anymore,” Ian admitted. “I backed the losing side.”
The losing side being her and Beck.
“I thought you still had some contact with Drake,” Beck prompted.
“A bit, but usually when he needs help from us,” Ian explained. “When Levi moved into a more powerful role, he brought Drake with him. Look, Drake’s been helpful, but he’s also close to Levi. If he for some reason sent this note to Kim, we can’t count on him to follow up. If he did it, this is all the help we should expect from him.”
Charlotte slid a glance his way. “We could have Sandra call him. He’s still got a soft spot for her.”
A slow smile spread across Ian’s face. “Well, she did teach him everything he knows. Damn, I miss her.”
Beck leaned over. “He’s talking about Roni’s mom. She worked here for a couple of years, but then left to be closer to her grandkids.”
“She now owns the rowdiest bar in Wyoming,” Charlotte said with a chuckle. “But at one point she was pretty close to Drake. He might listen to her.”
“We’ll hold that in our back pocket.” Ian made a note on his phone. “We don’t even know Drake was in Berlin. I need a list of everyone in that group. If he was there, then I’d like to reach out to him.”
“Why would Drake put himself at risk now?” She wasn’t sure it mattered who’d sent the note. And that proved she was out of practice, too. In the past she would have obsessed over the hows and whys of that tip. Now she just wanted it all to be over so she could concentrate on what was important.
Roman. Putting her life back together. Figuring out where to go from here.
“No idea,” Ian admitted. “He’s always been a bit of a mystery to me. But I think whoever sent us the lead was on to something. Hutch is downstairs with Adam and Jax and the other Lost Boys right now. They’ve been up all night working on finding this Reva person. He’s supposed to come up and fill us in.”
“He found Reva?” She should have been the one searching for the mystery lady, but no, she’d been playing around in Beck’s bed instead of doing her damn job.
And that right there was another reason she’d found some peace when she no longer was working. She was a control freak, slightly paranoid about anyone else doing what she thought she should be responsible for. It was one more reason they called her Solo.
She liked to work alone, be alone, be on her own.
She didn’t want that life anymore.
“I think there was definitely movement on that front.” Charlotte glanced down at her phone and then she was sitting up straighter. “They’re on their way up.”
She leaned toward her husband and they started to whisper.
Beck did the same toward her. “Hey, are you all right? You’ve been quiet all morning. I’m worried I was rough with you last night.”
She rolled her eyes his way. “Yes, you were so rough.”
His eyes narrowed. “I can be rougher tonight.”
She wished that didn’t send a shiver of anticipation down her spine. “I
’m fine.”
“I doubt that.” He frowned. “I want to hold your hand, but I don’t think you want that right now.”
The desire to sit in his lap and wrap her arms around him was almost overwhelming. But she forced herself to sit in her own chair. They had specific parameters, and that was all she could be comfortable with right now. Any feelings she had for him could only be indulged during those hours they’d agreed on. Anything else and she would drown. If she let herself, she would end up marrying him all over again and living the life he wanted to live.
Or you could figure out what you want and ask him to go with you. You knew all those years ago you should get out and try something else. You knew it would make you miserable. You stayed because he was there and then you stayed because that damn job was the only thing that connected you to him. Let him make the sacrifice this time.
“I’m fine. Just worried, but I think I have every right to be.” She kept her tone calm and it was an effort because she found herself restless. Things were happening fast. Faster than she was ready for.
“You’ve got that look,” Beck said. “The one that lets me know you think it’s all about to go to hell.”
The conference door opened, and Hutch had the brightest grin on his face. He held up a thick stack of papers. “We got him.”
Yep, all the pieces were falling into place, and that was when everything exploded.
* * * *
The conference room was full of smiling faces, with the exception of one. It was the grim expression of Kim’s that made Beck wary.
“Okay, explain this again with actual words people outside of the computer world use and slower,” Ian instructed Hutch. He glanced Adam’s way. “How much sugar did you feed him?”
Adam grinned. “A lot. I had to keep him going.”
Hutch was practically vibrating. “So it took me a couple of hours, but I managed to get in contact with Reva. She’s in hiding. Changed her name and everything.”
“Is she hiding from Levi?” Kim asked with a weariness that made his heart ache because he didn’t think she was tired from lack of sleep.
She was tired from all the intrigue, exhausted from people pulling her one way or another. She’d been Levi’s chew toy for years.
