“So, should we start making the decision that you’re paying so we save you, but not the other hostages? What about last year in Egypt? Or before that in India?”
Images of battered faces, people barely hanging onto a thread of life, they all came back to Isaac. Not everyone they rescued was in as good condition as Tanya, or Lacey for that matter. Some were moments from death.
“All I’m saying is, Cisco was one of us.” Shane leaned forward, perching his elbows on his knees. “We all know the danger of this job, and we all do it because...well, we all have our reasons. Do I have to live knowing my split-second judgment almost killed Cisco? Yeah, I do. But now he gets to enjoy retirement and watching his girls grow up. He’s still here to do that.”
“I didn’t mean we don’t do our job, just...” Isaac scrubbed a hand across his jaw and glanced away.
“There has to be a balance?” Shane shook his head. “Either we save who we can when we can, or we stick to the letter of the job, and that’s it. Which would you rather do?”
Fuck.
There had to be a better way, wasn’t there?
“I never meant that we should leave Lacey there,” Isaac said.
“I didn’t think you did, but at what point do we say we’re done? Where’s the line? If things had been different, if she could have walked out of the hotel that day in Atlanta and been fine, she’d be God only knows where, doing...fuck if I know. But it wasn’t safe. It was my call to bring her back.”
“Was it worth it, you think?” Isaac stared at the coffee table’s shiny, glass surface. He hadn’t been able to understand why they put it all on the line for Lacey back then. They could have handed her over to the FBI and been done with it, but the way things went down he wasn’t sure that Lacey would have lived without them.
“Is Tanya?” Shane asked.
“That’s different.”
“Is it? From here it doesn’t look all that different.”
“Kyle asked me to get close to her. I am. We gel well. She knows the score.”
“Really, now?”
“Yeah.” Isaac lifted his shoulders.
“Okay.” Shane mimicked the gesture.
Isaac glared at the other man.
Things between him and Tanya were agreed upon. They’d discussed it, she knew this was a temporary situation and nothing more. Yes, he cared about her, but he’d gotten the chance to really know her. Just because they’d fucked, once, did not mean he was about to lose his shit like Shane had over Lacey and risk all their lives. It just wasn’t going to happen. Isaac didn’t make dick decisions.
“Isaac,” Kyle barked from right behind him.
Isaac started and blinked at the phone Kyle pressed into his hands.
“Handle this.”
Isaac stared at the number.
Oh. Shit.
“On that note, I’m going to go check the cameras.” Shane pushed to his feet.
Both men exited, while Isaac pressed the phone to his ear and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Where have you been?” She sighed, and the exasperated sound did not bode well for Isaac.
“Working. We’ve got a complicated job.”
“Are you still in England?”
“Yeah, we are.”
“What time is it there?”
“It is...” He glanced at the ornate grandfather clock ticking away the seconds. “Quarter past two.”
“Oh, so you’re not that much ahead of me. Spoken to Ruth lately?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“She’s worried about you.”
“There’s no need to be. It’s a pretty standard job.”
“Not about that.”
“Mom, can we save this for when I get home?”
“If we do that, we’d never get to anything.”
“I know, I’m always working. I promise to take a break soon.”
“You need to talk to Ruth.”
“I will, when I get home.”
“You’re going to make her wait that long?”
“I don’t know what you want me to say, Mom. You guys have kept me in the dark about this new guy, you spring it on me, and I’m—what? Supposed to become his best friend?” The guy who was taking his brother’s place?
“You’re important to Ruth. She wants your approval.”
“Well, she doesn’t need it. She’s a big girl.”
“She’s not replacing Joshua. None of us are, Isaac.”
“I never said that’s what she was doing.” He pushed up to his feet and paced the room. He’d been careful to keep his thoughts to himself because he couldn’t trust what he would say, given the opportunity.
“No one wishes Joshua were still alive more than me. You are my boys. I want you both alive, healthy and happy. But Joshua had plans, and he followed his dreams. He died doing what he believed in. Shouldn’t we honor his memory by living? By appreciating his sacrifice?”
“I don’t know what you want me to say.” Isaac didn’t want to have this conversation now, if ever.
“I don’t want you to say anything. I want you to be happy.”
“I’m fine.”
“Then why are you upset with Ruth?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Isaac Benjamin.”
Two words and she twisted the knife of guilt in deeper. Mothers were good like that, able to debilitate with one thrust of an imaginary weapon.
He said nothing, because what could he say?
Ruth was replacing Joshua with a man Mom had introduced her to. Would he take Isaac’s place in their lives next? Was that what they wanted? Isaac hadn’t imagined the disappointment when it was his brother who died and not him. After all, it was Joshua who had a plan for the future and all the options. Isaac had followed along for the thrills.
“When you get home, we can talk more,” Mom said, her tone softer.
“Okay, Mom.”
“Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
She hung up first.
He dropped the phone to his lap and sucked down a breath.
He’d always been the extra kid, the screw up, the one who had no plan, no ambition, no goals. He’d been fine with the way things were. No one expected him to do anything, and he hadn’t known what to do with himself. Joshua was the one who had the plans. Isaac had just figured that his older brother knew best, so why not follow in his footsteps?
Sunday. Washington, D.C.
“Welcome to America, Mr. Nolan. Enjoy your stay.” The customs officer handed Robert Ellis’ passport to him with a smile.
Robert nodded at the young man and walked past the checkpoint, head down.
His resources were slim. There was no guarantee the Nolan passport wouldn’t get flagged. He’d taken it out of evidence and doctored it to the best of his ability. This whole plan was off the books. Rogue. But there was no other way.
He wove through crowds and exited through the glass sliding doors.
Orlando was ahead of him in terms of timeline and geography. There was no telling what the man had planned, but Robert could not sit idly by any longer. His wife, his sweet Donna, might pay the price for his life choices. All he could do was pray she understood why he was doing this.
If Orlando succeeded here in America, he’d work his way down the line of allies he thought had betrayed him. For all they knew, he could wipe Robert’s island off the map if Orlando wasn’t stopped.
A blue car flashed its lights.
Robert swallowed and steeled himself for what came next. Nothing was certain. It was all wild guessing at this point. Patching together reports from his two agents, things Robert had picked up along the way and pure speculation. If he was wrong, he might as well put a bullet in his own head.
He strode down the walk toward the car, tipping his head to the side to avoid the direct view of the camera, and dropped into the car. It was time for the act to begin.
“I wish I could say it wa
s nice to see you, but it isn’t.” The younger man twisted the wheel of the car and accelerated away from the airport. “What the hell is going on? Why couldn’t you talk about this over the phone?”
“We’ve been compromised. The whole op.”
“Jesus...” The young agent gaped at him. “You don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?”
“Baron, Julia, and Cate—they’re all dead.”
“Who were they? Start at the beginning.” Robert swallowed. His life—and Donna’s—depended on playing his part.
Sunday. London, England.
Isaac climbed the stairs, eyeing the portraits and paintings covering the wall. He was afraid to walk too close, for fear of knocking one down.
He reached the second floor and peered down the hall. After he got off the phone with Mom, both Abigail and Tanya had vanished from the dining room. Someone mentioned that the women had gone in search of a place to rest. Seemed like a smart thing to do, since they had no idea when Abigail’s contact would get back to them with marching orders. She’d given Tanya’s list of customers and targets to Mossad in the hopes that they could help things along, and now all they could do was wait.
Now how did he find Tanya?
Kyle hadn’t specifically told him to continue his watch on her, and Isaac didn’t think it was necessary. Not since they could track the shipment themselves with the device’s signal locked in. There was no real reason to go in search of her.
Why was he here then?
He didn’t even know which room she was in.
A toilet flushed down the hall.
He glanced at the stairs, considering a retreat.
A door halfway down the hall swung open and Tanya stepped out. She paused with one hand on the knob, the other buried in her hair.
“Looking for me?” she asked.
“Just going to see if everything was okay.” He lifted his shoulders.
“Yeah.” She turned and proceeded toward the front of the house.
He watched her open yet another door and step in, glancing back once.
Was that an invitation?
The waffling over what to do was unlike him. Most of the time he did what he wanted or he followed orders.
Fuck it.
He strode down the hall. Tanya had left the door cracked a bit. He pulled it open and glanced inside.
She laid on top of a white down comforter, boots off, staring at the ceiling.
“Who were you talking to earlier?” she asked.
“My mom.” He closed the door behind him.
“It didn’t look like a good conversation.”
“She wanted to talk about Ruth and the guy she’s dating.” He toed his boots off.
“It didn’t go well?” Tanya turned her head, no judgment in her gaze.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” The whole thing exhausted him. There was no laying this issue to rest without opening up a vein.
Isaac stretched out next to Tanya. The curtains didn’t block out near enough light to make it dark in here for his taste. Still, he’d sleep when and where he could.
She rolled toward him, pillowing her head on his shoulder and draping her arm across his waist. It was as though this was how it should be, like he belonged here. It left him gritting his teeth and wanting to get out of the bed instantly.
There should be no rightness, no fitting together.
“Abigail’s contact should know something either very late, or very early tomorrow morning,” she said.
“Yeah? So we’re just going to stay here a bit longer then?”
“I think that’s the plan.”
“It’ll be good to get some rest, then.”
“Do you think they’ll be able to stop Orlando’s customers from using it?”
“I hope so.”
“I honestly began to doubt he’d use it at all. When it didn’t sell at auction, I hoped... It doesn’t matter. The auction happened. Quade died. Then the offers started coming in. It’s why I had to get out, so I could do something before I became a target.”
“Let’s talk about something happy. What’s the first thing you’re going to do when you get home?” He turned his head and buzzed her forehead with a kiss.
“I’m not sure where home is, to be honest. I guess that means I’ll find a place. Probably apply to start my doctorate.”
“What about the CIA?”
“I’m not cut out for this.” She sighed and squeezed his waist a bit tighter.
“I remember thinking the same thing a week into SEAL training. I wanted to die.”
“Why’d you stick with it?”
“My brother did it, so I had to do it, too.”
“Hm. I see.”
“See what?”
“You’re competitive.”
“That’s news to you?”
“No, but it makes sense. Anyone who would take your brother’s place in the family has to measure up. They need to be...worthy of his place in things.”
“This guy is nothing like Josh.” Isaac snorted. All he really remembered was a guy who barely came up to his shoulder blinking at him from behind black rimmed glasses.
“How so?”
“My brother was...smart. He was varsity track and field. People liked him. He was funny.” And a whole list of things Isaac fell short on. “Why do you want to know?”
Tanya peered up at him, her lower lip pinched between her teeth.
“Curious,” she said.
“No, you’re getting at something. What is it?”
“You don’t want to hear it.”
“How do you know?”
“Because you aren’t going to like it.”
“And you know that—how?”
“I just do.”
He blew out a breath. This business about Ruth and her new boyfriend messed with his world order. It didn’t mean he had to be a dick to Tanya.
“No, I’m sorry.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders a little tighter. “What’s your diagnosis, doc?”
“Based on what you’ve said about your brother and Ruth, it sounds like their bond was based on something you and your brother didn’t share.”
“They met in school. Some study hall or something...”
“Your view of your brother was the...alpha male of your house. The person you used to challenge yourself. Maybe Ruth loved a different part of your brother and this new person is like Joshua in that way.”
“He did look kind of nerdy.”
“You have two options. Find something in common with this man or choose to not be part of Ruth’s life.”
“That’s not an option. She’s like my sister. I won’t turn my back on her, just because she has shitty taste in guys.” He kept his words light, but deep down he could feel Tanya’s estimation of the situation sinking its teeth into him.
“You might not want to share that opinion with her.”
“I’ll do whatever I damn well please.” He grinned and tweaked Tanya’s nose, a playful act that caught her off guard.
“I’m sure you will.” She batted his hand away.
“You’re a good listener.”
“I should charge you.”
“Hey, I think we’ve reciprocated very nicely so far.”
Tanya didn’t quite frown at him, but her gaze wasn’t amused.
“Look, I don’t want to fight with you, I don’t really want to talk about this stuff, I know I’m fucked up. No one’s fixing me anytime soon. Can we just drop it? I’d rather hang out with you without pissing you off with stupid comments.”
“Okay. Fine.”
“Is that a real okay, or a trap okay?”
“At the end of the day, when this is over, you’ll go back to Seattle and...I’ll be somewhere else. There’s no reason make more problems than we can handle. You’re an adult. You’ve managed this far on your own, and you’ll do fine when I’m gone.”
Everything about her statement was correct. And yet it left a shit taste in
his mouth. He was glad they were both on the same page, that this thing between them was temporary, but did she have to rub his face in it? Why was he so irritated by her easy acceptance that soon she’d be letting him go? And why was that how he framed it in his head? Why wasn’t he letting her go?
“Isaac?”
“Hm? Yes. Everything you said.”
He bent his head and kissed her. She sucked in a breath and stretched toward him. She cupped the back of his neck, bringing him closer. He was all too glad to put a stop to their conversation.
Isaac held her to his chest and rolled her onto her back as easy as he could. She’d expressed a preference for being on top last time they’d pushed boundaries, but she hadn’t protested his attentions either.
Tanya hooked her calves around his thighs, pulling him into the cradle of her body. Her fingers twined through his hair, tugging just enough to let him know she wanted more. He was all too happy to oblige.
He slid his hand down to cup her ass, squeezing the firm muscles. She groaned into his mouth and arched her back. He squeezed his eyes closed as the first wave of awareness swept him, his cock hardening at the feel of her warmth.
It would be easy enough to rush forward, forget the tense moments of their chat in the thrill of lust. But that was the thing—unlike a quick roll in the sheets with someone he was marginally attracted to, he liked Tanya. Talking to her, being around her, puzzling out the woman under the mask, he enjoyed learning more about her. When she was gone, he’d miss her, which was why he wanted to savor every moment together.
He grasped her by the wrists, prying her hands from his hair and neck, and pressed them to the mattress.
Isaac stared down at her, searching for some sign of panic, that he’d crossed a line. Instead, she smiled up at him, the coy light behind her eyes full of mischief.
Did she just play him? Was this her plan?
There were worse ways to while away the time until they had something else to run from or toward. He’d much rather spend it with a naked, smiling Tanya.
“Was my audition that good?” He grinned at her, some of the tension from before unwinding.
“If I say yes, will you let me go?” She twisted her hands in his hold. He was pretty sure she could break his hold if she put her mind to it.
Dangerous in Action (Aegis Group Alpha Team, #2) Page 17
