Forged Risk

by Sidney Bristol

  “Stop encouraging them,” Kelsey scolded. “They’re acting a fool because you keep laughing.”

  Felecia chuckled. She couldn’t help it.

  Harper winked at her over the top of his mug as he drained the last of his coffee.

  Jamie gave Kelsey a sidelong look. “Just because you don’t have a sense of humor doesn’t mean everyone has to be a stick in the mud.”

  Kelsey returned Jamie’s look with her own flat stare. “I have a sense of humor, thank you very much. I just don’t find your fart jokes funny.”

  Felecia snickered.

  “Everyone likes a fart joke, Moana.” Harper waved his fork at Kelsey. “I don’t care who you are. Fart jokes are classic.”

  “Stop calling me Moana.” Kelsey rolled her eyes. “They’re disgusting.”

  “You’re disgusting.”

  “Your mom’s disgusting.”

  Jamie’s brows shot up and he covered his mouth with a fist. “Oh.”

  “Now who is being immature?” Harper’s grin only widened.

  “Your mom jokes are classic. Everyone knows that.” Kelsey waved her hand.

  Felecia reached over and stacked Kelsey’s now empty plate on top of her own. Before Felecia could snag the others, Jamie’s arm darted out and he took the two plate stack from her.

  “I was going to do that,” she said.

  “Now you don’t have to.” Jamie pushed away from the table.

  Kelsey whistled and draped her arm over the back of her chair, watching Jamie take all the dishes to the sink. “Tabby’s training you well.”

  “Tabby?” Felecia glanced from Jamie to Kelsey. “Who is Tabby?”

  One moment Kelsey was grinning, the next her face was perfectly impassive. Carved from stone. Felecia looked past the other woman to where Jamie had his back toward her at the sink. Even Harper had wiped the smile off his face.

  It was so quiet she heard the floor boards creak in the hall. Evan stepped into view, his gaze going from Jamie at the sink to the table before looking at her. Felecia swallowed, settling into the uneasy mood that had descended on the room.

  “Hey, Ukie. You done in there?” Harper asked as he got to his feet.

  “Yeah,” Evan said.

  “Cool.” Harper made a swift exit.

  “Hey, Kelsey?” Jamie wiped his hands dry and tossed the towel on the counter. “We need to go over—”

  “Sure.” Kelsey got to her feet. “I was just waiting on you, lazy bones. Come on.”

  What the hell just happened?

  Felecia glanced over her shoulder as the others fled, leaving her alone with Evan.

  From one uneasy situation to another.

  “What was that about?” Evan crossed to the coffee pot and poured himself a mug.

  She replied to him in Ukrainian. It required less thought and if things were going to be unnecessarily complicated, she didn’t want to have to pick and choose her words with so much care. “I just asked who Tabby was.”

  “I see.” Evan snagged a piece of leftover toast and leaned against the counters.

  “What do you see? What did I do wrong?” she asked, continuing in Ukrainian.

  He replied in kind, speaking either language with ease. “Nothing. Whoever brought up Tabby shouldn’t have.”

  “Why? Who is this person?”

  Evan didn’t answer immediately. He chewed his bite of food, seeming to consider her question as though it were a complicated answer.

  Just who was this Tabby person?

  Finally Evan crossed to the table and sat on her right, where Harper had been.

  “There are some questions we won’t be able to answer. Stuff we can’t talk about because we’ve been betrayed by people we trusted before.”

  “I don’t want to betray you,” she blurted. “I want to help.”

  He nodded while chewing another bite. “And we appreciate your help, but we also have to protect others. What if something happens to you? What if you share that name? What happens to that person?”

  Felecia nodded.

  It was like her father said, people were leverage.

  Whoever this Tabby person was, the others clearly liked them.

  Jealousy bit Felecia hard. She wished there was someone out there who wanted to protect her. Look out for her. All she had was herself. But maybe that could change. If she got away, if she set up a new life, maybe then she could fill it with people to care about.

  She glanced up from the spot she’d been staring at to find Evan studying her. There was a distance between them now she didn’t entirely like. He’d told her about his family last night.

  At this point the only person she hadn’t unintentionally crossed was Tucker and Logan. Neither man seemed inclined to speak to her beyond what was necessary so she doubted it would matter. The episode over breakfast didn’t irritate her near as much as whatever this was.

  “What did I do?” She sat back, arms crossed over her chest.

  “Do?” Evan frowned. “Nothing that I know of.”

  “Then why are things weird now?”

  He shook his head. “Things aren’t weird.”

  She pinned him with a stare. “Bullshit.”

  He grimaced and glanced away from her.

  There.

  He couldn’t look at her.

  What had she done to earn that? How had she screwed up?

  “It’s nothing you did,” he said.

  “Then what happened?” For a moment things had been easy. They’d talked like normal people.

  “Will you please drop it?” he asked softly.

  “No.” She answered before she could think better of it.

  Evan winced and set his mug on the table. He scrubbed one hand across his jaw. The soft rasping of skin on stubble was loud it was so quiet.

  “It’s me.” Once more he speared her with the intensity of his gaze. “I’m the problem.”

  “How?”

  “I like you more than I should and for the wrong reasons,” he said slowly.

  Felecia puzzled over his words. What did any of that mean?

  He drummed his fingers on the table. “Men like me, we’re not as complicated or different as we like to believe. We like to be heroes. We want to save the day and the pretty girl.”

  Evan’s gaze flicked to her with his last words.

  She was the pretty girl in this scenario?

  Felecia opened and closed her mouth. She didn’t honestly know what to think or say. Of course she’d had the fairy tale dreams of being rescued by a handsome man, but she was far too practical to believe that sort of thing happened in real life. Especially to her.

  “I’ve watched the others, mostly Harper and Jamie, get involved with women we’ve rescued. I’m not sure they realize what they’re doing, but it happens. I don’t want to be that person, and I don’t think it would be fair to you, either.”

  “It’s unfair to tell me I’m a pretty girl?” She smiled and decided to focus on that.

  Evan thought she was pretty.

  “No, I suppose not.” His gaze traveled over her face. She didn’t hardly breathe much less move. “You deserve better.”

  “Better than what?”

  “Than what your father did to you.”

  She nodded. That was an easy point to agree on. “Why is the rest of it unfair?”

  Evan shifted in his seat. He clearly didn’t want to have this conversation, but he wasn’t shutting it down either. “You’re in a new environment. You’re vulnerable. We hold all the cards. Anything that happens under that pretext...it’s not right.”

  “Even if I were interested?”

  His gaze narrowed and she felt as though she’d blundered into a bear trap. If possible his eyes seemed to become bluer.

  “What are you two talking about?” Logan asked as he strode across the kitchen. “Saying shit about me behind my back?”

  Felecia started at the other man’s sudden entrance, her cheeks heating.

  Evan smoothly
got to his feet and said something to Logan she didn’t hear because of the roar of blood rushing past her ears.

  He thought she was pretty.

  SUNDAY. SAFE HOUSE. St. Petersburg, Russia.

  Felecia sat down at a desk someone had pulled into one of the inner rooms away from windows and doors. She knew without looking that Evan was in the corner behind her, just to her left. They hadn’t said much since breakfast.

  What did she say to the man? What was she supposed to feel or think?

  It wasn’t news to her that men cut from the same cloth as Evan were the kind of white knight men who wanted to play the hero. She could tell that just looking at him. Evan had a kind face despite the way his eyes seemed to peel back her layers. What was remarkable was Evan’s awareness. Most men just didn’t understand situations like he did. At least not in Felecia’s limited experience.

  Who was she kidding?

  She had next to no experience.

  The fuzzy television that kept her company was the bulk of her social education. It had served her well, teaching her about the world outside her prison, but it wasn’t real.

  He thought she was pretty and some part of him wanted her.

  That was what her mind kept coming back to.

  Evan liked her.

  Her emotions were not as simple. Yes, she was attracted to him. With that sculpted face and body, who wouldn’t be? But she’d also promised herself she’d use him if she had to. Would have if he hadn’t backed off that first night, not that she’d presented herself in a skillful manner.

  Why did everything have to be so complicated?

  She stared at the laptop screen and wiped her damp palms on her thighs.

  The day had been uneventful following breakfast, but that was more than likely because she’d kept to herself. Kelsey was the only one who’d come near her. They’d watched TV for a while like normal people. For Felecia, it was a novelty, something she hadn’t ever done with someone who wasn’t her family. She kind of wished she was still in there on the sofa rather than staring at a dark laptop screen.

  Logan had asked her if she wouldn’t mind answering a few questions over video chat. She wasn’t sure this was a good idea given her circumstances. Knowledge was her only currency. She needed these people to value her for what she knew, how she could help them, but only if they helped her first.

  That was one thing her father had always said. Try to negotiate from a place of power. Identify what it is the other party wants and don’t give it to them until you have what they want.

  The screen went from dark one moment to bright the next. Gone was the solid black. Instead a white wall set off the elegant black woman starting back at Felecia with cool composure.

  She swallowed and laced her fingers together.

  “Felecia. Hello.” The woman didn’t regard her warmly. There was a distinct chill in the way she evaluated Felecia through the video call. “I’m Zora.”

  “Hello.”

  “The others tell me you’re Obran’s daughter.”

  Felecia nodded.

  “I was hoping you could help fill in the holes. We don’t know everything about your dad.”

  Knowledge was power.

  Felecia had never bargained before. Negotiating payment for hitchhiking didn’t count. That was simple haggling. But this? It was a negotiation her life depended on.

  “I’ll answer all of your questions, but I need to know about me. What are you going to do for me if I tell you these things?” Felecia gave herself a mental pat on the back. She got all of it out without wavering. She even sounded serious.

  Zora’s brows rose. “What are we going to do for you? Well, we haven’t turned you over to the local authorities, for one. You admitted to my team that you helped forge at least four passports. Do you really want extra attention on your Ukrainian passport?”

  Felecia broke out in a sweat, but she did her best to remain as stony faced as the woman in front of her. “Are you arresting me? Threatening me?”

  “I’m just presenting the reality of your situation.”

  “Are you?” Felecia tilted her head to the side. “Because I was kidnapped by Americans. I haven’t seen a badge yet. Did you even have the legal right to arrest my father?”

  That was a bit she’d puzzled out herself. This couldn’t be a completely above board operation. She hadn’t seen enough red tape. TV had taught her that much.

  “Would you like to see a badge?” Zora’s lips pressed together.

  Score one for Felecia. Zora still had a hand up on her though. There was no denying that this Zora woman and the team held all the cards.

  “I’d like to be treated fairly. Anything I tell you puts me in danger. Protect me, ensure that I will be safe, and I’ll tell you everything I know.”

  “I’m not sure you know anything.” Zora crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back.

  “Felecia?” Evan was at her side, his hand on her shoulder.

  She glanced up at him and felt her insides sort of wobble. He really was a handsome man.

  He continued staring at the screen. “Will you give Zora and me a moment?”

  Felecia glanced at the other woman with her cold countenance. “Sure.”

  She couldn’t say why, but she knew Evan was in her corner. She was using him without even trying.

  EVAN WAITED FOR THE door to shut then waited another twenty seconds.

  Felecia was gone. Her shadow had retreated from under the door. She couldn’t listen in on what they said, not that he thought there would be much to learn.

  He eased down into her vacated seat, the wood still warm from her body.

  Zora regarded him with one arched brow. Something was off with her. She was tense, irritable. Typically Zora approached a situation with calm, willing to turn it around, examine it from all sides. She wasn’t friendly, but she would hear a person out. This time she’d decided on a narrative and had run with it.

  “This isn’t the way to handle her,” he said.

  “You know how to interrogate people now?”

  “No. That’s not my specialty. I’ve been around her though, and I don’t think this is the way to get her to cooperate.”

  Zora spread her hands, leaned back and crossed one leg over the other. “We hold all the cards.”

  “Except we don’t know what she knows.” Evan leaned forward, perching his elbows on the table. “If we believe her, and right now I do, her father is likely sending people after her. Treating her with hostility means she might very well withhold information and get one of my team killed.”

  “She’s a gypsy. Can we trust a word she says?”

  Evan ground his teeth together a moment before speaking, making sure to keep his tone even. One of them had to be calm. “I wouldn’t call her that to her face.”

  “And why not?”

  “Some Roma consider that a racial slur. Would you be amicable to sharing what you knew with someone who spoke to you like that? Who called you something that distasteful?”

  Zora frowned. “I didn’t know that. I still don’t think we can trust her.”

  “And I think we can. She’s motivated to get as far from her father as she can, but she also knows she’s in danger. Not just from her dad, but people who would want to use her to get at her old man. She’s our best lead.”

  “She’s our bait.”

  Evan leaned back and studied Zora.

  She wasn’t going to budge. Whatever was happening on the other side of the ocean had her entrenched. For her, there was one path forward.

  If he asked her would Zora give him a straight answer?

  Did Tucker know?

  The team had learned partway through their first operation for the Task Force that Tucker and Zora had a history. Tucker had never expanded on that, just weighed in from time to time with his gut feelings regarding Zora and the work they were doing. Was there a chance Tucker knew more than he was letting on?

  “You think you can get more out of her
than I can?” Zora asked.

  “Yes, but she’s going to want assurances that we can protect her.”

  She blew out a breath. “I can probably work something out with our London people.”

  “She said she wanted to go to America.”

  Zora shook her head. “No. This is what I’m willing to offer. Take it or leave it.”

  Evan considered ignoring the rules and calling the Aegis Group home offices. They had connections, people who could make things happen. It was bullshit that Zora wasn’t willing to bend those rules to help a twenty-four-year-old woman who might hold the key to this whole mess.

  “I’ll see what she says,” Evan replied at last. “Has Diha been able to uncover more about her?”

  “I don’t know. Whatever you can tell her will probably be of use.”

  “Is it possible to talk to her?”

  “Yes. I’ll put you through now.”

  Evan didn’t bother to respond. Zora was already reaching for the mouse and keyboard. They had nothing more to say to each other.

  A few moments later the screen went dark only to come back online. This time Diha looked back at him with kind eyes.

  Evan liked the tech specialist. She was clearly brilliant and on more than one occasion she’d brought the most amazing Indian food to share. Beyond that, she seemed to be more compassionate than many of the other people they worked with. Deep down he was hoping Diha could give him good news.

  “Evan, hello. I understand you want to know about the girl?”

  “What can you tell me?” He scrubbed a hand across his jaw.

  “Not much more than when you left. It’s all circumstantial. We believe she was born in Russia, probably St. Petersburg. There are no records to check. Nothing was digital then and given that she’s Roma, I would be surprised if she were born at a hospital.”

  Evan nodded. He’d guessed as much. “Is Felecia her real name?”

  “We don’t know. Again, no digital records. With what her father does...”