For His Eyes Only

by Lexi Blake

  Charlotte leaned over. “I think you are trying to find the weak link and break the chain so you can do what men like you always do—manipulate us, use us as assets. I am not the weak link, Ezra. If you push me further, you’ll find exactly how not weak this link is.”

  Ezra’s hand came up. “Fair enough. And it’s not all about using you. I will admit that I don’t trust that man. You didn’t go up against Nikolai the Russian operative. He’s dangerous and he could be dangerous to your client.” He stood up, shoving his chair back. “And if you think he didn’t have anything to do with the games Desiree played, you’re high. Everyone in our world knew that Nikolai was her enforcer. He was her muscle, doing her dirty work. You think I didn’t see that firsthand? I did. And I saw what he did to that syndicate. There’s a reason the syndicate calls him palach. And Des did things you don’t even know about. Classified things that hurt our country. If she hadn’t died, your Nikolai would have discovered how much fun rendition can be. Don’t make me the villain here. Now you have your approval. You’re in the system and there won’t be any blowback. I’ll go down and continue to try to figure out if those men you’re keeping here have families that are looking for them. You know I’ve put my ass on the line for you. For all of you, and don’t make that out to be something I did because I was currying favor from anyone.”

  Charlotte had lost her hard stare, softening as she looked up at him. “I know that, Ezra. We will have to agree to disagree on Nick.”

  He nodded tightly. “I’ll be downstairs. Let me know if you’re kicking me out.”

  “Stay away from Nick and we won’t have to,” Charlotte said, turning back to her computer. The door closed and she took a deep breath. “Damn it.”

  “What was he talking about?”

  Charlotte was silent for a moment. “I think you should talk to Nick.”

  “I understand that Nick didn’t mention the charges against me because he was trying to protect me. I’m not unreasonable. I care deeply about him, so if I was in his position I might do the same. But I would be wrong. I can forgive him for being emotional, but he is underestimating me. Ezra is right. I’m your client. What do I not know?”

  Charlotte growled a little, but gave in. “Desiree was under investigation when she died.”

  “Yes, I figured that out. I assume it was bad.”

  “She was info gathering.”

  “What does that mean?” Hayley asked.

  “It means she used her job and connections to gather information and then used that information to either manipulate people she wanted to or to make money.”

  “She blackmailed people?” There was no other way to interpret what Charlotte had said.

  “She wasn’t perfect. Not even close, but she was one of us and I don’t believe what Ezra believes. I don’t think Nick helped her in the worst moments. Damon hired Nick with Ian’s support. He’s still a part of the team and we all back him. I understand that Ezra has a different view, but we know Nick. We trust Nick. He’s not the same animal as Des, though I’ll be honest, I understood Des.”

  Thank god. “Explain her to me.”

  Charlotte thought for a moment before she turned to Hayley. “She needed freedom. I get that. She was raised in an oddly repressive regime and she needed to stick the finger to the world. I had a similar upbringing, though a bit more on the violent end. You learn to care about nothing and no one but your own survival. I was saved because I met this man I loved with my whole heart and he became my world. Nothing meant more to me than making Ian Taggart proud of me.”

  She felt her heart sink. “So it was like that with Nick and Des?”

  “No. Nick always knew who Des was. Ezra says Nick is being reckless, but he’s actually quite careful. He was reckless once before because he was emotional, and he has to tell you that tale. Now he’s reckless for you. Because he found you. Because you’re the one he wants to make proud. That’s what Ezra doesn’t understand. What he can’t understand because he’s never felt it. I like Ezra, but he’s got some of the intolerance of youth. I know he’s thirty-three, but he’s never once been in love and that means he doesn’t understand that we do crazy things when we love someone, things that can’t be explained with logic, that are meaningless to those who don’t know what it means to care more about a person than ourselves. Ezra’s great love is his country, and one day a woman will come along and she’ll make him question everything, and that will be the moment he understands Nick.”

  Hayley wasn’t sure she understood. Not entirely. “What does that word mean? The one Ezra used. Pal...something.”

  Charlotte sighed. “It’s all a part of his life that Nick needs to tell you about. Sweetie, do you want a real chance with him? If he’s some crazy-hot sexual adventure you’re having to take your mind off what’s going on in your life, tell me now. I’ll open the file and give you full access. If you think you could love him, give him the chance to tell you in his own time. I know it’s hard, but if you could love him, honor him. Let him tell you. Trust him. I didn’t and it cost me years of my life.”

  Years. Hadn’t the years already gone by in a way she hated? Did she love Nick? It felt like it. She couldn’t not think about him. She compared every man to him.

  Should she trust him with this, too? “All right. I’ll talk to him about it later, but are you sure about the CIA guy?”

  “He’s been one of our truest allies. I have to tell Ian that I had a badass argument with the dude who saved his brother. Ezra was crucial to the mission that saved Ian’s youngest brother and I just faced off with him. I did that because I do believe in Nick. So I need you to trust me when I say Ezra’s a good man. He’s got a different viewpoint and we have to tolerate it because he was right. He backed us up when it could have cost him. And he gave me access to something that could hurt him if it was found out that he handed this video over.”

  So the secret life of spies was a bit of a soap opera. There was so much about Nick that she didn’t understand, so much hidden history. “If he did go to Little Russia, would that be dangerous?”

  “It could be,” Charlotte replied. “But Nick is smart and you have to place some faith in him. Okay, here’s the bit Adam thinks might be helpful.”

  She shoved the argument with Ezra Fain aside. She had to focus on the evidence he’d gotten them. “What am I looking at?”

  Charlotte shifted so Hayley could move in closer. “This is from a security camera at the gas station a block from your house. The reason the police found it interesting is that they caught a man jumping over a fence from your neighborhood and then walking by the station. He didn’t walk in and they’ve already made sure it wasn’t the homeowner taking a shortcut. Apparently the home was empty at that time of day and they did not have a dog in the yard. This house is in the same position as yours, one block over. Its yard backs up to the lot behind the gas station. As luck would have it, the manager had recently placed a security camera to watch over the back lot. They had some kids screwing around with the car wash a few weeks before.”

  She felt a shiver go through her. “So your guy thinks this might be the man who blew up my house?”

  “Well, he wants to check into it,” Charlotte allowed. “The timing is roughly twenty minutes before your house exploded. Okay, here it comes. You probably don’t know who this is, but at least we’ll have a place to start.”

  She was confused about one thing. “If the police have this video, why did they decide it was a gas leak?”

  “Ah, well, that’s changed now, too,” Charlotte admitted. “Now the police are saying you probably paid this man to destroy your house so you could collect the insurance. According to a couple of sources, you were deeply in debt.”

  It kept getting worse. “That’s not true.”

  “I’m afraid it is now. Whoever is setting you up is also good at identity theft. So the narrative is that the fallen police officer found evidence, confronted you, and you killed him and ran. I think it’s utter
ly ridiculous, but the press around Seattle seems to be buying it. You’re the It girl of the moment. I think they want to keep the pressure on you by keeping your picture out there.”

  It was mind-boggling. She stared at the screen. It showed a black and white scene. She could see the entrance to the car wash and the paved drive that led to it on the right side of the screen. The neighborhood backed up to a small field. After a moment of absolutely nothing happening, she saw a man begin to haul himself over a fence in the distance. He seemed to struggle for a few seconds, his body shaking a bit. He finally threw one leg over and then the other before lowering himself down to the ground below.

  Who the hell was that? Some criminal who’d been paid to do a job? Some dude taking a shortcut to get to the train station? He brushed himself off. He seemed to be wearing jeans and a lightweight jacket, his head covered in a baseball cap.

  He started to jog across the field, his head down.

  “Come on, look up,” Charlotte pleaded with the screen. “I can’t use facial rec if I don’t have a face.”

  He sped up as he came closer and then his head turned suddenly as though he’d heard something in the distance, something that startled him.

  That was the moment his face turned up and Hayley’s world upended.

  Charlotte clapped her hands right after she stopped the video, the man’s face frozen on the screen. “Gotcha.” She turned to Hayley. “Now we can put that mug through facial recognition and hopefully we’ll find a name.”

  But Hayley didn’t need a name. She knew the name. She’d been certain she would never see him again because he’d died.

  “There’s no need. That’s my father.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Nick winced as Walt pulled the thread through his upper bicep. It took everything he had not to shout out. He should have downed half a bottle of vodka before letting Walt sew him up. “Someone gives you medical degree? I would place large bet that you do not sew up these people.”

  The stitches were worse than the bullet that had grazed him. Unfortunately, the graze had been more of a deep cut. Walt had told him to go to hospital, but upon seeing the Benz had agreed that perhaps Nick should stay in for the rest of the day. They’d been damn lucky the police hadn’t pulled them over.

  Walt tied off the stitch and cut the thread. “I mentioned that it’s been a good long time since I did an ER rotation. I was more of a researcher before I came here. And my specialty was emerging viral threats. If you ever get a hemorrhagic fever, I can totally tell you all about the DNA structure of the virus that’s going to kill you. And these sutures are perfect, thank you very much. You won’t even have much of a scar.”

  The experience was scarring enough. “I’m sure I’ll have more after Damon sees the Benz.” But at least he had those names to investigate. If he still had a job after this. “Do you know if Hayley’s been informed of my minor injury?”

  He was already trying to figure out a way to downplay the situation. Of course he was also thinking about the fact that there were still people out there who wanted to hurt him. How many of them were left? Years had gone by and he’d felt relatively safe, but his past was coming back to haunt him at the worst possible time.

  Just as he was beginning to think about a future.

  “Do I even need to explain how bloody fucking wrong what you did this afternoon is?” Damon Knight strode into the room, Taggart hard on his heels.

  “I told you, man. Those Euro cars are too easy to damage. You need to buy American SUVs. They’re like tanks. Even Adam can’t wreck one and he’s a horrible driver. I’m pretty sure he spends more time looking in the mirror to make sure his hair is still douchey than he does paying attention to the road.”

  Damon ignored Taggart entirely. He was far too focused on Nick. “Are you trying to get me to fire you? Because I could have you out of here in a few hours, and we all know what will happen if you hit the streets of London at this point. You’ll be dead or in jail within an hour now that you’ve prodded the sleeping dragon.”

  Brody stood up, facing their boss. “Hey, he wasn’t out partying, you know. He was trying to find information that will help us with Hayley’s case. And we got it.”

  Damon’s face had turned a nice shade of red that let Nick know he’d fucked up at a high level. “I can fire you, too, Brody. You’re supposed to be the voice of reason.”

  “Said no man about an Aussie ever,” Taggart quipped and then held up his hands. “Sorry. Sarcasm is my default mode.” Even Taggart seemed to understand that Damon wasn’t in the mood to joke. “You know we’ve got insurance on that Benz.”

  “And how do I explain that away? I don’t have a bloody police report,” Damon shot back. “All I’ve got is a call from an old friend in Scotland Yard asking about a shootout in a Pretoria Street garage. They’ve got CCTV footage of a vehicle fleeing the scene. Guess who’s driving, and quite poorly, might I add?”

  A frown creased Brody’s face. “I thought it was pretty good myself. And that car handles beautifully.”

  “Do you understand that you’re wanted for questioning by London police?” Damon asked, his voice tight. “I’m going to have to make a million calls and use favors I would rather have kept in my pocket in order to get you out of this.”

  “It wasn’t Brody’s fault.” It looked like he was going to have to save the Aussie twice, though he wasn’t sure Brody would be smart enough to let Nick take the punishment this time either. “He went with me this morning when we were headed to MI6 to meet with some contacts. He had no idea I was planning to go into Little Russia.”

  “He wasn’t planning on going to Little Russia. We got bugger all from MI6 and he realized the only way we were getting shite was him putting himself on the line. He wasn’t being selfish. Quite the opposite,” Brody argued. “And it ain’t like the Russians are going to file a police report. No one down there’s going to talk to the authorities and the whole thing will go away. You know it, Damon.”

  Yep. Brody was going to fight him to the end. The same way Owen would have during the year they’d been partners. Desiree would have agreed with him. Des would have let him take the blame so he could spare her. She always did. It had been a revelation the first time he’d fucked up and Owen had tried to shield him.

  He rather thought Hayley would be more like Owen and Brody.

  “I was selfish,” he admitted. “I should have dropped Brody back off and gone in myself.”

  Brody’s eyes rolled. “And then you would be dead, brother.”

  “You shouldn’t have gone in at all,” Damon shot back. “Why do you think I send you on assignments that keep you as far from that world as possible? Do you even know what I have to juggle to bloody well keep you all alive? MSS wants to murder Kayla. I have to constantly watch to ensure they don’t know where she is. Walt is legally dead. If anyone finds out about him an entire international conspiracy will unravel and Taggart and I will be in legal hell. Then there’s you.”

  Brody held up a hand. “I’m very unwelcome in a few bars in Melbourne. Been told I’ll be shot if I show up again.”

  “This is serious, Brody.” Damon stood in front of him, his gray eyes narrowed. “There are people out there who would love to see you dead. It’s my job to ensure that you stay alive and you’re making that difficult for me. Let me make this plain. You are not allowed in that part of London. If I discover you’ve tried to make contact with any member of the Bratva again, I’ll decide you’re too stupid to live and kill you myself. Do I make myself clear?”

  He’d never seen Damon so pissed off. Somehow he couldn’t work up his former alpha male outrage at authority. Damon gave a shit. This was how it came out. “Yes, sir. It’s clear.”

  “Excellent. I’m going to talk to my wife. We’ll have a debrief in an hour. I want to know everything that happened this afternoon, and you will not leave a single detail out. Brody, I’ll take your debrief in written form. I’ll expect at least four pages. Single s
paced.”

  Brody groaned as Damon walked out. “Now see, that right there is torture. The man knows me well. It’s an easy debrief. We went. We got shot at. We got away. How do I make that into four bloody pages?”

  “The man has had a rough couple of years,” Taggart said with a sigh. “He really is trying to keep you all alive, and it’s not an easy job. He lost Des and no matter what she was involved in, understand that she was a part of his team and he feels that loss. He blames himself for what happened with Owen. I put all the weight of dealing with the lost boys on his head because it was easier to bring them here than to smuggle them back to the States. Damon’s got a lot on his plate right now so give him a break.”

  Nick shook his head. “Owen wasn’t his fault. Owen was my fault. He was my partner. I should have seen what was going on. I should have stopped it.”

  “What is with the Euro drama?” Taggart huffed, a deeply annoyed sound. “Let it go. All of it. None of you can do your jobs if you sit around plagued with guilt. It’s not manly. Owen made a choice. So did Des. We mourn them. We miss them. Well, I don’t miss Owen because he’s actually still here, but you get my meaning. So now that Damon’s hissy fit is over, let me have one of my own. Do you have a fucking death wish, Markovic?”

  “I was trying to get the names of some of the men who have been sent after Hayley. The best place to find a criminal is in an establishment run by criminals.” He shouldn’t have to explain this. “I wish I could have gone into the Tesco on the corner and gotten the information. It wasn’t for sale there.”

  Taggart stood over him like a drill sergeant over a lazy recruit. “And it didn’t occur to you that someone else could walk in there and get the information and not be nearly brutally murdered? Charlie and I could have done it. Charlie’s roots run deep in that group, and not a one of those fuckers wants to go up against her cousin.”

  He had thought about it, but he’d underestimated the danger. “I’ll be honest with you. The owner owed me a favor. I called it in. It’s been years since someone tried to kill me, despite what Damon says. I walk the streets of London quite nicely. I thought it was the fastest way to get the information we need. I thought I could get in and get out quickly. I didn’t think they could make a plan to attack me. I only gave Boris an hour before I am on his doorstep.”