For His Eyes Only

by Lexi Blake

  The air seemed chillier than before. “This feels personal.”

  “One of the men killed was named Ezra Fain.”

  She had to shake her head. “What?”

  “He was my half brother. I use his name to remind me every single day what I am working for. I use it because he’s the one who should be alive. He was the best man I knew and I need to ensure that whoever did this to him pays for his crime. I’m not going on a solo mission of vengeance. I am going to do my job as my brother would have wanted me to and know that he would never have left a man behind. You’re safe with me, Hayley.”

  She believed him. “I’m sorry about your brother.”

  Ezra took a long breath and glanced at the window. In that moment he seemed so weary, she had to wonder if she was getting a look at the actual man inside all those masks.

  “I’m sorry about a lot of things, Hayley,” he said as he stood up. “I’ve got a mountain of regrets. Everyone in this business has them. You will not be one of them, I promise you that.” He seemed to shake off the pain and he smiled again, sliding right back into his easy-going persona. “You know as part of our cover we should do some romantic, honeymoon type things. People who honeymoon in Rio aren’t going there to play golf or read by the pool. I’m quite a good dancer. I think we should samba in Rio. Hide in plain sight, that’s what I say. They won’t expect that.”

  She had to laugh. One day some woman was going to have to deal with all that. It was not going to be her. “I think I’ll pass on the dancing. We’re going to be a boring newly married couple.”

  He pointed a finger her way. “I’ll change your mind in the end. Get ready. We’re about to start. You’ll see. We’re going to have some fun. Every day is another adventure.”

  He strode out of the room and she sat back, wishing she was having that adventure with another man.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Nick adjusted his sunglasses because he couldn’t possibly be seeing what he was seeing. The sun was high in the sky and maybe it was all an optical illusion. There were so many people on the beach that it was probable the woman he was following wasn’t Hayley.

  For four days he and Kayla had been attempting to track down Hayley and Fain. After they’d gotten into Rio, Nick had found a hotel along the beach close to where Desiree’s old apartment building stood. If Fain had known to go to Rio, he’d obviously walked in the doors of The Garden with information he’d chosen not to share. And under false pretenses. He’d been there to get a shot at Hayley. Fain had known she was the key, though it was apparent he didn’t know that “key” was meant literally. Or they simply hadn’t figured out where Des had stashed what she wanted them to find.

  Much of his time had been spent walking around the Ipanema district with Kayla, quietly asking shopkeepers and waiters if they’d seen a couple fitting Hayley and Fain’s descriptions. Oh, they’d been casual about it, convincing the people they were talking to that they’d merely met the couple their first night here and hit it off, but somehow the gentleman had left his keys behind in a cab they’d shared and Nick was trying to return them.

  So far nothing. Not until he walked out on the beach and saw her.

  “That is quite a crowd,” Kay said as she joined him. “I heard it’s worse a little ways down the beach. There’s some sort of gathering going on with an outdoor concert.”

  “Yes, they were warming up a few moments ago.” He’d heard the thud of a bass guitar from far away. It looked like the woman he thought was Hayley and her companion were moving in that direction.

  Kayla wore an emerald green bikini and something she called a cover-up that didn’t do a good job of covering much. Her toned body was on display, but looking at her was like looking at a sister. Her long, dark hair flowed down her back and she adjusted her sun hat. “I nearly got mowed down by a kid on a bike. He was fast and he didn’t care that an incredibly beautiful woman was in his way. I liked him. We should recruit him.”

  Nick started forward, his feet hitting the sand. “It’s Sunday. The street is closed to cars. Everyone will be out, walking, rollerblading, biking. This place is a zoo on Sundays. Naturally that’s when I find her.”

  Because he was fooling himself. That self-possessed woman walking ahead of him was Hayley. That sexy-as-hell-and-knew-it woman was his.

  Kayla didn’t seem to sink into the sand the same way he did. She easily kept up with him. “You found her? I was right? That was her on the surveillance camera?”

  They’d gone through hours and hours of hacked security camera feeds from the various hotels around the district. Finally, the night before they’d hit what Kayla called pay dirt. She’d managed to catch a man and a woman leaving one of the more expensive hotels right across from the beach. They’d been dressed for a day in the water. The man’s head had been down the entire time, but at one point someone must have said something to the woman and she’d looked up. She’d been wearing a blonde wig and it looked like she’d used some kind of tanning agent on her skin, but he knew those eyes and the stubborn tilt of her chin.

  They’d spent the night before hanging out in the lobby and trying to figure out what name Fain would use. All to no avail, so he was watching the beach, hoping they would go out once more.

  All this time he’d had nightmares about her being kept a virtual captive, forced to hide in some dingy motel, surrounded by people she couldn’t understand. He’d wondered if she was hungry or cold.

  Nope. She was stunning. She looked happy as she sipped on a cocktail and strolled down the number nine beach, her free hand in that soon-to-be dead CIA agent’s. He shouldn’t have worried about her finding a decent meal. It was apparent she’d been dining at the finest places in Rio and staying in an expensive hotel. Food and shelter had been taken care of. Clothing, on the other hand, appeared to be optional.

  She was barely dressed.

  “Where is she?” Kay scanned the beachfront. “Oh, there she is. Wow. That’s so cute. I almost bought that one but I decided three hundred dollars for a few inches of fabric was a bit much when I live in London. Not a lot of bikini wearing around the palace, if you know what I mean.”

  Hayley was dressed in a bright blue, could-barely-be-called-even-underwear style swimsuit. “Does she not know her own size? That’s at least a size too small.”

  “Oh, I doubt Hayley would have picked that out,” Kay said as they moved parallel to the other couple. They stayed back a bit, neither having to tell the other one to stay out of sight. “She’s far too shy, though she looks hot in it. If I had to bet, I would say Fain picked that sucker out for her.”

  “It barely covers her nipples,” he growled. Fain had been paying for her clothes, and he hadn’t skimped, it seemed. Except when it came to actual fabric. Fain likely hadn’t presented her with plain jeans and cotton shirts and utilitarian underwear. No, Fain had selected a color that set off her skin and made it glow. He’d bought her the filmy cover-up she’d been wearing in yesterday’s security video, the one that skimmed her every curve and plunged down to her waist, showing off the sides of her breasts.

  “It shows less than mine,” Kay complained.

  He stopped and frowned her way. “That’s not an excuse. And honestly, I think you should cover up, too. Men are looking at you.”

  “That’s kind of the point,” she replied with a frown. “And I’m sure that’s what Fain’s doing. The key is to keep eyes on the ladies so you boys can do what you need to do. You know if you want to be the beefcake, I can handle the physical stuff. We can get you a Speedo and oil those muscles up.”

  He got her point, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. Sure enough as they walked through the crowd, many a masculine head turned to take in the sight of Hayley’s backside, the outline of her suit clear through the gauzy cover-up. “I’ll keep things the way they are.”

  “Where do you think they’re going? It doesn’t seem like they’re roaming.”

  “He wants everyone to think that’s what
he’s doing.” Nick slowed his pace as they moved further on the beach and away from the iconic white lifeguard station with its big blue 9 on the side denoting that this was Posto 9.

  As they walked along, following a fair distance behind, the music was starting up again.

  Hayley and Fain continued their walk. They were moving toward the west where the Dois Irmãos mountains dominated the skyline. It was romantic. It was sexy. Fain glanced around and then brought Hayley’s hand up to his lips.

  It was going to be a nice place to bury Fain.

  “You know you have crazy eyes right now,” Kay pointed out. “Chill. She’s not exactly as good at this as he is. See how awkward she is with him? I would make a big bet that they’re not sharing a bed.”

  The thought nearly made him see red, but he needed to see something else. Reason. His jealousy wasn’t going to win her back. “I wouldn’t be able to blame her if she did. I was leaving her.”

  “That is a mature attitude to take.” Kay praised him as they passed a group of scantily dressed men and women playing volleyball.

  Fain had been trying to get her to fit in. In this crowd, Hayley wearing a one-piece would have stood out. The beach was full of skin. Brazil wasn’t known for its uptight dress code.

  “I understand that I hurt her and I have much to make up for.”

  Kay gave him a brilliant smile. “See, you need to keep that tone when we finally talk to them. You sound like an actual rational man.”

  He never said he would be rational with Fain. Only Hayley. “I’m still going to beat the shit out of that CIA agent.”

  “And reason flees,” Kay said on a sigh.

  He was being reasonable, when he really thought about it. “Fain took advantage of her. He took her from someplace where she was safe and brought her into danger. For this alone, I will dismember him. Have you found that place I asked you to look for?”

  He couldn’t see her eyes. They were hidden behind gold sunglasses, but he was fairly certain they were rolling in disdain.

  “No, I did not find a place where we could buy a barrel of acid to drop Ezra in.”

  They’d had this argument already. He’d even talked to the boss about it. “Taggart said it was a perfectly reasonable expense and I should save the receipt.”

  “You’re going to do what all reasonable, rational men would do in this circumstance. You’re going to punch him in his pretty-boy face and then we’re going to figure out how much they know. But only after we find out if they’re meeting someone. I don’t think we should have this reunion in public.”

  Kay was absolutely correct. He already had plans for their reunion and none of it could be done in public. “I’m having our baggage taken to their hotel. We’re moving into the suite next to theirs. That took a bit of cash, but it will all be worth it. I’ll make my move soon.”

  It had taken a lot of cash because fucking Fain had her in the honeymoon suite. He better be sleeping on the couch or Nick wouldn’t need the acid. He would simply drop the fucker off the roof of the building and let gravity do all the work.

  “And what will I be doing while you’re making this move of yours that will not have anything to do with a vat of acid?” Kay shifted as the beach started to become more crowded, with many of the people surrounding them moving toward the outdoor party.

  “You’ll be monitoring the situation and continuing to go over that list of names I gave you.”

  Kay groaned. “I hate the boring part of the job. I want to kill someone. Do you know how many storage places there are in Rio? Hundreds. Why are you so sure that what we’re looking for is going to be at a bank or with a storage company?”

  “Because Desiree believed in redundancy,” Nick explained. “I told you it was all in the letter she sent me. If something happened to her, I was to remember that she was a careful woman. When Desiree and I first got together she taught me how she worked, how she gathered and protected the information and intelligence she retrieved for MI6. Specifically the intelligence she felt she couldn’t send over a computer. She wasn’t always able to immediately get it out so she would copy it and she would store it away in case she lost it. She kept small apartments in several key cities around the world and she always had a place where she stored important things when she wasn’t around. It will be here.”

  “It’s not in the name she used on the property.”

  “Be patient. You’ll find it.” Desiree could be tricky at times.

  “While you’re doing what?”

  He felt his lips curl up. “Hayley.”

  “That’s so unfair,” she shot back.

  “It’s necessary. I’m not going to win her back by talking. I’m not good at it. I will blind her with pleasure. I will make her scream my name.” Yes, he was feeling better just thinking about what he was planning on doing to her.

  Kay stopped, a smile on her face. “Who are you? I like this Nick. You’re always so serious.”

  “I am perfectly serious about this. This will happen. I will not quit making love to her until she agrees to marry me. We can work everything else out at a later time. Perhaps after all the lovemaking, I won’t feel the need to rip Fain limb from limb.” He felt his eyes narrow as he watched the couple up ahead. “Though if his hand gets any closer to her ass, I will do it here and damn the mission.”

  “Someone’s following them.” Her smile didn’t change at all, but Kay’s voice went low. “Red Speedo. He totally shouldn’t be wearing that.”

  He glanced to his left and saw the man Kayla was talking about. He was standing close to the tide rushing in, but he paid no attention to the water at his ankles. His face was turned toward Hayley as she walked toward a grouping of outdoor canopies where beachgoers were grilling and dancing. She seemed to be looking for a specific one.

  There was something familiar about the man. He was older and had developed a nice paunch to his belly that hung over his Speedo. His shoulders were slumped and he’d lost the majority of his hair.

  Still, there was something about the profile…

  “Whoever they’re meeting is somewhere in there.” He watched as the man in the red Speedo started to trail after Hayley and Fain. “They’re going to use the party to distract attention from what they’re doing.”

  That was when he noticed Fain’s head turn ever so slightly. Hayley was saying something, pointing toward a place in the distance. Fain glanced toward her, but his whole body had slightly stiffened, his shoulders straightening.

  “Fain’s caught the scent,” he pointed out.

  “Our’s or Speedo’s?” Kayla asked.

  He shook his head because he couldn’t be completely sure. “It doesn’t matter. We need to get a bit closer. The good news is our new friend can’t possibly be hiding a gun in that bathing suit.”

  “Agreed,” Kayla replied with a nod of her head. “It looks like Hayley found what she wanted. They’re moving toward the tent with the red and yellow flag. The crowd’s thick there. I think we can safely get closer.”

  It wouldn’t have mattered. He was already moving in. She could hate him later, but he wasn’t going to leave Hayley’s safety to a CIA agent.

  He wouldn’t leave her safety to anyone. Ever again. She was his and he would be her lapdog in most things. He would make it his highest goal in life to see to her happiness, but when it came to her safety he would be by her side.

  He couldn’t keep her from the world. That was one thing he’d ruminated on for days. In some ways, he’d placed her on a pedestal, made her the opposite of Desiree.

  The two women he’d loved. He accepted that now. Maybe he’d been a fool to love Des, but he had. He’d always known it was smarter to hold a part of himself away from Des, to compartmentalize her in ways. He’d gotten so used to doing that, he’d done the same to Hayley. He’d placed her in a box marked for his heart and his emotions and he’d covered it up when not in use. He couldn’t do that anymore.

  If he loved Hayley, he had to allow her into
every centimeter of his soul. Even the rough parts.

  “Shit. I don’t think red undies is the only one,” Kay whispered. “Do you see him?”

  There was a man walking roughly ten feet behind Hayley. He was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, the only man on the beach wearing a light jacket. Likely because he was hiding the gun he carried. The man moved in and out of the dancing crowd.

  Up ahead, Hayley stopped and put her hand out to a younger man, who nodded and began speaking. They moved slightly out of the crowd, toward one of the tents.

  It would be an excellent place to kill her.

  “Hurry.” The music was thumping from here. It was loud, a dance party on the beach. He had to practically shout to be heard over it.

  If the jackass following Hayley was a professional, he would have a suppressor on that gun he was hiding. He would be able to shoot her in the head and no one would realize what had happened over the noise until they saw her fall. The assassin would then slip away and Hayley would be lost.

  He pressed through the crowd, his heart starting to thud in his chest.

  Kay put a hand on his arm. “Don’t. Fain’s got it.”

  He stopped as he realized she was right. Fain smoothly moved around, positioning himself behind the man. He had a big smile on his face as though greeting an old friend. He moved in and to the outside world it might have looked like Fain was hugging the other man.

  Not slipping a stiletto between his ribs.

  Fain moved the man back out of the dancing crowd, as though he needed help. Nick watched as he settled the man down, his back propped against one of the tent poles.

  Fain managed to be back next to Hayley before she realized what was happening. She’d started to look around for him and there he was, smiling politely and taking her hand like he hadn’t murdered someone mere seconds before.