by Lexi Blake
Her heart rate was right back up. “What did you say?”
“Maybe we should get back to The Garden.” Steph packed up her kit, a forced smile on her face.
Walt nodded, obviously feeling their bad vibes, too. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. Look, when you get to Paris, a man named Rene will be waiting for you. He’s a friend of Big Tag’s. Used to be French intelligence, but Tag said he’s solid. He’s going to arrange everything. Call if you get in trouble.” Walt started for the door and stopped. “Like real actual mission trouble. Not the marital kind. I’m not good at that. Ariel is, though. I could try getting her on the phone.”
Beck smiled, a predatory expression. “We don’t need therapy. Go on, Walt. We’ll head out in thirty minutes. I don’t want to leave until I know you’re watching.”
Walt was right. This was a fight they should have in private. “I’m going to leave sooner than that. And thanks for everything, both of you. Please let Nick and Brody know how much I appreciate what they did for me today.”
Walt frowned. “What should I tell Damon? That you’re splitting up? He’s going to want to know what’s happening. I think Big Tag told Rene to expect two of you.”
“And there will be two of us,” Beck announced with arrogant finality. “Go on, Walt. I promise she’s safe. I didn’t wreck my life to turn around and let her fuck this mission up. We’ll be fine.”
She felt her fists clench. That hadn’t taken long. She should have known this was some weird impulse of Beck’s that he would regret as soon as the bullets stopped flying. She watched as Steph and Walt left, the door closing behind them with an audible click.
“You want to explain to me what this crap is about?” Beck asked, turning on her like she was some teen caught after curfew. “You almost got taken by that fucker. You want to give him another shot? Is there something I’m missing? I know you like it rough sometimes, but this is taking it too far.”
She couldn’t help it. Her hand came out and she slapped the fuck out of him. Not a punch. A punch would mean a fight. This wasn’t a fight. She open-palm slapped him because he was being small and petty. Because this was the way he treated her now. “Fuck you, Beck. And no, I do not need you. If accepting all this help means listening to you call me a whore, then I’ll make my own way.”
She started for the door. She would have to risk going to her place. In her mind she was already thinking about how to sneak in. Levi would have someone watching, but without a car or her purse or a single weapon, she didn’t see another way to go.
“Kim, stop.” Beck sighed, an exhausted sound. “Please.”
It was the please that did it. He was so rarely polite to her. She took a deep breath and turned to him. They needed to ratchet down the emotion. It was what always tripped them up. “I don’t think we can work together.”
“We certainly can’t if I continue to be a massive asshole.” He moved toward her, putting his hands on her shoulders. “I’m sorry. You’re still a touchy subject for me.”
She nodded, unable to say a word for fear of unleashing a tidal wave. Not seconds before she’d told herself to tamp down the emotion, but here it was, threatening to overwhelm her and all he’d had to do was touch her.
“How about we agree that Levi Green is a problem for both of us and we work together to solve it,” he offered. “Kim, we’ve been going in circles for years. Maybe it’s time we find a way to move on. I know I’m tired of hating you.”
She stepped back. She couldn’t have his hands on her when he used that word. It was wrong when all she’d ever done was love him. “Ariel pointed out that it would be easier on both of us if I stopped showing up in your life.”
His gaze softened. “Would it? I didn’t see you for a couple of years and it didn’t feel any easier.”
She let a moment pass. How was it she felt even more vulnerable than she had when she was with Levi? “I know. I’ve tried to move on. I don’t seem to be able to.”
His hands moved as if he wanted to touch her, but he seemed to rethink the idea. “So maybe we should go about this another way. Maybe we should take this time and do what we didn’t do before. Talk. Try to find a way to get through this. I’m sorry I said what I did about you and Levi. It still hurts and I’m lashing out. All I know is when I thought you were in danger, I knew I couldn’t sit on my hands and let it happen. I can’t do it now either. Let me come with you. Let me help fix this.”
No. It was the only word she should say to him, and then she should turn and walk out and never look back. If she let him in, he would hurt her no matter how good his intentions were. Beck had always had a well of rage inside him that he wouldn’t deal with, wouldn’t acknowledge even existed. He hadn’t changed.
“Okay.” She hadn’t changed either. She was still helpless when it came to this man. She was still in love with him and likely always would be.
He let go of a heavy breath. “Good.” He was silent for a moment, looking her over. “Did he hurt you? Are your wrists okay?”
She’d managed to get what was left of the zip ties off in the car. She had some red marks on her wrists. “They’re sore, but all right. He didn’t slap me around this time.”
She watched as Beck’s hands formed fists and wished she hadn’t said that. His rage was always simmering under the surface when she was around.
He seemed to let it go. “All right. We should get on the road. Can you grab some water and protein bars? I don’t know what we’ll find when we get to Paris.”
She kind of thought she did know. She’d done a lot of homework on Big Tag, and if Rene was who she thought he was, then Beck would feel right at home.
Still, she grabbed the water bottles and bars and stuffed them in the duffel Steph had provided for her. There were a couple of T-shirts and a pair of sweatpants that would likely be too short, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.
This was all she had in the world. It was odd. She would have said possessions were meaningless, but now that she had no access to any of the things that brought her comfort, she missed them with all her heart.
She had one thing. She reached up and found some peace knowing her ring was still there. All these years and she still had her wedding ring. It hung low around her neck, and she always hid it under her shirt when Beck was around.
It was all she had left of her marriage.
“You ready?” Beck fitted a cap to his head and passed her another. “You might want to put your hair up. I know if I was looking for you, all that hair would be the first thing to catch my eye.”
How many nights had he tangled his fingers in her hair and gently tugged, had he told her how beautiful it was and that he never wanted her to cut it? “Yeah. I’m ready.”
He stepped in front of her and placed the cap on her head, his gorgeous eyes staring down at her. “I really am sorry I said what I did. Can you forgive me?”
Her whole soul threatened to melt. She nodded.
“Can I hug you? I want to. I want to reassure myself that you’re really okay.”
She nodded again and then she was in his arms for the first time in years.
“Promise me he didn’t get a chance to hurt you,” Beck whispered.
He sounded like he actually cared. His arms around her made her feel safer than she had in forever. “He threatened me with a bunch of stuff, but I don’t want to talk about it. I will, but not now.”
“Okay.”
They stood there for the longest time, the sound of his heartbeat the only thing she could hear.
* * * *
Ezra glanced around the club and sighed. He should have known. “It’s a BDSM club.”
Of course Big Tag would send them here. There was no sign outside the building, but he’d noted the discreet placard in the lobby. Le Collier de Velours.
French wasn’t his best language, but he was pretty sure that translated to The Velvet Collar.
Yep. It was Big Tag’s world, and everyone else just played in it.
&n
bsp; “You’ll only be here for a few days,” Rene said as he gestured them through. “Tag is going to move you to Dallas as soon as possible. The only reason you’re here now is the fact that Tag’s got business in Europe. He’ll be here in the morning.”
“I thought Charlotte had a baby recently. He’s leaving her alone?” That didn’t sound like Big Tag. He could be a sarcastic son of a bitch, but he was a good husband and father.
A brilliant smile came over Kim’s face. “Did they find her? Is that why he’s coming?”
“Find her?” He tried not to think about how that smile warmed his whole body, and it wasn’t merely about the fact that she was still the sexiest woman he’d ever seen. When she smiled like that, the world felt right.
“Big Tag and Charlotte have been searching for a girl named Natasha Federova,” Kim explained, looking more animated than she had in hours. She’d spent the long car ride mostly silent, staring out the window even when they made the crossing under the English Channel. “The second company has been working pretty much nonstop to try to figure out who Sasha was.”
He wasn’t sure how the founding members of Miles-Dean, Weston and Murdoch would feel about being called a second team. The former members of McKay-Taggart had formed their own company specializing in missing persons. He felt his eyes widen at the implications. “They think they found Sasha’s daughter?”
“I found her. Or at least I found records of her birth. See, we always thought Sasha was probably SVR or something like it. I have some contacts who are experts and I managed to find his real name. He was a higher-up analyst who worked for SVR, but he got involved in a case that threatened to implicate some bigwigs at the Kremlin, so no one was surprised when he turned up dead. Although now we know whatever body they pulled out of the Moskva wasn’t actually his. We think someone sold him out to McDonald for cash when she was looking for men with his physical training. His real name was Oleg Federov.”
He had no idea she’d been working on finding Sasha’s daughter. “You tracked her down?”
“I only found the name,” she replied. “Adam and his team did the rest. I don’t know much about the project. I handed them the name and then got back to my own business.”
How hard had that been? Kim liked a good mystery, liked to pull on a thread and follow it to the end. It had been her downfall many times, but it looked like she’d known when to hand over this mission to the right team. “That’s great. But why is Tag coming here? Shouldn’t he send someone to check up on her?”
Rene held up his hands. “I don’t know why Tag does what he does, but he will be here tomorrow morning and he’s going to want an update on what’s happening. I’ve already gotten in touch with some of my old colleagues and you should know the Agency has briefed French intelligence. They’ve put the word out about you. You’re to be brought in at all costs. Ms. Solomon, that is. You’re considered disposable, Mr. Fain.”
Of course he was. He was sure Levi would be thrilled if the Agency brought him home in a body bag. “What do you know about Levi’s position at the Agency?”
Rene shrugged. “Nothing except he’s obviously got the ear of someone important. It’s why I have to do something I normally wouldn’t do. Could you follow me?”
The smile on her face fled. “If it’s dangerous for us to be here, I’ll find someplace else to go. I know what happened the last time one of Big Tag’s friends helped out.”
Rene’s face went grim. “Peter. Yes. He was a good man, but this situation is different. Unless one of you two plans on murdering me. I’m not worried about this Mr. Green showing up to shoot me. I’m worried about what happens when he shows up at this club looking for you. I need for him to not find you here and look elsewhere. There’s a reason Big Tag chose this location. He knows sometimes the best place to hide is in plain sight.”
“I hope that’s a euphemism because I was planning to hide in some place hideyer,” Kim said with a frown.
He was concerned, too. “I assure you, Levi’s got a full dossier on Big Tag. You’ve got connections to Damon, too. He’ll know all about those. He will absolutely show up here, or he’ll send someone to watch the place. There’s no question of that. Maybe we should hit the road.”
“And go where?” Rene asked. “Neither of you has alternate identification. Truly good ID takes more than half a day to construct. I know it’s easy to move around Europe, but you still need ID.”
“We’ll stay in the Schengen Area.” They were in France, a part of twenty-six countries known as the Schengen Area. They were a loose alliance that didn’t require passports to move across borders.
“Even in the Schengen countries you’ll need some kind of identification, and you’ll definitely need money,” Rene pointed out.
“I can get money.” Kim’s hand clutched the duffel she carried. “I need some time to move things into place.”
He should have known Kim would have a plan. He did, too. “I can access some funds. After the Agency burned me, I made arrangements. But he’s right about the ID. Can you get it for us?”
“I’ve already got a friend working on your cover. We should have it in a few days, but we need some time to get a handle on what’s going on.” Rene moved deeper into the club. It was different from any of the clubs he’d been to. This was pure Moulin Rouge decadence done up with tons of red and gold. “We think we can move you out of here in a week or so. We have to ensure Mr. Green is occupied in other ways. He will no doubt send someone to check here. When he finds nothing, he’ll move on. Big Tag intends to open the doors to Sanctum and welcome the Agency inside. I think he’s looking forward to whatever Agency hack shows up. He’s planning an all anal play night for them.”
Kim snorted but her eyes were wide as she looked around the place. “That should be interesting. So we hide out in the back room until Levi’s satisfied we’re not here?”
“Oh, I have a much better hiding place than some back room,” Rene said. “This building has been standing for three hundred years. It’s been in my family for the last hundred. Like many older buildings in Europe, it has its secrets.”
He stopped in front of a wall and moved his hand over the wainscoting.
Beck heard a click but saw nothing. “I don’t get it.”
Rene gestured to his left. “The door is three panels down. From what we can tell, the rooms were first used to move around noble families hiding from the mob during the revolution. My great-grandfather was a talented architect. He made some improvements to the secret rooms during the occupation. Originally the latching mechanism was attached to the door, and it would come open even if someone accidently tripped it. Now you have to unlock the mechanism in one place and then push in the door to get it to open. It was how he kept our Jewish neighbors safe from the Nazis.”
Rene walked to another panel and pressed it in, the door revealing itself.
They would be stuck in there together for days. Days alone with her. Days where they had nothing to do.
What the hell was he going to do? How was he going to keep his hands off her?
Should he even try? Fate seemed to be pressing him to finally work things out with her so they could be done.
What if the real solution had always been to spend one last night together?
He shook the thought off as he followed her up the narrow stairs lit by a single flickering bulb.
“Sorry about the lighting. Like I said, the building is old.” Rene moved up behind him. “But you’ll find everything works in the apartments. There are three rooms. There is a living area and a rudimentary kitchen. We connected it to the water and electricity lines forty years ago. I’ve stocked the refrigerator and the pantry. There’s a small bathroom and one bed. There is a security system as well. There are security cameras in the lobby, and several around the outside of the building. There is one in the dungeon, but it only protects the door to these rooms. You’ll be able to see anyone coming up.”
He sincerely hoped there was a comfo
rtable couch. He doubted they would find some massive king-sized bed where they could put up a wall of pillows and find a way to share.
He was going to sleep close to Kim and there wouldn’t be anyone there to keep him from giving in to the urge to climb in beside her, to rest his head on her breast and listen to her heartbeat again.
The stairs were narrow and winding, and he had the best view of her backside.
Fuck, he should be thinking about how to get out of the conundrum they found themselves in and all he could think about was how gorgeous that ass was, how good it felt to cup her cheeks and hold her tight against him.
He was in trouble.
“I’ve made sure you’ve got Internet access with a secure connection,” Rene continued. “You’ll need it to investigate. If you need to call anyone, use the communications protocols on the laptop. They were developed by one of Tag’s hackers, and I’ve found it’s impossible to track it down. You also have access to the CCTV cameras I talked about. You can monitor them all from this system. I’m going to leave you here and get back downstairs so I can open the club for the evening. We don’t want anything to look unusual.”
“How many people know about these rooms?” He followed Kim inside the small apartment. Yes, they were going to be in very close quarters.
“Myself and my wife and a few trusted friends,” Rene replied. “Tag knows about it, obviously, and Charlotte. They stayed here once before her unfortunate death.”
Charlotte’s death hadn’t been real, and he needed to start thinking about that option for Kim if they couldn’t find a way to prove her innocence. The Agency wouldn’t treat her like they’d treated him. They would come after her. He looked around the little room. “Seems so vanilla for Tag.”
A mysterious smile crossed Rene’s face. “There’s always the club downstairs. You should understand the dungeon has no windows. If, say, after the building is secured, you want to come down and use the amenities, feel free. Simply clean up after yourself and make sure you’re back in the safe room before dawn. There’s a light by the door to the safe room. When it’s lit that means the security system is activated and you’re alone here. Use the secure line if you need anything. Good night.”
