by Lexi Blake
Chelsea shrugged. “Nah. I know what it means to be on both sides of this. I’ve worked for the Agency and pretty much been hunted by them. It all sucks. I should also let you know that I’m trying to run down the hacker Green used. He’s honestly our best bet at proving this data is forged. If he or she has half a brain, they likely kept a record. It’s like a before and after shot. I would do it in case I needed to prove something.”
Tag sent his sister-in-law a glare. “You did it so you could blackmail your clients.”
“I…” Chelsea began and then gave up. “It was a different world, and most of my clients were assholes. I haven’t blackmailed anyone in years. I kind of miss it.”
“Yeah, we desperately need to get you back in the game,” Tag said under his breath before looking to Ezra. “Look, we’re going to find a way to fix this. You’ve got two teams on your side, and we won’t let you down. Solo, I owe you for what’s happening today, and I don’t forget to pay my debts. Chelsea and I have to go get the girls. Our package is being delivered shortly, and I suspect it’s going to coincide with Levi’s arrival. How’s that for perfect timing?”
“Well, you are Satan,” Chelsea said with a grin. “You do have the devil’s luck.”
“What I have is a kid on the inside. At least I hope I do. We’re about to find out.” Tag pocketed his cell and stood up. “Rene showed you how to work the security cameras, right? You might find this interesting. I kind of like the idea that you’ll be watching the fucker while he’s trying to figure out where you’re hiding. You two stick together. And Ezra, I’m glad you followed my advice. Now don’t fuck it up.”
Chelsea picked up her bag. “This is going to be the fastest trip to Europe ever. The good news is I sleep well on that Lawless jet. Most sleep I’ve had since Sophy was born.”
“And I don’t sleep at all so I’m cranky,” Tag shot back. “Let’s go. I want to get this over with and make Levi feel like a massive asshole.”
“Is she okay?” Kim asked.
He was curious about Sasha’s daughter, too.
Chelsea stopped at the top of the stairs. “She’s spent the last two years in an orphanage in Siberia because her mother died under mysterious circumstances. We think she was looking for her husband and someone silenced her and then dumped her daughter far, far from home.”
“But we’re going to take care of her, right?” He owed Sasha. They all did.
Tag’s brow rose over his eyes. “You’re kidding, right? You honestly believe my Charlie could find a seven-year-old girl who’s been abandoned and not bring her home? I’m not here to check up on Tasha. I’m here to pick up my daughter because that’s what she’ll be in a few months.”
“I thought one of the Lost Boys would take her if she needed a home.” He knew Robert and Tucker had talked about it.
“She only speaks Russian,” Chelsea explained. “That’s why I’m here, and the girls. Ian’s Russian is shit.”
“It is not.” Tag’s hands were on his hips. “My Russian is excellent. I talk to the kids in Russian all the time.”
“Yes, and they laugh at you behind your back,” Chelsea retorted as she started down the stairs.
Big Tag grimaced. “They don’t bother. They laugh to my front. The word for fact in Russian is pronounced a whole lot like fuck. So naturally my girls point out a lot of fucks to me. It’s a whole thing at school. You two stay safe. We won’t come back after the meeting. We’ve got to get home.”
“Thanks for this,” Kim said.
Tag nodded and descended the stairs. Ezra closed the door behind him and turned to his ex-wife. His new sub. “Are you all right? He’s going to be here, inside this building. Do you want to watch it or pretend it’s not happening?”
He could think of a million different ways to distract her. They didn’t need to be down in the club.
“I want to see Tasha. I want to make sure she’s all right. And I think it’s better for me to see that he’s here in the building than to let my imagination go wild. Besides, I’m super interested in who he brought with him.” She moved back to the table and opened the laptop.
He sat down beside her. “I’m sorry we can’t go to Colorado.”
“Me, too,” she said, her eyes on the screen. “They don’t trust me, and I would likely bring more danger into their lives, so I don’t blame them.”
“I could reach out to Henry Flanders.” He would point out that yes, Kim had lied about who she was, but she’d done it to protect Henry as well. She’d been the one to tell the Agency he wasn’t a threat.
She shook her head. “No. He’s got enough on his hands. It’s okay. I’m worried we shouldn’t go to Dallas, either. I can’t stand the thought of bringing the Agency down on their heads. They’ve got families. I shouldn’t put them in danger. I’ve got a couple of places no one at the Agency knows about. I’ve built a few more nests since we broke up.”
Nests. That was what she called those little apartments or homes she kept in foreign countries. He’d kept a few himself. “I think we should trust our friends.”
She went quiet as she pulled up the security cameras.
“Kim, what’s wrong?”
“They’re not our friends,” she said quietly. “They’re your friends. I know Big Tag says he owes me, but he owes you more.”
“Then he’ll help us more.”
She was silent for a moment. “Why did you hold my hand? And what did he mean by advice?”
“I held your hand because I wanted to,” he explained. “He called last night. You know Big Tag. He’s the world’s worst busybody.”
“Really? I don’t know him except for the few times I’ve worked with him. He’s pretty standoffish with me.”
“Well, as Adam Miles has said on many occasions, beneath all the meathead muscles lies the beating heart of an eighty-year-old grandma who wants all her kids to get married.”
“So he gave you advice about me?”
“He told me I should give you a break.” He wasn’t going into all the crap Big Tag had said. “He pointed out that time only heals wounds if you don’t continually rip them back open.”
A slight smile crossed her face. “He’s a smart old lady.”
Ezra chuckled as Tag closed the door on the screen. The big guy stared at the wall as though trying to make damn sure no one could see the seam of the door. It reminded him that this wasn’t a game. “If anything goes wrong, I want you to barricade yourself in the bathroom and don’t open the door until you hear from me or Tag.”
She slid him what he liked to think of as her “dumbass said what” stare. “So I can run where? Because we’re pretty much in a cage here. Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy for the cage, but we’ve got nowhere to go if Levi figures out where we are. If that happens, you have to promise that you’ll let him take me.”
Now it was his turn for the dumbass stare. “I’m not doing that.”
“So we’re going to go down like Bonnie and Clyde?” She turned her attention back to the screen. She switched to the lobby camera where Big Tag and Chelsea greeted twin girls racing down the stairs. They were going on and on about how hot chocolate was better here.
“I don’t know. I need some kind of plan. I feel helpless without one.”
“We can’t plan this out, Beck. We are helpless in this case, and the best way to handle it is to let me go and try to get me back later. That’s what Tag would tell you to do. You should be the one hiding in the bathroom and I’ll talk Levi out of murdering you. I couldn’t handle that.”
He wasn’t about to agree to letting her go. “Well, let’s hope Tag is as smart as he says he is. Wow. That’s her. She looks so much like Sasha. Can you turn up the volume? You know a little Russian, right?”
She smiled as she stared at the screen. A thin girl was led into the lobby of the club. She was carrying a small suitcase and wearing a plain dress and black shoes. She had her father’s eyes and that frown of his.
The woman who was tra
veling with Tasha said something and nodded toward Big Tag.
“She’s telling Tasha that this is her new family and she needs to go with them now,” Kim translated.
Tasha shrank back and Kenzie and Kala stared at her.
Big Tag stayed where he was and let Chelsea take the lead.
Chelsea got down on one knee and addressed the child in Russian.
“She’s telling her not to be afraid. She says she knows what it’s like to lose her mom and end up going to a strange country.” She glanced his way. “She was only nine when she went to Russia?”
He nodded. “That was when her mobster dad killed her mom and kidnapped Chelsea and Charlotte.”
Kim laughed suddenly. “She told Tasha that Big Tag looks scary but he’s a marshmallow and that she’ll quickly learn how to manipulate him.”
Tasha set her pitiful suitcase down and walked over to Tag. She looked up at him and asked a quiet question.
“She asked if he knew her papa.”
Big Tag got to his knee and he still loomed over her.
“He’s says that yes, he knew her father, and he knows lots of people who knew her dad. He wants to honor her father by taking care of her and making sure she has a good life. He says he knows she’s scared but he’s going to make sure no one hurts her again.” Tasha’s nose wrinkled and one of the twins said something. “His Russian isn’t as good as he thinks it is. That’s what Kenzie pointed out. Or Kala. I can’t tell the difference.”
Tasha looked back to Tag, her face so serious. “I will be going with you then.”
Tag looked as soft as a man that big could. “I’m glad. We’re going to take care of you. These are my little monsters. They speak better Russian than me so you can plot with them. Kenzie and Kala. If you can’t tell them apart, use a marker in their sleep. It’s what I do.”
“Dad!” they managed to say in one voice.
Then the girls were off, talking in a mix of Russian and English, and he understood why Tag had dragged his daughters halfway across the globe. Because he was kind and knew Tasha would be far more comfortable with other kids around. Tag stood back and watched the girls while Chelsea had a conversation with the woman who’d brought Tasha to the club.
“She’s telling Chelsea that all the paperwork is in order.” Kim bit her bottom lip as she listened. “She’s got a passport, and everything is done on her end for the adoption. Apparently someone named Dusan greased those wheels. Is she talking about Dusan Denisovitch? The head of the syndicate?”
“He’s Charlotte’s cousin.” A flutter went through him when he realized someone was at the door. A shadow had crossed the frosted glass of the windows. “Someone’s here. Switch to the outside camera.”
Her spine went stiff and she stared at the screen as Rene went to open the door.
“We don’t have to. He’ll be inside in a minute. This was all part of Tag’s plan.” Kim’s words were proven true as Levi stepped into the lobby.
“Taggart, I’m not surprised you’re here.” Levi was dressed in all black, a hat on his head. It was one of those hats worn by college dudes who only listened to vinyl and liked things in an ironic fashion.
He was joined by another man, one he hadn’t met before. He was younger, looked barely twenty, though he dressed down in black slacks and a collared shirt. He definitely didn’t look like the typical CIA employee. He had boy-band hair. “Who is that kid?”
Kim whistled as though she really hadn’t expected that. “Drake Radcliffe. He’s a wunderkind brought in by one of the big bosses. He’s a genius at finding patterns. I think he’s connected on the political side, but I haven’t figured it out yet. He’s only been on the scene for the last six months, and I’ve spent most of that time either in Colorado or Europe. I haven’t been in the office much. If he’s here then Levi’s pulled some strings.”
“He makes you nervous?”
Kim shrugged. “Like I said, he’s known for being able to see patterns, for his incredible deductive powers. Some people at Langley call him Sherlock.”
On the screen Taggart was watching as the girls headed up the stairs. “Don’t get comfortable. We leave for the airport in thirty minutes.” He turned back to Levi. “Well, I’m not so happy to see you. If you’ve come to try to stop me from taking Sasha’s daughter home with me, you better have brought the big guns.”
Levi actually seemed taken aback, and Ezra realized that was all part of Tag’s plan. “No. That was Sasha’s daughter? You found her?”
“I did, and I’m taking her back to Dallas with me. So if you’re not here to fuck with those plans, why are you here?” Tag asked.
Chelsea leaned against the reception desk. “He thinks you’re hiding Solo. He tried to arrest her yesterday and she got away.”
“Got away?” Levi zeroed in on Chelsea. “She didn’t get away. The London team freed her from a lawful arrest and nearly killed me in the process.”
“If it was a lawful arrest, she would have been taken in by the London metro police or Scotland Yard.” Chelsea didn’t back down at all. “She would have had a trial to determine whether her extradition was legal under British law. I don’t think you were taking her to the police station, right? You know the funny thing is I haven’t heard an outcry in the media.”
“You know we do things differently. It wasn’t so long ago you were one of us.” Levi was talking to Chelsea, who had worked as a data analyst and all-around walking computer for the Agency until she’d quit to start a company with Adam Miles.
“Yeah, and I thought you were all assholes then, too,” Chelsea shot back. “Now, why are you here in Paris if you’re not trying to fuck up a little girl’s adoption? She was in Siberia, you know. First they took her father and sold him to McDonald, and then they killed her mother and shipped Tasha to somewhere cold and quiet so they didn’t have to look at her. You here to send her back?”
Levi threw up his hands in obvious disgust. “Why would I care about some kid? Tag wants another one, good on him. I’m here because this is one of the spots I suspect you might hide Solo in.”
Tag proved he could have been an actor because the surprise on his face seemed totally real. “Why the hell would I hide Solo? I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I don’t hang out with a bunch of Agency fuckwits. I left a long time ago and I haven’t looked back. Solo’s been a pain in my ass for over a year and you’re welcome to her.”
He turned to Kim. “He doesn’t mean that.”
Kim rolled her eyes his way. “He can’t exactly proclaim his deep affection. He’s not going to be nice about you either if he’s smart.”
Levi turned his attention to Tag. “Okay, I’ll give you that my girl can be troublesome, but I know you’re loyal to Beck…Ezra Fain. He’s been working with you for over a year.”
“And he did what I needed him to do,” Tag replied simply. “Now he’s a pain in my ass, too. I assure you I didn’t give him a thumbs-up to do anything. If I see him again, I’ll fire his ass. Do you honestly think I want the Agency all over me right now?”
“You’ve got friends at the Agency. You’ve always got someone willing to cover for you,” Levi pointed out.
Drake was walking around the room, studying it. “He’s adopting a kid from a country that no longer allows foreign adoptions. He’s basically smuggling her into the US. Where do her papers say she’s from?”
Chelsea crossed her arms over her chest. “Her papers are from the Ukraine. They’ll hold up under scrutiny. You’re not taking her back. She was in an orphanage and she was never getting out. She wasn’t getting a proper schooling, and I don’t think they were feeding her enough.”
Drake didn’t bother to look at her, merely kept staring at the walls like he could see through them. “I wasn’t suggesting we take some kid away from her newfound Daddy Warbucks. I was simply explaining Mr. Taggart’s problem to my colleague. It’s not a good time for him to have the Agency looking into his activities, so I can see where he might be upse
t about what Mr. Fain did. Is there a dungeon? I assume this is a BDSM club.”
Levi frowned. “Yes, but how did you know that? I didn’t tell you anything about it because I wanted you to come in cold.”
“Don’t be surprised that the guy you brought in for his deductive reasoning powers deduces things correctly.” Drake seemed to find the walls fascinating.
“You’ll have to forgive my friend, Taggart.” Levi was frowning Drake’s way. “Mr. Brown is a bit of a savant when it comes to finding things.”
“Mr. Brown?” Tag asked, a suspicious brow arched. “Really?”
“No, of course not,” Drake replied. “But it’s better than Magenta.”
“I like magenta,” a voice said.
Tag turned and his face tilted up. “Girls. When I said upstairs, I meant all the way.”
“Okay, but Magenta’s a cool name,” the voice said and then there was much giggling.
Chelsea sighed. “I think you can handle the rest of this on your own. I’ll go make sure the girls stay out of trouble. And maybe I can find a cup of coffee.”
Chelsea strode up the stairs.
Drake turned to Levi. “Can I look through the dungeon?”
Rene had been standing in the back, but he came forward. “Of course. I don’t want trouble with the Agency either. Are you old enough to be in a club? You look like you’re thirteen.”
Drake frowned. “I’m twenty-three. You can’t shock me. I’ve had some kink in my life recently, I assure you. I’m not looking to join. Can you tell me about the building? Some of these older buildings have interesting architectural elements, I hear.”
“Fuck. How good is this kid?” Ezra stood and went to the small table where he’d set the Beretta he’d brought along.
Kim was bringing up the camera that was focused on the wall that hid their door. Rene had explained that there was only one camera in the dungeon, and it was only pointed at the hidden door. It was a small micro camera camouflaged in one of the light fixtures. Kim adjusted the feed so she had a split screen of the lobby and the camera that was there to help protect whoever was hiding behind the walls.
