X slid the geeky glasses down his nose and stared blandly back at his agent, puppet, whatever Sullivan was. The man grumbled but subsided.
That’s when the tingle down my back warned me that this man was definitely not the benign bureaucrat he was attempting to portray.
I looked to Levi, noted how he hadn’t given the guards around us a single glance as we swarmed in. No, his intense gray stare was all for X. He’d figured out the same thing I had: the only person in this room that mattered was right in front of us. The question was, what the hell did the guy want?
“What is going on, Levi?” I asked softly.
My brother shrugged. “We were waiting for you all to arrive before whatever great unveiling dickhead here has planned.” He held his hands out to his sides. “Hail, hail, the gang’s all here. Shall we get the fuck on with it?”
X didn’t smile, didn’t look pissed. That was what unnerved me about the guy. No reaction. No emotion. Nothing. It made me want to punch him just to see what would happen, but if life with Levi had taught me anything, it was that the quieter a man was, the more you had to worry about.
Walking slowly in our direction, X eyed both of us, moved to Mikaela beside me. I felt her tension, knew she was preparing for whatever the fucker had planned. But he simply walked between us without a pause. Each of us turned to watch X move up the aisle to the next tier, where he pivoted to look down on us. A king surveying his subjects.
My hand tightened instinctively on my gun, and I knew he saw it. I felt the imminent danger in the air, not just from me but from every other member of our team.
And then he spoke.
“As you might have surmised, you, Levi Agozi, and you, Mikaela Nixon, were chosen, along with your teams, to participate in an…audition…if you will. A test. And though I did not anticipate the two teams finding each other and working together, perhaps I should have.” X linked his hands behind his back. “Both smart. Both capable of feats that put you among the most elite fighters the world has to offer. I know; I’ve investigated them all.”
“Why?” Mikaela asked.
“Why? For one reason only—to use you.”
Mikaela’s laugh echoed Levi’s. I kept my narrowed eyes on X.
“If you think we’d work for you, ever,” Levi said, “through coercion or through choice, you are fucking delusional. The only thing keeping you breathing right now is the knowledge that one of us can blow your brains out at any time—and will before we walk out that door.”
“And that is why you were chosen.” X took off his glasses, polished them on his shirt, then settled them in his breast pocket. “I do want you to work for me. Preferably through choice, but…” He shrugged. “Resorting to blackmail, threats… Unpleasant but certainly doable. You’ve witnessed that. I had to see how you each performed under pressure. Which paths you would take, which choices you would make, even when pushed to the very brink.” His knowing gaze rested on Levi, and I wondered if he’d known, walking into the mansion, about Abby. About what had been happening to our family. And then he’d stepped in and taken the last shred of safety away from us, from Levi.
I cursed under my breath. “You really did want Sullivan dead, didn’t you? Even we barely managed to hold Levi back from killing him.”
X tipped his head a fraction of an inch. “Did you? Or did a principle that he has held his entire life do it for you?” He narrowed his eyes on Levi. “Your first kill was a man who raped a neighborhood girl. A man police refused to arrest because of his social and economic status. You brought a family justice when the law refused. The man you were then, that man, has not changed. Sullivan was in no danger.”
Something inside me stilled. It shouldn’t surprise me that X had dug up that information given all he seemed to know. What surprised me was, he was wrong. Levi’s first kill had been much earlier; I knew because Remi had been there, had told me, though Levi had never spoken a word about it.
“You have far more faith in me than I do,” Levi stated baldly, not bothering to correct X’s mistake.
X nodded. “Perhaps. But I think not.”
“What is that you want us to do?” Mikaela asked. The million-dollar question. Didn’t we all want to know?
X studied her for a moment. “To do what you do best. I run teams that some would call black ops.” He waved a hand. “I say black ops are a dime a dozen. My teams are…blacker than black ops. No records. No oversight. No support. You receive an assignment, and then you are on your own. The targets are the worst of the worst in our world, not merely drug dealers or child molesters, but heads of international trafficking rings. The politicians that aid drug lords. The drug lords themselves. Thieves who outwit every agent or soldier we send after them to steal secrets that could kill millions.”
“And what makes your teams different than those agents and soldiers?” Mikaela asked.
Finally, for the very first time, the slightest hint of a smile tilted X’s lips. “They are the elite even among elites. You are the elite among elites. And I want you working for me.”
Levi stepped forward. “No.”
“Are you certain, Mr. Agozi? This is a chance to take your vigilante justice—and make no mistake, killing the guilty without benefit of a trial is just that—to the next level. To make the world a better place for your family. Your nieces and nephews. Your…children.”
Levi flinched but didn’t back down. “I already do that. I decide who I take out. I decide who is innocent and who is not. You think I’d trust you to make those decisions? The man who threatened my family?”
“Threats are nothing.” The words were emotionless, like X’s eyes. “You’ll be called on to make decisions without guidance, to be responsible for each action, each thought. To bring justice. And yes, I will rely on you for that final judgment. The only way to be certain you were the right choice—and make no mistake, you are the right choice—was to push you to the absolute brink.” His eyes flicked to Mikaela. “And you passed, all of you, with flying colors. One team, one decision.”
He clasped his hand in front of him this time, the gold Rolex on his wrist gleaming in the artificial light.. “That is my proposal. That is your choice. And you must make it now.”
“And if we don’t?” Mikaela asked, voice low and mean.
“Then you’ll see, Ms. Nixon”—X grinned, a flash of shark’s teeth that chilled my gut—“I always keep my promises.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Nix —
“You want us, together”—Levi waved his finger between his chest and mine—“to work for you, as one team, killing on your order.”
“Yes,” X replied blandly.
“No.” It was my turn to deny X. Not because I refused to work with Levi, but because we were not someone else’s trigger. “No one controls us but us.”
“You’ve been around military your whole life, Ms. Nixon. You know we are all controlled by something or someone.”
“Are we?” Levi asked.
“Of course.” X moved closer, less a king and more a benevolent leader. “Societal rules. Social constructs. Laws, whether those are made by a governing body or one’s own conscience. Merely because I control you does not mean we cannot do good together.”
Levi glanced at me, and in his eyes I saw the same knowledge I knew was in mine: did we have a choice? We could run. We could kill X right here and pray getting out of this compound wasn’t harder than getting in had been. Or we could say yes, either because we were truly agreeing, or to bide our time.
All doable choices, but which one was best?
“Who else knows what you’ve dug up about us?” I asked.
“Enough people that killing me won’t free you. But over time I believe you won’t need intel to hold you here; the work will speak for itself.”
Because our targets would be just? “And if we disagree with the chosen target?”
“You won’t.” X did that minuscule head tilt I’d seen him do a couple of times before
, the only indicator of reaction, maybe even emotion that I had witnessed so far. “I can guarantee it. I know you, each one of you, thoroughly. Coaxing you into working with me is hard enough.” He ignored Levi’s snort at the word coaxing. “Why take killers with zero conscience and try to give them one? Why not take killers obsessed with justice, perhaps because of the injustices done to them and those they loved in the past, and grant them the highest opportunity to fulfill their calling?”
Jesus, with that salt-and-pepper hair and the benign look in his eyes, I could almost believe he was as trustworthy as someone’s grandpa. But I hadn’t been that naive for decades.
“Without any guarantee as to the protection of our families, the keeping of our secrets, we could never agree.”
Those words told me Levi was weakening. Unfortunately I was following him down that same road of futility. What choice did we have, at least for now?
“I doubt my word in writing would mean much,” X pointed out. “Nor would handing over the hundreds of files and papers I’ve collected on you. Nothing will convince you until you actually come work with me.”
“No,” Levi said again. “Not unless we have the same amount of dirt on you.”
X spread his hands wide. “Then find it. Create your own file. But work with me in the meantime. If it’s your families you worry for,” he said, “I will guarantee their safety.”
“A guarantee from you means nothing,” I said. The circular argument added bite to my words. I wanted out, wanted all this to end.
But it didn’t look like I was going to get what I wanted.
“My guarantee means nothing yet, at least,” X agreed, frustrating me even more. “In time…”
Levi stepped closer, and I couldn’t help but admire the fact that X didn’t flinch, didn’t back away or call for guards. He stood his ground and stared at Levi as if they were simple colleagues, as if Levi couldn’t gut him before the soldiers beginning to wake up around the room would stand a chance of intervening. Even I might be sweating bullets at that proximity, but not X.
Levi stared right back, gray eyes dark with intensity. “You can start earning our trust with one simple promise.”
“Which is?”
“You can promise to never set foot on our property, you or anyone working for you. And let me assure you, Mr. X”—Levi stepped even closer, going nose to nose with a man—“the minute you break that promise, you’re dead. This?” He gestured toward the guards beginning to stand up, stagger around. “This was mere child’s play. We can get to you, anytime, anywhere. And all it would take is one broken promise. You may think you hold all the cards, but make no mistake—we’ll never make playing them easy.”
A barely there tilt of his mouth—an X version of a smile?—made a brief appearance. “I look forward to the challenge.”
My men had flanked me, and Eli stood between me and Levi. One group. One team. Together.
My heart skipped a beat.
“We have more details to work out,” X said. “I will be in touch.” He turned to leave, paused, turned back. “Oh, Mr. Agozi?”
Levi narrowed his eyes on X.
“I promise.”
It was surreal walking back out of the building, freely, that we’d broken into. We even passed some of the guards we’d fought on the way in. I realized now that they had been ordered not to use lethal force, not that it would have mattered if they had. I did catch sight of the big, burly soldier who’d panicked when I’d been tougher than he expected and pulled his KA-BAR—I gave him a little wave and smiled at the black eye already forming on his face.
Speaking of knives, I had a feeling I might need a couple of stitches. As we exited the front entrance to the building and walked toward Levi’s truck, I made a mental note to take care of that with the first-aid kit in the Humvee.
We were almost to our vehicle when footsteps behind us had us all turning. Sullivan hurried down the stairs toward us. His nervous gaze traveled over our group as he raised a hand. “Any chance I can get a ride back to town?”
The no rose automatically to my lips, but Levi beat me to it by stepping forward.
“How about you tell us what all that in there was about”—he jerked his chin toward the building—“with you and X? Then we’ll consider it.”
Sullivan rubbed at the back of his head. “He did give me permission to disclose.” He dropped his hand. “I’m a sleeper agent. I started when I was very young, with the CIA. A financial whiz.” His air quotes didn’t bely the arrogant smile that crossed his face. “X recruited me from there.”
And having someone on their payroll in control of the largest international bank in the US… Levi shook his head, curses hissing out under his breath.
I scrubbed my hands down my face. Jesus. His finger in a pie like that… How many other organizations did X control? National? International?
Eli must have read my concern, because he stepped close to me. “We’ll figure it out,” he promised quietly. “I have clues now; he can hide from others, but not from me.” His hand surrounded mine, gripped tight. “From us.”
I stared into his golden eyes and knew he was right. Together, no one could beat us. I squeezed his hand right back.
Levi turned on his heel and strode toward the truck, and the rest of us followed. Sullivan trailed behind. “So, about that ride…”
Titus spoke for us all when he raised his middle finger over his shoulder without looking back and said, “Find your own.”
Levi climbed behind the wheel, and the rest of us clambered inside. “Where is the Humvee?” he asked.
“I’ll direct you,” Eli said from his seat behind his brother. “Mikaela and I can drive it back—after I take a look at her leg.”
Levi glanced at us in the rearview. “Uh-huh.”
I shot a withering glare right back. “Stitches aren’t sexy times. Get your mind out of the gutter.”
Levi winked at me in the mirror. My breath actually hitched. “Did you see that?” I crowed at Eli. “You saw that, right? He’s accepted me; he can’t deny it now.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Levi said, but one side of his mouth was curved up. I glanced at Eli, and his smile was nowhere near as reserved.
“Doesn’t matter,” Rhys said. “She’ll never let you forget it.”
Levi laughed then. “I bet.”
“I guess this means were staying, huh?” Monty asked from the front passenger seat. The truckload of us went quiet.
“I guess it does,” I confirmed. “We’ll figure it out.” There were a lot of logistics to work through, but for the foreseeable future, we’d be in Atlanta.
Levi cleared his throat. “I think if we’re going to be working together, staying close would be wise. And since the mansion is now—supposedly—hallowed ground, it makes sense for you to stay there.” A pause. “If you want.” Another pause. “I’m sure we can upgrade the accommodations with some planning.”
I looked to my team, meeting each one of their gazes. Acceptance stared back at me. There was safety in numbers, both for Levi’s family and ours. It would take adjustments, but…
I turned to Eli, raised an eyebrow. He laid a hand on my knee, carefully avoiding my wound, and gave me a gentle squeeze. Acceptance. Pleasure. And maybe…something else.
I pushed that thought away and focused on the now.
“We accept,” I told Levi. “And thank you. Protecting your family as well as our own will be an honor.”
Levi seemed to understand the formality of my words, and his acknowledgment was a solemn nod.
We arrived at the Humvee then, and Eli and I climbed out. Levi and the crew headed back to the mansion. Eli opened the back of the Humvee and gestured me in.
“I can sew my own stitches, you know,” I said, settling on one of the benches along one wall. “I’ve done it plenty of times before.”
Eli pulled a first-aid kit from beneath the other bench and turned to me. “Sexy as all that he-woman shit
is, no. You’re not sewing yourself up, Beautiful. Now out of those pants.”
“I’m not stripping for you, pervert.” But I was smiling. Something warm and happy, something I hadn’t bothered to feel for a very long time, expanded in my chest as I stared at his dark hair where he bent over the kit, rummaging for the supplies he needed. Not that L word, not yet, but…something close. Something special.
“If you think I’m letting my woman sit there covered in bloody clothes while I perform field surgery on her, you’re delusional. Now strip.”
When I didn’t move, he glanced up, a glare in his eyes. And froze. I have no idea what he saw, what my face revealed; I only knew I was stuck back on those two little words that had left his mouth. “‘My woman’?”
The glare slowly dissolved as something warm and happy, something that very closely resembled what was filling up the space behind my ribs, took its place. “My woman,” he repeated, and I couldn’t miss the possession saturating the words. Not the L word for him either, but…
“I can live with that,” I finally said and went to work getting my fatigues, boots, and socks off. The bleeding seemed to have stopped, but stripping out of the wet clothes was a relief, even if it left me in my shirt and panties in the middle of the woods.
Eli pulled a couple of wipes from the kit and began wiping my skin clean. “Well, don’t get all sappy on me there, Nix.”
I snickered. “I won’t, I promise.” I didn’t flinch as he worked on me with sure, strong hands. I didn’t hesitate to climb out of the back of the Humvee when Eli was finished and walk, half-naked, to the front passenger door. And when he beat me there and pulled the door open for me, I simply smiled and cuddled up against him, staring at his dark face in the moonlight. “Thank you.”
Assassin's Game (Assassins Book 4) Page 25
