by Nana Malone
"Did you get anything on him?"
Bridge shook his head. "No, our contacts with the police said he wasn't talking. They only have him for the assault, so we don’t have much. Just your statement.”
Fuck. "The fingerprint analysis came back with nothing. He’s not in any databases anywhere."
Drew pinned me with a look. "So is this the time when we ask if Nyla could check databases that you can't access?"
He was trying to goad me. "I can access them all. Her systems are just faster because she actually has the password and doesn't have to hack in."
He held up his hands. "You know, maybe if you actually talk to her. Clearly, you want to keep shagging her. It’s making you tetchy not to. So why don’t you just keep shagging her but keep her at a distance?"
Ben shook his head and turned to glare at our friend. "Mate, I don't think that's helping."
Drew shrugged and looked up from checking his phone. "What? She's fit. And look, he's clearly wound up tight. He needs it. He was so busy thinking about all that prime arse he isn’t getting that he got jumped."
“For the love of Christ. I didn't get jumped.”
Yeah, you did mate.
And what this lot didn’t know was that without even touching me, without even being in the same room, she'd given me an orgasm strong enough to knock me out for at least thirty minutes.
You could have her. In person. Touch her. Lick her. Fuck her like you want to do.
Fuck me.
Ben stretched his legs. “Since East clearly can’t focus on financials, can we discuss Theroux for a moment? He wants to meet, but I’m not sure it's in our best interests to go. What are our options?”
I crossed my arms. “I don’t like it. But I’ve made my position clear.”
Drew shrugged. "I don't like it either. But do we have any fucking choice?"
Ben shook his head. "I don't think we do. He's got imagery of us. So if he wants to meet, we need to meet. We just need to pick a location we can both be happy with." He rubbed his jaw. “East, what are the chances that we'll be able to surveil him using any of your special toys?"
"We can try it, but I promise you, he’ll want to meet us at a location with no CCTV. We'll be searched and scanned. He's been careful and able to evade capture for thirty years, mate. There are new advancements, but short of actually taking police in with us, we might be out of luck."
For the next thirty minutes we all tried to come up with plans that could work. Ones that wouldn’t get us killed in the process.
Bridge offered up, "Oh, why don't we just have him meet us here?"
I frowned. "What, in the office? He's going to come with men that will attract attention, and I'd rather we weren’t connected with a renowned thief, if you don't mind."
He rubbed his chin. "You could scrub the cameras. Meet downstairs."
Ben sat forward. "There's no way he's going to join us in public."
"I don't know." Livy shrugged, leaning forward. "Look, you told me that he's a master of disguises and has evaded capture for thirty years, which means he has repeatedly been out in public. Obviously, he does it with armed guards or a protection detail. That makes sense. But there's got to be an element where he disguises himself. You know, hiding in plain sight. Why don't we just ask? It's our home turf. Cameras will be on. And from what I have read about him, he likes the prestige of staying out of reach. He likes the challenge. He wants a way to do something flashy."
I watched as Drew checked his phone again, a tight frown forming between his brows.
What the hell was he looking at? I'd meant to talk to him the night before after I'd been attacked, but there hadn't been time after making police statements. There was something going on with him. I didn't like it.
Bridge leaned forward, rubbing the dark stubble on his jaw. "Actually, it's not a bad idea. We control the location. He wants our help, so he has to agree to our terms. He's already threatened us. So I want a demonstration of good faith."
I frowned. Bridge was right. I designed the systems. There were cameras everywhere. I had it all wired for sound, the whole hotel. "Okay, let's do it. He's supposed to call in the morning for a meet location. Are we sure we want to do this?"
I glanced around at my mates, more than a little worried about just how in over our heads we were. But I knew there was nothing I could do to stop them. They knew what was at stake. To be able to continue, we needed to meet with Theroux. He had the key to bringing down Garreth Jameson. And since he had the key and had us on tape, we had to deal with him, whether we liked it or not.
Bridge gave me a clap on the shoulder and a head nod, and then he walked out, followed closely by Ben and Livy. Drew was the last to leave. Before he did, I asked, "Mate, everything okay?"
He flashed me that typical Drew grin. The one that said, 'Everything's great. I'm fine.' The one I didn't believe. "Yeah. Are you okay? You're short with everyone. What's going on?"
"Stop deflecting, what's up?"
Another mask slid over his face. One I'd seen a lot of late. As if he was assessing his angles. "Nothing, just family stuff."
"Well, doesn't that include us?"
He sighed. "It’s just shit with my father. I'll deal with it. I'll tell you lads about it when I figure out what I'm going to do."
"Mate, you know if you need us..." I let my voice trail.
“I know. I’m just trying to deal with it on my own.” Drew's lips quirked into a brief smile. "You know, maybe you should talk to Agent Kincade, because there are too many balls in the game right now. You can't afford to piss off Interpol."
"Not going to happen. I've already made enough mistakes with her. I'm not going to keep making them. Besides, she lost her badge, remember?"
"Suit yourself. We're about to embark on some real daft nonsense. It wouldn't hurt having someone with connections in our corner."
All I wanted was Nyla Kincade in my corner, preferably stripped naked, thighs spread for me so I could watch.
I cleared my throat. "I hear you. But honestly, we’ve got this. We don't need her."
I only wished that was true.
Chapter 5
Nyla
I’d allowed a whole drunken night to feel sorry for myself and woke up with the cottonmouth and regrets to match. I knew my show and tell display for East had been a mistake. Hell, anyone could have seen me. But I’d drunkenly pleasured myself in front of an open window in the hope that he’d gotten my texts and had been watching.
That was a real low point. All day, when I’d been feeling kind to myself, I told myself it had been because of the copious amounts of wine I'd consumed.
But tonight, I was taking my life back. Okay fine, I was at least getting out so I wouldn’t repeat the night before. Also, I still had to fix the whole Amelia was going after the London Lords thing. I might be well ticked off with him, but I knew that Amelia was barking up the wrong tree. And I was the reason she’d noticed the tree in the first place.
I had to give it to Amelia. She was thorough. Always had been. It's what made her a good agent. She might not be flashy or quick with the quips, but the one thing she had going for her was her sheer tenacity.
Since East wasn't taking my calls and I wasn't allowed to see him, as if I’d been wiped from his party invitation list, I didn't really have any choice. If he wouldn't talk to me, I had to try and fix things with Amelia. I had to try and do something.
I headed back to Amelia's secret flat, and I could see all of her connections. I knew what she was trying to do, and she wasn't far off. She was smart. It was well thought out. She had every note I'd ever mentioned with some other connections maybe I hadn't made. But the number one connection at the center of it all was Bram Van Linsted, the man I'd put away for corruption, embezzlement, and fraud. I had also put away his father for human trafficking, along with several of his associates.
I hadn't been able to link Bram to the human trafficking, but there was no way the father had that kind of business
going on that his son didn't know about. The funny thing was I hadn't even been looking for them. I'd been after jewel thieves. But I had run across these breadcrumbs and hadn't been able to leave them alone, and I'd been derailed. But as I studied the suspect board, I wondered if I'd been derailed on purpose.
You were. But still, you caught a human trafficker. A ring of them. Is that bad?
It wasn't. East had told me everything, and my instincts told me he was telling the truth. They had derailed me but for a reason. And it was a reason I could get behind. From the research I had done on Tobias Varma, he had died in a mysterious accident. It was tragic, really. So young. So full of hope. A scholar, winning all kinds of academic awards and achievements. An athlete who’d been in several charity runs and an Iron Man before he was nineteen. And then just like that, he was gone because of a sudden heart attack, which led me to believe that East was right. It had been covered up. And if everything about the London Lords he told me was true, and I had a feeling it was, then Amelia was on the verge of finding out everything about them. That organization, the secret society known as the Elite, had covered it up. So the London Lords had a good reason for going after a man like Bram Van Linsted.
I heard the key rattling in the lock, and I turned to face Amelia. In her hands, she had bags of take-aways and wine. "Hey, you're here. I'm glad. When you texted me, I figured I'd feed us so we could go over the evidence."
I studied her dark cocoa skin and her vibrant dark eyes, and she had that look about her. The one where she had a fish on a hook with no plans to let it go. But I still had to try, because Amelia was no fool, and I had given my word to try and protect East.
Even if he's cut you out of his life?
Whether he was speaking to me or not, I'd still given him my word. "Hey yourself. Let me help you."
I grabbed the take-aways and could smell the fresh dumplings inside. My stomach chose that moment to roar.
"I see you're hungry." She studied me. "Let me guess, you've been staring at this while trying to piece it together, and you didn't have time to eat?"
"Well, not exactly."
"So, what do you think? I mean, you were kind of quiet before, but the key piece is speaking to Bram Van Linsted. I'm sure he's got an ax to grind."
I swallowed hard. "You think he’ll have something for us?"
"I do. I mean, this is it. He's the piece. He, of course, is asking for the moon. His freedom. The fraud charges are clearly substantiated, he will do time. But I might be able to get him a reduced sentence. Better accommodations even."
I stared at her. "Absolutely not, Amelia."
"Well, it may just depend on what he gives us. We have him on corruption. Embezzlement, sure. We know he’ll do some time, but we can get that greatly reduced. But whatever information he'll give us, if he'll lead us to bigger crimes, which you know they're involved with, we might get his sentence reduced."
"You forget, we also put away his father for human trafficking. We're not going to let any Van Linsted out."
"We couldn’t make a case against the younger one."
"Yeah, but just because we didn't make a case doesn't mean he didn't know."
Amelia's brow furrowed. "Look, I know that you and East Hale have a thing, but never once have I ever seen you let any emotion get in the way of doing your job. Hell, you're worse than I am. Remember that bloke from three years ago? The Chutney case?"
I groaned as I opened up the moo shu pork and the scent of ginger hit my nose. "God, he really was stupid good looking."
"I know. And the way he eyed you and up and down and flirted with you, I mean... From the body language alone, you were like, 'Hello, man, I would very much like to shag.' But you smiled and flirted as you put handcuffs on him. Nothing touches you. Why are you even hesitating now?"
I sighed. "Listen, let's say Bram Van Linsted can tell us something. Whatever it is, it's not worth letting him out. It's just not. I'm not trading alliances here. I'm not going to get in bed with someone horrible just to get to them. There's got to be a better way to do this."
"What other way? You've been dogging them since you met them. If you think that they're somehow involved with the case, which, again, I agree, it doesn't really make sense when we don't have a case against them for the trafficking. But they're involved in other dirty dealings, and if we could uncover them, this is a career making case, and you wouldn't have to work under Denning anymore. I'll be a lead investigator instead of just a regular agent. So come on, strap up. Let's do this."
"I agree with you. This is a career making case." I left out the part about it possibly being a career ender too. "I just want to do this right." And protect East. "I just don't think getting in bed with Bram Van Linsted is the way to do it."
She rolled her eyes. "Look, I hear you, but all I'm saying is that we interview him. That's all. If he gives us something, great. If not, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. But it doesn't cost us anything to speak to him."
"He won't talk to us unless we come with something on the table. And let's be real, we have nothing. I'm not even an active agent anymore."
Amelia sighed. "Let's just call you a consultant. I am an active agent. I can get us in there to talk to him."
"Amelia, listen to yourself. You're excited, and you have done so much work on this. I get that. But we need to be careful. And look, maybe this organization actually exists but it's not what we think it is."
Amelia put down her honey-glazed shrimp and then crossed her arms and stared at me. "He's gotten to you, hasn't he?"
I blinked at her. "What do you mean?"
"The venerable Lord East Hale. He’s gotten to you."
I swallowed hard. "No, he hasn't. I'm just trying to be smart. Find the truth of things. That's our job."
She shook her head. "No, something's changed. A little over two weeks ago, you couldn't wait to get your hands on them. You questioned anybody and everybody who was willing to tell us anything about them. You even infiltrated a dinner they had. Went in disguised, mind you, and then had to run for your bloody life. And you're now telling me that we should back off? What else could this be besides they've gotten to you. He's gotten to you. What, just because you shagged him?"
The heat crept up my neck, and I was thankful that I was wearing a buttoned-up blouse over my camisole and that there was low lighting in the flat. "That's not what this is about. My attraction to him has no bearing on my ability to do my job. Well, I guess it’s not my job anymore, right?"
Amelia winced. "Mate, you know that’s only temporary. All you’ve got to do is talk to your father."
"He's the one who suspended me. There's no talking. But look, I don't want to argue about this. This is great work, but I think there's more under the surface. And I don't think us offering deals to Bram Van Linsted is the right course of action just now."
"Why are you so dead set against it? Wouldn't you love knowing the truth? No matter where it leads you?"
She knew how to get to me. And I did love to know the truth. I had to know.
But you already know.
If this was the only way to satisfy Amelia, I knew I’d do what had to be done. Besides, one conversation with Bram Van Linsted and she would see what I saw. That we couldn't let a monster like him run around free and clear. It didn't matter what he could offer us on the London Lords. And there was no believing a word he said. Besides, from what East had told me, they had a currency of secrets. There was no way in hell Van Linsted was going to tell us anything, especially not without a deal on the table. So maybe I didn't have to worry about anything at all. I believed East was telling me the truth, and even if he didn't want my protection, he was still going to get it.
Chapter 6
East
Between Nyla and Theroux, I hadn’t taken the proper time to deal with Belinda’s fuck twat husband.
Seeing as I wasn't going anywhere near Nyla and the team had come up with a plan for Theroux, I needed to deal with this particu
lar twat of a loose end named Jack Lloyd.
Belinda had come to work as usual, alert, ready to go. But there was an all too familiar sadness in her eyes. Watching Nyla every night was going to be bad for my sanity, so Belinda and her problems were a good distraction.
Taking up my old activity was the comfort I needed. Walking through the London streets, following the people who thought they were hidden, I felt like my old self.
We had a deal, Jack and I. He didn't put his hands on Belinda, and I didn't call in his gambling markers. Now I was going to call in his markers because he clearly hadn't listened. But before I did that, he and I were going to have a visit.
And as an added bonus, I was in Walthamstow, completely on the opposite side of Victoria, so there was no chance of seeing Nyla in that dank dodgy hell.
I took the steps down into the basement of the off-book gambling house, Lynn's. I'd only been in places like this once or twice. I wasn't really one for poker. I'd wager on buildings, commerce, things like that. I might even wager my mates for a car or something frivolous. But I didn’t wager money over things that weren’t important.
At the doorway, I nodded to the bouncer, pressed my hundred quid into his palm, and kept on walking as if he wasn't there.
I found that it was easier to let money do the talking for the most part. No one ever asked any questions if you let money do the talking.
I found Jack just where I'd expected to. It took him a moment before he noticed me. When he did, he stood up from his table as nonchalantly as possible. And then ran.
I shook my head. Fucking hell, I hated it when they ran.
But apparently the bouncer was grateful for the hundred quid, and he told someone on the radio to stop him. I nodded my thanks and proceeded with a smile as the man at the back of the room handed him off.
With my hands on his lapels, I shoved him out the back door where the bracing fall chill greeted us. "Mate, I thought we had a deal."
