by Lexi Blake
“We wouldn’t be having this problem if Robert had done what he said he was going to do,” Ezra groused.
“You know why he did it.” Ariel was still angry with him, but she understood who Robert was deep down. He would always have wound up here because he couldn’t make the smart play when it came to his friends. He would do anything for them. It was one of the reasons she loved him.
“We need to get someone on the inside,” Theo said. “It can’t be me. They would shoot first and ask questions never. I think we send in Ari. Levi will underestimate her.”
“I doubt that after our last meeting.” As much as she wanted to be the one to go in, she knew it couldn’t be her. “Besides, you send me in and Robert’s objectives change. Honestly, my objectives would be in question, too. I would put him first. Saving his life is my only mission here.”
Kim stepped up. “I’ll go. I’ll let them take me in. Do you know what kinds of restraints they’re carrying?”
“No, I’ll go. I’ll be more of a distraction,” Ezra offered.
Kim moved in front of him and her expression had taken on a gravity Ariel rarely saw there. “He will kill you, babe. He’ll shoot you dead, and I can’t live with that. He won’t hurt me. He’ll keep me alive.”
“Kim’s right.” Ariel couldn’t let Ezra go in. He wasn’t thinking straight, and she understood why. “Levi’s proven time and time again that he won’t kill Kim.”
“I can deal with him,” Kim said, practically pleading.
Ezra’s face went cold. “Of course you can. All right, then. We make our way to the floor below where Robert is working. If Levi is going to come after them, he’ll pick them up right outside the office. He won’t let them get on the elevator again without an escort.”
“I’ll walk into the situation, let them take me. They’re counting on maybe three guys,” Kim mused.
Ariel took up her line of thought. “They weren’t counting on Jax, and they probably still don’t know about Theo. Taking you into custody takes men off the rest of them. It gives us a much better shot. Theo, do we know how many Levi has with him in the lab?”
“He’s got six with him in the lab,” Theo replied. “The other six have been on the move, but I would bet now that Robert is in the building, they’re waiting for him. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re already in custody. I don’t know if he’ll want them all in the lab or not. I wouldn’t if I was Levi.”
“We won’t know until we try.” Ariel took a deep breath. “Kim, are you sure?”
She nodded. “I’ll go up to twenty-two. We drop you off at twenty-one. If Levi is keeping them there, you three free them. I’m going to bet my life that they’ll take me down to the lab. You free whoever is left.”
“Then we’ll storm that damn lab the first chance we get.” Ezra pushed the button to release the lift. He touched the buttons for the twenty-first and twenty-second floors. “Let’s get our guys.”
Her guy. She prayed she got to him in time.
Chapter Eighteen
The door to the lab opened and Robert walked through despite every instinct in his body telling him to run. There was something going on that he didn’t understand, something at play that hadn’t surfaced yet.
“Gentlemen, it’s good to see you, though the circumstances aren’t optimal.” Levi Green smiled as though inviting them to join his barbecue. “We should get together and have drinks someday when we’re not at each other’s throats. Wouldn’t that be nice?”
“Where’s Rebecca?” He wasn’t playing games with this monologuing motherfucker. Levi seemed to love to talk about his evil plans for hours before they got down to business. It was one of his worst flaws, and that was saying something since the man was pretty much akin to Satan in Robert’s book.
“No small talk, huh?” Levi had two men near him. They were muscular men dressed in the same manner as the rest of the mercenaries. The others were scattered around the room. “That’s not very civilized, but then I did shoot you, so I suppose there’s some justification. Let’s see what you brought me.”
He snapped his fingers and one of the men came forward holding his hand out.
Tucker kept the bag in his grasp. “Why should I turn this over to you when we haven’t even seen Dr. Walsh yet?”
“Well, it could be because I have a bunch of men with guns and you don’t have any,” Levi mused and then sighed, a long-suffering sound. “Look, I put this together in a hasty fashion. It’s why I’m surrounded by a paid army. I couldn’t get a team here in time, though given the nature of the transaction, it’s better this way. If this doesn’t go well at least these guys won’t be reporting everything to their commanding officers, who can then be questioned by my bosses.”
“You’re losing control.” Solo had told them she thought Levi was getting desperate. Here was the proof she’d told them the truth.
“Not the golden boy anymore?” Tucker asked, still holding the bag despite the fact that the guy with the gun was staring him down.
“It can be very hard to stay on top at my position. I’m not one of the big bosses.” Levi stepped closer to Robert. “You should know all about this, Sarge. You have some power, but you’re always still at someone’s mercy, and they often have none.”
That was Levi, always dropping hints that he knew more than he was saying. He knew he should ignore it, but impulse forced him to ask the question. “Did you look up my records?”
A secretive smile played along Levi’s lips. “I didn’t have to. I’ve known who you were all along. You played a much bigger part in the reason I’m involved in McDonald’s case than you can imagine. I know it wasn’t kind to lie to you or to keep what I know secret, but it was necessary. Honestly, I thought the reasons you were important were gone, but it’s been pointed out to me recently that anything that is lost can be found again.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” He was sick of feeling like he wasn’t in on the joke.
“Come with me,” Levi said with a welcoming smile. Like he was a long-lost cousin inviting him home. “Come back to DC and work with me. A whole world will open up for you. You won’t need to try to remember. I can lay your life out for you and you won’t have to wonder anymore.”
Sure he would. “I’m not buying into your lies.”
“You bought into Emily’s,” Levi replied. “She told you many, and I’m not merely talking about when you were married. I bet she lost her shit when she walked in and realized you were still alive. She couldn’t have expected that. I wish I could have seen it. She had to work hard to cover up what she’d done, and one of the ways she did it was to lie about the present. I can fix that for you. I can hand you back your life. Your mother isn’t dead, Robert. Neither is your brother. Dante told me Emily fed you a bunch of lies about how you weren’t on speaking terms with them. She didn’t want you to remember.”
Could he be telling the truth? “Yes, she had an agenda and so do you. Did you work with her?”
“You are not listening to me. I didn’t work with McDonald, so I didn’t work with your wife either,” Levi explained. “I came in after you were taken. I rather came in because you were taken, but that’s a long story. It’s one I would love to tell you. We can talk about it over a beer in DC.”
“I’ll pass. If I’ve got family out there, I’ll find them on my own. I’m not going to owe you anything.” He had to worry about the family he had. He had to worry specifically about Tucker. Levi was playing Mephistopheles again, and Robert would bet Tucker would be the one tempted next.
Levi was on the ropes and he needed to bring in something big. Having one of them cooperate would go a long way to securing his place again.
“And I happen to know that your brother tried to move heaven and earth when you died because he knew something was wrong. He didn’t believe that military report,” Levi said, his voice thick with sympathy. “I admired him very much. It was sad what happened to him.”
“What happened to my brother
?” The question came out of his mouth before he could think to stop it.
“Come with me and find out,” Levi replied simply.
His brother was still alive but something bad had happened? Did his brother need him?
“You won’t find him or your mother because I hid them. Do you understand? That wasn’t McDonald. I did this, and when I make a person disappear, no one finds them. If you want to know what happened to your family, you have to come with me.”
Levi’s words were getting to him. His family. He’d felt them in his heart, in his dreams. “What did you do to them?”
“Everything your brother did, he chose to do. You can’t pin this on me. I’m the good guy here.” Levi took a step back as though he realized he wasn’t going to win this one. “I protected your mother. Ask Owen what can happen when McDonald uses a family member for leverage.”
Anger simmered in his gut. “You’re using her right now. You want to play the good guy? Tell me where she is. No quid pro quo. Just do the right thing.”
Levi’s eyes rolled. “You should be on your knees thanking me, but I get it. I have a thankless job. I’ll send your mother your regards if I see her again.” He turned to Tucker. “All right then. I made my play. Tucker, give over the bag.”
“Not until I see Rebecca.” Tucker had a tight hold on their only leverage. “I’ll give you the bag once Rob’s out of the building and all the men and Dr. Walsh are safe.”
“You are under the mistaken impression that this is a negotiation.” Levi nodded and three of his men circled Tucker.
He saw the moment Tucker decided to fight. His body went tense and there was a look in his eyes that always hit before Tucker lost his shit. If they were in a fair fight, he would welcome it, but he couldn’t trust that Levi wouldn’t decide to take Tucker’s legs out. Literally.
“Hey, I don’t think this is going to work.” Robert used a calm tone, trying to get Tucker to chill. “Give it up. We always knew it would likely come to this.”
Tucker stood in the middle of the larger men and stared them all down.
“Come on, Levi. Give us something. We’ve done your dirty work again. At least let us see Dr. Walsh is here and alive.” He had to get Tucker to back down or this could go very poorly.
“Dante, bring her out.” Levi looked to the side and nodded again. The door to the back of the lab swooshed open and Dante strode out, a meaty hand on Rebecca’s arm.
“Levi, I am begging you not to do this,” she was saying as she scrambled to keep up.
“I thought I told you to gag her.” Levi tsked his lackey. “Good help is so hard to find. Rebecca, we have talked about this endlessly. You know I’m a reasonable man. If Tucker merely turns over what I need, everyone is free to go. We’ll only have a problem if the files containing evidence of all the high-level people who worked with McDonald aren’t in that bag. I’m worried it’s not there because some asshole already stole it.”
“You don’t know what it will do.” Rebecca struggled against Dante’s hold, but she was so small compared to him.
“What is she talking about?” Robert didn’t understand what Rebecca was talking about.
Levi had closed the space between himself and the doctor. He loomed over her. “Do you want me to use my other method right now? I’m quite desperate. I’ll do it. It doesn’t matter that Big Tag will come after me. There are sharks out there with even bigger teeth than his, and they are circling. Do you want to push me?”
Rebecca went still and tears coursed down her cheeks. “I’m begging you.”
“And I will try very hard to accommodate you,” Levi promised. “As a matter of fact, why don’t you leave with Robert now and I’ll handle the rest of our transaction with Tucker.”
“Yes,” Tucker said quickly. His whole body was tense as if he was holding something in. His skin had paled. He was obviously trying to keep his shit together. “Rob, get her out of here. This is a bad place. Get her to Owen and leave the building.”
What the hell was Levi planning to do? He couldn’t leave Tucker here alone.
“No,” Rebecca said. “I need to be here.”
Levi turned, the normally placid expression on his face going hard. “Give up the bag, Tucker, or I swear I’m going to lose my patience, and you won’t like it when I lose my patience. I’m not sure which one I’ll do first, but one of your friends is about to take a bullet. I’ll keep shooting until you comply.”
Tucker passed the bag to the man in front of him. “There. There’s your freaking intel.”
The man took the bag and immediately moved to a laptop set up on one of the long tables. He started going through the drives.
“Let Rebecca go now.” Tucker’s voice was tight. “Rob can take her to Owen and they’ll leave the building.”
“I don’t think Dr. Walsh is ready to go yet,” Levi said.
“Tucker, you need to get out of here,” Rebecca began before Dante slid his hand around her throat.
Robert started toward him. “Hey, let her go.”
He was immediately hauled back by two of Levi’s guards. They gripped his arms tight.
Tucker was held by the other two.
“I told you they would be difficult,” Dante said. “They won’t listen to reason. It would be better to put Robert down now and do what you’re going to do.”
“If I can get out of this without Big Tag coming down on my ass, I will.” Levi moved to the man who was working on the laptop. He picked through the bag and pulled out the three drives they’d found. “You should worry, Dante, because Big Tag is going to be looking for you. He’ll bring along his whole Scooby gang. You won’t like what John Bishop can do to you. Or Kay. I don’t particularly want to meet up with Kay again. I think she took our last interaction too personally.”
The last time Levi and Kayla Summers had met up, she’d been waterboarded at his command. Still, Robert thought there were far worse enemies Levi hadn’t mentioned. “I think you should worry more about Ezra.”
Levi chuckled. “I don’t worry about Ezra at all. I killed him once. He got lucky and happened to be wearing a vest. I can kill Ezra in my sleep. He knows who the better man is. The only reason I don’t is Solo has an inexplicable affection for the man. She’s going to come around. One of these days she’ll see him for who he is, and then everything will fall into place. Or she’ll realize I’m the better bet. If I can finish this job properly, I’ll be a king at the Agency. She’ll be my queen.”
“You’re psychotic.” He’d been around Ari too long. He knew a lot of terminology. “You’ve got a narcissistic personality disorder with delusions if you think that woman is hiding her love for you.”
“A narcissist only thinks of himself. I assure you, I’ve done everything I’ve done for my country and for her.” Levi’s eyes had gone cold. “I love her in a way Ezra never could. His love was a fragile thing. The first time she screwed up, he dumped her. I assure you, my love can survive the apocalypse. I mean, what’s a little assassination attempt among friends, right, Solo?”
The door came open and Solo was being led in, her hands in zip ties in front of her. Her long blonde hair had come out of the ponytail she usually wore and there was blood on her cheek.
Levi stalked toward her and stared for a moment before bringing his hand up to brush the blood off her cheek. He inspected her carefully. “You should be very happy that blood wasn’t hers. I gave specific instructions about how to handle her if she should manage to show up.” He’d never taken his eyes off her. “Hello, Solo.”
“I swear, Levi, if you don’t cut me out of these right fucking now we’re going to have a problem,” Solo snarled his way.
He merely winked at her and looked oddly satisfied. “We always have problems and we always work them out. Now where are your friends, because I struggle with the idea that you walked in here alone. These men are not the cream of the crop. If they caught you, it’s because you allowed them to catch you.”
“I
don’t know what you’re talking about.” Solo looked Levi straight in the eyes. “I came here for the data and you know it. I came for the same thing you want. I wanted it so I could turn it over to my boss and send you and your bosses straight to jail.”
“Why do you try me so?” He ran a hand over her hair. “We could work together.”
“Maybe it’s that tiny penis you’re packing,” Solo replied with an arrogant smirk. “Is that why I can’t quite remember sleeping with you? I needed a lot of liquor to get through that night.”
Levi’s hand came up and he slapped Solo right across the face, his big palm open. The sound cracked through the lab and Solo’s head snapped to the side.
Robert tried to launch himself across the room, but those hands held him fast.
Solo spit blood and her eyes came back, flashing fire Levi’s way. “There you are, you son of a bitch. That’s the Levi Green I know. You mistake obsession for true love. You know what Beck has never done to me in all his anger? Hurt me physically.”
“You require a reminder every now and then, Solo. I’m sorry. I lost my temper because I know you’ve been spending time with him. It doesn’t do well to spark my jealousy,” Levi said, going right back to cool and collected. “I’ll make it up to you.”
“You’ll keep your fucking hands off her.” He might not trust Solo fully, but he wasn’t about to let her be abused. He wouldn’t let anyone be abused.
God, it was why he’d gone into the Army. He could remember it as bright as day. He’d stood in front of his mother and told her he was going to protect his country and make her proud.
“Stay with me.” Tucker’s voice broke through the fog. “Don’t leave me, Rob.”
Except for a moment he’d heard the name Russ instead of Rob.
He shook it off. It was another life. He needed to stay in this life. “I’m here. I’m not going to leave you.”