“I have to agree.”
And for the first time, she didn’t care if it was a tie.
Chapter Thirteen
Coffee and a good right hook are all a woman needs to get ahead in the game.
—Mac Donovan
The next morning came much too early for Mac. She wasn’t a woman who believed in rising with the sun unless there were bad people who arrived with it. She had always thought of herself as a creature of the night. So she wasn’t happy when she heard the knocking on their door at six in the morning.
“What the bloody hell?” she mumbled.
Opening her eyes, she could barely make anything out in whatever room she was in. Granted, this wasn’t a new thing for her. It had happened more than she liked to remember during her tenure at MI6, and then as a freelancer. She sat up, and the sheet fell to her waist. Okay, she was naked. She glanced over and found Vic next to her. He was mumbling something under his breath. More than likely, it was something about killing whoever was knocking on the door.
Oh, yeah. A night out at an embassy, amazing sex, and falling asleep together in bed. Like old times, she thought. But something told her this time had been different. They had actually talked. In the past, they had just moved on to the next mission. Avoid getting killed, make love, move on. But last night, she had confessed just a few of her fears.
And he had told her he loved her.
He was the first person who had ever said the words to her and meant them. Even Simon hadn’t told her he loved her when he had proposed. She hadn’t said anything to Vic because she didn’t want his pity. She knew it was a sad thing to reach her thirties without hearing another person tell her those three little words. She refused to admit it to him, even now.
The knocking grew loud enough to pull Vic out of bed.
“It better be someone with some fucking coffee,” he growled.
That was one thing they always agreed about. Mornings sucked.
He slipped out of bed, seemingly oblivious of his nudity. It was another thing they had in common. Neither of them were prudes nor had any problem with nudity, either their own or others’. Sadly, he grabbed a pair of jeans and tugged them on. On his way to the door, he grabbed his SIG. As quiet as a mouse, he padded to the door. For her part, Mac had a T-shirt and a pair of shorts on and her Berretta in her hand before he looked out the peephole.
“Well, fuck me,” Vic said, before unlocking the door.
She peeked around the corner just as the door swung open to reveal Rock. He looked as if he had been on a stakeout for several days. His clothes were wrinkled, his five o’clock shadow was darker than normal, and the bags under his eyes were darker than normal. He looked as bad as she felt.
“I see you two didn’t get much done last night.” He looked between them and at the bed. His jaw flexed, and she knew him well enough to know he was grinding his teeth. “On the case, at least.”
Anger was swift and blinding, hitting her first. Why did everyone in their immediate circle seem to think they had a say on what went on between Vic and her? She growled and took a step toward Rock, but Vic waved her on. “Let it go.”
“I will if he will.” Great, now she sounded immature. “What I mean is, I don’t understand why everyone thinks they should give us an opinion on our relationship. It isn’t about him, and it’s not about Jay. It is about you and me.”
Vic opened his mouth, but Rock interrupted him. “If it was just you and Vic, I’d go at it like a couple of bunnies. But the truth is, what you do affects the company. It almost brought us down the last time. Who knows what will happen this time.”
“Really?” she snarled. Embarrassment and anger melded together to push her temper to new heights. “And what do you think our chances of survival are right now?”
He snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s a fine way to lead.”
She needed a gun. Or a knife, or a really big rock. She opened her mouth, but Vic stepped in. “I think we all need to calm down.”
She didn’t look at him right away. She was spending too much time glaring at Rock and contemplating ways to hurt him.
“MacKenzie.”
The use of her full name drew her out of her daze. She looked at Vic, whose steady gaze calmed her. After drawing in a deep breath, Mac shrugged. “I need a shower anyway.”
She brushed past both men and into the bathroom. She shut the door and stared at herself in the mirror. The soft timber of their voices told her they were keeping it low enough so she could hear them, but they also didn’t want to alert anyone. Raised voices would draw attention.
There were red marks on her neck from beard burn. Vic always had a five o’clock shadow that would leave marks. She lifted up the shirt. There were marks all the way down and more than likely between her legs.
She should regret it, or at least feel a little guilty, but she didn’t. If this was their last time together, at least they would have good memories of it. Early on in her career, she had learned to accept the small joys she could experience. A spy never knew exactly when life was going to be cut short, so it was best to enjoy what you had.
With a sigh, she decided to do just as she’d said. She needed to take a shower and clear her head.
…
Vic sat on the edge of the bed and watched his oldest friend in the world pace back and forth in front of him. Rock had a temper, but he usually kept it in check. This morning, he apparently didn’t think he needed to stay in control.
“I can’t believe you did this.”
They were the first words Vic had understood in a while. He had been muttering under his breath for the last five minutes, keeping his voice low. Not once had he looked at Vic. Finally, he stopped pacing, set his hands on his hips, and stared at Vic.
“What the hell is going on here, Vic? You said it was over.”
At least Rock had waited until the shower had started before he raised his voice. He just hoped Mac had her head under the water so she didn’t hear Rock’s question. He didn’t feel like making a trip to the hospital with his best friend. Earlier, Vic had been happy there hadn’t been a weapon nearby, because there was a good chance Mac would have used it.
He shrugged. “Apparently, it isn’t.”
“Come on, Vic, we don’t need this now. And I don’t know if I’ll be able to clean this up when you disappear again. If you can work it out, it can wait. This is more important.”
The tone of Rock’s voice niggled something loose inside of Vic. So many years, both he and Mac had put others first. Put the job first. And right now wasn’t perfect timing. But for once, he was pushing aside other people’s opinions and his own worries. They would get this case solved, and then they would figure out what the hell was going on with them.
One thing was for sure. It wasn’t anyone else’s fucking business.
“Maybe, for once, we’re thinking about us.”
“About you? You know we have the FBI and Russians hunting us down, and you’re spending your nights screwing each other’s brains out.”
Vic’s temper was a slow boil, but when it exploded, it could be dangerous for anyone within range. It was one of the reasons he had worked so hard to learn to control it. He was dangerously close to losing it at the moment.
“We did our jobs. I thought you talked to Tessa last night.”
“I did. But you aren’t thinking straight if you’re spending all night here. You should have checked out.”
He had thought about it at one point, but he’d dismissed it. If they’d been tailed and hadn’t picked up on it, heading back to the farmhouse could have led the bastards right back to Millie.
“It was safe enough. No one but you interrupted us while we were here.”
“Still. You should have kept focused.”
“I don’t think we’ve made any mistakes. And let me remember, weren’t you the one who said I should have come back sooner?”
“I…okay, I did say that. But I didn’t mean this
way. I mean…” Rock sighed and collapsed in one of the chairs. “Damn, I don’t know what I mean. Does this mean you’re back for good?”
He shrugged. “Not sure.”
“Great.” The sarcasm was easy to hear in his friend’s voice.
“Anyway, I guess you know she made it in and talked to Sir Simon.”
“She hates when you call him that.”
“Yeah, well, she has to get used to it. It’s better than beating the crap out of him.”
Damn, he needed coffee. He was getting too old for running around late at night and being awake at the crack of dawn. He didn’t want to call room service. The fewer people who saw them the better, but damn, he needed his caffeine in the morning. Then, all of a sudden, Rock started laughing.
Vic looked at his friend, who was smirking at him.
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
Rock shook his head. “I never saw this before.”
“What?”
“You’re jealous of her ex-lover.”
The urge to say “am not” as if he were a five-year-old was strong, but he resisted. Barely.
Rock clapped his hands together and continued to laugh. “God, that is fantastic.”
“It isn’t just that he’s an ex-lover. I found out last night he proposed to her at one point.”
Rock stopped laughing, and his eyes widened. “Yeah?”
He nodded.
“He told you?”
Vic shook his head. There was no chance at coffee, so he decided to walk through the room to double check for anything they might have forgotten. Both he and Mac were good about keeping their items ready to go. You never knew when someone would show up, so it was best to be prepared. Another look around the room never hurt, though.
“No. I don’t know if I even said anything to him. But I had a very interesting dance partner.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Eastern European, but we never exchanged names. Seems she and Simon have a past. And she knows Mac.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, remember, she had a life before spying, and this woman was in that life.”
“It’s hard to see her as the daughter of a diplomat.”
He chuckled. “She always said it trained her to be a spy and drove her to learn how to kill.”
“I can understand that.”
“Anyway, she let me know Simon had proposed to Mac years ago. Apparently, everyone knows about it.”
“But you didn’t.”
He shook his head. “Never said a word, but knowing Mac, once she turned him down, she forgot about it.”
“Anything else?”
“No. About then, I got made.”
“And you’re sure they made you?”
“Yeah, they came after me.”
“Just you?”
“Mac was with Simon in his office.”
Rock frowned. “They came after you alone? They didn’t wait for Mac to reappear?”
“No, and that makes no sense, unless they thought I was there alone. Thankfully, I got out of there fast enough to get to Mac and get us out of there.”
“So Simon had really nothing.”
“Just more bad stuff on Walter George. Which just gets worse by the day. There are rumors that before he got out of the military, he was selling secrets.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah, and Russia would be high up on the list.”
A lot of people would dismiss Russia in a lot of cases, but those in the business knew that they had strong ties to countries like Iran. If George was selling secrets to them, there was a good chance something had been passed on to their enemies.
“Do you think Blake did?”
He shrugged and sat on the edge of the bed. “Truth is, I don’t see him doing it. Career military, and his dad was in the military, too. Blake made it to the top when he became the head of the Pentagon. George did not. I read up on him a little. He was expected to make it big, but only got up to Vice Chairman of the Army.”
“That sounds big to me.”
“You know those types, though. If they were told they were going to make it all the way to the top, and they don’t, they can get bitter. Maybe he just decided to get rich.”
Rock scrubbed a hand over his head. “Yeah. This is going to be the fubar to end all fubars.”
“The guy has been selling out his country for several decades. I don’t see that he has a problem killing his newest employee.”
“So, that’s all you got?”
He nodded. “I got made and had to get us out of there. Once I found Mac—”
“Where the hell was she?”
“I told you. She was in the office, with Sir Simon.”
“Of the marriage proposal.”
“Shut up.”
Rock shrugged. “Sorry, just couldn’t help it.”
“Well, try, so I don’t have to shoot you.”
“So, we have Simon saying George was involved with Russians?”
“Yeah. What about it?”
“Tessa said they had something on him. George and someone by the name of Denkov were tight.”
“Yeah?”
“And the men who were sent to get Millie were from his competitor, Maatev. I think they were his guys last night.”
“And you’re just telling me about this now?”
“This is the first time I’ve seen you since I found out. Besides, I told Mac last night. I presume you didn’t talk about it.”
He grunted because he didn’t want to get into another argument.
“We have one big question.”
“What?”
“Who got this rolling?”
“Maatev was after her. I called Jay, and she told him she had a job offer in Russia, but she turned it down.”
He nodded. “But if she was off the books and hiding in the corners of the internet, how did they find her? Someone knew about her someway.”
“Not George, because apparently Denkov owns his ass.”
“That’s good to know. Did someone get paid for the information? And who would have known? It would have to be someone at the company.”
“It is a security company, so you know there is always someone there with an issue. Selling secrets in this day and age is still profitable. Selling access to digital data that could lead you to secrets, that’s even more profitable.”
“Maybe.”
“But it doesn’t feel right to you?”
He shook his head. “This almost feels personal.”
“What do you mean?”
“When it all started, it had the feel of espionage. But last night, only the Russians were interested in us. And they didn’t look government issue. They looked more mercenary.”
“That makes sense, if it was Maatev’s folks.”
“Yeah. But most of the time, they would cut their losses, or they would wait for her to appear. Abducting us wouldn’t get them Millie.”
“Unless they held you as ransom for her.”
“Taking two highly-trained spies captive isn’t smart.”
“These guys aren’t that smart.”
“Yeah, I have to agree with you there. Once we know what Millie knows, maybe we can get a better understanding.”
“You still don’t look satisfied.”
Vic drew in a long breath and let it out slowly. “I just want to know why those bastards came after us last night. And they were kind of lazy, because once we got away, they didn’t follow.”
“First, you might have misread the situation.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It’s been a few months. Plus, we did kill a couple of Russians.”
He smiled. “Yeah, there is that. But it was you, and not Mac and me. I know, the whole guilt by association, but it still seems risky. Plus, you know the Russians can’t keep their damned mouths shut. If it was about hacking, there would have been more than one country interested. Right now, all we have is a few U.S. agencies and the Russians involved.
That brings me back to my first thought.”
“Which was?”
“It feels personal. As if this was orchestrated for some other purpose. Maybe for revenge.”
“Who?”
“Which who is what you mean.”
Rock shook his head. “Time out at the cabin has left your brain kind of muddled.”
“I mean, who is this about, or who is the person driving everything?”
“Easy. George. The man is in this up to his neck.”
“Yeah, but still, doesn’t that seem too neat? Here is George, doing all kinds of illegal things, getting Millie to do things that might be illegal, and if not, just on the edge of it, to help him. He’s set her up well to take the fall.”
It was almost as if someone had tied the whole job up in a nice little bow. They needed some leverage just in case there were charges filed against any of them. Bogus or not, they would have implications on the business. If not, they all went down for it, and Millie would probably face some kind of jail time. They would pin something on her.
“What are you getting at, Vic?”
Before he could answer, Mac stepped out of the bathroom. A cloud of steam followed her, telling him that she had taken one of her so-hot-it-could-burn-your-skin showers. She’d slicked her dark hair back up into a bun on top of her head, and her face was free of any makeup. For a second, Vic’s mind just stopped functioning.
“Earth to Vic.”
“What?” Vic blinked and brought his friend back into focus. Oh, yeah, the case. He looked at Mac. “You forgot to tell me about Millie’s job and Maatev.”
She offered him a smile and blushed. MacKenzie Donovan fucking blushed. Damn. Again, he felt himself growing warm. Why the hell did Rock have to show up this morning? Vic had had some wonderful plans for the shower before they headed out for the day.
“Sorry. I meant to tell you, but we got…busy.”
Rock snorted but said nothing.
“So, Millie was a bit more involved with the business than she let us know,” Vic said.
“We don’t know that for sure. What we do know is that she wasn’t on the books,” Rock said.
“Not on the books? Anywhere?” Mac asked. “As in, she was an invisible employee?”
“Yeah.”
The Boss Page 12