My Spy

by Marie Ferrarella

  “So you told him that his daughter was safe,” Joshua assumed.

  Almost at the gate’s entrance, Montgomery looked at him indignantly. “Of course I told the prime minister. I told him she’d escaped the moment I received Pru’s phone call. You really should have told me where you were. I could have had you here sooner,” he told Pru.

  But Joshua wedged himself in between Pru and the advisor. “Then why did the newscaster on the radio just say that the prime minister had surprised his party by throwing his lot in with the faction opposing sanctions against Naessa?”

  Pru’s eyes narrowed as she turned to look at Joshua. What was he talking about? How would he know something like that? “When did you—?”

  Joshua never took his eyes off Montgomery. “Just now, when I was paying the driver.” He pointed vaguely behind him where they’d gotten out. “He had on the radio. When you ran out, a news bulletin was just coming on about the prime minister’s unexpected announcement. He’d made it in hopes of communicating with the kidnappers. The kidnappers he thought still had you.” Joshua moved Pru behind him as he spoke. “You were the only one Pru told she was free. She charged you with telling her father. But you didn’t tell him, did you, Mr. Montgomery?”

  Uneasiness clawed at her throat as she looked at George, willing him to come up with a plausible explanation. She didn’t want to believe what Joshua was saying. “Uncle George?”

  Suddenly, Montgomery grabbed Pru’s arm and pulled her to him. She saw that there was a small pistol in his hand. With his back to the street, no one could see what he was holding, or that he had the gun pressed to her side.

  Pru felt as if she’d just been stabbed.

  “God forgive me, Pru, I didn’t want it to come to this, I truly didn’t. They swore to me they wouldn’t hurt you. I just needed you to stay out of the way until the vote was taken.”

  She looked up at him, pale, livid. Hurt beyond words. “And then what, pretend this never happened? Keep your part in this a secret? How, Uncle George?” she demanded. “How were you going to do that?”

  “You weren’t supposed to know I ordered the kidnapping. Pru, if your father does this thing, if he puts his weight behind the bill bringing sanctions against Naessa, it’ll pass. And everything I own will turn to ashes.” He was pleading with her to understand. “Every penny I have is in those factories in Naessa. Relations break down, those factories will be nationalized and I’ll be ruined.” There was almost a sob in that strong, resonant voice. It twisted her heart to hear it. “And Bethany will leave me.”

  “Your wife?” Her eyes widened. As much as she loved George Montgomery, that was how much she disliked Bethany Montgomery. The woman was shallow and materialistic. She’d even seen the woman, shortly after her father was widowed, flirt with her father outrageously in hopes, no doubt, of marrying her way up the ladder.

  Pru’d never seen a smile as sad as the one that now curved Montgomery’s mouth. It twisted her heart. “The care and feeding of whom I have been attending to all these years. Do you think a woman like that would have remained with a second-class man like me if I wasn’t constantly showering her with everything her heart desired?”

  Pru was speechless and numb. And felt horribly betrayed.

  Joshua took advantage of the lull to demand, “Who’s behind this, Montgomery? Who did you go to to arrange this?”

  The prime minister’s chief advisor looked like a man trapped. A man who had nowhere to turn and yet desperately sought to find that one small chink in the wall, that crack that would allow him to slip through and make his way to safety.

  “If I told you that,” Montgomery replied, “then I would not only be ruined, I’d be dead. Believe me when I tell you that their reach is very long. It spans entire continents.”

  Joshua knew of only one group that warranted that sort of description. For the time being, he didn’t mention a name. But he did offer a promise.

  “We’ll protect you,” Joshua told him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the surprised look on Pru’s face. She’d obviously thought he was going to tell the man to turn himself in.

  Montgomery shook his head sadly. “Night and day? For the rest of my life?”

  Joshua did not waver in his conviction. His uncle had resources that could be used. “If need be.”

  For a moment, Montgomery looked tempted. But then he shook his head again. “Moot point. Without Bethany, I’d rather be dead anyway.”

  A single shot suddenly rang out. The next second, George Montgomery crumpled at Pru’s feet. She screamed at the exact same moment that Joshua threw himself over her. His weapon was instantly in his hand as he scanned the immediate area for the shooter.

  There were no more shots. The target had been acquired and taken down.

  Her head throbbing, Pru heard the sound of voices in the distance, calling. Heard the sound of running feet hitting the pavement. Coming toward them.

  She didn’t look up, didn’t look in their direction. All she could do was look at the man whose blood was oozing so freely onto the hard concrete beneath him.

  This wasn’t happening!

  She wanted to seal his wound with her fingers, but it was too big, the blood was flowing too fast. She lowered her face to Montgomery’s so that he could hear her as she wrapped her hand around his, trying to tether him to this world and keep him from entering the next. “Uncle George, hang on, help’s coming.”

  His resonant voice was thin, reedy. Barely audible. “Too late…too late.” His eyes shifted to her face, the light fading. “Forgive…me…Pru.”

  “Who did this to you?” Joshua demanded. “Give me a name.”

  But in the last moments of his life, the man who had always come in second to his best friend looked at the only person who mattered. “Pru?”

  Tears choked her throat. “I forgive you, Uncle George, but only if you hang on. Only if you live. Please,” she begged.

  But it was already too late.

  Drained, Pru felt someone raising her to her feet. And then someone was gently holding her. “He’s gone, Sam.”

  Something felt as if it broke inside her.

  And then she heard her father’s voice, brimming with emotion. “Prudence! Prudence! Oh, dear God, Prudence, you’re alive. You’re alive.”

  The next moment, Joshua was stepping back, allowing Prime Minister Hill, who had just been informed of what was happening on the north side of the garden, clear access to his oldest daughter. The older man quickly swept her into his arms for a long, soulful embrace as his bodyguards closed ranks around all three of them. Several others immediately attended to George Montgomery.

  “Hi, Dad,” she said brightly, trying her best to keep a tight rein on her own vulnerable emotions. “So, did you miss me?”

  “Stop it, Prudence. No more pretenses,” her father ordered sternly. She would have taken offense had there not been tears shimmering in his eyes. The sight of them instantly set off her own.

  “Okay, Dad, no more pretenses.” And with that, she melted into her father’s arms, the way she used to when she was a child.

  It was only after several minutes had passed that the prime minister looked at Joshua and then down at the body of his best friend. His voice was tight, shaken, as he asked, “What happened?”

  Joshua never hesitated. “I rescued your daughter from her abductors yesterday. We were just coming to 10 Downing Street when another attempt was made on her life. Mr. Montgomery shielded her with his body before I was able to. He gave his life to save hers,” he added with feeling.

  The prime minister made no attempt to wipe away the tears that were now falling freely. He’d just lost his best friend and regained his daughter all in the space of a few seconds.

  “Most precious gift George ever gave me,” Hill said, his voice filled with emotion. The prime minister drew himself up, one arm still firmly around his daughter’s shoulders. “George Montgomery will have the finest funeral the realm can give him, with all the hono
rs he deserves.”

  Pru nodded, avoiding Joshua’s eyes. Remembering all the good and willing herself to forget the bad. “He would be very pleased.”

  “Why did you do that?” Pru asked Joshua later that evening.

  They had left Number 10 Downing Street several hours ago. The commotion had died down, the vote on the bill in question had been taken and her father had been free to follow his conscience. Ironically, when the bill passed, her father vowed to make up for the loss of monies because of the severed ties with Naessa. Bethany Montgomery would continue being a wealthy woman, the way she always wanted. The only difference being that she was now a wealthy widow.

  That, too, possibly, would be to her liking, Pru thought, struggling to keep her feelings in check. George’s betrayal cut deep—too deep for her to deal with right now. Right now, she just wanted to remember him the way he’d been to her, growing up. Kind, with integrity. “Why did you lie to my father about Uncle George?”

  He leaned back in his chair. They were on her terrace, overlooking the city. He’d done his duty, calling in to Lucia and reporting all the pertinent details. The group, still in upheaval over Kiley’s murder, were now busy trying to find who it was that Montgomery had sought out to handle Pru’s abduction. His uncle, Lucia told him, thought there was a connection.

  Toying with the tall, frosty drink in his hand, Joshua shrugged. “Didn’t see the point in besmirching an otherwise spotless record.”

  Her mouth curved. Now there was a word she hadn’t heard in a very long time. “Besmirching?”

  “Good word, not used nearly often enough,” he commented before taking another long sip. Placing his glass on the small circular table between them, he looked up at the sky.

  All that vastness. Made a man feel small, he mused.

  He had to have more of a reason than that, Pru thought. He hardly knew the advisor. “Aren’t you supposed to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”

  He laughed at the words she used. “I wasn’t under oath.”

  He knew what she meant, Pru thought, feeling unaccountably irritated. “Don’t you swear one when you set out?”

  There’d been no spoken oaths, no papers signed when he joined the group. Things were understood. “I tell the truth when it’s prudent, and a lie when I feel it’s justified and necessary. George Montgomery did a stupid thing because he loved too much. He’d already paid the ultimate price, no reason to make his daughter pay.” He glanced back at Pru. “Your best friend, right?”

  She shifted, feeling somewhat uncomfortable. She hated it when the scales weren’t balanced. “Do you know everything there is about me?”

  “Pretty much.” He took another sip, then retired the now empty glass. “And what I didn’t know, I learned.”

  As far as time went, they hadn’t been together much longer than the life span of a fruit fly. Most of that was spent running. Not exactly the perfect atmosphere to acquire any kind of knowledge.

  “Such as?” she challenged.

  He grinned then. “Such as you have a very attractive mole just on the inside of your—”

  “Never mind where that is.” Pru rose to her feet and crossed the short distance to the railing. Folding her hands before her as she leaned them on the railing, she looked out into the city. There were lights everywhere. She felt only darkness. “So, Secret Agent Man, when do you say goodbye?”

  He rose to join her. “Usually when I walk out the door.”

  She made an impatient noise. “To me, when do you say goodbye to me?”

  He skimmed his fingertips along the back of her neck. “Trying to get rid of me?”

  “No. Yes.” It was hard not sinking into the sensation he was creating. But he was trying to distract her and she knew it. Pru swung around. “Damn it, Lazlo, you confuse the hell out of me.”

  The grin softened into a smile. “I like it better when you call me Secret Agent Man. There’s a certain light in your eyes when you do.”

  Damn it, her heart rate was beginning to speed up. He was getting to her. Was there going to be one last bedding before he was on his way? Her pride called for her to resist, the rest of her was begging otherwise. She took a long breath.

  “That was when we were running for our lives. We’re back now.”

  He drew a little closer to her. “What makes you think you’re safe?”

  Her eyes widened even as she felt the rest of her anticipating things she shouldn’t. “I’m not?”

  Joshua’s voice was dead serious. “There’s always an outside chance that someone else might try to abduct you. I heard your father talking about hiring a three-man team.”

  When had that happened? She shut her eyes and groaned. “Oh, God.”

  “Fortunately for you,” he continued, “I convinced him you’d never stand for it.”

  She didn’t know if he was serious or not, but knowing her father, there was a very good chance that the topic had been brought up. “Thank you.”

  Joshua wasn’t finished yet. “I suggested using only one.”

  “One?” One, twelve, it was all the same. An invasion of her life. She just couldn’t deal with that. “One shadow, one spook, one man poking his nose where it doesn’t belong?”

  He stopped her before she could go off and running. “Depends on if you think I don’t belong.”

  That brought her to a grinding halt. For a second, she clamped down her mouth. When she opened it again, there was only a single word. “You?”

  He nodded. “Unofficially.”

  That didn’t make any sense. Operatives of the Lazlo Group weren’t bodyguards indefinitely, officially or unofficially. “But you already have a job. You’re with the organization, or company, or group or whatever it is they call themselves.”

  He had no intentions of leaving the group at the present time. Being an operative was who and what he was. But that no longer meant he couldn’t broaden his parameters. “A man has to remain gainfully employed in order to support a wife.”

  “A wife?” She stared at him, stunned. “You have a wife?” And then blind fury set in. He’d strung her along. Lied to her. Made her feel things. She could have cut out his heart. “You son of a bitch, you have a wife and you didn’t say anything?”

  He grabbed her wrists just as she started to take a swing at him. Holding them both tightly, he caught her up against him. “I didn’t say anything because I don’t have a wife. Yet.”

  He wasn’t making any sense. “So, what? She’s coming in the mail?” she asked sarcastically.

  Joshua laughed, refusing to release her even though she was tugging in earnest. “Only if you fit into the slot.”

  Pru stopped tugging. Stopped breathing. “Me?”

  He stood there for a moment, just looking at her. The moonlight was weaving its way through her hair, lightly caressing her face. He’d had a great many women in his life. Shadow women. Women of beauty but no substance. Prudence Hill had substance enough for two-and-a-half women. Maybe three. There’d be no dull moments with her, no lulls in conversations, drifting aimlessly into awkward silence. Silence with her, though rare he was confident, would be comfortable. He sensed it without being told.

  Just as he sensed that this was the one woman for him.

  “Yes, you,” he said quietly, releasing her wrists and instead taking her hands in his. “Who did you think I meant?”

  She shrugged. “Some addle-brained woman who’s willing to put up with a husband who moves in and out of her life like some gray ghost.”

  He searched her face for a clue to her true feelings. “Are you turning me down?”

  She lifted her chin defiantly. “How can I turn down what’s never been asked?”

  All right, he’d make it formal. “Will you marry me, Sam?”

  “We’ve only known each other a day,” she protested, even though the romanticism of it did secretly thrill her.

  He had her dossier, and he’d been in her company for a ver
y harrowing number of hours. It had made up his mind for him. “I know all I need to know, and we’ll have the rest of our lives together to learn the rest.”

  She shook her head. “You’re crazy, you know that?”

  “That’s beside the point.” He slipped his arms around her, pulling her close to him. “You’re evading the question.”

  She sighed, weaving her arms around his neck. “I guess I’m crazy, too.”

  He grinned. “The kids are going to be a handful.”

  She pulled back, looking at him sharply. Were there children he wasn’t telling her about? “What kids?”

  “Ours.”

  She relaxed. The thought of having children with this man suddenly pleased her. “I’m up to it.”

  “I never doubted it for a second,” he told her just before he brought his mouth down to hers.

  Epilogue

  Lucia swept into Corbett’s office.

  Tension seemed to crackle with every step she took. The atmosphere had been like that for the past several weeks. Ever since Jane Kiley had been taken out. Everyone at the Lazlo Group had been on heightened alert even though, to the untrained eye, it appeared to be business as usual.

  Lost in thought, Corbett looked up as Lucia approached his desk. His eyes went to the folder she held against her.

  “I’ve tapped into Montgomery’s phone logs,” she announced. “All of them. At his office, his home, his personal cell.”

  It took some doing. Even a group like his had rules that had to be attended to. Lazlo knew she’d worked hard. “And?”

  “And I think I might have an answer as to who Montgomery had gotten in contact with to pull off the abduction.” She paused for a moment. “You’re not going to like it.”

  Impatience creased his brow. Whenever possible, Corbett appreciated having his information presented cut-and-dried.

  “When did you get this flair for drama?”

  Lucia allowed herself a smile. “A girl has to do something to amuse herself.” She placed the pages in question, gleaned after trolling through reams of others, in front of him on his desk.