“I disabled his car, but he could’ve left on foot,” I say.
“We’ll have to fill the police in,” Sebastian says, grunting his annoyance. Turning to Hugh, he continues, “With that mess you left behind, they’re going to want to talk to you. It’s a miracle that man is still alive.”
“It was self-defense.” Hugh shrugs, turning his swollen eye toward Sebastian. “An eye for an eye.”
Snorting at his dark humor, Sebastian shakes his head. “The glasses were meant to be used on the job, but not like that.”
“I improvised,” Hugh says unapologetically. “If it weren’t for Mina, I wouldn’t be here. I woke up when she stuffed those glasses in my jacket pocket.”
I stare at Mina, both proud and concerned that she took such a risky chance. “Why would you do that, knowing those glasses were probably the only way we could track you down?”
She lifts her shoulders. “He was unconscious. At least I knew what was going on. I thought that once he woke up, he could figure out a way to use the glasses to get free. And then he could save me.” When we all frown at her, she points to the bird on her wrist, her lips pursed. “Apparently I already had a GPS signal on me anyway.”
Sebastian cuts a sharp gaze my way. “Meet us back at the office to form a plan to take this bastard down.”
“He’ll hide behind his diplomatic immunity,” Hugh warns.
“I don’t give a damn,” Sebastian and I say in unison.
As he and I exchange a look of agreement to do what it takes to get Edgar, Mina moves to my side. “I’m riding with you.”
“Go with Sebastian and let Ben look you over,” I say, shaking my head. “Hugh and I have to collect Edgar’s men that I’ve detained and turn them into the embassy authorities.”
When her expectant expression falls, all I want to do is pull her close and kiss her, but Sebastian is watching us. The last thing she needs is to stress about him flipping out on me. “See you in a bit.” I hold her gaze for a second, hoping she understands that we’ll talk later.
Calder and Elijah offer to stick around and help Hugh and me escort Edgar’s men to the embassy, but I tell them to head back to the office. “Hugh and I are familiar with the embassy. As UK citizens, we have access and rights there that you two won’t.”
“Where are Edgar’s men?” Hugh says once everyone leaves.
“Trussed up in vehicles. Are you okay to help?” I ask, staring at his swollen eye. “You should have BLACK Security’s in-house doctor look at that.”
“I’ll get to it when I do.”
I snap my gun into my shoulder harness, but pause on my way up the stairs to exit the theater when Hugh draws a gun from behind his back. “Do I even want to know where you got that?”
“Probably not,” he says, glancing down at the weapon in his hand.
“Put that away,” I grumble. “We can take these blokes out with our bare hands.”
“Promise?” He flashes a smile and tucks his weapon away as he bolts up the stairs ahead of me.
Outside, I point to the vehicle and we silently approach.
When I look inside to see an empty seat, I frown. “I clocked him good. He can’t be far,” I say and start to reach for my gun.
“Turn around slowly, hands up,” Edgar says smugly from behind us.
Our hands slightly raised, Hugh and I turn to find Edgar standing between his two men. While Edgar aims a handgun at us, his two guards are holding semi-automatics. If we’d had our weapons already drawn, that wouldn’t have been a very fair gunfight.
“I don’t know how you managed to free Mina from that bomb,” he says, frowning. “But trust me, I won’t make the same mistake next time.” Waving his handgun, he continues, “Retrieve your weapons slowly, then set them down and kick them over.”
There fucking won’t be a next time. Hugh and I don’t even have to look at each other. Neither of us is going down without a fight. We’ve lost too much and need to move forward in our lives. But we have to be smart about our current predicament. We don’t need guns. Our training taught us to use something as innocuous as a pair of glasses to defend ourselves.
When I start to lower my hands to comply, the guard I clocked in the head narrows his gaze and hammers the ground at my feet with a spray of bullets.
Edgar laughs and just as he nods for him to stop firing, that guard slams to the ground.
A second later, the other guard goes down in the same fashion.
At the same time I pull my gun, Hugh steps in front of me, retrieving his weapon as well.
As I bark at him to move, Edgar’s shot nicks Hugh in the ear before zooming past my neck.
Grabbing my friend’s shoulder, I yank him out the line of fire and bellow my fury as I pull the trigger three times. For Bren, for Enya, and for Mina.
Edgar hits the ground hard, and while he’s bleeding and whining in pain, he screeches, “I have diplomatic immunity. You’re going to rot in prison for trying to kill me!”
It takes thinking about Mina to keep me from filling the fucker’s head with the rest of my clip. I kick his gun away and narrow my gaze on him. “You don’t have a leg to stand on with your diplomatic immunity bullshit. I’m a UK citizen who defended another UK citizen in imminent danger from you. The soil we’re standing on makes no difference in this scenario. You’ll be sent home, where I’ll personally make sure you’re prosecuted for all your past crimes.”
Kicking the wounded guards’ guns out of the way, Hugh eyes the bleeding wounds in Edgar’s knees, then leans over and punches the bullet wound on the man’s shoulder. “Ha, you won’t have either leg to stand on for a long time, you murderous fuck!” Ignoring Edgar’s whimpers of pain, Hugh moves to stand beside me and peers into the night, his dark humor subsiding. “Where the hell was that other shooter?”
I glance toward the rooftop that provides the best viewpoint to both entrances of the theater and see a familiar silhouette against the night sky. As he lowers his sniper rifle, I nod to acknowledge Sebastian’s help, then reach for my phone to call the embassy.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Mina
I’m a freaking mess by the time I arrive back at BLACK Security. At least I am on the inside. Holding myself together and pretending I’m okay is all I can do. I don’t want my family to freak out and send me to the hospital. I survived. And while my arms and neck burn a bit from my injuries, they’ll heal.
But doctors can’t mend a broken heart.
It hurt so much to hear Den say I was nothing more than an assignment, but when he admitted that the bracelet he gave me was a tracking device, it made me want to bawl my eyes out. That meant all the sentimentality I thought his gift conveyed…didn’t. I’m so confused. He seemed to truly care for Josi’s well-being. Is keeping us safe all that really mattered to him? Did any of what he and I had mean anything?
And yet, even though I’m upset with Den for not caring for me the way I thought he did, fool that I am, I can’t help but worry for him with Edgar still out there. I was surprised when Seb asked Calder and Elijah to take me back to the office, saying he would meet us here later, but I didn’t argue. I was thankful that he decided Den might need additional backup.
I feel numb and broken, but force a brave smile as Cass throws herself around me in a tight hug. “Meeeeena! I’m so happy you’re all right. We’ve been so worried!” Pulling back, she grabs my hands and stares at my neck. “You poor thing.”
As she pulls me into a gentler hug this time, Talia smiles. “I think she just gave you my hug too. We’re glad you’re safe, Mina. Did Sebastian say when he thought he’d be back?”
“No, he didn’t,” I say, sounding a bit hoarse.
“Okay, I’ll text him for an ETA.”
Releasing me, Cass says, “Are you hungry? I hope so, because we’ve ordered dinner and plan to eat in the kitchen. God, all this worry has left me ravenous.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to tease her about stress eating, but then I no
tice the loving amusement in Calder’s eyes as he looks at his wife and I suddenly wonder if there’s another reason she’s so overzealous about food. “I’m actually pretty hungry. In all the chaos, I never got to eat dinner.”
“Okay great. I’m off to find out when it’ll be here. Theo went to get it.”
While Cass walks over to Theo’s desk to make a call, Calder and Elijah follow Talia into her office and fill her in on tonight’s events.
“Hi, Mina? How are you feeling?” Ben asks as he walks off the elevator.
His brown eyes are so sympathetic, I almost breakdown. Instead, I take a deep breath and give him a half smile. “Thanks for coming. I’m sorry Seb dragged you here for me.”
“Hey, I’m here for the food,” he speaks into the stethoscope hanging around his neck like a radio announcer, then gestures toward an empty desk in the main room. “Why don’t you let me check out your injuries?”
Once we’re seated in chairs facing each other, I roll my sleeves up so he can get a better look at my wrists. “I know my voice sounds a bit rough, but my throat feels okay. These marks on my arms aren’t too bad. They just burn a little. My shoulder muscles are sore, but otherwise I’m fine.”
“I can prescribe some muscle relaxers and a salve if you’d like.” He takes my pulse, listens to my heart, then tilts my head up to evaluate my throat. Lowering his hand, his dark brows pull together with concern as his gaze flicks quickly back to mine. “That was a close call. Are you sure you’re all right?”
“I’m alive. That’s all that matters. The salve sounds like a good idea. I don’t want any kind of drug-related relaxers. I’ve had my fair share recently. I’ll just take an Epsom salt bath.”
Ben shakes his head. “A warm bath is fine, but skip the Epsom salt until your skin is completely healed. I’ll give you a script for the salve.”
The elevator door opens, drawing my attention as Seb, Hugh and, Den walk into the room. My heart jerks with happiness, then plummets with sadness all in an instant as I stare at Den. This big brave man has ruined me for all men. How am I going to get over him?
“Thanks for being there tonight, Sebastian,” Hugh says, clapping my brother on the back.
“Yes, we appreciated the backup, Sebastia—”
I gasp when Seb pivots and punches Den in the jaw. “That’s for sending me after your fucking friend instead of my sister!”
Den stumbles back from the hard blow, then narrows his gaze and yanks his jacket off. “That’s bloody fucking it!” He quickly launches himself at my brother, barking out, “You’d have done the same thing if it was Talia!”
“Stop it!” I cry out and start to go after them, but Ben wraps his arms around my waist. He hauls me off my feet so I can’t intervene as my brother and Den tumble over desks, landing on the floor in a tangle of powerful arms and legs.
“That’s entirely different, Talia’s my wife!” Seb barks out as he scrambles to his feet and swings hard.
Den ducks and lands a punch in Seb’s side. “It matters because I love her, you jackass!”
I gape in shock at Den’s declaration, while Seb growls and ducks his head. Bulldozing into Den, he lifts him off his feet and slams him onto another desk.
“They have to work out their issues, Mina,” Ben says in my ear at the same time Talia, Cass, Calder, and Elijah reach the main room. “Talia,” he calls to her. “Come get Mina.”
When Hugh curls his hands into fists and moves forward, like he’s about to jump in the fray, Calder steps in front of him. “Not a good idea. This needs to happen. Follow us to the kitchen. Food is coming.”
I dig my heels in, refusing to let Talia pull me away.
“Go on, Mina.” Ben pulls wireless ear buds from his pants pockets and plunks them in his ears. Leaning against the wall, he nods for me to go. “I’ll make sure they don’t kill each other.”
We’ve only been in the kitchen for a minute or two and the sound of glass shattering and furniture breaking has my stomach already tied into fierce knots. The deep, angry rumble of their voices carries down the hall, but I can’t make out what’s being said. Unable to sit, I pace the room. This is driving me crazy!
Theo comes into the room a couple minutes later shaking his head. Setting down the food, he chuckles and looks at Talia. “They’re having a good bout for sure.”
Calder grumbles, “They’re going to destroy the cubicles.”
“I’m all for that,” Theo replies, snorting. “I’d rather have a true bullpen where we can talk in the middle.”
“I like that idea, Theo.” Talia nods as she pulls the bags of food to the middle of the table.
When something hits the kitchen wall hard and shakes the whole room, my heart jerks with renewed worry. I turn to the group and snap, “I refuse to stand by and let the two men I care about the most tear each other apart. Don’t anyone get in my way!”
“Take my phone,” Talia says, handing her phone to me. “Just push the button.”
Glancing down at the Air Horn app she has pulled up, I smirk despite my angst, then turn the volume up full blast and walk down the hall with determined strides.
I enter the room to see Seb and Den on their backs on top of collapsed cubicles. Oblivious to the broken office equipment, supplies, papers and folders strewn all around them, Den has Seb in some kind of choking headlock. Yanking back hard, he grates out, “That’s ten, Sebastian. Give up!”
When my brother growls his fury and elbows Den in the gut, I cast an accusing gaze Ben’s way. He quickly pulls an ear bud from his ear and gives me a questioning look. “What?” I shake my head and lift the phone up, hitting the button. The sound of the blaring horn stops the men before another punch is thrown.
“You two are being ridiculous!” I say once their heads swivel in my direction. “I just want a hot bath and a soft bed. Den…” As he sits up, the sight of the oozing cut on his brow bone and the blood splatter on his torn dress shirt makes me sigh. “Take me home.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Den
Sebastian and I dive across the last standing desk and land on collapsed cubicle walls. While grappling and throwing punches into each other’s sides, I grunt at a particularly powerful blow and realize no matter how long this conversation lasts…it’s going to be more painful than I thought. At least now we’ll finally answer the question: Who wins in a fight: MI6 or SEAL?
“What the hell’s wrong with you?” I bellow as we stumble over broken chair parts. Putting our fists up, we regain our footing around the debris, ready for the next round. “Do you think I’m not good enough?” I bite out the question, not sure if I want to know the answer, but needing to hear it nonetheless.
Sebastian snorts as he bounces on his toes. “No one’s ever going to be good enough for her. It’s not you. It’s anyone. She’s my baby sister. But I do think you’re too old for her.” Pausing, he straightens, head tilted. “How the hell old are you, anyway?”
I rest my hands on my hips and take deep breaths from our exertions. “Old enough to kick your ass. That’s all you need to know.” When he glares at me, I clip out, “Mina and I are perfect together. Get the hell over yourself. I could say the same to you. Talia’s like a little sister to me. Do you see me giving you shit?”
“Yes!” Sebastian throws his arms wide. “Yes, the fuck you have…many times.”
I shrug, unapologetic. “You apparently deserved it.”
When he narrows his gaze, I glance back toward the hallway and exhale heavily. “Mina’s had a hell of a day. This is the last thing she needs right now. We need to call a truce. I love your sister and I care deeply for Josi like she’s my own. Their happiness and safety are my priority. That’s all you should ever care about. Period.”
Sebastian grunts, then nods and puts his hand out. The moment I clasp his hand, I say, “I’m taking Mina to London with me.”
He cinches my hand in a bone-crushing grip and grits out, “No the fuck you’re not!”
“Y
ou don’t get a choice.” I set my jaw and make him wince with my fierce return grip. “Mina and Josi go where I do.”
“Want to make a bet?” he challenges, blue eyes fired up all over again.
I flash a confident smile. “If I pin you for a ten count, I don’t want to hear jack shit from you about it.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Mina
The ride back to Den’s house is quiet. He insisted on getting food since we left without eating, so I use the excuse that I’m starving and eat in the car to fill the silence. In truth, I don’t know what to say. He said he loves me! I’m so afraid to believe it—to let myself be happy with all the bad that has happened in my life lately—that I’m frightened to say anything that might jinx myself. At the very least, anything coming out of my mouth right now would probably sound corny based on the rambling thoughts in my head.
When we walk in, Den strides over to the front door, picks up my purse and returns it to me. “We will get you a new phone tomorrow.” He pulls his phone out of his pocket and sets it in my hand. “Why don’t you give Josi a call and see how trick-or-treating went? I’ll be right back.”
I grip the phone tight and it takes major effort not to cry. I can’t believe I forgot about Josi trick-or-treating with my father. I’m a terrible mom. Den’s a better parent than I am. “Okay,” is all I can muster as I watch him walk upstairs. Turning away, I sniff back my tears and dial my dad’s number.
“Hi, Mina. How’s your evening going?”
“H—hi, Dad,” I stutter when it occurs to me that he has no idea what’s happened and most likely won’t be told. Forcing an upbeat tone, I realize that’s for the best. “We’ve just had a late dinner. You’ll have to excuse my scratchy voice. I guess the Thai was extra spicy. I just wanted to see how trick-or-treating went. Did Josi have fun? Were there lots of kids?”
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