Running the Risk

by Lea Griffith

  He steepled his hands and rested his chin on them, staring at her down the length of the table, quiet with a bored look on his handsome face.

  “So, Ella, you have once again met my expectations. Tell me, how does it feel to work for the dark side?”

  She had to tread carefully here. In the tones of his voice was a warning: Answer me wrong, and I’ll have you gutted. Answer me the right way, and I’ll let you live. Maybe. The game continued.

  She shrugged, took a pull on her wine—for real this time—and let it go down slowly. The warmth of the earlier whiskey had faded. She longed for it now. “I do what I’m told, Dresden, and I live.”

  He chuckled and pushed back his chair, strolling to take the seat beside her. He leaned close, the smell of his aftershave a noxious scent of sandalwood that turned Ella’s stomach. He brushed a single strand of hair from her face and cupped her chin. His grip tightened, and he pulled her face to meet his. “Look at me when I talk to you.”

  She lifted her gaze and met his. The blue of his eyes would have been appealing, were it not the gaze of a sadistic monster. “I’m looking.”

  His grip on her chin hurt but she didn’t let that show, willing herself to keep calm in the center of this new storm.

  “Yes, you are. Now.” He released her and sat back. “I have something else I need taken care of.”

  Ella tightened her grip on the stem of her glass. She could break it easily and embed it in his throat before he could blink. But there was still something she had to have from him, and until it was in her hands… “What do you need?”

  “There’s a meeting in Moscow in two days. I need someone there representing my interests. Someone to report back to me, should Segorski and Yevgeny Markov betray me. It wouldn’t do to have the prime minister of Russia benefitting from my hard work before he’s paid for it.”

  She inclined her head. “The oil is yours.”

  “It is, and I’ll make billions off it after the Russians complete the takeover of the Crimean region. Say it again,” he demanded, his voice still full of warning.

  “Say what?” Push a little, and this would go well for Ella. Push too much, and he’d crush her.

  He grabbed her face between his big hands and squeezed. The pressure was also a warning. “Say it.”

  She stared at him, hoping the loathing she felt for him didn’t show in her gaze. “The oil is yours.”

  He released her so suddenly that her head snapped back.

  “And so are you,” he informed her. “Say it.”

  “So am I,” she parroted.

  He sat back negligently, crossing one leg over the other and watching her. “My sources tell me Jude Dagan is actively searching for you.”

  Ella said nothing. Perhaps his sources had noticed Jude when they’d torn into the flat in Serbia yesterday.

  “I have yet to take him out, but I can rectify this with a single call. Someone always follows him, and it would only take a split second to put a hole in his skull with a bullet. Do you know why I haven’t?”

  Here was the line she couldn’t cross. “I don’t, Dresden. But you’re going to tell me?”

  “Because he keeps you in line. Don’t they call him that? Keeper?” He didn’t laugh as she expected him to, which put her even more on the razor’s edge.

  “They did. I don’t know what they call him now,” she answered, making sure her voice remained even and distant.

  “You loved him once. Don’t tell me you no longer feel that same emotion for the brute,” Dresden mocked, tracing the scar along her temple.

  Hide the truth behind a lie. She’d become a master. “I feel nothing for anyone, Dresden. You and Savidge made sure of that. What Jude Dagan is called or not called is no longer my concern. I once felt an emotion for him; that’s true. My course has changed, and Endgame and Dagan are in my past. I’m curious why you think he keeps me in line.”

  He grunted. “I think your words are…the right words. Because of that, I’ll give you the reason I think Dagan’s life keeps you in my pocket. He was your world, and you’re a woman.”

  She allowed a mirthless chuckle to escape. “You noticed.”

  Dresden sat up straight at that. “I notice a lot of things, Banning. That’s why I’m on top. I noticed that your flat in Sarajevo mysteriously blew up after the sale to Segorski went through. I noticed that sixteen men were found dead in or around Sarajevo in a matter of hours after that explosion. I noticed that you entered my home a day later and immediately poured yourself a whiskey neat, which by the way is also Jude Dagan’s favorite drink, and I noticed that now your pupils are dilated in fear.”

  “There’s a point to this conversation. Can we get to it?”

  He laughed then. It was evil. “You always seek to hide behind whatever persona you feel I need from you. I let you because it amuses me. The point is this: Dagan controls you because he lives. And because I like having a way to control Dagan, I keep you alive and doing my bidding.”

  Ella should have felt fear. It was true her pupils had dilated, but it wasn’t with apprehension. It was with rage. Dresden thought he had her figured out. He thought he knew. It took her a few seconds to control herself, to not snap the stem of her glass and shove it in his right eye. Or the left. Either would work. She continued to breathe through her nose, not rushing her breaths, keeping them even and controlled. She had a goal. She could do this. He held her wrist, gauging her pulse no doubt, and she managed to control even that.

  She had become ice cold.

  She hated herself.

  “I would clap for your keen sense of observation, but you’re holding my hand. I will grant you instead mental applause for the way you’ve managed to manipulate every situation to your advantage. Good job, Dresden.”

  “It is all a game to you, isn’t it?” He huffed, sounding like a petulant child. “I broke you, and still you come at me like it’s all a goddamn game. Tell me, do you really no longer feel anything for Jude Dagan?”

  She had one shot at this. If she said no, he’d eliminate Jude. If she said yes, he’d eliminate Jude. “I don’t feel. You removed the ability. I work. I succeed. Dagan is a way for you to control Endgame? Okay. Keep the Keeper on the line. But if you think that either eliminating him or keeping him alive gives you control of me, you’re wrong.”

  “I let Vasily work you too long,” he said mournfully. “You’ve become a puppet.”

  She glanced at him dismissively. “Is that not what you wanted?”

  He stood then, and she held herself still. “It’s not your concern what I wanted.”

  His phone rang, and he answered it. “Speak.” His face reddened, and his gaze went flat. “Kill him.”

  Ella’s heart stuttered.

  “I don’t care if his daughter is in the car. Destroy him.” He hung up and threw the phone across the room, shattering it against the marble floor.

  Not Jude. Not this time. She hated herself for the relief she felt.

  Dresden walked to the entry of the dining room and turned back to Ella. “I want you in Moscow tomorrow. Crimea is mine until I say otherwise. Make sure Segorski and Markov stay in line. And, Ella? If Dagan doesn’t keep his fucking nose out of my business, it won’t matter to me if he’s a way to control Endgame. Ultimately, Endgame will be mine, just like you, and I don’t need Dagan to make that happen.”

  “I don’t control Jude Dagan,” she countered. She needed to throw him a bone. “And I’ll say again, he is no longer my concern.”

  “Good. Make sure it stays that way. The jet will be ready for you when you’re ready to travel. Meet with Svetlana Markov when you arrive, and she’ll fill you in on the specifics. Ella?”

  She met his gaze.

  “I control Svetlana Markov as I control you.”

  “And how is that, Dresden?”

  “Completely,”
he dropped into her silence, and then he left her with a small, triumphant laugh.

  She drained her wine and motioned to the mute server in the corner to refill it. Then she drained that one too. She was a long way from drunk but wished she were safe enough to engage that state.

  She had no idea how much longer she could do this with Dresden. Though every interaction with him brought her closer to the information she needed before she took him down, each meeting with him, each conversation, left her deadened on the inside. Hiding herself from his keen gaze took a measure of skill she’d had no choice but to perfect. But it took its toll on her soul. She was losing herself.

  This conversation had given her Svetlana Markov, wife of Yevgeny Markov and apparently as deep in Dresden’s pockets as Ella herself was.

  She closed her eyes and let the last drop of wine slip down her throat. Black eyes taunted her. She had it all, and she’d walked away from it because the evil that was Horace Dresden could eat up the world and spit it out irreparably broken. He’d set into motion deals all over the world that would disrupt the economies of every major power. The few would be in control of the many, and the many would suffer because of it.

  Her country would be the first to fall—all because of greed. Dresden had been right; she was a puppet. One of many. And he wasn’t the only puppet master, because someone was pulling his strings too—and that’s who she needed.

  Endgame thought Dresden was the top of the pyramid, but though he was really close, there was someone, or a select group of someones, higher than him. Losing Dresden would cripple that entity. And it would save Jude.

  That’s all Ella wanted or cared about. Yes, her teammates were important. But nobody was as important as Jude.

  She needed to find out why the Piper hadn’t told Endgame and King McNally the theory of someone being higher than Dresden. Ella knew it all led back to that fuckup in Kunar Province more than four years ago. Endgame had been born out of that failed op. The Piper had secrets Ella was beginning to suspect tied him to Dresden in some way. He also played a dangerous game. Kingston McNally was nobody to mess with. And his team was his number one priority. Well, his team and now Allie Redding.

  King wouldn’t appreciate being kept in the dark. Though maybe he had secrets she needed to discover as well.

  She rubbed her head and stood, heading to her room.

  Sleep would probably evade her, but she would try. Tomorrow promised to be trying. More games to be played, more people to maneuver and watch.

  Ella removed her heels, skirt, and shirt, showered, and then dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. She never slept in anything else when she stayed here. Dresden was public enemy number one, and Ella wanted to always be prepared to run at a moment’s notice.

  She flipped off the lamp beside the bed and watched the moon climb through the sky. She wanted to dream of Jude but knew that falling asleep opened her up to nightmares rather than dreams. Instead, she closed her eyes and counted every breath she took, keeping track so that if she was lucky enough to live through this, she could take them all over again with her man.

  With Jude.

  Chapter 5

  “What do you want, Jude?” Vivi Granger asked for the second time since he’d entered the room.

  “The same thing I always want, Vivi,” he replied, crossing his arms over his chest and watching her. A big part of him felt remorse that he kept coming to her. There was no way to skirt around the fact that he was asking her to keep information from their team leader.

  Yet still he did it. Ella was a piece of him he thought he’d never get back. After being close enough to her to see where the gray of her irises bled to black, after having the regret on her face cut him like a knife, there was no way he could walk away from her—even if that took him through the hottest fires of hell.

  Vivi huffed and blew a strand of long, curly brown hair out of her eyes while her gaze roved over the computer directly in front of her. She paused for a second to throw him an exasperated look before she glanced at the computers sitting to the left and right of the main laptop. “I’ve got things to do, and you’re bugging me just standing there staring. Don’t make me get Rook.”

  “I don’t know if you know this, but I’m not scared of Rook,” he said with a small grunt.

  “I don’t know where she is exactly, Dagan,” Vivi hissed. “And if you keep coming in here asking, eventually my man will find out I’m feeding you information, and then my ass is grass.”

  “Your man already knows” came from a deep voice behind Jude.

  He shifted to the side, and Rook Granger walked into the room, oozing confidence along with no small amount of anger, both directed at Jude. The man moved like a cold wind, silent and lethal. He’d lost a leg in Afghanistan ten years ago, but you couldn’t tell unless you looked down and saw the blade he wore. Even then, you doubted what you were seeing because Jude knew some warriors with two fully functioning legs who didn’t move the way Granger did.

  “And he’s pissed,” Rook finished.

  Jude shrugged. Vivi gasped and removed her glasses, rubbing her eyes wearily. She put her glasses back on and glared at Jude. He shrugged again. He needed to know where Ella was. It had taken him an hour to maneuver that damn bed she’d strapped him to enough to get the key and unlock himself. By then, Adam Babic had walked in and laughed at Jude. The Serbian had a wicked sense of humor, but when Jude was the butt of the joke, it pissed him off.

  Ella had been long gone by then, her trail cold. Adam had given him nothing but his well wishes. Jude had spent the flight back to DC angry, determined to talk to Vivi and then the Piper.

  Vivi knew things. A lot of things. And what she didn’t know, she could find out with an ease that left all of Endgame Ops shaking their heads. Jude had thought no one besides him knew Vivi was helping him locate Ella.

  Apparently he was wrong. And he was desperate enough that he didn’t give a damn—hell, two damns—about being wrong.

  “I need her, Rook,” Jude told his friend and teammate.

  “She’s busier than hell, and you’re pressuring her, Dagan. That’s not cool,” Rook bit out. “Plus, King told you not to continue your little sideline ventures if they relate to Ella Banning.”

  “I don’t mean to burden Vivi, Rook.” Jude sighed and ran a hand down his face, recognizing he needed to shave and not really caring. “But I need to find her.”

  Rook faced him from behind his wife. His wife. He had his woman. Jude didn’t.

  “If her is Ella, then you’re screwed. Because Vivi isn’t going to give you anything else about her,” Rook told him, his voice hard and very, very final.

  Vivi gasped again and turned in her seat to face her husband. Her husband. She had her man.

  “You don’t get to do that, Rook Granger,” she said as she stood to her diminutive five-foot-nothing height and shoved a finger in Rook’s chest.

  Rook’s face softened. “I earned that right when I went all in, Vivi. And we’ll talk about why you felt a need to hide this from me.”

  Her finger lost its point as she flattened her hand on her husband’s chest and stepped closer. “That’s not what that meant, Granger.”

  Jude had had enough. Seeing them together—loving, being with each other when he couldn’t be with Ella—hurt. He cleared his throat. “Can you hash this out later?”

  They both straightened and glared at him. Vivi huffed. “You’re causing me issues, Dagan. I have nothing more to give you, and I’m buried in deciphering this code from the file Jonah and Rook retrieved yesterday.”

  “I need to find her, Vivi. She’s in danger,” Jude bit out. He’d run over every single second he’d been with Ella and the Piper, and nothing added up the way it should.

  He could say with spectacular clarity that Ella had been playing a dangerous game while working for Endgame. Double agent indeed. She’d manipu
lated them all, signed on for the cause, and done the dirty work for the Piper.

  The hell of it was, the Piper was Endgame Ops’ creator. Why would he instigate an op within an op? What was he hiding? The latter question bothered Jude the most. If they couldn’t trust the man who’d created them, who the hell could they trust?

  Jude had yet to speak to King about his theories. King had ripped him a new asshole earlier, telling him to leave the issue of Ella Banning where it was…in King’s hands. Jude hadn’t even tried to lie to his team leader. He’d shrugged and ignored the edict. It had frustrated King, but Jude wouldn’t say one thing and do another. It wasn’t in his makeup.

  “She is in danger. But she knew what she was getting into when she signed on. I guess we could all talk to the Piper about the danger she’s in, yeah?” Vivi asked around the pencil she now held between her lips.

  Rook went on alert, hands on his wife’s shoulders, squeezing. “What the hell does that mean, woman?”

  “He’s been pulling all of our strings for years, Rook. He started with you and Jonah four years ago, then he brought in King to lead you all. He allowed the CIA to put not one, but two analysts on the team, knowing you already had me. He’s had that damn file you took from that safety deposit box in Oklahoma City, and he hasn’t let me see it again. He’s got answers…”

  Rook spun her chair around and leaned over her. “You told me you wouldn’t dive into that disk, Vivi.”

  Vivi’s hand shook as she brushed a strand of hair away from her face. Jude noticed it all, but even in the midst of that, the woman carried a secret smile on her lips. She loved playing Rook.

  Jude rubbed his chest. He missed her. “Come on, people. Focus.” He really needed them to stop their shit.

  Rook glared at him. Vivi continued to look up at her man. “I only peeked, and he took it before I could copy it—”

  Her words cut off because her husband’s hand covered her mouth. “Stop.” Rook glanced at Jude and said, “Not a word to anybody.”