The Black Sheep and the English Rose

by Donna Kauffman

  He shifted his gaze to Julia, and his smile shifted a bit as well. More bemused now. “There is Julia Forsythe, with a largely untraceable and perhaps questionable past, who popped up out of nowhere on the San Francisco art scene several short years ago, and now runs a ridiculously successful gallery, featuring previously unheard-of artists who are immediately sought after, once their art hangs on her walls. Her clients cover a broad spectrum, but have wealth as their common denominator.

  “They, themselves, also have a broad range of connections, which are assumed to broaden Julia’s contact base as well. She also ships her art to destinations worldwide, and, it is that ability, along with her important contacts, that makes her a valuable asset to her government, as she has been known to incorporate certain items that need to be moved internationally, without raising any eyebrows, into artwork being ostensibly shipped overseas to new owners, thereby becoming a legitimate and quite legal mule service, of sorts. It is presumed that her government returns the favor by providing her with this apparently new life in the States, complete with, and, I’m just guessing here, name and background. And livelihood. Win-win for everyone, there.

  “Which brings us to John Reese, a well-established global entrepreneur in the import-export business, which gives him access to, well, just about everything and everyone. Quite handy having a fellow like that on your team, I must say.” He smiled at the three of them. “Have I missed anything? Good.” He uncrossed his legs and leaned forward. “So, on to the rest of it. Felicity typically works solo, but has, to my great good fortune, agreed to team up with me, a guy who does privately pretty much what she does governmentally. Which gives me and my team access to things you don’t have, and a far greater latitude, as we only follow orders from ourselves, and there is no need-to-know crap.”

  He looked between Julia and Reese. “From what I understand, you two also work together from time to time, both personally and professionally.”

  Neither Julia nor John confirmed his comment, nor did they deny it. They simply continued to stare at Finn, but they also remained silent and interested in what he had to say.

  So, Felicity admitted, was she. She still didn’t know where he was going with this, but the potential damage done to her had been done. There was really nothing more he could give them on her, so she might as well see where this would lead.

  “However,” Finn went on, “though Felicity and I managed to find a way to make our unusual partnership work, the two of you apparently had a falling out. And then Felicity here was instructed to bring one of you home.”

  Both Reese and Julia looked at Felicity. Okay, so she’d been wrong. There had been more information he could reveal. She glared at him, making it perfectly clear what her feelings were on the matter, but decided there was no point in making a scene. Just yet, anyway.

  “In the middle of all of this are two things,” Finn went on. “One, supposedly someone hasn’t been playing fair and has been using secure information for personal gain. Two, there is the sapphire. Which, for me, is merely an answer to a client’s prayer of restoring his family’s good name, but for your government is apparently a matter of national security; otherwise one of you stealing it and selling it wouldn’t be grounds for treason.”

  Felicity eyed both John and Julia for reactions, but both were completely stone-faced.

  “What I can’t help but wonder is, why your chain of command needed three agents on one mission. Each with a different personal task assigned to them, none of whom apparently knew about the tasks assigned to the others, or even that the others worked for their same employer.” He looked at Julia and Reese. “I’m assuming you two were both working, correct?”

  John merely held his gaze, but Julia, glaring at John, jerked a nod with her chin, arms folded even more tightly.

  “Ah,” Finn said. “Now we get somewhere.” He looked to John. “Did you know you were both working for the same team? I’m assuming you knew of the other’s affiliation prior to this. It would explain why there is little to no public record of your personal relationship.”

  Julia’s gaze darted from John to both Felicity and Finn. As if she was suddenly concerned that their personal relationship was going to be put under the microscope. Interesting, Felicity thought. Why would she still care, given that she’d taken off? And gauging from John’s steely-eyed stare, it would appear that this was strictly professional for him, but she’d seen him in the wee hours this morning, clearly hurting over her betrayal. No, this was personal for him, too.

  “But did you know you were both assigned to the same task this time?”

  “No,” Julia blurted. “No. We didn’t know. Only John knew.”

  “You’re wrong about that,” he said quietly, suddenly not looking quite so steely or inscrutable. “I didn’t know.”

  Felicity’s mouth dropped open, and she immediately looked at Finn, who shot her a smile. She wanted to ask him how he’d suspected, but knew that would have to wait for later. Her irritation with him, however, and her feelings of being hurt and betrayed diminished a great deal. It had been a huge risk, but, then again, at this point, it was likely to all come out anyway.

  “Then why did I get intel telling me that you’d gone renegade?” Julia blurted. “They led me to believe you were using me to cover your tracks.”

  “And you believed that?”

  “Of course not!”

  Everyone fell silent, but no one looked more stunned than John. “Then why did you leave?” he asked. “Why did you take the stone? To give it to them as proof?” His eyes widened. “You didn’t give it to them, did you?”

  “No,” she said. “And I took it because I thought if I got rid of it, then they’d have nothing to pin on you. I was protecting you.”

  “But—I was protecting you.”

  She frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “When you took off with the stone, I thought maybe—”

  “You thought I was the one?”

  “I never would have. But you took off. With the stone. Without a word.”

  “Because if I’d let you know, you’d have information they could get out of you. If you had no idea—”

  “Then they couldn’t pin any of it on you,” Felicity said, her tone hushed. “But why would they ask me to bring you back if they suspected Julia?”

  “Because you asked for information on both of them, providing them with a link and an insider source. Maybe they just wanted John so he could roll over on Julia,” Finn said.

  “I swear, I only took it to protect John. I’ve never—would never—do anything to bite the hand that feeds me. I have a life because of them. They rescued me from—they made a life possible. I’d do anything to repay that.”

  “Even give up your life?”

  She looked at Finn. “What do you mean?”

  “The fire.”

  “I wasn’t there, I was—”

  “But, if you hadn’t taken the stone, you would have been there,” John said. “We both would have been there.”

  She leaned back then, folding her arms now, but more because she looked shaken than because she was angry. “I don’t understand. Any of this.”

  “So, if none of you is on the take, then that means you’re being framed by the person who is. And the only one with that kind of power would be in the chain of command,” Finn said calmly.

  “The puppet master,” Felicity said. “But which one? And why?”

  “Clearly they know something is up and are on the hunt. Maybe he’s trying to cover his ass by targeting one of you. Then things started to go south—largely, I suppose, because of my unexpected entry into this little scenario—and he had to scramble.”

  “So I was directed to sell it to Chesnokov’s agent as a way of damning me. Except it was a direct order.”

  “Your word against his. And maybe it served a dual role of framing you for the sale and getting the stone where he needed it to go, keeping your government from using it,” Finn said. “I just
wish I knew why in the hell they wanted the damn thing. Do any of you have any idea?”

  “No,” John said. “I did tell them about the situation in New York.” He looked to Felicity. “I had no idea you worked for them. I was afraid you’d been conned. Honestly, I had no idea what to make of you. You totally took me by surprise when I found you snooping.” He glanced to Finn. “I’m sorry about the manner in which you found her, but I had to make it look as if it were a matter between lovers. Had I left her tied to a chair or something, fully clothed, it would have been far easier to convince hotel staff that she’d been a victim of some other sort, and I couldn’t chance that.”

  “I understood,” Felicity said, speaking for Finn. “So, you’re telling MI-8 about me and Finn, and I’m asking them about the two of you…and we’ve all gone racing to the West Coast, the entire case now clearly spinning out of control—”

  “Our puppet master panics, maybe?” Finn said. “And decides, perhaps, to cut his losses and pin the thing on John or Julia. Posthumously, if necessary.”

  “Or maybe us,” Felicity said. “Either way, he’s clear.”

  “Only Julia takes off with the stone, John drags us back into things, and—”

  “Nothing is going according to anyone’s plan or back-up plan.”

  “So, I get word to bring you in,” she said, looking at John. “I assume—when the fire failed, and with Julia on the run with the stone—as a last ditch effort to nail you with it, somehow, using me as a witness.”

  “I wasn’t on the run,” Julia said. “I checked into a hotel so I could have some time and space to sort things out.”

  “Did you contact your handler?” Felicity asked.

  “No. I made no contact with anyone. Nothing was making sense to me. I was debating contacting Chesnokov and just getting the damn thing out of the country, but the fire spooked the hell out of me. I didn’t know what was going on.” She looked to John. “Or who, at that point, was doing things. To me. To us. I was just really confused. But I was going to stay clear of you until I figured it out.”

  “To keep me from being connected,” he said.

  She nodded. “I had the stone, so—”

  “Had?” Finn asked. They all looked at Julia. “Where is it?”

  “Hotel safe. By this morning, I had decided to go to work as usual, deal with the officials, maintain as normal a front as possible, and try and figure out what to do next. I had no further intel, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to contact them with the information that I had taken the stone, as I was directly in violation of orders and…nothing seemed right. My instincts were all over the map.”

  “Then we showed up,” Finn said. “And here we are.”

  Everyone looked at each other, but no one said anything.

  “So,” Felicity said at length. “I say we put our heads together and figure out who is really behind this. Then we figure out how to nail him.”

  John looked at her, then at Julia for an extended moment, in which she held his gaze quite intently as well. “I’m in.” He turned to Finn. “I owe you.”

  “How do we figure out who is behind this?” Felicity asked.

  “I say the first thing we need to do is figure out why your country wanted this artifact in the first place and why it has anything to do with national security. If we know that, figuring out who else might have wanted it, for any reason, might be more easily pinned down.”

  “Except we don’t know who we can trust,” Felicity said.

  “I do,” Finn said, and pulled out his PDA.

  Chapter 23

  Finn landed the helicopter gently on the pad at Dalton Downs. It was good to be home. It wasn’t the way he’d have planned things when bringing Felicity here for the first time, but there wasn’t much he could do about that. Mac was waiting a few yards away and ducked to come closer as the blades slowed overhead. Rafe was coming up the path.

  Mac grinned as the door opened and first Felicity, then Reese, then Julia debarked. “It’s the British Invasion, all over again. Welcome.”

  Felicity smiled. She extended her hand. “You must be Donovan MacLeod.”

  He took her hand. “Mac, please. A pleasure to meet you, Miss Trent.” He shot a look at Finn, who was coming around the front of the bird. “In fact, you have no idea.”

  She took his teasing in stride and smiled more broadly. “Thank you. And it’s Felicity.” She stepped back. “This is John Reese and Julia Forsythe.”

  Mac shook hands with both of them, then stepped over to Finn. “Finn and Felicity, John and Julia. Cute.”

  “Ha ha,” he said, then shook his best friend’s hand and accepted a quick hug and clap on the back. “It’s good to be back.”

  “It’s good to get you back.”

  Rafe arrived, and introductions were made again. He gave Finn’s shoulder a squeeze. “Good to have you back, man.”

  “Same. So,” Finn said, “no smartass commentary from you?”

  Rafe’s gaze flickered down to the paddocks, where Kate’s ranch manager, Elena, was putting one of their horses through its paces. He glanced back at Finn, his smile warmer and more relaxed than Finn could ever remember seeing it. “Uh, no. I believe in karma. I’ll just welcome you home.” He glanced at Felicity Jane. “And hope you’re half as content as I am.”

  He was clearly sincere and sounded so…yes, content was the right word, that Finn didn’t know what to say to that. It was a lot to process. “I take it I’m not the only one whose life got a bit…interesting over the past few weeks.”

  “Interesting is one way to put it.”

  “More later?”

  “We can swap stories, but for now, I’ve got things set up to run those tests you asked for. Did…everything make it okay?”

  “Yep.” He stepped back over to the helicopter and pulled a leather satchel out of a small storage net. “Right here.”

  “Good.” Rafe stepped back. “Shall we, then?”

  “Always working, that guy,” Mac said. “I had dinner set up for about an hour from now. And we prepared rooms for everyone. I know it’s been a marathon of flights from California to New York to here, so if you’d rather—”

  “We’d like to get started with the testing,” Reese said. “If that’s all right with you,” he added, including Finn in the request.

  “It’s going to take some time to run everything—” Mac began.

  Julia stepped forward then. “It’s not that we question you or your facility; we couldn’t be more grateful. It’s simply, after all we’ve been through, we’d be able to relax and enjoy your hospitality far more if we could observe things getting under way.”

  Mac looked to Finn, who nodded, then turned back to the group and spread his arm wide, gesturing to the stone path that led down to the main house. “Absolutely. Please, right this way.”

  They all walked up to the house, with Finn and Felicity letting Reese and Julia take the lead, allowing Mac to play tour guide. Rafe hung back with the two of them. Finn noted that Reese had his hand on Julia’s lower back. After their initial discussion in the limo, once they’d decided to team up, he didn’t think Reese had allowed more than a few feet to separate him and Julia since. Finn smiled, and put his hand on Felicity’s lower back as they walked down the path toward the house. For once, he understood exactly how Reese was feeling.

  “It’s lovely, this place,” Felicity said, looking fresh despite the fact that they’d spent most of the past few days flying or driving. “The rolling fields remind me a bit of home, as do the horses. But your mountains are a different backdrop. Quite beautiful, really.”

  “Thank you,” Finn said, wondering, for the first time, what her home was like. He knew the Trent ancestral holdings were outside London.

  “You grew up here?” she asked.

  “No, I grew up in boarding schools and summer camps. This was my father’s home.” He looked down at the house he’d hated coming back to as a child. “But it’s my home now.” And, thinking a
bout the people he’d brought together here, he realized how true that sentiment really was.

  “And you love it here now; I can hear it in your voice.”

  “Finn has worked hard to create a family here,” Rafe said. “We all feel strongly about this place. It’s become a foundation to build on, for all of us.” He looked to Finn. “More so now, than ever.”

  Finn thought about Mac, who’d brought Kate home a year before, and now Rafe, who, from what little he had been able to get from him, had Elena, who was also here permanently now. He glanced to Felicity and wondered what she was thinking. They hadn’t talked about their future. There was too much to be done first, before any decisions about that could even be discussed. But it didn’t mean he hadn’t thought about it.

  He slid his hand into hers. “Yes,” he said. “I do love it here.” But I’m falling in love with you, too, he thought silently, wishing the rest would fade away so he could have some time alone with Felicity. But now was not the time for that conversation. He tried to take heart in the fact that she was here and the conversation would happen at some point. That was all he could hope for, and, for now, it would be enough.

  “Flight down from the city go okay?” Rafe asked.

  “Fine. But I’ll be happy to stay in one spot for more than twenty-four hours for a change.”

  They’d left San Francisco last night, as soon as they could arrange a private flight out. Finn had spoken to Rafe before leaving to get him going on the research. Then they’d spent the flight back catching up on some much-needed sleep. Or trying to. The flight down from New York in the helicopter really hadn’t been conducive to much discussion either, so there was still a lot of brainstorming to be done on what the connection was between Britain and a Byzantine-era sapphire necklace. It had been Mac’s idea to check the stone and setting, to see if they could find anything on it, or any inconsistencies with it, that would explain its value to British intelligence.