Kiss the Enemy (Slye Temp) (35 page)

“He will turn that around on someone else.”

True, but she’d enjoyed sending it. “You now know who is devoted to revealing Orion’s Legacy.”

“And I presume my information on how to get to the Banker’s helicopter pilot was useful.”

“Very much so.”  The pilot was actually a stand-up guy and that had been the weak link in the Banker’s organization. The Banker’s guards had hired an out-of-work pilot who had just lost his home, offering him enough money to ignore what he saw since they wouldn’t leave him alive. Once Chatton got to the pilot and explained how he would be making his last flight ever unless he followed her instructions, the pilot was all too happy to do her bidding. He relayed the flight plan to a ground team and took a wide arc around news helicopters that had been unnecessary. 

         As promised in their agreement, Chatton had located the pilot’s significant other and moved that partner to a nice place in the Caribbean where he waited for the pilot to arrive.

“I must go,” Wayan said just before the line disconnected.

Chatton smiled with satisfaction she hadn’t enjoyed since meeting the General and Wayan. She punched in another number.

“What?”

“Hello, Nick. I kept my end of the deal.” She scratched at the edge of her latex mask, but wouldn’t take it off until she was finished with the Banker.

“It didn’t go down exactly as expected.”

“These things never do.”

“What time will I get the Banker back?”

She looked over at the building where the Banker waited for her. “I’ll call you tomorrow, as agreed.”

“He’ll be able to talk.”

“Yes, he should be quite the conversationalist by then.”

“Good. I’ve got everyone up my ass for him right now.”

Chatton turned and headed back to the building, smiling. This Nick was some character. “Don’t forget you owe me.”

“You’ll have your favor. I always pay my debts.”

CHAPTER 51

“Get up. Time to roll.”

Margaux had always known she’d end up going to hell, but she hadn’t expected Nick to go with her. She opened her eyes and blinked.

Paneled walls. A comfortable bed. Modest furniture. Hell had decent rooms. She looked to her left to find Nick leaned back against a door, arms crossed. “Water?”

Nick came over and poured a plastic cup half full.

She held it in a trembling hand until he put his fingers on hers to steady the cup. “That’s enough.”

“What time is it?”

“Two in the afternoon, give or take a few minutes.”

“I’ve been out for twelve hours?”

“You’ve been out for thirty-two hours while Singleton monitored you. He managed to keep both of your feet out of the grave.”

Leave it to Nick to give it to her straight, but she appreciated that and what Singleton had done. She had a feeling she owed many more thanks. “I’m clearly missing a few details. Want to tell me what happened?”

He put the cup down. “What do you remember?”

“Fighting with the Banker’s guard. Lot of shooting. I got hit in the arm.” She rubbed her hip. “Feel like a pincushion. I must have been hit there, too.”

“Yeah, that’s where Sabrina shot you.”

“I didn’t hear that right.”  Margaux pushed up on her elbows, moving the most-recently injured arm slowly. Just had to be the other one this time.

“Sabrina had some test ammo from her friend.”

“More stuff from what’s his name ... Tigger?”

“Right. He’s filed for a patent on ammo that carries drugs like tranquilizer darts do.”

“Thought someone else had a patent on that.”

“They do, but Tigger’s bullet design is different. Anyhow, he loaded different drugs and she used one on you that was supposed to slow your heartbeat enough you couldn’t function, but would send you to the hospital.”

“Thought I’d died.”

“Sabrina wasn’t sure she hadn’t killed you. The first Fed called you dead. Fortunately, White Hawk and Singleton showed up with an ambulance and hauled you off before the Feds called the morgue.”

She hurt everywhere. “So now I’m a guinea pig?”

“You’re a live guinea pig. Lucky for you she agreed to test the ammo or she wouldn’t have had it.”

Margaux would have to think on that one, because feeling her heart slow down had been hairy. “Hey, I’m not complaining when the alternative was to end up jailed as a terrorist, but she should tell her friend to work on a smaller diameter round.”  Margaux sat all the way up and flinched at the headache. She wouldn’t be head butting anyone else for a while.

“Need help getting to the john?”

“No. At least, I hope not.” She swung her feet around and lowered herself to the floor, pushing up to stand. She listed to the left.

Nick made a move.

She held up her hand then noticed she had on a soft gray tank top and sweat pants. By the time she reached the bathroom, she felt her step get stronger. Shutting the door, she glanced at the mirror.

“So that’s why my cheek hurts.”  She had a greenish-blue bruise on the side where she’d hit the pavement. The scary hair could be fixed with a shower. She turned on the hot water and took her time in the steamy space.

Fifteen minutes later, she’d brushed her teeth and her damp hair, put on the T-shirt and jeans that had been waiting in the bathroom and looked more human than she had coming in.

She didn’t do makeup unless the job called for it.

And she no longer had a job. Not with Slye Temp.

Swallowing her pride was tough with the lump in her throat.
No whining.
This was no one’s fault but hers. She would accept whatever Sabrina handed her and thank her for it.

She stepped back into the room. No clothes to pack. No weapon to holster. To mentally prepare herself, she asked Nick, “What’s she going to do with me?”

“I’m in enough hot water for sharing intel with you.”

“Good point. Sorry, Nick. I appreciate all you did.”  The question she’d been avoiding wouldn’t wait any longer. “Any word on Dragan and his men?”

“You mean Logan?”

Guess his cover was totally blown. Thinking of him as Dragan hurt. But hearing Logan’s name made her eyes swim for a moment.

Stop thinking about him
.

That would be her goal for the next hundred years.

To find a minute that she didn’t think about Logan.

“What was the deal between you two?” Nick asked.

Guess he wasn’t going to share any intel on Logan either. She pushed a handful of hair off her face. “We go way back. I met him in France when I was still capable of caring about someone the way I felt for him. He was—” 
Sweet, loving ... special
. She cleared her throat. “He was different.”

“You don’t think you’ll feel that again?”

“Not for anyone else.”  She had to change the subject or she’d do something insane like cry. She hadn’t hurt this bad since losing Nanci. “How’d Sabrina manage to get my body away?”

“That was easy. We pulled you out down the road and blew up the ambulance.”  Nick grinned at that.

“What about the Banker? Did he make it?”

“Barely, but yes. Sabrina shot him with a tranq, too. We smeared a bloody trail to make it look like he’d been dragged off. That explained what happened to everyone else.”

Maybe Logan came out of this with the Banker. “But what did happen to him?”

“I had to hand him off to a woman who helped us find you. But he’s not going to be a problem for anyone ever again.”

Her heart sank at that. Logan had probably ended up in prison as a terrorist and his brother would die in Siberia.

She held up a hand. “Nothing is ever free. Did Sabrina have to give up anything else for me?”

“No.”

“Nobody owes a debt from this?”

“I do, but I’m looking forward to finding out what it is.”

That would sound normal coming from only one person. Nick.

He looked at his watch. “Might want to get moving. Sabrina’s waiting.”

Margaux grabbed a light jacket thrown across the bed and Nick helped her put it on. She was headed to some form of lockup, but she really didn’t care any more.

Anywhere without Logan would be a prison.

Nick kept the pace slow as they wound their way through a long hallway that looked familiar. When he stopped at a door, Margaux realized where she was. “This is the basement of Slye Temp.”

“Yep.”  He opened the door to the war room.

The room was full of agents who called out greetings and came up to hug her. Margaux fought back the surge of emotion clogging her throat. Her eyes stung, but she would not allow a tear to fall. Not even when the idea of walking away from Slye Temp was killing her. She’d done this to herself and would face the consequences with what dignity she had left.

She owed it to everyone here to make this as easy as possible.

Sabrina stood at the back of the room leaning against the wall, arms crossed. When everyone settled back into their seats, she said, “Four people were badly injured in the bombings, but no deaths. Seattle did suffer a mild earthquake.”

Margaux argued, “But he didn’t detonate the sunken charges.”

“I know.”  Sabrina walked around the long conference table as she spoke. “The Navy has a SEAL team that found the charges. It would have very likely caused a major earthquake as a minimum and a tsunami at worst. Seattle was spared a terrible disaster.”

Something to feel good about finally. Margaux had made more than her share of mistakes, but her father was wrong about her being nothing. She’d saved lives and
that
was something.

She turned to the agents. “Thank you all for what you did. There were times I didn’t deserve your support, but I got it. I won’t say I’ll never make stupid mistakes again, because we’re talking about me after all.”

They chuckled, but there were nods of appreciation around the room.

Sabrina had made it all the way to Margaux’s end of the table. She hugged her and Margaux had to blink to keep her eyes dry. She told Sabrina, “Thank you for being my friend no matter what.”

“Always.”

Then Sabrina stood back. That was the most touchy feely she had ever been that Margaux knew of. Sabrina said, “Time to hand you off.”

Margaux cut her eyes at Nick who had a noncommittal expression. Guess this was it. “Goodbye.”

“Goobyes” and “Stay out of trouble,” echoed around the room.

They all wished her well and seemed happy for her to be leaving. Really?

This sort of sucked.
No sad faces
. Margaux took a deep breath and nodded at Sabrina. “I’m ready.”

She followed Sabrina out the door and down to a private room Marguax had been in for planning sessions. Sabrina opened the door and Margaux followed, her eyes on the floor until Sabrina said, “You can do what you say, right?”

A male voice replied, “Already done.”

Margaux’s head snapped up.

Logan was standing there, shaking hands with Sabrina who turned around and told Margaux, “We’ll talk before you leave.”

She left and closed the door behind her.

Logan didn’t say a word.

Margaux’s heart was trying to beat its way out of her chest. She swallowed and found her voice. “What’s going on?”

His lips moved, but he seemed to struggle to find the right words until he finally said, “I love you, Sugar.”

She leaped into his arms and he caught her, kissing her face and hair. Tears streamed down her face. She didn’t know what was going on, but as long as she was in Logan’s arms she didn’t care.

He held her that way for a while, kissing her and whispering how glad he was to hold her again. When he lowered her back to stand, he kissed her once more with a sweetness that rocked her and cupped her face in his hands. “I watched you die. I thought I’d never get to touch you again.”

A tear ran down his cheek.

“No one will tell me what’s going on. Are you on the run or what, Logan?”

His eyes twinkled. “I owe Sabrina for helping me extract my team and for her people catching the true bombers that the Banker sent in.”

“I’m still amazed at what she and the team did.”

“She brought an army to save you.”

Margaux had never been a watering pot, but she’d also never realized how much she was loved. Everyone had come to her aid, but she’d let Logan down. The Banker was gone. “I tried to keep the Banker alive and stop him, too.”

His arms tightened around her. “You almost died trying to do that.”

“What about your brother?”

“Sabrina and I came to an agreement. Nick had to give the Banker to someone who’d fed him intel, but he got the bastard back twenty-four hours later. Sabrina and I came to an agreement when I assured her the Banker would never be able to harm anyone again and in exchange for giving me the Banker, I would give any aid to protect the US in the future. I negotiated a trade for my brother and sent the Banker to Russia with my men. They’re bringing my brother back here.”

“Yuri will be here?”

“Yes, with my mother and sisters.”

“Are
they
here? In Atlanta?” Margaux was starting to sound like an idiot.

“Not in Atlanta. There’s a lot I have to tell you.”

Her heart fell. “That’s why Sabrina gave us this time. So we could talk before I went away.”

“Oh, Sugar, I’m never going to lose you again.” He hugged her and kissed her again, longer this time.

She put her hand on his lips. “I don’t want to lose you either, but there are things you don’t know. I can’t stay with Sabrina.”

“No, you can’t. In fact, Margaux Duke doesn’t exist anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“She officially died in an ambulance back in Seattle. Fingerprints found at the Trophy Room and in Paris have vanished.”  He brushed his hand over her hair. “You don’t exist anywhere.”

“What are you saying, Logan?”

“I do occasional work for INTERPOL, special projects. I’ve built a profile for you there like mine and my men’s that will protect you in the future. But just like with the WITSEC program, you can never go home.”

“There’s nothing for me there. The Banker killed my only family. I don’t want to go back to where I grew up.”  It felt like a stampede going on in her chest. “Are you saying I can stay with you?”