“And you, Solo.” Damon sat back as though waiting for the sparks to fly. “I want to say thank you for everything you did for the lads. I suspect you’re the only reason we’re here today, too. I appreciate it all.”
At least one person appreciated her. No. That wasn’t fair, and she wasn’t going to give into pessimism. Ian Taggart had called her, too. He’d thanked her and told her if she ever needed a job, she would be welcome in Dallas. It was a tempting offer, but she couldn’t do it. “I’m glad it worked out. But I’ve got to admit they’ve been stonewalling me about that drive. I tried to go back to DC to help analyze the data and I was told to stay here in London to liaise with MI6. I think someone convinced the big bosses that I’m too close to the subject. I have to wonder if that was you, Beck.”
She called him Beck because he’d told her it didn’t sound right when she called him Ezra. They’d been in the English countryside, and for a moment she’d thought that they might still have a spark between them.
Then he’d chosen his job over her. Like she’d been forced to do. She didn’t blame him. He’d needed to get Tucker and Levi Green to Paris, and she would never have allowed him to do that. So he’d started a fight knowing damn well as long as he was paying her any kind of attention she wouldn’t notice Tucker slipping away with the prisoner she’d vowed to guard.
Everything Ari had said sat on her chest. Being around her hurt him, hurt her. He wasn’t ever going to forgive her, and if he found out the truth, well, he might take their fight to an actual physical level.
At this point, they’d been divorced for far longer than they’d been married. Why couldn’t she move on?
He frowned her way. “No. Why would I try to put you on the outside? We kind of need you on the inside. Are you telling me you haven’t seen the report?”
He had needed her. She should remember that. She’d gone into this mission working for very powerful people—the president and his closest advisors. President Zack Hayes had been working around certain forces in the CIA, and that had given her leeway the Lost Boys had needed quite badly.
It was the only reason Beck had been willing to put up with her. Now that she’d done her job, those same CIA bosses who would have made things hard had taken over the case. At least she thought they had. She’d been sidelined, and that worried her.
Not that she would show Beck and Damon.
Damon’s focus lasered in on her. “Who is running the op now?”
She shrugged. “No idea. I suppose it’s one of the big guys. I’ll find out when they walk through the door.”
Then she would know where her place was. She would know if she’d traded every bit of her position at the Agency to help a man who couldn’t stand to be in the same room with her. She’d known the big bosses would be upset that she’d gone straight to the president, but she’d hoped once they got the real data, the true story, she’d be vindicated.
The truth was she’d started down this path to get closer to Beck, but she’d continued because she’d come to care about those men—Jax, Owen, Robert, Tucker, and Sasha. She’d done the best she could, and she feared she was about to be demoted for it.
“Kim, whose name is on that list?” Beck’s voice had gone low and he glanced back at the door like he was afraid of who would walk through it.
She knew that tone. It was the tone Beck used right before the bullets started flying. It was his instincts kicking in. “What do you mean?”
She was watching Beck’s ridiculously handsome face when she heard the doors open and saw his eyes flare in obvious shock. Her gut tightened and she turned. Her breath caught in her chest because the last person she’d expected to see strode confidently through the door.
Of course the reason he was the last person she’d expected was the fact that the last time she’d seen Levi Green he’d been in custody. He was supposed to be in a holding cell somewhere until the bosses decided how to punish him.
Levi Green. He’d been her “friend” once. He’d been someone she’d trusted, and he’d turned on her. He’d become obsessed with her. She was a possession in his eyes, a trophy to be claimed, and he didn’t like the fact that she’d rejected his romantic interest.
Her mind started to whirl with the possibilities. He was leading the small group. She recognized some of them, and they were strictly muscle. Levi was obviously in charge, so things had changed, and this was exactly why she’d been sidelined.
Levi was dressed in a dark, three-piece suit, his hair tumbling over his brow in a way that looked casual but had likely taken him an hour and plenty of hair gel to achieve. He was wearing thousand-dollar loafers and a tie that probably cost more than everything Beck was wearing combined.
He was dressed to be seen, dressed to impress. She’d seen him dress for a date less carefully than he was now. Levi was all about image, and that suit screamed power. He wasn’t in a cell anymore.
He was in charge and something had gone so very wrong.
Oh, god. Her brain went over everything that had happened in the last few weeks. They’d discovered Levi had been working
