Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
“No,” he admitted. “But I do now.”
“I just want him to pay, Falcon,” I said.
“I know. And I do too. My entire unit does. But there are factors at play in this mission that preclude us from bringing him in.”
It was a reminder that Falcon was still holding details back from me which should have made me feel a little relief since I was definitely holding things back from him. Like the fact I now knew the crown wasn’t on the yacht.
But I couldn’t tell him that without telling him how I found out, and that would definitely result in him taking me off the op.
Falcon got to work shampooing both of us while I grabbed the bar of soap. He continued where I left off. “King, you have to understand how much it bothers me that we can’t nail Elek for the crown theft in the process. I mean, why not take out one of the most prolific art thieves in modern history while we have the chance? I’m sure he has other stolen works in his yacht and home. We could always nail him for one of those. But I’m forbidden from doing it.”
It wasn’t easy listening to him talk about nailing an art thief, but I understood his point.
“It’s fine. If he got turned over, he’d take me with him,” I reminded him softly. But it really wasn’t fine.
Falcon leaned in and kissed me hard instead of saying anything. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or bad, but as long as his mouth was on mine, I didn’t much care either way.
But time was running out, and it was time to get this job done.
After racing through the rest of our shower and dressing in our very different outfits for the night, we stole one last kiss before it was time to leave the sanctuary of our shared bedroom.
I wouldn’t be coming back here. And we would no longer be sharing one of these beds.
Falcon’s eyes broadcast a million messages, but his mouth only offered one.
“Be safe.”
“You too. Don’t underestimate him, Falcon. Please.”
His thumb came up to smooth a line along my cheek. “My job is easy. You’re the one in danger. Promise me if you come up against something… don’t… don’t take the risk. We can try again another time.”
“You know that’s not true,” I said gently. “But I know what I’m doing. This is what I’m good at. Trust me.”
He didn’t say the words I wanted to hear. I do trust you. But then again, I didn’t say them either.
By the time we met the team in the kitchen, I was ready to get a move on. All I wanted was to ruin Elek Kemény’s night and present Falcon with the proof I could deliver the goods. He already knew that, obviously, but I wanted to come through for him. I wanted to help him impress his team and his boss in hopes it would go a small way toward making up for all the ways my previous jobs had screwed him over.
Ziv, Linney, and I took the loaded van and headed toward the marina, leaving Falcon and Mouse to entertain their guests. When we left, the caterers were setting out food and Falcon was doing his best to distract Mouse with funny stories about his early days in the FBI. Since the caterers were there and could overhear them, Falcon kept couching the stories as “this movie I saw” which, for some reason, cracked me up. The stories were cracking Mouse up too, so it was a job well done.
Meanwhile, ours was not.
After dropping into the water, making my way to the right slip, getting an expected message over comms that there was no security personnel on the yacht for me to worry about, I climbed aboard and let myself in easily.
Just as I had discovered earlier, there was no crown.
When I got back to the van after a thorough search, I changed out of the gear and into dry clothes.
“What now?” Linney asked.
Ziv and I locked eyes. I could tell he knew what I was going to say before I said it.
“We go to his house.”
23
Falcon
When Elek still hadn’t arrived twenty minutes after the time we’d agreed on, I began to worry. We had a small camera placed near his driveway to record comings and goings, but our receivers and monitors were in the van with Linney. Hopefully she was way too preoccupied with watching King’s back to worry about how late Elek was to dinner.
Finally, when half an hour had passed, the Hungarian and his date arrived. I tried not to think of how crazy it was that a pair of undercover American agents were hosting an undercover Greek intelligence agent for dinner in his own country. It had occurred to me the night before that this agent could very well be aware of who I was the same way I’d discovered who he was. But it was way less probable, so I didn’t spend too much time worrying about it.