Alex looked over at his bride. “Hey, baby, what do you say we take that honeymoon somewhere a little colder than Hawaii?”

Sometimes Alex could read his mind. “Damn, man, I’m not asking you to do that.”

“But you would feel better if I went to Russia and got us some surveillance on Charlotte’s uncle. I don’t like the fact that your worst enemy is potentially conspiring with hers. It could mean bad shit for two people I care about,” Alex replied.

“And I’ve always wanted to see the Amber Room.” Eve smiled steadily. “I’ve heard they have beautiful churches as well.”

“You need visas, too.” Was he really going to let them go to Russia? Alex was a brilliant agent, but he’d worked in the FBI, not the CIA. “No. This is stupid. You don’t speak Russian.”

Alex shrugged. “We don’t need to. We’re tourists.”

Eve smoothed back her hair. “My grandfather was from Russia. I’ve always wanted to see the motherland.”

“I have a friend at the consulate,” Adam said.

Jake slipped a low five. “Magda. Yeah, she was a good friend.”

Adam’s brow furrowed. “Don’t ever let Serena know.”

“You’re afraid your wife would be pissed about a Russian hookup?” Simon asked.

Jake groaned. “No. Magda was in good with a Ukrainian syndicate. They’re in direct competition with Denisovitch. She’ll help us fuck with them. Do you know what Serena would do if she found out we know real Russian mobsters? She would never stop asking questions. She would want us to take her to the Ukraine and meet with them. Can you see that meeting?”

Adam went a little green. “I have nightmares about it.”

“Are you sure you want to do this? We could just stay out of his business.” Grace spoke for the first time. Her hands were in her lap, tightening around each other.

He reached out to his sister-in-law because Sean wasn’t here. It was something he wouldn’t have even thought about doing before, but Grace was his family. He was going soft. “Grace, he won’t let it lie. Those pictures are proof. He wants us to see him. He’s got something in mind. We have to figure it out.”

“Little one, Ian’s right,” Sean said, his voice low and sweet toward his wife. “He won’t let this go. We’ve hurt him too much. He can’t let up and neither can we. This is a game only one group can win. We have to make sure we take him out.”

“I want to do something,” Jake said.

“Take care of your wife.” He wasn’t about to put Jake in the field when Serena was pregnant. Adam was safe enough behind his computer. He could still do his job.

“You can’t keep me out of the field forever,” Jake shot back. “Serena knew what she was getting into when she married me. She knew what my job was.”

Ian held out a hand. He couldn’t stand the thought of that baby Serena was carrying being down a dad. “Just let me get used to it, man. I’ve got what I need for now. If something else comes up, I’ll send you in the line of fire, okay?”

“All right. I just want to take this fucker down, you know.”

“I want him dead more than anything.” His eyes trailed toward Charlie’s frame. Phoebe was still talking and she had a Hermione doll in her hand. Maybe he didn’t want Nelson dead more than absolutely anything.

There was something he wanted so much more. He just wasn’t sure he should have it.

“So we’re all good?” Alex asked, getting to his feet. “Because I have some packing to do. And a camera to buy. I’m going to expense that shit.”

“He’s had his eye on a telephoto lens,” Eve said.

So it would be an expensive op. He was willing to pay just about anything if he could get rid of the threat. If he could get rid of both Nelson and Denisovitch, he could figure out what he really wanted. He could figure out how to deal with Charlie. He could decide if he could really forgive her.

Liam walked into the room, his eyes a little wild. Something had happened and it didn’t look good. “Adam, I need your help.”

Ian got to his feet. “What happened?”

Liam’s hands were shaking. “There was an accident. Avery’s car. It’s very bad.”

Ian felt his stomach twist. His day wasn’t done. Not even close.


* * * *


Eli Nelson looked through the binoculars. Kashmir Kamdar was on his boat, anchored in a particularly beautiful section of Goa. His own small island nation was roughly twenty miles to the west, but King Kash, as they called him in the tabloids, didn’t have to be in his kingdom to hold court. He seemed to be on a perpetual vacation.

Three buxom blondes in barely there bikinis were frolicking on the starboard side of the ridiculous yacht.

He hated the little fucker. He hadn’t done a damn thing to deserve his wealth except have the very good fortune to be born well. At least Taggart had made his way in the world. Taggart had been past dirt poor before.

He wondered if Taggart knew why his father had left him behind. He’d done a study of Taggart a long time before. He wondered if Taggart knew his father had walked away and started a whole other family after he’d finally gotten off the drugs. It was a fleeting thought. He didn’t really care, but it was interesting given his current surveillance. King Kash had everything handed to him while Taggart had scrapped and fought to put food in his mewling brother’s mouth. Taggart had two more brothers he didn’t even know existed. Apparently the Taggart DNA ran true. Despite the fact that their father was a pussy retail clerk, the twin brothers Ian didn’t know about were more like him than their father. Both had joined the Navy because their papa couldn’t pay for college and both were up for BUD/S training this year. Nelson had thought seriously about trying to recruit those two. It would be so much fun to have a couple of Taggarts on his side.

If only Tag had proven to be a bit more morally flexible, Nelson would have introduced him to his friends. Tag would have been an unbelievably effective agent if he hadn’t had that morality. He was certain it was brought on by Tag’s family.

It was better to be alone.

Not that Kash seemed to believe that. The young king seemed to think he should never be alone. The fucker was always shoving his dick into some blonde.

When he wasn’t funding research Nelson’s bosses wanted quashed.

Kash passed a glass of wine to his latest Swedish supermodel and then turned his face up to the sun. It was something he did often. The idiot turned his face up, his arms going out as though he was embracing the whole world.

When Nelson got the go-ahead, he would put a bullet straight through the fucker’s chest.

The door to the cabin opened and one of Kash’s many servants brought him a phone on a silver platter. The man was dressed in a tux and tails and bowed to the master of the boat.

God, he couldn’t wait to kill him. Nelson had a plan in place. Kamdar was such an over-privileged asshole. But he was also an asshole who had information Nelson needed. He touched the earpiece in his right ear. Mostly his surveillance had consisted of listening to the king fuck a long string of blondes. The man had stamina.

“Hello?”

Nelson’s whole body tightened. When the king of Loa Mali spoke English, it meant he was talking to one of his scientists.

There was a long pause on the line, and Nelson cursed the fact that he’d only been able to bug the boat and not the king’s phone. Kash was a paranoid bastard who switched his cell phones on a weekly basis. And he kept three different phones for different types of people. One for his hookups. One for his family.

And one for the people he kept on his island, paying them handsomely for what he merely called “research” in his bookkeeping accounts.

Nelson’s bosses were interested in that research.

Through the binoculars, he saw Kash’s smile go wide. “Are you serious?”

Another long pause and Nelson’s whole body went tight with frustration. God, he needed to get more than one man in Kash’s household. The only one he’d managed to blackmail spent almost all his time in the garage of the boat, and there was no reason for him to be close to the king except when he piloted him to shore. Every single person who was really close to the king, down to the dude who probably wiped his ass, were Loa Malian. He hadn’t been able to bribe a one of them because Kash, like his father and his father’s father, spread the fucking wealth around. First it had been about the pearl trade and the rich minerals found on the small island that was home to roughly 40,000 inhabitants. Then the fuckers found oil in their territorial waters and the Kamdars shared the wealth with the citizenry, ensuring that things like democracy and forward progress had no place on their little island.

During the ‘90s, the former king became fascinated with technology, buying large chunks of stock in companies that were changing the world. He also completely changed Loa Mali’s infrastructure, making it one of the most high-tech countries on the planet.

Now Kash Kamdar was the king and it seemed like he wanted to change the world as well.

Too bad Nelson and his bosses were happy with the world the way it was.

“Are you serious? It holds there?” A loopy grin hit the king’s face. “Are we ready to move into testing?”

Shit and double shit. He needed to hear the other end of that conversation. Or maybe not. Maybe the ridiculous look on Kamdar’s face was all he needed to know. They were moving faster than he’d anticipated.

He needed to get to the oil rig where he suspected Kamdar kept his lab and start blowing shit up.

His cell buzzed, a text coming through.

Operations commenced. Expect successful termination of all players within three days. Avery O’Donnell already confirmed dead.