"Or the man she needs," Alyssa murmured, her gaze catching Marty's. "Stop holding back, Marty. You keep waiting for him to come to you, and we all know Khalid has a will of steel. He can control himself with exemplary strength. But he can't control you. You're your own ace in the hole."
"Damn, she's good." Courtney sat back and looked at Alyssa in admiration. "Aly, I want to be you when I grow up."
"You'll never grow up," Alyssa shot back, her expression never shifting, as she flicked a look Courtney's way. "You're frickin' Peter Pan."
"Well, if I ever do." Courtney shrugged with a laugh. "But I do believe you've pinpointed Marty's problem."
"Of course I have," Alyssa responded archly, as she sat back and straightened her dress. "She's always watching and waiting. Khalid's always standing back and finding other things to distract him, simply because he's a man. If she wants him, then she's going to have to stop worrying about getting hurt and throw herself into the ring."
Marty turned and found Khalid in the crowd once again. He was at a table with two other men. She knew those men. Sebastian De-Lorents, a Spaniard and one of the newest members of the social set Marty had been raised in.
If she wasn't mistaken, he used to work for Interpol and was now the new manager of Ian Sinclair's club and had been a friend of Courtney's for years. However, it was the man sitting with them who had her gaze narrowing. Shayne Connor was an undercover CIA agent who worked out of the Middle East and often infiltrated terrorist cells known to be moving into the United States.
He was a deep-cover agent, and a very dangerous one. A man that even the FBI was often wary of when working with him. Her question was, what the hell was he doing in Alexandria with Khalid and Sebastian?
"Interesting," Alyssa murmured at her side. "Now what makes you think those three are not discussing the latest stock reports?"
Marty almost snorted at that one. Each man's expression was carefully composed as they spoke. They appeared relaxed; they even smiled; but there was something about their eyes, about the tense set of their bodies that told another story.
"Shayne Connor," Courtney stated, her voice low. "I haven't seen him in years."
"You know him?" Marty's gaze swung to her friend.
Courtney nodded. "He and Bastian partied extensively in Europe and especially in Spain for a while. Shayne's family disowned him, you know, though a sizable inheritance from his American grandfather allowed him to maintain the lifestyle he had been raised in."
"Disowned him?" Marty's brow arched. This was a story she hadn't yet heard on the ever elusive Shayne. "Why?"
Courtney turned back to her, a hint of worry in her gaze now, before she breathed out roughly. "For his suspected involvement in a bombing in Spain. Bastian never believed he was involved, but his parents are very rigid. They threw him out of their home and publicly disowned him. It destroyed him. Shayne spent several years trying to exonerate himself before he simply disappeared."
He hadn't disappeared; he had been recruited, instead. She'd known he was born of a Spanish father and an American mother, and that they were considered wealthy. She'd never heard he'd been disowned, however.
"He and Sebastian are friends, then?" Alyssa asked, her normally quiet gaze glinting with the barest hint of curiosity.
"They were very close as boys, I know." Courtney shrugged as she and Alyssa sat back, their attention shifting between the three men. "Even as young men they were more like brothers before Shayne was sent away by his parents. I saw him only a few times after that."
Marty kept the three men in her peripheral vision. Interesting. An undercover FBI asset, a CIA operative, and a former undercover Interpol agent. What did the three have in common besides friendship?
It could be a chance meeting, she thought. Sebastian was friends with Shayne, just as he was with Khalid. This was a very popular establishment. It wouldn't be a surprise that the three would come together. Unless you knew for a fact that two of them had ties to information and resources that placed them squarely in some very dangerous situations.
Finishing her drink, Marty wiped her lips with her napkin before collecting her purse from beside her plate and smiling at her friends.
"I'm heading home," she told them. "It's been a long day for me."
"Already?" Courtney pouted. "I was hoping we could have a few more drinks before we left."
"Not tonight." Marty shook her head. "I'm driving. But next time, I promise."
"She's being a spoilsport, Aly." Courtney turned to Alyssa. "Do something about her."
Alyssa shook her head as a smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "She's not the only one who needs to make an early night of it," she said. "I need to head home as well. Perhaps next time."
"You're both going to give me a bad reputation if I begin arriving home before midnight," Courtney stated ruefully. "Ian may begin to believe I'm actually settling down."
"I'm sure you can convince him otherwise." Rising to her feet, Marty gave the other two women a little wave before moving from the balcony and heading along the wide hall to the stairs. As she left the restaurant she noticed that Khalid was no longer at his table.
She needed to get home to her computer, from which she could pull up the information she needed on the three men. There was a connection among them; there had to be. Despite appearances, those three should not be together, for the simple reason that they all had something to lose if the wrong people saw them together. Someone like Deerfield, or one of his agents.
Shayne Connor might be an agent, but only a few within the FBI knew that. The operation that had brought her in contact with him had necessitated her keeping his true purpose for being there a secret. He was a valuable contact to have, and one she didn't want to cross.
Making her way from the club Marty strode along the sidewalk to the parking lot, preferring to walk rather than use the valet.
Shadows stretched along the area despite the lights that surrounded it. Customers milled around as they chatted and moved to and from the restaurant. No one appeared interested in anything other than their own concerns. No one paid attention to the lone woman walking through the parking lot until she neared her car.