“Denisovitch, the first one, Charlotte’s dad, he was the Russian Nelson set up as the terrorist out to buy the uranium from the Irish mission,” Adam explained. It had almost cost Liam his life, and it had certainly cost him his brother. “Or he was at least working with Denisovitch in order to make the threat credible. Did he assassinate his partner so he wouldn’t have to share the money? Was Mikhail in on it?”
Ian shook his head. “I don’t think so. From all the intelligence I’ve gathered over the years, Mikhail was deeply loyal to his brother. If he’s in bed with Nelson, it’s for one of two reasons. One. He doesn’t know that Nelson was the assassin who killed his brother. He believes Nelson’s story, which is very likely that Charlotte killed her own father and stole his money. Two. My intelligence is wrong and all three are in on it together.”
It wouldn’t be the first time he’d been wrong.
They all started talking at once again. It gave Ian a headache. He looked out the window that showed the office. Grace hadn’t drawn the blinds up because she needed to be able to see if someone walked into the lobby, but it also gave Ian a great view of the accounting office. Phoebe had left her blinds open, too, and there sat Charlotte with her strawberry hair flowing down her back and her eyes on Phoebe. Chelsea was glum beside her sister, her eyes on the ground. He’d expected that Phoebe would be doing what she always did, focusing on her computer and nothing else, but she was talking. Animatedly. She was smiling and gesturing around.
She reached up and pulled down a bobblehead. He’d noticed she kept a collection of bobbleheads in her office on a shelf. Harry Potter bobbleheads.
Charlie turned, her face a mask of horror as she looked out the window. Their eyes caught, and she sent him the same pleading look she used when her ass was too sore to take another single slap.
He’d thought he was punishing Charlie with silence. No. She was going to get a whole afternoon of Harry Potter talk.
Ian couldn’t help it. He let his head fall back, and he laughed. It was perfect. It was beyond any punishment he could have come up with.
Charlie put a hand on the window, her lips curling into a sad little smile before she turned back and listened to her lecture.
What the hell was he going to do with her? Ask her if she’d slept with the men she claimed to be her worst enemies? The man who was his worst enemy?
Or realize that it didn’t matter. That she could have slept with a thousand men and he would still fucking want her.
He could take her. He could make her submit. He could make sure she never strayed or did another damn criminal thing again. He would keep her barefoot and so fucking pregnant that she couldn’t even think about running from him or building another criminal enterprise.
God, he might be going insane. He needed to think, but there never seemed to be the time. He needed advice.
“Eve, what do you think about Charlie? You spent time with her in Florida. You’ve been watching her since she’s been here.”
All eyes went to Eve. “I think she’s telling you the truth. I think she loves you and she’s been working to get back to you. If you want to know what I think about Zhukov…”
He shook his head, interrupting her. He didn’t want to hear that shit. He needed to make those decisions on his own. “Don’t give me personal stuff. Tell me if I can trust her when it comes to giving me intelligence on Nelson.”
“Yes,” Eve replied. “I think she’s trying to be honest, at least with you and the people you consider family. She’s looking for a home. She was willing to die in order to save Alex, and it wasn’t because she loved Alex. She wanted to prove herself to you. I trust her with my life.”
“Sean?” He trusted Eve’s opinion, but he trusted Sean’s intuition.
Sean sighed. “If she only wanted to cause chaos, why not just show up?”
“Because I would have shot her.”
“No, my brother, you wouldn’t have. You would be in the same damn position,” Sean said, his voice holding a nauseating sympathy.
Ian held up a hand. “All right then. We have some decisions to make. I didn’t want to make them without talking to the whole team because we’re gambling here.”
“You think Nelson wants us to believe he’s staying in Russia,” Jake said. “He’s played it this way before. He wanted us to go to England. I say we don’t play into the fucker’s hands. He wants us in Russia. We go to India.”
Adam pointed to the picture. “He looks like he’s got a tan. He sure as fuck didn’t get it in Saint Petersburg. Let’s go to the beach.”
“You’re not going to the beach, mate.” Simon sat back in his chair, an almost predatory look in his eyes. Yeah, sometimes he reminded Ian why he’d hired the Brit. “I’m going. How am I going to explain the idiot? Oh, I know he’ll fit in there better than I will, but we don’t exactly look like gay lovers.”
Jesse’s eyes went wide. “Whoa. That was not part of my contract.”
Simon was overthinking this thing. “Don’t worry about cover yet. Let’s get boots on the ground and figure out what we need. Just grab some beachwear and your kits.”
“How much time do I have?” Simon asked.
“We leave as soon as the MI6 boys can get the private jet fueled. It’s all I can give you. I need eyes on the ground there. Adam, I’m going to need paperwork and visas.”
Adam nodded. “I keep a spare set for every one of us in case of emergency.”
“I’m going to call some of my contacts at the Agency and see if I can find out if they have anything on Denisovitch.” He would have to talk to Ten again to see if he was holding out on him. The Agency usually didn’t give up information until it was asked for.
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.”