“He liked them dumb and loyal, huh?” Knight asked.
Charlie nodded. “Yes.” Dusan was actually one of the only cousins she could stand to be around for more than three minutes. “He didn’t have a high profile when I was living in Russia. My uncle must have put him in charge of a group after I got out. You said he was working the pipeline?”
Ian nodded. “That’s what we’ve figured out. They steal crude straight from the pipeline.”
She knew how the scam worked. “But they would need a finger man. Uhm, a man who works for the oil company who can tell them when the coast is clear, so to speak. The government has been trying to crack down on that kind of thing. Most of the oil companies take security seriously, so he would have to have someone on the inside or he would have to be negotiating with someone who was already there. It’s how they dealt with all the hijacking stuff.”
Chelsea popped up over Charlie’s seatback. “Our father particularly enjoyed hijacking aid and relief packages. He stole everything from antimalarials to AIDS drugs to vaccines for babies. He would sell them on the black market. Such a lovely man.”
Baz was suddenly behind Knight. “We’ve got the go-ahead. If we’re all here, I’m ready to take off.”
Knight nodded, turning away.
“Give it another minute or two. We have one more passenger.” Simon glanced out the window to his right. “Here he comes now.”
Ian stood. “What the hell? Did the Agency send someone else?”
“Nope. I have no idea who it is.” Ten held his hands up. “As far as I know, I’m on my own.”
“You might be, but Tag is not,” Simon said as a shadow fell over the front of the plane.
A man entered, the sun behind him making it hard to see him for a moment.
Sean Taggart had a duffel bag in one hand and a ball cap on his head. “I have my knife kit. If it gets taken by some security fuckers, you’re buying me a new one, brother.”
Sean had come for his brother. She couldn’t help but love him for it. The fact that Ian would have backup that he absolutely, one hundred percent trusted warmed her.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Ian sent a terrific frown his brother’s way. “You’re supposed to be watching out for Grace and your daughter.”
Sean sobered. “Grace and Carys are perfectly safe and you know it.” He was tight-lipped as he looked around the cabin. He obviously wasn’t going to talk freely until he and his brother were alone. “And someone has to watch out for you.”
“In the back. Now.” Ian looked down at her. “Don’t you move.”
She glanced around the small cabin. “Where would I go?”
“We leave in five minutes, Taggart. You should get your family situation sorted,” Baz said before disappearing back into the cockpit.
Ian stalked off followed by his brother. Charlie was left with Ten.
“Now, darlin’,” he said, switching to sit next to her. “Whatever are we going to do on this very long flight?”
“Tag is going to kill you,” Knight said with a shake of his head as he left to join his partner.
Gorgeous lips turned down in a sulky frown. Tennessee Smith likely wouldn’t have to kill often. He would just seduce the information out of his victims. “It might be worth it. Besides, I’m not so bad myself. Don’t discount me just because the packaging is so damn pretty. Maybe I can take Tag down. I’m just wondering why he would hide such a lovely wife. I wouldn’t hide you, honey. You were obviously meant to be shown off.”
“Ian didn’t hide me. I faked my own death and then spent the next five years working my way back to him. He’s my Master and my husband, and if you think I won’t shoot your balls off if you try to touch me, then you haven’t worked up a proper profile on me.” She gave him a smile and couldn’t miss the fact that Simon was covering a laugh.
Ten might be gorgeous, but he had nothing on Ian.
“You can’t blame a guy for trying. It’s a long flight and I don’t read magazines.” He turned his chair around. “How about you, sweetheart? Why don’t you come sit on old Ten’s lap and we can talk about all the things we can do at thirty thousand feet.”
“Touch her and I’ll kill you,” Simon said. “If you need some relief, Yank, I suggest you have a wank in the loo.”
Chelsea faced forward in her seat, her shoulders up around her ears.
Ten glanced Charlie’s way, sitting back in his chair and giving her a little wink.
Yes, it was going to be a very long flight.
* * * *
“What the hell is going on, Sean?” Ian closed the small curtain that separated the cabin from the kitchen.
If Sean was intimidated by his very dark voice, he didn’t show it. It sucked because it was the same voice he used to use on his kid brother to get him to do his damn homework. No one was intimidated by him anymore.
“It’s time to kill Nelson. I’m coming with you.” Sean set down his bag. “Everyone has scattered. Li and Avery are going to our safe house on the East Coast and Jake and Adam are taking Serena, Grace, and Carys to the west. Alex and Eve are headed to Canada.”
Sean was smart enough to not say more. Ian didn’t care that Ten had watched his back on multiple occasions or that Damon Knight had been one of his mentors when he first started working. No one needed to know the locations of his team. No one. Alex and Eve were making their way to Toronto where they would fly to Saint Petersburg on Canadian passports and visas that allowed them to sight-see. They would report back on Denisovitch’s movements.
But he’d meant to keep his brother out of this. “You can’t come with me. You have a kid.”
“And you have a wife. I don’t see what the problem is, brother. Grace has always known that if you went after Nelson, I would go with you.”
“She’s not my wife. Not really.” But the words sounded stubborn and dumb even to him.
His baby brother’s eyes rolled in frustration. “You can keep saying it but I hope like hell you wake up before all this is over. Nothing you say is going to get me off this plane. Adam worked up my visa and I managed to get a bunch of shots. What’s up with that? Can’t Nelson pick a country with less contagions?”
He didn’t have time for Sean’s complaints. “I can have you hauled off this plane.”