Love and Let Die (Masters and Mercenaries #5)(28)

And Derek was smarter than the average cop. Still. He had to give it a shot. He finished off his donut and took a nice swig of coffee. “Oh, that? Yeah, I was down there. Some * needs to get his exhaust checked. Freaked the hell out of the tourists.”

Derek frowned. “Really? Just the tourists? Because I’ve been doing this for longer than the beat cops and I managed to notice that the shop across the street has CCTV and one of them is pointed this way. Guess what I saw?”

Mother flying f*cker. He was going to crucify someone. “No idea.”

“I saw you, big guy. I saw you figure out what was going to happen about two seconds before it did. What did you see? Glint off the window? Somehow I’m thinking that didn’t come from a f*cking exhaust problem, Tag.”

He was screwed. Or maybe not. Brighton was a reasonable man. “Why aren’t the cops swarming me right now?”

“Because the last thing this city needs is a terrorist threat,” Brighton said, his shoulders relaxing slightly.

“I don’t think it’s a terrorist threat,” Alex said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“So who did Ian piss off? Is the CIA finally moving past burning him to actually killing him?” Derek asked.

“I didn’t get burned.” Television was going to be the death of the intelligence officer. “I walked away.”

He had gotten burned. Just not by the Agency. Charlie had burned the holy f*ck out of him. She’d burned so hot he couldn’t help but get singed.

“We have it under control,” Alex said.

“I need more than a reassurance.” Derek was unmoved, his square jaw tightening. “I need to know what’s going on. Were they gunning for Ian? Will they try again?”

This should be the point at which he would turn Charlie over to the DPD and let them deal with her. She would be out of his hair. He wouldn’t have to see her again. She was right in his office and all he had to do was walk Derek down the hall and explain that she was very likely on several Most Wanted lists. He grabbed another donut. He was going to have to hit the gym.

“What’s wrong with him?” Derek asked.

“He’s thinking.” Alex knew him really well. “He’s plotting some shit out in his head, and I have to really, really hope that he does the right f*cking thing here.”

Well, he knew what Alex wanted. He sighed. He wasn’t going to be rushed. Fuck, that tasted good. The combination of tart and sweet and the bitter of the excellent coffee was practically perfect.

Of course, if he gave her up, she would be taken into custody and very likely dead in the next twenty-four hours, and not in the “come back in five years” kind of way.

That was bad, how? He could let her go and find his dream sub—a hot little sub who never questioned him and cooked better than Sean and deeply enjoyed anal. He didn’t know if Charlie liked anal. She probably would if he did it. He was really f*cking good at it. But he wasn’t going to do it.

Eli Nelson would be happy if she died. Well, Nelson would be happy if he believed Charlie’s bullshit story about screwing him over. Could he totally discount it? He didn’t want to ever make Nelson happy. Therefore he couldn’t turn Charlie in.

Decision made.

“Eli Nelson is gunning for me.”

Alex let loose a long breath of relief. “I was worried you wouldn’t tell the truth.”

Ian shrugged. “I’m practically George f*cking Washington. I cannot tell a lie.”

Derek’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah, sure. Am I looking at a sniper running around Dallas?”

Likely not. At least that he could be honest about. “You know how the pros are. They take their shot and then they dive deep. The last thing they want is a city on the edge. I’ll be on guard, and Simon and Adam are already working on figuring out who Nelson hired. We’ll take care of it. All you do if you bring the force into it is cause yourself and the city a mega shit ton of problems. Oh, and if you want the national media focused on every little problem the DPD has, you could call this a random sniper attack. It’s not. It’s about me, and that means it’s going to end up being classified. Save yourself and the city a whole lot of trouble. It was a car backfiring.”

Derek cursed under his breath. “Fine. But I f*cking swear I will have your guts if you’re lying to me and there’s another attack. My ass is on the line here, Tag.”

“So is mine and I can protect it better if we keep this quiet.”

Derek nodded and started for the door. “I’ll leave it be for now. I’m informing my CO.” Derek often slipped into military lingo. “But he’ll be okay with it. By the way, who’s the girl?”

“The girl?” Damn it. He didn’t need Derek looking into her.

“The female you protected,” Derek prompted.

Alex snorted a little. “Ian took a new sub.”

That motherf*cker. Ian forced a grin on his face. “Hot little thing. Though I worry she might get scared off. You know, after today. She’ll probably be gone tomorrow. You know how women can be. One little attempted murder and they’re on to the next guy.”

Alex shook his head. “Nah, she’s made of sterner stuff than that. You should meet her, Derek. She’ll be at Sanctum tonight.”

“All right,” Derek said. “I’ll look forward to seeing her tonight. I’m alone so watching the big guy get taken down by a sub might make my day worthwhile.”