Love and Let Die (Masters and Mercenaries #5)(69)

Did MI6 want to torture her or hire her?

Should she listen to a proposal?

“I can’t settle down. Not really. I thought I might be able to, but they found me really fast.” It had been a calculated risk, allowing Adam to run traces on her identity, but she hoped her uncle had relaxed his stance. It had been years and the syndicate tended to focus on business. But she’d had no luck. Her uncle was eager to kill her, and she suspected it was because Nelson had double crossed her. Of course, she’d done the same to him, so she couldn’t cry that she was innocent.

“There are always solutions to problems. Sometimes it just takes a willingness to get one’s hands dirty.” Baz set his empty bottle down on the table. “We all know the Agency doesn’t like to get blood on its hands. It would rather farm out that work to its friends. They won’t help you. They’ll deny that you’ve ever helped them.”

She’d always known that. “I didn’t expect them to give me a job recommendation.”

He shook his head. “You’re not thinking big enough. The world is changing, and women like you can make a place for yourself.”

“I think Charlie doesn’t know her place at all.” Ian was standing in the doorway, his broad frame dominating the space. “I asked you to go to bed.”

“You told me to go to bed,” she corrected. “I thought I should find out if I was going to be catching a plane tomorrow.”

He frowned, shaking his head as though she’d said something a little crazy. “No. I’ve worked something out with Damon. I told you I would.”

Damon Knight good-naturedly shoved his way past Ian, joining his partner on the couch. Unlike Baz, he had a glass of Scotch. “You’re going to give me everything you have. I mean every single hard drive you own.”

“What?”

Ian’s face was a stony mask. “You’re getting out of the business.”

She let the words settle over her because they didn’t make a lick of sense for a few moments. “You made this decision?”

“Yes.”

The arrogance of the man astounded her. She stood, unwilling to sit while he loomed over her. “I won’t do it.”

She would rather go with Knight back to England and take her chances there. At least Chelsea would have some protection.

He stepped up, invading her space. “You f*cking well will. Adam is going to your place to get the computers tonight.”

“You can’t do that.” She clenched her fists, angry tears in her eyes. What the hell was he thinking? How could he do this to her? To Chelsea? “We need that information.”

It was their protection, a wall against the world. It was the only thing they had.

“No, you don’t. You’re out of the business from now on. The money you stole or made from selling information is going to be divided between MI6 and the Agency, and it goes straight into their anti-terrorism budgets.”

“What?” It came out as an angry screech. She couldn’t run without money. She couldn’t hide. Panic threatened to overtake her.

Ian’s hand came out, gripping her arm. He looked over at the Brit crew. “We’ll take this discussion to the bedroom. Chelsea is in one of the upstairs rooms. Alex and Eve are bedding down in the dungeon. You two can fight over the last bedroom. Don’t hurt each other, though. It’s got something called a daybed that won’t actually fit either one of you. The other one can take the couch. I don’t give a shit.”

He started hauling her out of the living room.

“Ian, this is not happening.” She wasn’t going to allow him to take every bit of protection she had.

“It is. If you’re worried that Adam could get hurt by your security system, you should know he’s already disabled it. He’ll move the money in the morning, after the Agency has signed off on the deal.”

“What f*cking deal?”

He stopped, turning her toward him. “The one that keeps you out of prison. The one that just might give you something of a normal life.”

“I don’t get a normal life, Ian. If you take away my ability to make deals and move easily, you’re sentencing me to death. It’s not just the CIA and MI6 who want me. Have you cut a deal with my uncle?”

He didn’t seem to have an answer for that.

“No, you haven’t because he wouldn’t take a deal. Not one that doesn’t include my head in a box on his desk. So I have to come to the conclusion that you’re really protecting your own ass and giving me up.” She hated the fact that tears were running down her cheeks, but she couldn’t help it. “Is this what you wanted, Ian? Do you want to know that I’m dead because you took away everything that could have protected me? Is that going to make you feel better?”

How could she have misjudged him so badly?

He took her by the shoulders. They were still in the hallway, not far from the Brits. “I’m trying to protect you, Charlotte. I’m trying to protect my people, too. Do you want a shootout? Because every single one of my people will try to protect you. They’ll kill or die trying to keep you safe. Is that what you want? Because we can start a war.”

With MI6 and then very likely with the Agency. She hadn’t thought about anything except getting back in his arms. She hadn’t thought about what it would cost them all. “No. Just let me go with them and it can be done.”