You Only Love Twice (Masters and Mercenaries #8)(113)

If Phoebe was running an Agency team, she would hire Erin in a heartbeat. “We have to figure out where to look. We can’t just start blind. What do we know about al Fareed?”

“One brother is still here. He’s at the conference according to Kamdar’s guys. It’s the older brother, Ibrahim. No sign of Hani.”

“That tells us nothing except they’re trying to keep up appearances.” Phoebe started to pace, her mind revving up. “Although if they’re smart, Hani will make an appearance, too.”

“He’s set to give a speech this evening. It would be news if he missed it.”

This was good. “He won’t. He’s too smart to skip that meeting. It gives him an alibi. So they’re potentially holding Jesse somewhere in Dubai. They’re set to go back to Saudi tomorrow afternoon. They need everything to go according to plan. They won’t take Jesse on that plane. They have to expect we’ll look for him.”

“I think they expect we’re all going home. At least the Agency types are going home. Do you think the Agency knows about me and Si?”

“Probably. I don’t know. Ten wouldn’t have told them. So how did they know?”

“Unless they have an operative here themselves.”

“Ten would have known.”

Erin stared at her, disbelief plain in her eyes. “I don’t think Tennessee is in the Agency loop anymore. You ask me, they’re going to take him down.”

“He still has friends there. He would have known if there was another team working this conference.” But there were other options. “He might not know if someone inside the Agency is feeding a civilian party information.”

“Another mole?”

Phoebe didn’t think so. “Al Fareed had to have had a contact. If he wasn’t Agency, then he’s likely someone connected politically.”

“I hate the spy shit. Give me someone to shoot any day of the week.” Erin sighed as she looked around the bedroom. “You and Murdoch do it on the couch?”

“No. Why is that any of your business?”

She sank down and spread out. “Because I do my best thinking sitting down, but I don’t want to get gross stuff all over me.”

Finally she could get the tiniest bit of revenge. “Oh, in that case, I totally lied to spare myself the embarrassment of admitting we did it everywhere. Bed, bathroom, shower, against the window that now has a gaping hole in it. And definitely on that couch.”

Erin popped back up and flipped her the finger. “You suck, Grant.”

“Yes,” she agreed. “I did that, too.” There wouldn’t be an inch of that hotel she wouldn’t associate with Jesse.

Not an inch. Or a room. She would remember the ballroom where she’d had to save him. It was the first time she’d really realized that she had something to give him past a few nights in bed. He’d needed her. If only she’d been a little quicker in getting rid of that douchebag…

The douchebag who claimed he was a spy. The best lies always had a grain of truth.

“Where’s the senator? More importantly, where’s his aide?”

“You talking about the asshat we tagged the other night?”

She’d forgotten about him in her haste to find al Fareed. “There’s a connection I’m not making here and it runs back further than we thought. We’ve always known The Collective had politicians in their pockets.”

Erin strode to the bathroom, turning on the water and scrubbing her hands. “I think I need to change clothes.”

“Are you OCD?”

She shrugged. “A little. I don’t like germs. They’re like predators waiting to take us down. The flu is like a battle in your own body and god, I hate mucus.”

“Pay attention, soldier. Eli Nelson worked for The Collective, more specifically, he worked against anything that might have disrupted big oil interests.” The pattern was suddenly right there. Oh, it was circumstantial, but she’d learned that the rules tended to apply to most mysteries, no matter what Hollywood’s twisty-turny movies would say. The easiest path between two points was a direct line.

She could draw that line. She just needed one little piece of information to make it all click.

Without another word to Erin, she walked out of the bedroom. The living area was a hum of activity. Simon and Hutch were both at laptops. Theo was moving luggage into the hallway, and Ten was on his cell.

“We have a situation. I explained that to you, you little piece of shit bureaucrat. Get me to the director. I don’t care what time it is.” Ten grimaced and brought the phone back down. “They won’t put me through.”

Theo stacked their equipment. “That’s not a good sign.”

Ten turned and his face softened when he saw her. “Hey. Why don’t you go lie down for a while, sweetheart? I’ll tell you if we find anything.”

Erin was right. She hated when Erin was right. Ten was going to treat her like she was made of glass. She wasn’t and she had to pull it together because she was not losing another man she loved. She wasn’t going to lose Jesse. Not without one hell of a fight.

She’d asked herself how long she would have to wait. She knew the answer. She wouldn’t wait at all. This time she was stronger. This time she would be the one searching. If she’d done anything wrong when Jamie died, it was leaving the fight to Ten. She was stronger than that, strong enough to search and never stop. If she was an old woman with a f*cking cane, she would still look for her husband because Jesse would endure. He would trust her and find a way to survive.