You Only Love Twice (Masters and Mercenaries #8)(95)

They were running out of time and their prey was proving to be elusive. The conference itself was only four days. If she couldn’t identify the man by then, she feared they would lose him. He knew what was happening. It would be easy for him to simply disappear into his country and start his work all over again.

Business is always war and war is always a matter of business. The words had played through her head. What else had al Fareed said? She reached up and tugged on Simon’s suit coat, stopping his forward progress. “He was interested in Kamdar.”

Simon turned to her. “That’s not terribly surprising. He’s rather making himself a massive target. I hear he was talking about putting them all out of business last night. He’s an interesting fellow, but I’m afraid these very conservative men are going to find him arrogant and obnoxious.”

“That’s what al Fareed said. Interesting. He said the king was an interesting man with interesting friends.”

“I don’t think anyone would argue with that.” Simon looked at his watch. “Tea’s about to be served. We should walk through before we give up for the evening. We’ll make sure we’ve got surveillance on his suite and that boardroom, but we can’t simply stand around and hope to catch sight of him. It’s more important than ever that we keep our cover.”

He didn’t understand. “I think he was talking about Jesse. It was in the way he said it. I think when he was talking about Kamdar’s interesting friends, he was talking about Jesse and possibly Ten.”

“But Jesse hadn’t blown up when you met al Fareed.”

“That’s my point exactly. ‘Business is always war.’ He said that and that I shouldn’t get caught in the middle. He was specifically talking about the king of Loa Mali at that point. We never figured out who paid Eli Nelson to blow up Kamdar’s first experiments with green energy. That explosion should have set him back years.”

“You think it could have been al Fareed.”

“I think it’s bigger than that.” The lines were starting to be drawn in her head, faint at first, but getting stronger. “I need to think about it for a while.”

She needed to think about al Fareed and The Collective.

How had he known where Jesse’s unit was going? It hadn’t been a random IED that took them out. There had been nothing random about any of it.

That unit was headed back in from a mission. She needed to talk to Jesse. He was the only one left who could tell her anything.

The thought made her sick, but she had to tell Jesse the truth. He needed to know.

“Are you all right?” Simon looked down at her. “You went pale.”

She shook her head. “I’m good. Let’s do a quick turn through the tea and then head up for the night. The al Fareed brothers will be in the oil meeting hatching all sorts of nefarious plots. They won’t be at the dinner for the poor people.”

By poor people she still meant seriously rich, but the men who would be in the private meeting were the world’s wealthiest oilmen.

Was it also a meeting of The Collective?

She followed Simon out, her thoughts running amok. It was like this when she was considering a puzzle. Chaotic at first. It was hard because there was so much information and she had to sift through, to sort it into something that made sense.

How had the senator’s aide known Ten’s middle initial?

How had al Fareed known about Kamdar’s “friends” before Jesse had outed himself? Now that she thought about it, he’d used words that would have a direct impact on Jesse. He’d talked about dogs and leashes, his voice becoming sharper, as though to highlight what he was saying. As though he’d known Jesse was somewhere listening to him.

And Ace. She couldn’t forget Ace. He was the link. He’d been placed, but by whom? Yes, it seemed to be al Fareed on the surface, and certainly he’d been there to do the Caliph’s bidding, but no Middle Eastern oilman could have that much influence on the Agency.

Not without help from the inside.

She was grateful for Simon because she likely would have gotten lost without him. She didn’t really see where she was going. She saw the puzzle in front of her.

“Have a seat.” Simon held out the chair for her. “I’ll get us some tea. We’ll put in an appearance and then we’ll leave. Don’t move.”

He walked toward the elegant buffet.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the whore from last night,” a low voice said.

She looked up and there was her old friend Albertson. He was dressed in a perfectly cut suit, his hair slicked back, and a ten thousand dollar watch around his wrist. Still, his eyes told the tale. They were bloodshot and tired. She started to stand because there was zero point in arguing over his opinion of her. “I’ll excuse myself since you can’t seem to be a gentleman.”

He reached out, catching her elbow. “I might have been a gentleman if you and your friend hadn’t drugged me. Did you think I wouldn’t catch that, bitch?”

“Since I did nothing of the sort, no, I didn’t think you would. Let go of my arm.” She glared back at him. “As drunk as you were last night, I’m surprised you remember me at all.”

His lips curled in a sneer. “You were counting on that, weren’t you? Too bad you were working with a pro. I’ve had far more to drink and still managed to f*ck some dumb bitch and maintain my memory of the encounter. I’m not stupid. You tried to roll me last night. Since my wallet was in place, I have to think you’re looking for something else.”