Page 40 of Agent vs. Assassin

My gut tells me I have to tell him. It’s necessary knowledge that helps him stay alive. If he’s dirty, he’ll pay. I’ll make sure of it. “Elsa went to school with the director’s daughter.”

“Holy hell,” he breathes out. “You think Ellis is dirty and working with her?”

“Or playing bleeding heart, trying to save her, which might well have gotten him killed. If Ellis is with Elsa, I’m not sure how she will react to Mark’s death. She lost her mother tragically a few years back. Then her father. Now her brother.”

“In other words, she’s armed and emotional. The worst kind of opponent.”

“Exactly. And for the record, I have questions about why Ellis would trust you when he supposedly does not know you well. Expect me to ask them if you live.” A knock sounds on my window, which will of course be my brother, since he has the timing of a two-year-old at all times. “I have to go.”

“I have a good answer,” he says.

“Doubtful, but I’ll hear it before I kill you.”

“You know your job is to arrest people. We’re going to work on that, Special Agent Love-Mendez.”

He hangs up on me.

And I can’t help but wonder if him using Love-Mendez is meant to suggest my name, and my marriage is why I leave a trail of bodies behind me. If so, he has no idea how wrong he is with that premise. The bloodbath that is my life is all me.

Chapter Twenty-Six

The knocking on my window has grown more incessant, and I roll it down to find my brother standing there. Imagine that. Andrew being a nag even without words. “Have you ensured you’re ready if Elsa shows up?” I ask, as if I were the one knocking on his window.

Irritation tics in his jaw. “Do I look like a fucking idiot?”

“Do you want me to answer that?”

“I love you too, you little bitch, which is why I wasn’t risking you getting killed. I need you around to torment me. Get out of the damn SUV. We need to just get this over with.” He opens the door, and I eye Kane over my shoulder, a question in the action.

“I’ll catch up, bella. Becareful.”

Translation: He needs an update on his team, and Ghost is likely present and closer than I expect. I give a short nod and exit, shutting the door behind me. “Kane has some of his men on the perimeter,” I explain softly. “And before you get prickly, I’m not saying you’re not doing your job, but one sniper can level the crowd.”

“I’ve replayed that exact scenario you just mentioned in my head a hundred times. I had the microphone placed in a location where we’ll be sheltered. I wanted to put up bulletproof glass, but I knew you’d lose your shit.”

“You mean the audience would lose their shit.”

“That too. Change of topic. My replacement is here. I warned him you’re going to bust his balls.”

“Isn’t it great how well we know each other? Where is he so I can make you right?”

“He’s waiting on us at the podium. I’d ask what I need to know, but I guess he needs to know, too.” He scrubs his jaw. “I can’t believe I’m leaving.”

“I can’t believe you’re working for Dad.”

“You know why I’m doing this, Lilah.”

“The chief in our little town has been a Love job for a long time. Only one of you is good at your job and has a moral compass. But you’re about to be sucked into a hell pit with Dad and Pocher. They’ll try to corrupt you, and power is addictive.”

“The idea of you stabbing me and Kane burying me is a pretty big deterrent, let me tell you.”

“First, if you’d become that shitty of a person, I’d have someone else do it. You are still my brother. Also, you’re still sleeping with that bitch. Proof you are indeed corruptible.”

“Stop already. I’m not marrying her, I was never even thinking about it, and I haven’t seen her in weeks, and right now, I’m feeling weird about handing over my job. Let me just live in that feeling, will you?”

“That feeling sucks. And you—”

“Don’t say I did this to myself. That sucks, too.”

---