Page 11 of Redeeming Meg

She’d bought Bruce’s silence, along with the aid of one of his runners, thanks to Tessa’s emergency fund. The woman carried an assortment of currency, jewels, and the latest in spyware sewn into her designer outfit, hidden in her thick hair, and strapped to various parts of her body.

The latest iPhone and a ruby ring that had to have cost upwards of three grand had swayed the infamous Lee to offer a deal: his tunnels were available for their usethis once. If they needed the cover of them again, it would cost double.

Copy that and then some. If all went as planned, this was the one and only time she’d ever be here.

Since her plan had already headed south, thanks to the bear of a brute stalking off without her, odds were slim anything from this point on would go smoothly.

The awkward weight of Tessa and Spence’s stares made her skin itch. At least they understood and accepted the chain of command.

Yelling at Dec, who was the best thing she’d seen since everything went to hell, was pointless. He hadn’t ended up on Black Swan for nothing. She’d insisted he be one of them. Flynn, for once, had agreed with her choice.

Flynn always used terms like ‘dedicated,’ ‘quick on his feet,’ and ‘loyal’ to describe Dec. In Meg’s book, he was all those and more—uncompromising, defiant, and rebellious, bordering on mutinous.

He was also the most rock-steady partner she’d ever had. He never wavered from his values and beliefs.Predictable, she told herself,but maybe that’s a good thing.

Know your enemy was the first thing Flynn had taught her.

Know your friends was the second.

She wasn’t sure which category to put Declan Reid in.

Cussing him out might have made her feel better, but she didn’t waste time and energy on lost causes anymore. The bubbling brew of shit between them was a pressure cooker bound to explode. Soon, too. She’d take whatever he threw at her once they had the intel and found Tommy, provided he admitted to his own collusion in what had gone down that day with Hagar.

Sucking in her irritation, both at his defiance and the fact he looked so damn good, she met Tessa and Spence’s eyes, then jutted her chin at the map. “You heard him.”

Marching after her second, she left them scrambling to gather the equipment. They didn’t have much, didn’t need much, which was typical for their missions. The less stuff, the better. They had to move like cats in the night. Predatory cats. Unseen and unheard.

She jogged to catch Dec before the others could. “You can be an asshole to me all you want once we’re done.” Seething internally, she still managed to keep her outward expression neutral and unfazed. Her gaze pinned the beam spotlighting their way as they walked side by side. “But right now, I give the orders, and you follow them. Clear?”

His response was barely more than a grunt. “Don’t be stupid, Meg. You aren’t going in alone. You need me to watch your six.”

“Your alpha caveman may believe so, but I’m perfectly capable of taking care of my back, front, and all other sides of me. If things go wrong, I’ll call you in, but until you get word from me, you stand down. I don’t need to worry about you or them”—she cocked her head to the others, now a yard behind—“getting hurt.”

“Flynn told me after the funeral that you’d always bust my balls, but I thought you’d rise above it. Especially in a situation like this. Put the mission above personal feelings for me.”

Who was busting whose balls? They swung left, heading in the direction of the former embassy. A turn-of-the-century mansion had been converted into offices and dignitary quarters. The Architect, in her brilliance, had used a long-ago forgotten underground passage, much like the sewers, to connect it to the modern structure now being invaded. That was Meg’s way in.

And out.

She hoped. “Insubordination won’t be tolerated.”

He snorted, his long stride making it difficult for her to keep up. “Fuck that. This team has already lost one member. We’re not losing you, too.”

Her fingers went to the pendant at her collarbone. The one item she had that had been Jessica’s. Grateful that Flynn couldn’t see or hear them at the moment because they were underground, she still felt his judgment, as well as Jessie’s. Jessie had been a team player and too damn willing to die for her country—one of the reasons the CIA had tried to ensure she didn’t. Flynn had counted on Meg to keep her from sacrificing herself.

Meg had failed.

The tunnels were full of sounds that added to its haunting atmosphere. She wasn’t concerned with any of those or the ghost stories rampant in Romania about vampires lurking in the shadows. Jessica’s spirit, however, seemed to breathe down her neck. “That’s not only simplistic reasoning, it’s illogical. This situation and the previous one have nothing in common.”

One of the reasons Meg was good at her job was because she never assumed any fact was true. While it seemed contrary to logic, throughout history, people had assumed that a belief was fact and fact was reality. Facts were rarely what they appeared to be.

A mission that depended on something that hadn’t been verified with her own eyes left a lot of ways things could turn into a goatfuck. The tunnel to the previous embassy could have collapsed. The way in might be impossible to breach, even though it now sat empty. The underground entrance at the new building would definitely be locked and secured. Luckily, Tessa knew the security code—unless it had been changed in the past few months.

A dozen other variables could also cause problems.

Having Dec as her second had always made sense. He was the Holmes to her Watson—cunning, although impulsive, and he had the ability to outsmart everyone, with the exception of her. While she was OCD with details, he was quick on his feet and went with whatever presented itself. He saw the big picture; she broke everything into smaller parts.

She planned for every contingency; he didn’t feel the need, constantly adapting in the moment. He provided the team with any and all scenarios because she needed it, not because he did.

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