Page 86 of Dangerous Secrets

You could actually hear Nick’s teeth grinding.

“This isnotgoing to happen!” Nick’s voice rose to a shout. “Goddamn it, this is insane! Have you forgotten who we’re dealing with? These aren’t white-collar criminals, they’re some of the most deadly men on the planet.”

“And yet, by your own reckoning, Nick, one of them loves me. Vassily won’t hurt me. I know that,” she said.

“You can’t know anything of the sort, goddamn it!” His breath huffed out like that of an enraged bull. “Shit, am I the only one with any sense in this room? Di Stefano, you didn’t do service in Moldova, but I did. I know what these people can do, especially to women.”

“But he loves her. And no one is going to suspect Charity of anything. She’s there because he invited her. She’s going to go in, get a few visuals, then pretend to have a headache. In and out, in half an hour. What can happen in half an hour? And we might just catch a big break.”

“It doesn’t take half an hour to die,” Nick grated. “It takes a second. She’s not doing this, and that’s final. I’m team leader and that’s my order.”

“Sorry.” Di Stefano bared his teeth. “You’re not team leader any more, Nick, I am. The boss thought your behavior was too erratic, so he relieved you of your command. Effective half an hour ago. As a matter of fact, you’re not even on the team at all, any more. Though I’ll let you stay in the van, as a courtesy, and seeing as how you have . . . an emotional investment in the outcome. So I want you to go out and get the kit to wire Charity up.” The two men stared at each other. “Now,” Di Stefano added softly. “That’s a direct order.”

Nick’s breathing was loud in the room. With a vicious “Fuck!”, he turned and walked out the front door, slamming it violently behind him.

Di Stefano winced and sighed. He looked at the floor for a second, then looked up. “I know what you’re thinking. You’re mad at him. I’m mad at him. Our partner, Alexei, is mad at him. Our boss is mad at him, together with the whole head office. Everyone’s mad at Nick.”

“He lied to me,” Charity replied steadily. “From the first moment.”

“Yeah.” Di Stefano nodded sharply. “He did, that’s his job. He’s one of the best undercover cops I’ve ever seen and being able to lie is a big part of that. It’s for the job, though, he’s not a habitual liar in real life, though God knows, he doesn’t have too much of that. If anything, Iceman is too straight. That’s what we call him, Iceman. Because he’s always cool and in control.” He shook his head. “You blew that right out of the water. I’ve never seen him like this before.” He grimaced. “Though it pains me to say anything in his favor, what he did, when he married you, it was way off the charts. He threw his entire career down the drain for you. If they let him stay in the service after this, he’ll end up cleaning toilets, without the benefit of a brush. And he knew that when he did it. But it was worth it to him, to keep you safe. He told us in no uncertain terms that if he was killed, we were to look after you, his widow. He did it to protect you.” He shook his head. “Hard as it is to imagine it of Iceman, he loves you. I know you’re feeling lied to and betrayed, but he did it to protect you in the only way he knew how.”

Charity’s throat shook. She couldn’t get any words out at all. She took a breath, two, three, but nothing came out.

“And hard as it is to say this, I think you might want to cut him some slack.”

Di Stefano had taken her righteous anger and twisted it around. She was furious, and she had every right to be. Nick had lied to her right from the start, and continued to do so.

And yet, and yet. He was doing what he thought right. And Charity knew, deep down, where there were no lies, only truths, that Nick’s lovemaking had been real. That there were real feelings there.

She had no idea what to do with that information, though.

Nick burst back into the room, carrying a black suitcase, grim- faced and tense. A gust of freezing air came in with him and she shivered. Not just at the cold air.

All Charity could do was look at him. So different from the Nick she’d married. He had a dangerous edge to him, sharp as a knife. The features of his face, familiar as her own, were somehow different. As if a layer had been stripped away, leaving only skin and bone and truth.

Truth. The Nick before her was the real one—hard and grim and focused. Not a soft businessman at all, but a man built for power and speed. A man who faced danger on a daily basis. Who’d undoubtedly killed and who looked perfectly capable of killing again.

He set the briefcase down on the coffee table, unsnapped the locks and lifted the lid. Inside were gadgets embedded in foam rubber.

He lifted two out, one a long wire with doodads at each end and the other a small, complicated electronic thingie. As with all things electronic, their outsides gave no indication to what their insides did.

“Okay.” Nick straightened and speared each of them with a hard glare. Then his attention focused intently on his partner. “This is the way it’s going to work. The only way it’s going to work, or I’m pulling the plug right now. This is not optional. First off, we’re going to need backup.”

“Done,” Di Stefano snapped. “I’m calling in our Boston SWAT team. They’ll be here by around four. I hope to God we don’t need to use them, that we can get her in and out smooth and easy, intercept Hammad after he drives away, but they’ll be there. In case.”

“Two.” Nick’s gaze was unwavering. “You and I are going to be right outside the house all the time Charity’s in there. I don’t care what it takes. If we have to take down guards, that’s whatwe’ll do. She’s not going in unless I’m two seconds away from breaching the front door to get to her.”

“Uh . . .” Di Stefano shifted uneasily. “I don’t know?—“

“That’s non-negotiable,” Nick snapped.

Di Stefano was silent for a long moment, working his way through Nick’s ultimatum. “Okay,” he sighed.

“And three,” Nick continued. “She stays in the house twenty minutes, tops. Whatever she gets, she gets, but twenty minutes after she walks in through the front door, she’s going to develop a major headache and she’s heading right back out.”

“But—“

“That’s non-negotiable, too. Otherwise we’re not doing this. And it goes against every instinct I have, as it is.”

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