Page 138 of Scarlet Angel

“Oh, I trust you to sort it.”

“You’re crazier than my father ever was.” His huff piques my interest. “How do I get in touch with you?”

“If the bid isn’t withdrawn within an hour, I post my counter bid.”

“Let’s say a syndicate member is responsible for this order. What does he get if he rescinds?”

“To live, Dorian. Your father gets to live.”

* * *

“Are you really going to walk away?” Leo asks after I end my call with Dorian.

“The syndicate is one alliance. An idea born from a place of naïve idealism. It’s gone belly up.”

I wink at Scarlet, and her soft smile shoots a fission of warmth through my chest cavity. This mess will wrap up shortly, and I’ll be wrapped up in my angel soon.

“I disagree,” Leo says.

“What’s that, mate?” Yeah, I unleash the argumentative tone, but the bastard left my world, literally. Weasel’s got shite to say about it.

“Falcon, this is Jack Sullivan.”

“Ah, nice of you to announce yourself.”

“I got looped in when you were on the call with Moore.”

I’ve met Jack a handful of times over the last decade. As the CEO of a weapons manufacturer and the brother of an innovative weapons developer, our paths were bound to cross. “There are reasons we need you to maintain contact with as many syndicate members as possible.”

“You might’ve missed the bit where relations have soured.”

“We’re aware. If you’re open to it, I’d like to brief you on the intel we’ve been gathering.”

“I’m not a useful asset anymore, Jack. Not with these blokes.”

“That depends on how you play your hand,” Jack says. “Just hear me out.”

“I’m not teaming up with the bloody CIA. MI6. Any of the devious scoundrels.”

A light touch on my forearm grounds me and pulls me away from the crowded van and electrical displays. Evergreen irises claim me. For seconds, she becomes all I see.

“Listen to them,” she mouths.

This woman. She’s full of beauty and surprises. Although I should’ve expected she’d see the intelligence blokes as friendlies.

“What’ve you got?” My gut tells me I’ll regret this maneuver.

“We have reason to suspect an attack is imminent on the United States and its allies.”

“That’s broad.” It’s also what Jiang Tu went on about, and I have every reason to believe he’s right.

“Great Britain and European Union at a minimum. Canada, Mexico, and India likely. Australia and New Zealand, less likely. Russia or China are likely the culprits. One. Or both.”

“You think they’re aiming to instigate the Third World War?” I shake my head because they are so off. “If such an effort by China or Russia were underway, we would’ve picked up on it. Even without the syndicate, my Russian sources would’ve notified me.”

“The intel is inconclusive. Might not be the effort of a nation-state,” Tristan says.

I laugh out loud. “You think the syndicate is attempting to start World War III? You are way off, mates.” People get these visions of an evil syndicate, but that’s not what we were about. Business and legal interests were our primary concerns, and peacetime aids our interests.

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