Page 28 of Eyes in the Shadows

“Cheer up, mate!” Wes says cheerily, slapping Dimitri on his good shoulder as he passes by him to settle back down in front of his laptop. “Just think of all the things we’ll get to hear people do when they think they’re alone.”

“It is so boring. All they do is talk to themselves and pass gas,” Dimitri grimaces, not even a hint of a smile in spite of the fact that—as we all know—farts are funny. He glances back at me. “You are managing alone?”

“Don’t worry about me, I’ve got a room at the Ritz,” I say, using her joke.

Wes snorts.

“And what about the girl?”

I tense. “What girl.” It comes out as more of a warning than a question.

Wes’s eyebrows shoot up, but Dimitri just forges on right past it. “The one you allowed to compromise our mission, obviously. Has that loose end been tied?”

“I’ve got it under control.”

Dimitri slams both palms onto the counter and growls, “That had better not mean what I think it means. Are you saying she is still alive?!”

“What was I supposed to do? Shoot her?”

“As you have done many times in the past? Yes.”

I take a sip of my coffee to appear offhand, but inside I’m fuming. No one will be touching a single hair on her head. “She’s not going to be a problem. Believe me.”

A stream of angry Russian pours out of Dimitri’s mouth and Wes and I exchange a look. He understands more than I do, but we both understand more than Dimitri thinks. I try not to let on, but it gets hard not to smile at the insult that literally translates to “goat testicles.” Russians are so creative.

He switches to English so seamlessly, I almost don’t catch it at first. “You try my patience, James.”

“How about a little of that trust you’re so big on? I say I’ve got it, and I do. Stopworrying,babushka.”

He sighs through his nose, glares at me one more time, and crosses the room to exit the kitchen through the double doors out into the cold. Steam rolls off him in coiling waves as he walks around the in-ground pool and disappears into the vast yard.

“I like how literally he takes the phrase chill out,” I smirk. Wes makes a noise of agreement, but something about it has me looking over. He’s staring. “What?”

“You know I can see when you activate one of my devices, right?” Wes says, those intelligent eyes gleaming with knowing amusement and curiosity.

“Fuck off,” I say without any heat.

“Who’d you bug?”

I try not to glower at him. Dimitri doesn’t care so much about details until he feels like he has to get involved—he’s Mr. Big Picture—but that’s not Wes. Everything is a puzzle to him.

And he’s too close to the truth—he knows which building I was in, which side I was facing, and that I always go to the top if I can. From there it’s an easy process of elimination to know which apartment. He’ll know everything there is to know about her in about an hour. But maybe I can convince him that my reasons are something other than the sordid truth. If it’s just the job, maybe he won’t dig.

“Well, I did let her go. I had to be sure she wouldn’t talk.”

He blinks. “You sure that’s all it is?”

“Gotta say, I’m getting real fuckin’ tired of being second guessed. Just let me do my thing, yeah?”

He lifts his palms. “Fine. Just making sure you know what you’re doing.”

Too smart for his own damn good. I huff a significantly less dramatic breath than Dimitri did before his exit, and start for the gym. “Come down if you feel like it. I’m going to lift heavy today; I could use a spot.”

“Didn’t you just finish saying you don’t need anyone watching your back?”

“English prick. Shut up and put on some sweats.”

A workout, a shower, a change of clothes and I’m a new man. Wes doesn’t push me again about Eleanor and I don’t even see Dimitri before I leave.

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