Page 77 of Prodigal Son

“Have you ever killed anyone?”

“Yeah.” He blew a lazy smoke ring her direction, unrepentant.

“Can I prove that and have it stand up in a law court?”

“Not on your life, sweetheart. Now, do you want to have this conversation, or do you want to come back to bed.”

“I don’t allow smoking in my flat, you know.”

He leaned over and dropped the cigarette into the water glass on her nightstand; it hissed and went out.

She opened her robe, and let it fall to the rug.

~*~

Now

“Recon? What are you…”

“You knew who he was, then,” Eden accused. Anger boiled up in her chest, hot, choking. She felt betrayed. “Not just a potential arrest: you knew he was Devin’s son. Yourfriend’s son. And you didn’t tell me.”

“What the hell was MI6 doing looking into me?” Fox asked.

Eden opened her mouth to speak–

And Morgan held up both hands, a palm facing each of them, asking for a moment. He turned to Fox first.

“It was a long time ago. You had just killed that German ambassador–”

“Because he was paving the way for a goddamn Hamas-backed gun running op that was gonna tank the club’s supply line! And you do-gooder law enforcement types had your hands tied with search warrants and that kinda bullshit!”

“I know, I know,” Morgan said. “That wasn’t why.”

“How the hell do you know that was me anyway?”

“I try to keep tabs on everyone, and their kids. That job was very clean. I knew it was you. The rest of my department didn’t, though.”

“Then why was I supposed to make contact with him?” Eden asked through her teeth.

Morgan – Captain Harlowe – turned to her with an apology in his eyes. One she wouldn’t allow herself to accept just yet. He sighed. “Let’s all sit down, why don’t we? And hopefully I can explain.”

Everyone else sat.

Eden didn’t. Her pulse was racing, pushing hard at her skin, trying to get out.

“Eden–” Morgan started with another sigh.

“Did you know?” she asked. Her voice was strung tight, about to snap. She didn’t care. “When I reported back to you and said he wasn’t our guy for the Santos case – did you know I’d slept with him? That I’d been compromised?”

“Eden,” Fox said, softly.

“Did you want that to happen?” she pressed. “Were you going to use me that way? To keep track of him?”

Fox stood. “Eden, love–”

“Do not–!” She whirled on him, his sad, confused face. “Do not call me that! You never gave a single damn about me, so don’t pretend you did! Did you know what he was doing?” She waved at Morgan. “Were you a part of his plan all along? Work with MI6 to keep your record clean, and put me in the middle, so I could take the fall if anything went south? Just the slut who slept with her target, and blew the whole case to hell?”

“No–” Fox started.

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