Page 89 of Assassin's Game
Levi stared right back, gray eyes dark with intensity. “You can start earning our trust with one simple promise.”
“Which is?”
“You can promise to never set foot on our property, you or anyone working for you. And let me assure you,Mr. X”—Levi stepped even closer, going nose to nose with a man—“the minute you break that promise, you’re dead. This?” He gestured toward the guards beginning to stand up, stagger around. “This was mere child’s play. We can get to you, anytime, anywhere. And all it would take is one broken promise. You may think you hold all the cards, but make no mistake—we’ll never make playing them easy.”
A barely there tilt of his mouth—an X version of a smile?—made a brief appearance. “I look forward to the challenge.”
My men had flanked me, and Eli stood between me and Levi. One group. One team. Together.
My heart skipped a beat.
“We have more details to work out,” X said. “I will be in touch.” He turned to leave, paused, turned back. “Oh, Mr. Agozi?”
Levi narrowed his eyes on X.
“I promise.”
It was surreal walking back out of the building, freely, that we’d broken into. We even passed some of the guards we’d fought on the way in. I realized now that they had been ordered not to use lethal force, not that it would have mattered if they had. I did catch sight of the big, burly soldier who’d panicked when I’d been tougher than he expected and pulled his KA-BAR—I gave him a little wave and smiled at the black eye already forming on his face.
Speaking of knives, I had a feeling I might need a couple of stitches. As we exited the front entrance to the building and walked toward Levi’s truck, I made a mental note to take care of that with the first-aid kit in the Humvee.
We were almost to our vehicle when footsteps behind us had us all turning. Sullivan hurried down the stairs toward us. His nervous gaze traveled over our group as he raised a hand. “Any chance I can get a ride back to town?”
Thenorose automatically to my lips, but Levi beat me to it by stepping forward.
“How about you tell us what all that in there was about”—he jerked his chin toward the building—“with you and X? Then we’ll consider it.”
Sullivan rubbed at the back of his head. “He did give me permission to disclose.” He dropped his hand. “I’m a sleeper agent. I started when I was very young, with the CIA. A financial whiz.” His air quotes didn’t bely the arrogant smile that crossed his face. “X recruited me from there.”
And having someone on their payroll in control of the largest international bank in the US… Levi shook his head, curses hissing out under his breath.
I scrubbed my hands down my face. Jesus. His finger in a pie like that… How many other organizations did X control? National? International?
Eli must have read my concern, because he stepped close to me. “We’ll figure it out,” he promised quietly. “I have clues now; he can hide from others, but not from me.” His hand surrounded mine, gripped tight. “From us.”
I stared into his golden eyes and knew he was right. Together, no one could beat us. I squeezed his hand right back.
Levi turned on his heel and strode toward the truck, and the rest of us followed. Sullivan trailed behind. “So, about that ride…”
Titus spoke for us all when he raised his middle finger over his shoulder without looking back and said, “Find your own.”
Levi climbed behind the wheel, and the rest of us clambered inside. “Where is the Humvee?” he asked.
“I’ll direct you,” Eli said from his seat behind his brother. “Mikaela and I can drive it back—after I take a look at her leg.”
Levi glanced at us in the rearview. “Uh-huh.”
I shot a withering glare right back. “Stitches aren’t sexy times. Get your mind out of the gutter.”
Levi winked at me in the mirror. My breath actually hitched. “Did you see that?” I crowed at Eli. “You saw that, right? He’s accepted me; he can’t deny it now.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Levi said, but one side of his mouth was curved up. I glanced at Eli, and his smile was nowhere near as reserved.
“Doesn’t matter,” Rhys said. “She’ll never let you forget it.”
Levi laughed then. “I bet.”
“I guess this means were staying, huh?” Monty asked from the front passenger seat. The truckload of us went quiet.
