Page 60 of A Touch of Treachery
She tilted her head to the side.A set of stairs in the corner led up to a second level that jutted out over the center of the ballroom.Henrika was leaning a hip against the glass railing, clutching a champagne flute, and looking out over the crowd below like a queen on a throne.She was wearing a long red-sequined gown, and an actual diamond tiara was nestled in her light brown hair, adding to the queenly illusion.A diamond choker glittered around her throat, a matching bracelet flashed on her right wrist, and rings glittered on most of her fingers.
Henrika saluted us with her glass before crooking her index finger in a clear command.I hated being at Henrika’s beck and call, but we didn’t have a choice, so I led Charlotte over to the stairs.The instant we reached the upper level, a familiar electrical field swept over my body, indicating that our comms had once again been fried.
“Desmond, Charlotte,” Henrika crooned.“Don’t you both look splendid.”
Her green gaze landed on the snowflake brooch pinned to Charlotte’s gown, and her crimson lips curved into a knowing smirk.“Although you must get Desmond to buy you somerealjewels, darling, instead of those cheap crystal imitations.Such things always tend to ...loose their luster and fritz out at the most inopportune times.”
Charlotte tensed, and I had to clench my jaw to keep from sniping back.Henrika knew the brooch contained Section comms, which had once again been disabled.
“Come join us,” Henrika said, although it was another clear command.
She spun around on her red stilettoes and strutted over to a poker table in the center of this level.Henrika dropped into the seat at one end of the table.Niles was sitting beside her, yanking at the collar of his ill-fitting navy tuxedo jacket.In contrast, Steig’s black plaid tuxedo jacket was so tight and fitted it looked like it was about to rip open trying to cover his wide shoulders.Oriana was on the other side of Steig, wearing a pink dress with a puffy skirt that looked like a ballerina’s tutu.
A dealer in a green shirt, bow tie, and tuxedo vest was perched on the other side of the table, a deck of cards in her hand.
“Would one of you care to join our game?”Henrika asked, gesturing at the empty seat directly opposite hers.
“Go ahead, darling,” I said.“We both know you’re the better gambler.”
I kissed Charlotte’s cheek and pulled out the chair.She dropped into it, and I squeezed her shoulder, letting her know I was watching her back.Then I headed over to the bar.Silver platters of food had been set out, but I ignored the spread and ordered a sparkling water.
Bryce was standing at the opposite end of the bar, and four guards were spaced along the rest of the balcony floor.All the guards were paramortals, and all were sporting at least one gun under their tuxedo jackets.Frustration pounded through me, but I couldn’t make a move against them, not with hundreds of innocent bystanders milling around the ballroom below.
Bryce grabbed a glass of whiskey, then swaggered over to me.“Desmond.”
“Bryce.”
Each of us took a drink, eyeing each other over the rims of our glasses.Just like the other guards, Bryce was also carrying a gun under his tuxedo jacket, and I was willing to bet he had another holstered to his ankle and at least one knife tucked away somewhere, just as he had on all the Section missions we’d been on together.Old habits die hard for assassins.
I studied the energy radiating off his body, along with his aura, which was the dark, sour yellow of a rotten lemon.Bryce was as powerful as ever, and his enduro strength, speed, and stamina made him a formidable enemy.He was easily the most dangerous of Henrika’s men, and I’d have to be on constant guard around him.Unlike the other paramortals, Bryce didn’t need a gun, knife, poison, or explosive to kill me.He could easily beat me to death with his fists and feet.
Bryce leaned against the bar and angled his body so he could see both me and the poker table.I mimicked his relaxed posture.
“When Henrika first told me about her plan to invite you here, I didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to actually show up, Dez,” he said.“But I see you’re still doing Daddy’s dirty work, no questions asked.”
“And now you’re doing Henrika’s.You’ve come down in the world since your time at Section.”
“Nah.I just got smart—and rich.”Bryce flashed me a wide, toothy smile.“Henrika’s paying me enough for this gig to let me retire in style.”
“One last job?”I snorted.“How cliché.”
“Well, we can’t all be a Section Legacy, and not just a mere Legacy but a Percy to boot.”
I bristled.I might be a Legacy, a Percy, but I’d sweat, bled, and almost died for Section 47 too many times to count.I’dearnedmy spot as one of the spy group’s top cleaners, and I wasn’t about to let anyone think otherwise, especially not a piece of scum like Bryce Finkley.
“If you’re so jealous of my position, then maybe you shouldn’t have killed an innocent hostage, stolen Section resources, and gotten booted out on your ass.”
“I eliminated an obstacle to take down a sanctioned target.”Anger sparked in his dark brown eyes, and his aura pulsed with bitterness.“No one at Section would have batted an eye at my killing that hostage, except you decided to make it personal and use my face as a punching bag.”
Bryce traced his index finger over the scar that slashed through his left eyebrow and down into his cheek.“You’rethe one who crossed the line, Dez.Not me.I just have to look at the result of your actions every day in the mirror.”
A surprising amount of guilt churned in my gut.As much as I hated to admit it, he was right.Attacking a fellow cleaner was something you just didn’t do, no matter what happened on a mission.But I’d lost control and made a deadly enemy as a result.
“You’rethe one who should have gotten booted out on your ass, but your daddy the General made it all go away.”The anger in Bryce’s eyes iced over into something darker and much more dangerous, and his aura shimmered with the same hateful emotion.“And for the record, I didn’t steal anything from Section.Not one penny.General Percy made up that story to kick me out, all because ofyou.”
I didn’t have Charlotte’s synesthesia, but I could see the conviction pulsing in Bryce’s aura.He was telling the truth.He hadn’t stolen anything, and he’d gotten kicked out of Section 47 because my father wanted to protect me.Blaming someone for something they didn’t do was a classic move from the General’s playbook on how to eliminate enemies.
Bryce gave me a thoughtful look.“Do you even realize you’re nothing but General Percy’s prize assassin?Just a weapon he points at whatever person, place, or thing he wants knocked down?”He raised his hand and shot a mocking finger gun at me.
