Page 136 of Hold On

“No. A bit of smoke inhalation but he managed to get out of the house the same way you did. How he did that with a broken leg and his legs tied together, I have no idea, but he was found on the ground next to the extension. Fire brigade managed to save the house but there’s a lot of water damage.”

“Are any of them talking?”

Foster nodded. “Only the minor players so far but they don’t need to confess. We have them. I expect Levan will try to broker a deal sooner or later. Bigger names in return for favourable treatment, which he’d see as a new life in another country. That won’t happen.”

Ren swallowed hard. “Sure about that?”

“You have my word. He’s a killer along with everything else. He’s going down for life.”

Ren nodded.

“I heard how he was apprehended, what you did. It wouldn’t have taken much to have made sure the bullet went into his head.”

Nor for the bullet to have ended up in Ren’s. All Ren had wanted was to not die. “I wanted to fuck him up with that gun.”

He regretted saying that the moment it came out of his mouth, but Foster laid a hand on his arm and didn’t let go when Ren tried to pull away.

“I know, a couple of others know, but that is all. Understand?”

“Yes.” Ren’s throat felt blocked. “So how did Levan find out where I was? When I was back in the UK, I disappeared. There was no link to my brother. No one knew about my family. That’s the whole point of being undercover and having only a few people aware of the truth.”

Foster twisted his mouth as if he were wondering what to tell him. That an outright denial hadn’t come told Ren more than he’d wanted to hear.

“My identity was intentionally leaked to Levan?” Ren tried to rein in his temper. “Seriously? Who the fuck agreed to that?”

“We had people around. Someone on the dig watching you. Victor is one of ours.”

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me I was bait?”

“It was a tactical decision.”

“Fuck tactical.” Ren glared. “You risked my family, my friend. For what? A feather in your cap?”

“We were watching your family too. There was never any danger.”

Ren was so angry he could barely speak. “I nearly died. Dominic nearly died.”

“But we got Levan.” Foster glared back. “You fucked up when you let them find out you understood Georgian. All that money and manpower wasted. And you fucked up getting involved with a murderer. But now we have our man. And you’re out anyway, aren’t you?”

Ren hadn’t been sure. Now he was. “Yes. I’m out, but you crossed a line.”

“So did you.”

“This could have so easily turned out to be a disaster. If I hadn’t managed to get out of that house…” No one would have known what Foster had done.

A muscle twitched in Foster’s cheek.

“I could take this higher. My fucking family, Foster! You might have been pissed with me but you…” Ren swallowed hard. “Okay. You’re going to do something for me.”

“What?”

Dominic hurt. Even opening his eyes was painful so he closed them again. Except that hurt too. Still, hurting meant he was alive and that was good. When he’d come round after the operation, he’d asked about Ren and been told he was in the hospital but doing well, and a kind of peace settled over Dominic then. Whatever else happened, they’d both survived. He stopped fighting sleep and let it take him.

“Dominic.”

It all seemed like a dream, like some thriller he’d watched on his little TV.

“Dominic!”

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