Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
“She’s not MI6,” Soren grumbled.
Alexei stared at him with wide eyes before looking at the woman. “No shit?”
“CIA. Though when I knew her, she was calling the shots from a nice, safe office across the ocean. Not working the field.”
Sheila managed a small shrug. “When we got word you were involved, they thought it would be best to call in someone you might at least recognize.”
He barked out a harsh laugh. “And no one from my old team would help you, would they?” That would have been who he called first, but he had a feeling that everyone he’d worked with had told the CIA to go fuck themselves.
“Unfortunately,” she admitted softly, her lips twisting in a frown.
“Lovely.” Alexei flopped back on the bench, his arms folded across his chest and his long legs encased in skinny jeans stretched out in front of him. “We have the CIA and SVR on our heels, not to mention those assassins who wanted you dead in Paris. Anyone else want to come out and play?”
“MI6 is watching from a distance. They agreed to let us go in first since we have a prior relationship—”
“Had one,” Soren sharply corrected. He didn’t want to talk to Sheila, didn’t want to share the same air as her and all she represented, but he couldn’t move because they needed a better idea of what the hell was going on.
“What do you want?” Alexei demanded.
“The hard drive. We want you to hand it over.” She made it sound so easy, but Soren didn’t buy it.
“What’s on it?” Soren snapped.
“Critical information. It’s better you remain ignorant of it for your own safety.”
He shook his head and leaned back so that his shoulder brushed against Alexei’s. “If we don’t know what’s on it, how will we know who to give it to? I’m sure British intelligence would hate for their secrets to fall into the hands of the Americans.”
“Or Russian intelligence into the hands of the Americans,” Alexei added.
Sheila glared at Alexei. “It’s surprising that you feel any allegiance to the Russians after what you’ve been through.”
“It isn’t a matter of allegiance, but a sense of fairness. Why should we give someone else’s secrets to you? What’s in it for us?”
“How about we allow you to keep breathing?” Sheila snarled.
Alexei lifted his eyebrows and looked over Soren. “Serious miscalculation on the CIA’s part in sending Miss Congeniality here.”
“I doubt they had much in the way of choice,” Soren muttered. “They would have all been like this.”
“The hard drive—” she started, positively bristling where she sat. If she were a bird, every last feather would have ruffled and sticking out.
“What you don’t seem to get is that you’re not the only one who wants it. And all the others are willing to kill for it.”
“So are we!”
Alexei winced and shook his head. “Oooooh, not helping.”
“Giving it to you doesn’t keep us alive,” Soren continued, “and right now, we’re looking for the option that keeps us alive and gets the contract off my head.” Soren stood and held his hand out to Alexei, who took it with a sweet grin. He looked at the woman who’d plopped the sunglasses onto her face again. “When you’ve got a plan for that, give me a call.”
“You know, I was thinking we simply destroy the damn thing and go on vacation,” Alexei said as they walked hand in hand down the street toward the canal. “Have you ever been to the Maldives?”
“I have not,” Soren admitted. There was a lot that had gone horribly wrong about that conversation, but it was hard to feel bad about it when Alexei was looking up at him with such a devilish grin. He suddenly wanted to spend some time on white sand with Alexei.
“Or maybe Fiji. Somewhere beautiful and far away from the rest of the world.”
“I love it.”
“Wait a minute!” Sheila cried after them in an increasingly shrill voice. “You can’t walk away from this conversation. We need to decide—”
She didn’t get any further than that. As she came up to Alexei, his hand shot out in a blur, grasping Sheila’s shoulder. He didn’t blink, smile, or even react. He just shoved.
With a scream, she tumbled over the low chain railing and in between two small boats, falling straight into the cold water of the canal with a large splash. People shouted, arms waving in panic as Sheila struggled to stay above the water. Her glasses were gone, and her large hat was now sagging on her head as her white shirt clung to her.
He looked over at Alexei, who was smirking.
“Run?”
Soren nodded. That was a brilliant idea. “Run.”
Hand in hand, they darted down the street. They released each other only when the crowds of people grew too thick for them to easily cut through. Alexei’s slightly maniacal laughter echoed above the rush of cars and people chatting. They were still in a hell of a lot of trouble, but there was something very cathartic about seeing a CIA agent get dunked in an Amsterdam canal.