Taking a deep breath, he began pacing again. "I have a group of men I brought into The Corporation that I know are loyal to me. Or-" Thomas smiled cynically, "loyal enough that if one intends to betray me, another will kill him."
"That..." Lauren floundered, "seems like a tidy, uh, safeguard." She could tell he was trying to smother a smile, but at least he was talking to her.
Thomas paused, hands on his suited hips, and looked down at her. "The first step is getting you out of here."
"What? No! No, Thomas, I'm here and I can help! I-" Lauren protested, a little angry because she was scared but trying to cover it up with bravado.
He interrupted impatiently. "Darling, do you understand what those women said? They want to keep you. Like a pet. The wives were putting on a show last night on the dance floor so their husbands could arrange group sex. There were several requests for you." His wife's face was sheet-white and the significance of the Bratva "socializing" episode was clear.
Lauren seized his glass and took a healthy gulp of Scotch. Thomas was doing that dismissive expression thing again and despite her own sense of self-preservation, she blocked his way. "You know if you smuggle me out of here, you're ringing the dinner bell. All the bad guys will know you know they're coming for you. Surely, we're not at DefCon 5, right?"
He was staring at her, her beautiful husband, his expression a mixture of amusement and exasperation. "When did you become so obstinate, darling? I thought I'd spanked all that out of you."
Rising on tiptoes, Lauren gave him her best giddy smile. This whole thing was fucking nuts. This couldn't possibly be happening. But she was bringing out her Inner Badass, just in case she still woke up in the Tchaikovsky Suite the next morning and this was actually real. Holding his tie, she whispered, "And then you spanked it right back into me."
After carefully showering her and washing away the smoke and smell of alcohol from them both, Thomas carried his wife and put her to bed, sliding in behind her and wrapping his long arms and legs around her. "I'm meeting Clara in the morning," Lauren said finally, "she was very upset tonight about MacGowen as we left. I have to think she knows something." She felt him take in a deep breath, holding it for a moment. "For better or for worse, right?" Lauren said in a small voice.
His arms tightened for a moment, then Thomas kissed her ear. "For better or for worse."
The next morning, Thomas held her longer when Lauren released him to head toward the door for breakfast with Clara and hopefully some information. When his arms tightened, she looked up in an inquiry. It looked like he wanted to say something, but didn't have the words. Then a huge smile spread across her face. "Do you know that's the first time I stopped hugging you before you stopped hugging me?"
He promptly placed a kiss on her neck, straightening her dress. "Stay in Straker's sight at all times. Do not count on the tracking device, they may have a way to jam it. Learn what you can but do NOT put yourself in danger."
Lauren nodded solemnly. "I promise. I-" she wrestled with herself, then looked up at her tall, formidable spouse. "I love you," the girl said clearly. "I don't expect you to say it back, but I wanted- I needed to tell you." Kissing him quickly, she turned without looking at him again, afraid that his expression would be irritation, or worse, indifference.
Clara was already seated at the little bistro's patio they'd agreed on, just down from the Grand Hotel, but she rose quickly and hugged her. They spoke about general things and plans for the evening, but Lauren was writhing with impatience inside. She needed to see if Clara had heard anything- anything at all from Number Three. But the irritating girl was happily prattling on about her wedding china and how someone sent her a setting that was the wrong pattern. Only the glorious cheese blintzes she was devouring after heaping them with sour cream kept her from leaping over the table to the sweet girl and shaking some sense into her.
"Let's go." Clara was scooting back her chair, looking at Lauren expectantly.
"Um, what?" Her friend's light peal of laughter made the little man with the sledgehammer inside her skull swing harder. Lauren rubbed her forehead.
"Oh, someone's got a hangover from all that vodka last night!" Clara giggled, "You agreed to go shopping with me today." Chuck was holding the open to another black SUV and Lauren sighed and got in. Once the doors were shut, Clara pressed the privacy screen to move up between the front seat and the back. When she turned back to look at her friend, Lauren blinked. Gone was the sweet, shy smile and this Clara's eyes were narrow and focused. "Thomas's half-brother MacGowen is planning to kill him and take over his position as Number Two at Jaguar Holdings. The deal is to move The Corporation back into drugs and human trafficking. But I'm guessing you know that?" The girl said smiled slightly at Lauren's stunned expression, looking much like she'd just been hit in the back of the head with a tennis racquet. "C'mon, Lauren," she teased, "no one can be this sweet and gullible! I'm MI:6, and this mess is so much bigger than we thought."
"I KNEW IT!" Lauren didn't quite shout the words, but she slapped her hand over her mouth, staring at her friend. "You WERE too good to be true!" Sobering suddenly as she realized sweet Clara was an intelligence operative in Her Majesty's Secret Service and she wanted information about Thomas, the Number Two in one of the deadliest organized crime empires in the world. Taking a breath, she tried to focus. "How do you know about MacGowen’s plan to kill Thomas? Do Kingston and your hu- uh, Michael know this?"
Nodding grimly, Clara squeezed her hand. "Neither were happy about Number Two moving them out of the sex trade and drugs in the first place. Kingston hates him because he knows it's a matter of months- if not weeks before your husband will take his place."
"Oh, shit... shit shit shit!" Lauren groaned. "When are they going after Thomas? I have to tell him-"
"Listen to me!" Clara interrupted. "We have to make a plan first. MacGowen and Semion Mogilevich both want this to be big, with lots of celebration with the change in power." Her pretty face sobered. "And you're part of the bargain, Lauren. MacGowen gets you in the deal. And when he's used you up, you go back to Bratva."
Chapter 37 – ‘Til Death Do Us Part
A cello case. An escape. A murder.
"You can do this, you can do this..." Lauren chanted as she knocked on the door to the hotel suite occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Kingston
She'd given Chuck the slip by taking off her St. Margaret's medal and leaving it in her bedroom after telling him she was going to take a quick nap. Hopping one balcony to the next was not as terrifying as one might expect, although she knew Thomas would have lost his mind, seeing her dangle from one balcony to the other, where Clara was waiting. "If I'd wanted to do this shit for a living," Lauren gasped, "I'd have booked us the James Bond suite."
The little redhead started giggling. "It's not available. We are actually staying in the James Bond suite." They burst into laughter before remembering the seriousness of what they were about to do. Clara rapidly gave Lauren her final instructions and the girl nodded, slipping an item into her pocket and heading for the suite of the man she hated most in this world. The thug who answered Kingston's door merely grunted at her, which sent a chill up her spine. Disrespect from The Corporation goons was another bad sign that Thomas's authority was shaky as Number Two. Narrowing her eyes, Lauren leaned in. "I'm here to see Arabella," she said haughtily. She was rather impressed with the sneer with which she delivered it, but the bodyguard merely raised an eyebrow. After a muffled conversation with someone behind the door, he swung it open to reveal Number One.
"That will be all," Number One dismissed the thug with a regal wave of his hand, insectile eyes fixed on the hated bride of his second in command. "Come in, Lauren dear."
Taking a deep breath, she stepped over into the den of the beast. "Where's Bella?"
Kingston, as she expected, merely grinned at her unpleasantly, folding his arms. "My wife is resting at the moment. And why are you here?" Consulting his watch, he said, "I don't have long, we have a meeting with Mogilevich in a moment."
Lauren gave a dismissive sniff and moved bravely toward the bar at the other end of the room. "Do you have any of that good stuff- that Scotch you have in your office back home?"
