Cameron nodded. “You’d be correct. In fact, he wanted to ice us right then and there, but we were able to bluff our way out.”
Once again, I found myself in the same old situation. I’d failed, but rather than take my lumps, a big strong man swooped in to cover up my mistakes.
“Bluff is an understatement,” I breathed out once I found my footing.
Cameron’s words rang out in my head, my heart calming as our earlier conversation tilted my perspective. He wasn’t rescuing a damsel in distress. He was covering the back of his partner. He knew damn well that I’d signed off on the forged Matisse thinking Sasha would never know the difference. He also knew we’d both be dead because of that mistake if he hadn’t devised his plan. But Cameron also knew that George didn’t need to know any of that, and that it would only serve to embarrass me if he did.
I glanced at Cameron.
Shit.
I was catching feelings for this guy. In fact, I feared it was even worse than that. I was falling in love with him. I’m not sure how I allowed such a thing to happen, or why it had to happen now, but it was happening.
“And I assume that bluff is what brings us here, today?” George asked.
“We convinced Sasha that we worked for The Man from Brussels and that the forgery was a sniff test of sorts.”
George let out a controlled but hearty laugh. “Oh, my dear Boy Scout. That’s not a bluff. That’s a one-hundred-pound lie, stuffed in a fifty-pound sack.”
“Yeah, well. That one’s on me. But I know The Man from Brussels is our asset, so I figured there must be some way to force him to cooperate.”
“If we can even get a hold of him,” I added.
“Oh, I can get a hold of him. That’s no problemat all,” George said. “It’s the cooperating party that may prove to be a bit sticky.”
Cameron tapped his fingers on the table and studied George while I stared at Cameron.
Lordy, I hoped we weren’t about to land ourselves in quicksand.
Tess
TRUE TO HIS word, George was able to get us in contact with Krist Darwood, a.k.a. The Man from Brussels. More specifically, with one of his four handlers, Officer James Hart. Who, as luck would have it, was George’s godson. Hart’s father worked with George back in the late nineties, and their families remained close to this day. Hart’s relationship with George might also have had something to do with his cushy assignment of guarding an uber-rich guy who basically lived under house arrest. Regardless, I was in no position to complain. George Korman got us to Officer Hart, who got us to Krist Darwood.
Officer Hart briefed Darwood on our situation, and once done, I set the meeting time with Sasha. We were to join Sasha tonight at his home oncemore, but this time an actual party would be taking place. One of his top crew members, a thug named Maxim, was turning thirty and Sasha was throwing him a blowout birthday bash.
Sasha made it clear on our brief phone call, that mixing business with pleasure wasn’t a problem for him if it wasn’t a problem for me. Whatwouldbe a problem was our failure to attend.
“I hope you know how much I truly like you, Eleanor,” Sasha said. “It’s the only reason you and your betrothed aren’t swimming in the icy waters of the Gulf of Finland. But if I think, even for an instance, that you are playing me, I will cut you into chunks and feed you to each other. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, Sasha. You’re a man of your word and I wouldn’t disrespect you by thinking otherwise. Our employer assures me that you’ll come away from tonight’s meeting a happy man.”
“You’d better pray to God that I do.”
Click.
“We’d better pray Krist Darwood can act,” Cameron said, listening in to the call.
“Officer Hart said Darwood is an extremely cooperative asset.”
“That’s not how George made it sound,” Cameron muttered.
“We’ll be fine,” I said.
Cameron grinned. “Holy shit, look who’s out here on the business end of the I-beam.”
I sighed. “What choice do I have?”
“That’s the point of surrender,” he said, gently aswe drove to the airport. “It’s kind of like a bumper sticker I saw on the back of one of those big ass, raised, semi-trucks that read, ‘If you can’t stop, smile as you go under.’”
