“Brent, what thehellare you talking about?” Maisie was shouting, having finally jerked herself free. “I’mhereon my holiday – the holiday you texted me to say you weren’t coming on! And what do you mean, you knew I hadn’t really broken up with you? Yes, I did! I meant every word of that text, and I should have sent itweeksago, the first time I realized what a worthless scumbag you are.”
“Babe, I know you have to keep your cover, but that kind of hurts my feelings,” Brent said, frowning.
“Yourfeelings?!” Maisie sputtered, getting up in his face. “What aboutmyfeelings? You tell me that you can’t come on this holiday with me because of work – which you’ve never actually even told me what it is that you supposedly do, by the way – and now I find you up here anyway? What the hell is wrong with you?”
Rhys heard a littleoohfrom one of the watching agents, all of whom seemed to have decided that catching up on the gossip was more important than carrying out their mission.He supposed that it came under the umbrella ofintelligence gatheringandensuring we’re capturing the right personrather thanbeing an incurable stickybeak, if they were questioned by their superiors.
Still, they only seemed to be a rung or two above this Brent on the professionalism ladder – at this point, he was leaning away from them being Hargreaves. That, however, raised the question:Just who the hellarethese people? And why were they trying to keep us from leaving the island?
“What’s wrong withme?!” Brent demanded. “All I ever did was look out for you, babe! And this is how you repay me?”
“No,” Maisie said with fury in her eyes. “Thisis how I repay you.”
And with that, she delivered an almightyslapacross his cheek.
Stunned, Brent staggered backward, his hand rising up to his already-reddening cheek. The betrayal on his face would have been comical, if he hadn’t been so infuriating.
“Babe,” he whispered as he took another step back… and toppled backward, arms pinwheeling for a moment before he fell off the edge of the dock and into the water below with a satisfying splash.
Rhys went up to meet Maisie, who was shaking with adrenaline, but who also looked pleased with herself as she shook out her hand.
“Are you okay?” asked Rhys, gently taking her face in his hands and looking into her eyes. If that bastard had put so much as a mark on her, Rhys was going to turn him into shark bait.
“Never better,” she replied, and although her voice was a little wobbly, she sounded determined. Rhys supposed that Brent could live another day.
He pulled her in close, feeling reassured by her warmth and hoping that she felt reassured in return. They stayed like that for several moments, just holding each other.
After what felt like way too short a time, he pulled back. As much as he just wanted to lift her up in his arms and get her out of here, they needed answers. And he was still very much aware of the suited agents, who were just hanging back and watching them – he wondered if they would try to stop the two of them if they attempted to leave.
Not that we have many options for that now,Rhys thought, glancing behind him – the yacht was well and truly out of reach now, unless he shifted and flew to it. But if he was going to reveal himself like that, he may as well just fly them all the way back to Sydney. And he didn’t think they’d just let him steal a helicopter.
There was also the matter of Brent. Rhys could hear him splashing about and swearing somewhere below, and they were going to have to deal with him one way or the other as well.
All he’d wanted to do was go on a beach holiday with his mate!
Before he could say anything, Maisie turned to him, eyes wide. “What was he talking about – aboutbothof us working on some job? I’m not an agent for anyone, I swear.”
Rhys nodded. “Don’t worry – I believe you.” And he did. Even if he hadn’t had the mate bond telling him that he could trust her, he would have believed her anyway. Maisie didn’t have a deceptive bone in her body.
Maisie smiled. “I should’ve hit him months ago,” she said. “That felt so good.”
“Yeah, I’ve only known him five seconds, andIwanted to hit him,” Rhys agreed. “I can’t believe you managed to go this long without causing him serious bodily harm.”
“Believe me, I’m disappointed in myself. But at least I got there in the end.” Her smile turned to a frown. “But what the hellis going on?Brentis some kind of secret agent? I just thought he was an emotionally unavailable skeeze.”
Rhys had to admit, that didn’t seem very likely – the Hargreaves agents he’d had to deal with in the past had been cold-blooded, ruthless, and consummate professionals. He might have only been aware of him for a minute or two, but still, Rhys couldn’t imagine someone likeBrentpassing their screening processes for even their lowest-level intern position.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “But right now, I think we have to focus on just getting the hell out of here.”
“Um. Yeah,” Maisie agreed, glancing over her shoulder to where the – far more professional-looking – suited agents were starting to close in again, though clearly Rhys having taken down their colleague without breaking a sweat had given them something to think about, and they were glancing at each other uneasily even as it was pretty clear they’d do their best to stop Rhys and Maisie if they made a move.
Given that they were human, Rhys was sure he could take them pretty easily if it came to that. He’d taken that first guy out no problems – and he supposed now that was why.
Humans are so fragile.
It wasn’t his preferred option to leave a pile of unconscious bodies on the dock, especially as the sun was rapidly rising in the sky and more people were milling around – but if all else failed, at least there was a way out of here thatdidn’tinvolve turning into a mythological beast in an open area.
The guy he’d elbowed in the throat earlier was up and about, though he didn’t look like he was in great shape – so that meant eight and a half goons that he had to get through in order to make his way to the helicopter, preferably without drawing any attention.
