“Yes, you will.” He stared the former assassin down. “As soon as fucking possible.”
There was a slight pause before Doug said, “So you killed the chick’s mom back in the day, and you’re afraid it’ll come out before the election. But don’t you think if she knew something, she’d have spoken up well before now? ’Cause, I gotta say, paying her off would be a whole lot easier…and less messy…than making her disappear.”
“It’s not money she wants.”
“Then what?”
“Best guess?” Michael looked away with a loud exhale. “My head…on a silver fucking platter.”
Several seconds before the other man spoke again. “If I’m risking my ass for you, the least you could do is tell me everything you know.”
“You’re only risking your ass for me because you’ve been out of the game a while, and you miss the excitement. And because I’m paying you a shit ton of money to do it.”
“And because you trust me.”
“I don’t trust anyone.”
“You trust me a little.” Doug sounded smug. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here.”
Michael looked back at the man and smirked. “I suppose you’re right.” After pulling in a deep inhale, he let the air out slowly. “I’m pretty sure she also knows I was with the Agency.”
“How the hell does her daughter know you were CIA?”
“I don’t know for sure that she does.”
Another brief pause ensued and then, “Okay, now I’m really confused. I assumed the Owens woman’s desire to see you dead had to do with her suspicions that you were somehow connected to her mother’s death. But if there’s a chance she doesn’t even know you were an agent, then why would she think that you?—”
“She saw me, Doug.” Michael cut the man’s question short with a truth he hadn’t uttered to another soul in nearly three decades. “I never told you, but…the night I broke into their house, and I shot my partner in the back of the head…Alice Owens saw me do it.”
A low whistle filled the air as Doug ran a hand over his five-o-clock shadow. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I wish I was. But now do you understand the importance of making this go away?”
“I do.” His former colleague nodded. “Don’t worry. I’ll find her, and when I do, she won’t have the chance to get away.”
CHAPTER4
Slade openedthe door to his boss’s office and waited to the side as Shadow stepped into the private space. He followed her in, shutting the door behind him.
“Glad to see you both made it back in one piece,” Rafe Owens’ English accent was thick as he stepped out from behind his large mahogany desk.
The former British Intelligence operative walked over to where Slade stood, and the two men shook hands.
“For a minute, there, I wasn’t sure that was going to happen.” Slade shifted his stare to the woman on his right. Sensing the thick tension between father and daughter, he felt compelled to let the man know, “She handled herself pretty well, all things considered.”
“She never should have been there in the first place.”
The man was in his mid-fifties, but aside from the generous amount of gray hair mixed with brown, and a few etched lines in his seasoned, face, you’d never know it. Owens was tall, built like a brick shithouse, and still as capable of taking out the bad guys as any other man on their team.
“Uh…hello…” Shadow waved a hand in the air. “Sheis standing right here.”
Trust me, princess. I know exactly where you are.
And though she didn’t know it yet, Slade had no intentions of letting her out of his sight again.
Owens turned his attention to his daughter, though he didn’t move in any closer. “From what I understand, you’re only here because Mr. Garrison was lucky enough to have arrived at your motel room in the nick of time.”
“I would have gotten myself out if he hadn’t.”
