Only years of keeping it British with my boarding school friends kept me from gaping at Ueli’s accusation and then throwing a fucking punch at him. “The actualfuck?Do you think I woulddo that?”
“Ruoxi has examined the closed-circuit video footage from Billionaire Sanctuary’s security booth. No one entered or exitedyour suite except the women and us, and then you emerged five minutes after we went down to the lobby.”
“As you said, the Sanctuary’s surveillance security measures leave much to be desired. The Russian said their services hacked the feeds. Look for him in the bar area afterward, or look for gaps or duplications in the bar or elevator footage. He was sitting on the fourth barstool from the far wall, and he had a slice bleeding on the left side of his face.”
“We did not see?—”
With one glance at the corner of the sterile-white hallway, I located the black-domed security cameras recording our every movement. “I don’t care what youthinkyou saw,” I whispered. “I have an SR-2 Udav I took off of him that says he existed.”
The sharp metal safety lever on the side of the nine-millimeter pistol was needle-scratching my back every time I took a step or twisted, so the gun was right at the top of my mind.
“Where is it?”
“In the back of my waistband. I don’t have a holster because, and I quote, ‘principals should not be armed.’”
Ueli’s gaze flicked to my waist as if he wanted to frisk me, and I straightened and stared down at him. Even though my uncle had originally retained Ueli’s services, I was paying his salary, and I was the principal. He could damned well believe what I said.
He looked up at my face, checking my features. “It doesn’t look like you’ve been in a fight.”
“No need to trade punches when he was pointing a gun at me.”
Ueli lifted one pale beige eyebrow and one corner of his mouth at me. “You disarmed him?”
“It was a lucky slap,” I admitted.
“Lucky is good in the golf and the hand grenades. Do you want me to dispose of it?”
At least it sounded like he believed me. “I think I’ll keep it.”
“Many former Soviet bloc countries use SR-2 Udavs. Why do you think he was SVR officer?”
I stepped closer and dropped my voice. “He insinuated he was speaking for Putin, but he wouldn’t say his name out loud like the walls had ears.”
“It may not have been Putin, then. Might have been Ukraine or one of the other Baltic states trying to cause the trouble. It might have been some other bratva trying to interfere with Volkov’s plans.”
“He wasn’t bratva. I know a professional when I see one.” I stepped away to halt that line of the conversation.
Ueli sighed. “You are going to insist on staying in the US, aren’t you?”
“Paris is crawling with SVR, and so is Singapore. It’s no safer there and probably less so. We’ll have a meeting with the team leaders tonight or tomorrow morning to plan the week, but I’ve already scheduled some decently important meetings.”
He shook his head. “There are not so many SVR in Paris. Moscow does not have much money these days for routine surveillance. If you say it is important, then we will make the accommodations. Still, I register my protest that I do not like the risk. A tactical retreat is often the best strategy in the long run.”
“Your protest is noted, Ueli. But I’m not taking Lexi back to Billionaire Sanctuary until we’ve updated protocols. We need a high-level search for intruders and a sweep for electronics in the suite after every time we leave. I’ll need to increase my personal detail, including security detail personnel in the suite overnight.”
I’d gotten too used to sleeping without people camping out in the living room of my hotel suites, available and on watch, if not on high alert. Resigning myself to the return of their intrusion felt like defeat.
Besides, Lexi was so sheltered in her worldview. How would she react to someone on the other side of a flimsy hotel-room door and within earshot of any sounds she might make, for whatever reason?
I was just married, damn it. You’d think I could get a little privacy. Maybe I should sweep her away to a remote Pacific island for a honeymoon.
Except I wasn’t supposed to have a honeymoon with Lexi, I reminded myself. I was supposed to keep my hands to myself, or at least my dick in my pants.
The stale air in the corridor seemed hotter, warmed by the sunshine slanting through the skylights above.
“Third shift watch and other precautions indicate Level Two security protocols,” Ueli said. “Level Two necessitates returning to a location with higher security measures.”
Ueli was too damned tenacious. “Think of it as Level Two-and-a-Half. We’re not retreating to Paris or one of the other safe house locations.”
