“I don’t think I tripped myself up. I was embedded so deep and for so long that, to be honest, the lifestyle didn’t even faze me anymore. Some days, I didn’t even think about who I was before I became Guillermo’s woman. As soon as that started happening, I should have had them pull me out.”
“Knowing the alphabet agencies like I do, they probably would have resisted.”
“Yeah.” She expelled a breath through a wave of sensation. She knew she hurt, but she didn’t care. The meds were definitely working. “I honestly believed I could control it, and I had so much more I could find out if I just stayed a little longer.”
“Could you have been outed by your NSA contact? Who took over after I left?”
“Guy who went by the initial T. Then there was a woman who called herself Pi, like the number.”
Triumph nodded absently. “First one was Thomas, my boss. Wasn’t him. Guy was as straight as an arrow. Plus, he died of a heart attack about a year later. Pi was a newbie when I left. Woman named Paisley.”
“She was my contact until about five months ago when her number went dead.”
Frowning, he cataloged the information away. “What about your handler at the CIA?”
“Brayden Latrec. I doubt it was him. He was with me all the way. Then again, his number went dead about the same time as Pi’s, so who knows.”
“You were running solo the last five months? Why didn’t you get the hell out as soon as your contacts disappeared?”
“It wasn’t that easy. Guillermo was an untrusting son of a bitch, even with me. I was rarely alone. If he wasn’t around, my bodyguard was. About the only time I had any time to myself was if I locked myself away in our suite, and there were guards on the balcony outside our room at all times, as well as in the hallway. Wouldn’t have put it past him to have had cameras in all the rooms of the hacienda. And I do mean all of them.”
“So he could have known for a while who you were?”
“Possible, but improbable. He was impatient. If he knew something, he was unlikely to sit on it. That bit him in theass more than once because he reacted first, then often had to work his way out of jams because he didn’t stop to think things through.”
Demon reentered the room with Steel behind him. The latter was wheeling the ski equipment behind him.
“I take it the skis are in the bathtub now?”
“You know me so well, little spy. I’ll be back to take care of the mess in about half an hour, forty-five minutes.”
With that, he was out the door.
“Mess?” she asked weakly.
Demon shrugged. “He was a little stubborn, but we played that Russian shape game and got him to fit.”
Visions of the man folded into a double vertical stack, bent where a body shouldn’t be, caused bile to rise from her stomach. “Sorry I asked.”
Coming around to the side of the bed again, he got rid of the gloves he’d been wearing, turning them inside out and shoving them into his backpack. He put on a clean set and prodded the affected area around the wound. “Feel that?”
“Pressure. I know it hurts, but strangely, I don’t care.”
“Yeah, that’s the oxy. If you’re feeling that way, that means it’s time to get this thing out of you. Just one, yes?”
“Yes.”
“How did no one hear the scuffle?” Triumph asked.
“Small caliber. Barely made any noise, although it did have some sort of modified silencer on it. Looked handmade. The gun is under my pillow in case I had more visitors.”
“Slide it out, Triumph. We’ll dispose of it later.” Demon took off his watch and clicked a button. “I need to take a couple pictures of your side. I’m pretty sure I know where the bullet is, but our tech guy back home has a high-tech doohickamajobber that allows him to filter the photo. Turns the picture into a scan.I’d rather confirm where the bullet is, if we can, before I go digging.”
“Doohickamajobber?”
“Technical term.” Demon smiled. He took the picture, sent it over the cloud, and waited. Not even a minute later, his watch beeped five times. A quick look at the screen, and he nodded. “Good. Right where I thought it was. This should be fast. You haven’t nicked anything important, so while it’s going to be unpleasant to take out, it’ll be quick.” He looked at G again. “You ready?”
“No, but I want this thing out of me, so get to it.”
