Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
Maverick
F rankie and I place our plates on the table, and Ice Pick’s gaze flies to my face as we slide into the booth seats directly across from him and the fucking fed . When Frankie told me what she suspected, sitting at any other place in the dining room was no longer an option.
Frankie knew Amber was a fed the same way she knew the woman on the pirate ship was a fed: the bracelet. Her director gave it to her as a gift before she left for the assignment, and it appears she wasn’t the only recipient.
“Change of plans, buddy,” I say as I pick up my fork. “Looks like we were able to join you after all. Why don’t you introduce us?”
Ice stutters and stumbles over his tongue, but Amber holds a dainty hand toward me. “I’m Amber. It’s so nice to finally meet some of Chad’s friends.”
Frankie sputters on a gulp of sweet tea. I pat her back, wishing I could choke too. To death, preferably.
“ Chad’s friends?” I hope I don’t sound as flabbergasted as I feel.
Amber waves my comment away. “Oh, I know you guys call him Ice Man or something, but he’s just my Chad.” She wrinkles her nose at him, and I want to puke.
“So, what do you do for work, Amber?” Frankie lifts a sauce-laden rib to her lips. “If you don’t mind me asking.”
Amber’s cool demeanor slips, but she straightens her mask. “Oh, just a little office work. A button masher, if you will.”
“Right,” Frankie says after swallowing a glob of meat. “Me too.”
With my knee, I nudge her beneath the table. She needs to be careful. If this woman doesn’t recognize her from their division, that misstep goes in her favor. But if this woman realizes who she is, this could blow up in our faces.
“What do you do for work?” Amber asks me. “Chad here works in construction. Oh, but you already know that.”
I want to ask if they’ve talked about favorite hobbies, but I bite my tongue.
Frankie saves the day by changing the subject. “I’m glad you two hit it off the other night. We looked for you guys but couldn’t find you.”
“Can you blame me for wanting this hunk all to myself?” She bats her fake eyelashes at Ice Pick. “I mean...lovers can’t exactly share secrets when they’re surrounded by everyone. You get what I mean, don’t you?” She turns her fluttering lashes on Frankie.
“Do you have something in your eye?” I ask, and Frankie returns the nudge.
Amber clears her throat and sips a glass of wine. That gives me an idea.
“Hey, would you two want to come to our room after this? We could share a drink and swap war stories about this guy.” I lean across the table to pat Ice’s shoulder. “We could even play a little strip poker, if you ladies are bold enough.”
Amber’s panic bleeds through her eyes. “Oh, I don’t?—”
“Texas hold ‘em?” Ice asks. “Shit, I think we could stop by for a few hands.”
“Baby,” Amber whines quietly, as if we aren’t close enough to hear. Her wheedling voice and grabby fingers make my blood boil.
“It’s all right, sugar,” he whispers back. “Don’t you worry that pretty little head. I’ll give you all three inches when we get back to the room.”
Again, we are close enough to hear every stomach-churning syllable.
Frankie’s rib bone drops to her plate. “I think I’ve had enough of that,” she mumbles.
“Right, well, we’ll go up to the room to get things ready. See you shortly!” I say, and we squeeze out of the booth with full plates of food, our appetites destroyed.
As Frankie and I exit the dining room, I just have to hope that Ice Pick’s love for poker will overpower his newest infatuation.
“You were right, and I was wrong,” Frankie says as we step into the elevator. “We have to get him away from her. I don’t think she’s that into him.”
“Really? You don’t think so?”
She responds by pinching her lips together and scowling at me. “I said I was wrong.” Her finger flies to the elevator buttons, and she mashes our floor repeatedly. “Why isn’t this thing moving? We have to find Jim so we can get permission to?—”
“Whoa, Jim? Who said anything about involving him?”
The doors finally close, and the elevator begins to descend. “We can’t very well kill her without getting the okay first, and I definitely want to kill her. How dare she toy with his heart like that. You saw the way he looked at her. Maverick, he’s in love.”
Yeah, I saw it. That’s why I don’t want to kill her. I just want her to admit the truth to Ice Pick so that he can kill her. I explain this to Frankie, and thankfully, she gets it.
“We should still get the okay from Jim. That way, when the mean reds take hold, Ice Pick doesn’t have to pause the festivities for permission.”
“Mean reds?”
“You’ve never seen Breakfast at Tiffany’s ?”
I shake my head.
“I see a movie night in our future.”
The elevator comes to a stop, but my stomach lurches for a different reason. Mainly the fact that she sees a future with me in it. I have to find a way to show her that she can’t give up everything for me. Her life was meant for something more, and I can’t be the reason she gives up on her dreams.
“The mean reds. It’s the moment of hopeless despair,” she says as she uses her purple wristband to let us into our cabin. “He’ll feel it when she tells the truth, and I know just the thing to loosen her tongue. You go find Jim, then meet me back here.”
I nod and start down the hallway as an uneasy feeling nips at my heels. While I hope it won’t come to it, if I can’t convince Frankie that I’m not worth the sacrifice she intends to make, I’ll have to take drastic measures. I’ll have to hurt her to save her.
In the meantime, I’ll try to enjoy what time I have left.
Jim stands with his back to me as I enter his office. He stares out a window overlooking the star-filled sky, a glass of something dark and dusky in his hand. He swirls the glass, then tips the edge against his lips.
“We’ve got a problem,” I say as I close the door behind me.
He turns and smiles. “What else is new?”
“The woman Ice Pick fell for? Turns out she’s a fed. Frankie figured it out, and now we need permission to kill her.”
Jim chuckles and sips his drink again before turning away from the window. He strolls to a massive desk and takes a seat behind it. After folding his hands in his lap, he nods toward the leather chair in front of the desk.
“I don’t have time to sit. Frankie is currently preparing something so that we can get her to tell Ice the truth. Then we want to let him kill her.”
He tips his head to the side. “And what if he won’t?”
“What if he—” I squeeze the back of my neck and close my eyes. “Jim, she’s betrayed him in the worst possible way. She doesn’t actually want him. She wants whatever information he can give her.”
“How is that any different from your situation?” He sits forward and taps his finger on the desk. “Frankie’s goal is the same as hers. To get intel on us. How much have you given her in exchange for a little attention?”
“That’s an entirely different matter, and you know it. Even without all the strings you’ve pulled to turn her against her own, that Castle asshole did the hard work for you. He’s put it into her head that her division was out to kill everyone they sent to this ship.”
“Yes. That’s correct.”
All thought flies from my head, and I forget why I came here in the first place. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me correctly, son. All eleven agents were sent here to die. They’re a black spot on the government records, and they need to be disposed of. Quietly.”
“I-I don’t understand. Why Frankie? What the fuck did she do that was so horrible?” Now I sit in the chair. If I don’t, I’ll collapse. I never imagined Castle’s little death confession would hold an ounce of truth.
“It’s not my place to say, but all will be revealed. In time.” Jim sits back in his chair again. “For now, continue to be her friend. She’s going to need one when everything comes to light.”
I grip the arms of the chair and fight the urge to raise my voice. “Jim, we’re talking about her life here. I know you like to play these stupid games, but I’m not willing to put her through hell just so you can get a little entertainment.”
“Well, well. Looks like someone’s gotten a little more invested, hmm?”
“Cut the shit.”
His smile drops to something sad, and he spins his chair around with a sigh, giving me his back again. “Permission granted. As for the rest, you’ll just have to trust that my interests lie in the same pit as yours.”
I stand and hurry out of the room before I leap across the desk and strangle him with my bare hands. My temper doesn’t usually flare like this, but I’m not usually this terrified, either. If Frankie was sent here to die, what is she hiding?
And why don’t I care?
As I rush down the hallway, I look for the stairs.
The elevator will take too long, and I need her in my arms right now.
I need to know she’s safe and that I can keep her that way.
For the first time since learning about Frankie’s identity and my true mission, the desire to protect her comes with a swift kick of urgency.
She’s been in danger this entire time, and only now do I fully realize it.
By the time I reach the cabin door, my lungs are on fire and I can’t catch my breath. I fling open the door and find her standing by the long desk beneath the television. Four champagne flutes tower on top, accompanied by the tainted bottle of Bollinger.
But I can only focus on her. I rush forward and take her into my arms.
“Is everything okay?” she mumbles into my chest as I smash her against me.
“No, but it will be.” I place a kiss on top of her head. Before I can say anything else, someone knocks on the door.
I’ll have to tell her what I’ve learned after they leave. Right now, we have a kill to take and a man to save.