Chapter 8 #3
“Uh, a man is dead.” Charlotte advanced on her boss. “That was not anywhere in the plan.”
Logan propped his left elbow on the bar and watched the show unfold.
“Logan could have been killed in that alley!” Charlotte’s hair swung with her fury. “If I hadn’t gotten there—”
“I really would have been fine,” he felt compelled to point out. “I can defend myself. Super good at that job. Been doing it for years.”
Both women looked his way. He smiled at them. “Hi, there.”
“I specifically sent Charlotte out tonight in order to keep an eye on you,” Jezebel informed him as she continued to sit on the couch, spine perfectly straight. One leg crossed over the other. “I have no desire for you to be injured during the course of this mission, Logan.”
“Great to know.” He grabbed an empty glass from the bar and saluted her. “I love knowing that people don’t want me to die. Makes me feel extra warm and tingly on the inside.”
“The plan isn’t for you to attract the attention of killers,” Jezebel continued. She pursed her lips. “Charlotte is the one who is supposed to do that.”
He slammed the glass back down on the bar. “I heard wrong.” He wasn’t mocking any longer. In an instant, his tone had done a one-eighty. He stalked toward Jezebel.
She rose from the couch. Stood at all five-foot-nothing because the woman was tiny.
A former ballerina who had somehow become a super spy.
“I don’t think you did.” She didn’t even blink.
“Charlotte said you were demanding to be informed about the true mission goal. After some careful consideration, I decided to share more details with you.”
Charlotte shifted from one foot to the other. “What convinced you?”
“Logan had the opportunity to save himself tonight from unnecessary suspicion—suspicion from the Las Vegas Police Department. All he had to do was tell the investigating detective that he had CIA operatives who could back up his story. Operatives who could corroborate that he was defending himself. That he had no choice but to stab the man who intended to shoot him. In short, Logan could have sold us both out.” A pause. “He didn’t.”
Logan had to laugh at that logic. “Oh, come on. If you like me and you want to spill all the details about the case because you know I’m amazing, just say so, Jez. But don’t come up with some crap excuse.”
“Jezebel.”
“Whatever. I doubt it’s your real name.”
Her eyebrows rose. That was pretty much confirmation that, yep, not her real name.
He inclined his head toward her. “At least be semi-honest with me. Don’t lie and say you’re sharing because I didn’t spill your secrets. Thanks to the nearby street cam, I had video footage of the attack from outside. I didn’t need to go ratting out spies in order to save my hide.”
Charlotte had gone silent.
Jezebel hadn’t. “It’s more than that,” she allowed.
So she was being a bit more honest.
“I saw you in that alley,” she revealed.
Wait, she had? Had Jezebel been watching the whole attack? From what vantage point?
“You were very, very protective of Charlotte. You killed Morris because he was aiming for her with his second shot, didn’t you?
Her, not you. Because from where he was positioned, from where she was running, the bullet should have hit her.
Luckily, you two hit the ground before it could slam into my agent. ”
Seemed to him that she’d seen too much. “Let’s get back to the big reveal about the mission purpose. Because I’m pretty sure you said—”
“I said that the purpose of the mission is for Charlotte to attract the attention of a killer.” Brisk.
“That’s the reason why she needed a path that led to your inner circle.
That’s the reason I gave you a specific list of individuals to invite to your latest private game.
We are hunting a very dangerous predator, Logan. A serial killer.”
“What? No, no, that’s bull. The Feds do that kind of work. Not the CIA. You guys are interested in espionage, you are interested in the weapon’s trade, cyberterrorism—”
“We are interested in international criminals who have murdered women across the globe. We are very, very interested in finding the specific individual who murdered a liaison at the Greek Embassy, an MI6 Agent, a CIA operative—” Jezebel broke off.
“An operative who was close to me.” A brief clearing of her throat.
“I am looking for a predator who enjoys stalking and destroying women in their late twenties to early thirties, women who should be able to handle danger, but who find themselves becoming his victims. This man takes his prey. He terrorizes them. He kills them. He is an international monster that I will stop before I end my time at the CIA. He is a monster that Charlotte will unmask.”
He looked at Charlotte. His gorgeous, by-the-book spy. “Fuck me.” A shake of his head as rage coiled tightly within him. “You want to be his next victim.” That was the damn plan?
“No.” A hard shake of her head that sent her silky hair sliding against her cheeks once more. “I want him to be my victim.”