“Perfect? Have you lost your mind? Forensic accountant means that he probably never saw a day in the field.”
“True, but he still went through training. He understands the basics of how we work. He’ll be fine.”
Edward stared at Daniel, stunned by this new information. He wasn’t just any innocent civilian, no. Edward had to go and sleep with an innocent who had a similar background. He couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped his throat. What were the fucking odds?
“FBI or not, he’s just some innocent guy. He—”
“Ed, you made the mistake, and you’re not some green trainee on his first assignment. So did those fucking Saudis. Say you set this guy free. How do you know that someone else isn’t going to come along and make the same damn mistake? If you go to Barcelona, there’s no one in Bermuda to watch his back. You think he’s going to survive the next time without you?”
Fuck. He hated when James talked sense. Through no fault of his own, Daniel was stuck.
“You work on getting him to agree to help us and call me again,” James continued when he remained silent on the line.
With that, James hung up. He’d never been one for wasting time on the phone—an attribute Edward usually appreciated because he wasn’t one to stay on the phone either. But now, he wanted to do anything other than deal with the furious man in that hotel room.Daniel couldn’t believe his bad luck. He’d been so sure he’d picked up a fun vacation fling and instead, he’d been shot at and nearly blown up. He’d been tied up and mistaken for what he now realized was some kind of agent. He’d slept with a damn secret agent. And the whole time, the man had been playing him, luring him in.
And what had been Edward’s ultimate plan? Was he just trying to get some secret information off the other agent? Or was it something worse? Had his goal been to kill Kevin Jones before those other people got their hands on him?
If that was the case, had Edward been the one to shoot the other agent through the heart?
He thought of that night of sex and wanted to scream in frustration. It had flat-out been the best time he’d had with a hookup, and he’d looked forward to more days of sun and sex. The beginning of the boat trip had been just as promising. Instead, he was standing in someone else’s hotel room. A dead someone else’s. And the man he’d planned to ravish for days was nothing more than a liar. Oh, and a killer.
Bad luck, hell. This was just plain ridiculous. He hadn’t been kidding with his Bond bullshit remark. This was something he’d expect his coworkers at Ward Security to get involved in. Not him. The boring accountant.
He just wanted to go home at this point. He fit in there so much better than he’d thought. Much more so than in this…whatever the hell this was.
Quinn wasn’t going to believe a word of it when he told his coworker. And if he did believe him, the young man was going to laugh his freaking ass off. Not that Daniel could blame him in the least. If this was going to be his luck, he was going to spend the rest of his vacation time at home. Maybe he’d take up gardening or learn a new skill like painting. Anything but travel.
Edward came back into the room, and his expression didn’t make Daniel feel any better. “FBI, huh?”
Terrific. He scowled at the man. “You learned that just now on the phone?”
“Now that I can talk, I work for the CIA. We have access to all information.”
“Fucking knew it.” Daniel groaned and dropped his head against the wall. “Then you also learned I worked as a forensic accountant for the FBI, and I work as nothing more than an accountant for a security company in Ohio now.”
“I did. But you have an impeccable background, and unfortunately, you’re exactly what we need to find out what the agent was planning to sell and to whom.”
“If you have so much access to information, how come you don’t have that? You did say ‘all information,’ didn’t you?”
“Come on, you know how this works.”
“That’s the thing. I don’t.” He threw up his hands and stomped closer to Edward. “I’m good at math. Just math.”
“When we were out to dinner, you also told me you’re good at puzzles, and that’s what we have on our hands here. A puzzle. It’s just one that happens to be about safety for our country. We need your help, Daniel.”
Daniel shut his eyes. “Don’t try to manipulate me with patriotism. It’s beneath us both, and I really hate to think you’ve got such a low opinion of me.” Edward’s snort had Daniel opening his eyes again to a look of what he wanted to call admiration.