Well, that was awkward. I shot an apologetic glance at King, who just shrugged. Despite our sleep on the plane, he still looked wiped out.
Once he was gone, Nadine closed the door. “If we plan an op to infiltrate the parliament building to return the original crown, I need to make sure we have a secondary support op in place to keep your asset from wandering off with it.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to promise her he wouldn’t do that, but I decided there was no point. She wasn’t going to take my word for it. I had a proven track record of not being diligent enough or thorough enough when it came to Le Chaton.
So I nodded instead.
“Your team will be in charge of the primary op, and Agent Martin here will lead the support op,” Nadine continued, gesturing to the agent who’d escorted us back from Greece.
I nodded again.
“Linney will be in charge of making sure Agent Martin’s team is read in on the primary op. He will also have custody of the original until Mr. Wilde is ready to enter the parliament building.”
She continued to go over some of the logistics, explaining we would spend today creating the infiltration plan and travel to Budapest the following day. By the time she wrapped up her spiel, she nodded to the agent closest to the door.
“Please invite Mr. Wilde to rejoin us.”
The agent stepped out and looked around, but there was no King Wilde to be found.
And when he wandered to the men’s room to find him, there was no King Wilde in the men’s room.
It turned out, there was no King Wilde in the building at all. Our sneaky thief had pulled a runner.
At least this time I hadn’t been the one to let him go. I’d simply been following orders.
If only following orders didn’t leave me feeling like I’d done the wrong thing.
26
King
In addition to being royally pissed off at the whole forgery deception, I was also feeling squirrelly about Falcon’s boss and whatever plans she seemed to have for me next.
I’d fulfilled my obligation to the FBI. They had no reason to keep me.
So I left.
It wasn’t like I was going to flee the country or anything, I simply wanted to have a long hot shower and a nice deep sleep in my own bed. I hadn’t slept in my apartment in weeks, since before the Berlin job and the Hobie trip. So I made my way out into the winter air of early morning and found the nearest Metro station. Granted, I didn’t have any of my things from the trip, but I had the most important items in the cargo pants I still wore.
When I finally returned to my apartment, I was shocked to find my grandparents drinking coffee at my kitchen table with MJ and Neckie.
“That the hell?” I asked.
“He’s here,” Doc said, standing up and grinning from ear to ear. He held out his arms for a hug, and I fell right into them.
Thank god.
My eyes stung as I felt the familiar solid body against mine and smelled the Old Spice aftershave he always stole from Grandpa’s Dopp kit when they traveled together.
“How’d you guys get in here?” I asked. Not that I minded. But as someone who prided himself on being particularly sensitive to home security, it was worth finding out how they’d breached the perimeter.
“You forget who taught you how to pick a lock,” MJ muttered into her coffee mug.
“It was Saint,” I said with a laugh.
“Yeah, well, he taught me too.”
There had been electronic systems to override as well, but I also knew that the doorman could access all of that if my sister knew how to sweet-talk well enough. Which she didn’t, but her girlfriend certainly did.
“Hey, Neckie,” I said after hugging Grandpa’s neck and dropping a kiss on MJ’s cheek. “Welcome to Paris. How long have you guys been here?”
“We got in yesterday,” Doc explained, sitting back down in the chair next to Grandpa. “I overheard Felix offering MJ and Neckie a ride to Paris on the royal jet and thought that sounded like fun. Felix and Lio had to get back home for some ceremony or something, so they couldn’t stick around. Hope you don’t mind the impromptu visit.”
“Of course not,” I said truthfully. “I have plenty of room, and you can tell me all about the wedding. I’m sorry I missed it.”
I poured myself some coffee and took a seat. Someone had gone out for fresh pastries and set them out on a platter in the middle of the table. I helped myself while soaking in the familiar chatter of my family all around me. In the moment, I felt the sudden strong urge to move home. I missed them so much.
After a while, Doc and Grandpa moved to the more comfortable seating in the living room, and Neckie said she wanted to go out and wander around to see some things. Before she and MJ left the apartment, MJ pulled me aside.