She stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself, then cut a look at Cobalt. “What does Chrome want us to do?”
Prepared for the order to take Gabriel down, she reached for a brush. Wet hair would braid faster.
“Something else is going on with all those people in this building at the same time. Chrome wants to know what it is. So, you’re still on point…”
She met Cobalt’s cautious gaze via the mirror. “But?”
“You’re off Danvers.”
Corporals didn’t question the orders of a Staff Sergeant. Chrome said she was off, so she was off. Ignoring the sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach, she slammed the lid on the box of her emotions and nodded. “Good plan. Once I get changed, I’ll go over the info you’ve already gathered. We can split them up and see what we can see.”
A hint of relief crossed his eyes, but he nodded. “Sounds good. Hungry?”
“Starving.”
“I’ll get us food. We’ll need it.”
After he left her to use the phone, she braced her hands on the counter and bowed her head.Done.She was off Danvers. He wasn’t her problem or her decision anymore. Let the fucking chips fall where they may.
They spentthe first day of the conference circling the sharks. Armed with Ant’s info, they eliminated a third of the guests as attending for their stated reason of international commerce. Their targets, however, held a lot of side meetings. Clever, really, negotiating illegal trade, terrorist deals, and arms sales under the auspices of international commerce. They qualified, didn’t they?
Cobalt’s French arms dealer liked poker, and he liked Copper’s boobs. They used that to their advantage. Gabriel remained in residence, however, like a hunter on the edge of her periphery. He always seemed to bethere. Plat had him, or Merc, sometimes both. She didn’t know and refused to focus on that aspect.
During one game, the French arms dealer invited her and Cobalt to his room for a littleplay. Gabriel had been close enough to overhear, and the dark look he’d sent her way warned of danger. Defiance surged through her. She had a fucking job to do, and he needed to deal. Rising from Cobalt’s lap, she’d slipped over to sit on the Frenchman’s.
It took no time at all to copy his phone. Limited data availability within the conference areas meant she’d have to head out to get it uploaded, but they made a point of gathering all the data they could. Elsewhere in the building, Merc would get into their rooms, search their things, and get a feel for who was traveling with who. Chrome had a bad feeling about the situation.
It was enough for them.
Copper didn’t care for some of the negotiations she caught on the periphery. Worse, Gabriel moved in and around the crowd like he belonged. When she engaged a Saudi businessman in conversation, Gabriel joined. Excusing herself to tackle a Sicilian mafia boss, he again crowded her space. Language skills didn’t defeat him, either. So far, she’d learned he spoke Japanese, Italian, French, Greek, and Farsi.
Apparently the only language he didn’t speak was fuck off.
“I need to talk to you,” he said after she breezed from one meeting hall to the next. In and around all the ‘conference’ panels, meetings were taking place. She’d already pinpointed two arms sales and at least one white slavery trading meeting set for after the conference. The information would go directly to Chrome.
“I do not speak English,” she told him in Japanese.
“We did this already,” he reminded her, his Japanese flawless. The man needed to have something wrong with him. Perhaps his bulldog persistencewashis flaw.
Cobalt stood as she angled her path to intercept him. He cut his gaze toward the hallway and showed her three fingers. Backup was on its way. Nodding her understanding, she left the conference area and headed for a hallway leading to catering—apparently.
“You can keep running. I told you, I’m only going to continue following.” At the first curve, she turned the corner. Merc slammed his shoulder into Gabriel’s chest and sent him back two feet. Hesitating a half step, she glanced back in time to see Gabriel rebound as his furious gaze collided Merc’s. Plat stepped into the hallway behind him.
Her heart ached.
Orders were orders—but, dammit.
“Don’t hurt him, Merc. If you can help it.” Whether her oldest friend heard or not, she had no idea. Blowing out a breath, she continued on her way. They needed to close the books on this mission, bring it home, and bury it.
Let’s just hope I’m not burying Gabriel, too.
Dammit, she shouldn’t be this invested. Shutting that shit down, because it was the only way to do her job, she worked on divorcing those feelings. Maybe she’d go somewhere and become a nun for a while after the case. Better, a grade school teacher. How hard could the life of an elementary school teacher be?
Focused on all the people she could become, she ignored the aching woman walking away from a man she could quite possibly love.
Gabriel exhaledaround the bruise on his chest. The man hit like a professional linebacker. Behind the tank blocking his path, Copper missed a single step, then kept walking. She’d led him right out of the conference and into a faceoff with—he studied the man in front of him. Scars coated the left side of his face, leaving it twisted and emotionless. The unsettling effect only enhanced the distinctly unfriendly look on the right side of his face.
Copper’s accomplice in Nigeria.This is the man she’s with?She’d said she wasn’t with anyone, but the menace rolling off this guy had nothing to do with business. The feeling of being watched and movement behind him increased. So his interrogators were both here.