No Love Lost

The Forgotten, Book 5, Masters and Mercenaries, Book 21

About the book

When Ezra Fain joined the ranks of the CIA, the last thing on his mind was romance. After meeting Kim Soloman, it was difficult to think of anything else. A tragic mistake drove them apart, leaving him shattered and unable to forgive the woman he loved. But when his greatest enemy threatens her life, Ezra leaps into action, prepared to do anything to try to save her.

Solo accepted long ago that she won’t get over Ezra. She’s worked for years to get back into his life, looking for any way to reignite the love they once shared. Unfortunately, nothing seems to penetrate the wall he has built between them. When she’s arrested for a crime she didn’t commit, she believes she’s on her own.

Racing across the globe, Ezra and Solo find themselves together again, caught in the crosshairs of the agency they sacrificed so much to serve. Days on the run soon turn to steamy nights, but Levi Green isn’t about to let them find their happily ever after. And when the smoke clears, the men and women of McKay-Taggart will never be the same again.

Excerpt

Chapter One

London, England

Kimberly Solomon stood outside the door that led to the tidy offices of MI6 and wished she was back in DC. Something was wrong. She could feel it in her gut, the deep instinct of a long-term operative who’d seen an op go south more than once.

She couldn’t go back to the States because she was weak, because she’d always been weak in one specific part of her life. If she’d had a lick of sense she never would have gotten involved in this op, but no, she was the idiot who offered herself up. A masochist. That’s what she was.

But then maybe Beck was a sadist deep down, and wasn’t she interested in seeing how hanging around a bunch of Doms had changed him? He’d been alpha in bed before, in every part of their life, really, but how had studying at clubs, under Ian Taggart and Damon Knight, transformed him?

She needed to let go of that thought because she wasn’t welcome in those clubs. Neither of those men trusted her as far as they could throw her, and she couldn’t even blame them. She’d had a job to do, and it hadn’t always been to their betterment. She’d shared what information she could, protected them as much as she was able, but in the end she would always be the bad guy for Beckett Kent and the men he worked with. She was Agency, after all.

Once Beck had been Agency, too. Once he’d understood what it meant to be an operative, to have to make the hard calls.

Now she worried that she wouldn’t even be able to protect them at all.

She stared at the door in front of her and thought seriously about walking away. Just walking away from all of it. Maybe it was time.

The cell in her hand buzzed and she was thrilled to have a reason to put off making that decision. She’d watched her ex-husband walk through with Damon Knight mere moments before and had stood there, trying to figure out why she couldn’t simply walk away.

Because you love him. Because you’ve always loved him, and you won’t ever love another man the way you love Beck.

Because you betrayed him, and he won’t ever love you back again.

She slid her finger across the screen to accept the call.

“Are you actually going to go in or are you simply going to stand around? You know they usually frown on that here,” a familiar feminine voice said. “If you’re going to have to deal with MI6 and the Agency, at least let me buy you lunch.”

She loved the sound of that lady’s voice. Ariel Adisa. Once she’d been the baddest assassin to ever work for an intelligence agency. She’d also been one of the few people on the planet Solo could call friend. Then she’d hung up her guns and used her brain for good, and ended up all married and happy and working for the very man who’d so recently walked into that conference room with Beck. She looked around, trying to figure out where Ari was hiding. “You’re here? I thought you were spending a couple of weeks in Wyoming. Did the big family reunion go bad?”

She didn’t like the thought of something going wrong between Ariel and her husband, Robert. They’d made it through a storm and seemed so solid.

“I got back yesterday, but Rob’s staying on for the rest of the week,” Ariel replied in her crisp British accent. “And it was perfect. My new mother-in-law is lovely. Tucker and Roni are staying on for a time. I’m going to miss them terribly. I came home because I’m consulting on a case and they’ve had a bit of a breakthrough. I came up to read through some confidential files they couldn’t send over to me. I thought avoiding the Tube would be a good idea. It wasn’t. Ezra is even more morose than usual.”

She moved away from the door and saw Ari down the hall. Her friend waved and slid her cell into her fashionable bag. She was dressed in a lovely pink sheath and smoking hot white stilettos. Ariel was gorgeous, and now she glowed in the way only a woman who was well loved ever managed.

The way she used to glow when he’d loved her. Before she’d taken his brother from him.

Sometimes she hated Ezra Fain. After all, it had been Ezra’s death that had been the final nail in the coffin of her marriage. The fact that her husband now went by the name was simply another way to twist the knife.

She strode toward Ari and wondered if it wasn’t fate that had brought her here. Ari, that was. It hadn’t been fate that brought Solo. It had been an order from her boss to stay in London and finish the job she’d started. “Well, I’m sure he’s upset because he knows I’ll be here today. He’s been good at freezing me out since Paris.”

They worked together on her last mission. It had been the mission that brought Tucker and the rest of the remaining Lost Boys out of the shadows. She’d started the job because she’d wanted to see if she and Beck could try one last time. She’d ended up staying because she’d believed in those men, wanted what was best for them. They’d been through a lot of shit and all because an evil doctor had decided to treat them like guinea pigs. Although now that she thought about it, she didn’t like people who treated guinea pigs like test subjects either.

Now she wanted to know who’d supported Dr. Hope McDonald with money and assistance. She wanted the names of everyone McDonald worked with. It had been the whole point of her being in Europe. She’d worked with McKay-Taggart and Knight to get the list of McDonald’s consortia from the pharmaceutical company who’d backed her in the beginning.

Ariel’s expression turned serious. “Why aren’t you back in the States? The Agency took the data. I assumed you would go with it.”

Yes, she’d assumed that, too. “The boss wanted me to wait here in England and liaise with MI6 and German intelligence. Not to mention I’ve had to deal with DGSE.”

“Well, you had to know the French would want in on whatever you found,” Ariel pointed out.

The French intelligence agency had been key in trapping the man who’d tried to trade Roni Croft’s life for the data Tucker had hidden all those years ago. “Yes, and they’ve been perfectly reasonable. It’s Beck who isn’t. He thinks I’m hiding something from him.”

She was hiding so many things from her ex, but this wasn’t one of them.

“I think it’s hard for him to trust anyone from an intelligence agency,” Ariel replied with sympathy. “Kim, I have to ask you what you’re doing. Not with work, but with Ezra. It’s been years since you divorced. Don’t you think it’s time to move on?”

Her heart clenched at the thought, but she knew her friend was right. “When I found out he was getting involved with McKay-Taggart, I knew he would be in danger because of who they were investigating. I’d stayed away for years, Ari. I gave him space. He was grieving and he needed a place to put it all. Then he was angry because he found out about the mistake I made with Levi.”

The biggest mistake of her life, and she’d made so many. She’d been divorced and she’d gone out with a man she’d thought was her friend, and he’d taken such advantage of her. She didn’t even remember the night. She was a deadly CIA operative and that night had proven she was still a woman and still fucking vulnerable.

“I don’t know that he’s in a place where he can forgive,” Ari said slowly, as if she knew the words would be a blow. “I’m not sure he ever will be. Obviously I didn’t know him before his brother was killed, but I know the man he is now. He’s perfectly reasonable until it comes to you. Normally I would say that means he’s still got feelings for you and as long as there’s an emotional connection, the relationship isn’t truly dead.”

“But his feelings for me are hurting him.” It was the conclusion she’d come to after long hours of self-reflection.

Ariel reached out, putting a hand on her shoulder. “They’re hurting you, too. I don’t like saying this, Kim, but he’s not in a place where he can find any peace with you around. And I don’t think you’ll find any either. Do you want to go have lunch? We can talk. I’ll wait around if your meeting takes longer than mine.”

The last thing she wanted to do was cry to her gorgeous, happily married friend who would likely start having babies and raising a gorgeous family with her loving husband. She hated the jealousy that gnawed at her. It wasn’t Ariel’s fault she’d done everything right.

But Kim had thought she would have a family by now. She’d thought she and Beck would have had their two point five kids and retired to the country where they would raise them, and she would sell homemade jam or some shit.

Instead she was thirty-four and had nothing but a bunch of medals she couldn’t bring out at parties to show for it. She’d tried dating over the years, tried to forget him, but the minute she’d found a way to work herself into his world she’d taken it.

“Come on, Kim. Please have lunch with me. We don’t have to turn it into a session,” Ari prompted. “I’ll stay at your place tonight and we can order in and drink as much as we like and watch ridiculous movies. I won’t say a thing to upset you.”

God, it was nice to have a friend. She was going to miss Ari because when she was back at the Agency, she would go deep this time. She would take an assignment that would last years and lose herself in it. She would start over again, and this time she wouldn’t let herself ever get pulled back in.

“I can’t tonight.” It would be too hard to keep from talking to Ari. Ari had a way of dragging the truth out of her, and there were some things she couldn’t admit to anyone. Some secrets that had to stay hidden or the world would crash in again.

She had promises to keep. Even if they cost her everything.

Ari nodded. “All right, but I won’t let you mope forever. Call me sometime this week. I want to get together before you go back to the States.”

She nodded, though it was another lie. Hopefully she would go back to the States as soon as this meeting was over. “Sure. I should go in. I’ll think about everything you said.”

She wouldn’t be able to do anything but think. That was why she needed to get out of Europe, away from him. Maybe then she could finally move on.

She watched as Ari took the stairs and then forced herself to walk into that office. She stopped at the reception desk and showed the badge she’d been given downstairs at the security check and then let herself be led down the hall to the conference room.

Solo felt every eye on her. It wasn’t that being looked at bothered her. She hadn’t worn the Louboutin boots that came up over her knees to be ignored. But this felt different. Had Damon Knight warned his old crew not to trust her?

Or had it been Beck?

She strode in, her Prada bag over her shoulder. What had her mother told her? Use clothes and makeup and looks like a shield.

No hate can get through a Prada bag, my darling.

Her mother had been wrong, of course.

Her mother had hated Beck. She loathed his middle-class background, and the fact that he hadn’t gone to an Ivy league school. Her mother had cheered on their divorce. Not that it had helped her mother’s cause. She’d died hating her daughter for not following in the family traditions and marrying the wealthiest man she could find.

“Hello, Beck.” She picked the chair furthest from him because his eyes were already staring a hole through her. He was dressed in what she thought of as his uniform. Dark shirt, pressed slacks. She couldn’t see his feet, but she knew he would be wearing comfortable loafers. No brand names. He didn’t care about anything but functionality. His new boss, on the other hand, was quite fashionable. Damon Knight looked like he could be in a James Bond film. He was wearing a dapper three-piece suit, his hair slicked back, and when his arm moved she caught sight of a Cartier watch. “Damon, it’s good to see you.”

“And you, Solo.” Damon sat back as though waiting for the sparks to fly. “I want to say thank you for everything you did for the lads. I suspect you’re the only reason we’re here today, too. I appreciate it all.”

At least one person appreciated her. No. That wasn’t fair, and she wasn’t going to give into pessimism. Ian Taggart had called her, too. He’d thanked her and told her if she ever needed a job, she would be welcome in Dallas. It was a tempting offer, but she couldn’t do it. “I’m glad it worked out. But I’ve got to admit they’ve been stonewalling me about that drive. I tried to go back to DC to help analyze the data and I was told to stay here in London to liaise with MI6. I think someone convinced the big bosses that I’m too close to the subject. I have to wonder if that was you, Beck.”

She called him Beck because he’d told her it didn’t sound right when she called him Ezra. They’d been in the English countryside, and for a moment she’d thought that they might still have a spark between them.

Then he’d chosen his job over her. Like she’d been forced to do. She didn’t blame him. He’d needed to get Tucker and Levi Green to Paris, and she would never have allowed him to do that. So he’d started a fight knowing damn well as long as he was paying her any kind of attention she wouldn’t notice Tucker slipping away with the prisoner she’d vowed to guard.

Everything Ari had said sat on her chest. Being around her hurt him, hurt her. He wasn’t ever going to forgive her, and if he found out the truth, well, he might take their fight to an actual physical level.

At this point, they’d been divorced for far longer than they’d been married. Why couldn’t she move on?

He frowned her way. “No. Why would I try to put you on the outside? We kind of need you on the inside. Are you telling me you haven’t seen the report?”

He had needed her. She should remember that. She’d gone into this mission working for very powerful people—the president and his closest advisors. President Zack Hayes had been working around certain forces in the CIA, and that had given her leeway the Lost Boys had needed quite badly.

It was the only reason Beck had been willing to put up with her. Now that she’d done her job, those same CIA bosses who would have made things hard had taken over the case. At least she thought they had. She’d been sidelined, and that worried her.

Not that she would show Beck and Damon.

Damon’s focus lasered in on her. “Who is running the op now?”

She shrugged. “No idea. I suppose it’s one of the big guys. I’ll find out when they walk through the door.”

Then she would know where her place was. She would know if she’d traded every bit of her position at the Agency to help a man who couldn’t stand to be in the same room with her. She’d known the big bosses would be upset that she’d gone straight to the president, but she’d hoped once they got the real data, the true story, she’d be vindicated.

The truth was she’d started down this path to get closer to Beck, but she’d continued because she’d come to care about those men—Jax, Owen, Robert, Tucker, and Sasha. She’d done the best she could, and she feared she was about to be demoted for it.

“Kim, whose name is on that list?” Beck’s voice had gone low and he glanced back at the door like he was afraid of who would walk through it.

She knew that tone. It was the tone Beck used right before the bullets started flying. It was his instincts kicking in. “What do you mean?”

She was watching Beck’s ridiculously handsome face when she heard the doors open and saw his eyes flare in obvious shock. Her gut tightened and she turned. Her breath caught in her chest because the last person she’d expected to see strode confidently through the door.

Of course the reason he was the last person she’d expected was the fact that the last time she’d seen Levi Green he’d been in custody. He was supposed to be in a holding cell somewhere until the bosses decided how to punish him.

Levi Green. He’d been her “friend” once. He’d been someone she’d trusted, and he’d turned on her. He’d become obsessed with her. She was a possession in his eyes, a trophy to be claimed, and he didn’t like the fact that she’d rejected his romantic interest.

Her mind started to whirl with the possibilities. He was leading the small group. She recognized some of them, and they were strictly muscle. Levi was obviously in charge, so things had changed, and this was exactly why she’d been sidelined.

Levi was dressed in a dark, three-piece suit, his hair tumbling over his brow in a way that looked casual but had likely taken him an hour and plenty of hair gel to achieve. He was wearing thousand-dollar loafers and a tie that probably cost more than everything Beck was wearing combined.

He was dressed to be seen, dressed to impress. She’d seen him dress for a date less carefully than he was now. Levi was all about image, and that suit screamed power. He wasn’t in a cell anymore.

He was in charge and something had gone so very wrong.

Oh, god. Her brain went over everything that had happened in the last few weeks. They’d discovered Levi had been working with Tucker all those years ago, that he’d been attempting to find out who was in league with McDonald even before they’d known how bad her experiments were. He’d connected McDonald to the shadowy group known as The Collective and used Tucker’s need to find his brother to convince him to go undercover and get him the data he needed to prove his theories. Tucker had lost the data and they hadn’t found it until a few weeks before. Solo had been the one to turn it over, but she hadn’t been able to look at what was on the thumb drive.

What was on that drive? What had she turned over?

God, had she betrayed Beck again?

Levi stopped at the head of the conference table, the arrogant look on his face telling her he was about to do something terrible. “Hello, all. It’s so good to be back.”

Had Levi set up a long line of dominoes all those years ago? Was this why he hadn’t admitted he knew Tucker? She could see him putting Beck’s name on that list. It would be a plant. It would be why he’d done everything he’d done. So he could take down the man he hated. So he could punish her for not being able to love him. “What are you doing here? Why have you been released?”

He should be sitting in a cell at Langley, answering question after question about the things he’d done, the missions he’d fucked with for his own ambition.

“My darling, not only have I been released, I’m back to my full duties, and unfortunately the first is a bit distasteful.” Each word that came from his mouth was a silky threat. He was enjoying every minute of this. His head turned slightly to speak to the armed guard he’d brought with him. This had all been a setup, and MI6 had been in on it. “Gentlemen, it’s time.”

Beck was on his feet, his shoulders squared, and for a moment she wondered if this was how he died. Would she watch him get gunned down here and now because he wasn’t about to let Levi take him into custody? Her whole body tensed.

If he went down, she would go, too. She saw it so clearly in her head. She wouldn’t let these men take Beck in. Levi would do cruel things to him, would try to break him before ending his life, and she couldn’t stand the thought of Beck being broken. Not again. She would do whatever she could. Whatever the outcome.

Levi turned his attention to Damon as four of the guards stepped up. “Mr. Knight, I invited you here because someone should be a witness. Don’t make me regret it. You’ll have full access to the data after I do what needs to be done.”

Her breath caught in her chest and she got ready to move. She’d turned over her gun to security when she’d entered the building. But that didn’t mean she was unarmed. She was never unarmed. If she could get them out of here, she would. Adrenaline started to flow as she prepared to defend the man she loved.

“Kimberly Solomon, I’m placing you under arrest for treason.”

For a second the words didn’t mean anything. She was too concerned with Beck for the words to sink in. A strong hand snaked around her arm and she realized it hadn’t been Beck’s name that had come out of Levi’s mouth.

Her name. It had been her name Levi had planted in that data years before. The revenge wasn’t on Beck. Beck couldn’t care less what happened to her. Beck would likely giggle at the thought of her in Levi’s custody. Or would think it wouldn’t be so bad since she’d fallen prey to him once before.

She heard a shuffle to her left like Beck or Damon had moved, but when she glanced over they were still, Damon’s hand on Beck’s arm.

“What’s happening?” She tried to pull away, but the room was too tight, and she found herself completely surrounded by burly guards who likely wouldn’t mind roughing her up a bit.

“Be careful with her.” Levi pointed to his guard. “I told you I’ll kill the first person who hurts her. She’s an important prisoner.”

“Levi, I swear if you take her, I’m going to kill you.”

Beck. Beck had said that. Why would he say that? Still, the fact that he had settled something inside her. She didn’t truly expect him to save her. Once, she would have believed those words had come from a place of love, of protection. Now she had to consider that this was more about Levi than herself. She was the bone two dogs fought over.

And it looked like she was about to get torn apart.

“I’m sure you’ll try.” A faint smile crossed Levi’s face as though he was truly satisfied. “Damon, I wish you hadn’t stopped him. I wouldn’t mind shooting him right here. Solo, your name was on the list. We know you were working with McDonald. What a pity.”

For the first time in years she felt truly vulnerable. Not merely her heart. That was always vulnerable to Beck, but now her body and soul were on the line. “That’s not true. You’re lying.”

Damon was whispering something Beck’s way, likely a plea to not cause a fight. Any impulse in Beck to help her was merely the remnants of another life. Or perhaps the desperate need to fight Levi. It was good Damon was there. He would convince Beck to take a breath and realize he didn’t want to save her.

When Beck thought about it for a few moments, after the shock of seeing Levi had fled, he would very likely come to the conclusion that she was guilty. After all, wasn’t she guilty of everything in his eyes? Including the death of his brother. At some point he would determine that this was pure justice, and maybe he would sleep again at night. Maybe then he would be able to move on.

She squared her shoulders. There was no fighting her way out of this. Not now. She would have to bide her time, wait until the right moment.

Then she would make sure Levi Green paid for treating her like a piece of property he could do with as he liked.

She needed to remember that she was alone. She was the only one she could count on.

She walked out the door and didn’t look back.

* * * *

Ezra Fain watched as his wife was walked out of the conference room, four men surrounding her like she was some kind of prisoner.

Levi Green let them escort her out, watched her with deep satisfaction in his gaze. He was taking the prize in the game they’d started long ago. The queen in their chess match.

Ezra’s queen. No. Beck’s. The man he used to be before all of this had started. Before he’d let that fucker ruin everything. Kim Solomon didn’t belong to Ezra Fain. She’d been directly involved in his brother’s death. She’d lied to him, wouldn’t listen to him when he’d begged her not to send Ezra on that mission that had proven to be his brother’s last.

Levi turned and gave him a wink before the door closed behind him.

“I’m going to kill that man,” Ezra vowed.

“I’m going to help you,” Damon promised, his voice low.

In that moment he knew it was about more than the game Levi kept dragging him back into. It was about her. It was about the Kim who’d smiled up at him the day after they’d eloped. The sun had hit her hair and she’d looked like some sunny goddess who’d wound up in his bed, and he’d felt like the king of the world.

He couldn’t let her go, couldn’t leave her in Levi’s hands. Even if it was only to honor the vows they’d made so long ago, he had to save her.

“You have to get that wild look off your face because any second now the head of MI6 is going to walk in, and we need to look good. Shaken, not stirred, if you know what I mean,” Damon whispered. “If they haven’t changed things, the security cameras are to our backs. It’s why I insisted we sit here. But the director will come in to brief us, and he’ll report back to his Agency counterparts. You have to keep your cool. Trust me. I’m not going to let you down, brother.”

Ezra took a deep breath because his boss was right. Damon knew these people because Damon had been MI6 for years. But his impulse was to chase Levi and his men down, throw Kim over his shoulder, and run. Run and never look back. His impulse was to take her away and hide with her. They could find a place where none of the Agency stuff could touch them and start over again. It had always been work that came between them. This time they would be away from the politics and power. This time it would just be them.

It was a stupid thought since Kim thrived on intrigue, but it’s what was going through his head.

The door came open again and sure enough, there was the head of this particular MI6 division looking all professional and very British in his tailored suit. He couldn’t forget the fact that this was the man who’d raided Damon’s club. He’d stormed The Garden looking for Tucker, and he’d taken Jax as leverage to get what he’d wanted.

Rupert Milbern was in his mid-fifties and had the arrogance of a man who knew he controlled as much of his world as he possibly could. His salt and pepper hair was cut in a fashionable style, and there was an expectant look on his face as he entered. “Knight. Mr. Fain, it’s good to see you again, though I must apologize for the circumstances.”

Damon slid his cell phone into his jacket pocket. Ezra hadn’t even realized he’d had it out. If Damon was at all upset, he didn’t show it as he looked to the man who’d taken over the section he’d worked in for years. “Yes, that was a bit of a shock. I thought Mr. Green was still in Agency custody. I didn’t realize he’d been returned to the field. Or did I miss the memo?”

Rupert’s expression turned distinctly superior as he took the seat at the head of the table. He was followed by several men and women who entered and took their places as if getting ready for a long meeting.

He couldn’t fucking sit here. She was being taken away. She was moving further and further from him with every second and they wanted to have a fucking debrief?

This was all part of Levi’s plan.

“You don’t get any memos at all, Damon,” Rupert was saying. “You left. You are a private citizen and lucky we didn’t choose to press charges against you and all your friends for what happened a few weeks ago.”

Damon leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. “And you’re lucky I don’t talk to the press about the fact that MI6 knew for years what Hope McDonald was doing and kept their distance because at the end of the day you wanted to know how those experiments worked out.”

A rosy flush went over Rupert’s face. “That’s not true and you know it.”

“Do I? I only know what it looks like to this private citizen. I only know that MI6 raided private property on British soil without any kind of warrant,” Damon shot back. “So I would like for you to explain to me why we’re here, except that little prick of an Agency operative wanted to see if he could get a rise out of my friend. Ezra Fain has been very helpful to British intelligence over the years, so I would like to know why you thought it was a good idea to arrest his wife in front of him.”

Rupert frowned. “I thought they were divorced and had been for a long time.”

“But they were married at one point,” Damon replied. “You’ve got an ex. Would you feel absolutely nothing if you had to watch her be arrested? It doesn’t matter how acrimonious the relationship was. She was someone he cared about once and you forced him to sit through something traumatic.”

They continued arguing and Ezra realized what Damon was doing. He was giving him cover. Damon was giving him time to think. They couldn’t run off after her. They couldn’t make a scene and start fighting. They needed to look like they accepted the situation, like they weren’t about to start a high-speed chase through the streets of London.

They had to be subtle. They also had to figure out exactly what they were up against.

“I need to see it.” Ezra sat up, his hands on the table like he wasn’t about to draw down on anyone. Because he wasn’t. He couldn’t put a gun to the head of MI6 and force him to turn over Kim’s whereabouts. Levi wouldn’t have told the man the truth anyway. “I need to see the evidence against my ex-wife. A whole lot of the trouble we had was over work, but not the way you think. It was because she always picked work over our marriage. She was an excellent operative, far better than me. I find it very difficult to believe she would commit treason.”

Rupert sighed. “It’s odd. Mr. Green seemed to think you would be satisfied with this outcome. He said you and Ms. Solomon had been at war for years.”

“My war was always with Levi.” His marriage had simply been one of the casualties. He couldn’t forget how she’d listened to Levi, gone over her own husband’s head to send his brother on the mission that had cost him his life. She’d chosen Levi time and time again, and it was finally going to cost her.

So let it. Let her go with him. He won’t really hurt her. He won’t do anything he hasn’t already done to her.

His hands fisted because that was the dark bastard inside him talking, the one every man had somewhere deep down. The one every good man managed to shut up.

If Levi put his hands on her this time, it would be assault. It would be rape, and he wasn’t going to let that happen to any human being, much less one he’d loved more than life itself at one point.

“We’re prepared to give you a briefing on the subject,” Rupert allowed. “But only Mr. Knight. I’m sorry. You no longer work for the Agency, and they’ve been a bit intransigent on this. I believe it might be Mr. Green’s influence. However, given the fact that you have helped us on numerous occasions, if Mr. Knight leaves his notes somewhere on his desk, well, despite our personality clash, I do trust him to a point. I’m sorry things have come to this. We were quite happy with the outcome of the Paris operation.”

He bet they were. And he knew what was happening. Levi had a plan and it included cutting Ezra off from Damon. Damon would stay here and that would leave Ezra alone to chase Levi down, and wouldn’t Levi love that when he had a whole crew with him.

Or he would sit his ass down in the lobby and wait for Damon. Ezra was sure there would be video of him casually sitting while Kim was taken god knew where, and Levi would make sure she saw it. It would be one more way to hurt her, to show her that her ex-husband didn’t care what happened to her. The fucker likely meant to Stockholm syndrome her.

Or he would cut her into little pieces and send them to you.

He had to do something. He couldn’t fucking sit here. He had to get out. Maybe it didn’t matter if he got mowed down by Levi’s army. Maybe that was what he’d been waiting for all these years.

“Ezra, perhaps you’ll wait for me in the lobby,” Damon said gently. “I apologize for dragging you out here. I wouldn’t have if I’d known what was going on. I’m sure Ariel will be done with her meeting soon and she can join you.”

Ariel. He’d forgotten about Ariel. Ariel, who was Kim’s closest friend in the world. Ari, who had never forgotten how to assassinate an asshole.

“This could be a while. Feel free to take the Benz.” Damon handed him the car keys. “I’ll take the Tube back. And then we’ll talk about what to do next. If you don’t mind, could you update my partners on the situation? Let Ian know I’ll call him tonight. And I’m sorry about Solo.”

Damon was telling him what to do next. Call Ian. Take the Benz and the former MI6 sharpshooter and go get his…go get Kim. Not his girl. Not anymore. But she damn straight wasn’t going to be Levi’s victim.

He remembered how to play this game. He sighed and took the keys and gave Damon what he hoped was a sad-sack smile. “Thanks. We’ll see you back at The Garden. I’ll let your wife know you might be late.”

He stood and nodded to Rupert before leaving the conference room. It took everything he had to not run. They might still be in the building. Levi had probably taken her down to the secure parking garage and prepared her for transport.

His heart was racing as he forced himself to casually walk past the reception desk and out into the hall.

He started to move toward the bank of elevators. His security badge wouldn’t get him to the secure garage. He would have to bet on which exit they would take. And he needed to get Ari.

“Hello, Ez,” a cultured British voice said. Ariel stepped up beside him, a smile on her face. “I got a text from Damon. We should go back to The Garden. I’m sure there are a lot of feelings you need to process.”

Though her tone was casual, he could hear the bite beneath it. Ariel was well aware they were still on camera and that ears might be listening.

“Yeah, though I want a beer more than a session.” The elevator doors opened, and they walked in. Luckily they were alone. “I’m shocked. I hope I can spend some time with my friends tonight.”

He hoped the rest of the team was already on it. Not that there was a whole lot of team left since the Lost Boys had gone. Owen was in Scotland with Rebecca, and Tucker and Jax had left with their families for the States. Rob would be back, but he was with his brother, Tucker, for now.

He’d come to think of those men as family, and he hated the thought that he was losing them.

Ariel’s eyes were on the floor indicator as it began the descent down to the garage. “I hope so, too. It would be good to have a family dinner, though you should know Nick’s probably going to be late. He’s on a surveillance assignment with Brody. But Walt is back at The Garden. He’s running one of his crazy experiments. You know the mad professor. He thinks he can find a solution to everything.”

Walt Bennett was a brilliant doctor who’d gotten off his original path when he came up against The Collective. He’d worked for McKay-Taggart and Knight since then, and his focus wasn’t merely on medicine. He’d learned a lot about tech over the years.

So if he was reading Ari right, Damon had texted her then she’d put a plan in motion, one that included putting Nick Markovic and Brody Carter on the streets, with Walt using all the tech he had to figure out where they were taking Kim.

“Maybe I should find some place to hole up and drink for a couple of days,” he said, knowing someone was listening. “It’s not every day you find out your ex-wife is a traitor.”

A soft gasp let him know Ariel hadn’t been told that part. Damon’s text had likely been brief and to the point. She hadn’t known how Levi had taken her.

“I find it hard to believe,” Ari said as the doors came open.

“Her name was on the list.” He would tell her as much as he could.

She bit her lip and nodded as they came up to the security station.

The guard smiled at her. He was an older man who’d probably been manning the desk for years. “Ms. Adisa, back so soon? I thought you were going to be a while.”

She returned her pass and gave the man a smile that could charm the most ill-tempered of men. “It was a quick meeting, and I have to get my friend back home. He’s had a bit of bad news. I was wondering if you could tell me the best exit to take. I heard there’s a VIP group going out of the high-security lot, and I would prefer to avoid getting caught in that traffic. You know how the Americans can be.”

It was such a good play since some of his Agency coworkers had made scenes over the years, and it made them all look like assholes. Nothing could connect people like having to deal with assholes.

“I would go west if you’re heading back to Chelsea, my dear,” the guard said with a fond smile. “Though you should be good, if you get my meaning.”

Then they were already on the road.

She reached out and shook the man’s hand. “Excellent. Thank you, George. I’ll be back in a few days, I suspect. Please send my love to your wife.”

He wanted to hurry her along, but she was playing this perfectly. She’d gotten the guard to admit that Levi’s group was already gone, and they’d left through the southernmost exit that would block traffic to the east. Now they knew what road they would most likely be on, and they could watch the traffic cameras.

The guard buzzed them through and they were in the parking garage, Ariel’s heels echoing with each step she took.

“I need to get my bag from the boot,” Ariel said with that placid expression on her face.

He’d been completely unaware she’d put a bag in the trunk of the sleek Mercedes, but he opened it for her anyway. She reached in and came back with what appeared to be a gym bag.

“You drive, please.” Ari slammed the trunk door down and moved to the passenger side. “I’m not good in traffic.”

He’d spent a lot of time in London and knew how to drive in the city. He wanted to be the one with his hands free, but if one of them was going to take a shot, she was the better choice.

Like Kim was better. Kim had killer instincts and always knew when something was going down. Only once had she…he wasn’t going there. He needed to focus on getting her back. Then he could let his rage take over. Anything was better than this complete sense of hopelessness he felt at the thought of never seeing her again.

He slid into the driver’s side, and the minute he closed the door he was finally able to breathe. “I want you to take that asshole out if you can.”

He wanted to be the one to do it, but he wouldn’t argue at this point. He wanted to know Levi fucking Green was dead.

Ariel clicked her seat belt in place and opened the bag as Ezra backed the car out of the space. “Play it cool until we get to the street. They’ve still got cameras on us for a couple of blocks. What the bloody hell happened? I saw Kim not twenty minutes ago and she was fine.”

“Levi Green happened.” He drove in a careful manner, well aware they had one more guard to get through.

Ariel reached over and activated the touch screen on the dashboard. It seemed Damon had some extras on this vehicle because the touchscreen didn’t merely bring up the car’s systems. It connected to a video call. Walt’s face came up on the screen. “Walter, we’re about to leave the building. What have you got for us?”

Walt was a lanky American in his mid-thirties. He was staring at another screen, his face illuminated by the greenish light. “I’m in the CCTV around the building. I don’t dare hack MI6. Do we have any idea what kind of vehicle I’m looking for? He’s Agency, right? They usually like their nondescript black SUVs. I’ve got several of them coming out at the right time.”

“Only pay attention to the southernmost high-security exit,” he instructed as he approached the checkpoint. “And he’ll be in a limo.”

Walter snorted. “Sure he will be. Oh, wait. Are you serious? Shit. I’ve got a limo that would have come in the right direction stopped at a light right now. You need to take a left when you get to the street. It looks like they’re heading out of the city.”

The guard stepped up but waved them through when he saw Ariel.

The minute they hit the sunshine, Ari pulled a semiautomatic out of the bag. “Damon keeps a go-bag in this car. They’ll head to a private airfield. Walt, I need you to figure out where they’re going and get Nick and Brody there as fast as possible.”

“Will do,” Walt said. “I’ll come back as soon as I know anything.”

The screen went dead.

Ezra turned onto the road and sped up.

He had to catch them. He had to get her back. What he would do with her then, he had no idea.