Red After Dark (Blackwood Security #13) - Elise Noble Page 0,65
moron drove into her BMW outside the mall…” It was satisfying to be right, Alaric thought. “And he’s promised to go through the boxes of papers in his basement to see if he still has the original invoice.”
Emmy gave Dan a high five. “Nice work, slut.”
“Thanks, bitch.”
“Slut?” Beth whispered. “Bitch?”
“Terms of endearment.”
“Right.” Beth didn’t seem convinced. “Do you want dinner yet? I didn’t have time to cook, so Dan and I stopped off on the way home and picked up Mexican. Everything’s keeping warm in the oven.”
“I need to take a shower first.”
Beth crinkled her nose. “Thank goodness. I didn’t want to say anything, but…”
“I stink, I know. Give me fifteen minutes. Actually, make it twenty—I want to check in with Judd.”
“How is he? Have you heard any more from England?”
“Just that he’s out of the hospital.” He’d texted Alaric on the trip back to Curzon Place. “To tell you the truth, I’m more worried about Nada. She’s been through a hell of a lot this week.”
From the Bellsfield Estate to a war zone via the emergency room. That was enough to shake anyone up, and she still had Stella Millais-Scott to contend with.
Alaric took a quick shower, although he’d have preferred to stand under the hot water for an hour or two, then towelled off. Sweats were the order of the day. He rarely wore sportswear outside the gym, but he didn’t have the energy left to button a shirt. If he lay on the bed, he’d never get up again, so he sat at the desk in the corner of the room to call Judd.
“And? What’s the story? Start at the beginning.”
“Nada’s Wonder Woman and Xena Warrior Princess rolled into one. I think I’m in love.”
“You’re in lust. That’s different. And you’d damn well better keep your hands off her.”
“Don’t worry, I will. She still misses her husband. Plus she told me if I made a move, she’d cut my balls off.”
Yes, Alaric was definitely a little bit in love with Nada too.
“What happened?”
“It was all going swimmingly. The Brits choppered us in, then we tagged along with a group of US Marines until we got near our destination. Nada had a driver lined up to meet us, an asset of hers from the old days, and he took us to get Nada’s documents and then on to the witness. The hardest part was convincing Hanifa to come with us. She was terrified, and her family didn’t want her to go, but they were living in rubble. In Syria, they could never stop running. What future did she have there?”
“Not much of one, unfortunately.”
“Precisely. And they want Ridley to pay.”
“So what went wrong?”
“You know Murphy’s Law, mate. We drank tea. Hanifa packed a bag. The driver took us to the pickup point, and the Americans came by on patrol as scheduled. Then a mile up the road, the fucking convoy drove into an ambush and all hell broke loose. It’s been a while since I got into a proper gunfight.”
Same for Alaric. And he had no desire to get into one again.
“What happened to your arm?”
“The other guy ran out of ammo, so I went in for the kill, only my gun jammed, and it turned out he had a knife. Nada clubbed him with her fucking cast, then shot him in the head.”
“Hot damn.”
“Exactly what I said. Be still my beating heart.”
“How’s Nada holding up now that you’re back?”
“She says she’s never leaving London again. My mother promised this would be a straightforward trip—no drama—so Nada’s pissed off with her, and that’s an understatement. And Mother’s due here any minute, so I have to go and mediate.”
“Good luck with that.”
“I don’t need luck, I need body armour.”
When Judd hung up, Alaric closed his eyes and took a long breath. He hated this part of the job. Yesterday, he’d almost lost two friends, one old and one new. Sirius was supposed to be a safe venture, trading in information rather than bullets, in secrets rather than body parts. Technically, Judd had been freelancing for MI6 on the Syria job, but still… They were playing a dangerous game.
At times, Alaric wanted to flip the board and walk away, but he’d already done that once, and trouble still found him. He didn’t choose this career. It chose him.
“You okay?”
He looked up to see Emmy standing in the doorway, wet hair hanging over her shoulders.