Until Death Do We Part (Sex and Vows 1)

“We have a flat by the Parc de la Ciutadella,” I mentioned as we exited the structure.

“Do you think it’s wise for us to stay somewhere together?”

My jaw hardened at her question. I’d taken her hand and my grip tightened, as though I was afraid she would run away. “No. I want you with me.”

“Alex—” she began, her tone admonishing.

“No!” I barked. “I don’t give a fuck about protocol or being seen together. You stay with me.” I spared her a glance to see if she would continue to argue with me. But, she smiled and her grip on my hand squeezed.

“Okay, stud. We stay together. Lead the way.”

I dared anyone to find a woman as perfect as my Evie. It would be a pointless challenge because they would always fail. When we arrived at the building housing the safe house, I punched in a code and the front door unlocked. Then I rapped my knuckles on the door with a gold letter A and the number 1.

When the door swung open, a rough looking, middle-aged man stepped out. Despite his salt and pepper hair, he was fit and didn’t look like someone who would be easily handled. His eyes landed on Evie and lit with appreciation. I quickly pushed her behind me and leveled him with a deadly look in my stare. He smirked at me, but kept his attention on me after that. We conversed in Spanish for a minute, then he handed me a key.

I led Evie to an elevator and we rode up to the second floor, stopping at the first apartment. I unlocked the door and held it open for her to enter. She walked to the living room and set down her backpack while I took our other bags into the bedroom.

Returning to the front, I walked over to a black, cheap-looking desk with a small laptop on it. The piece of furniture was probably made of particle board and would collapse if I put any extra weight on it. I grabbed the computer with a sigh, cursing budget cuts, and went to the couch. Setting the laptop on the low, wood-like coffee table, I hunched over and booted it up.

Evie came to stand next to me and tapped my shoulder, chuckling at my uncomfortable position. “Scoot, stud.” I immediately moved over and she plopped down on the ground in front of the computer. I slid back over and swung a leg around her so she was caged between my legs. She started tapping away, and I watched, idly playing with her hair.

“You don’t speak with a Latin accent,” she commented. I leaned closer, both of us reading through the information her tech had forwarded.

I almost missed the question, absorbed in the files we were sifting through. “What? Oh, no, I learned French, Russian, German, and Italian first. I spent a month on assignment in Madrid early in my career and picked up the language. Then I learned Farsi, Arabic, and a few others”—I pointed at the computer screen—“does that file say Pájaro Negro?”

When Evie didn’t answer right away, I tore my eyes from the computer screen and saw her staring up at me with a bit of wonder. “What?”

“How many languages do you speak?”

I thought about it for a minute. “Eleven, I think. I can passably speak Japanese, but most people there look pretty insulted when I do,” I finished with a grin.

“I had no idea,” she murmured.

“Hey, hey, Baby,” I said softly, lifting her chin so I could look directly in her beautiful, chocolate brown eyes. “We’ll learn all of these things about each other. No more secrets remember?”

She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. I tried to lighten the mood a little. “How many languages do you speak, smarty pants?” I’m rewarded with a slightly brighter smile and a snicker.

“Twelve,” she informed me smugly.

I laughed, “Too fucking adorable.” Shaking my head, I nudged her to turn back to the computer screen. “Look, I’m pretty sure that says Black Bird. Last I heard that was the code name for a major arms dealer based in Marseille.”

She looked through the next couple of paragraphs. “Maybe he’s expanded his operation down the coast,” she hypothesized.

I shook my head. “I think he’s moved his epicenter to Port de Barcelona.”

“Check this out.” Evie highlighted the text of a cable sent to Pájaro Negro, but there was no indication who it’s from.

“Print out the whole communiqué, baby,” I requested as I went back to the desk and rummaged around the drawers until I found a little silver cell phone.

Opening the phone, I dialed a number and entered an extension as I waited for the printer on the table next to the desk to finish printing.

“Dude,” Martin said in greeting.

“Can you look into Black Bird and find out if we have any locations for his warehouses? Possibly one in Port de Barcelona?”

“No problem. His operation has been mobile lately, I don’t think I’ll have anything for you until tomorrow.”

I grunted in frustration, I wanted this shit over and done with. After hanging up, I filled Evie in and despite our lack of location, we spent most of the night working through possible scenarios.

My phone rang again at six in the morning.

“Are you aware of the awesome that is me?” Martin said by way of greeting.

“Yeah, Martin, you certainly tell me enough,” I replied drolly.

I could practically hear his eye roll through the phone. I heard a litany of taps, Martin’s fingers probably flying across his keyboard. “Justice, I’ve been picking up chatter. Please tell me I’m out of my fucking gourd and you are not working with Scarlett?”

I stiffened. “What makes you think that?” I asked cagily. Grabbing the papers off the printer, I took them back over to Evie.

“Like I said, chatter.” The clattering stopped abruptly. “I’m emailing you four addresses, try one of those. But, back to what I was saying, man.” He was silent for a moment, and then I heard the click of a door closing. “There’s random talk of a two person team after Heron. The thing is...” Martin trailed off, clearly not happy with the information he was about to impart. “They only talk about taking out the female. The male is supposed to remain alive and his mission uncompromised.”

I sucked in a breath, as pain tore through my chest. I tried calming myself by remembering what Scarlett and I are both capable of. Nothing would happen to her. I almost believed it.

“This is coming from Heron’s network?” I clarified.

Martin was silent for too long, which meant he was about to drop a fucking bomb on me.

“I’m not supposed to be monitoring these people, but I got bored.”

“Who?” I growled.

“I have a contact who roams in the CI network.”

“Okay.” I didn’t understand what was so unusual about that. “So, they brought the information to us, what about it?”

“No, Justice. They were spreading the information the other way. As though... as though they were getting it from someone here.”

“Find them!” I roared and threw the phone at the wall, shattering it.

“Alex!” Evie exclaimed, jumping to her feet, her eyes bouncing back and forth between the broken cell and me.

“Someone doesn’t want you completing your mission.”

She put her hands on her hips and cocked her head in question. I quickly filled her in on the details Martin discovered.

“Not Heron’s network. Someone inside the fucking agency.” I was shaking with rage and betrayal.

“Okay,” Evie said as she began to pace, her fingers running through her hair in agitation. ”Okay, um...” She stopped suddenly. “They want the noc list.”

“Special operations doesn’t even know about the noc list,” I argued.