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Black stroked a finger down the side of my nose, lightly enough that it didn’t send fire shooting through my face.I’d felt the cartilage crack, but the swelling was subsiding and it didn’t seem too wonky this time.Perhaps I’d had a lucky escape.
“Yeah, it is a shame.But what’s done is done, and all I can do now is try to fix things.Darya’s had one hell of a life.Maybe not as bad as Ana’s, but still shitty.”
In those rare unguarded moments, I’d seen the pain in her eyes, and fuck knew what she was discussing with Alex in their private chats.He certainly seemed protective of Satan’s little sister.
And speaking of the devil…
She’d dropped his hand, and the hard mask was firmly back in place when she appeared in the doorway.
“I thought it was just us?How big is this team?”
“It is just us.”
“Then who is all this food for?”
“Us.Black miscalculated the quantities slightly.”
“Slightly.”
She walked past the table, more interested in the whiteboards Black had lined up on one side of the room, backs to the windows so nobody looking in could see what was written on them.Or taped to them.James’s spies had been busy, and Black had printed out pictures of the players from the embassy, ready for us to add notes.Several had names written underneath, and another group had question marks, as yet unidentified.
Darya tapped one of the question marks with a fingernail.“That man is trouble.”
I wanted to smile, but I suppressed it.This was what I’d hoped would happen, that she’d fill in some of the blanks, but no point in showing her how happy I was.I had a reputation as a bitch, and I quite liked it.Plus she’d probably realise she’d undervalued herself at eight grand a day—I’d been expecting to pay at least ten.
“Who is he?”
“Maxim Agapov.Junior spy and all-aroundmudak.”She tilted her head to one side.“But I think not your kind of trouble.He makes mistakes with drugs and women and then others have to clean up after him.”
“How does he still have a job?”
“His father is the minister of culture, and I’m ninety percent sure his wife doesn’t know about Maxim or Maxim’s mother or any of the other mistresses.The woman has the brains of a cabbage.”
“Does Maxim take after her?”
“He’s not smart, but he is sly.”
She picked up the pen and wrote Maxim’s name under his picture as Quinn’s voice came from behind us.
“Sounds as if I’m not needed here.”
Ana set her tablet on the table.“This is Quinn.”
Darya turned to peer at him, and I couldn’t blame her for being curious.She might have tried to hide it, but I hadn’t missed her shock when she found out Ana had a daughter, and it stood to reason that she’d been wondering about Tabby’s father.
Quinn had obviously been briefed.“You’re Ana’s old roommate, right?”
“Da.Darya.”
“Good to meet you.Sorry I can’t be there, but Tabby has a parent-teacher conference at school tomorrow and one of us needs to go.”
“Did she call that kid a jackass again?”I asked.
Ana had spun some story about Tabby overhearing the word and not understanding what it meant, but she knew exactly what it meant.
“No, this time she called him a cockwomble, and I think we all know where she picked that up.”
Oops.