Page 19 of Pervade Montego Bay

It should have been me out there in the field. Not here, waiting for the schoolboy to send a message to say he’d completed the job and was ready to rejoin us. Despite being the senior mission officer, I’d been tasked with the emasculating job of securing his movements from England to East Asia. Xavier was the blue-eyed lieutenant of foreign intelligence who had been commissioned with a secret assignment.

I kind of liked him, actually. Even if there were moments he revealed a quirkiness that made him stand out. There was something about him that captivated me.

Part of it was his sharp wit. I’m sure he’d used it to lure numerous women into his bad boy trap. His personality was a cross between suaveness and sophistication with a layer of superiority. And his I.Q. had to be way off the charts from the way he grasped new concepts.

We’d shared several conversations and at one point the bastard had replayed one of them for me word for word. He had to have a photographic memory. More time with him would have confirmed it.

With a turn of my key, I was back in my cabin, ready to strip off and change into my military grade wetsuit. This was not how I’d envisioned my day would go. Chasing after an operative that was too valuable to lose.

Xavier was a smart civilian who didn’t deserve a uniform. He bore none of the traits of camaraderie one would expect from someone who held a commission or who had been trained at Sandhurst. He had evidently been plucked out by British Intelligence to serve in new and interesting ways.

To say he’d gone rogue was an understatement.

Even if he’d pissed off into the ether with both our secrets and the kind of money that could keep him hidden for a lifetime, I had the skill to find the bastard. Had he gotten to know me better, he’d have realized this fact.

Xavier had taken a leap into counterintelligence without knowing who was about to hunt him down. HQ had informed me of the money-wire tracked from the Bank of China to Coutts of London on the day after he arrived…right into his personal bank account. In the two days he’d been gone, Xavier had apparently dabbled in espionage.

The knock on my cabin door carried with it a level of anger that could only come from Oliver Hague. Thisneed to knowlevel of insight always drew unwanted attention from the higher-ups.

I slung my waterproof backpack over my shoulder and braced myself to face off with the Commander. He was certainly more courteous than me. I’d have thrown an officer off my sub if he’d pulled what I was up to.

“We need to talk.” He closed the door behind him.

This well-respected officer was hardly ever rattled. Considering he commanded a nuclear sub this was a good thing. No doubt it was my diving gear that rubbed salt on his bruised ego. That, and the fact our man had vanished. We were meant to be out of these waters by now.

Tension between Oliver and I had hung unpleasantly in the recycled air since I’d pulled rank at Portsmouth.

“I just received a Sit Rep from HQ.” He leaned back against my cabin door and folded his arms. “They appear disgruntled.”

“They don’t have the intel,” I assured him.

His jaw flexed as he continued his rant, “The Admiral of the Fleet sent the transmission himself. He’s not the only one riled up that we’re in Chinese waters. Do you know how many lives I have onboard?”

Being a former submarine Commander, I sure as hell did know.

I gave a respectful nod. “The Chinese won’t know we’re here.”

“What’s your plan?”

“You know what I do.”

“What if we lose you both?”

“You go home.” I grabbed my diving facemask. “How close to Macau are we?”

His lips curled in fury. “Goddamn Secret Service. We’re in enemy territory and I have the Navy ordering us to go back. So, we’re going back.”

“Get me to the surface.”

“And what then?”

“Wait twelve hours. If you don’t hear from me take the sub home.”

“What do you think happened to your operative?”

“Right now I know as much as you.”

“Damn it, James. You’re the one who sent him into the field.”