Page 60 of Undercover Shadow

“Signals?” I asked.

“Standard. Weather comment for immediate extraction. Adjust your earring if you need backup but can stay in play. Finish your drink to exit a conversation naturally.”

We spent the next hour running scenarios—potential complications, backup plans, how to handle security, and where the safe points were inside Brodick Castle.

When we finished an hour later, it was time for me to return to Glenshadow to gather my things.

“Just so you know…” Vanguard’s eyes met mine. “I’ll have your back at that gala.”

“You know I’ll have yours.”

“And MacTaggert’s going to hate us both when he finds out.”

His words hit hard. He was right. Tag would never forgive me.

I putoff speaking to Tag again until it was fifteen minutes before Vanguard would arrive. I found him in his study and poked my head in.

“Leila? What can I do for you?”

My stomach clenched.

“I wanted you to know I was leaving.”

His eyes were hooded. “Be careful.”

“Always.”

Vehicle lights appeared outside the window.

“I’ll walk you out.”

“That isn’t necessary?—”

He was out from behind his desk and over to me before I could finish my sentence. “I insist.”

The walk to the SUV was torture. With every step I took, I thought about aborting the op and telling him the truth. But I couldn’t. I had to finish this. And while that might not happen tonight, whatever did take place would put us one step closer.

We were within a few paces of where Vanguard had parked when Tag stopped and turned to face me.

“Nightingale—” His hand lifted, reaching toward my face, and for a heartbeat, I thought he might actually touch me. Break through the distance he’d maintained since Dunravin. But then his fingers curled into a fist and dropped back to his side.

“I should go.” I cut him off before he could finish, before the words between us made leaving impossible. “I don’t want to keep Vanguard waiting.”

I picked up my bag and walked away, glancing over my shoulder to take one last look—that’s all I’d allow myself.

“You okay?” Vanguard asked when he drove out of Glenshadow’s main gate.

“I will be. Once this is over.”

Ninety minutes later,Brodick Castle rose against the twilight sky—six centuries of stone and battlements looking down on expensive vehicles owned by people with the kind of wealth that could move weapons across continents.

After checking into the hotel, we went to our separate rooms, where we’d transform ourselves into our alter egos for the night.

“We have about two hours before we need to leave for the castle,” Vanguard said when we reached my door at eighteen hundred.

“I’ll be ready.” I went inside and stood in the silence.

I started with the practical stuff, putting a small pistol in a thigh holster that would remain hidden beneath my gown. Then I put on the earring that was really a comms device.