Page 22 of The Blonde Who Came in from the Cold
“Go right ahead and try, Alexandra,” Merritt told her. “You won’t get far. Because those are equipped with trackers.” Of course, to Alex, that just made them cooler.
King put the stones back in the bag. “I’m still not sure whatwe’redoing here?”
It was thewethat mattered, because King didn’t like her, didn’t need her, and didn’t want her. She was cramping his style and trying his patience.
“I thought you knew?” Merritt gave them a wide-eyed innocent look. “You have a mission.”
“Ihave a mission.” King gave an annoyed glance at Alex. “And I suppose it’s possible thatshehas a mission. Butwedo not have—”
“You have whatever I say you have, and I’m saying you have a mission.” Merritt’s gaze swept between the two of them like a searchlight. After a prison break. “This is a team sport, and like it or not, the two of you have to learn to play. Together.”
As much as Alex wanted to kill King, she wanted to impress Merritt more. “What’s the op?”
Merritt nodded as if to say,Finally, someone is asking the right questions. “I’m sure I don’t have to tell the two of you that uncut gems are the currency of choice for very bad people. Your mission—”
“Should we choose to accept it?” Alex couldn’t help herself. She’d been waiting her whole life to hear those words, and if they made King sulk and roll his eyes, all the better.
“Should you accept it,” Merritt echoed, and Alex couldn’t help but smirk in King’s direction, “is to swap our stones for theirs and thenget out. We have people in place who can track the stones and see where they go.”
“Who’s the target?” Alex asked.
“Unclear,” Merritt admitted. “We overheard chatter that a local jeweler was contracted to procure ten million dollars’ worth of uncut emeralds and, naturally, we got interested. But we don’t know who the buyer is or why he needs them.”
“Hence the trackers.” King sounded resigned.
“Hence the trackers,” Merritt agreed. “There are some new players entering the field. That’s why it’s so important that we see where these end up.”
King clasped one tiny stone between two fingers, holding it up to the light. “I can do it alone.”
“King is very shy,” Alex said. “Performance issues, you know. I make him nervous.”
King chose to ignore her. “This is too important to leave to chance.”
“Precisely.” The word was clipped and left no room for debate. “Which is why I personally requested the two of you.”
“To do what? Exactly?” King asked, because there was obviously more to the story.
“Easy, Michael. You’re going to buy a very large emerald.” She smiled at Alex. “For your wife.”
Chapter Twelve
Present Day
Las Vegas, Nevada
Alex
The sun was almost up by the time they made it into Vegas. Or maybe it just felt that way, among the neon lights of the Strip with the traffic streaming by—sidewalks full of people venturing home or venturing out. Tired cocktail waitresses changing shifts as the city turned over but never slept.
Alex’s feet were blistered and her wrist was sore, but the thing that hurt the most was her pride.
She was a seasoned operative—a trained professional. She should have been beyond making mistakes by that point, but evidently, she’d made a big one. Otherwise, Alex never would have ended up limping down the Las Vegas Strip—
With him.
Caught with no plan and no intel and no resources.
Except him.
