Page 104 of Spy With Me
“I would have protected them. I would have protected themall.” He stared at Shannon like she was a work of art. Or a deeply held regretthat threatened to drown him.
“You were in prison,” Devi pointed out.
“I had plenty of connections.”
She wasn’t sure what his prison connections would have doneto a cartel that wanted to hurt his family, but she wasn’t going to argue.“Well, you certainly do now. You have Huisman. How did you meet him?”
Calm. She sounded calm. That was how she was going to playthis whole thing.
She hoped Zach was calm. She needed him on his game becauseshe knew without a doubt that he was coming for her. It would be up to heruncle to keep her brother and fiancé from running in without a plan. They wouldrush in and try to kill everyone when they needed to be surgical.
All she had to do was survive.
“He came looking for me.” Ray’s voice brought her back tothe moment. “He knew I could bring Shannon in. I’ve been following that womanfor most of my life. I can find her anywhere.”
She’d been in hiding for years, but again, she wasn’t aboutto argue with the criminal. Also, he hadn’t brought her in. Nell Flanders had.
She hoped her cousin was alive. She remembered somethingabout Lucy taking out the other guy and locking them in, so she knew they’dmade it at least that far.
Devi looked out the window. It was dark, and she had no ideawhere they were going.
Where was Zach? Was he okay?
“You found her today,” Devi agreed, leaning over to see ifshe could tell if Shannon was starting to wake.
“She’ll be out for hours. Unlike you. You’re being anawfully good girl.”
Oh, she didn’t like that, but she gave him a wide-eyedstare. “I don’t want to die. I’ll do what you ask me to, though I don’t knowwhy I’m here.”
“You’re here because these men could not bring in the personI wanted,” a deep voice said.
Sure enough, every eye was now on a place behind her. Damn.She was about to meet the man, the myth, the terrorist dickhead.
Emmanuel Huisman stepped into her line of vision, putting ahand to the back of Ray’s chair. He was an attractive man in his early thirtieswith intelligent eyes that held a hint of his cruelty.
“I suspect the person you wanted was my cousin,” she repliedquietly.
Huisman’s lips curled up as though he was rememberingsomething infinitely lovely. “Well, that was for personal reasons. It hadnothing to really do with the mission, though Ray here was smart enough to atleast bring me someone. Yes, I did want to get my hands on the stronger half ofMs. Magenta. I will never understand why my dear friend Benjamin is fascinatedwith the other one.”
That was news to her. “I don’t think he knows.”
Now his smile was vibrant and bright. “Of course he does. Itold him, but that’s a matter for another day. I simply don’t understand why mydear friend would want the bland and boring when he could have theextraordinary.”
Her gut tightened at the thought of Ben Parker working forthis man. “He’s helped us.”
Huisman sank onto the seat beside Ray and wagged his fingerher way. “You are not a part ofus. You are not on that team. You areIan Taggart’s much-indulged niece. Benjamin has not helpedyou. Nowthe question becomes has he helped the team? Or did he maneuver them into theposition I want them in? Time and time again. I’m actually disappointed Taggartfell for it. I suppose I made him up to be far more than he truly is. Ratherlike that woman at the front of the plane. She doesn’t look like the person whocan change the world.”
“I suspect that’s because you don’t believe women can.”
Huisman’s head shook. “Oh, not at all. I know women canchange everything. For the worse. Women manipulate men. Like our friend here.Shannon kept his children from him. A child needs his father. I had mine takenfrom me. My father, that is. By your uncle. Look how I turned out.”
She was not about to go there. “Zach did fine without him.”
“Ah, Captain Reed.” Huisman’s voice turned silky smooth. “Itried to reason with him. When I captured him in Toronto, I meant to spend sometime with him, get to know each other. I thought he, of all the people on thatteam, might see reason.”
She was pretty sure they had different definitions ofreason. “Then maybe you shouldn’t have tortured the people he cared about andput him in handcuffs.”
“Well, he managed to kill all of my men while he washandcuffed, so I suppose I’m lucky he ran.” Huisman gave a negligent shrug likehe wasn’t talking about life and death and trauma. He sobered. “Still, I wouldhave preferred to bring him in. Or his brother. That was the original plan. Ithink Shannon Reed will do anything for her sons, but I can pivot. I can stillmake this happen.” He turned to Ray. “Does it bother you that neither of yoursons has your name? Names are so important. It’s a man’s right to name hissons.”
