Page 60 of My Super Sexy Spy
And he’d done it all for one reason, and one reason only.
“I’m ready. We can go get it now.”
“Beth, it doesn’t have to be today. We can wait…”
I shook my head, barely even making eye contact with him. “I don’t want to wait. I’ve already booked my flight to Philadelphia. It’s leaving in a few hours, so we have to hurry.”
“I can make sure you get back…”
“Let’s go. We’re wasting time,” I told him. I made my way to the car he’d rented to bring us here. A black town car, again very apropos for a funeral. I got in the passenger side and stared out the window, hoping he would take that as my clue for not wanting to talk to him.
“Beth, would you at least look at me?” he said as he got behind the wheel. “You don’t understand everything—”
“I understand enough,” I said, cutting him off. “You made it clear the minute they wheeled his body out of the house. And since I agreed, I don’t see that there is much left to talk about.”
“His work is important, Beth. Not just for our country, but for the world.”
“Yup. Got it. Saving humanity. Now, if you could actually take us to where I told you, we can be done with this last thing.”
He sighed, but did as I asked.
Sure, I was in bitch mode, but he asked for it when the first thing he said to me after they took Gino away was that I had to turn over his work to the United States government. No tea, no hug, noAre you okay?
Just, you need to do this for the good of your country bullshit.
That’s when I realized everything he’d done for me had been leading to that request. His kindness, his compassion, his patience, all of it was just a ploy to get what he wanted from me in the end.
Frankly, I’d preferred it when Dmitri was straight up about it and simply said he was going to torture me for it. At leasthewas honest.
Forty minutes later, Liam pulled up at Gare du Nord, parking illegally, as if that mattered. I made my way through the crowds, confident Liam was right behind me. Making my way over to the rows of lockers, I stopped at number sixty-seven.
“Did you bring the key?” I asked him. He nodded and fished it out of his pants pocket it. “Then open it.”
He looked skeptical. “Really, Beth? You hid revolutionizing work in a locker at the train station? When you said it was safe, I thought it was safer than this.”
“Yeah, well, you’ve had years of spy learning. I only had a few hours.”
He inserted the key into the lock and twisted it. The lock opened, but when he opened the locker door, he saw that it was empty.
“Beth,” he growled. “This locker is empty.”
I peeked inside. “Yup. Empty as shit.”
“Is this some kind of a game?” he asked.
“You mean, this isn’t the part where I say I’ve sold out my country to the Chinese instead, just to fuck with your head?”
“Beth.” More growling.
“Keep your pants on, G.I. Joe.” I shoved him out of the way and removed the lock from the door. Then I twisted the key again and the bottom popped open. I slid the piece out and nestled inside was one small USB. I handed the chip to him but kept the lock.
He chuckled. “That isn’t the original lock.”
“Nope,” I said. “I knew I was going to need to hide it somewhere. A trick lock with a hidden compartment inside, seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“Where did you…wait, when you stopped at the Pont des Arts? There was a vendor there selling locks. I remember him.”
“How did you know I stopped at the bridge— Yeah, never mind. You have your ways.” I said, throwing his words back at him. “Yes. I saw the lock and thought, who looks inside a lock? Then I shook Marta loose for long enough to swap one of the station locks with mine. Well, we’re done here. You got what you needed and I’m going home.”
