Page 38 of The Assassin
Gabriel shook his head. “I’m not telling you my life story so you can use it against me later when you’ve decided the sex was great but you’re bored.”
Ardan opened his mouth and closed it again, almost like he wanted to argue with Gabriel about it. “You already told me enough. You know as well as I do I can track down the information I want. Your family is in that park, I’ve seen what you didn’t want anyone to. So save us both the time and effort, and tell me.”
“Why are you so interested?” Gabriel touched his lips against Ardan’s gently, a teasing whispered kiss that had Ardan leaning forward for more, but Gabriel pulled away.
“Because I want to know who I’m getting into bed with,” Ardan whispered.
“You know exactly who you’re in bed with. Gabriel Mancini.” He leaned in to kiss Ardan again, but Ardan placed his hand over Gabriel’s mouth.
“No, it’s not. You carry yourself like someone well trained. You weren’t just working for the government—you were more specialized. You know coding because you blocked your tracker so that people would have to try hard to find you, and I’ve seen you in action. You move quick and precise. You wear suits, so you’re not in the armed forces. More class. You can also speak more than four languages, so I’m assuming you’ve done international work. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d go with either Interpol or CIA.”
Gabriel smiled. “You paid that much attention to me, Murphy?”
Ardan grabbed a fistful of Gabriel’s shirt, dragging him closer. “I know a lot about you, Gabe. I also know your tells, and you blinked twice at CIA. How long did you work for them?”
“Too long,” Gabriel admitted.
“What happened?”
“We fucked up during a mission.” Gabriel stood, knocking off Ardan’s hold on him. He headed to the small bar set up near the fridge but thought against it when he remembered Ardan’s confession at the Courtesan. He’d been there, close to the addiction that could have changed his life, but becoming a hitman for the Society pulled him back from the brink. The change of job gave him a new life that he’d always planned on making the most of, even if he couldn’t see his family anymore.
He pulled a Diet Coke out of the fridge instead and popped open the can, taking a long swig. Turning, he leaned his ass on the desk the fridge had been jammed beneath.
“Our mission was simple. Get into Serbia, kill a paramilitary general who was murdering thousands of his people. They called it an in-and-out job. They had the mark’s travel plans and all we had to do was go in there, plant a bomb in his car, and watch it gokaboom. It was almost a personal record for me and my partner. It was too easy, but we put it down to this general feeling too safe, untouchable. We watched from a cliff as they drove into an abandoned street and we set it off. The car exploded into pieces. We thought we were done and all we had to do was return to base. A few days later, a familiar man comes onto live TV in Serbia… it was him.”
Gabriel ran a hand over his head and took another drink of his Coke before placing it down next to him. The memories made his chest constrict, and he inhaled deeply to push away the feelings. The man that saw all of this was dead. He couldn’t allow himself to feel anything.
Ardan rose and touched his shoulder. “What happened?”
“He was furious. Talked Serbian. One of the guys there translated it for us. His… daughter had been killed in a car bombing that was obviously meant for him. He threatened the people of Serbia, told them he’d kill double and triple until the culprit came forward. My partner and I were… confused. We did the job right, just like the tacticians gave us directions for. We went to our superiors, asked them what went wrong. They weren’t apologetic. Fuck. Theyknewthat little girl was in there, Ardan. It was obvious.”
Riccardo, the real Gabriel, had felt betrayed and angry. He’d trusted his superior for years, believed he led them with good intentions. For the United States of America. He’d been wrong.
Ardan’s grip on his shoulder tightened.
“He told us to cool down, go out to the local market we liked visiting, and have lunch. We decided to do just that, to put our heads together and figure out what we were going to do. What we did could have started a genocide, killing hundreds of thousands of people. We had to figure out how to fix this.”
Gabriel bowed his head and let his face fall into his palms. A sick sensation curdled in his stomach. He’d left all of this behind, and yet he still felt everything he had back then when he’d trusted his bosses. His fingers curled into fists and he gritted his teeth, leaning back.
“I only went to make a call. Mia was getting married and I wanted to be there, but I wasn’t sure if I’d make it. I just wanted to listen to her voice. I walked away from the marketplace so I could hear her. One minute I was listening to her laugh, the next the world tilted. An explosion threw me off my feet, and buildings collapsed around me. I was far enough away from the impact that I survived, but only just. Serbians found me and took me to the hospital. They had no record of who I was, so my superiors had no idea I was still alive. As far as they were concerned, I’d died along with my partner that day.”
“And you became a ghost,” Ardan said.
Gabriel nodded. “Riccardo Sanna died. As far as the CIA was concerned, Riccardo and his partner were heroes who died for the American people. No one knew about us, though, not with us being deep cover, and they didn’t want news getting out that there were American operatives in Serbia. It wouldn’t be hard to put two and two together to get four.”
“And your family?”
“They believed I worked in the Marines, killed in action.” Gabriel laughed. “Mama hated me for joining. She’d begged me not to, told me I was meant for something greater. She wouldn’t talk to me for months.”
“And now she thinks you’re dead.” Ardan pointed at the Diet Coke. “Want something stronger than that?”
“No, it’s fine. So now you know who I am.”
Ardan shrugged. “I already knew who you were, Gabe. I just didn’t know the man who died however many years ago. Have you ever thought about tracking down your superiors, demanding answers?”
Gabriel ran his thumb over the can of pop next to him, gathering the condensation that was building up. “Every day of my life, but if I failed, they’d know I was alive, and they’d come after my family. It’s not worth it. Maybe one day, but not right now.”
“How did you get pulled into the Society?” Ardan asked.
