Alec's Royal Assignment (Man On A Mission Book 3) (15 page)

Angelina glanced around to make sure no one was watching. But the lobby was empty. She smiled at Alec, a smile of promise and expectation. Then the elevator doors opened with a
ding
. She grabbed Alec’s arm, pulled him inside with her and punched the button for her floor before leaning in for another kiss as the elevator doors swished shut.

Only then did a man move from the shadows where he’d been waiting for Lieutenant Mateja to return. He looked up to confirm what floor the elevator stopped on and smiled to himself. He pulled out a little notebook and made an entry, glancing at his watch to record the exact time. Then he headed out of the building, whistling a gay little Zakharian folk tune, a satisfied expression on his face.

* * *

Angelina watched Alec dress for work. She’d never really had the opportunity to watch a man go through his peculiar morning routine—so different from a woman’s morning routine. They’d woken very early and had gone running together, working up a satisfying sweat. Then they had shared a shower, something that was becoming a treasured ritual.

She’d observed Alec shaving earlier, as he lathered up and scraped the stubble from his face, meticulously maneuvering the razor over the tricky patches— especially his chin—and she’d experienced momentary regret. Right before they’d pulled on their sweats and gone jogging in the pre-dawn, he’d kissed her. She’d felt that stubble as he’d nuzzled her cheek, sending shivers of awareness throughout her body. An unshaved masculine face was a potent sexual weapon.

But then, nearly everything about Alec was a potent sexual weapon.

To distract herself from that suddenly uncomfortable awareness, she asked, “So what is my assignment this morning? What do you want me to do?”

“It might not sound like much,” he said as he checked the action on his gun before returning it to his shoulder holster, “but I want you to write down everything you can remember about Caterina. Every detail, no matter how small. I want to know what makes her tick. What motivates her. After that’s done, I want you to talk to my sister. Keira can try to track your cousin down, and knowing everything about her will help.”

“But I have not seen Caterina for eight years,” Angelina exclaimed. “She was sixteen when she left Zakhar. How can what I knew of her before she disappeared tell your sister anything about her now?”

“People don’t change,” Alec told her, placing a comforting hand against her cheek. “You might not believe it, but most people are who they’re going to be as adults by the time they’re six years old. Numerous studies support this. So if you’re a shy child at six, you’ll be a shy adult. You might be able to overcome the outward, visible signs of shyness, but you’ll still feel shy inside. The same goes for other character traits. Something in your memories of Caterina could be the key to finding her—that’s what I told the king last night, and I meant it.”

“This is good,” she told him seriously. “This I can do.” It was a challenge, but now she was fired up. Everything she could remember about Caterina—even the most painful memories—would be written down. She would even call upon her parents to jog her memory, if necessary. She would capture every little detail and try not to think of Aleksandrov Vishenko wanting her cousin dead. Getting closer by the minute. It was a race against time, but she would do whatever she could to win. If Alec believed this was the best way—the
only
way—then that was what she’d do.

He glanced at his watch. “Gotta go,” he said. “McKinnon will be at the embassy in twenty-one minutes exactly—he’s punctual to a fault. So kiss me as if you mean it, and get started on your assignment. Call me at the embassy if you need something.”

Two minutes later, he still hadn’t left, and he removed his mouth from hers with reluctance. “Guess you meant it,” he murmured.

Chapter 15

T
he minute Alec walked out the door, Angelina picked up the phone. She was supposed to be on duty with the queen this morning, and though she’d officially been relieved of that duty, she wanted to let the queen know personally.

She identified herself to the palace operator when her call was answered, and waited patiently until she heard the queen’s voice on the phone.

“Angelina?” Queen Juliana said. “I’m glad you called, because I wanted to talk to you. Andre told me about your new assignment, and I’m so glad you’re involved in this investigation—although not the reason for it. Your cousin... I know how much she meant to you. Means to you,” she quickly corrected. “Please don’t worry about anything except finding her before Aleksandrov Vishenko does.”

Angelina was touched by the queen’s concern. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“Juliana,” the queen reminded her. “When it’s just us, it’s Juliana. Remember?” Then she returned to the issue at hand. “Andre and Alec—they’re focused on the big picture, the human-trafficking case. And they’re right in a way. It has to be shut down and the men responsible brought to justice. But bringing Caterina home safely is just as important, and not only because she might have evidence against Vishenko and might be willing to testify against him. You need to bring her home safely because...well...because what happened to her should never happen to
any
woman. Ever.”

* * *

“Trace McKinnon was here to see you, sir,” Alec’s bright young administrative assistant told him the minute he entered the outer office. “He stopped in, said he was early for your meeting and would be back at eight on the dot.” She looked at Alec’s calendar, then added, “He’s not on the schedule.” There was just a hint of reproach in her voice.

“Yeah, I know,” he told her ruefully. “I just arranged it last night. But I knew I didn’t have anything else scheduled for this morning, not until my eleven o’clock meeting.”

He started for his office door but then turned to ask a question. Before he could, his administrative assistant volunteered, “It’s been swept already. I was here when the team came in.”

Alec knew she wasn’t referring to a cleaning team but rather to the electronics team that swept his office daily for listening devices. “You must have come in very early.”

Her laugh held a trace of shyness. “I have a date tonight, and I was hoping I could leave exactly on time...maybe a few minutes early, if it’s okay with you.”

Alec smiled to himself. His administrative assistant, Tahra Edwards, was the person he’d had in mind when he told Angelina that a shy six-year-old would grow up to be a shy adult. Tahra—whose name rhymed with Sahara—was bright, articulate and a real go-getter where her job at the embassy was concerned, but painfully shy when it came to dealing with the opposite sex.

She was far from plain, but lacked the sophisticated veneer most young women her age wore like a shield. She was the kind of woman who appealed to his brother Liam.

“Fine with me,” he said now. “You’re not a clock watcher, and you’ve put in more than your share of OT these past few weeks helping me get up to speed. So feel free to leave early. Anyone I know?” A tinge of protectiveness made him ask the question. Not that he was responsible for Tahra, but still.
Any decent man would be concerned,
he justified to himself.
She’s as vulnerable as a lamb among wolves.

Tahra shook her head. “I don’t think so—he’s Zakharian.”

Alec didn’t know why her answer mollified him—Zakharian men could be wolves, too. But then again, Zakhar was fifty years behind the times in many ways. Men still treated women with old-fashioned courtesy here—unless the women were trying to move into jobs that had previously been reserved for men. Still, it wasn’t a bad thing from Tahra’s perspective. He didn’t want anyone pressuring her—

Then McKinnon walked into the outer office right at eight o’clock, and Tahra’s date was driven from Alec’s mind. “Come on in,” he told the other man. To Tahra, he said, “I don’t want to be disturbed for anything or anyone other than the ambassador. And that reminds me. Try to set up an appointment for me with him, will you? This afternoon, if possible, but if not, as soon as he’s free.”

Once in his office with the door closed and locked, Alec indicated one of the chairs in front of his desk and settled himself behind his desk. “Unless you object, I’m going to take the ambassador into my confidence regarding the investigation,” he said, almost before they two of them were seated.

McKinnon shook his head. “No objection from me—we’d already cleared him. Last night’s meeting was just confirmation.”

“I agree,” Alec said before moving on to the next topic. “I talked with Keira when I got back to my apartment. You didn’t waste any time calling D’Arcy, did you? And apparently he didn’t waste any time, either. Keira told me he’d already contacted her, told her to give us anything we need. Whether or not we ask for it.”

“Yeah, sounds like D’Arcy. So I take it you already gave Keira the list of names last night?”

Alec nodded. “But I forgot to tell her I was going to ask Angeli—Lieutenant Mateja to—”

McKinnon cut him off. “You’re still trying to kid me you and she aren’t involved?” He snorted. “I thought you were smarter than that.”

Alec stiffened. “Whatever’s between me and Lieutenant Mateja doesn’t have anything to do with this case,” he said coldly.

“Maybe not. But I’ll say the same thing you said to me back when I was falling for Mara. If it was important to the case, you’d tell me. Right?”

Something in that steady blue stare reminded him of the way he’d looked at McKinnon when he and Liam had confronted the other man about Princess Mara. Now the shoe was on the other foot, and he didn’t like it. Not one bit. “I had a hell of a nerve back then, didn’t I?” he admitted.

“Back then?” McKinnon laughed suddenly. “You still do. But that’s okay. You get the job done, and that’s all that really matters. It must run in the family.” He shifted gears. “So, what were you starting to say you didn’t tell Keira about Lieutenant Mateja?”

“Oh, right. I forgot to tell Keira I was going to ask Angelina to make a list of everything she could remember about her cousin. Everything that might possibly help Keira track her down. I know it’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack, but—”

“But if anyone can do it, your sister can,” McKinnon finished for him.

“Exactly.”

“Sounds good. So what do you want me to focus on?”

“Keira’s checking out the seven names. But I need notarized witness statements—or the Zakharian equivalent—from the two canaries the police have in custody if we’re going to apply for search warrants, including wiretaps. I also want you to interview those two men, see what kind of witnesses they’d make in an American court.” He didn’t have to say it—both men knew American juries tended to distrust criminals with foreign accents. Especially criminals who were trying to cut a deal by testifying. The propensity for lying or stretching the truth to make their own sentences lighter made them less than trustworthy witnesses—or so the defense attorneys would allege. Another thing they’d have to contend with.

“And if you can, I’d like you to interview the other three Zakharians who are in custody. I don’t have to tell you how to do your job—”

McKinnon cut him off. “That’s right, you don’t.”

Alec smiled at how the tables had been turned on him in this, too. “Humor me,” was all he said. When McKinnon made a gesture signifying for him to continue, he added, “I was thinking if you interviewed them all together, and they thought you spoke only English...”

“You read my mind,” McKinnon said in fluent Zakharan. The two men smiled at each other in perfect understanding. “Speaking the language didn’t do us a damn bit of good when the State Department wanted us to spy on Mara for them,” McKinnon said judiciously, “because there wasn’t anything to learn. But in this case...”

“There’s nothing like having an ace up your sleeve when you’re playing poker with men who’d just as soon slit your throat than let you win a pot,” Alec said with a laugh. “Okay, we’re on the same page there. I think that’s it for now. I want—” The buzzer on Alec’s phone sounded, interrupting what he was going to say. He frowned. “I told Tahra I didn’t want to be interrupted unless it was the ambassador, so maybe...” He hit the speaker button. “Yes, Tahra?”

“There’s someone to see you, sir,” Tahra said. “I told him you were in a meeting and couldn’t be disturbed, but he said it can’t wait. He’s quite insistent.” There was an odd tone in Tahra’s voice, and it was the tone more than her words that made Alec say, “I’ll be right out.” He disconnected and told McKinnon, “Give me a minute. Something’s not right.”

Alec crossed the room and jerked the door open. Captain Marek Zale was standing by Tahra’s desk at military attention, an attitude that seemed to afflict all those who served in the Zakharian National Forces even when they weren’t in uniform. Alec didn’t know how the captain had managed to get past Security downstairs, unless Tahra had authorized his entry. From the captain’s stony-eyed expression and the way he was studiously avoiding looking at Tahra, not to mention the distress and betrayal on Tahra’s face, Alec put two and two together and came up with...four?

Tahra wouldn’t authorize just anyone to enter this restricted area of the embassy. Which meant she had to know Captain Zale in something other than his official capacity.
Is he Tahra’s mysterious Zakharian date?
Alec wondered.
Is that how he managed to convince Tahra to let him in past Security?

And if he
was
the man Tahra was suddenly interested in, was it more than just a coincidence Captain Zale just
happened
to ask Alec’s shy administrative assistant for a date?
And if I believe that,
he told himself wryly,
there’s this bridge in Brooklyn...

“You needed to see me now, Captain Zale?” he asked coolly. “It can’t wait?”

The other man folded his lips tightly together as if he was keeping hasty words in. Hot words he might regret. “No,” he said finally. “It cannot wait. It concerns Lieutenant Mateja.”

A dart of fear shot through Alec. Had something happened to Angelina? He’d left her safely in her apartment, but what if she’d gone somewhere? Traffic accident? He remembered telling Angelina that with the jobs they did, one of them could be dead tomorrow. If something had happened to her...
Please, God, no. No!
But all he said out loud was, “Come into my office, Captain.”

Captain Zale checked in the doorway when he saw McKinnon, who stood up, and said to Alec, “We were done, weren’t we, Special Agent Jones? I’ll get back to you about what we discussed.” He smiled easily at the captain. “Good to see you again.” Then he was gone, passing Captain Zale in the doorway and closing the door softly behind him.

Alec took a deep, calming breath and arranged his face in stoic lines, refusing to betray his reaction to whatever the other man was going to tell him. He held himself so tightly, his muscles ached. “What about Lieutenant Mateja?”

“Are you aware the lieutenant is under observation by the secret intelligence service?” the captain asked abruptly. “As are all the members of the security details since the assassination attempt?”

Alec let himself breathe, let his muscles relax against the strict control he’d exerted when he thought he was going to be told the worst, that his Angel was dead.
Not dead,
his brain whispered.
She’s not dead.
For an instant nothing else mattered. Then he focused on what the captain had just said. If Zakhar’s secret intelligence service had Angelina under surveillance, then that meant...

“I wasn’t aware Lieutenant Mateja’s personal life was subject to military scrutiny,” he said with a nonchalance he was far from feeling.

“It would not be,” the captain snapped, “if you had not requested she be added to your team investigating the trafficking case. Can you not see you have compromised her?” he argued hotly. “Called her integrity into question? She is one of my best men, and now—”

Furious at having his own integrity impugned, Alec refused to let him finish. “My personal involvement with Lieutenant Mateja has absolutely nothing to do with this case, and you’d better believe it, Captain,” he said in clipped tones. “It’s crucial we find her cousin and convince her to testify, and Lieutenant Mateja can assist in that effort—that’s the
only
reason I asked the king to put her on my team.”

Both hot under the collar, both operating under intense emotion held under a tight rein, the two men stared narrow-eyed at each other for a moment. Then Alec took a mental step back from the brink. “Look,” he said reasonably, realizing honesty would serve him best here. “She didn’t want anyone to know— especially you—because she didn’t want you to think badly of her. She’s conscientious to a fault, devoted to her job and to you, and fearless in her determination to keep the queen safe.”

He waited for that to register with the other man. “But she’s human, and she has the right to be a woman as well as a fighting man. The king’s words—‘fighting man’—not mine,” he added dryly. “She has the right to keep her private life private so long as it doesn’t get in the way of doing her job. And it won’t. You should know her well enough to know that much about her. I shouldn’t have to tell you.”

An expression that in anyone else would be called chagrin crossed the captain’s face. “You are correct,” he said stiffly after a moment. “Lieutenant Mateja is, as I stated earlier, one of my best men. I can count on the fingers of one hand men I would pick for a mission before I would pick her. And not,” he was quick to add, “for any other reason than she is a woman, and there are still men in the Zakharian National Forces who resent women in the military. In every other way, she is an exemplary officer.”

He laughed unexpectedly. “She even threw me once in hand-to-hand combat,” he explained. “Me! She took me by surprise, of course, but still...” He shook his head in disbelief.

“Join the crowd,” Alec said with a self-deprecating smile.