Secret Agent Reunion. Caridad Piñeiro

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СКАЧАТЬ sector with access to SIS, leaked information about you to the crime syndicate you were sent to infiltrate.”

      Dani considered his comment but shook her head in denial. “You think someone official blew my cover as the Sparrow?”

      “It makes sense that once the syndicate knew you were SIS and knew your family history, they would naturally ask you to take on the job for Mr. Donovan. They knew you had a score to settle about your parents.”

      “And then they revealed my personal information to Donovan so he would eliminate me after I’d done all the dirty work? That’s quite convoluted.”

      “Quite, my dear. But once your cover was blown, the crime bosses needed you gone and Donovan most likely wanted you silenced so you couldn’t reveal his role in the prince’s death.”

      Dani mentally ran through all that had happened and unfortunately, the facts supported the unlikely scenario. Painfully, she acknowledged that she had possibly been betrayed by one of her own.

      “What does all of this have to do with the mission you want me to undertake?”

      “There have been a series of recent incidents—”

      “What kind of incidents?” she challenged, annoyed by the obtuseness of Lazlo’s comments—until a series of photos flashed onto the monitor and Lazlo identified each of his murdered operatives.

      “The last two have a similar MO—a close range shot to the head, just above the left ear, with a hollow-point bullet.”

      “The killer is issuing a challenge to you that he can get close anytime he’d like,” Dani advised. “So that makes three operatives down in less than two months. Quite a personal attack on the Lazlo Group.”

      “More than you can imagine,” he said in a way that raised the hackles on the back of her neck.

      “We believe the first incident—which actually would make it four operatives attacked—may have occurred nearly three years ago. Different MO from all three of these kills, but the goal was the same—to disrupt an important Lazlo Group operation.”

      “Which was?” Dani asked, although in her gut she suspected what Lazlo would say even before he spoke or flashed the smiling picture of her dead lover up on the screen.

      “Mitchell Lama. On assignment in Rome when he was knifed by a courier working for the syndicate. The courier you later turned over to your handler at SIS, but reported as killed to your contact at the crime organization.”

      Anger erupted within her, creating a chill in her gut. A chill that would only be removed by finding out who had set Mitch up and by making sure they were punished. Fighting off the violence that rose in her, because she knew she couldn’t let it get personal again, she jumped out of the chair and stalked to one side of the room, hopefully out of range of the ever- intrusive camera.

      “All roads lead to Rome, my dear. It’s where these troubles possibly began. I need you to work with another Lazlo operative to find the SIS leak. We believe the information from that SIS leak is being used against the Lazlo Group.”

      “I’ll find the leak, Mr. Lazlo. So who is this operative you want me to partner with?” she said, arms wrapped tightly around her waist as she struggled to contain herself.

      The door whooshed open behind her, and she faced the tall, broad-shouldered man who entered.

      She went completely still. Then a cold pit of rage formed in her gut. The numbness that had filled her center for months was swiftly replaced with a tight knot of pain.

      She walked up to Mitchell Lama and punched him, snapping his head back with the force of her blow.

      “You son of a bitch. You’re not dead.”

      Chapter 3

      Mitch was not about to let Dani land the second blow. He encircled her fist, stopping her jab mid-swing and, for good measure, snared her other hand. Not that his actions would necessarily stop Dani if she wanted to exact additional punishment. He’d seen her in action and knew she could hurt him if she still desired.

      But she didn’t desire more, it seemed.

      Instead, she rose up on tiptoe and whispered, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

      Why? It seemed like such a simple question and yet…

      “I lay dying in your arms and you couldn’t confess the truth.” His tones were low in the hope that the assorted bugs in the room wouldn’t pick up the exchange.

      “The truth? That I was the Sparrow? We worked too hard to manufacture that identity, no matter how much I wanted to tell you the truth,” she shot back, inching higher on her tiptoes to get right up in his face and hiss the words.

      “The truth is that your actions led to the death of Prince Reginald and nearly got my old partner and your sister killed,” he replied calmly, anger at the deception she had perpetrated for the year that they had been lovers making him want to hurt her the way she had hurt him.

      In front of his eyes her spirit deflated. She yanked her wrists from his grasp and stalked back to the table, where she plopped into one of the leather library chairs. It creaked and rocked for a second before she stilled its motion and said in a much louder voice, “You can’t expect Mitch…Agent Lama and I to carry out this mission. We can’t work—”

      “You can, Dani. You have no choice. SIS believes that both you and Mr. Lama are dead. You’ve fallen off their radar, and so…”

      “You basically have two highly experienced agents with new identities that no one will be expecting,” Mitch confirmed. He walked to the table and took a seat opposite Dani.

      “Exactly. Like Lazarus, the two of you are risen again for this assignment. After it is completed, I will assist you so that you may do whatever you want. For now, however, I need you to find out who is behind these attacks,” Lazlo said, and since they apparently had no say, he continued with his report on the background of the operation.

      “As I mentioned, all these troubles appear to have started in Rome. After recovering from his wounds, Agent Lama indicated to me that he had suspicions that someone within our group was also possibly leaking information.”

      Dani shot Mitch a quick glance, then looked at the speaker as she asked Lazlo, “Why the suspicions?”

      Irritation made Mitch snap. “I am here, you know. You can ask me.”

      Dani faced him and laid her hands on the surface of the table. “So, Agent Lama. What clued you to a possible problem within your organization?”

      “Besides getting gutted?”

      Her fingers tensed on the tabletop, and a frown flashed across her features before she restrained her emotions. Had it possibly been concern he had seen for a moment? he thought before he continued.

      “My partner, Aidan Spaulding, and I had been trailing Kruger, who your crime organization—”

      “SNAKE,” Dani jumped in.

      “SNAKE?” Mitch asked, confused by the name.

      A СКАЧАТЬ