Chapter 7

7

Hank

Times like this, I was lucky I had someone like Garrison who scared the shit out of every law enforcement agency in the country so they wouldn't give us shit.

Then he yelled at me.

He choppered in because the shootout was on the news and the video footage from witnesses had already been uploaded to YouTube and every social media known on the planet. Usually, I wasn't at the center of the attention and I was the one tasked with taking them down. It was making me antsy as fuck that I was sitting in a room, helpless to do my job.

I glanced at Thala. She was on the phone and I imagined she was getting yelled at by her brother, too. She didn't have her cap on during the shootout, and in some videos, even with poor quality, anyone who saw it could see the resemblance. Speculations exploded on the conspiracy sites. We hadn't confirmed it to the media. And like the pilot and driver suspects, we were immediately sequestered from the rest of the cops in the station and everyone was put on gag order.

Only the police chief and responding officers to the shootout were in the know, but even they knew it would be hard to keep big news like this from the media. Money talks. And so did the first amendment.

The press caught wind of the rumor and camped outside the police station.

We needed to get out of here.

After arguing with the police chief, Garrison stalked back my way. "Come on."

"Where?"

He spun around and pointed a finger in my face and roared, "Where I tell you to go, dammit!"

"It wasn't Hank's fault," Thala cut in. "I wasn't comfortable in the safe house."

"Don't need to defend me, Princess." My mouth twitched. "I'll take G's yelling over sorting out jurisdiction BS."

"This isn't funny. I should do more than yell at you. We don't want an international incident with things so hot right now."

Hot? How were the assassination attempts on the royals a hot button for the CIA? I was patient when it came to "need to know" but after two attempts on Thala's life, I fucking needed to know.

"I talked to my brother," Thala said. "He's not going to raise…what do you call it…a stink about this. I take full responsibility for my actions and absolve Hank of what happened."

"See, it's not your responsibility to do anything," Garrison snapped at her.

"And why is that, G?" I asked casually. I was used to Garrison's bluster. That was his way of getting out his frustrations, and he frequently came off as an asshole. The way to handle him wasn't to meet him in his bluster and remain calm. "I think we underestimate the princess."

"Didn't you just get yelled at by the prime minister?" Garrison ignored me and asked Thala.

"He was relieved that I was alive more than he was mad at me. He'll arrive to pick me up. It's Ramsay who's in trouble."

"He was acting under orders from the queen to fly back to Venusstea via Canada," Garrison told her.

"And he did not think to inform my brother, who is prime minister."

"Wait, I thought you all weren't supposed to be on the same plane?" I said. "Your brother is coming here?"

"He's not in the line of succession. And yes. He's just awaiting the refueling of his plane." She split a look between us. "I would like a recommendation for a hotel—"

"No," Garrison and I said at the same time.

Her smile was brittle. "That's hardly your decision or am I still a suspect…oh wait…I was the target twice."

"Or your accomplice must be trying to get rid of you," Garrison said. I didn't believe it anymore, though. Thala might be grumpy, but she wasn't in any way cold-blooded to have her sister killed. If she were, I should quit the CIA because my instincts were shit.

But she didn't go off on Garrison. Instead, she looked at me. "You still think I'm guilty?"

I responded instantly. "No."

Garrison glared at me, but before he could say anything, Levi walked in.

"G dragged you into this?" We fist-bumped.

"Yeah. He said you're slacking in your job and have stars in your eyes." Levi extended his hand to Thala. "I'm Levi James. Hank's teammate. My daughters are big fans of your Amazonian exhibitions and think you're the shit."

Garrison muttered, "For fuck's sake."

That seemed to be the right thing to say. A smile touched the corners of her mouth as she returned Levi's handshake with warmth. Maybe I should borrow Ashley and Whit to thaw out the princess. She was warming up to me. A little.

"I found the tracker," Levi said.

"I had another tracker?" she croaked her question, her right hand clasping her throat in surprise.

"It couldn't be the phone. It was in a shielded box," I told him.

"It's in your purse," Levi told Thala. "A pair of earrings."

She paled. "My brother gave me those earrings."

The betrayal and pain on her face was more than I could bear. Thala tried to remain stoic, but the quivering of her mouth and the sudden hard rise and fall of her chest gave her away.

She was about to break down in front of strangers.

And damned if I was going to let her go through it alone.

I stepped into her. She might reject me, but tough shit.

"C'mere." I dragged her into my arms. There was no resistance, and it broke my heart more knowing what a strong woman she was and what this was costing her.

She buried her face in my chest. She wasn't sobbing, but her body shuddered.

Garrison made a throat-clearing sound that made me look over Thala's head. Anyone unfamiliar with his tells would think he was bored, but he was anything but. He was assessing the situation, and I was going to hear about it. I was going to hear about it because Levi rubbed a crooked index finger across his mouth in an attempt to hide a grin.

I scrunched my brows in a what?-I-can't-give-comfort-to-a-princess look.

G's mouth tightened.

For fuck's sake. You'd think fatherhood would have taught him more empathy. The most vulnerable I'd seen Garrison was when we'd been captured by Ukrainians and thrown into a dungeon for two weeks. Before our captivity, he and Nadia had an encounter with a broken condom. G was losing his mind, having nightmares that he'd gotten Nadia pregnant and he'd die before he'd get to see her and his kid. Imaginary kid at that point.

"I don't think Petros would do this," Thala finally said.

Wait? What?

Thala

Embarrassed, I pushed away from Hank's chest. I'd never broken down like this. But then again, no man seemed to have the breadth of shoulders, height, or physique to make me feel protected. This was the weird sensation I felt with this Hank Bristow. He made me feel vulnerable, yet it wasn't a vulnerability that took away my pride or made me feel inferior.

Embarrassed, yes.

My cheeks flamed. Nothing really fazed me. But my mind tried logic again with the earring smoking gun.

"Petros gave me those earrings five years ago," I addressed the others in the room even as Hank slowly eased his arms from around me. I didn't want to second-guess that impulse yet. He seemed to be a sympathetic person from the less than twenty-four hours I'd been in his company. "We employ a palace staff of over fifty who tend to our rooms and the castle. More in the kitchen. In five years, we've gone through hundreds of employees."

"Do you want to ask Petros Targen point-blank about it?" Garrison asked.

"You think he's going to admit it?" Hank asked. "I suggest throwing everyone for a loop, and we can discuss this, but not here."

"You think it's bugged?" I asked.

"You never know with these isolation rooms."

"Then let's get out of here," Garrison said.

It took several attempts to evade the reporters gathering around the police station, but Levi drove a decoy van that drew them. Garrison and Bristow borrowed a police sedan and stowed me in the trunk. I protested at first, but I saw the logic if an overzealous reporter plastered his face against the window and saw me hiding in the back.

Garrison drove. It was a bumpy ride with more than a few sharp turns. I swore the sedan rode the sidewalk for a bit. But all the discomfort couldn't displace the one in my chest. Outrage that Petros would order a hit on me. Guilt that I would think he would do this. Because this was the same brother who shouldered the blame when Amadea fell off her horse due to a broken stirrup. A few of our training sessions were geared toward depending on each other. I did a half-hearted job of checking her gear that day. Petros immediately took the blame saying I had asked him to do it. Amadea didn't believe him and accused me of sabotage. I did nothing malicious, but I failed to be thorough.

Amadea was thirty-four years old, Petros was a year younger. Our mother, Queen Lanthina, divorced our father, a Scandinavian prince, when I was eight. There were rumors that he had cheated. He was now better known as an aging playboy in Monte Carlo.

Only Petros had a relationship with him. Amadea grew up hating him. After spending most of my childhood and adolescent training to be the leader of the royal guard, I despised him; he was nothing more than a Scandinavian dandy who couldn't even throw an ax.

The vehicle stopped moving, and the engine cut off.

Hela's hell, I was starting to feel nauseous.

Car doors slammed and the rush of boots approached the trunk.

It opened.

Hank's face hovered above me. "You all right?"

"As all right as I can be after being stuffed in a trunk." I grasped his proffered hand as he helped me out of the confined space.

I looked around and noticed we were in a deserted parking lot. Not the grand hotel I was expecting to be taken to. "What's going on?"

"Change of plans," Garrison said.

I crossed my arms. "Change of plans without informing me."

"You seem to be under the impression that you're in charge," he replied.

"G, shut up," Hank growled. "You want the princess's cooperation, that's not the way to handle it."

I didn't know how I felt about Hank defending me. Usually, I fought my battles, both in the field and in word sparring. But I wasn't going to be an idiot by fussing about it. Different rules. Uncharted grounds.

One thing was clear: Garrison was an asshole.

"The tracker is still pinging," Hank said. "Levi inspected it."

"You're proposing to destroy it and see what happens."

"No. We want to rattle your brother's cage." Garrison seemed to have realized he could win me over more with honey than vinegar and modulated his manner of speaking.

"You're proposing I stay hidden. I don't want to play games with Petros."

"It's too late for that, don't you think? You already faked your death," he said. "The police is going to release a statement that you're alive, but an interagency cooperation is underway. We're going to make it sound like you requested our protection."

"Are you out of your mind?" I exclaimed. "Petros won't stand for this."

"He won't have a choice," Garrison said. "It's outta the police's hands. He could go to the FBI. The FBI would give him the runaround and say that it was your choice."

"He could talk to your president. He is prime minister."

"And our president has the ear of my boss," Garrison said. "It'll buy us time."

"So what's the plan?"

"Book a room in the swankiest hotel in town. We'll leave your phone and earrings there and watch what happens."

"I need my phone."

"Levi's already cloned it and applied our security measures."

"Who are you guys?"

"Need to know."

"Thala, we want the same answers as you do," Hank said. "Garrison mentioned the energy summit in New York and certain players met with your brother. Players who may want to get the queen out of the picture."

"That's absurd. How? What?"

"The intel is in flux, but we can eliminate your involvement. See if you're just being framed. Cooperate with us. Give us access to your email correspondence."

"I thought you cloned my phone." I was outraged, but I would deal with this outrage later. So far, they hadn't hauled me off to a shipping container or a black site to be interrogated. That much I was thankful for because it hadn't escaped me that the moment I went with Hank Bristow, I was at the mercy of his organization. I was pretty sure they were on the right side of good versus evil, but they were straddling a thin line between acquiring information legally or illegally.

Admittedly, I was also fascinated, and it was why I kept my head down at the police station. I could have caused a scene and gotten myself in the news and gone home. But I hadn't.

"Levi isn't as good as I am when it comes to hacking." Hank grinned.

"So, you're telling me you're useful getting into secure sites to get the information you need?"

"That's what I'm telling you."

These men before me were the most intimidating I'd ever met. Clearly, I was out of my league. Far from my life as a princess where my duty was to entertain the tourists, and certainly far from the boring life at parliament, where I was just a figurehead with a vote.

They were giving me an opportunity to participate in finding the culprits.

Squaring my shoulders, I said, "I do this, I don't want to be kept in the dark."

"As long as it has everything to do with finding out who is behind the assassination attempts, then we'll keep you informed. Unless, of course, we suspect you of pulling a Keyser S?ze."

I couldn't help grinning. "I've seen The Usual Suspects ."

"You don't have a stick up your ass after all," Hank replied.

"Excuse me?" My mouth dropped open in indignation, but before I could form a suitable retort, Garrison interrupted.

"Levi is on his way to rendezvous with a new vehicle."

"Wait, where are we going?" I asked.

Hank grasped my biceps and led me to the back of the police sedan. "Same plan. Wine country."