CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“I don’t think you understand,” Liv said. She spoke slowly and spaced her words, hoping this time they’d listen instead of going about the business of getting the plane prepped for takeoff. “I’m not going to Texas. I have a job to do. I’m going to track down Mittal and those little girls and make sure they’re returned to their families. If I have to go through all of you to do that, then so be it.”
She’d already tried deplaning twice, but one of her rescuers kept stopping her and telling her to take a seat. The next person who told her to sit down was going to get a fist to the nose.
“It’s no use, Liv,” Dante told her, already buckled into one of the plush leather seats. “They’re just following protocol. You know too much about us, and now they have to make sure you’re not a threat.”
“Yes,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “Thank you so much for sharing the information. If I’d known this was the outcome I would’ve told you to keep your confessions to yourself. Why is it that you never seem to cause me anything but trouble?”
“I suppose you’re just lucky,” he said, giving her a smile that told her she was pushing the edge of his temper.
It hadn’t gone past her notice that his two team members hadn’t spoken a word to him since they’d been rescued. There was definitely a tension between them that was bordering on hostile.
“You need to take your seat and get buckled,” Axel said to her. “We’re ready for takeoff.”
Liv growled and his eyes widened in surprise. “You’re wearing a wedding ring,” she said. “If you tell me to take a seat one more time instead of listening to what I have to say, I’m going to take that knife in your boot and put it to good use. You’ll be going back to your wife without a very important piece of your anatomy. If you get my meaning.”
The other one snorted out a laugh and closed and sealed the hatch on the door. Her gaze flashed to him and his smile disappeared. She was long past the point of playing nice.
“You’re Mossad,” she said, taking a step forward. “I recognize it in the way you move. I spent several months training with Mossad before I took my assignment at Interpol.”
“Then you know how we deal with threats,” he said, raising a brow and then moving past her to take a seat.
Her smile was sharp and harsh. “Exactly,” she said. “I’m glad we both agree since being kept against my will is clearly a threat.”
Levi moved to stand, but Dante said, “Levi,” and he hesitated, but eventually sat back down. “It does no good to do this. You’ll eventually overpower her, but she’s trained so one of you will end up getting hurt. And she’s not the enemy.”
The two men ignored Dante as if he weren’t even on the plane, and Axel took the seat next to Levi.
“Liv, you know they’re not going to let you go until they’re satisfied that you’re not a threat. We have the resources to find the girls much faster than you do now that you’ve left Interpol. It would be wise to take advantage of it.”
Liv narrowed her eyes and thought it through. She knew he was right. But she didn’t have to like it. She could find the girls on her own. She still had contacts and favors owed. But time was of the essence.
“I’ll stay for the girls,” she said, looking straight at Axel and Levi. “Their safety is the most important thing at the moment. But I’m not your prisoner, and the second you start to treat me like one I’ll take you out or die trying. Am I clear?”
“Miss Rothschild,” Axel tried again. “We’re the good guys. And we can help you hunt down Raj Mittal and the girls he’s transporting. But there are precautions that must be taken. We don’t know you. We’ve never worked with you. And it’s policy that we never work with any other agency. You know things about us that could get us all killed. And I can promise you, the threats that we face make your worst days in the office seem like a day in the park.”
She was a skeptic at heart. All cops and agents were. Everyone lied, and everyone had an agenda. She just had to figure out what theirs was. There was no way to verify if everything that Dante had told her was the truth.
There was a leather sofa that sat against the wall of the plane, and two matching leather chairs directly across from it, where Dante was seated. And there were two chairs to the left of the sofa, and two more to the right, which is where Levi and Axel were seated. She chose one of the chairs to the left of the sofa, even though she hated facing backward. It was better than sitting next to Dante, and she wanted to keep the other two in her sights at all times.
“Hello again, Miss Rothschild,” a silky familiar voice said through the speakers. “It’s lovely to see you. I’m reading your vitals and your blood pressure and heart rate are both elevated.”
“What a surprise,” she said, buckling her lap belt.
“I believe that was sarcasm,” Elaine said. “I’m not always good at picking up on rhetorical devices or irony. But I’ve been practicing.”
“You’re spot-on,” Liv said.
“Excellent,” Elaine countered. “You should relax and enjoy the flight. We have many hours ahead of us. I suggest you try the chamomile tea and get some sleep. That’s what my database says is the best advice to give you.”
“I appreciate that, Elaine,” she said. “But you don’t fall asleep in the enemy’s lair.”
“I will add that to my list of advice,” she said.
“Elaine,” Axel said. “Unfortunately, Miss Rothschild . . .”
“Agent Rothschild,” Liv corrected.
“Agent Rothschild has discovered things she shouldn’t about The Gravediggers.”
“Oh, my,” Elaine said. “I hate it when that happens. Very awkward. Are we implementing standard protocol?”
“Yes, please,” Axel said.
Liv didn’t know what standard protocol was, but she knew the moment multiple screens descended from the ceiling that she wasn’t going to like it. And then her academy picture came on the screen and she knew she really wasn’t going to like it.
“Olivia Caroline Rothschild,” Elaine began. “Born at thirteen zero two hours on April third, nineteen hundred and eighty-seven to Oliver Rothschild and Margaret Hemingway Rothschild. A sister, Elizabeth Margaret Rothschild was born at thirteen fourteen hours on the same date. Elizabeth was abducted at Harrods department store on December sixteenth, nineteen ninety-three. She was never recovered.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Liv said, fury spreading through her like molten lava.
“Unfortunately,” Elaine said. “I am not allowed to fucking kid when standard protocol has been implemented.”
She shot a look at Levi and Axel. “I’m about to shove your standard protocol somewhere very painful.” But they ignored her and kept focused on the information scrolling on screen.
“Olivia Rothschild excelled in school with top marks, and she was field hockey captain. She attended the University of St. Andrews in Fife, Scotland, earning a degree in international relations and a master’s degree in criminal justice. She then went to work for Scotland Yard, where she remained for a year before being recruited by Interpol.
“She was put on paid leave twenty-one months ago in conjunction with case 385271, and an internal investigation was conducted. No charges were brought against her, and she was reinstated with same rank.”
“What’s case 385271?” Axel asked.
“It’s a dummy file,” Elaine answered. “The investigation file has been deleted, along with any related case files.”
Liv arched a brow and narrowed her gaze at Dante. “You deleted Interpol files?” she asked.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Dante said.
“We’ll assume this has something to do with the classified files on Dante that Elaine was able find for us,” Axel said. “Simon Locke has had a hell of a career.”
“Yes, I find it interesting after all this time that those files were readily available for you to find,” Dante said.
“You made Simon Locke disappear off the face of the earth?” she asked.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said again. “But if I understand what you’re implying, it’s not impossible to wipe a person’s history. I’m surprised you didn’t check.”
“Sometimes it’s best to let the past stay dead,” she said. “But I’ve got the hard copy files at home if I feel nostalgic.”
“Do you?” he asked, smiling. And she knew if she looked in her file cabinet that all her notes and case files involving Simon Locke would be gone.
“Elaine,” Axel said. “Pull up Dante’s classified file and cross section mentions of Liv Rothschild and Simon Locke.”
“Stand by,” Elaine said.
The others were still ignoring Dante, and while she appreciated their dedication to doing so, their stubbornness was overlooking an important detail.
“You said all the files were readily available for them to find,” she said to Dante. “I’m going to assume that wasn’t always the case.”
“You’ve always been very intuitive,” Dante said.
“And because of that skill, I’m going to deduce that someone chose this moment for your files to be readily available when you’ve been keeping this secret from your team the last couple of years.”
“It’s probably best not to mention that right now,” Levi said.
“Give it a rest,” she said. “He was obviously right to keep it from you if this is your reaction.”
“Agent Rothschild and MI6 agent Malcolm were part of a joint task force to track down Simon Locke,” Elaine said.
“Lovely,” Liv said. “Please air the worst day of my life in front of a room full of strangers. Let me save you the trouble. Dante Malcolm, aka Simon Locke, played Agent Rothschild like a violin, stole a painting worth millions right out from under her nose, and then plummeted to his death, only to not have really died at all.”
“Yes, that about sums it up,” Elaine said.
“I’ll fill in the parts of the files that were deleted, where I was put on leave while internal affairs investigated whether or not I was in collusion with Locke all along, and I stood by and let them go through my home and all of my other properties while they looked for all of the art he’s stolen.”
“You seem bitter,” Axel said, smiling for the first time.
“For a married man, you’re not a very good judge of women’s moods,” she said.
“I haven’t been married for a couple of years,” he countered. “I’m out of practice.”
The rest of the flight was spent scrutinizing her life and cases, and by the time they landed, they still didn’t seem to be convinced that she wasn’t a threat to The Gravediggers. But her problems seemed minuscule compared to Dante’s. When the door opened and they descended down the stairs, there were two other men waiting for them.
She recognized the look of those who’d made a life in special ops. But something she’d observed about The Gravediggers was that they had even more of an edge than the agents she normally worked with. Even Dante had hardened since she’d worked with him last. They were skilled and deadly. It was in the way they moved. In the calluses on their hands and the hard ridges of muscle. Being surrounded by them was like nothing she’d ever experienced before.
But it was Dante who was in the middle. And no one was focused on her. She took a step back. And then another, gauging what kind of chance she would have if she made a run for it.
“I didn’t know you’d be meeting us at the airport,” Dante said, greeting the other two men. “I must be in trouble to pull Deacon away from his pregnant wife and Elias away from his wedding plans.”
“You son of a bitch,” one of the men said.
“Elias,” the other said, but didn’t seem too worked up over the outburst.
And then her mouth dropped open as the one called Elias started swinging. His right hook caught Dante in the jaw and snapped his head back, and the follow up with his left hit him square in the middle, doubling him over. She winced in sympathy and then saw her chance.
“Don’t even think about it,” Levi said, his fingers squeezing around her upper arm.
She looked at his hand and then looked up at his face. “You’re going to want to get your hand off me,” she said. And then she kneed him in the balls.