“I’m impressed.”
Noah grinned, but continued. “Since your intel suggests The Serpent’s based around LA, the probability that her information is legit increases.”
“All of which means it’s worth a shot to meet this woman.”
“Sounds to me like she’s the best lead you’ve had.”
“Lately, she’s been the only lead.” He’d had a bead on The Serpent years ago, but the plan had gone horribly wrong, and Tony had lost a hell of a lot more than the year of tracking and planning.
“Women are allowed to arrive alone at Debauchery,” Noah continued, and Tony nodded. That much he knew. “Men aren’t.”
“And she’s planning on meeting me there,” Tony said. “Yeah, I’ve thought about it. That means that she assumes I’ll find someone to come with me. And it means that she isn’t trying to entice me to travel with her. She’s probably going early to protect herself or to set a trap.”
“Right now, the probabilities are pretty much equal. But I did find a few single seats booked on Debauchery’s private jets booked the day before you’re set to meet her.”
“Any names?”
“Nope. Their security is tight. Not surprising considering the nature of the resort. I’m sure I can get around it if you think it’s important. Want me to keep poking?”
Tony shook his head. “Don’t bother. Odds are good I won’t be able to tell whether she’s there to help me or kill me just from a name on a ticket.”
His friend sighed. “That’s true enough. This whole mission is a question mark. It might be a trap. It might not. She might have intel about The Serpent she wants to share with you, though God only knows why. Or she could be someone in your line of work, and she’s coming to the island to kill you. Hell, maybe The Serpent screwed her, too, and she wants to kill him and hopes you’ll team up with her.”
“Only way I’ll know is to go,” Tony said without hesitation, because the trip became a done deal the moment The-Asst had suggested it. After all, he’d risked his life for things a lot more mundane than his own lifetime vendetta.
“Figured you’d say that. You’ll need to go in as a couple. You seeing anyone these days? Anyone you’d be willing to take on a mission?”
“No on both counts,” Tony admitted, ignoring the tug on his heart that came with the admission.
Noah watched him for a moment, those deep green eyes never leaving Tony’s face. “It’s not so bad, buddy. Honestly, it’s pretty damn good.”
That tug turned into a downright squeeze as he silently shrugged. He was doing just fine, at least so long as he lived in the moment. It was only hard when the dark, lonely nights came, a reminder that he couldn’t ever truly get close to anyone because that would be like painting a target on their ass, then—
Fuck.
He grabbed the mug of now-cold coffee and took a long swallow, just to camouflage his souring mood.
“I’m happy for you,” he told Noah after he set the mug down with a thunk. “I really am.” He smiled, the expression genuine as he remembered dinner at their house the night before. “You and Kiki are great together.”
He meant it, too. Tony didn’t know the whole story, but he knew that Noah had lost a wife and child, and that the tragedy had scarred him. Kiki, he knew, had helped heal those wounds.
“Yeah,” Noah said, smiling so wide that Tony could see all his teeth. “We really are.” He hesitated, and Tony tensed, afraid that Noah would give him the you should settle down speech.
Instead, Noah cleared his throat and said casually, “So who are you going to take? Or are you planning on a surreptitious arrival.”
“I read a bit about the place. The only habitable area is the resort. Beyond that is a small, dense jungle. There’s a road to and from the airport, but that’s about it. So if I’m going to the island, I’m going to the resort.”
“And you need a woman. Got one in mind?”
“I don’t. Anyone I take, I put at risk.” And even if that wasn’t the case, he didn’t have anyone in mind. While he’d picked up a few women here and there, those hadn’t been the kind of encounters where he’d kept a phone number. And as for women with the kind of skill set to be a partner and not a decoration? Well, his contact list was short as he preferred working alone and had been fully solo since Deliverance disbanded.
“You need someone who can hold her own,” Noah said.
“Agreed. But who?”
His friend shook his head. “No ideas. I’ve been riding a desk for too long now, and my contacts have dried up. I wish I could point you somewhere.”
“I do, too. I need someone connected. Someone who has a large pool to—of course.” He smiled. “Stark.”
“Stark?” Noah repeated. “As in my boss? Damien Stark of Stark Applied Technology?”
“And the Stark Security Agency,” Tony reminded him. After his daughter was kidnapped, Damien Stark founded the elite security group to go after scum like the kidnapper—and worse. The goal of the SSA, as Damien had told him, was to be a line in the sand. To fight the battles that law enforcement couldn’t—or wouldn’t—and to help those who might otherwise fall through the cracks.
The SSA was relatively new, but it had already earned a stellar reputation. And though Tony had declined Stark’s offer to join the team, that didn’t mean that he didn’t respect the hell out of its mission or its operatives.
“Good idea,” Noah said, nodding slowly. “You want me to give him a call and see if any of the women on the team are free for a job? Or, hell, Liam and Quincy are both with the SSA,” he added, referring to two other former Deliverance members. “You could hit either of them up to approach Stark.”
“No worries. I’ll call him myself.”
Noah’s eyes widened, and Tony had to chuckle. Tony had learned that Stark was a hell of a nice guy, but there was no denying the billionaire was intimidating as hell. And Noah had no way of knowing that Tony had met Stark on multiple occasions—and that Stark had been actively recruiting him.
“He owes me a favor,” Tony explained.
Noah leaned back, clearly intrigued. “That’s a hell of a chip to be holding.”
“Yeah, well, let’s just say he thinks I’m worth it. I helped his wife out of a jam in Paris a while back.”
An attacker had gone after Nikki and, thankfully, Tony had been in the right place at the right time.
“Stark said to give him a shout if I ever needed anything. Guess I’ll call in the favor and tell him I need a woman.”
Chapter Two
I’m hanging upside down outside the window of one of Burbank’s hotels, and I can’t help but think that the world looks pretty much the same from twenty-four floors above the ground as it does right-side up at sea level.
But then, I’m not a sunshine and roses kind of girl. On the contrary, I’ve always thought that the world was a fucked up place, as often upside-down and backwards as it is safe and navigable. No, that’s not true. It’s more often fucked up. The warm and cozy world that you see on television commercials? That everyone’s grandmother claims to remember? It doesn’t really exist. I don’t think it ever really did.