Crave (Talon Security #1)(48)

“Are you sure?” Travis replied. “Because you can take more time. This should be on your terms.”

“This is on my terms.” I nodded resolutely.

Travis’s gaze shot to Sid and I watched Sid give a stiff nod before Trav returned his attention to me. “Okay, I’ll set it up. They agreed to come to headquarters. I figured you’d be more comfortable there.”

I nodded in agreement. Talon sort of felt like my turf at least. “Let’s do it.”





CHAPTER 18

Sid wrapped his arm around me as we walked into Talon an hour later. I was surprised to find everyone there, including Trent and Marcus, who’d just returned from an assignment in Cairo.

Sarah greeted me with a hug and a reassuring squeeze as the guys looked on.

None of them seemed to be working and it was getting to be late in the evening. They were all here for me, I realized with a jolt. They wanted to support me. The thought warmed me despite the trepidation running like ice through my veins.

“They’re in the conference room,” Theo told Sid gruffly. “The guys and I are going to go in the back to train, but we’re here if you need us.”

Sid took my hand and headed in that direction.

“They wanted to talk to her alone,” Travis informed Sid.

“Fuck no,” Sid growled.

“I figured you’d say as much,” Travis replied easily. “Actually, I thought you’d just tell ’em to go fuck themselves.”

“That works too,” Sid grumbled as we neared the conference room.

Two men, including agent Richards, and one woman stood up when we entered the room. All were dressed in suits, but I had the passing thought that the Russians had been far better dressed.

“Ms. McAllister.” Richards nodded. “This is Agent Bowers and Agent Campbell,” he introduced indicating the man and woman to his left.

“Uh, hi,” I replied, offering a small awkward wave.

“Masters, we won’t keep her long,” he told Sid as a clear indication he should leave.

Sid’s hand squeezed mine reflexively. “I’m stayin’.”

His curt response left no room for argument, and after a weighted pause, Richards nodded, clearly unhappy with the outcome.

Sid pulled out a chair for me and I sat down, realizing I’d never actually been inside their conference room before. The huge glass table took up a majority of the space with a large TV mounted on the wall to the right for presentations. The twelve black chairs around the table were comfortable and sleek, though they may as well have been made of stone for how at ease I felt.

After a few preliminaries, I launched into the tale of that horrible night without sparing a single detail. When I got to the incident with Boris, I felt Sid go solid next to me. I tried to pull my hand away to allow him time to collect himself but he wasn’t having it. His hand remained clasped over mine, providing strength as I recounted my attack.

“I was worried they’d be angry that I killed him,” I recalled. “But Osip almost seemed… amused. It’s strange—for such a violent, horrible man, it was clear he still had some principles. He’d given clear orders to Boris not to touch me. In his mind it was justice served, I think.”

The three agents watched me, their pens poised above their pads.

“They just left his body there. They were completely unaffected by it,” I continued.

“And they never asked you anything? Not about the diamond?” Richards pressed. He’d already asked this several times.

“No.” I shook my head, starting to feel tired and impatient. “It’s like I said, Osip told me they were waiting for someone—someone who’d promised him the diamond. That’s why he took me in the first place.” I shivered slightly at the thought there could have been a far worse fate for me.

“That would be surprising,” Agent Bowers cut in, sounding skeptical. “Ivanov doesn’t wait or take orders. From anyone.”

I sat forward in my seat, staring the man down. “I know what I heard.”

“Traumatic experiences often lead to misinterpretation,” Richards nodded, his tone sickeningly pacifying.

Sid let out a grumble in irritation.

I shrugged, tired of repeating myself if they weren’t going to listen.

“We’ve already given our statements about what happened next. We done?” Sid clipped brusquely.

After two hours of questioning, I silently prayed we were.

“We still don’t have the diamond,” Bowers pointed out.

“Not my problem.” Sid shrugged indifferently.

His disdain for these men had been made obvious time and time again.

The agent’s eyes narrowed before he quickly masked his frustration with a professionally blank expression. “If we have more questions, we’ll be in touch.” He nodded curtly.