Lying and Kissing(5)

I frowned. “I didn’t realize arms was our thing. Isn’t that more FBI or ATF?” Then I flushed. Who was I to question the head of Special Activities?

“We have our reasons,” he said stiffly. “Luka will be at his place in New York on Saturday, the first time he’s been over here for months.”

“Can’t you just arrest him? I mean, once he’s on US soil?”

Adam shook his head. “We don’t have nearly enough evidence. That’s why we need to bug his laptop.”

I swallowed. “So how do I fit in?”

Adam smiled, relaxing a little. “He’s throwing a party. He’s hired a string quartet and we can get you in as one of them. You play some music, slip into his office and plant the bug and then walk out. Simple.”

I’d see him. Actually be in a room with the man I’d been fantasizing about. I was still reeling from the idea of Luka suddenly being...evil.

You moron. You knew he was a bad guy. Why did you think the CIA were tapping his phone?

“What’s he...like?” I wondered. And then realized I’d said it out loud.

“Brutal,” said Adam. “Unyielding. He did some jail time, a few years back, and that hardened him even more. Luka’s the new prince. He’s inherited the kingdom from his dad and he’s not going to let anything get in his way. He’s killed several times—that we know about—rivals, mostly, who’ve tried to encroach on his family’s territory. He’s not afraid to use his fists, when someone needs to be taught a lesson. People are terrified of him, right across Moscow.”

And he twisted his computer screen around to show me some photos. Suddenly, I was face-to-face with Luka.

I’d thought he’d be old, but the face looking back at me couldn’t have been thirty, yet. His hair was cut short—longer than I’d imagined, but still short—and it was so dark I could only just see the soft texture of it.

He had high, prominent cheekbones and a wide, sensuous mouth, one corner curling up in a smile that was all dark malevolence and sex.

He wasn’t handsome. Handsome is too bland. Hollywood celebrities are handsome.

This guy was beautiful. Savagely, brutally beautiful, like mountain peaks that have been shaped by wind and rain.

I’d realized I was staring. It had only been a few seconds but, for someone who can memorize a face in an instant, that was a lifetime. I couldn’t remember ever staring at a photo like that. I dragged my eyes away.

There were more photos below, some of them half off the screen. I got a few glimpses of his naked back, twisting black tattoos over heavy slabs of muscle. Very different from the slender, gym-toned bodies that my boyfriends had had. He looked hard...solid in a way they never were.

I quickly looked away.

“The party’s on Saturday,” said Adam. He must have read the worry on my face because he gave me a reassuring smile. “You can do this, Arianna. A few hours of violin and a few seconds of action. In and out. Easy.”

Easy.

Until it all went wrong.





Saturday.

With four hours to go, I sat in my apartment and stewed.

My roommate, Nancy, was off in South America doing whatever proper field agents do—probably breaking some guy’s neck with her thighs—so I couldn’t watch movies with her. I’d practiced the violin until my arms ached. That left me pacing the apartment, a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Maybe I’m just not cut out for this.#p#分页标题#e#

But I couldn’t back out now. Everyone was relying on me. The whole mission was based around me planting the bug.

It started snowing at noon, which only made me more nervous. Snow made it harder to hold back the memories and the very last thing I needed was a flashback. What the hell was I thinking?! I can’t do this! No wonder Roberta had been pissed at Adam. She was right—I belonged safe and snug in the Language department.

I knew I’d lose it if I kept thinking, so I did the only thing I could think of: I cooked.

Nancy doesn’t have time to cook. She rolls in from an assignment jet-lagged and exhausted and sometimes wincing, her arm or leg in bandages. I figure that she needs to eat properly if she’s going to be able to jump out of a plane and seduce a guard and still remember to cut the blue wire not the red wire.

So I cook for her. I keep the refrigerator full so that she can just pull something out and reheat it. And sometimes, like when it’s snowing outside and I really need to take my mind off things, cooking is a good distraction. I cooked a big pot of slow-cooked shredded pork with lime and garlic and some slaw to go on top, then chilled it all and stuck a note to the refrigerator door to tell Nancy it was in there.