The Darkest Corner (Gravediggers #1)(97)

"First of all, she's not the most beautiful woman. She's got a heart of ice, and the soul she once had has long since been bargained for in her line of work. I picked you because you're everything I see that's beautiful in this world. I'd stopped seeing those things before I met you. You're the kindest, most sincere person I know. You give selflessly and you know how to love, even when you've told yourself it's not worth it. You never give up."

Her tears had started to fall again and she swiped at her eyes.

"If you saw yourself as I see you, you'd know Eve Winter can't hold a candle to your beauty. You light up the room." His hand touched the ends of her hair. "The soft warmth of fire in your hair and your sorceress eyes. Your beauty bewitches me. It's you who makes my head turn and you who captivates me. Only you."

She nodded because she couldn't find the words to say anything. How could she even come close to saying the right thing after such beautiful words?

"And second of all," he continued. "Eve and I have never been lovers. I'm not and have never been a monk. I've had lovers in the past, and there have been missions where I've done what I needed to do to get the job done."

"You don't have to explain," she said.

"I don't ever want you to have doubt or feel that jealousy. She's not worth the emotions it drains from you. The only reason Eve knows what kind of lover I am is because on one of those missions where I did what I had to do, she was watching through the surveillance we'd set up. That's her only basis for what she told you."

Tess was surprised at the relief she felt. She'd known Deacon had had lovers in the past, just as she had. His past was his past. But there'd been something that hadn't settled well at the thought that he'd chosen Eve as a lover. She couldn't have blamed him, because Eve was gorgeous. But she'd hoped his taste had been more discerning. It pleased her immensely that it had been.

"I need a shower," he said, standing to his feet with her still in his arms.

"I was just thinking that," she said. "We do really good work in the shower."





CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE




Twelve hours later the team was in Philadelphia and they'd set up a mobile headquarters in connecting suites at the Ritz-Carlton. Tess had been through the emotional ringer the last twenty-four hours, and it had shown in the drawn expression on her face and the shadows under her eyes. But when she'd looked at Deacon that morning, they shone bright with the love she had for him.

It had already been decided that Tess would stay at HQ and watch events unfold on the monitors. Much like the rest of the world. She wasn't happy about staying behind, but Deacon wasn't willing to risk her if something went wrong and they failed to stop the attack. If they hadn't found the trucks ready to depart at the warehouse, they never would've been able to save everyone.

By early Sunday morning before they left, Eve had called. It had taken her longer than the twelve hours she'd promised them the night before. But none of them mentioned that to her. The good news was she had the information. And just in time too, because kickoff was only hours away.



       
         
       
        

"I told you Levkin was the weak link," she said coldly, though Deacon could see the frustration in her eyes. Levkin must've been a harder nut to crack than she'd estimated. "I have full confidence the information he gave me is the truth. It took longer because he was resistant to the truth serum." She looked at Levi as she said it, as if it were somehow his fault since the serum had been created by the Mossad.

"The Russians have been torturing their own soldiers for years to prepare them to withstand serums such as that," Levi said. "Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Their methods aren't as effective as my own country's."

"I'd say ineffective," she said.

Deacon had never seen Eve question a suspect, but he'd never seen her not get the answers she was looking for.

"Give us the play-by-play," Deacon said. "We're running out of time."

"Kickoff is at noon," she said. "At eleven-thirty, Lieutenant Joshua Sykes, with the 101st Airborne, should be landing on the field. The only problem is we can't find Lieutenant Sykes."

"How long has he been missing?" Elias asked.

"The last time he was seen was at dinner last night with a few friends," she answered. "They said he left early to go back to the hotel and get a good night's sleep before he had to parachute onto the field today. He went toward South Street and disappeared. We're keeping this quiet for now. His friends think he got up early and is preparing for the jump."