Page 73 of His Forbidden Alliance

Then why bother quitting?

I was quitting before they forced me out. I may not even make it to the end of this assignment.

If that happened, it happened, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to stop until Ivanov was dead. If I had to fight every other agent in the bureau, I’d get him. Rafe and I would get him. And if he was right and Xavier was on my side, then I didn’t really have anything to worry about.

I arrived at the bar wearing jeans, a T-shirt, and a leather jacket—clothes I’d picked out from my gambling con man cover, the shortest-lived undercover identity I’ve ever had. Not that anyone but Rafe actually knew who I was, and I might take it back on when meeting his family. He sure as hell wasn’t going to introduce me as a federal agent.

I found a booth away from the few patrons who were there in the middle of the day. I ordered a beer and waited for Maria to arrive. She was frowning when she slid into the booth across from me. “How did you come up with this place?”

“Too lowbrow for you?” Maria liked nice things: tailored suits, champagne, the best wines, the nicest restaurants. She would never be caught dead in this place except to meet me or one of her other agents who depended on her. “Thank you. For meeting me here.”

She sniffed. “At least you have the decency to acknowledge how far out on a limb I’m going for you.”

“Yes, entering a dive bar. It’s about as low as you’ve sunk.” I grinned. “Let me buy you a drink.”

“So I can add drinking on the job to my list of sins.”

I rolled my eyes. “Loosen up.”

She bent down and reached under the table. “I think I’ve ruined one of my heels on their broken floor.” A few seconds later, she sat back up. “If I loosen up, who will have your back when headquarters comes down on this operation?”

“You will. A drink isn’t going to stop that.”

She took off her glasses and placed them in her designer bag. “Whiskey neat. Something as decent as you can get in here.”

“Oooh. Right to the hard stuff.”

“If I’m going to break the rules, I might as well make it good.”

“I knew I liked you.”

I came back with her drink. She took a sip and sighed, leaning back against the booth. “Go ahead. Tell me everything I’m going to hate.”

“We found the man Ivanov used to infiltrate the casino. Or one of them.”

“Do you think there’s more than one now?” Her tone was no longer mocking; she was serious now, like she always was when discussing a mission.

“I’m as certain as I can be that there’s someone else, or that someone else is about to be introduced.”

“So the man that you found⁠—”

“Dead. Found him at his home. He’d been there at least two days, based on the condition of the body. Multiple gunshot wounds. He had written ‘Iva’ in his blood beside him.”

She tapped her fingers on the table as she took all this in. “And you left him there?”

I nodded.

“I’ll make sure someone finds him if they haven’t already. And you’re assuming the letters stood for Ivanov and that that’s who had him killed?”

“Yes, and Rafe agrees.”

Her fingers stilled, and she held my gaze. “Tell me you didn’t take Rafe with you.”

“We’re in this together.”

“Jesus Christ, Zach, I’ve put up with a lot from you. I have let you bend the rules as far as they can go.”

“And now I’m breaking them.”