Page 49 of Dark Lover

“I know you’re sorry. I’m sorry, too. So what? Should we hold hands and cry while he laughs at us and sells it to Hemmer, or worse?” Before she could speak, he said, “Your judgment went out the window the night of Becca’s birthday party. I thought I could count on you to take Maclean on, take him down. But I can’t. Your wits are addled. What are you, sweet sixteen? You’re acting like a virgin around him.”

“Not fair,” Sam bristled, standing. “And not true. You must be referring to the surveillance tape from his house. Well, he’s an ass. Most women would have caved but I’m not putting out, Nick.”

Nick snorted. “You sleep with the objective and you’re out.”

Sam inhaled. “I screwed up. He’s sharp and he’s crazy. He doesn’t care if he dies. Otherwise I would have had him yesterday. But I will get that page for us. I need some time.”

“He’s playing you left and right and I don’t like my kids played.” Nick’s blue gaze was hard. “I don’t like my kids hurt. I don’t like them dead.”

“He’s not evil. He won’t go that far. If I die, it will be incidental.”

“He frigging went berserk with the demon. He snapped.”

Sam was grim. Nick was right on that point, anyway. “Nick, it was personal. It was a bait and trap.” She told him about what she’d found from his e-mail. “What do you know about his captivity?”

“There aren’t any details in his file, but I can guess. We know that Moray terrorized Scotland for almost a thousand years. He was so powerful that he consorted with kings, queens, generals and popes. Want to know why?” When Sam waited, he continued. “His pact was made directly with Satan. He admitted it to one of our agents in the sixth century. He’d been a Master long ago, one of the first. And his power—the ten centuries of murder and mayhem—was what he got in return for his allegiance with evil.”

“Wow,” Sam said. “Good thing he’s dead and buried.”

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the course of my work here at HCU, it’s that the most dangerous demons have sold their souls directly to Satan. That’s when evil has no bounds.

“Moray was using Ian to control his father, Aidan of Awe. As long as he kept the kid alive, he wouldn’t care what he put him through. I imagine it was a living hell.” Nick’s gaze sharpened. “I’m getting a feeling I don’t like. You can’t possibly feel sorry for him. You never feel sorry for anyone.”

“Of course not,” Sam said as sharply. “What do I look like, a Red Cross worker? Oprah? Nick, he knows we have a file on him. He wants it. He wants to meet with you. It seems he cannot bear the idea that anyone might know about his past. We have leverage.”

“There is no we.”

Sam started. “What?”

“You’re off this case.”

Anger flared. “Are you kidding?”

“Do I look like the office clown? You heard. He’s working you to his advantage, and I’ve seen no sign that you can work him back.” Nick turned his back on her, walking to his desk and hitting the intercom.

In disbelief, she followed. “No one at HCU—no one at CDA—could have stopped him from getting away with the page yesterday.”

“Probably not. But you could have died in that car chase. You’re lucky you didn’t kill anyone. Your judgment sucked. It sucked when you put him in handcuffs. It sucks now. I’m pulling you off Maclean before something really bad happens—to you or a civvie.”

She fought her temper and her intense dismay. “I can help you make a deal, Nick, the file for the page. I know him now better than anyone. You need me.”

Nick didn’t respond.

“So who will you put on him? MacGregor? They’ll get along just great! You need a woman agent on him, Nick. Kit? She’d be out of her league. At least I can play him while he plays me. At least I have something he wants.”

“I’m putting Jan on him,” Nick said calmly. “You’re right—a female agent makes it less adversarial. I’m sure she can play him as well as any woman can—if not better.”

She went still. “Like hell.”

“I beg your pardon?”

Sam breathed. She could barely think straight or see clearly. She only knew she didn’t want Maclean within a mile of Jan. The idea made her furious. She knew him better than anyone!

“Are you becoming attached to the perp, Sam?” Nick asked softly.

“He’s mine. He’s my mission, my target, mine. And you know I can’t stand her,” Sam said tersely, refusing to consider why she was so angry now. “You know I do not quit. I always win! I will admit he’s a bit of a challenge. I’ll even admit I am fighting the temptation not to feel sorry for him! So what? It makes winning more of a challenge, that’s all. And I will win. But I will not stand idly by and have her wiggle her ass around him, and feel sorry for him, and try to comfort him! I mean it. Do this and I quit.”

“Then I guess you’ll have to quit. Because Jan is going to tail him now and you’re reassigned as we speak.” He picked up a folder and handed it to her. “You called 911 yesterday at 2:03 p.m. That’s when Maclean walked into the adjacent building, right?”