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“Keep me updated,” he ordered. “I want to know what’s going on immediately.
Raymond nodded before moving to the doors and opening them with a flourish. The arrogant persona was back the second he gripped the doorknobs. Nose high, his expression pinched and self-aware, he stared down his nose at John.
“It’s been a pleasure getting to know you, Mr. Vincent,” he expressed in stilted tones. “And it’s a pleasure to know our lovely Bailey will be so well taken care of.”
Several couples were milling in the hallway as they shook hands. John moved from the room to find his lover. At least two of the men standing in the hallway were on the unit’s suspect list: Stephen Menton-Squire and Samuel Waterstone. Both men had the connections, the background and the ability to acquire the weapons now coming up for auction.
He nodded to the couples as he moved past, aware that behind him guests were moving toward Raymond, greeting him in friendly tones.
Raymond had settled into this society nicely since the operation that had placed him in sight of Mary Altman six years before. The widow had been ripe for a love interest, but had made a point of steering clear of any man her brother set before her. She had expressed an interest in dangerous men. In men who walked a darker path than those she knew. Raymond had been placed in her path. They had married a year later.
Not that John didn’t see genuine affection between the couple. He did. And Raymond had a flair for business that had cemented Mary’s interest in him.
Raymond had been more than a CIA agent, even then. He had been
part of a very select group of covert Internal Affairs agents searching for a link between Warbucks and the CIA. Bailey had been under suspicion immediately. It was a suspicion that had been quickly terminated and later used to benefit the unit. Her refusal to pull back on Orion had worked perfectly. It had led to her disenchantment with the agency as well as the renewed inner-agency suspicion that she was indeed working for or with Warbucks.
She was their ace in the hole, but in ways, she would be to Warbucks as well. Because of her close association with all the men involved, as well as her contacts, it was hard for her to suspect anyone outside Ford Grace.
Moving to the opened doors of the ballroom, he caught sight of Bailey at the other end, engrossed in conversation with Kira and Ian Richards.
“Ah, Mr. Vincent. There you are. It seems you and Bailey brought a bit of excitement into our little group.”
If you call attempted murder excitement, John thought.
John turned to face Samuel Waterstone and Ronald Claymore. Claymore was watching Bailey broodingly. Turning back to John he glared at him in disapproval.
“How so, Mr. Waterstone?” he asked curiously.
Samuel winked back at him subtly. “Did you think you could sweep one of our heiresses off her feet without an investigation? A very thorough investigation, I might add. Then the attempt to kill her last week? Be careful son, we would not appreciate losing her.”
John arched his brow. “Neither would I.”
“He’s a smart boy,” Ronald commented with a hint of ire to the other man. “It’s not as though Bailey really gives a damn what we think, anyway.”
John’s brow arched in question. “Should she?”
“You’re a bit unsavory, Vincent,” Samuel stated. “Not exactly unacceptable, though you’ll need a bit of polishing if you know what I mean. We can’t allow one of our group to be caught up in anything illegal, you understand. Discretion is always the key word. And only then if you protect what you’re responsible for.”
“Discretion?” John asked. “You mean as discreet as you and good ol’ Stephen here were in that trade scandal last year?”
Ronald Claymore glowered, though Samuel Waterstone grinned in pride. “Well, a bit more discreet, but in all fairness we did skate by that one fairly well.”
The US government had nearly brought the two men to trial for their involvement in trading delicate national secrets with China. The charges had been dropped for lack of evidence, and the two men had retained their government contracts with their companies simply because they’d been too powerful to warrant pulling them. The pressure that had been brought to bear on several senators, as well as the president himself, had been extreme.
“I’ll be certain to be just as discreet,” John murmured. “Though I’m not certain how my business dealings could come under the same scrutiny.”
His cover had always remained cohesive: He was an international negotiator between American and foreign interests in various business dealings. The less savory side he was always careful to deny, even to those who knew the truth.
Samuel grinned at his response. “Sticking to your story, huh? My contacts say you’re a bit more extreme than you let on. That perhaps you negotiate more than international contracts. I could use a man like you. We should talk business sometime.”
“Really?” John murmured. “Business in what fashion?”
Samuel glanced around in concern.
“The kind of business that isn’t discussed in company,” Ronald grunted with a fierce frown. “Let’s say Samuel and I have a few business dealings that could require a bit of a rogue. The sort of rogue we understand you can be.”
John stared back at them as though assessing his chances of a true business deal. This weekend was designed for Warbucks to size up the buyers he was considering. John and Abbas were there, obviously the two major players in the running. He’d expected to be contacted, though he doubted these two men were going to hand over information on the CROSSFIRE contract.
