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CHAPTER 14
“EXCUSE ME, MR. VINCENT, but Mr. Greer has asked for a moment of your time.”
John turned from his perusal of the poker game playing out in the billiards room the next afternoon. He hadn’t joined the game yet himself, mostly because he’d already caught two of the other players cheating. Not that he couldn’t cheat, or wasn’t better at it; he was simply watching how they cheated to give himself an edge when he did take a seat at the table.
“Of course.” He turned from the poker table and followed the house man through the room and out to the long hall that led from the recreational wing of the first floor toward Raymond Greer’s office in the far wing.
The cabin was huge. It was a monstrosity, just as ostentatious as Bailey had accused it of being.
“Here we go, sir,” the house man announced as they stopped at the door of the office. He gave a brief, firm knock.
“Enter,” Raymond called out, his voice muffled by the door.
The house man opened it with a flourish before nodding back to John.
Entering the room John was aware of the door closing behind him, but he was more aware of the two men watching him from across the room.
Raymond sat in a high-backed chair, close to a bank of windows that looked out on the snowcapped forest beyond them. Myron Falks sat in a matching chair to his side, which left the third chair to face the two men. A low marble-topped table sat in the center of the arrangement with a coffee tray service waiting in the center.
“Have a seat, John,” Raymond invited, his expression stern as he extended his hand to the empty chair.
“Thank you.” John arched his brow as he moved to the empty chair and took his seat.
The pair facing him were dressed in dark business suits. Jeans and a loose sweater weren’t exactly business attire, but neither did John feel in the least beneath two men outfitted for an office.
“You have a quite a background, Mr. Vincent,” Myron began with a dour expression.
John’s brows arched. “As do you, Mr. Falks. Or should I say, Mark Fulton?”
The alias wasn’t well known. It was a name that John Vincent shouldn’t know, unless he had gone beyond the normal channels to find the other man’s identity. Channels that only a CIA contact could have had. A contact that the most powerful in underground circles trusted.
Falk’s eyes dilated in surprise before he glanced quickly to Raymond Greer.
“Very impressive,” Raymond drawled, and John had to give him credit for his acting abilities. The fact that he was still alive and working for Warbucks attested to those skills.
John tilted his head and glanced back at Falks. “You’re not the only one who insists on knowing who he’s working with,” John informed him. “Only a stupid man doesn’t ensure his own survival.”
“And as we already know, you’re not a stupid man,” Falks stated coolly. “I have to admit, though, I didn’t expect that Bailey would have taken you that far into her confidence.”
“Bailey and I are more than lovers, Falks, we’re partners. Evidently you missed that part somewhere.”
Falks shrugged at that. “As I said, she surprised me. It’s a rare occurrence, and I’ll ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
“Myron has often wondered over the past years, when Bailey has covered up for various little gaffes Myron’s made, if she was sincere in protecting her friends or merely baiting them. She does have an odd sense of humor.”
“I haven’t heard her laughing about it,” John shot back with a sharp look toward Falks.
Falks’s brows lifted. “With Bailey, you can never be certain.” He waved John’s ire away. “She can be a bit of an enigma.”
“I have to agree with him, John,” Raymond inserted. “We’ve all had our doubts about Bailey at one time or another. And I must say, I myself was a bit surprised when she began a relationship with you. Bailey normally avoids the criminal element.”
“Bailey’s been up to her neck in the criminal element for years,” John said. “CIA agents don’t exactly socialize with the upper crust. Even agents with Bailey’s background.”
“He does have a point,” Falks drawled with a snicker. “We expected her back in the familiar embrace of family and friends within the first year. She stuck it out longer than I imagined she would.”
“I warned you that Bailey wasn’t easy to predict.” Raymond smirked back at Falks.
“So you did.” Falks smiled at the comment before turning to John. “I imagine you know why you’re here at this moment?”
