Page 36 of The Ghost

“I’ll be fine,” she insisted.

“What about you?” I asked Lukas, knowing that he had a similar surgery to undergo. Why was he putting it off? Why weren’t all of us going down to the clinic to have both keys removed?

“I’ll go as soon as Clark is done,” Lukas said. “Come on. It’ll just take a minute.”

I let her go, watching her get in the elevator and ride it down. I tried to convince myself that it was a minor surgery and that everything would be fine. The problem was that I didn’t trust anyone except Clark. I hoped there would be only local anesthetic involved, and they wouldn’t want to put her under.

Lukas put in a call to the leaders of MI6 and the CIA. Wherever they were in the base, they weren’t hovering around the command center like Lukas did. I waited impatiently until they joined us and then gave them the bare bones of my interaction with Regg.

“Your instructions were to bring him here alive,” George said.

“Unforeseen circumstances,” I lied.

“And what were those circumstances?” the British leader wanted to know.

“I found him in the middle of a basement fight. Things got out of hand.” I gave them just enough of the truth to keep them satisfied but not enough to incriminate myself.

“So explain about these keys,” George demanded, folding his hands over his midsection.

“I would really rather be at the medical center.” I cut him off. There was only so much handholding I was willing to do. I appreciated the firepower they brought to bear, and the fact that there were protocols to follow, but I was tired of jumping through hoops.

“You have the coordinates,” I said, standing up. “Now plan the attack.”

I left them seething, letting Lukas deal with the fallout. Hurrying down to Med Lab, I found Clark on the table. She was awake, thank goodness. The surgeon was just about to go in, having scrubbed up and donned latex gloves.

“Please, wait outside,” she instructed.

“What did the scans show?” I asked, ignoring the doctor’s instructions.

“It’s in there,” Clark confirmed. “Now get out.”

The doctor smiled unexpectedly. I liked the strength in my lover’s voice, so I moved away, trusting that she was in good hands. If they had the device on a scan, that meant they could get it out. And as long as Clark was awake for the procedure, I didn’t have to worry about anyone taking advantage of her.

I walked back out to the lobby of the medical clinic and found two Dark Sparrow soldiers who had clearly been in a fight. One man was nursing a broken arm, and one guy had a shiner. There were two other young men with them, making sure they stayed on opposite sides of the room.

It didn’t look like a stable place to wait, since I had been known to get involved in random bar brawls. So I left the clinic altogether and wandered back to the cafeteria. Thinking I could grab a cup of coffee, or maybe two, and return by the time Clark was finished, I wasn’t paying attention to other people in the hallway.

I nearly bumped into Ryan, cursing myself for being distracted. That was the worst sin a spy could commit, and one that habitually got people killed. You were supposed to be alert at all times, even in familiar surroundings. Especially in familiar surroundings.

“Theo,” Ryan mugged, putting a hand on my shoulder as if we were old friends.

“When did you get back?” I asked, not quite pulling it off.

He knew he had taken me by surprise, and he was gloating about it. I was positive that behind his annoying smile there was a smug assertion that he was the better agent. I shook it off, determined not to start the conversation two paces behind.

“Never left,” Ryan admitted. “Listen, no hard feelings.”

“About what?” I asked, my mouth suddenly dry.

Half of the reason I left Clark alone was because I’d thought Ryan was safely engaged elsewhere. I didn’t want to think about what he had done while I was in Norway. Had he approached Clark? Had they talked? Or was there another shoe about to drop?

“Clark and I made up,” Ryan informed me with a shrug. “You had to know it was coming. We were engaged.”

A fire was lit in my furnace, blowing smoke up my spine and out through my ears. I barely heard what he said afterward; I was so enraged I couldn’t see straight. It didn’t occur to me that Clark never would have fallen for his lies. When I left her, we had just made love, and she’d professed her feelings toward me and only me.

But none of that infiltrated the mushroom cloud of rage that consumed my mind. All I could see was Clark in the arms of another man, this man. Of all the slimy, low-down critters in the world, Ryan was the worst. My fingers itched to throttle him, but for a critical moment, I was frozen to the spot.

Chapter 17