The Talented Mr. Rivers (10 page)

Hunter stayed quiet because he had to. Listening to Will, Hunter had to wonder what he'd do if he knew he was even now sleeping with one of the men determined to bring his family down.

“I won't lose.” Peter's gun disappeared again. He put it away and crossed his arms in front of him. “I have protected you for your entire life, in ways you don't even know. But you might want to remember what's most important to me.”

Will nodded. “Pentasus.”

“Exactly.”

Hunter had heard just about enough. He doubted Peter would spill more anyway. He might be reckless and running on emotion and fear, but he knew how to carry a secret and stick to the public persona, even if he did talk way too much in front of the guy who was supposed to be his brother's bodyguard.

The whole reason the Rivers family had gotten away with their side business for so long, hid their ownership of Pentasus as they roamed about polite society, was that they knew when and where they could talk and didn't test those boundaries. Their father had taught them many things, most of them horrifying, but he instilled that understanding pretty uniformly. Until Hunter had infiltrated Pentasus, no one even knew the Rivers family was really a criminal dynasty.

“What now?” Hunter asked, talking half to Peter and half to the men on the other side of the listening devices set up in the room.

“I wait.”

Will frowned. “For?”

“For Gatt to make his move. For you to make a decision.” Peter looked around the room one last time. Let his gaze skip from one abandoned piece of clothing to another before looking at Will again. “Pick wisely, little brother. I'd hate to be an only child.”

Before anyone could comment on that, Peter went to the door and walked out. The alarm blared behind him and Hunter rushed to the keypad to turn it off.

By the time he turned around fury raced through him. Peter thrived on drama, but there were only a few ways he could have known where to find Will. That led Hunter right to the memory of Seth's description of the meeting with Ed. Now Hunter had some idea what the two men had talked about.

Will took too many risks and it made Hunter want to rip the building apart with his bare hands. “I'd ask what the fuck that was about, but I think you already know.”

“I thought he might be paying a visit.”

“Ever think to fill me in?”

“Ed just told me. He works for Gatt. Clearly Gatt wants to take out Peter and use me to do it.” Will leaned against the back of the couch. “This is all about fucking Pentasus.”

“And?” That was a nice start but not nearly enough. Hunter was done waiting for the information to dribble out. He sucked at being patient and pulling the right strings anyway. Using his fists, threatening with a gun—those were the skills he'd honed over the years.

“Gatt wants to talk to me, too. Apparently I'm very popular all of a sudden.”

It sounded as if Will was going to deliver the intel one stark sentence at a time. The thought of that had Hunter's temper spewing. He could feel the heat rising inside of him.

He went to the window and looked out. Waited for Peter to storm out of the building's entrance or at least walk outside. The move also gave him a second to cool his anger, or at least attempt to. “You have two unstable but very lethal men who want your attention. Is there a reason you didn't share that information before now?”

“What are you doing? I thought the windows were off-limits.”

There was no reason to lie, so Hunter didn't bother. “Watching for your brother to leave the building.”

Will spun around and went to stand on the other side of the window from Hunter. “Want to tell me why?”

“Just curious.” More like worried. Forget the potential criminal charges waiting for him at home, and the very real possibility he could become unemployed at any minute, kicked out of the job he'd wanted for a lifetime. Hunter needed Peter handled before he took Will down with him.

After a short surprising beep, the apartment's front door opened again and Seth stood there. He didn't come in any further. Didn't even flinch when Hunter turned to shoot. Just held up his hand. “Don't.”

Will's mouth dropped open. “Who the hell are you?”

Seth shook his head and held a finger to his lips.

Panic screamed through Hunter. Seth could not be there
.
He would blow everything and Hunter wasn't ready for that. “What the fuck are you doing?”

Seth slammed the door shut behind him, locking all three of them inside. Instead of yelling, he whispered, “Saving you.”

Will watched a guy walk straight into the apartment. Someone he didn't know but Hunter clearly did. He didn't shoot or punch. No, Hunter let the other guy slip by him without a fight. The whole move, the whole morning, was surreal. Will felt as if he were watching life spin out in front of him rather than living it.

Who knew a night of great sex could turn so fast? Like everything else with Hunter, this part of the morning after wasn't going as expected. Instead of dealing with Hunter's foul mood or having him write it all off as another meaningless mistake, Will got company. Lots of company and all of it came with a sinister edge. He knew Peter did and would kill without asking questions. Will sensed this guy had the same bent.

Will didn't even know what to ask as he stood there, all but stuck to the floor, but he mentally searched for one anyway. “I don't…What's happening?”

The guy, Asian and tall, built like Hunter but slimmer through the chest, determined and no-nonsense, treated Will to a quick shake of his head. Then he held up a hand in front of Will's face. Didn't make a sound but moved fast enough to get from one side of the apartment to the other before Will could blink.

And the guy never stopped moving. His hands slid under the family room table and across the back of the couch. He stood in all the places Peter had stood. Touched all the same things. After a few seconds, this guy picked up something, not larger than a black circle the size of a jacket button, and closed it in his fist. Then came another one from the small slip of space tucked between the cushion and the back of the couch.

So much action in so little time, and all done in chilling quiet. The silence nearly crushed Will. He glanced at Hunter, who watched the guy just as intently. Neither of them rushed him. Will instinctively knew not to. It was as if an invisible rope held him back. It was tied around his chest and kept tightening with a crushing blow. But at least he wasn't alone.

The look of recognition between the man searching the apartment and Hunter had been unmistakable, instant. On Hunter's part, furious. Even now he scowled as he held a knife in one hand and a gun in the other and didn't use either.

After a few more minutes ticked by, Will was about to start pummeling the guy with questions when he darted into the kitchen. Filled a glass with water and dropped the two black dots he'd recovered into it.

Having lived with his family's subterfuge and endless backstabbing, Will slowly made sense of it all. Listening devices. Had to be. He couldn't come up with any other explanation. Not that the realization answered any of the thousand questions bouncing around in his brain, including the one where he wondered what Peter had hoped to hear.

“Now we can talk.” The guy walked back into the main living area and held out his hand as if any minute since he'd raced into the room had been even remotely normal. “I thought it was time we were introduced.”

This guy had to be fucking kidding. Will could barely move, let alone engage in mindless introductions. “What was that about?”

“A gift from Peter.” The guy's gaze moved from Will to Hunter. “Apparently he wanted to hear more pillow talk between the two of you. The guy has serious trust issues.”

Hunter scoffed. “Runs in the family.”

“I wonder why.”

Hunter started to interrupt and say something but Will stopped him with the same hand gesture this guy had used. “No, hold on. No one talks until I understand what the hell is going on.”

The new guy nodded. “Okay.”

“This is supposed to be a secret location, right?”

The guy winced. “In theory.”

Something broke through: the sarcasm, the lack of information, the insanity of waking up to a parade of people just stopping by. Put it all together and Will's patience expired. He almost lunged for Hunter's gun but the way the day had been going he knew he'd end up on the wrong end of a bullet.

So, answers. That was the next step. That, and then moving up the timetable on his plan to retire the name Will Rivers forever and never step foot in France or England or anywhere close again.

“Who are you?” As he talked, Will backed away from this new stranger and from the stranger he'd been having sex with. A fresh surge of anger had him staring at Hunter. “And the question applies to both of you because you're clearly not just a bodyguard.”

“He's got you there.” The newcomer smiled at Hunter before dropping his arm and turning back to Will. “I'm Seth Lang. I work with Hunter.”

That answered almost nothing in Will's mind. He tried to place the face and couldn't. True, he hadn't been back in the family home for a few months, and even that was mostly the one in London, before the country house blew up, but he had no memory of this guy. Couldn't recall seeing him go into private meetings with either sibling or work guard duty.

Will's trust level, which had already been shaky, vanished completely. For the first time in his life he felt safer with Peter than anyone else in the room. That had him trying to remember where he'd put his gun, just in case. He flashed to his hurried packing while Hunter had been out, and then to getting naked, which meant…in his duffel bag. Right by the door, where it would help him the least right now.

While his mind raced through options and ways to get to the duffel or grab one of Hunter's weapons, Will decided to try gathering the most basic information, and that meant looking to this Seth guy. “Did you work for Stacia or my father?”

“Hardly.” Hunter answered for him as he eased out of battle position and folded his curved knife before hiding it away again. His gaze never left Seth. “Why are you here instead of—”

“Following Peter?” Seth shrugged. “The mission parameters changed. We want Peter and Gatt. We need them together to make that happen, preferably before either can tunnel underground and hide again.”

The language. The tone. Will's mind zipped to Zach, the guy Stacia had initially trusted before insisting he was a mole. Then he thought about Hunter and how he liked to deliver orders and didn't care about risking his employment or following the lead of the other guards. How he had a supposedly secret location ready for them to go to. The accents. The different languages. The fighting skills.

The answer suddenly seemed so obvious but that didn't make it any easier to utter the words as he faced Hunter. “You're CIA.”

Hunter's face fell. All of the emotion ran right out of it. “Fuck no.”

“Actually, kind of.” Seth looked up at the ceiling as if he was thinking about the question. “Well, temporarily.” Seth shrugged as he looked at Will. “I admit it's confusing.”

“Shut up.” Hunter pushed Seth to the side and stepped closer to Will.

No fucking way
. This was not a time to placate. Will backed up, not wanting either one of these men near him. “I knew it.”

“Really? That's disappointing,” Seth said. “Good undercover skills there, Hunter.”

“I should have seen it.” Will talked right over Seth. As the words spun out in his brain he said them, working out every thought out loud. “You showed up out of nowhere. The comments you made. The interest in me…”

“Hey.” Hunter was right in Will's face now. “The fucking was real and you know it.”

“Okay, that's enough sex talk.” Seth clapped his hands, bringing the attention to himself again. “Can we get back to the problem of Peter and Gatt and the bloodbath that's ahead of us?”

Hunter shook his head. “Not now.”

“Excuse me?” Seth's deadly soft voice still managed to ring out in the room.

But Hunter didn't back down. “You got the bugs, now leave.”

“It doesn't work that way. You don't get alone time in the middle of a mission so that you can work out your relationship problems.” Seth pointed to the ceiling. “We're always watching and listening, and your chance to soften the blow is gone. We're doing this my way.”

Hunter let out a loud exhale. “Damn it, Seth.”

It was too late. Will had heard and was already trying to work out the words. Hunter's reaction more than what Seth said tipped Zach off.
Always watching…
“Wait. What do you mean?”

“Exactly what you think,” Seth said. “The whole place is wired. I can see and hear everything.”

Their entire time in the apartment replayed in Will's head. He wasn't exactly shy but he wasn't interested in being an exhibitionist either. Some things were fucking private.

That fast the confusion building inside Will turned to rage. It swept through him until it felt as if his veins were on fire. “What the hell, Hunter?”

“Another good question,” Seth mumbled.

“You let him tape us?” At that point Will didn't think he needed a weapon. He could probably choke the life out of Hunter with his bare hands.

“I didn't…” Hunter made a face, an unreadable expression as he took a step back. “It's not…” He shook his head. “Damn it, no. He turned the video off when we were…Seth, this is your fault.”

Seth let out another exhale. “What Hunter is trying to say in his own eloquent way is he had no choice.”

Not good enough. Not even close. “But he knew and didn't warn me. He let it happen.”

“Nothing could have stopped us and you know it,” Hunter shot back.

“Well, yes, on the ‘he knew' thing.” Seth looked at Hunter. “Sorry, I can't fix that part for you.”

Fix? There was nothing to fix. He'd been used and set up as a way of getting close to the family. One more body run over in this endgame. The looks, the attraction, the sex…all of it had been a way for Hunter to collect information.

Something inside Will broke. He wanted to lash out and punch. The mix of disappointment and disgust hit him with punishing blows. All that fury had to go somewhere, and he had the perfect target.

Will closed in on Hunter. Put both hands on his shoulders and shoved. “I wake up to find my brother at the end of the bed. This guy and who knows who else have been watching us have sex. God damn you.” When the pushing didn't ease the fury ticking in his brain, Will tried it again. Put all of his weight behind it and slammed his fists into Hunter's chest. “What the fuck is wrong with you people?”

With each hit, Hunter grunted, but he took it. He didn't fight back or defend against the blows.

Seth finally stopped it by stepping between them. “I can't speak for your brother, though he did watch you for a weirdly long period of time before waking you up, but—”

Hunter moved then. He grabbed Seth's arm. “Jesus, don't help.”

“Since we're talking about Peter…” There was no amusement left in Seth's voice as it trailed off.

Not that Will needed another clue. He'd seen Seth come in, all business, and take care of the listening devices. Watched him handle Hunter's simmering frustration. This guy was in charge and deadly serious, which meant even now he was probably assessing Will's ongoing value.

He understood that kind of cost/benefit analysis. His family had been conducting the is-it-time-for-this-employee-to-move-on discussions in front of him for so long that Will barely noticed. Or he didn't until he'd gotten older and realized that “moving on” was a nice way of saying it was time to eliminate a risk forever.

Standing there, Will wondered if that's what he'd become in Seth eyes—a risk to be eliminated and disposed of. The only other option was to put him in the same category as his family, as a source of evil that needed to be put down. Will didn't like that any better.

But he knew the truth. Seth had to make a decision, and his answer depended on what he thought Will was going to do. “You're afraid I'll run and tell Peter who you all really are, even though I'm still not totally sure. That I'll break Hunter's cover.”

Seth's expression didn't change. “Will you?”

The cold indifference hit Will full force. They both had weapons. Hunter might have a use for him, but Seth clearly didn't. Maybe if Seth knew how done Will was with all of this it might matter, but he wasn't willing to take a chance.

Still reeling and feeling half sick about everything with Hunter being a lie, he almost dropped to his knees. Not knowing what to do about the disappointment rolling through him about Hunter, about having his worst suspicions confirmed, Will fell back on the safe answer. It might even be the real answer. He wasn't sure and would figure that out later. “Right now I want to kill Hunter, but that's my right. Not Peter's.”

After a second of tense silence Seth nodded. “Totally understandable reaction.”

“Are you ever going to shut up?” But the sharp anger had left Hunter's voice. It sounded raw and low, like he'd come to the end of a long journey.

“In a second,” Seth said. “We have to talk through a plan that gets us both Gatt and Peter. The targets here have changed.”

Targets.
That's what he was. What Peter was. This wasn't about getting to know Hunter or spending time with him. Or even sharing a bit of his life. Forget the sex. Will now knew he was nothing more than a job to Hunter.

A numbness crept over Will. He stood there, unsure how his legs even held him.

“Fine, but we need a minute first.” Hunter nodded in Will's direction as he spoke. He didn't plead. His voice stayed low but firm.

After a quick glance in Will's general direction, Seth looked at Hunter again. “You can't fix this right now.”

There was that word again. Will wasn't sure when he'd become this broken thing other people talked about putting back together. He'd survived a lifetime of death and threats without becoming a victim. He had no plans to change that now.

He turned to Seth. “What do you want to do?”

“No.” Hunter talked right over him as he stared at Seth. His voice became tight as his jaw clenched. “Get. The fuck. Out.”