“What was the plan?” Carter holstered his weapon, but Gray and Jesse kept hold of their rifles at the ready.
“They said I had to come up with a believable way to get you to Paris the first week of the new year,” he revealed. “The wedding was a surprise.” He cleared his throat again. “For the American too, from the way he reacted when I told him.”
“The American?” Jesse lowered his hand from Ella and took a step forward, slowly leaving her side. The rational part of her brain said it was okay, but her heart . . . it squeezed a bit as he did so. “The guy happen to resemble Harrison Ford?”
Wait, what?
“Yes, I suppose you could say that,” Henry answered. “He didn’t share his name, but he was accompanied by French Intelligence in our first meeting, and then he spoke to me on the phone a few times after that.”
The way Carter looked over at Jesse had Ella’s stomach knotting for the hundredth time that day. Impending doom? Apocalyptic-kind?
“Your MI6 friend left out that detail,” Gray said. “She didn’t tell us they’re why we’re in Paris to begin with.”
Carter looked away from Gray as if he wasn’t ready to address that problem. “When did they tell you the second part of their plan?”
“At what point did they let you know Ella would be coming to your house as bait?” Jesse asked this time, and she saw the transformation happen, even with his profile to her. The man who’d comforted her moments ago was prepared to kill Henry right now.
And based on the slope of Henry’s shoulders, he realized Jesse was now the major threat in the room. She was Jesse’s “wife,” after all.
“Late this—this morning, I swear. I had no clue about this when I went to Alabama,” Henry answered in a breathy voice. “Officers showed up at my estate and told me they’d be calling me later in the day to pick up Ella and two others. Then they sent my security team home for the day.”
“The guards that were here before the property was breached, were they actually French operatives?” Gray asked.
Henry nodded. “They said if their plan worked, then armed men would show up at some point after Ella was at my home. And they’d stick to the woods out back and keep an eye on the property in case you all needed an assist once you showed up.”
“So, they waited for your home to be breached before releasing us,” Gray summarized the situation. “That’s why we were being held so close to your property. How fucking kind of them to make such arrangements.”
“I’m assuming they didn’t tell you their actual plan?” Carter probed a moment later.
“No, they only told me they were after someone dangerous, and well, they didn’t think he would personally come tonight, but they’re hoping to somehow catch him. I, um, don’t know. They were vague.”
“Of course they were,” Gray said under his breath, and his attention moved toward Sydney, who’d reentered the study from the safe room.
“The DGSE will follow us when we leave here, then.” Carter turned toward Gray. “They’ll keep tracking us in hopes The Chechen will come after us himself now that he knows we’re really in Paris.”
“What does he want with us? This, um, Chechen?” Ella softly asked, still trying to wrap her head around the fact one of her fashion idols had used her like bait to save his own ass.
Carter looked at Ella with regret. “It’s me he wants.”
Ella set the heel of her hand to her forehead and massaged, her head hurting from trying to understand it all. “Let me get this straight. Henry helped get me here, and the agencies only wanted me here because then Jesse would come. And if Jesse came, then Carter would too. And if Carter’s here, then this Chechen will eventually come because he wants Carter?” What-the-what?
The fact Carter nodded meant he’d followed her rambling, and it was on point.
“We really need to go,” Gray insisted, tipping his head toward the door.
“I just need a minute alone with him first before we do.” Jesse let the sling catch his rifle, then bent over Henry, fisted the lapels of his suit jacket, and jerked the man to his feet.
She knew Jesse’s “reined-in control” was too good to be true. Henry had used Ella, placed her in danger, and that was something a man like Jesse wouldn’t be able to forgive and forget.
“He’s not worth it.” But the question was, could she calm Jesse down? Would he listen to her?
“Just one minute,” Carter surprised her by saying while twirling his finger like a helo blade to signal to the guys to head out.
“Take her out of the room,” Jesse said without looking back at Ella. “Griffin, please,” he urged, never losing his focus from his target. From the man he was about to destroy. Or . . . kill?
At the feel of Griffin’s hand on her arm, Ella yanked herself free of his touch. “No,” she rejected, the stubborn fight in her replacing her fear.
Jesse kept his grip on Henry, who seemed smart enough to realize he shouldn’t resist or try to fight back at the moment. His blue eyes caught Ella’s, and he tipped his head, his mouth drawing into a hard, firm line.
Ella drew her hands to her hips and did her best to stand her ground. “If you want that minute with him,” she began, “then you’re going to have to take it while I watch you.”
Chapter Nineteen
Outskirts of Versailles, France
“How’d Carter pull this off?” Ella asked as she peered at what looked like a small castle from the window of the SUV the team had acquired about two hours ago, shortly after leaving Henry’s estate. They’d abandoned the three Suburbans “gifted” to them by French Intelligence in exchange for two vehicles, minus tracking devices this time. Another “how’d Carter manage to do that?” added to the growing list of questions in her head.
“It’s a bed-and-breakfast and closed for the season,” Griffin answered, which wasn’t quite what she’d asked, but maybe Griffin didn’t know how Carter had arranged for their temporary quarters.
“Hmm.” Ella turned her attention to Jesse sitting next to her in the back seat, his gaze laser-focused out the window. There’d been no time for him to change, and with his hand resting atop the rifle on his lap, he appeared to be expecting another ambush.
They were parked in front of the bed-and-breakfast, waiting for the rest of the Falcon team to give them the “all clear” that it was safe to go inside.
Jesse had barely spoken a word since they’d driven away from Rochella’s estate, which was now in need of extensive repairs, and probably a crime-scene cleaning crew as well. But they’d left without a drop of Henry’s blood on Jesse’s hands, and for that, she was grateful.
There had been a few harrowing seconds during her and Jesse’s showdown in that study when she wasn’t sure what he’d do though. She’d resisted the urge to visibly sigh with relief when he’d finally grunted and shoved Henry into his chair unharmed.
“You owe her a thank-you and an apology,” Jesse had grumbled before striding Ella’s way. He’d reached for her hand and guided her from the study before Henry had a chance to speak.