tlruss

Tinsley

I fell back onto the bed. My heart pumping unsteadily in my chest. My eyes closed and my throat dry as a desert. Colin lay there beside me. His ragged breath filled the air along with mine. 

How many times had we made love and it wasn’t even close to dawn? It didn’t look like either of us would get any sleep tonight and that was fine with me. Tonight was all we had. 

By this time tomorrow, he would be in custody. Probably on a plane headed back to the States in handcuffs and hating me for my betrayal. The irony wasn’t lost on me. I had been the one to accuse him of having someone waiting to arrest me the moment we landed here and yet I was the one condemning him to prison. Unless the plan I talked about with Sapphire worked. Pain laced through my chest at the thought of either outcome. Because one way or another, after tomorrow I would never see him again.

“Hey, hey.” I turned at his voice. The brown of his eyes swam before me. I blinked a couple of times to right the image, but it was no use. I didn’t feel the tears until he lifted his finger and wiped them away. 

“What happened?” His arms slid down to pull me into his chest. I could hear his heart right under my ear. The steady sound calmed me. Whatever happened I needed to believe that he would be alright, but I knew that would only be true if he got away.

I had to make a choice. Either I was going to trust fate and take a chance or come clean and hope he understood. I knew he would never forgive me, but if I told him now instead of after the job he would stand a chance of getting away. 

I untangled myself from his body and swung my legs to the side of the bed. With my back to him, I took a deep breath. This was for the best. I stood and walked over to pick up his shirt and put it on before turning to face him.

He had sat up in bed, but other than that was in the same spot. His skin still glistened, the remaining sweat from our recent pleasure.

“I know I said we shouldn’t talk after the job, but I need to tell you something.” I rolled my bottom lip inward and pressed down. Nerves raked my train of thought. I didn’t know how I was going to get through this. 

“You don’t have to say anything.” He patted the space I just vacated.

“Yes, I do.” I wasn’t going to be able to say everything I needed while looking at him, but at the same time, he deserved the respect of my meeting his eyes when I shared how I planned to turn him over to the authorities.

“After everything that happened with my sister, I didn’t trust anyone.” I drummed my fingers on the desk behind me. “I felt so bad about letting my family down and I never really grieved Lucy. I was too busy being angry. I ran away and lived on the streets and in shelters for a year before I met Patty.”

“At first it was small things. Food to eat, some rich asshole’s wallet, jewelry we could pawn or sell on some corner.” I lifted my hands and crossed my arms in front of me. My fingernails scraped at each other. He still hadn’t moved.

“Eventually we caught the attention of this guy that ran a car ring. He took us in and taught us how to boost cars. From there it was a steady climb, or rather descent, into bigger crimes, riskier crimes, bigger paydays. All of it leading to the first time I went after Allenville.”

Memories seized my throat and I stopped. Colin moved for the first time since I got out of bed. He got up and walked to the small fridge and pulled out a bottle of water before handing it to me. He rubbed the upper slope of my arms as I drank the whole thing.

“You don’t have to tell me any of this.” He gave me a half smile. “I know who you are.”

“That’s the thing.” I ripped myself away from him. “You think you know, but you don’t. You believe what everyone believes. This elaborate story about what an amazing thief I am, but I’m not. I mean I am really good at what I do, but I’m not breaking the law. I am the law.” My chest rose and fell swiftly. This wasn’t exactly how I wanted to tell him, but I couldn’t get ahold of my emotions. I needed him to understand why I set him up. Maybe if he understood he could forgive me.

“Like I said, I know who you are.” He repeated slowly. His eyes locked with mine. The recognition gave me pause. “Lightning is a code name I’ve been building for over a year.” His voice changed. A British accent took the place of the low rasp I had come to know.

“What’s going on?” I took a step back.

He took his own deep breath and stalked over to his luggage. He pulled out a pair of boxers and put them on before reaching in and pulling out a sealed envelope. 

“I don’t have my normal credentials with me, but this is a letter from the Crown explaining everything should the need arrive,” he said. “The long and short of it is, love, is that I’m Interpol.”

I shook my head. He had to be lying. There was no way that he had been pretending this whole time. 

“I know about the agency. I know what you all believe that you are doing and I know the truth of what you are really doing.”

“What?” I held the front of his shirt in my hands. My heart moved faster than it had moments ago when I thought I was confessing my darkest secret. “What the hell are you talking about?”

He put the letter down and took a step toward me, but I backed up. “Tinsley, I’m still the same man.” He held his hand out to me. “I would never hurt you.” There was so much sincerity in his gaze. So much emotion. 

“You lied to me.”

He chuckled. “Newsflash, love, but you also lied to me. Or at least you thought you were lying to me.” He brought his hand back and crossed his arms. “Tell me, how far were you planning on going with this little plan? Did you set up the break-in at Allenville just to draw me out or did your superior come up with that? Our intel says you call him Ghost. Is that correct?” 

My eyes widened. Was everyone in on setting me up? Was this a test? A trap? Some agency bullshit that I knew nothing about?

“Relax, Tinsley.” He came over and put his hands back on my arms. 

“How can I relax?” I shook him off. “I have no idea what is going on here. All I know is that you lied to me either to arrest me or bring all of us down or maybe you work for the agency and you are just making up this Interpol crap. None of this makes any sense.”

“I don’t work for the agency, and if you sit down I will tell you my story.” He led me over to the bed and we both sat. I kept my arms crossed, unsure of what he might say.

“My father worked as an inspector when I was young. He had dreams of being security for the royal family, but never really pursued it. He was a great man, but not very confident. I watched him complain over and over as people less dedicated passed him up.” He reached for my hand and I thought about keeping my distance, but the way his brow scrunched together and the tight set of his lips told me this was painful for him. I relaxed some and let him take my hand. He brought it to his chest and held me there.

“When I was away at what you would call boarding school my mother sent word that he had been killed in the line of duty.” He swallowed hard. “I swore then and there that I would do what he didn’t. I would be the agent he had always wanted to be.” I ran my free hand through his hair.

“I finished at the top of my class. Went to a top university. Made all the right moves and moved up the ranks until I was an officer at Interpol. I thought it would be nothing to move from here to the royal guard, but it wasn’t as easy as I had built it up to be. Then the Jewel agency crossed our desk.” He looked over at me. “Actually, your picture crossed my desk.”

“Mine?”

“You had crossed the pond and removed some very sensitive information from a very secure bank. It was information certain people did not want made public. A fact that cost them dearly. After they didn’t receive the information back, but a demand for something else, they contacted us and that was how we found you.”

I closed my eyes. “So you did all this to arrest me?”

“No, we did all this in hopes of recruiting you.”

My eyes sprang open. “What?” I had heard this pitch before. That was how I got into the agency in the first place.

“The jewel agency isn’t part of any government office. Not for the U.S. or any other country,” Colin said.

“You’re lying.”

He shook his head. “No, I’m not. The agency was started by a greedy person who wanted to use you all to get ahead while keeping their hands clean. The work you have been doing, the jobs they have been telling you were for the greater good, were really to further line their pockets or take down the competition.”

“That’s not possible.” I stood and paced the small space around us. “I’ve seen the badges. When we log into the site it comes up with a government logo.”

“All very well placed.”

“Says you.” I shook my head again. “For all I know you are the liar here. You could be making this up to get out of being arrested.” I argued with him as if I hadn’t been trying to think of a way for him to escape for the last two days.

“No, I want you to turn me in.” That stopped me in my stride.

“You want me to hand you over to Ghost?” I didn’t see any point in hiding the name. He had already used it earlier.

“If our intel is correct he told you that I was going to be taken into custody when we come back to the hotel tomorrow, yes?” I nodded. “He is only partly telling the truth.”

“What do you mean?”

“He does plan on taking me into custody, but according to our sources he won’t be taking me to prison. We recieved wordd that the agency is building a male version of what you women do. I think I’m supposed to be the first recruit.”

“It that is true then I need that chance,” He said. “Right now the only evidence we have on the agency leads to you and four other women who, if I had to guess, believe the same as you do. We could have arrested you months ago, but we want the man or woman who started this. They are the mastermind. If we take all of you in then they will just start all over again.”

“You want Ghost?” I asked.

“No, we what his boss.” He took in a breath. “We want the one who calls himself Phantom.” I had never heard that name before. 

“Who is that?”

“We have an idea, but there is nothing that ties them to the agency. It’s why we need someone on the inside and it’s why Lightning was brought to life.”

“You think you can bring down the agency from the inside?”

“Yes, which is why I need your help.” He stepped closer to me. “I don’t know all the players, but you do. Together I think we can find this person and put an end to this.”

“And then what? I go to prison? All of us go to prison?” Once more the irony wasn’t lost on me. “You were just using me.” I felt dirty from the inside out. Here I was falling for this guy and he was just sleeping with me to get information.

“Not at all.” He took another step. “My job was to get close to you and befriend you. Earn your trust. I didn’t know the attraction I felt looking at your picture would be nothing compared to what I felt when you were standing before me. I didn’t know how much I would crave touching you or wanting to be beside you.” He lifted my chin so our eyes met. “I didn’t know that I would fall in love with you.” My breath held.

“I know all of this sounds like a line from some cheesy movie, but it’s nevertheless very true.” His hand slid around to cup the side of my face and his other arm went around my waist. “I love you, Tinsley. That was why I was coming to find you when you showed up. I had to tell you the truth before tomorrow. I didn’t care if it cost me my career or if you ran. I needed you to know how I feel.”

Once more his brown eyes swam in front of me. “I should run.” I told him. If everything he had said was true, then I needed to run. Not just from him, but from the agency also. 

“I should run.” I repeated. “But I can’t. Not when I love you too.”

His lips crashed into mine. His arms holding me tight to his chest. I threw my arms around him. My legs connected at the small of his back. He carried me over to the bed and we both tumbled back down. 

“We will figure this out together.” He raised just enough to speak. “But I’m not letting you go. I don’t care how pissed Rhys gets.”

“Rhys?”

“Crown.”

“He’s an agent too?” 

“He’s the one that is supposed to take you into custody tomorrow.” He flashed a lopsided grin.

“Funny, Ghost arrived today and he is the one that is supposed to take you into custody tomorrow.” I returned his smile.

“Then we have about three hours to come up with a way to keep you out of Rhys’s hands while putting me exactly where Ghost can get me.” 

I pulled his mouth back to mine. “Two and a half.” I kissed him.

“Maybe just two.” He rolled onto his back and I set up straddling him. “How many condoms do you have left?”

“Enough to get us through at least an hour and a half.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

“So we will split out time then.” I lifted the shirt from my body.

He sat up and wrapped his arms around me. “Or we can wait for the alarm to go off.” He kissed down my chest. “I mean do we really need more than thirty minutes to plan?”

“We could come up with something on the way.” I leaned my head back but he forced me to look down at him. 

“We will take down whoever is behind the agency and Allenville together.” There was certainty in his voice. “But make no mistake, I won’t lose you. Not because of your agency or mine.” He brought his forehead to mine. “Are we clear?”

I nodded. “We’re clear.”

“Good.” He rolled us over. “Then let’s plan in the morning. We have a box of condoms to get through.”