I realized my mistake the instant the name was out of my mouth, but by then it was too late. Jane’s gaze snapped to her bodyguard. “Victor?”
Oooh, if Victor’s look could have killed I’d have been a smoking pile of ash on the carpet. Jaw so tight I thought his teeth would break, he pulled his attention to his employer. “Yes, ma’am,” he said after only a small hesitation—no doubt while he was trying to decide if he could quickly wring my neck and then claim he had to do so because I was obviously stark raving insane and no, of course he didn’t eat brains because that was ludicrous, right?
At this rate I was going to get a gold medal at Fucking Up. “Sorry,” I mumbled to Victor.
Jane folded her hands into her lap and crossed her legs at her ankles, visibly donning her armor of Cultured Southern Woman. She had a spine of steel, this one.
“And the Sabers know about all of this,” she said slowly. “And they have Pietro. But,” her brow furrowed, “Brian was with them.”
“Brian managed to get to one of our other guys before Saberton did,” I explained. “He told me he was at the party trying to get info about Pietro. I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I’m pretty sure we can trust him.”
Her hands tightened in her lap. “I knew I had a good reason to hate Nicole Saber.”
“Yeah, well, she’s pretty cold-blooded,” I said.
“And of course you can’t go to the authorities, since there’s too much chance that the detail about, ah, human brains might come to light.” Her lips pursed as she put the pieces together.
I grimaced. “Pretty much.”
Jane lifted her chin. “I assume you’re in the city to find Pietro?” At my nod she continued, “How can I help?”
That took me aback. I hadn’t really thought past this point. “I don’t really know, though I’m sure you can.” Have a congresswoman on our team? It didn’t suck. “I should probably call Brian and let him know what the deal is.”
With her eyes still a tad glassy, she looked relieved to have a few more minutes to process all the weird shit I’d just dumped on her. As I moved over to the window, I gave Victor yet another apologetic look. His expression told me I probably wasn’t going to be on his Christmas list this year.
Brian answered on the first ring. “Archer.”
“Hey, it’s me. I just talked to Jane.”
“Angel.” He exhaled. “I’m sorry about being an ass on the phone earlier. It’s been, well . . . I’m just sorry.”
“Yeah, it’s cool,” I replied with a shrug.
“What happened with Jane?” he asked before I could feel too awkward.
“She’s on board,” I said. Crap. He might go right back to being mad at me after this.
“Okay, good,” he said, sounding relieved. “How did you leave it with her? She’s staying away from the Sabers, right?”
“Erm, no, I’m still with her, at her hotel,” I said. “And, she’s on board. Like, totally.” I fought to keep my shoulders down and totally unhunched.
Brian remained silent, and I had the weirdest sense that if he’d known my middle name he’d be using my full and proper legal name like a mama calling a misbehaving kid downstairs to face the music.
“It’s about damn time,” he finally said.
My knees actually wobbled briefly. “Oh, shit, really?” I plopped down into a nearby chair. “I thought you’d want to kill me.” Kind of like Victor probably wanted to do. Did Brian even know he was a zombie? Probably, I realized, since Pietro had arranged the security for Jane.
“She’s needed to know for a while now, in my opinion,” he said. “Mr. Ivanov made me swear I wouldn’t tell her.”
“Yeah, well, luckily I have no damn judgment,” I said. “Anyway, she wants to know how she can help.”
“Since she knows, she needs to cover her ass,” he replied. “I don’t know what the Sabers have planned, but anything she can do to create a political counteroffensive to Saberton’s interests would be called for. Something she can hold ready if needed.”
“Right. Hang on.” I covered the phone and repeated it to Jane. Her eyes went hard, and she nodded.
“I’ll take care of it,” she replied with an edge to her words that made me extremely glad she still liked me. Jaw set, she stood, moved to the office, then began making calls.
After that, Brian wanted to talk to Victor. I handed the phone over, and Victor moved far enough away that I couldn’t hear him. Judging by the dark looks he shot my way I had no doubt he was tattling about my accidental outing of him. Damn. That was a bad fuckup on my part, and it could’ve been really ugly. A few minutes later Victor returned and handed my phone back.
“He wants to talk to you again,” he said. I wasn’t sure, but I thought that maybe he wasn’t glaring quite as hard at me.
“Hey, Brian.” I grimaced. “I guess he told you about my latest fuckup?”
“Yes, he did,” Brian replied. “It’s serious, but I don’t need to tell you that. You’re a smart woman. He says you need training, and I told him you weren’t security or an operative. But here you are, in the thick of a huge crisis.”
I turned toward the window. “I’m trying my best,” I said, voice cracking.
“I know you are,” he said gently. “Shit happens sometimes to all of us. Say the wrong thing. Do the wrong thing. Make the wrong choice. All you can do is learn from it and move on.”
I fought back a sniffle, warmed. “Okay. Thanks.”
“Thank you, Angel, for what you’re doing. You didn’t have to put yourself out there like this.”
The warmth continued to spread like a tingly hug. “Yeah, I did.”
“Exactly,” he said, a smile in his voice. “That’s what makes you you. Once we get out of this shit, we’ll make sure you have the basics. More if you want it.”
A vision of my sensei’s pained face swam through my head. “Sure,” I said. “If you think you’re up for it.”
“Bring it on,” he said with a low snort.
“Thanks, Brian. I’m really glad you’re not a bad guy anymore.”
He laughed. “Me too.” And with that he hung up.
Feeling about a thousand times better about everything, I turned back to see Jane still on her phone in the office and Victor standing by the sofa, with arms folded over his chest, silently regarding me.
“I’m sorry I outed you,” I said, grimacing. “I swear I didn’t mean to.”
Some of the tension in his jaw eased, and he gave a slight nod. “Understood.”
Jane returned from the office, set her cell phone on the coffee table, then flopped onto the sofa with a sigh. I held back a grin. She’s a flopper too!
“There’s more to do, but the groundwork is laid,” she said. Barely a second later her phone buzzed on the coffee table. She sat up and glanced at it, then narrowed her eyes at the caller ID. “Damn it. It’s that horrible woman. At this hour.”
There was only one horrible woman she could mean. “Answer it,” I said quickly, before she could send it to voicemail.
Jane hesitated, then hit the answer button and lifted the phone to her ear. “Jane Pennington,” she said with total calm.
Silence for a second, then, “Jane! It’s Nicole Saber,” I heard clearly, and there was no mistaking the surprise in her voice. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t expect you to answer. The event ended a short while ago, and I thought I’d call and leave you a message. I was worried after you left so suddenly and wanted to wish you well. I do hope you’re feeling better?”