Page 98 of When He Plays

“The goal is to save Harper.” To stop another woman from dying. “She’s been taken, and we have to help her.”

“You know what the mission is,” Jezebel fired back. “You know the perp is the target. He has to be stopped.”

Yes, he did, but Harper⁠—

“Jamar says that Pierre is coming your way.” Quick words from Jezebel. “The guy just left the gym, and he’s heading toward the elevators. With this footage of Evelyn, Pierre is certainly not our lead suspect any longer, but I still don’t want that man hopping on a plane to Paris. He could have intel we could use against Ares. Do your job. Stop him.”

Logan had already spotted Pierre. She saw the way his head angled to the right. She noted the narrowing of Logan’s eyes and the hardening of his jaw. Logan pulled away from her. He began to stalk toward the other man.

“Finish watching that footage,” Charlotte whispered into her phone. “We need to see who takes Harper out. How she’s getting out. A woman doesn’t just vanish from a hotel room. There has to be more.”

She ended the call because Logan had just parked himself right in front of a slightly sweaty Pierre. Charlotte shoved her phone into her bag and rushed toward them.

“Logan?” Pierre blinked at him. Then he noticed her barreling toward him. A half-smile curved his lips. “Ah, and la belle femme! Glad to see that you’re up and about again. You certainly gave Logan quite a scare.” His eyebrows wiggled dramatically.

“I hear you’re leaving town,” Logan snapped. No charm. No grin in response to Pierre’s smile. Just hard fury.

Pierre’s smiled faded as he cocked his head. “How did you hear that?”

“A fucking little bird told me.” Logan’s hands were loose at his sides. “What’s the rush, Pierre? Why you flying back to Paris so soon? I thought you were staying in town longer this time.”

“You…seem to know a great deal about my plans. You also seem oddly angry.” Pierre shrugged. “Whatever. I’m leaving because I didn’t feel like this was quite the party place any longer. Not with you fighting Ares one night and then…” A flicker of his gaze toward Charlotte. “With other unfortunate situations occurring. Seemed like it would be best to remove myself from an unpleasant situation.”

“Oh, really?” Logan challenged. “That what you thought?”

But Pierre had just spied someone else. His head craned to the side as he locked his eyes on that individual. “Is that Sebastian? What are you both doing at my hotel? What’s happening?”

Charlotte looked back. Sure enough, Sebastian had just entered through the hotel’s double doors. No surprise, really. She’d known the marshal was tailing them. As directed by Logan, he’d hopped in a taxi pretty quickly.

With bulldog determination, Sebastian marched straight for their group. No subtle approach. Far too furious and intent. And, when he was still about five feet away⁠—

“Where is Harper, you bastard?” Sebastian blasted.

That loud question certainly attracted plenty of attention.

Sebastian didn’t know about Evelyn and the new suspicion on Ares. Hell, even Logan didn’t know much. Just what he’d picked up while Charlotte had been on the phone, and this hardly seemed the moment to reveal all to the men.

“That is no way to greet a person.” Pierre sniffed. He waved a hand in the air toward Sebastian’s furious visage. “Manners are gone in this town.”

“I’m a fucking US marshal,” Sebastian snarled as he closed in. “Answer my question, now. I’ve been watching you. I’ve been digging into your secrets. I’ve been⁠—”

Pierre turned and ran.

Only he didn’t get far.

Logan tackled him. The two men hit the marble floor of the lobby with bone-jarring force.

Charlotte gaped at them. She and Logan hadn’t gone into a detailed discussion of how they’d stop Pierre, but she hadn’t quite expected this. “Uh, Logan…”

Sebastian flew past her. He grabbed Logan. Hauled him off a twisting, heaving Pierre. But Pierre came up, swinging, hard. A left hook that caught Sebastian in the jaw, then a right to the cheek. Sebastian grunted at the impact of the blows and fell back.

That falling back just gave Logan a new opportunity. Logan drove his fist deep into Pierre’s gut. She saw all the color bleed from Pierre’s face at that powerful hit. Brutal. Hard.

“Stop!” Sebastian’s snarl.

Everyone in the lobby seemed to be watching. A crowd had formed around the brawling men. So much for a low-profile scenario. Clearly, Sebastian wasn’t used to the way that the CIA operated.

We don’t attract a crowd’s attention. We handle things covertly. Or, they tried to do that.