Page 63 of Wrecked With You

At the end of the day, for the purposes of this mission, it didn’t matter. There was no way he’d forgo entering that property to have a look around. He needed to know if the Dailey Meditation Foundation held any documentation about Clyde Morgan or The Serpent. The latter was dead, but details like The Serpent’s real name might lead back to Morgan.

The connection between Dailey and Morgan was the only solid lead he had, and he was determined to pursue it. This was more than just a mission, after all. It was his life. And he damn well wanted closure.

Worst case, Dailey knew nothing and was a pawn. Best case, Dailey knew everything and could draw him a map.

And if Dailey wouldn’t talk? Well, there was always Quincy. His unique skill set had been honed in British Intelligence. If Quincy couldn’t get answers, there were no answer to be had.

When they reached the SSA, they walked in on what seemed like a buzzing bee hive with significantly more noise and activity than was usual for the bullpen. At first, Tony thought there’d been a break in the case—but he dismissed that possibility. Someone would have texted him right away.

Perhaps something in one of the other operations?

He was about to signal Mario over when the crowd parted and he got a glimpse of Eliza standing next to Quincy with her left hand extended, a diamond ring sparkling so brightly that he could see its shine from halfway across the room, not to mention the glow of Eliza herself.

Beside him, Emma squealed, flashed him a huge smile that made his heart race, then ran forward to embrace her sister. “Oh my God, you got engaged last night and you didn’t call me?” She shot an annoyed look at Quince who held up his hands in a gesture of self-defense.

“It didn’t exactly go according to plan,” Quincy said.

“I was doing the laundry,” Eliza said, her voice sheepish. “I decided to wash his pants. I’ll never do that again without permission.”

“Oh my God,” Emma said, and Tony assumed she knew more about the state of Quince’s pants than Tony did. “You found the ring.”

“You knew?”

“He told me,” Emma said. “I asked when he was going to make an honest woman of you. I think there was a dinner involved.”

“We still did the dinner,” Eliza said, still beaming. She turned back to Quincy. “I’m so sorry I spoiled it.”

“Are you daft, love? You said yes, didn’t you?” Quincy was grinning so broadly that Tony was certain his facial muscles were going to ache tomorrow morning. But at the same time, Tony couldn’t deny that he’d be happy to feel that ache himself someday. It was a shocking revelation, but true. He’d never thought of marriage before. And he knew damn well that it wasn’t simply Quince and Eliza’s engagement that had it sneaking into his head now.

From across the crowd, Quince caught his eye. Then he winked and glanced toward Emma.

Tony shook his head as if exasperated, then rolled his eyes just for effect. But the truth was, he wasn’t exasperated at all. In fact, he was thinking about joy. About love.

Most of all, for the first time that he could remember, he was thinking about a future.

* * *

Quince and Liam entered first, breaching the first level and taking care of cutting the security feed. Tony and Emma scaled the building and entered from the third floor balcony. Denny was monitoring in the control van, with Mario and another agent that Tony hadn’t met—Trevor—assisting.

Two other Stark Security agents, Winston and Leah, weren’t on the operation at all. They’d been called out of town the day before with a hot lead on one of their active investigations.

“All clear in the living room.” Quince’s voice came clearly through Tony’s earpiece. “Moving to the kitchen.”

“Entry hall and master bedroom clear,” Liam said. “Moving down the hall.”

On the third floor, Emma was already inside as Tony waited on the balcony, checking the yard for any sign that they’d been detected. He saw nothing, and when he turned back, Emma signaled to him that the room was all clear, too.

He entered as she slowly opened the door to exit the bedroom. They didn’t expect to find anyone in the house. They’d used heat sensing technology to scan the place, and there’d been no signs of anybody on the premises. Still, procedure existed for a reason. Better to follow it than make a mistake.

As they moved through the house, both teams continued to check in. Below them, Quince and Liam did the same.

“First floor secure,” Quince stated. “Moving up to the second.”

“Finishing our reconnaissance now,” Emma said. “Only the office left to go.” She looked over her shoulder at Tony, who was still down the hall. He nodded for her to go ahead and enter the final room. She did, took a step in, and froze, her back going stiff.

“We have a DB,” she said. “Repeat, we have a DB.”

He hurried to her side, taking care to scan for any trouble on the way, and when he reached the office, he saw what she did. Harvey Dailey sitting behind his desk chair, a bullet to the brain.