Read Mercy for Free Online

only obtained access because her bosses, men higher up who lacked her smarts, needed him for information and their usual tactics in lying, planting evidence and destroying lives had failed.
    Lucky for him he had stockpiled information that made him relevant to those men in suits at Langley. When he decided to bargain for his freedom he made sure the deal came at a cost to those who wanted to destroy him. It had to be that way because he had almost lost his fucking mind when he lost Becca, and someone had to pay for that.
    “Natalie.” He slid onto the stool next to hers while Wade took up his regular position behind the bar, only a few feet away.
    “I’ve asked you to call me Ms. Udall.”
    Jarrett nodded. “And I’ve declined.”
    She glanced at Wade then back to Jarrett. “I need to speak with you privately.”
    Wade cleaned a glass. “I think she’s talking about me.”
    This was nonnegotiable. Jarrett had learned about trust the hard way at Becca’s hands and before. Wade still enjoyed privileges few had. Their relationship transcended that of employer-employee.
    “Wade stays.” He always stayed, except for the plans Jarrett had for Becca upstairs. Plans he intended to implement within the next fifteen minutes.
    Natalie swirled the water in her glass, letting the ice cubes clink against the side. “This is business.”
    “Wade knows about your job and a whole host of items buried in folders in safes somewhere that you’d likely rather neither of us know. That was the deal I made with your bosses at the CIA. That’s always been the deal, and you know that.”
    Her gaze narrowed. “You continue to be confused about how our relationship works and your very limited role in any agency operation.”
    “Admittedly we have a communications issue.” Jarrett leaned his elbows against the intricately carved bar and stared at the perfect lines of bottles on the shelves behind. “For reasons that are not clear, you think you own me.”
    “I do.”
    “I assure you, you don’t.” He faced her then. “Why are you here?”
    “Spectrum.”
    That was the second time in an hour that particular topic came up. First Becca stumbled up to his door and now Natalie came poking around. “Not my favorite subject.”
    “We finally found something we agree on.”
    “And if what goes on behind Spectrum’s doors is such a big secret, why do you people keep talking about the place?” Jarrett never wanted to utter the word again.
    “As you point out, only very few people know the truth about Spectrum, and almost all of them who remain alive are in this room right now.”
    His thoughts bounced to the woman upstairs and how she seemed to bring nothing but disaster into his life. “Get to it.”
    “The business closed.”
    “I saw the fake bankruptcy filing for Spectrum in the paper. Almost looked like the company really existed.”
    “Several members of the team are dead, but I think you know that as well.” Natalie took the file from under her elbow and slid it across the top of the bar to him.
    He resisted the urge to grab it. It was unlikely she’d provide any real intel anyway. He’d been tagged as the enemy, someone they
had
to deal with thanks to their agreement. “I read the newspaper. Saw the obituaries, complete with made-up histories and families. Must be hard to dump carefully crafted identities after you spend so much time and money creating them.”
    “And do the real families ever know the truth?” Wade asked.
    Jarrett guessed, just as with him, there would be no one to tell when the end came. “Good question. Natalie, care to take that one or is the answer classified as well?”
    From the frozen features to the flat mouth, her look telegraphed her hatred. “I’m wondering if you, Jarrett, are the one pulling the strings, arranging for everyone who harmed you to disappear.”
    “Interesting theory.”
    “It’s as if you decided to eliminate Spectrum and everyone behind it.”
    There was a time he