Mark Vincent has risen from senior special agent to Director of Interior Affairs in the WBIS. Lately, life has been sweet for him -- in addition to his promotion, he's found a partner in Quinton Mann, who can almost match his ability in the intelligence field, in spite of the fact Quinn's CIA. Mark has also found a condo in Alexandria with the help of Portia Mann, Quinn's mother, and it's closer to Quinn's town house than Mark's present apartment. Sweetest of all, Mark plans to take Quinn to his island in the Caribbean for the holidays.<br><br>Quinn's glad he has the holiday with Mark to look forward to -- something is going on at Langley, and he feels he's being kept out of the loop. To make matters even worse, useless missions and sleepless nights filled with nightmares are leaving him exhausted. But then his mother's life if threatened, and Quinn discovers the accident that resulted in her hospitalization was no accident. The obsessively self-absorbed Senator Wexler is involved, and while Quinn considers himself a civilized man, now he's out for blood.<br><br>Up until this point, Mark has stayed out of Quinn's CIA business. But hurting Quinn and those he loves isn't a smart move, and Mark has every intention of seeing Wexler pays. Quinn demands to come along, and while Mark isn't happy, he finally agrees, and they set out together to deal with the senator. There's just one catch: this will be the first time Quinn sees Mark at his deadly best, and Mark isn't sure how his lover will react.

Forever

“Odd. I didn’t think telemarketers worked holidays.”


“Those bastards are Satan’s spawn, and like their sire, they never sleep.”


“I suppose.” Something about the hiss and crackle of the background noise niggled at me.


The next call was from Cara Mia, who would soon be my Uncle Tony’s ex-wife. “Quinn, I just wanted to thank you for the gifts you sent to Sunday and me. It was such a thoughtful thing to do, especially with the unfortunate way things are going. She loves it and loves her Uncle Quinn as well. Oh, and thank your friend too, for the Princess She-Ra doll. John says since it’s in its original packaging, it’s a collector’s item and will probably be worth a fortune one day.”


“John Cisco is a good man,” I murmured. My uncles had known him when he’d been in the ATF.


I gazed at Mark from the corner of my eye. He was apparently ignoring the message, staring at the envelope that contained Armand’s letter as if he could see through the paper to the words on the page.


Chapter 106