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

“Am I supposed to be grateful for that? I’m not a pet, you know, and I’m not one of your mother’s lost causes.”


“My mother’s causes aren’t lost, Mark. And she happens to like you very much. So do my uncles.”


He looked taken aback by that, and once again it struck me how very alone he was.


But he quickly rallied. “Yeah, well, Novotny doesn’t.”


“Will you forget about Gregor? The two of you enjoy sniping at each other, and don’t bother to deny it. I’ve been in the room when both of you go at it, and I’ve been with you when the other wasn’t there. You have a healthy respect for Gregor, and he—”


“Why am I even discussing this with you?” I knelt there with my hands on my hips and frowned at him.


“Beats hell out of me. I didn’t ask you to come along.”


“Look, Mann, I did what you wanted, didn’t I?” Was there desperation in his voice?


Chapter 143