The Invisible Amateur by Amelia Price

You
can't blame a girl for wanting to try the challenge.”
    An awkward silence
followed her outburst. It didn't take her long to regret it. Myron
never liked emotional displays. When no one said anything and both
of them were looking at her, she remembered she had the piece of
paper with the address on. As a sort of peace offering, she held it
out to Myron. He didn't thank her as he took it.
    “You owe me,”
Sebastian said as Myron memorised it and threw it into the fire.
She ran it through her head again, wondering if it would be useful
to remember and deciding not to take the chance either way. “And I
think we should go immediately.”
    Sebastian grabbed
his scarf, but Myron shook his head and held his hand up.
    “No, not yet.”
    “There will be
lots of them. Whatever you're planning, you'll need my help, and
you know it.”
    “We can't go yet.
I'll inform you when I'm ready to.”
    “Why not?” Amelia
stepped forward, aware that neither Holmes brother was going to
budge without some encouragement.
    “Because there's
more to this problem than we've been told. What has changed,
brother of mine?” Sebastian folded his arms and Myron looked
furiously at him, but moved towards the door.
    “They have
something, don't they? Something they're not meant to.”
    Myron stopped in
his tracks and faced his brother. He was calm, but she could see
the desire to throttle his younger brother was still there.
    “It's the only
obvious reason for not going right now. They have something, and
until you figure out what – or if you already know that part,
retrieve it – you can't go and arrest them all.”
    Myron nodded and
came back over to sit down in the armchair. A few seconds later
Sebastian sat down opposite, and Amelia realised she'd been
forgotten. Even when she moved closer, they didn't even glance her
way.
    “I started to
suspect when you didn't nag me to encourage our little lead to
scamper back to the main hutch, but you confirmed it when I came to
see you yesterday. You wouldn't keep Amelia in danger if she didn't
need to be.”
    “So I'm bait?”
Amelia asked. Both of them looked at her and glared, making her
regret the question.
    “I've been asked
to back off and leave the Russians and North Koreans alone,” Myron
finally explained to his brother.
    “Surely not while
London is in danger?”
    “London's not in
danger.”
    “But I am,” Amelia
said, finishing Myron's implication. He nodded but had the good
grace to look a little guilty. “Who would want to hurt me?”
    “You're a
complication in the earlier encounter, an unknown and a loose end
to be tied up,” Sebastian said without any hint of sensitivity. It
was a good thing she wasn't surprised by the news and had recently
faced enough difficult situations with the Holmes brothers that she
had some confidence in their ability to protect her. The panic that
threatened to overwhelm her at the news was held back from her mind
by the comfort of their presence but she knew it was close to
showing. In front of Myron, she couldn't allow that.
    “So what am I
being traded for?” she asked when no one else said anything.
    “These days,
probably information.” Sebastian looked to his brother to get him
to confirm the prognosis. After a few seconds, Myron nodded.
    “What
information?” Amelia came a few steps closer and leant against
Sebastian's desk, from where she could see both men's faces.
    “That's why we
aren't making our move yet; my brother doesn't know. But the order
could only have come from the royal family. They're the only people
Myron answers to, and there's only one thing the family care about
more than their country.”
    “Family. It's
always family.” Amelia shook her head in annoyance. “So it's a
secret of some kind, and we need to find out what and where they
got it from before we deal with them, right?”
    “Correct, Amelia.”
Sebastian smiled. In response, she fetched her laptop from her bag
and turned it on.
    “No.” Myron