Page 89 of Black and Brown

Ex was now in front of his partner, and Grace pressed his chest to his partner’s back as he punched in the code to open the door to his apartment.

They were barely inside when Ex huffed, “Let’s get down to business.”

Mirage went into the back to put on some clothes, then reappeared with a laptop.

“First thing we need to figure out is how we’re going to keep the meeting with Lion and Omega out of the debriefing and feed the director a halfway believable story.”

“I think the first thing we do is shock the hell out of them and throw them off their game,” Meridian spoke up. “We’ll go to debriefing together instead of you two at thirteen hundred and us at eighteen hundred. And we go in full field attire, looking prepared for battle instead of a meeting.”

Grace looked as if he agreed.

“I’m the master of shit-talking,” Ex bragged as if that was a noble quality. “I’ll answer the questions in debriefing and run them in circles with asinine details.”

Mirage was sitting in his recliner, clacking away on his keyboard, when he piped in.

“Grace, every department is probably in fear of you right now after what you did to Spectre. No one will want to badger you or me. And, Meridian, since you look evil enough to be Satan’s first cousin, I think you should use your face to keep them from getting too demanding.”

Meridian flipped him off.

“Now, everyone has their roles.”

Ex noted, “Except you.”

“I’m gonna grab one of the higher-ups’ badges so we can infiltrate the director’s floor and file rooms.”

Meridian didn’t think that was a good idea. It was too risky.

“How the hell are you gonna do that without someone catching you? Guards patrol the halls all day and night.”

“I won’t get caught, trust me. By the time they think they saw someone on the cameras…I’ll already be gone.”

Mirage closed his computer. “I’ve just memorized the evening hours for the lab and the guard rotation schedule. We’ll have little time to spare to find Benton and the other Ravens. We do this tonight.”

“We’ll see you in time for debriefing,” Ex said before he and Meridian left.

Grace

The elevator descended to their floor. When it opened, Ex and Meridian stood there in their black-on-black everything.

They looked lethally sexy.

Mirage walked in first and pressed his back to one side of the elevator. Grace followed and leaned against Mirage’s chest, feeling the thumping of his heart against his spine.

“Is that a fuckin’ armored trench?” Ex asked, staring Grace up and down.

He chose not to answer and allowed them both to keep gawking.

The elevator was almost to the ninth floor—the Browns’ wing—a floor the Blacks had never and should never be on.

Their presence would be a jaw-dropping shock all in itself.

“Okay, let’s do this shit. Everyone ready?” Ex double-checked.

“I’m always ready,” Meridian said.

Grace looked down at Mirage a moment before he answered for them both. “Yeah, we’re ready.”

“Does your team think you’re mute, Grace? I’m just wondering?”