Page 30 of Fixed Asset

“Better now that the tracker has been flushed.”

He nodded. “Right, so that brings us to what happens now. The CIA knows it’s offline. They’ll either take that as someone found it and removed it or you’ve defected.”

“They can think whatever they want and shove it up their asses.”

Mason chuckled. Fallon smiled. But Pete wore the same serious expression I did. Catarina was playing fast and loose with an agency you wanted to tread cautious with. She was smarter than this, which meant she was hiding her real feelings behind bluster.

“Respect, Catarina, but you need to take this seriously. We gave Berta our word we’d help her. We have a plan in place and two of our teammates waiting for us in Belize. There are the lives of fifteen women and ten children who need this to go smoothly. Twenty-five souls who are counting on us to keep them alive. Before we walk out the door, I need to trust you’ve got your shit straight and you’re on board. If you want out now, Shep’s on standby for an extraction.”

Catarina looked like she was preparing to give Pete a world-class tongue lashing. I braced for the fallout that never came when she relaxed her shoulders, blew out an exasperated breath, and calmed her temper.

“I have my shit straight and I’m on board.”

Pete turned to me, pinned me with a look I knew was going to piss me off. Now I was bracing for a new reason.

“You know I don’t pull rank. We’re all equals on this team. But you know this is different, and I’ve gotta know where you are with this. If Cat’s coming, I need to know you’re not gonna go maverick.”

Pete studied me. He might claim we’re all equals, and we were to some extent. Pete ran the team like a collaboration. He valued our individual skills. He had a deep understanding of teamwork and knew when to step back when someone else’s experience would better serve the mission. All things I appreciated about the man.

However, at one time, there was another woman on this team. It was his sister, not his woman, but he would’ve blown a mission to save her. Hell, he’d dissolved the company she was a part of just to get her to quit and settle down with my old teammate, Cole, who was now her husband. Pete would probably lose his mind if he knew the kind of ops Mia was currently working with Takeback. Or he knew and trusted that Cole would go rogue to save his wife.

Meaning, he’d pull rank when the situation suited him.

In other words, he didn’t need to ask his question; he knew what my answer would be. Yet, I still answered.

“I’ll do whatever I have to do to ensure Catarina’s safety.”

Pete looked harassed but not surprised.

“Jack—”

Fallon made a strangled sound and grunted. Cat turned her narrowed eyes in his direction. She stopped speaking to me to address him.

“I’m sorry, I don’t speak caveman. Was that supposed to mean something to me?”

“Cat.” Fallon wisely lifted his hands in surrender. “Let your man handle this.”

Her mouth clamped shut, fury blazing in her eyes. She made a frustrated gurgling noise I was a hundred percent positive Fallon would pay for later. However, she waved a hand at Pete to continue.

Pete dropped his head forward, contemplated his boots, then motioned for the door.

“I’ll let the two of you work it out,” he declared. “But I leave you with this—you’re a dumbass if you stand in her way of doing her job. If she’s as good as you say she is, then she doesn’t need you standing behind her with a pillow to cushion her fall. We all know the risks we take when we gear up.” Pete pounded his tactical vest to make his point. “You take that risk, the same as the rest of us. And something tells me you’d be none too pleased if your woman didn’t think you had the skills to take care of yourself.”

Well, fuck.

With that successful dressing-down, I didn’t say a word. Pete was correct on all fronts. I’d be pissed if she didn’t think I was capable of doing my job.

And that’s exactly what I’d done to her in the name of protection.

I’d belittled her—not her skill, her intelligence. I’d never stopped to consider what I’d seen as reckless endangerment of her life was actually Cat being smart enough to calculate the risks before she put herself in harm’s way—something I myself did every day I strapped on a vest and holstered a weapon.

I wasn’t overprotective; I was being an overbearing dick.

The issue was, I didn’t know how to separate my feelings for her from those of just a teammate doing her job. The thought of her getting hurt set my chest on fire.

Mase’s phone pinged. He glanced down, swiped the screen, and smiled.

“It’s go time, boys . . . and girl,” he announced.