Page 38 of Alex

“Whatever.”

She pulled away and moved towards Gunner, her sexy ass swaying as he watched. It was hard to concentrate when she was with him, but he knew he had to. It was time to get to work—there would be time to play later.

“What you working on, Gun?” he heard Evelyn ask as Lexi slipped in with a tray of sandwiches.

“I thought you might be hungry, so I sorted some food for you. There’s plenty in the fridge and I left a pot of coffee brewing.” She placed the tray which was loaded with chicken salad sandwiches and brie and cranberry wraps on the corner of the desk where Liam was working.

“Thank you, Lex. You didn’t have to, but it is definitely appreciated.” Alex smiled at the blue haired woman.

“It’s no trouble and I know Hunt forgets to eat when he gets engrossed in work so…” She let the sentence hang not needing to finish. She was right; he often forgot to eat when he was caught up in a case.

“Thank you, Lexi, for all of this.”

“Alex, stop with that. If it weren’t for you guys and Jack, I would probably be dead, and my son would be too. I can never repay what you did for us. So, let me make sandwiches and offer you our home. It’s the least we can do.”

He went to respond but she held up a hand, her finger over her lips. “No, enough.” The finality in her voice made him chuckle.

“Fine. Thank you, Lex,” he responded and then watched her leave the room. He felt Evelyn come up to him.

“She seems nice.”

“They both are and neither deserved what happened to them.” He offered her a sandwich which she took with a soft smile.

“Nobody ever does. It’s always the innocents that get hurt.”

He heard the pain in her words. “Mostly,” he said as he cupped her neck, stroking her jaw with his thumb, “but sometimes love does conquer all.”

Her head tilted as she looked at him from shuttered eyes. He knew the reason for the closed look. Evelyn was as terrified as he was that they wouldn’t get forever, that this scumbag would rip them apart. He had no intention of letting that happen.

“Do you really believe that?”

“Yes, mi nena, I do because if I didn’t, I couldn’t do this job. But I know it will this time because I’ll make sure of it. Nothing and nobody on this fucking earth is going to take you away from me.” He saw her eyes flash with something he couldn’t quite identify. “Do you believe me, Evelyn?” He needed to know she believed him.

She turned her head and kissed his wrist where he held her. “Yes, Alex. I believe you. I always believed in you.”

“Good. Now eat up, we have work to do.” He let her go and his phone rang before he could pick up his sandwich and he groaned but answered immediately seeing Will’s number. “Alex.”

“We got the time, date, and place.”

As part owner—albeit a very hands-off owner—of Eidolon, Will provided the financial backing to do what they did. He was also the best hacker in the business. A fact that even their own Lopez, who was ex-NSA and pretty fucking good on a computer, couldn’t argue with. As Jack’s brother everyone would have expected him to work exclusively for Eidolon, but he didn’t. He worked for Fortis Security. He and Jack were only just getting their relationship back on track after a rift that had formed over a massive misunderstanding which he was not privy too.

Jack and Will were about as far apart as brothers could be both in looks and personalities. Both were tall and dark haired with blue eyes but that was where the similarities ended.

Jack was built like a brick shit house—muscular with a black and white attitude to loyalty and right and wrong. He was sharp with the best tactical mind he knew. He focused on the target and didn’t stop until he’d accomplished his mission. A classic workaholic with a tendency to bury himself in his job.

Will by contrast was covered head to foot in tattoos and piercings and was less muscle-bound although he had bulked up of late. He had been a complete womaniser, rule breaker, and all-around bad boy until his girlfriend Aubrey had tamed him. Both were good men though and precisely who you wanted on your side in this situation.

“Tell me.”

“Tomorrow night at eleven on board The Kratos.”

“That doesn’t give us much time.” Alex could feel everyone’s eyes on him.

“No, but if you can get on board, I have a way of keeping them busy while you find the file and deal with Booth.”

“Which is?” Alex didn’t want any surprises.

“Let me see if I can pull it off first,” he said and then Alex had dead air.

He looked at Evelyn, Gunner, and Liam.

“Well, don’t leave me in suspenders,” Liam said impatiently while Alex tried to scrub his brain of that little image.

“Eleven tomorrow night on The Kratos.”

“Shit. Do you know who owns that boat?”

From her tone he knew Evelyn knew who the owner was. “Yes.” His jaw flexed as he tried to keep his worry out of his voice.

The Kratos was owned by the biggest heroin dealer in Europe. A man known only as Osiris, he was rarely seen and even when he was, nobody knew for sure it was him as it was believed he used decoys wherever he went. Named for the god of the underworld he was known to be brutal and regularly dispatched his own men for fear of them turning on him. He ruled by fear and was untouchable such was his power within the European Union. The funny thing was nobody could get a clear picture of the man. Sometimes he was shown as a balding overweight man, other times a young, suave handsome playboy.

“How the fuck we gonna swing this?” Alex could see the tension in Gunner’s shoulders as the enormity of this job settled on them all like a shroud.

“I don’t know yet, but we can, and we will. This fucker is not selling that document, and I don’t care if I have to go through the entire European fucking army to get to him, I will.”

“Sounds like I got here just in time.”