Page 5 of Alex

He had spent years searching for her with no luck and then suddenly, she popped into his life from nowhere throwing him into chaos. It made him inexplicably angry that she seemed so unaffected. As if what they’d had was insignificant, worthless, when he’d spent his adulthood pining for her, missing her goofy laugh and the way she made him feel.

But Siren as she was now, acted as if he was nobody and nothing to her, and yet he still felt his body stir every time he caught sight of her. Alex took a swig of his gin and tonic and then slammed the glass down, almost smashing it as she flirted with Gunner. He needed another fucking drink. He stalked to the bar and felt eyes on him as he passed by them, deliberately ignoring them all.

“Alex!”

Fuck, her voice, the way she said his name made his body ache to touch her, to make her remember how it had been between them when they were barely seventeen. Even after all this time, he could hear the sweet sound of her voice as she came, her hands clinging to him, a look of love so intense in her eyes that it almost blinded him.

“Please, Alex,” she said and the scent she had always worn, vanilla and jasmine wrapped around his senses like a drug holding him immobile.

Stiffening his stance, he turned around. “What can I do for you, Siren?” he asked, is voice cold.

“I just wanted to say how well you look and it’s really good to see you,” she said looking injured at his curt tone.

“Really? After fifteen years of me believing you were dead, you want to make nice?” he spat with derision and saw her flinch.

“Look, I know you’re angry, but I missed you,” she said reaching out to touch his arm.

The touch sent a thousand tiny electrical pulses through his arm as memories flooded him. Hurt and anger doused them in cold water as he shook off her hand. “I’m not angry, and honestly, I hardly thought about you,” he said hitting out and knowing he had scored a direct hit when she stiffened.

“Fine, if that is how you want to play it, fine, but I had my reasons for doing what I did. Looks like both of us changed. You used to be the sweetest, most wonderful man I knew and now you’re an arrogant, hurtful prick like all the rest. I’m sorry to have bothered you,” she said as colour rose on her cheeks.

He watched trying to decide what to do, annoyed with how turned on he was by her fury as she walked away. Like a fool, he let her go.

Alex pulledhimself back from his reverie and realised he had not spoken since Jack handed him the file. He couldn’t allow himself to slip now, not when her life was at stake. He had watched, stunned, as she had saved Jack from a shot that would have killed him taking the man down with a calm, clean shot to the head that his Evelyn would never have taken. His first glimpse of the woman she had become had nearly brought him low but overshadowing that had been abject relief that she was alive.

Then she had looked at him and he knew—he knew—from the lack of surprise and shock on her face that she had known where he was and had let him suffer. Then came the anger which even now, he couldn’t mask.

But now he had an opportunity, a chance to get the answers from her that he needed. Mainly why the fuck did she leave him fifteen years ago with no word, where did she go, and what had made her become Siren?

“I’ll do it,” he said rising from his seat.

Jack leaned back in his chair and watched him with a cool look. “You have forty-eight hours and then they’ll send in a second team I can’t control. I owe her for saving my life and this is me repaying the favour. It will also balance the books between us and Zenobi. Get Siren safe and find out what the fuck is going on. I’ve reached out to Roz to warn her so she may have gone dark. Her last known location was an airstrip near the French Alps called Courchevel.”

“France.” He grinned feeling a lightness that he hadn’t felt in a long time. Maybe she hadn’t forgotten them after all. “Okay. I have a starting point. I’m going to contact Will and ask him to run a trace. I assume Roz doesn’t know where she went after the airstrip?”

“If she does, she isn’t saying.”

“No problem. I’ll find her. Normal procedure?” Alex asked referring to the procedure they ran for dark Black Ops.

“Yes, don’t go dark until you have her though in case anyone is watching. For now, it’s business as normal. Be seen but when you find her, you’ll need to move quickly. I will have the plane readied and file a flight plan. Your flight departs in two hours.”

“No problem. Let me speak to geek boy and then I’m going to hit the gym for a bit. Do I have cover?”

“Blake, Reid, and Liam will shadow you but don’t acknowledge them until I say so. I’ll oversee things from here.”

Alex stood and moved away but then stopped. “I won’t mess this up.”

“I never doubted you would, or you wouldn’t be on this job.”

Alex nodded and took out his phone and hit dial. “Geek boy, wake up. I have a favour to ask,” he said into the phone when it was answered by a sleepy Will Granger.