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He could tell that something was still bothering her, which wouldn’t do. When they left this building, Rafe wanted them to have a truly fresh start.
“Just spit it out.”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s just that you’ve done all those amazing things. And I wonder if we go home and make a life together… well, won’t that seem a little… boring?”
Rafe tipped back his head and laughed. “Boring? The woman who once seduced me and then kicked me in the balls? The woman who broke into my safe and stole a lifetime’s worth of accumulated blackmail material? The woman who lured two of Interpol’s most-wanted felons into a sting operation all while being pregnant? Not likely. Hell, you’re almost as badass as Serena Williams.”
Diana slipped her arm through his. “I’ll take that. Because from here on out, it’s going to be us against the world.”
Chapter Seventeen
Three months later…
There was a gentle comfort about the last few moments before executing an op. All was quiet and you could hear the sound of your own heartbeat. For a man like Rafe, it was often the only times he’d felt peace.
Until Diana, he thought. Then again, Diana had changed a lot of things in his life. Too many to enumerate.
Rafe glanced over at the man on his left. Noah was outfitted in black head to toe just like he was. He also wore an earpiece. Rafe patted the utility vest he wore, which carried everything from knives to tape to zip ties. For years it had been his standard uniform when working. Putting it on this evening before going out had felt like donning an old uniform that didn’t really fit anymore.
“Just like old times, huh?”
Noah shook his head. “Better. Our comms weren’t this good back in the day. Remember the ones we used to have? You’d get all that interference at the worst possible moments. Then it’d let out that high-pitched sound that was loud enough to pop your eardrum.”
Rafe laughed at the memory. Even though ORUS had always had the best technology available, it was undoubtedly true that the tech they’d used ten years ago would seem like absolute shit now.
“Things have definitely changed. But I think it was an advantage. Agents in our time were forced to learn to adapt to less than optimal conditions. The guys coming out now, hell, they’d probably call a whole op off if their tech goes down.”
Noah grunted in agreement. “Probably. They don’t make agents like us anymore.”
“Are you two going to start snogging, or are we here to steal some shit?” Matthias’s voice came over the line, interrupting their conversation.
Rafe almost laughed. It was one of the few times he’d ever heard the kid sound happy. But he couldn’t deny that he had a point. Waxing nostalgic could wait until afterward. When they were safely on the plane back to the States.
He glanced over at Noah. “Is it just me, or is Scotland Yard over there having way too much fun with this? The young ones used to be scared of us.”
“Don’t worry about me, old man. I’m just trying to get this done. If we miss our window, we have to stay another day and I don’t want to have to explain that. I’m not scared of you two but them…”
Noah made a face. He was probably imagining Lucia if he had to call and tell her that their trip had been delayed. Rafe couldn’t make fun of him because he didn’t particularly want to explain it to Diana either. His feisty kitten had claws when she didn’t get her way, especially now that her pregnancy cravings had kicked in.
“He has a point. Let’s do this.”
They crept around the side of the building, following the route they’d mapped out on the plane ride to Argentina. He’d been here before of course with ORUS, but without the powerful organization to grease the right palms, it had been a lot trickier than expected to get the information they’d needed. But somehow Matthias had gotten the information, and they’d landed that afternoon with only a scant eight hours total to execute their op and get out without attracting any attention.
He heard a thump and then a soft “clear” in his left ear. Rafe waited two seconds per their plan and then walked the pathway leading to the back of the house. He stepped over the prone body of the man who’d been on patrol for the past hour. They’d observed him for quite some time to discover his usual routine. He wasn’t the most observant to start with but also had a penchant for stopping for candy breaks. Almost too easy. With the night guard out of commission, he was free to climb the side of the house and enter through the bedroom window that had been left open for them.
A light flashed from the dark bushes up ahead, Noah signaling that all was clear. Rafe reached into his utility vest and pulled out the grappling hook he hadn’t used since he’d rescued Diana. It made him smile to think of it. Who knew that his less-than-honorable skills would land him the woman of his dreams?
Less than sixty seconds later, he was up the side of the building and climbing through the window into a dark bedroom. His eyes adjusted to the light quickly. There was a huge four-poster bed to his left, which meant that the safe was to the right. Exactly as he’d expected.
Rafe crossed the room quickly but quietly. It would have been so much better if they could have done this when the house was empty, but luckily, the homeowner was out for the night. The only people left in the house were staff, one of whom was responsible for helping them get in. He chuckled. Unhappy staff members were the worst security risk in the world. All they needed was a little money, and they were happy to see their employers fall.
In this case, they hadn’t even had to offer that much money to convince the elderly valet to not only leave the window open for them but to plant a hidden camera.
“All g
ood?” Noah’s voice was quiet in his ear.
Instead of speaking and possibly giving away his position to any staff members walking in the hallway, Rafe tapped his earpiece three times, their code for I’m busy, fuck off. He could hear Noah’s soft chuckle in response.
