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“Jaaaasper Huxxxxley,” I intoned.
Hux jumped a foot—seriously, I needed to make that happen every single day—then folded his arms over his chest, and his eyes narrowed. “Kevin.”
Just hearing his voice did things to my insides.
“Need you in the lair.” I hesitated. “Please?”
If Hux was surprised that I was actually inviting him into my Fortress of Solitude, he didn’t show it. He stared at the nearest security camera for a long moment while the other guys slapped him on the shoulder good-naturedly and preceded him into the house. Then he nodded at me once and stalked down to my lair faster than I’d thought possible.
As soon as I buzzed him in and the pocket doors shut behind him, I felt the sting of tears in my eyes. There were a lot of things I wanted to say, a lot of questions I wanted to ask, but there was no time.
“I… I need help,” I admitted before he could say a word. “I know I said I could handle it, and I can. But I… It’s been a long day, and I’m afraid I’m going to miss something.”
His normally stern face softened, and his eyes flicked up to the monitors for the first time. “Yeah. I’m here.” He slid into the seat next to mine, still wearing his tactical pants and formfitting shirt, and put on a headset. “What’ve we got?”
The following few hours were much easier. Not only were we down to only two of the missions scheduled for the day, but there were two of us. We each took charge of one of the missions, and when I needed help with something, Hux was there. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen him in action, but it didn’t matter. Every time I saw him in his element, I got a little vibration in my solar plexus.
He was amazing.
When the mission I was managing finished successfully, I switched gears to help Hux while still letting him take point. I watched him out of the corner of my eye, admiring his control and confidence, which I knew came from years of training and experience.
It was possible that he was right about his training giving him an advantage in certain situations… not that I planned to tell him that.
Because I was studying him so closely, I noticed immediately when his body stiffened, and I focused back on the monitors just as things began to go wrong.
“Elvo, left. Left, dammit,” Hux hissed into his headset. “Three guards in north corridor pursuing from your four o’clock. Steady on. Guy with a cleaning trolley ahead on your right. Careful. Good… fuck.”
His fingers flew over his keyboard, looking for a safe extraction route. This particular mission involved breaking into a high-security penthouse apartment in Chicago. We’d known it would be a challenge, which was why only the most experienced members of the team were involved.
Elvo’s voice sounded shockingly calm for someone being pursued by multiple armed guards. “So I said to the chick, ‘Lady, I’m just here to work you out. If you want that kind of exercise, you’re going to have to call someone else.’ And you should have seen the look on her face. Priceless.” He ended his strange half story with a soft chuckle into his phone.
“What’s he doing?” I whispered to Hux.
“His cover,” Hux said absently while still typing away between various surveillance screens to find the best way out of the building. “He’s there as a personal trainer to the lady in one of the other penthouse units, remember?”
It explained the running suit and gym bag over his shoulder, but I didn’t remember this cover at all. Maybe I’d already lost it in the sea of mission data I’d had to cram the night before.
I squawked when I spotted the guard around the next turn. “Hux! Stop him!” I said, pointing at the monitor.
“Guard ahead on corridor to left. Suggest approach and inquiry to nearest exit,” Hux said calmly into his headset.
My heart thundered. “You want him to deliberately go up to this guy?” I whispered in shock, as if afraid the guard would hear me from hundreds of miles away.
“Elvo is the best at playing stupid. Just watch,” he said, not cracking a smile.
I felt a faint dizziness wash over me as images of a violent shoot-out flashed through my head, but I kept my eyes glued to the surveillance monitor. Hux tapped the command to have the audio play over the speakers.
“Excuse me, uh, sir? Do you work here by any chance?” Elvo’s voice sounded like the gym rat I’d seen at my local grocery store a few times. “I could sure use some help finding my way outta here.”
The guard stopped short and stared at him. “What are you doing here?” he challenged. “Who are you visiting?”
Elvo’s dimpled smile appeared, and he hooked a thumb over his shoulder, pointing several floors up. “Mrs. Healy in PH-3 with the floofy white dog. She calls it Fiona, but I call it a city noise ordinance violation, amirite?”
