AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Can you blame her?”
Chapter 8
Alessia
“Didyougetit?”I asked as I was in the middle of pouring bottle after bottle of whiskey down the drain. I was at Boone’s house since it was closest. He had entirely too much booze for one person, and I was about to remind him what happened when you pissed me off. As a two-for-one, I could not-so-subtly let him know what I thought of his new pastime. Pissed as I was, I’d still noticed his appearance, and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to see he’d spent the night drinking.
As soon as I got in my car, I sent Matteo a text, trying to keep my panic under control. I was a trained professional, damn it, and I knew I could handle the situation. I wasn’t sure how I would do it, but I prided myself on always getting the job done, and it would be no different. Thank God I just had some covert surveillance as my assignment for the Germany trip, though I might have to come at the information from a different angle. I couldn’t see Brody being half as easy to get around as Hammer had been. That was the problem with PSOs. They weren’t bodyguards. Hell, Hammer hadn’t even been that, but I could have dealt with the run-of-a-mill guard if needed. Comparing PSOs to bodyguards was like comparing assassins to hitmen or a scalpel in the hand of a neurosurgeon to a butcher with a meat cleaver. Already he’d seen too much, and we hadn’t even left the safety of home yet.
“He checks out,” Matteo said in my ear as I opened yet another bottle of alcohol. I didn’t discriminate, pouring out the ten-thousand-dollar bottle of bourbon as ruthlessly as I did the rest of his collection. My Bluetooth allowed me to move freely as I looked around, making sure I’d found all of it before putting the now-empty bottles back where I’d gotten them. In the back of his pantry, I had found a long-forgotten bottle of rot-gut whiskey. Careful to touch only the cap, so I didn’t disturb the dust, I squeezed the eye dropper I’d brought in with me into the bottle. Looking at the whiskey with a critical eye, I added a few more drops. Granted, the drops were in my purse in case I needed to make a quick getaway from a hellacious date—not that I’d gotten them for that purpose—but they would do nicely in my current situation. The chemical itself could kill if given in the correct dose, and it was undetectable in an autopsy, which had come in handy for the weapons dealer I’d taken care of two years ago. I added just enough to kick in an hour or so after ingestion—I wouldn’t want the fun to start too soon—before replacing the bottle in my pocket. One brother down, three more to go. I hadn’t yet decided what to do with Gideon since, from what I had overheard, it seemed like they’d left him in the dark for the most part, but he had believed them when they’d shown him Hammer’s file. How they’d gotten it was a mystery to me, but I knew they had more connections and contacts than I could count, so I shouldn’t be surprised.
“I know he checks out,” I snapped, resetting the security code and locking the door before jumping back into my BMW.In more ways than one, I thought. Brody was definitely a treat for the eyes, and the way his muscles flexed as he moved made me want to strip him for closer inspection. I made a mental note to up my vitamins. Apparently, I was missing something from my diet if my hormones were that amped up. “I already told you, he knows Keene personally. It’s not like I thought he was using a fake identity or something.”
Matteo ignored me, knowing my temper needed to flame out verbally since I could hardly circle back to his place for another few hours of shooting shit. Then he whistled at whatever he was reading on his computer across town. “You’re fucked, Belle. And not even remotely in a good way.”
I’d chosen a restaurant close to Matteo’s apartment, allowing him to snag the water glass as soon as we were out of sight, taking Brody’s prints to run so that we could get the lowdown on the newest ploy my brothers had enacted as a way to smother me to death. I could have just texted his name, but I wanted to make sure nothing fell through the cracks, leaving nothing to chance. Fortunately, Matteo knew me well enough that all it took was a few innocuous texts to him, complaining about what my high-handed brothers had pulled, for him to get his ass in gear and beeline it to the restaurant. As he ran the print, he also took me to task for not moving my ass along in eating and getting out of there. After all, there was absolutely no reason to have taken a several-hour lunch break when we needed the information as soon as possible. I was ashamed to admit I was having such a good time with Brody that I’d almost forgotten my reason for stopping for lunch. Not only was it embarrassing, but it was also alarming. Having spent the majority of my life living under one cover or another—very rarely being just Lessia—I never, ever forgot myself. And yet, for a brief time, I had.
“How so?” I asked, pushing my thoughts aside as I pulled into the drive at Royce’s house and grabbed the supplies I needed from the car before entering through the side door. It really was convenient that my brothers and I lived so close together. It certainly made for quicker work for me.
“He’s a former Raider.”
The words stopped me cold, panic rolling over me in a tidal wave. That was bad, so very, very bad. Marine Raiders were the special operation force of the U.S. Marine Corps and were part of the Marine Corps Special Operations Command. They were the best of the best, the very top warriors the Marine Corps had to offer. Idly, I realized that if Brody McCallister hadn’t been lying about how he knew Keene, it meant he, too, was a former Raider. I wasn’t sure if I should be proud of that fact, angry that yet another highly trained individual who should know better underestimated me, or satisfied that I continued to fly below his radar. Deciding to be all three, I pushed it aside to listen as Matteo continued. “I can’t get his individual records. Most of it is heavily redacted or missing, but what his exact missions were doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. It’s the training he received to get there.”
I completely agreed, and for once, I wasn’t sure what to do about it. It wasn’t like I could buy him off or force him to quit. If he were doing this as a favor for Keene, a bomb wouldn’t shake him loose from me unless one of us died or Keene called him off. “Well, shit.” Yanking open the drawer beside Royce’s bed with a jerk, I pulled out the box of condoms, making sure I checked the bathroom and his travel duffel as well. Then I replaced every condom I found with a brightly wrapped sucker. I couldn’t decide whether it was a “Fuck you” or “Suck it” message, but you could bet my brother would receive it loud and clear when the moment was right. “As soon as I finish up here, I’m heading home. I’ll make the call as soon as I get back.” He hung up without so much as a goodbye, clearly as worried about the latest development as I was.
Because Royce would be suspicious if he didn’t find something amiss as soon as he walked through the door, and I didn’t want him to find anything until the time was right, I added bubble bath to his front fountain. By the time he arrived home, his entire front lawn would look like the world’s largest washing machine had thrown up. Did I mention it was colored bubble bath?
Two down, I thought as I looked at my watch, making sure I was still within my budgeted timeframe. Keene’s house was next. I remembered to place Brody’s bag in the guesthouse—taking the time to snoop through the duffle, though I didn’t find anything of merit. Then I grabbed a trash bag and took the extra bedding in the closet, leaving him only the towel hanging by the shower. In the main house, I stripped all the beds, from the comforters to the pillows, except for the master bedroom. In Keene’s room, I pulled down the covers, sprinkling itching powder liberally in between every layer of material, including both sides of all the pillows. I gathered all the extra sheets and blankets, along with the towels, again leaving only one ready for use. Except that one was also liberally dosed with the powder. A quick stop at the top drawer of his bedroom dresser, and I was done. The bottle now empty, I grabbed his soap, shampoo, and body wash for good measure and put them in the bag before I stalked back to the living room, pulling up his Netflix account and changing the password before turning his iPad off and setting it back on the coffee table. No one looking at him would guess, but that man could binge-watch like you wouldn’t believe. At least, he used to. Looking around, I mentally checked off my list. “Kitchen,” I murmured, grabbing the three bags of coffee beans and adding them to my bag. Keene couldn’t function without at least a full pot of coffee; his snobbery wouldn’t allow him to swing through the countless coffee shops that dotted the city. I had to admit, he had excellent taste, though I took my caffeine any way I could get it.
Placing the evidence of my revenge in the trunk, I hopped back into my car, grateful for the air conditioning blowing out air so cold that, after the summer heat, it made me feel like I was breathing in the arctic. I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel as I contemplated what to do with Gideon. I considered my options, disregarding them as quickly as I thought them up until the thought hit me, and I grinned, pulling out my phone. When it came to sisterly revenge, it was always swift, harsh, and more than deserved.
When I got home, I practically ran into the house. I wasn’t sure how much time I had before one of my brothers showed up—it could be today or when I arrived back home next week. With them, you never really knew how long it would take for their male brains to circle around to the fact that they were in the wrong and owed me an apology. I made quick work of clearing the house, turning my security system back on, and ensuring my perimeter alarms were all working before heading to the basement.
Not at all looking forward to the phone call, I went through my normal steps, waiting as the phone rang. “Shield,” the gruff voice drifted over the connection, almost a whisper of sound, yet there was no question who spoke.
“Sword,” I replied, leaning one hand against the desk, too keyed up to sit in my chair. “You heard?”
“Yes. This is an unfortunate turn of events, but one both of us should have foreseen.”
I gritted my teeth because he was right. We knew my brothers had been a concern for a while—since I started, to be honest. Both of us thought that handling Gideon was enough, but neither of us considered my brothers’ uncharacteristic mutiny. “We did expect this. We’ve been trying to offset it for years, and steps had just recently been put into place to prevent this very thing. None of us thought this move would happen this quickly.” I wanted to remind him it wasn’t like we sat on our asses trying to handle this situation. Who could have predicted a break in ranks?
“Regardless, we have to deal with the here and now. All your assignments from here on out are temporarily suspended.”
“I can still gather intel on this trip.” It irritated me to be pulled from the field, but I, more than anyone, understood that this problem took priority over my desires. “Just in a more … visible … way.”
I waited as he thought it over, knowing not to rush his decision. “You’re more vulnerable now. We cannot put your normal protocols into place. Your new security personnel will be alert and suspicious,” he mused out loud.
I knew what he meant. Brody’s presence alone meant I couldn’t safeguard my rooms and person the way I normally would. Hammer might not have noticed the tricks of the trade I had on my windows and doors, as well as the surveillance equipment, to ensure no one had entered my rooms or placed electronic devices in my suite without me knowing about it, but Brody sure would, which meant I would have to forego my usual protection. Just his presence was leaving me more vulnerable than I was before his assignment. It irked me that my brothers’ move to try to protect me was actually doing the opposite, and I couldn’t even tell them.
“So I could let him do it,” I pointed out. “If he’s half as good as we expect him to be, he’ll have his own equipment, if for no other reason than he isn’t going to take chances with a friend’s little sister when he knows the potential for problems is a given. I can get what we need during normal hours, doing what’s expected of me in the public eye, so to speak.”
“And delivery?”
I let my breath whoosh out as the interest in his tone told me I’d gotten my way.
“It will have to be delayed until I return.” No way could I chance a handoff or send an encrypted email. Brody wouldn’t have access to my computer, but thanks to my dumb-ass brothers, I couldn’t take the chance that they weren’t trying to snoop. I couldn’t afford to have them come across something that wasn’t exactly what they would expect to see in a civilian system. I swore to myself, realizing I couldn’t even have my normal backup channels available to me. Matteo would be my only failsafe, and even that was tenuous at best.
“Very well. Proceed, but be cautious. You know what they say about hunters.”
