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Annoyance clawed at Apollo. “I know you’ll look anyway because you know what I did helped get that bastard and saved thousands of lives. Now…cut the shit. I know you’re not keeping me off the team because of a stupid doctor’s note. You’ve got orders to keep me out until the cake-eaters at the Pentagon know if I’m trustworthy. But you fought with me that day. We got Abubakar because ofme. I always figured you for a man who follows his own beliefs.”
They glared at each other.
“Am I wrong?” Apollo barked.
Sparrow snatched the thumb drive off the desk and dropped into his desk chair.
Apollo felt some of the edgy tension that had been dogging him for weeks vaporize. He circled the desk to lean over Sparrow and look at the screen.
When the prompt for a passcode popped up, Apollo again considered how damn easy it would be to use a microchip to open it.
But that would mean he wasn’t with his brothers in Blackout. The only family he had now.
He recited the code for Sparrow and gave him the intel that would save the world.
THIRTEEN
Indika paced between the windows overlooking the street outside her apartment and the door.
She hadn’t heard AJ leave, and he hadn’t left her a note. Her irritation level combined with worry was making her a little crazy—even crazier than she felt being cooped up in this apartment.
Where was he? Who was he meeting? Did Blackout need him and take him away from her? Again?
Too many questions she’d probably never get answers to. Loving AJ was the hardest thing she’d ever done in her life. And that was saying something in her line of work.
But it was soooo worth it.
Hugging herself, she drifted back to the window. She’d opened the blinds so she could see a little more of the world she’d planted herself in. Even if her apartment was dull, her view was not. Why didn’t she ever spend more time looking at it?
From here, she had a great vantage point of the little café across the street. Tables and chairs were set up outside, which told her it must have warmed up. She could be sitting at one of those tables right now, sipping coffee while she waited for AJ.
Lifting her head, she set her gaze on the leafy trees of the park. She couldn’t make out the bench she and AJ had sat on eating hot dogs that day, but she knew it was there, just waiting for them.
Her phone trilled with an incoming video call.
She twisted toward the sound. Her device was lit up on the coffee table, and she rushed to grab it, plopping down on the sofa as she did. Sitting down that hard brought a twinge to her side but not enough to punch the breath from her like it did a few days ago.
When she saw who was calling, she froze.
Robert.
God, she’d forgotten about Robert. She’d hardly glanced at the flowers he’d brought her or considered that he might be wondering how she was doing.
Because AJ justtook overa woman’s entire life.
She had to answer or he’d keep ringing her until she did.
Taking the call, she quickly rearranged her features to look presentable on camera.
His face popped up too, a huge smile spread over his features. “Indika! It’s so good to see your face. And your smile too.” His enthusiastic tone made her feel a little guilty.
“Yours too. How’s the office?” She attempted to keep the conversation directed toward work and not anything personal. She realized she’d been doing that very thing all along, keeping the man at arm’s length. More than arm’s length.
“Oh, you know. The same old grind.” He made a little face that made her chuckle.
Yes, they were work friends. Nothing more.
Her soul was entwined with AJ’s and there was no going back. Not even death had kept her from feeling those things.
