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“Phew.” She smiles, feigning a wipe of her brow in relief. “Because he is hella cute. It’d be a shame to hurt him during our escape.” As she opens her mouth to continue, I cut her off.
“You know they are listening to us, right?” I point to the camera, and her hand shoots up to her mouth. I knew she forgot. “I am in need of some fun tonight. Don’t ruin this for me. Your jokes about escape are just going to get us locked up.”
Looking toward the camera, Dana flashes an innocent smile and waves. Then she stands. “Let’s check out the kitchen. You didn’t eat breakfast, and we’ve been talking so long we missed lunch. Maybe we can grab a snack, then hit the showers.” She heads toward the door. “Hey, are you the one they call Easy?” She flashes a wink in my direction. She gets off on taunting people almost as much as Logan seems to.
“Eagle.” The lean man propped up against the wall does not share our appreciation of a good jab.
“Oh, right. Well, you missed lunch too. We’d like to go to the kitchen and grab a snack.”
I stand and follow her out in agreement. A rumble in my stomach tells me she’s right about food. I am hungry.
I also need her to show me around here a little more, so I can get a better idea of what I’m up against. I know Logan and Jack say they’re on our team, but my final play differs from theirs, and I need to keep working toward my original goal in case things go sideways.
If I am successful with Zane, when Maxwell goes down, everyone will have their freedom. Not just from him, but from anyone who might take his place.
I just need a few more things to fall into place before I set everything in motion.
CHAPTER15
JACK
My downtime is usually spent in the gym or in my office, and from the looks the guys are shooting me as I walk into the common room carrying my beer, my previous absences were noticed.
Our core team is fairly small, and most of the other guys who work with us are local, so they travel the couple of hours home to their families when they aren’t required on base. We have a training mission in a couple of days, but other than that, it’s good timing that our staff count is low. Having Jessa and Dana here is easier without the extra eyes on them.
Grey and Waldo are already seated around a table, playing cards. I’m followed into the room by Hunter and Eagle, who break off to join them. Grabbing a chair on his way, Hunter drops a case of poker chips on the table and turns toward the beer fridge.
“You want in on this, boss?” Waldo calls over to me, and I’m sure he already knows the answer.
“Naw, I’m good. Just going to watch for a bit.” I tip my beer bottle in their direction and sit down on the couch as Dana appears and hesitates by the door.
Taking a quick scan of the room, she jolts to life when she sees my team setting up their card game.
“Can I play?” She’s already at the table before anyone answers, and Grizz enters the room behind her and grabs a chair for her to sit on.
I shift my focus back to the door. Jessa is paused at the entrance. She’s looking around the room, no doubt for the best place to sit, and I cringe inwardly as I silently hope it’s beside me.
It’s like I’m back in high school all over again.
Well, at leastherhigh school. She has no idea I’m five years older than her. I haven’t told her I was undercover when we first met, and I vow to come clean about everything as soon as I can.
Masking my deception with a smile, I nod when her eyes meet mine, and she saunters toward me. “This seat taken?”
“No, sit down. I got you a beer. It’s from a brewery a couple of hours away.” I point to the unopened bottle beside her, and she reaches over to pick it up and twist off the top.
“Thanks.” She takes a couple of sips and continues her examination of the room.
I notice she looks away when any members of my team glance over, and she’s nervously picking at the label on the bottle.
“I’m glad you could make it tonight.” My weak attempt at an icebreaker makes me wince.
There is so much wrong with my sentence, I don’t even know where to start.
Luckily, she saves me with a smirk. “Well, I was really busy tonight, you know. I had plans—big plans—to lie on my bed and stare at the ceiling until I fell asleep.”
I want to reply, but I don’t. In my mind it would be something witty, but in reality it would probably land just as hard as my previous line did.
Beneath her sass are layers of walls and guards. She’s been hurt, and she’s struggling. She just doesn’t realize how much yet.
