AllFreeNovel
Share Us
For a moment I considered just grabbing him and kissing him, but the look he was giving me wasn’t just passionate. There was something deeper. I don’t actually know if I was imagining it, or just wishing for it, but deep down I had a feeling that we were starting something here. Something more than just a tension-relieving fuck was on the table. And if that was true, I wasn’t going to risk ruining it.
We had a rough job. One that wasn’t conducive to relationships. So when an opportunity came along to be with someone who understood, who really got the demands and the danger…that wasn’t something to play around with.
Max and I were alike. More similar than I cared to admit sometimes. And I cared a lot for him. Again…more than I cared to admit. But if there was even the slightest chance that he and I could create something real…I wanted to let that happen. I needed to.
I needed him.
“You just went somewhere,” Max said, a small smile tugging at his lips. “Can I follow?”
“I hope so,” I admitted. “But not right now. We’ve gotta go.”
“For the record,” he said, opening the door and stepping out into the hallway before stopping and turning back to me. “I want nothing more than to kiss you right now.”
“You’re such a giant pain in the ass,” I complained, pushing him away and exiting Merlin’s room.
“Baby, you have no idea,” he teased, laughing as he headed toward the stairs.
“I hate you,” I mumbled.
“No you don’t,” he called back. “Not even a little.”
Well, he was right about that.
****
“Where’s Merlin?” I asked Zane as I took my seat.
“Last I heard he’s still at the Pentagon,” Zane answered. “The breach there was massive. Dozens of fucking assets across the world, classified documents, black sites, it’s a fucking mess.”
“Why?” Pony asked. “What the hell is the plan here?”
“We still don’t know,” Zane admitted. “But that breach happened from inside the Pentagon. No one outside can access their system. Not even BIH has remote access. It’s a fully closed, looped system.”
“Do they have internal access?” Pony asked.
“Well yeah, but never alone,” Zane said. “God, are you on this, too? Look, Richard Blake, and Blake International Holdings have been cleared. A dozen times over now, by every government agency we have. And by Scout.”
“So you really think it’s just a coincidence that the truck driver was in the same foster home as Richard Blake?” Raptor asked. “That every system that has been hacked can be accessed by his company?”
“Yes, I do,” Zane insisted. “Richard Blake is not a terrorist. What possible reason would he have for blowing up bridges across the country? For outing undercover assets? For framing Cookie?”
Zane made a lot of sense, and while I agreed that it looked weird, I was sticking by my commanding officer. And by Scout. Hell, if Brian couldn’t find a connection between BIH and this situation, then I had to believe there wasn’t one.
Pony was coming into this fresh, so it was natural that he was suspicious. And Raptor…well, he was not so secretly in love with Scout, and Scout had been spending an awful lot of time with Blake recently. Plus, Blake had a history with Scout, so it was natural that Raptor would be a little defensive.
“Do they know when the breach at the Pentagon occurred?” I asked, just as the door to the Sit Room opened.
“There were multiple breaches,” Merlin said, sounding exhausted as he entered the room. “Spread out over multiple days and on multiple terminals throughout the Pentagon.”
“How is that fucking possible?” Raptor asked, shaking his head. “That place is a fortress. No one can just walk around without being seen.”
“No one is saying they weren’t seen,” Merlin said. “I talked to President Thomas and he’s working on getting copies of all their surveillance footage sent over to us.”
“Great,” I complained, rolling my eyes. I shifted in my chair and fought against a grimace as pain flared up my arm. The bullet wound was starting to burn, and I knew I was going to need to take something for it soon, but I didn’t want to look like a baby in front of my friends.
“Well, we’re not the ones how have to comb through it,” Merlin offered. “The FBI, CIA and NSA will handle that shit. The good news is that we know roughly what the dates and times are, plus what terminals were accessed, so hopefully we’ll finally get some answers soon.” His gaze drifted down to my chest and his eyes narrowed. “Are you wearing my shirt?”
“Yeah,” I admitted. “Mine got shot and it’s not like I can go home.” I turned back to look at Zane. “Can I?”
