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I shifted up in the rafters. It was a hot day, and it was even hotter all the way up here now that it was well into the afternoon, and even hotter with all the gear I wore. I felt a bead of sweat work down my neck and disappear into my shirt collar.
My mind once again wandered to Emma, and last night, and back to how good she’d felt against my chest when I’d woken up this morning. I blew a breath out. I was glad I could keep an eye on her, but in hindsight, it probably wasn’t the best idea to bring her to a place where we had to share a room, share a bed. It would be too easy to slip up, when we both wanted each other so deeply.
Plus, if she ever found out what the stab wound on my back was from, that it was the oneshe’dgiven me. I didn’t know how she’d respond. She’d probably never speak to me again, and I’d deserve it.
The one silver lining to coming back injured last night is that I now had a variety of injuries across my body, so hopefully she’d be none the wiser. Not that I planned to go shirtless around her more often than I needed to, but personal space was certainly difficult in that tiny room.
I pulled out my phone and checked the microchip I’d injected into her shoulder.
Another secret I was keeping from her.
I shook my head.
The GPS dot showed her hovering over the apartment.
Good girl, staying put.
I nodded to myself, feeling relieved that she’d listened to me. I warily slipped the phone back into my pocket, knowing the day was young.
I checked the time. We were nearing the appointment.
Suddenly, the doors to the warehouse creaked open, and a man entered with one security guard in front and behind him. I stilled as I watched them through the scope. I didn’t recognize this man. A short while later, a second man entered with security escorting him as well.
This man I did recognize through the scope.
My target.
Armeen.
I watched as he waved the security off and they excused themselves outside.
Fuck.
I was hoping they’d stay inside. It’d be far easier to pick them off that way. I counted six and wasn’t sure how many were outside.
11
EMMA
I finally pulledmyself out of bed and dug around in Mason’s back for breakfast. After texting him about which egg meal I should eat, I settled on the eggs and peppers. It was supposedly a little lighter than the other. I boiled more water for my breakfast and hoped I had picked well.
I stood hugging my arms across my chest, watching the tea kettle hum away, working so hard to boil water. I felt a sadness settle in the pit of my stomach about Mason stopping things last night, and the longer I stood there, the more pissy I felt about it. He’d freaked me out, storming in here covered in blood, and then he’d gotten me all hot and bothered, and then just left me with a burning, throbbing, aching need. I needed a release so badly, and I wanted him to be the one to give it to me.
He had admitted that he wanted me, so that was something. It made me feel a little less humiliated. Then the image of his bloody clothes flashed through my mind, and my stomach clenched. Even if we weren't together, he was still someone I cared about. I’d known him most of my life. But getting closer with him over the last week, especially after kissing him, knowing he was restraining himself, everything felt heightened, and the thought of him out again today, doing God knows what; it made me anxious.
I poured the water into the pouch and sealed it shut while it rehydrated. I squished it around and opened it. It smelled okay, but it looked worse. I took one bite and gagged, quickly chucking it into the trash.
No way.
I sat in front of my computer and munched on the leftover cookies Mason had shared with me yesterday. If I couldn’t dig through the contracts without getting flagged, maybe I could dig through Mason and Viktors’ records and figure something out that way.
I spent the entire morning scouring, and I found nothing. The amount of nothing I found wassomuch nothing that it could only mean someone had taken all that information and made it into nothing. The lack of information I found was just as telling as finding the information itself.
I stood up and paced. What could this mean? Was it possible that Mason also worked off book, that he was part of a black ops team, was it possible that he was part ofmyblack ops team?
I raked my hands through my hair. That would certainly make the most sense. He was the one my dad had begged to help me, and had been the last resort we’d gone to before I’d been in contact with Viktor. If he was working for or with Viktor, then that was exactly how he’d gotten me hooked up with the position in the first place.
I dove into an expired contract, knowing it was a far safer place to start, and checked the records for all the breaches. There were some variations, but there were similar ones that kept showing up on the records again and again. I chewed my lip. If the same person was doing this over and over… Why wasn’t it being dealt with? Unless someone didn’t want it to be dealt with.
