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“His name is Forest Scott,” Caleb supplied. “One of the best tech guys I’ve ever worked with. Hired him myself.”
He shook with Tyler. “Call me Trees.”
“Will do, as long as you don’t call me Cockzilla.” He raised a brow at Traverson.
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Trees promised.
“I’ll bet Delaney still calls you that,” Logan shot Tyler’s way. “How else could you possibly have three boys with another baby on the way so quickly?”
Tyler laughed. “Need a lecture on the birds and the bees, junior?”
“Fuck you,” Logan grumbled.
“Get back to work. We don’t have a minute to spare,” the colonel growled, then made his way down the long table, pausing beside a guy who, though casually dressed, dripped money. When he turned Trees’s way, his gaze looked shrewd as hell. “Sean Mackenzie, former FBI. Thankfully, he still has a lot of contacts.”
“Good to meet you,” Sean supplied. “I wish it was under better circumstances.”
Than Kimber’s abduction? Yeah, it sucked. But every minute he spent here on these introductions was another minute he wasn’t finding Laila. Or saving her…if she needed to be saved.
“Same.”
“And this is Stone Sutter. He’s your counterpart over at Oracle,” Caleb said, referring to the security firm Jack and Deke co-owned.
Trees had heard of the guy. Ex-con turned straight. The tatted-up operator looked dangerous, a lot more like a thug than a computer nerd, but his smile was friendly. “I’ve heard about you. Good to finally put a face with a name.”
“For sure.” Since he wasn’t in the mood for chitchat, he turned back to the colonel. “Do you need me to work with Stone on something?”
Caleb sighed. “I wanted to introduce you to everyone since we’re pulling you onto Kimber’s rescue team indefinitely.”
The words had barely cleared the older man’s mouth before Trees opened his to balk. “With all due respect—”
“Before you finish that speech, your first order of business will be to retrieve Laila. We think she knows something about Montilla’s whereabouts. Or someone who does.”
It sounded like they were grasping at straws. Trees scowled. “What makes you think that, sir?”
“Follow me.”
Before Caleb could lead him away from the group, the front door opened again. A pair of suits—brothers?—both looking more like hot Latin models than operatives, strolled in. The older one lugged a baby girl in a carrier who sported downy pale hair, shocking hazel eyes, and a frilly pink dress.
Who the hell were they?
“We meant to be here earlier,” said the younger one, straightening his tie. “Sorry. Our daughter was a little cranky this morning.”
The older one snorted. “More like you were cranky that I pulled you out of bed and away from our wife.”
Theirwife?
Sean Mackenzie laughed. “You know how it is, Javier. There’s always one horny husband. Usually I blame Thorpe whenever we’re late for something since it’s usually his fault. But this morning, it was all me. Since baby Asher slept through the night, I took advantage of a well-rested Callie.”
Sean shared a wife, too? Apparently so, and the fact they were having this deeply personal conversation in front of everyone told him that was common knowledge.
The older brother groaned. “Xander did the same with London.”
“Why not? She’s sleeping better now that Dulce isn’t waking up every three hours. Besides, all our wife’s panting and screaming told me she was perfectly happy with the extra attention.” Xander grinned as he took the carrier.
Javier gave his brother a sly-dog smile. “Why do you think I sent you to that last-minute meeting yesterday afternoon?”
“Asshole,” Xander griped.
Logan stood and scowled. “You dipshits brought a baby to a war room?”
Xander shrugged. “If she grows up like her daddies, she’ll want to be involved in everything anyway.”
“She’s not staying. Dulce has a playdate with Lacey. Morgan agreed to watch the girls today,” Javier informed, nodding when Jack Cole smiled at the mention of his wife and daughter. Then Javier glanced across the room at the catering setup. “Ah, glad the food arrived. Xander said none of you has had a good meal in days.”
“I’ll take care of everyone,” Luc promised. “I would have done it sooner if Cousin Deke had called me…”
Kimber’s husband scowled like food was the last thing on his mind, so the colonel filled the dead air. “Thank you for feeding us.”
Trees wondered how much would actually get eaten by this highly stressed crowd.
“You’re welcome. We’ll be back to see how else we can help after we drop Dulce off and have a fun-filled meeting with the Joint Chiefs. The work of a military contractor is never done,” Xander bantered. “The offer of a plane stands, by the way. We’re more than happy to lend our jet to the cause if you need it.”
With that, Trees realized exactly who these two were.
Caleb nodded the brothers’ way. “We might need to take you up on that.”
