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“Luis is not very popular with the upper levels of the Cartel.” Brooks leaned forward. “Rumor is he's been drawing too much unwanted attention. If we handle this right, there's a small chance we're not going to have the whole cartel coming after us.”
“That’s going to take some fancy footwork.” Austin said. “I contacted someone I know in the DEA. I had Jeremey forward him the information from that drive. I expect to hear back from him by tomorrow. You know they love when evidence like this drops into their laps. I would guess they’ll have a whole task force formed by tomorrow.”
Sean rolled his eyes. “Then why are you trying to send me into hiding?”
“Because you and I both know my Granny moves faster than the government when it comes to this kind of shit.”
“We know at least some of the local cops are dirty. Luis is going to find out.” Brooks frowned. “Even if I can somehow convince his friends back in Mexico not to get involved, he's going to send everything he has after the two of you.”
Even though it wouldn’t stop anything and would probably cause more problems the man would want revenge. Sean wished his friends weren’t making such a strong case.
“If it was anyone but you, you know, you'd be the first one insisting that they go into hiding until this is resolved.” Marcus said driving the finishing nail into the argument.
Sean didn’t like it. Even when he'd been on active duty, he’d never enjoyed the sidelines. Many of his fellow JAG officers were baffled by how often he volunteered for the frontlines. He’d spent more time as a soldier than as a lawyer while he served because that was what he preferred.
“He can stay here.” Dante smirked. “We’ll send the lovely lady with Theta team to the hideaway while he plays hero.”
Anger rushed up Sean spine. Junichi, the head of Theta team, was a notorious Playboy. They rarely put him on jobs that involved women because no one wanted to deal with the fall out. The man was smooth as silk and women couldn’t seem to resist him.
To be fair, the man never made promises to the women who he took to his bed but somehow, they were always surprised when he left them without a backwards glance. After the second time an ex-client tried to stalk him, the decision had been made to only assign him to male clients.
Sean’s jaw ached as he tried to fight back the urge to curse out Dante. Liv and Junichi sequestered for weeks in the small two-bedroom mountain cabin they called the hideaway was an idea he couldn’t stomach. While he didn't want to take advantage of Liv while she was in danger, Sean knew deep down that he wanted her for himself. He just hadn’t considered what it would feel like to send her away.
Dante gave a pointed look down at Sean’s hands that were clenched into fists.
“That's what I thought. Two options. We send her away on a private getaway with only the men who are protecting her for entertainment and companionship, or you can go into hiding with her. You keep her safe, satisfied and all to yourself while we keep you in the loop.”
“You’re a bastard do you know that?”
Dante shrugged. “Been called worse.”
Keeping Liv here wasn’t an option, and they all knew it. Their protective natures would never allow them to do anything but keep her safe in the best way possible. Luis might be angry at Sean for getting involved and messing up his kidnapping attempt but with Liv it would be personal. Hopefully convincing her to stay safe and out of the line of fire would be easy.
“Fine. I’ll take her up to the hideaway, but you assholes better keep me in the fucking loop.”
He knew he sounded like a petulant child, but he didn’t care. Then he really thought about what it would be like to be sequestered with Liv. They would have time to get reacquainted and explore the explosive chemistry between them without anyone to interfere. A dark part of him hoped they wouldn’t get things resolved too quickly.
It took over an hour to go over all the Intel the analysts had already gathered on all the players. From what their sources could tell Luis was scouring the city for Liv trying to head off what he knew was coming. The USB drive held both hard and circumstantial evidence that could take down not only Luis but several key players in the police force.
With dirty cops on their payroll their current safe house wouldn’t be secure for much longer. This house wasn't set up for or secluded enough for actual secrecy. It was owned by Echelon Protection along with several other properties in the city so it wouldn’t take much looking to find. They usually used it more for someone who they needed to set up protection for but weren't trying to hide. He needed to get her out of the city completely, up into the Poconos mountains.
Sean hated to have to wake Liv after only an hour, especially after what little sleep she said she had gotten in the past three days. Unfortunately, they all agreed it was the safest option. She could sleep in the car or once they arrived at the hideaway. They were lucky Luis hadn’t already found them.
As they had been strategizing several things had become clear to Sean. He wasn’t willing to wait any more. Chivalry be damned. The thought of tasting her again at the first opportunity had caused him to lose focus more than once. She was going to be his. Not just for the night or while she was endangered. He wanted her back in his life permanently.
He wanted to learn about everything that had happened in her life since he'd stopped getting the daily updates. Help her discover new dreams and do everything in his power to make sure they came true.
That the connection between them was still so strong after so many years was a miracle, but it had grown into so much more. The new physical chemistry between them was something he couldn't, and didn’t, want to deny. Thoughts of how they could explore that in greater detail had him hard as a rock.
“Liv?” Sean knocked lightly on the bedroom door.
Several long silent seconds passed before he cracked open the door.
“Sorry to wake you but we need to…” Sean stopped talking as he took in the room and realized she wasn’t there.
He strode down to the bathroom then quickly through every other room in the house shouting her name. At the back most bedroom he found a window open that he knew had been closed earlier and had to accept the truth.
“Fuck.” He cursed under his breath.
