by Ari McKay
“Actually, I think I do.” Joe stepped away from Finn. “Maybe not to you, but to him. I’ve worked with people I’ve disliked before. Even people I hated before. Just leave it, Finn. I know you’re trying to help, but there is absolutely nothing you can say or do that will make any of this easier, okay? I might as well give up on pretending he doesn’t exist and just learn to deal with it.”
“Got it.” Finn gave a brief nod. “In that case, I’ll leave you to it. If you need me for anything, I’ll be in the gym.”
Joe sighed. “All right.” There was no way he could say the right thing in this situation. Finn seemed to alternate between trying to protect him from things and wanting him to face up to them, and Joe was sure part of it had to do with Finn feeling guilty. Not that Finn felt guilty for loving Drew, but for the fact that doing so was causing Joe so much self-doubt. “Just… know that I do love you, Finn. I’m making the best of this that I can. Not just for your sake, but for mine, okay?”
Finn studied Joe for a moment, and then he closed the distance between them and captured Joe’s lips in a kiss that was tender rather than deep. “I know, and I appreciate it,” he murmured. “I love you, too.”
“I’m glad.” Joe whispered. He closed his eyes, letting himself soak in Finn’s nearness, at least for the moment. “Let’s just get this job done, okay?”
“Okay,” Finn said, sliding his arms around Joe’s waist.
Joe embraced Finn, pulling him close. “Come over to my place tonight?” he asked softly. He wasn’t going to beg, but he needed Finn, he needed to know things were going to be all right between them.
Finn nuzzled his cheek against Joe’s neatly trimmed beard and hummed quietly. “I’d love to. Want me to bring anything?”
“Only you.” Finn was all Joe needed. He just wished with all his heart that Finn could say the same about him.
10
Drew watched as a group of young men jogged past his position, wearing shorts and tank tops that revealed toned muscles and skin glistening with sweat. Working as a bodyguard might not be as exciting as being in the middle of a free-fire zone, but not having to worry that everyone who approached might be a suicide bomber was a nice change. The eye candy available on a university campus wasn’t bad, either. Of course, they were far too young, not a one of them probably over twenty-two, but he had no interest in them beyond their pleasant addition to the local scenery. It wasn’t just that they were too young and innocent for him, either. The truth was that Finn was just about all Drew could handle.
He smiled as he glanced toward the entrance to the McKimmon Conference Center, where the Summit on Ecological Sustainability was being held. He could see Finn talking animatedly with one of the university staff, probably a professor judging by the tweedy appearance of the guy. At Finn’s shoulder Joe hovered watchfully, as though he were present as much to guard Finn as anyone else. Not that Drew was surprised at all, given the way he knew Joe felt about Finn. He just wished he could crack through the shell of iron-clad professionalism Joe had chosen to erect around himself whenever Drew was around. It was true that Joe was the quiet sort, who rarely spoke unless he had something important to say, but he was virtually silent whenever Drew was around. According to Finn, Joe had decided to be completely professional when it came to their interactions, and so far he had been, which was both a relief and a challenge in Drew’s eyes. Not that he wanted to make Joe angry, especially since he had a pretty good idea that if Joe gave Finn an ultimatum to choose between the two of them, Drew would be on the losing end. But the real reason Drew took it as a challenge was that Joe was incredibly hot, and he really did have the sexy innocent aura down to a science.
Drew found himself attracted to Joe much in the same way he’d been attracted to Finn right from the start, and if he were completely honest, Joe pushed a lot of his buttons. He’d had more than one fantasy about seeing Joe and Finn together, and about being between the two of them in bed. He was sure the results would be explosive—although at the moment, he knew Joe would probably rather slit Drew’s throat than go to bed with him.
Joe looked up, as though he felt Drew’s gaze, and even at the distance of a dozen yards, Drew could see the smoldering look Joe was giving him. No doubt it was because Joe thought Drew was looking at Finn, and maybe even wondering if he should have taken Finn up on his offer to have Drew removed from the team. He wondered if Joe knew that Finn had made a similar offer to him, offering to have Drew removed without prejudice if Drew thought interacting with Joe was going to be too stressful. Yet Drew was the kind of man who enjoyed a challenge, and he thought that getting Joe Morrissey to not only like him, but to consider him as a lover, might be the biggest challenge of his life.
Drew smiled at Joe before glancing away, looking across the walkway at where Tyson stood, watching over the groups of passing students, ever alert for danger. Dead-eye was an excellent partner, and once he got over ragging Drew for being Army instead of Navy, they’d settled into a good working relationship. Their skills meshed well. Drew was able to see the big picture in a situation, and Tyson was used to a smaller focus, which made sense for a man who was a crack sniper; he had to be aware of the most minute details in a situation. It meant that they could cover the entire gamut in surveillance, and on the two missions they’d had leading up to the current one, they’d managed to foil both an attempted robbery and a murder.
“Status check,” Joe’s deep voice came over the communications circuit. The earpieces they’d been issued by Pixel were state-of-the-art, making Joe sound almost like he was standing right next to him.
“Baker one, check,” Tyson replied. He was the lead of their two-man team, designated Baker for the mission.
“Baker two, check,” Drew said. He listened as Thunder and Tailor acknowledged as team “Charlie”. Six men might not seem like a lot to many people, even with ]Pixel occupying a van at the curb full of equipment to monitor the sensors they’d placed throughout the conference center. However, six trained killers was probably more than anyone would be comfortable with hanging around a bunch of scientists and diplomats. Normal campus security was stationed around the facility as well, their job to police the badges of attendees and deal with the more mundane matters like people who were lost or who had misplaced their cellphones. It was up to Drew and his teammates to make sure that no one smuggled in bombs or guns, and that none of the protesters already ringing the building did anything stupid. That was why the team wasn’t attired in business suits or casual clothing that would help them blend in with the students. All of them were outfitted in black tactical gear complete with bulletproof vests emblazoned with SECURITY, and while their guns weren’t full-on assault rifles—those had been rejected by the conference organizers as being a bit too much for the situation—each man carried a fully loaded semiautomatic pistol and extra magazines, along with a taser. There were assault rifles in the van with Pixel, as well as tranquilizer guns, tear gas grenades, and a small trauma rig in case things got nasty.
Tyson walked over to join him. “Heads up, looks like the boss men are coming over.”
Drew glanced over to see Finn and Joe approaching. “Probably last minute orders. I bet the conference delegates are on their way from the hotel.”
“Curtain’s about to go up,” Finn said when he reached them. Although he retained a professional demeanor, his expression grew softer when he looked at Drew. “Campus security is standing by, and Pixel’s running an automated scan for any threats that pop up online.”
“Sounds good,” Tyson said.
Drew couldn’t help but smile a bit at Finn. “We’re ready, boss.” He looked over Finn’s shoulder at Joe. “I mean, bosses.”
Joe gave no reaction whatsoever to Drew’s slight jibe, and Drew figured that he didn’t want to face Joe at poker. About the only tell Joe had shown was a tendency to mutter in Russian when he was particularly annoyed—and it probably would have really pissed him off to know that Drew spoke the language, an
d had understood every time Joe had called him a “bastard” under his breath.
“Thunder and Tailor are monitoring the protestors,” Finn said. “I want you two to keep an eye on the arrivals. Make sure no unauthorized personnel approaches the delegates’ cars.”
“On it,” Drew said. “We’ve got this. Right, Dead-eye?”
“Easy peasy,” Tyson replied, giving a thumbs up. “Come on, partner. Between the two of us I bet we’ll scare off everyone, including the delegates.”
Drew chuckled and then with a last, lingering look at Finn, followed in Tyson’s wake. It was going to be a long and no doubt tiring day, but at least at the end of it he could look forward to an evening with Finn. That alone made any tedium worth it.
11
Finn swept his gaze around the area as he patrolled outside the conference center near the rear exits, keeping his pace slow and steady. The conference was on its third day, and so far, everything had gone smoothly. There had been a couple of times when they’d checked out alleged suspicious activity. In fact, Joe had left Finn to patrol alone for a few minutes while he joined Tailor and Thunder to investigate a report. But every incident had turned out to be nothing of note, and Finn expected this one to be the same.
A small part of Finn wished Joe would be held up until their shift ended, which he knew was unkind, but things had been tense between them lately. Finn was trying to balance his schedule fairly between Joe and Drew by planning two nights per week each, which gave them an equal amount of time and gave him some downtime as well. He loved them both, but sometimes, he needed to decompress and spend an evening doing nothing but catching up on the magazines he subscribed to or playing Red Dead Redemption 2 by himself.
Last night, he was supposed to hang out with Joe. Rarely did he make concrete plans with either of them. Like him, Drew preferred to be spontaneous and do whatever they were in the mood for, whether that was going out to eat or to a movie, binging a show on Netflix, or tumbling into bed. Joe was also easy-going, although he preferred activities that allowed them to stay in. But last night, Joe had asked if they could postpone their night together, which was unexpected.
Finn agreed without asking any questions. Poking Joe about something tended to make him close up even tighter. Joe would talk about it if and when he was ready, and while part of Finn was afraid it meant Joe was starting to pull away from him, he reminded himself that Joe had stuck by Finn for eight years and would continue to do so. Joe always said what he meant and meant what he said. Finn was counting on that now.
He also suspected the situation with Drew wasn’t the only factor behind Joe’s behavior. The recent mission to Pakistan had affected Joe in ways Finn hadn’t seen before, and he was starting to think Joe was dealing with PTSD in the aftermath of whatever he’d experienced. After the conference was over, Finn was going to suggest that they hold off on taking another mission and that Joe talk to one of the company therapists. Pixel had vouched for Dr. Matthews, giving him credit for helping Pixel through the grieving process when he lost everything he owned in a fire and was stuck in a safe house.
Finn was also considering whether he ought to put his relationship with Drew on hold for a while. He didn’t want to break up—that thought was too painful—but having to accept the presence of another man in Finn’s life might be a complication Joe didn’t need right now. The problem was, he didn’t know how Drew might react to that. Drew might see it as a sign that Joe was Finn’s priority and opt out of the relationship because he didn’t want to feel like he was always in the back seat.
Blowing out a frustrated huff, Finn tried to push aside the tumultuous thoughts roiling around in his head. He needed to focus on the task at hand, not on his screwed-up love life. In theory, having two men was exactly what he’d always wanted, but the reality was far more complicated than he’d imagined it would be. He never realized how conflicted he’d feel about being in the middle, for one thing. It would probably be easier if all three of them took the same approach to relationships, but no, Finn had to fall in love with Mr. White Picket Fence.
Maybe he ought to give monogamy a try. He’d been with Joe for eight years, after all. Surely that meant something. Would it be so bad if he couldn’t roam once in a while? That level of commitment would make Joe happy.
But his heart wrenched at the thought of never feeling Drew’s arms around him, of never again experiencing their easy connection and explosive chemistry. Giving up Drew would hurt on levels Finn didn’t want to think about, and he knew he’d risk growing to resent Joe even if he broke up with Drew voluntarily.
He didn’t know what the right thing to do was, and that was driving him crazy.
“Excuse me? You’re one of the Hercules Security people?”
Finn turned around to find a young man looking at him hopefully, and he was almost grateful for the distraction from his thoughts.
“Can I help you?”
The young man smiled and stepped closer, holding up a piece of paper. “I have a message for you.”
“From who?” Finn asked as he took the paper. No one on the team would send a written message, and he couldn’t think of why anyone would need to pass him a note. Frowning, he glanced down at the paper, but the words weren’t English, and his spidey senses started tingling. “What is this?”
The young man was still smiling, and Finn didn’t notice anyone else until another man—this one much bigger—was suddenly behind him. He felt a quick, sharp sting against his neck, and as he drew in a breath, a wave of dizziness washed over him.
“This is what you Americans call payback,” a harsh, deep voice murmured close to his ear.
Finn tried to fight back, to shout—anything that would give him some time and maybe get his teammates’ attention—but his arms were weak and unresponsive, and he couldn’t get any words out.
“Oh, you are feeling ill!” The big man put an arm around Finn’s waist, while the younger man came to his other side. “Here, let us help you to your friends. They are outside, we saw them.”
Somehow the tone of the man’s voice wasn’t at all reassuring, but Finn couldn’t even turn his head to get a good look at the big man. They started walking him toward the rear exit of the building—which was not where Pixel was with the Hercules Security van. He struggled to shrug them off, but his muscles grew weaker with every passing moment, and he could barely pick his feet off the ground as he shambled along between them.
Maybe Joe would return, he thought with a little flare of hope. If Joe showed up in time, he’d take care of these two assholes.
There was a man waiting by the rear exit, but he was obviously with Finn’s captors, because he smiled nastily and opened the door for the others.
“You got one. I thought they’d never split their teams,” he said. “Let’s get him into the van.”
Finn could see a big black van parked in the loading dock—a van not unlike the one Pixel was in out front—and as he watched, yet another man slid the door open from the inside. The two guys supporting him hurried faster now, letting Finn’s feet drag on the pavement.
Just before they reached the van, there was a shout from behind them, and Finn recognized Joe’s voice.
“Stop or I’ll shoot!”
The younger man glanced behind them, but Finn’s captors didn’t halt. There were cracks of gunfire, and then the big guy on Finn’s right let out a cry of pain as at least one of the bullets impacted on him. But it was too late; the man inside the van grabbed his injured teammate, while the younger guy and the man who had been at the door pushed Finn into the van. Finn could hear footsteps pounding toward the van, which had to be Joe in pursuit.
Finn found himself dropped onto the cold metal floor of the van, his head bouncing painfully. But he was turned in the right way to catch sight of Joe running toward him, a look of desperate determination on his face. Joe had his gun up, and as the door to the van closed and the driver took off with a squeal of tires, Finn heard the impact of more bul
lets, shattering the windows of the van. The vehicle didn’t stop, but over the roar of the engine he heard Joe bellowing in rage, a sound of pure, visceral fury unlike anything Finn had heard from his lover before.
Finn’s last thought before darkness overwhelmed him was, you guys are so fucked.
12
“Morrissey! Holy fuck, what’s happening?”
Thunder’s voice reached Joe through his earpiece, but he ignored the question as he stared after the van, unable to believe someone had snatched Finn away right in front of his eyes. It was impossible that anyone could have gotten the drop on him, and yet it had happened. All Joe could think about was getting Finn back.
“Pixel! Call 911 and report that Brian Finnegan has been kidnapped. We need an APB put out on a black van, Maryland plates M as in Mike 302443. Call Herc. Tell him four guys snatched Finn from the summit. We need a quick response team on the double. Everyone else, inside the conference center. Tailor, you get with campus security for any of their internal camera recordings. Thunder, Dead-eye, Joker—we scour every inch of this fucking place to see what we can find to help us figure out who took Finn.”
“On it,” Pixel acknowledged at once.
“Shouldn’t we give chase?” Thunder asked, breathing hard into his mike as he was obviously running flat out.
Joe was already heading back toward the rear of the conference center, and he could hear sirens approaching. He flipped the safety on his gun as he neared the door, not wanting to shoot any campus police who came through. He was as icily calm and yet more furious than he could ever remember being. That was good—he had to keep it together to find Finn.