Dangerous Games (Aegis Group, #3)

by Sidney Bristol

  For once in his life, he was dreading work.

  It was a new state of being. And he didn’t like it.

  Going back to work meant leaving Andrea behind. Illinois was a long way from Seattle.

  Maybe he could visit.

  But that would only prologue what was bound to happen.

  They might get some weekends in, a whole seven days here and there, but it wouldn’t be enough. Their lives were separate. Their jobs bound to where they were. Eventually they’d drift apart, and while it would be a natural progression, one day he’d wake up and...she wouldn’t be there. She wouldn’t think of him. She’d move on.

  It would be better to savor what they had now, and end it on their terms. Not that it was much, but he liked Andrea. He liked being with her, talking to her. But that was him. She had promise. A bright, upwardly mobile career. And he’d always be that guy behind the scenes. There was nowhere else for him. At least not where he’d use all of his skills and contacts.

  Zain’s phone chimed again with an early message from Crystal. Who should be driving and not texting.

  Hey. It’s A. Come over?

  For a moment, his lungs froze and he couldn’t move.

  Magnetic strings pulled at his limbs, urging him to go. Right now. To be near her.

  “Something wrong?” Max asked.

  “No, nothing. Andrea’s headed home. They released her. Numbers?” He swiped the message off the screen. There was no way to respond without giving away just how much of his heart Andrea had claimed. He was hers to command, and for a man used to taking orders, that shouldn’t terrify him this much. But it did.

  “I feel like crap.” Andrea didn’t dare move. Crystal’s sofa cradled her body and she was weighted down by at least three cats, all purring in unison.

  “You don’t look like crap anymore.” Crystal plopped down on a beanbag chair next to her, a tablet in hand, sucking on a lollipop. It was late, they were all exhausted, and yet the last thing anyone wanted to do was sleep.

  “Thanks. I think.” Andrea pushed her hair back, but even that hurt. She’d turned down the offer of anything stronger than an over-the-counter pain killer. Maybe that was a mistake.

  “How you doing? Wanna talk about it yet?”

  Andrea turned her head, staring up at the ceiling. Did she?

  “Okay, I’ll take that as a no, then,” Crystal said. “Can we talk about the convention at least? How’d you meet Zain?”

  “Elevator.”

  “I know that. I mean...you know what I want to know.” Crystal prodded Andrea’s shoulder with a finger.

  Yes, Andrea knew exactly what Crystal was after, and she didn’t know if she was emotionally ready to go there, either.

  Her feelings for Zain were...complicated. New. Fresh. And then today had happened.

  “I like him, and that scares me.”

  “Okay,” Crystal drew the word out over several seconds. “Let me see if I get this straight. You met a dreamy, hot dude, who decided to be your personal body guard at no fee. He’s a professional badass, Miranda told me. And you’re having second thoughts because you’re yet again scared of commitment?”

  “Yes?” Andrea rubbed her face.

  “You’re scared.”

  Andrea swallowed.

  “You do this, Ann.”

  “Do I?”

  “Yeah. Anytime you like someone a lot you get scared and stop speaking to them. FYI, that text you were yelling at me for sending at that light? I told Zain I was you and asked him to come over, so he’s gonna be here soon. So spill before he gets here. What’s so great about him?”

  “You what?” Andrea’s heart jumped up into her throat. She both wanted to see Zain—and she was scared to. When she was in that basement, by herself, all she’d been able to think about was seeing him again. She’d known that he’d rescue her. And he had. But now...seeing him meant feeling things for him she wasn’t ready for.

  “You like him. I approve, even if he’s an alpha male kind of dude. He has good taste in games. Plus, it was totally bad ass how he was able to find out all that stuff so freaking fast. Little scary—because if he can do it, what can the government do? But since it was all to save you, I’ll let it slide this time. Now, spill. Before he gets here and you have to face your fears.”

  Andrea sighed and stroked whatever cat was currently weighing her ribs down. The thing had to be a fur-covered bowling ball. But the cat purred, and it helped calm her. Plus, there was nothing better than a living, breathing heating pad.

  “He was dressed as Captain Hook when I met him.” She glanced sideways at Crystal.

  “I heard. Do you have pictures?”

  “On my phone, wherever that is.”

  “I think Zain still has it. So you met in the elevator, he was dressed as steampunk Captain Hook—you were Leia—I’m going to nerdgasm off that alone. Miranda said he handled your room being broken into—but I’m not sure what happened after that.”

  “He’s so smart. Like, I feel stupid talking to him sometimes.”

  “He’s got that whole, wounded hero, sexy smolder thing going for him. It’s hot, and I don’t even go for that.”

  Andrea clenched her teeth against the knee jerk anger. Zain wasn’t a wounded hero. He was a hero. Period. So why was he interested in her? It wasn’t like she had anything to offer him besides...okay, she didn’t have an awesome game collection anymore so her stock reason why guys were into her was useless.

  “You do this. You know you do this. We’ve talked about you doing this several times,” Crystal said. “You find someone awesome, and let yourself get scared off. From the sound of him, he’s really cool.”

  “He is. He speaks Klingon. He likes Star Wars. He gets my references. He likes D7. He watches the vlog, by the way, so he totally knew who I was.”

  “I told you, we’re getting a lot more viewers than we realize. So you like him, he’s a pro-badass and he’s total geek-hot.”

  “I don’t know what my problem is.” Was he okay? She wanted so badly to see him, and yet the idea made her freeze up.

  “I’m going to grab a drink. Want something?” Crystal pushed to her feet.

  The side door opened and a dark-haired woman stepped into the cozy living room.

  “Hey, Patricia,” Andrea said.

  “Andrea.” Patricia blinked, lips parted, as if she were surprised to see her. Then again, Andrea had avoided being around Patricia for a while.

  “Hey, babe. I’m going to get a drink. Want something?” Crystal crossed to her girlfriend and laid a quick kiss on her still parted lips.

  “Is alcohol involved?” Andrea asked.

  “It can be.” Crystal grinned.

  “Then yes, please.” Andrea needed a little liquid courage.

  “Want one?” Crystal squeezed Patricia’s hand and then headed into the kitchen.

  “Yeah. That’d be great.” Patricia was still staring at Andrea as if she were a ghost. What the hell was her problem?

  “Have a seat.” Andrea drew up her feet, wincing as new hurts revealed themselves.

  “I didn’t know—Crystal never told me that, I mean—they found you.” Patricia perched on the far side of the sofa, clutching her purse to her chest, coat still on.

  “Oh, um, yeah.” Andrea didn’t know what to say to her. Usually they did fairly well with Crystal between them, ignoring each other.

  “Zain’s a total badass,” Crystal yelled from the kitchen.

  Andrea sighed. She liked Zain. A lot. More than she probably should. And Crystal was right. She’d said as much when Andrea sabotaged her last relationship. Granted, that one wasn’t going anywhere good for her, but that wasn’t the point. She had a history of watching her friends fall for people, of being jealous it wasn’t her—and when it was, she destroyed it, someway, somehow.

  Patricia was still staring at her.

  “Crystal?” Andrea tilted her head to the side.

  “Yeah?”

  “You going to
your parent’s house for that drink?”

  “Magic takes time.”

  Whatever.

  Andrea was going to drink whatever Crystal made her—which would probably be weak considering how much stink eye Andrea was getting for turning down anything except antibiotics—and wait for Zain to show up. She’d know what to say to him then.

  Probably “Thank you” and “I’m sorry” were good places to start.

  “Here you go!” Crystal paraded into the room, followed by two more cats, and presented a red, bubbling cocktail to Andrea and then Patricia.

  “Do I want to know what it is?”

  “It’s a modified Captain America.”

  “Perfect.”

  She wrapped her lips around the straw and sucked. The faster it went down, the better she could handle seeing Zain again.

  Zain parked the Fiat in one of the service entry parking spaces. That Crystal’s parents had need of a service entry was weird enough. That the spaces were almost full was even stranger.

  The main house was a four-story, modern construction made to look old and stately, yet with all the latest conveniences. The two-story cottage down the walk where Crystal lived was larger than most family homes and yet next to where her parents called home, it looked small and modest in comparison.

  Andrea was here. Behind eight-foot fences. With a security guard on watch. And a police unit on patrol. She was here and she was safe. She didn’t need him, but he needed her.

  He was halfway to the house when his phone rang.

  It was nearing four in the morning. What the hell?

  He glanced at the screen, expecting it to be Max—instead it was Gavin. With the time difference, it was close to six for the kid and he was not an early riser. So what was the emergency?

  “Yeah?” Zain said, answering the phone.

  “Boss, I ran the numbers.” Gavin still sounded half asleep.

  “And?”

  “There’s one that...are you sure these are the right numbers?”

  “I sent exactly what Max had on the SIM card.”

  “Boss, the last number that guy got a call from was from our client’s friend. Patricia? You know her? It was like right after you said the client called you.”

  Zain stopped on the walk. He could see through the open window straight into the living room. The curtains perfectly framed an image of Andrea...and Patricia. What was it Andrea had said in the ambulance? She’d been telling Max what’d happened. She’d made the call and then...Kevin seemed to know.

  He’d known.

  Because Patricia had heard them talking about the Morse code call from Andrea.

  And she’d warned Kevin.

  The bitch.

  “Text me the number. Get on with Max, get a uniform here. Now. She’s with Andrea.” Zain ended the call and jogged to the front door.

  No wonder Andrea hadn’t liked Patricia. Women’s intuition was an amazing thing.

  His phone buzzed with an incoming text. He flicked his finger over the message, tapping the number and activating the call.

  Zain pushed the kitchen door open.

  Three pair of eyes turned toward him.

  Andrea was there, between him and Patricia.

  A phone began to ring.

  “Zain, hey.” Andrea sat up, dislodging two cats who meowed and sort of rolled onto the floor.

  Patricia reached into her purse, grabbed her phone and stared at the screen.

  “Answer it,” he said, daring her to prove him wrong.

  Patricia glanced up at him, eyes wide.

  “I don’t know the number,” she said.

  “Answer it, now.”

  “Zain, what the fuck?” Crystal stood at the kitchen island, a bottle in each hand.

  Patricia pressed the screen and held it up to her face.

  Zain lifted his to his ear.

  Patricia didn’t speak.

  “How long have you been working with Kevin Lee?” he asked.

  “I—what? No.” Patricia shook her head.

  “What?” Crystal shrieked.

  Zain strode across the room to the sofa, cats leaping out of his way. Andrea pushed up, scuttling behind him. Patricia shrank into the cushions, eyes darting around.

  “How long have you worked with Kevin?” he yelled at her.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Patricia wouldn’t look at him, too busy looking for a way out.

  “Then why is your number in Kevin’s phone? Why did you call him tonight after Andrea called for help? Did you tell him about it? Did you know he was trying to kill her?”

  Patricia yanked a keychain out of her purse with a silver, cylinder canister attached to it.

  Zain reached out, grabbed her wrist in one hand, yanked her to her feet and twisted. Aerosol spray misted the sofa. Zain’s eyes pricked.

  He twisted harder, until she lost her grip on the can of mace. A feline yowl ripped through the woman’s scream and the other two girls started speaking at once.

  “Get out of here. Get the damn cats out, now!” He side stepped off the cat, holding Patricia’s wrists manacled with one hand.

  “I didn’t do anything,” Patricia whined.

  He hooked the handcuffs still attached to his belt from earlier with his prosthetic and slapped one cuff around Patricia’s wrist, then the other.

  “Zain, no. Wait, there has to be a mistake,” Crystal said. She had one cat clutched to her chest and stood with the sofa between them. The way she was staring at Patricia made him think she didn’t completely disbelieve him.

  “My guy isn’t wrong. Her number was in Kevin Lee’s cell phone. She called him right after Andrea’s call to use was cut off. What, exactly, were you doing for him?” Zain tugged on the cuffs.

  Patricia sniffed and tossed her head back, somehow managing to glare at him over her shoulder.

  “You didn’t. Patricia?” Crystal’s gaze slid to her girlfriend.

  Patricia pressed her lips together and didn’t respond.

  Andrea hugged Crystal and her cat, her sad eyes aimed at him. They’d known it could be someone close to them, but they hadn’t expected someone this intimately dear to one of them. Crystal’s girlfriend? It was near impossible to wrap his head around it.

  “You did! You bitch! You nearly Maced my cat!” Crystal lunged, but Andrea had a hold on her and the now growling cat.

  Someone knocked on the door, a moment later the police announced themselves and entered without being granted entry. The next few moments passed in a blur. Crystal’s lower lip trembled, but she didn’t cry. At least not until the door closed. Zain should have supervised Patricia’s arrest, informed the officers what was going on, and assisted Bowman and the officers setting up a transfer to ensure Patricia made it to the right jail. But all he could think about was how long it’d been since he’d seen and touched Andrea.

  Before he knew it, he was standing right in front of her with no memory of crossing the room.

  The circles under her eyes were the darkest yet. She was exhausted, her skin paler than normal. There were scratches on her face. The bandages were covered by the long sleeves of a Doctor Who hoodie, but he knew they were there.

  “You okay?” she asked him.

  “Yeah.”

  “What happened to your arm?”

  “The rain didn’t mix well with the 3D arm.” He bent his elbow, bringing the hook prosthetic up.

  “Can you fix it?”

  “It just needs to dry.”

  “Good.” She took a deep breath. “I’m glad you’re here.”

  This was awkward. He didn’t know what to say or do. Her body language was stiff. Was that from what she’d gone through? Or was something else wrong?

  “Guys, did that just happen?” Crystal’s voice was watery. She stood with her back to the door, a cat under each arm.

  “Oh, Crystal.” Andrea turned and crossed to her friend, giving her a tight hug.

  Zain swallowed.

  “She nea
rly Maced my cats.” Crystal’s voice wavered.

  He wanted to bundle Andrea up. Tuck her away. Keep her safe. But Crystal needed her friend. Until they had one-hundred-percent confirmation that Patricia was involved, things would continue to be in limbo.

  “You guys should try to sleep,” he said.

  “After that?” Crystal let one squirming cat go and clutched the other tighter.

  “Yeah, I don’t think I’m ready to sleep either,” Andrea said.

  He had to think beyond what he wanted.

  “Look, Patricia might still be innocent. We know Kevin is guilty, but it’ll take time to prove whether or not she was involved.”

  “Are you serious? She only started calling me five days before comic con.” Crystal wiped at her face. “I thought she’d changed. I thought we could make it work.”

  “She always liked you,” Andrea said.

  “You hated her.”

  “I didn’t hate her.” Andrea cringed.

  “You didn’t like her, though.”

  “No. You’re right. I didn’t. I never liked how she manipulated you.” Andrea followed Crystal to the sofa. “I just...I want someone to love you like I love you. And...Patricia...she liked you in her own way.”

  “Just say it. Stop being nice.” Crystal settled with her back to the arm rest, a cat in her lap and one creeping toward her on the back of the sofa.

  How many damn cats were there?

  “You know what I like to do when the job gets rough?” he said over the circling dialogue. If this went on much longer, Andrea and Crystal would start fighting.

  “What?” Andrea blinked up at him.

  “I get some ice cream and I watch Firefly.”

  “That sounds perfect.” Crystal pushed her glasses up and sniffed. “There’s a gallon of chocolate chip cookie dough in the freezer. I think there’s still some chocolate, too.”

  “I can get that. Do you have Firefly?”

  Crystal stared at him with an Are You For Real stare.

  “Forget I asked. Start it up. I’ll get the ice cream.” He turned and walked into the open kitchen with its granite countertops and chef range.

  The ice cream was easy to find. He pulled three different kinds out of the freezer and closed the door.

  Andrea stood on the other side, her bare feet standing out against the dark wood floors.