"Soon, love," I chuckled, leaning in to kiss her head. "In fact... I believe who you're looking for is leading the welcoming committee."
Alyssa grinned, her head snapping around to look at the front of the office, as Tink, Kristen, baby Makenna, Joanne, Tawny and Ross—Who were lucky enough to be able to head straight here, beating us by several hours— all waited patiently for us, with Juan jumping up and down in front of them. I wasn't sure who shot out of the cars quicker—Alyssa or Macon—but both were out and running.
"Tia!" Juan yelled, breaking away from Joanne to rush to Alyssa, who immediately scooped him up to smother him in kisses.
His face was illuminated as they held their conversation in Spanish blocking out the rest of the world for a moment. I watched my girl and felt absolute happiness, because not only was she home, but everyone was back where they should be. And though we had so much business to attend to inside, I was compelled to join them.
I stepped around a reunited Jackson and Margaux, and my dad and Joanne, aiming for Alyssa, who was forehead to forehead with Juan. “Didn’t I tell you I’d bring her back buddy?”
He beamed up at me, his brown eyes ecstatic, as he nodded. “You sure did.”
Alyssa laughed taking his hand and walking with everyone else into the building, because we still had a meeting before we all headed home. “So tell me everything that I missed while I was gone.” She demanded looking down at him, her own green eyes alight.
"I helped Mommy and Unca Adwien wif a mission...and Miss Joanne and I made cookies...and I took bubble baffs."
"What mission?" Alyssa chuckled, taking her seat in the conference room and pulling him into her lap.
"I was a co-pilot," he stated with a firm, authoritative nod.
"A pilot's got to have someone he can depend on," I added.
Juan played with her hair as she urged him on. “Ok what else?”
His mouth pouted crookedly and his eyes rolled upward as he thought of what else happened. “Oh, mommy made Unca Adrian and Mr. Grayson go outside and measure their dicks? What are dicks, Tia?”
The ones that were in the conference room all stopped their conversations looking at the little boy on Alyssa’s lap. Macon laughed immediately and Alyssa’s eyes narrowed at me and then Hunter, who was standing sheepishly in the corner. “Who said it?” Alyssa groaned between the two of us.
“Don’t look at me.” Hunter defended holding up his hands.
Juan rolled his eyes dramatically, “No mommy said it. She got really mad.”
Alyssa looked to Doc immediately, her tongue rolling quickly, in chastising words. “¿En serio? En frente al niño?” She chided.
“You would have said worst.” She snickered in English before going on to explain to Juan in Spanish, about something.
Alyssa just shook her head at the woman she viewed as a little sister and then looked back at me. “Measuring huh?”
“Yeah, it got a little heated in your absence.” I answered guiltily, mainly because she had a look on her face like I was going to be in trouble.
She didn’t disappoint. “We’ll talk about it later.” She assured just before crooning to the four year old in her lap. Joanne was going to take Juan into the other room with Makenna so that we could have our meeting. “We can play tomorrow ok, Juan?”
He frowned instantly, not wanting to get down from her lap. “But you just got backs, Tia. I’ll be quiet promise.”
Alyssa frowned looking down at him, her nose wrinkling in discomfort and she looked to Doc pleadingly.
“Juan, we all have a meeting about grown up things. It will only take a little while, and then we can go home. I’ll let you use Mommy’s paints.” Doc promised picking him up herself and walking him out the room.
“No deal, I want to play with Mommy Rwoslyn’s soldier stuff.” He negotiated as the door closed behind them. Ross only laughed, pulling Doc into her lap when she came back into the room so that a chair could be freed for someone else standing in the back off the room.
When everyone had settled Hunter and Cam called their meeting to attention. “Let’s start by saying, welcome back Chance.” Cam congratulated as Macon started a clap and Jackson tousled the top of her head. She playfully slapped him away before leaning into me waiting for him to continue.
“For those of you that don’t know,” Hunter started, “The four men we’ve detained are being held at the Marine Corps Brig in Quantico. Once we catch Windsor, Nowak and whoever is pulling the strings, I’m trying them all and sending their guilty asses to Fort Leavenworth.”
“Any confirmation on the location of the second bomb?” Victor asked from the back of the room.
Hunter sighed shaking his head. “No, the only one that can help us with that is Myles Thompson, the only thing we could confirm with the other three men is that they moved the second bomb down the mountain over a week before Alyssa’s capture.”
“So the asshole isn’t completely full of shit.” I muttered.
My dad put a hand on my shoulder, “I’ll assume that bomb is the first priority?”
Hunter nodded. “I have to retrieve that bomb at any cost.”
“What kind of leg room do we have?” Jackson asked, because we knew the more government support we had, the easier this shit would be.
Hunter just grinned, his eyes holding a hint of smugness. “Neil Industries is one of the government’s largest ‘defense’ contract . If they are targeted in anyway…” He shrugged letting it trail off.
“So a few decent fucking cushions.” Ross agreed. “Never thought we’d be back in this type of shit again.”
Kristen nodded, “I’d say. How much damage can this bomb do?” She asked looking to her husband.
Macon shrugged as he spoke. “If it is anything like the one in the barn, I’d say no more than about ten to twenty thousand square feet. It looks scary as hell, but they’re working with sticks of TNT up there, not C4, so they aren’t wiping out a block let alone a city with it.”
“So we have to assume that it is one localized area they’re trying to demolish.” Danny mused rubbing his chin.
Dario nodded. “Like a certain building…”
Tink caught the hint, “I’m working on narrowing it down guys, but there are so many possibilities. If they were trying to make a statement, I’d guess the Neil Tower downtown. Cause the most damage; I’d have to guess the chemical plant outside of Alexandria. Too much ground to cover and not attract attention.”
Cam agreed. “Nor do we know how much time we have.”
“We’ll figure it out; I have my best analysts working from every angle, psych profiles, the works.” Hunter consoled slapping Cam on the back.
My dad supplied, “Tawny had a few ideas.”
“Like?” Cam asked putting his head up from his computer.
Doc had no trouble taking the floor, “Whoever their boss is has to be involved with Neil Industries. The way they’re staying in the shadows would imply possibly even a higher up exec, or shareholder. Someone that actually has something to lose if he’s caught besides freedom.”
Kristen seemed to be catching the same wave as she was. Their detective sides kicking in. “Tink I think you should turn your research towards the people that had the most to lose with C&K shutting down. The financial backers, upper level management, whoever worked there and were actually kept.”
“No prob, no prob, no prob.” Tink nodded. “Any idea how high you’d like to go?”
Kristen laughed. “All the way up to the CEO. We need to know who gains the most if something were to happen to Neil Industries.”
These girls were on a roll. “Maybe not necessarily Neil Industries, maybe just Neil himself.” Doc mused. “The first call said that it was payback, and Neil was going to pay.”
I looked over at my girl, who had been fairly quiet her green eyes full of speculation. “Guys, how long will it take you to research this, for Hunt?”
“Not long, a few hours.” Tink assured.
She nodded bringing her knee to her chin in the chair. Her voice was soft, yet distracted. “Good, go ahead in the computer room and get started. Don’t take too long, because we are going to wrap this up soon. Everyone—on my end at least— is going to have the day off. We will pick up with what they have in the morning.”
Kristen raised an eyebrow at her, and Macon extended his thoughts. “We still have a little more fight in us Chance.”
“You don’t have to cut things short.” Jeff agreed.
Cam even went on, “With a bomb out we have—”
Alyssa silenced him with her hand, “Cam, Hunt, if you want to keep working that is fine, but my crew is going to have the rest of this day off. They’ve been working since Juan was taken. They need time to rest and time with their loved ones. My girls aren’t just detectives anymore, their wives, and mothers. These guys aren’t just former mercenaries, they’re husbands and fathers. I’m not sure how long this is going to go, but they will have as much alone time with their families as possible. ”
“I think that’s an excellent idea Alyssa.” My dad agreed.
Hunter raised an eyebrow at her in question, and I couldn’t help but be surprised myself. She was normally a work now relax later type of person. Her face was set as she looked up at him though. “Twenty four hours?” He double checked. She nodded—and like everyman in Alyssa’s life—he couldn’t deny her what she wanted. “I’ll pull the guys on your house and office off as well, give them the night off.”
Tink nodded standing up from her chair, grabbing her laptop. “Let’s get this done. I want to be home before lunchtime.”
Alyssa nodded agreeing, turning her attention back to Hunter and Cam. “Continue.”
Hunter continued with his updates, and the plan until we found a solid direction to head in, but I could feel in my stomach that something was bugging my girl, and noting Hunter’s gaze when he looked up from his files, he did too. “What’s going on in that head of yours, Babes?”
The girls stopped their conversation in the computer room, waiting themselves. Alyssa was never a person to be afraid of anything, so her straightforward question didn’t surprise me. “When do I get to kill Myles Thompson?”
“Um…Babes.” Hunter started, his eyes were sympathetic.
Cam shook his head firmly. “No way. Myles Thompson and those men are military prisoners; they have to be accounted for. We can’t just kill them. You know that, Chance.”
“He kept me in a cage for days, he took Juan. Pointed a gun in our faces. The only reason I didn’t kill him on that mountain is because you all needed him. Now he isn’t being compliant anyway so dead or alive, what’s the difference?” She argued looking only at Grayson.
“The difference is our jobs.” Cam argued.
“My job Cam,” Hunter corrected running a quick hand over his head.
Cam scoffed rolling his eyes. “Either way you want to put it, someone is going to have to pay the piper if one of them comes up missing. Especially Myles, we’re going to need him when we get Windsor and Nowak in custody. If he was going to be killed, you guys should have done it when he could have been considered a threat to your safety storming that mountain.”
“You promised Hunt.” Alyssa sighed sounding almost heart broken. “Thompson isn’t going to turn over his friends, and we have Kris. He’s a witness.”
“Powell? A person that we already refused to charge, despite the fact that he was involved in the kidnapping of two minors as well as yourself Alyssa. You asked us to keep him out of it and we did. We can’t do anymore within our legal limits.” Cam apologized, sounding stressed and strained.
“There’s gotta be something we can do?” Macon requested looking over at Hunter, who was gripping the side of the table, his head staring at the oak.
Hunter sighed and Cam reiterated. “There is nothing we are able to—”
“—There is … something.” Hunter sighed looking up at me and then Alyssa. “But you’re going to have to be patient Babes.”
Alyssa shrugged. “Set it up, I can wait.”
“I don’t think you know how long of a wait it is Alyssa. The only opening would be once he was amongst general population in Ft. Leavenworth.” He plotted in almost a whisper.
“Tell me you are not talking about a prison hit!?” Cam argued yanking his glasses back off. Hunter gave him a quick nod, but then a shrug.
Macon shrugged, “This wouldn’t be the first one. So what are we doing, hitting the bus in transport?”
“You are talking about a prison hit,” Cam shook his head throwing his hands in the air and walking into the computer room. “I don’t even hear this right now! I’m going to help Tawny and the girls.”
“When would he have details, Grayson?” Ross asked leaning in.
Hunter shook his head. “There would be no team, it would be a one man operation.”
Jackson whistled unfazed, “Go ahead, if I’m in the right position I could—”
Hunter shook his head, “No it would have to look like an accident, beyond our control. The hit would have to take place inside Leavenworth and they would need to be in place before he’s even sent there. It would mean a few months away from home.”
Alyssa shrugged, “Set it up, Babes. I’ll go.”
I instinctively wrapped an arm around her, I wasn’t going to let her be around the idiots in that prison without me for a day, let alone months. Hunter laughed rolling his eyes. “Babes, you lack the hardware that would put you close enough to pull off an inmate on inmate hit.”
“Oh.” She sighed, her face falling. Though she was sad I felt relief, because she wasn’t going to be away from me. “Well that settles that.”
“Don’t look like that, Chance.” Ross sighed.
I sighed, “I can go baby.”
She shook her head grabbing my hand. “No baby, I’ll be ok. Let’s just get these assholes and get back to our lives.”
Letting go of my hand she sighed getting up and walked out of office. Victor followed behind her silently, and I raked my hands through my hair. “Are we done here man?”
“No, no, no.” Tink sang coming back out with Kristen and Doc.
Macon, who was leaning back sat up immediately. “What’s happening baby?”
Kristen looked at the empty seat next to me. “Where’s Chance?”
“She stepped out.” Dario explained, “Should we call her in?”
Doc shook her head. “No.”
“It’s probably best that she’s out.” Kristen nodded. “We have a plan to bring the guy out of hiding.”
“You do?” I asked looking at Tink’s face, scrunched up and hesitant.
Tink nodded. “We do, but Chance won’t like it.”
“Let’s hear it.” Danny encouraged just as Cam sat down.
———————
The dim light ghosting off of Alyssa’s body made my need to touch her almost instinctual. We had just finished another amazing round, the second since I got her back in our home and in our bed. I had made us dinner and pretty much planned to spend the rest of the night with her in my arms in some way shape or form, whether it was on the couch watching movies or in our bed sleeping. About halfway through dinner however, Alyssa got other ideas, her bare foot massaged up my lap, and with me catching on we didn’t make it to dessert.
Now, she was lying on her stomach, completely satiated. Her honey and cinnamon complexion practically glowing in post orgasmic bliss. The sheets were bunched up at the bottom of the bed, and she used them as a pillow, her toes playing with the headboard as my fingers traced along her lower back, moving her long curls to plant kisses on her shoulders.
“Mmm, I missed this.” She moaned hugging the comforter and turning her head to face me.
I chuckled down at her, her emerald eyes full of honesty too cute to not smile. “I missed you too baby. It’s hard to believe that I actually got you back. The thought of losing you was driving me crazy.” I admitted after getting s
erious.
“I knew that you’d come get me.” She stated confidently as I traced small circles on the back of her thigh, just under her ass.
“Still drove me crazy.”
She propped herself up on her elbow, her eyebrow arching, “Crazy enough to punch Hunter?”
“He told you?” I muttered directing my eyes away from hers, focusing on the spot that I was tracing.
She gave me a quick sarcastic jeer before planting her chin back into her make-shift pillow. “No. Tink did.” She corrected. “Would you like to tell me why?”
“He got you taken away from me.” I answered simply. “I didn’t know that you and the others were plotting against the rest of us. You should have told me.”
She sighed, “You wouldn’t have let me go baby.”
“I know, because it could have ended so badly.”
She turned back to look at me, “Hunter thought that it was a good idea.”
“Hunter will agree with anything you say because he thinks it’ll earn him points towards being with you.” I murmured pulling my hand away when she tensed underneath me.
She turned around and grabbed a pillow from the top of the bed gripping it as she sat in front of me. “You don’t like Hunter because you think he wants me?”
“He does want you, I don’t think anything.” I argued putting my back against the headboard.
She tilted her head at me, completely calm as her green eyes inquired, “Do you think I want him?”
“No!” I frowned a bit too quickly.
She smiled at me, as if I was proving her point. “Then what is the problem?”
I opted for the truth considering she could more than easily spot a lie. “Truth?”
“I only expect the truth.” She sniped sarcastically waiting.
I gave her my thoughts with a sigh. “We had huge fucking obstacles trying to be together. Each step we overcame and got closer, only to meet an even harder obstacle on the other side.” She nodded agreeing that this was true. “And even now we still have a lot to work through, and Hunter comes along, and he falls back into your life so easily. He reads you like a book, sometimes better than I can. You guys have this history of sexual tension, he’s all wrapped up in ‘what could have been’ and it makes me wonder…”
The Law of Motion (Law Series) Page 35