by Jayne Rylon
“Just wait until tonight,” Neil promised him. “We’re going to celebrate your first day on your new job properly.”
“I thought we did that last night,” James fanned his face remembering their romp in the oasis.
“Well, yeah, but tonight we’re going to have a private party.” Devon entwined her fingers with Neil’s, then dragged him away from James. “I love you.”
“I love you too. Both of you. Drive safe.” James sighed as he waved and watched them descend the grand stone staircase to the parking lot through the cut-glass sidelight.
He floated back to the command center and got to work while they waited for the rest of the Shields to wake up and join them for another planning session related to the upcoming mission.
James was elbow-deep in newly created, color-coded, and organized-as-fuck files when Jordan hummed then tapped a little too hard on his laptop. He glanced over at Jordan, who didn’t notice he’d drawn James’s attention, in time to see him muttering curses.
“What?” James rose and crossed to Jordan, propping one ass cheek on the boardroom table and leaning in for a better look.
But what he saw sent shivers down his spine. It was Devon’s construction site, as seen through one of the cameras he’d set up. “What? What’s wrong?”
“The whole crew was here last night, right?” Jordan confirmed.
“Yeah.” James nodded.
“And they weren’t expecting any in-person deliveries or new workers during that time, right?”
“Not that I know of. And Devon would have been double and triple checking if that was the case. Why?”
“What’s this trying-too-hard-to-be-inconspicuous plain white work van doing parked outside the site?” Jordan pointed.
James squashed his legs together as too many cups of coffee, or maybe nervous pee, threatened to embarrass him. “Maybe they’re expecting a sub-contractor this morning.”
“One who got there at two thirty-three this morning?” Jordan winged a gaze to James.
“Nope. You’re right. This is fucked up.” James took a deep breath.
“Don’t panic. You’re not about to freak out, are you?” Jordan put his hand on James’s thigh. James brushed it off, then stood so he could extricate his phone from the pocket of his skinny jeans.
“Hardly.” James rolled his eyes at Jordan and dialed Devon’s number. No answer. “She’s probably driving. Let me try Neil.”
Still no answer.
“Okay, they don’t have service.” James clutched his phone and shooed Jordan aside so he could take control of the other man’s laptop. He screenshotted the van in the driveway, then fired off an email to Tom and Eli with the subject line URGENT – EVACUATE.
He followed that with a brief message explaining the situation and instructed them to move their families—especially the Powertools, Hot Rods, and Hot Rides kids, who were still at Tom’s house—off the premises and as far away from the mysterious van as possible. As soon as he’d done that, he opened a new tab on the browser.
“What are you doing?” Jordan asked.
“Tracking Devon’s phone.”
“There’s no cell service…”
“What kind of super spy are you?” James glanced up at Jordan. “Just because she doesn’t have cell service doesn’t mean she’s off the GPS grid. She has an app installed so I can see where she’s at. Probably because she likes me to have her dinner ready and hot when she gets home from work.”
“Are you cracking jokes right now?” Jordan raised a brow.
“Do you have a better plan?” James typed in the website he used to access the app’s data and logged in. In ten seconds flat he pointed to a glowing red dot on a map that pinpointed the location of the crew.
Jordan grinned and smacked James’s shoulder. He suspected he was passing some sort of test. “I think you’re going to fit in just fine here.”
James went into a mode he didn’t know he had. Instead of allowing himself to fall victim to fear, as he had so many times when facing down a bully, he focused. He drew on the self-defense training he’d had and started looking for ways to avoid the worst-case scenario.
Fortunately Jordan was way ahead of him. He tapped the wired phone at the center of the conference table, which apparently functioned as an intercom too, then said, “Shields, get down here. Now.”
In less than twenty seconds, Nolan burst through the door, still tucking his shirt into jeans that hugged his gorgeous ass. Aarav was right behind him, looking as if he’d been ready to go for hours. He wore black boots laced nearly to his knees, and if James wasn’t fueled entirely by adrenaline and hyper focused, he might have drooled.
Sola joined them, braiding the last few inches of her hair.
“Nolan, take one of Kason’s souped-up motorcycles. See if you can catch the crew. They’ve got a serious head start on you, so I’m not sure it’s possible, but do your best. Tell Ransom and Levi to follow in case you need backup.”
“What’s the message?” Nolan didn’t bother with unimportant questions.
“Suspicious van at Devon’s site. Do not approach.”
Nolan nodded, then bolted from the room.
James turned back to the computer. “This van is a Ford Econoline. Looks like it’s from the early 2010s. License plate is obscured by mud, but I think I can make out the first two letters ES….”
Aarav was already popping a headset on and tapping a screen on the far side of the room. “I’ll call that in to JRad and see what the Men in Blue can run for us.”
“Good. What else can I check, Jordan?” James had a bad feeling as he watched the van rocking slightly on the screen. Someone was in there.
Sola had taken a seat at her station and was already clicking away at something. James didn’t have to wonder what for long when an instant message popped up from her on Jordan’s screen. “Take a look at that, boss.”
“What is it?” Jordan asked as James double-clicked the file and opened an image that looked sort of like the one he was viewing but in shades of red that got brighter near the center of the van.
“It’s the infrared setting on the camera,” Sola responded.
“Heat.” James winced. “Does this mean what I think?”
“I’m not about to take chances. Because, yeah, this is looking a hell of a lot like we’ve got a bomb on site.” Jordan cursed again.
The Shields went on red alert—each of them still, quiet, and standing straight. Their simultaneous focus leveled at James was enough to knock the breath from him. If he thought the Shields were fun and easygoing, he’d misjudged them. Sure, they might be regular-ish people in their downtime, but they were honed weapons at heart. He was glad to have them on his side.
“Call it in to the local police department. Tell them you’re working with me,” Jordan directed James. “Then use our private coms to reach out to Nolan and update him on the situation. Tell him we’ll bail him out if he gets arrested for shattering the speed limit. Then verify with Tom and Eli that everyone is off site, as far away as possible. In fact, send them to Hot Rides. Make sure Dane and Walker are there. They’ve both done tours in war zones and survived a notorious motorcycle club before coming to Middletown. They can handle themselves.”
“On it.” James tackled each task as efficiently as if his friends’ lives depended on him getting them done as quickly and precisely as possible, because they might.
Jordan stood, his feet planted shoulder-width apart, his arms crossed, as each person in the room and those out in the field did their part to stop whatever was unfolding and keep it from morphing into a tragedy.
Not today, motherfuckers, James thought as he confirmed with Tom that everyone had been accounted for and moved offsite to Hot Rides. With that complete, James turned to Jordan for further instruction. He was grinning at James like a lunatic in the middle of a tornado.
“You’ll do, Powertool.” His amusement evaporated as a police vehicle flew into the frame of the security camer
a and skidded to a stop.
Cops emerged, guns drawn, presumably shouting at whoever was in the van to get the fuck out. They banged on the door with no response, but Sola had reviewed the footage from overnight. Whoever had driven that van to the site was still inside it.
Then the only thing James truly wanted to hear came through their communications device. It was Nolan, breathing hard. “I’ve got the crew in sight. They’re about a mile away from the site. I’ll divert them to the safe zone at Hot Rides.”
Thank God.
“You did it.” Jordan shook James hard enough to rattle his teeth. “Nice work.”
Everything in him that had been buzzing with energy and drive went numb, but only for an instant. Because that’s when the cops smashed the van’s window and flung open its door. A man all in black rushed the cops, shoving one to the ground and bolting past them into the forest. The cops made as if to give chase until the one who’d been in the front waved the rest of them inside the van.
The instant the asshole slipped the cops and made a run for it, James was on their private channel to Nolan, Ransom, and Levi. “Perp on foot, heading west from the Bare Natural 2 site along the lakefront. Get that bastard.”
Sola snorted from her station.
“What? He’s a perp, right? I swear I’ve heard that in movies and shit.”
Jordan grinned, “Yeah. Good job.”
Then James opened another tab in his browser—hey, you could never have too many—and typed in the URL of the police scanner he’d learned of from the nosy neighbor group. Within a minute, he had audio to go along with their camera footage and turned it up for the rest of the Shields to hear.
The sound was scratchy and distorted but he could make out one thing clear enough: “Send the bomb squad.”
“Fuck. I knew it!” Jordan pounded his fist into his hand. “The crew has a problem.”
“Had,” Aarav corrected. “Nolan will make sure they get that guy and find out who he’s working for. We’ll take care of this.”
James nodded. They watched in relative silence as the bomb squad arrived, but after a quick peek inside, they retreated.
“Not enough time to defuse. Everyone get out.” The police scanner bleeped and crackled as the cops spread the word to all their staff. People scrambled into cruisers and sped away from the destination Devon and the rest of the crew had so recently been approaching. They would have likely been on site just as…
KABOOOOOOOM.
The camera shook, was obscured by debris, then went black.
“Holy shit.” Sola whistled.
James was flicking his phone’s lock screen away and speed dialing Devon then. This time, thankfully, she answered. “Are you okay?”
“Thanks to you, yes.” She sounded a bit wobbly, and James didn’t blame her.
“I might never hear right again. Damn, and I thought a jackhammer was loud,” Neil bitched in the background, making James laugh.
Thank God they were okay. Perfect. Whole. And his.
All of a sudden he got very shaky and he set his phone on the table before tapping the speakerphone button. “I love you. Stay close together, go to Hot Rides, and watch each other’s backs until we know what’s going on.”
Jordan nodded at those directions, then squeezed James’s shoulder as he disconnected. “Well, I’d say that was a hell of a first day, huh?”
“Technically that was only the first couple of hours.” Aarav smirked. “We’ve still got a mission to plan.”
“Are you going to be up for that?” Jordan asked James. “If not, we’ll figure out something else. I totally understand—”
“No. No, I’m good. Nothing could scare me as bad as that just did.” James clutched his heart, impressed that he didn’t also need to clean out his pants.
“I’m impressed.” Sola tipped her head at him.
“So am I, and that’s not easy to do.” Jordan looked at James with a whole new appreciation that made him sure he was going to fit right in with the Shields.
“Boss, we got him!” Nolan’s triumphant shout echoed over their communications system. “Well, I should say Ransom and Levi do. They’re not playing very nice with him either.”
“Motive,” Jordan barked.
“Says he was hired to convince the Powertools not to stay. Didn’t realize he was driving enough C4 to blow his own ass into next year. Idiot. Sounds like someone isn’t a fan of the expansion plans for Middletown. Likely a competitor. We’ll get the details out of him. Want us to bring him back to headquarters for questioning?”
“Yes.” Jordan was stony faced, making James glad he wouldn’t be part of that aspect of the operation.
“You got it, boss,” Nolan confirmed. “One sorry piece of shit, coming right up.”
“Where are you taking me?” a scared voice shrieked in the background. “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. Was only trying to scare them away!”
“You nearly killed innocent people.” Nolan’s microphone clicked. He must have shaken the asshole. “People we call friends. That was a bad life decision.”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! What do you want to know? I’ll tell you everything…”
“Yes, you will,” Nolan growled, then disconnected.
“Whew!” James took off his headset, then stood, shaking his hands out. It hit him all at once, what they’d just done together. What they’d prevented from happening.
Aarav put his hand out to steady James. “Take a deep breath. You’re crashing off the adrenaline. You’re going to be okay, just don’t pass out and bang your head or something.”
“Yep. Uh huh.” James bent over and stuck his head between his knees. “I’m good. Fine. Everything’s fine.”
“It is now,” Jordan reassured him, rubbing his back. “And if you can be that coolheaded when the people you love most are in danger, you’re going to be extremely valuable on the rest of our missions. You did great.”
“Thanks.” James stood up slowly only to find Sola and Aarav beaming at him.
“You sure you’re signing up for this?” Jordan double-checked. “Sometimes being good at it isn’t the same as wanting to do it, as you know already.”
“This is what I want to do.” James nodded, never more sure of anything except that he loved Neil, Devon, and the rest of the crew. “I’ll learn more. I’ll be useful. I swear you won’t regret letting me put away sick bastards like these.”
“Uh, you already did a pretty fine job this time.” Aarav tried to smother a grin behind his surprisingly elegant hand. “I especially think you earned some style points when you told the cops to get their asses out to the site and not to stop for any donut breaks on the way.”
James hoped he wasn’t blushing too furiously. Was Aarav teasing or had he actually said that? Probably had, but it was all a blur.
“All of us have found our way here by some long and twisted roads. So…who am I to deny you an opportunity?” Jordan looked around the room, then nodded. “Everyone in favor?”
Ransom and Levi’s answered over the comms immediately and in unison. “Hell yes.”
Jordan turned to Aarav and Sola. She shrugged. “I already made him a log-in profile and assigned him passcodes for the security system. I’ll be happy not to be the new girl anymore.”
James’s smile widened. This could be a new place for him to belong. For him to do something meaningful, and go home every night to his crew.
It was going to be perfect even if it was officially the scariest and most thrilling thing he’d ever attempted. Much later that afternoon, he wondered, “So what time are we reconvening for the op tomorrow night? Six a.m.?”
Aarav groaned. “Hell no. We’re lazy crusaders. We don’t work those kinds of hours.”
“Even better.” James shot them a finger wave as he turned and headed for the door. “If you’ll excuse me, I have some massive thank-god-you’re-safe hugs to hand out before celebrating with my wife and husband, and my crew.”
“We don�
�t need to know the details.” Jordan smirked.
“Speak for yourself.” Sola pouted. “I don’t have two smokin’ spouses and a group of lover best friends to go home to. Hell, I’d settle for one special person in my life…”
James thought there were plenty of guys, or girls if she preferred, who’d jump all over an invite like that. One of them might even be sitting right beside her, judging by the look Aarav was leveling in her direction.
18
A couple of weeks later, James skipped as he finished dropping off bagged lunches to the crew with Joe at the Hot Rods renovation. Now that his schedule was a bit inconsistent and in flux, dependent on whether or not the Shields had anything cooking, he often had time to do some of the fun house-husband stuff he’d come to enjoy in the mornings before helping hunt bad guys in the afternoon and occasionally, when there were active ops, overnight. The variety suited him.
After he’d exchanged sandwiches and fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies for a bunch of hugs and a quickie with Devon beneath the cover of the now-erected skeleton of the Bare Natural 2 spa, he headed for Tom and Ms. Brown’s cabin to chat with the couple, as he often did. After all, Tom had been the one to set him on this path that he was certain he’d been meant for.
“Finish playing delivery boy?” Tom teased as James dropped into one of the rockers on the porch. Ms. Brown was in the one on the other side of the guy, and all three were huddled around a cast-iron fire pit that kept them toasty while surveying their empire, despite the distinct chill in the air.
“Uh huh.” James couldn’t help his very obvious grin. “Gave Devon a little extra special something with her lunch.”
Ms. Brown sniffed in his general direction. “You kids. You have no boundaries.”
Tom chuckled and took her hand in his, chafing it to warm it. “Don’t act so innocent, Willie. I know for a fact you like to make some special deliveries of your own.”
“Tommy!” He earned himself a swat not only in the air but on the shoulder, making James crack up.
“You know, James, you really pulled it together. You transitioned your family out here, kept them functioning and happy, then really went for what’s going to make you happy, not only for their sakes but for your own. And now you’re going to do some real good in the world. Hell, you’ve already made an enormous difference to Mark.”