The Exit Strategy Bundle

by Jocelynn Drake

  “Did they ever find out it was you?”

  “I sent a note that simply said ‘Thank you’ with a compass. Kevin might have figured it out, but I doubt it. He did the best he could with what he had. I believe that he cared about us. Loved us as much as his own kids.”

  Gabriel ate the bite on this fork with a smile, the good food made all the better because he was sitting across the table from a very good man who owned his heart. “You’re a good man, Justin Mallory.”

  Justin rolled his eyes. He reached across the table, digging his fork into the flaky crust of Gabriel’s pot pie. He snagged a chunk of chicken with crust and vegetables, shoving it into his mouth with another happy moan. The man loved good food. It was a wonder he didn’t weigh three hundred pounds, but their constant activity in and out of bed kept the weight under control.

  “Yeah, well…this good man is thinking about stealing your dinner for himself,” Justin warned.

  “If you keep your fork out of my pie, I will consider ordering you a piece of pie to go.”

  Justin narrowed his eyes on Gabriel for a moment and then nodded. “You drive a hard bargain.”

  They settled into a companionable silence as they ate their meal. The diner was mostly empty at that hour. Just a few fellow travelers looking for a late dinner before either getting back on the road or heading to their bed for the night. Gabriel could sense a few sets of eyes on them, and he had a feeling it had more to do with the fact that they acted more like a couple than just two friends. It made him uneasy. The potential for violence he could easily handle. It was more that they were likely to be remembered, and Gabriel didn’t like to be remembered. That usually made his job much more difficult.

  But for now, that was less important. He was sharing a good meal with Justin in a pleasant diner with good service.

  “I think I heard some talk of pie,” the waitress said as she stopped by to refill their glasses.

  “To go, please,” Gabriel said. “A slice of banana cream.”

  “And you, sir?” she asked Justin.

  Justin smiled up at the waitress, and Gabriel couldn’t help the way his heart fluttered. There was something naturally flirtatious and engaging about Justin. The man was the best spy. When he turned his light in a person’s direction, they couldn’t help but want to do whatever he wanted. “What do you suggest?”

  “The dutch apple and peach cobbler are the most popular, but we’ve still got some strawberry rhubarb. Probably the last of the season.”

  “Strawberry rhubarb sounds amazing. Thanks!”

  The moment the waitress was far enough away, those sparkling kind eyes turned shrewd as Justin looked at Gabriel again. “I don’t know who is going to be more difficult to locate at the moment—Devlin or Kai.”

  “My money is on Kai. The man is accustomed to blending in and disappearing. I think Devlin’s son, Jake, will be the key to locating him. We can see if Marilyn can turn up any hint of medical issues for the boy. If he needs some kind of regular medication, that’s going to force Devlin to stay close to heavily populated areas with access to doctors and hospitals.”

  “And if Jake doesn’t?”

  Gabriel frowned. “He’s a kid. Kids need…things, right?”

  Justin fell back against his seat, his loud belly laughs filling the diner. Gabriel groaned, but it couldn’t be heard over Justin’s laughter.

  “Things?” Justin repeated incredulously, gasping for air.

  “Go to hell. You don’t know anything about kids either.”

  Justin pointed at Gabriel. “You’re calling your sister tomorrow morning.” He glanced quickly at his watch. “It’s about five in the morning in Paris right now. She might be able to give you some ideas with regard to the things that kids need. It might be a good idea before Alexei comes to visit us.”

  “You’re an ass,” Gabriel mumbled before digging into his pot pie.

  It was true, though. He didn’t know a damn thing about kids and had no idea what they needed or wanted. He’d never given much thought to children. Why would he? He was a mercenary and a gay man. He had never in his wildest dreams imagined a scenario where he would possibly have children.

  But then, he’d never imagined a scenario where he would have a boyfriend and they would be living together openly. Other than the mercenary jobs, they had pretty normal lives.

  Did that “pretty normal” life with Justin now include the possibility of kids?

  Or even marriage?

  The fork stopped halfway to Gabriel’s mouth again. It was like his brain had locked up on those two concepts. Marriage and kids. Did he want those things? Did Justin?

  They hadn’t been together long. Barely more than a year. And living together for far less than a year. Until now, marriage and kids were never part of his frame of reference. But things had changed. His whole life had changed, thanks to Justin.

  “You okay over there?” Justin asked.

  “Yeah, just thinking about what kids need,” Gabriel said.

  Justin smirked. “Broke some brain cells, huh?”

  “Something like that.”

  Gabriel quickly put the bite into his mouth and chewed, grateful to have something to keep him from saying anything stupid. They were on a job. That needed to be their main focus. Marriage, kids, the future…that could all wait. He and Justin were in no hurry. At least, he hoped they weren’t.

  Chapter 5

  Justin was close to banging his head against the nearest wall. Four days and nothing. Four days of chasing leads and tossing out ideas had turned up nothing. The highlight of the last four days had been Gabriel’s call to his sister in Paris. Justin wasn’t sure if Gabriel spoke to her in whispered Russian out of habit or if he was hoping that Justin wouldn’t overhear him. But there was no missing Nadia’s muffled laughter when Gabriel asked what types of things kids needed.

  It was all kinds of ridiculous. Though Justin knew he shouldn’t laugh. He wasn’t any better and he didn’t have any siblings to lean on for advice. From his point of view, kids just needed food and somewhere dry to sleep. Anything else felt like a luxury. At least he had the common sense to know it was more complicated than that, but he couldn’t begin to guess at how Devlin Relic might adjust his travel and living arrangements to meet his son’s needs.

  Nadia tossed out a few ideas, but nothing panned out so far. Marilyn hadn’t turned up anything useful about the kid’s health that might require Devlin to remain near heavily populated areas. As far as they could tell, Jake was a normal, healthy six-year-old.

  Time was slipping away from them. The longer it took them to find Devlin and Jake, the higher the chances of Kai finding them first. There had been no sign of the mercenary so far, but Justin hadn’t really expected to spot him. Not that he was even sure what the man looked like. Gabriel had given a vague description, looking far too uncomfortable while doing so. Justin was willing to bet he was attractive, and Gabriel just didn’t want to come out and say it.

  What worried Justin almost as much as their inability to find Devlin was how he and Gabriel were now snapping at each other with increasing frequency. He knew it was the worry over the innocent man and boy. If Kai reached Devlin first and killed him, what would happen to Jake? He didn’t think Kai would hurt him, but if Kai didn’t know he existed, he might leave the boy alone in the vast Montana wilderness with no way of getting help.

  Justin was willing to guess that neither of them was accustomed to failure. In the years since Justin had become an independent mercenary, he’d had only a couple of contracts go against him. He completed them all, but only a few had gone horribly wrong. An assassin didn’t live long if he wasn’t good at what he did.

  And this time, being good at what they did was critical for two innocent lives.

  Not for the first time that day, Justin had to wonder what would happen to him and Gabriel if they failed to reach Devlin in time. Would they be able to move past it? Or would it be something that festered between them, pushing th
em further and further apart?

  After their most recent search of a campground turned up nothing, they’d pulled off to a picnic area. Gabriel leaned over a worn picnic table with various names and symbols etched into the weathered wood. A map of the state was stretched across the surface and Gabriel leaned over it, hands braced on the surface. A frown pulled his face into a grim mask of worry and anger.

  His dark-gray T-shirt was pulled tight across his shoulders, and his jeans were molded to his tight ass. The man was sexy as hell no matter where they were. Justin wanted to walk over and run his hands across his shoulders and back, smoothing away some of the tension, but he knew from experience that the affection wouldn’t be welcomed. When Gabriel was frustrated, he didn’t want comfort. Just answers.

  “I was talking to some of the regular campers,” Gabriel said suddenly. “They pointed out another road about five miles from here. It’s a little washed out and overgrown, but it’s got a couple of cabins off it and several spots for camping. Definitely off the beaten path. We could try there next.”

  Justin stepped closer to the table, looking down at where Gabriel pointed at the map. He grunted. It was as good a place as any to search next. They didn’t have any other leads to go on. “We can check there and then go into town. We’re getting low on gas and need to make plans for where to sleep tonight.”

  “Agreed. I—”

  Whatever Gabriel had been about to say was cut off by the ringing of Justin’s phone. They both stood, staring at each other in surprise. Much of the day they had been out of range of any cell towers. They had to wait until they passed through a town to check in with Marilyn.

  Justin jerked his phone from his back pocket and swiped to answer the call.

  “Where the hell have you been?” Marilyn snapped the second Justin could hear her.

  “A whole lotta nowhere without cell service. Do you have something?”

  “Tell me you’re still near Bozeman.”

  Justin frowned at Gabriel for a moment before looking down at the map. “We’re about an hour away from Bozeman. We were going to check a potential lead and then head into town for gas and supplies. You got something?” he repeated.

  “Yes,” she said and there was a hint of a relieved sigh in that single word. “There was activity on one of Relic’s bank accounts in Washington. Money was withdrawn from an ATM outside of Redmond.”

  “What? You can’t tell me he’s back in Washington.”

  Gabriel took a step closer to Justin and looked as if he was going to rip his phone out of his hand so he could give Marilyn a piece of his mind. They had been all over the freaking state in the past four days and hadn’t even covered a twentieth of it. They were dirty and exhausted.

  “No! It looks like a friend withdrew the money. He sent an email requesting that the money be sent via wire transfer to a grocery store off Main Street in Bozeman. The email said that he’d be there at six p.m. to pick it up.”

  Justin glanced down at his watch. “That gives us a few hours to get into position. Thanks, Marilyn.”

  “You’re running up quite the tab on this one.”

  “Yeah, yeah. We’ll settle up when it’s over.” Justin ended the call and flashed Gabriel a wide grin. It was the first solid lead they’d had since Marilyn told them to head to Montana. “We’ve got a way to locate him. Grab the map.”

  Gabriel’s tired eyes brightened. He grabbed the map. The usually fastidious man haphazardly folded it and hurried to keep up with Justin on the way to the SUV. “What? What did Marilyn have?”

  “Looks like Devlin is low on cash. He emailed a friend to wire him some funds withdrawn from his bank in Washington.”

  Gabriel stood beside the passenger door with his hand on the handle. “Why not use one of those apps like PayPal to send money?”

  “He could, but then it’s still all digital. Probably feels safer to have lots of cash on hand.”

  They hopped into the car and pulled onto the road in a spray of dirt and gravel. The locals were saying that September was staying warmer far longer than normal, but the air already had hints of sharpness to it. Justin had to wonder if the first snow was only a matter of weeks away. Devlin would need to head south soon or risk being trapped up in the mountains with his son and no means of fast escape if they were located. It might be the reason for the sudden influx of cash. They needed to move to a new hiding spot.

  “This might be our only shot to catch up with him,” Gabriel said. There was fresh life in his voice and more energy than he’d had all day, but the worry was back in place. “But I don’t want to scare him. He’s going to have the kid with him. We can’t risk him doing anything that draws attention to him or Jake. That would just make it easier for Kai to find him.”

  “We’ll hang back. Watch him for now. Watch for signs of Kai too. We can follow him to wherever they’re staying and approach when it’s harder for them to run.”

  It wasn’t an ideal arrangement, but it gave them their best chance of talking to Devlin. He wasn’t fond of scaring the man or his son. There was no doubt that they’d both been through enough.

  Reaching across the center console, Justin placed his hand over Gabriel’s forearm and squeezed. “We’ve got this. We’re going to reach them in time.”

  For the first time in what felt like days, Gabriel looked over at him and flashed him a weak smile, but it was still a smile. “I think you’re right, but it’s going to require all your special sauce to get it done.”

  Justin laughed. He was immediately hit with the memory of the first time they rode in a car together. It was that damn first contract. They hadn’t trusted each other. At the time, Justin had been pretty damn sure they never would, but they called a truce, promised to watch each other’s backs. It was the beginning. The first time he’d called him G Love. And naturally, that made him Special Sauce after the band G Love and Special Sauce.

  To this day, he couldn’t hear a song from that group and not think of the man beside him.

  The drive to the city was a quiet one. He didn’t bother turning on the radio or playing the music off his phone. The windows were down, a nice breeze sweeping through the car, and there was the steady hum of the tires on the road. After about twenty minutes, he looked over to find Gabriel’s head turned toward him, his eyes shut. Peace relaxed his face. There were dark circles under his eyes, but the pinched sharpness to his features was gone. The first good lead had allowed Gabriel to relax enough to catch some sleep.

  Justin’s heart gave a happy little thump in his chest. Falling asleep so easily also meant that Gabriel truly trusted him to protect him while he was unconscious. It was a little surprising that they’d reached this stage of their relationship so quickly. He didn’t question that Gabriel loved him, even if he struggled to sleep while they were on a job. It was a matter of years of training. You didn’t stay alive long if you didn’t take proper precautions while on a job. And that included being very careful about when and where you slept.

  Tearing his eyes off the road, Justin glanced over at Gabriel again and smiled. His lover was a handsome man. Gabriel’s features were stark and harsh, full of rough angles and hard lines, but it was also carefully hewn, as if he’d been carved by an artist who had fallen in love with his sculpture. His lips were almost too full and lush for his face. Dark whiskers shadowed his jaw and cheeks within hours of him shaving each morning. Matched with his dark hair and eyes, Gabriel seemed to have an always predatory look to him.

  Well, except when he was holding one of his enormous cats. Then with the steady flow of baby talk bubbling from his lips, the man looked like he couldn’t harm a fly. Of course, one of the cats was likely throwing evil looks at the same time. Freaking spawns of Satan. It wasn’t that they didn’t like Justin. It was more that they saw Justin as competition for Gabriel’s affection, and they did not appreciate coming in second. There were times he was sure they were plotting his demise simply so they wouldn’t have to compete with him ever again. />
  “Fuckers,” Justin muttered.

  “Who?” Gabriel asked in a soft, sleepy voice.

  Justin winced. “Sorry. No one. I thought you were asleep.”

  “Just dozing a little. Who are you talking about?”

  “I was thinking about the furballs plotting my death.” He glanced over to see Gabriel’s eyes pop open and stare at him like he’d lost his mind.

  “Francis and Lucian?”

  “Those cats don’t like competing with me for your attention.”

  Gabriel snorted. When Justin looked back at him, his eyes were closed again, but his lips were pursed in such a way that he looked like he was struggling to keep from smiling. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. They love you too.”

  “Last week, one of them left a hairball on my pillow.”

  Another soft noise escaped Gabriel as if he was trying to stop a laugh. “I’ve found hairballs before. They happen.”

  “On your pillow?”

  “Well…no.” He was definitely trying not to laugh. “But they still love you. You’re an excellent head-scratcher.”

  Justin smiled to himself, allowing Gabriel to drift off to sleep. He was not a cat person. Not by any stretch of the imagination, but the fact that those two enormous poofs of claws and fur gave Gabriel so much joy meant he found himself loving them just a little bit too. At least enough to look forward to giving both cats head scratches each night as they lounged in front of the TV for an hour or so after dinner.

  Gabriel awoke when he felt the car slowing down. He rubbed his eyes and blinked until he could focus on the buildings and busy street. A glance at the clock on the dashboard revealed that it was after four. He’d caught over thirty minutes of sleep and was feeling more refreshed than when he woke that morning. He needed to convince Justin to catch some sleep while they waited for Devlin to show. The man was running on fumes too, and they needed to be sharp.