Interesting. I
’
d have to remember that.
We were pretty quiet and quickly cleaned up afterwards. I knew my face was bright red when we joined everyone else. Most of them had great hearing as paranormals, and if the looks I was getting proved to be accurate, they
all
knew what we
’
d just done.
“Your shirt
’
s inside out,” Noah purred. “Did we have fun?”
“Yes actually, thanks for asking.” I threw back as I slowly peeled off my shirt, letting him see my flat stomach and ample breasts in my bra. Then I turned it the right way and slid it back over my head.
“Tease.” He was pouting. Poor baby.
“You loved it.”
He gave a put out sigh. “Yeah I did but I want to see more, too.”
“But I
’
m sure Davis and not everyone here does.” I stuck out my tongue at him.
“I
’
ve got all the same parts, Sera. Have at it.” Davis
’
s eyes shined with mirth and I debated smacking her later. I wasn
’
t stripping in front of ten men, four of
whom
worked for me. No matter how much I wanted to play off the sex I just had.
“Isn
’
t it your turn to play?” I narrowed my eyes at her playfully and she threw back her head and laughed. There was a knock at the door and instantly everyone was on their feet with their guns drawn.
We took up positions around the front door and I sighed in relief as I recognized who it was. Vlad and Chief Monroe. “Stand down. They
’
re friendly.” Everyone backed off and I unlocked the door before opening it. “Come on in. We just got pizza.”
“And had sex it seems.” Vlad sniffed the air around me.
“Sera took off her shirt for all of us,” Noah announced. My boss
’
s eyes went wide as he looked at me like I was nuts.
“It wasn
’
t like that,” I stuttered. “Noah was being a jerk for pointing out Riley and I had spent some alone time together quickly and said my shirt was inside out.” Great, now I was just rambling about my sex life to my boss. Talk about a great way to kill my post orgasmic glow. “So I was being a brat and flipped it on the right side in front of him. I wasn
’
t doing like a strip show in front of everyone or anything or trying to—”
“Breath
e
, Thomas.” He laughed as he closed the front door behind him. “It
’
s natural to want to let off some steam with everything that
’
s going on. But I didn
’
t think you were the type to play strip poker with a bunch of men, especially your team.”
“No, sir,” I mumbled, feeling like I
’
d been sent to the principal
’
s office. I shot daggers at Noah with my eyes, promising retribution later.
“So everyone filled in on what
’
s going on then?” he asked, changing the topic before my cheeks heated up so badly I passed out or something.
“Yep. Noah, one of Vlad
’
s guys, thinks we should keep the place hopping to scare him off while someone sneaks around the perimeter to maybe get a lead on him. Assuming Bob
’
s even coming for me.” I shrugged. We were taking a gamble, but we had no other clue as to where the guy was going. Unless he was spotted somewhere, the guy was a ghost and we were out of leads.
“I know Noah.” Monroe chuckled as he shook the man
’
s hand. Everyone said hello to each other, a few of my team never having met Vlad before. But Chief Chad Monroe knew all of Vlad
’
s guys. Yeah, I should have thought of that.
They joined us for pizza and beer and my jaw just about hit the floor when Vlad wanted to play one of the dancing games. I guess no matter how old people were, fun was fun and no one wanted to be left out of it. He just seemed too sophisticated, Old Worldly to play goofy teeny bobber dancing games. But the man had moves…No doubt about that. He beat all of us.
****
My phone rang sometime during the night and in a flash I was up, crawling over Tristan to reach for it. I saw it was Havers and wanted to groan, but it was also two in the morning. The odds were in favor of this being about work.
“He
’
s been spotted at O
’
Hare airport chartering a private plane so he doesn
’
t have to go deal with normal airline staff. This way he
’
s also not in the middle of crowded waiting areas where someone could recognize him,” he told me.
It might be silly to have worried about crowded places at two in the morning. But it was O
’
Hare airport. It was international, huge, and pretty much always hopping.
“Brian, if you never listen to anything I ever said again, listen to this. Do
not
let your people try to go after him. He
’
s scary powerful.”
“We
’
re staying out of your way and providing backup while we try and stall. He
’
ll think it
’
s a normal color change status in threat level and will just be delayed.”
“Thank you,” I sighed as I got up and yanked on my thong and jeans. “We
’
re bringing in trained civies who can help us handle this. Warn your people not to start shit just this one time.”
“You got it, Sera.” He hung up before I could ask why the change of heart. But then again, I knew the answer. Brian was a good guy, he really was, just a stupid man when it came to women. His people had gotten killed yesterday and that
’
s why he
’
d been all over our asses. For them to get murdered on the job and then it wasn
’
t his case
…
If the situation had been reversed, I would have been shitting purple kittens in anger.
But he wouldn
’
t let our personal shit or his grief from losing his men get in the way of the best shot we had at getting this guy.
“I
’
m coming with you,” Tristan said after I shouted for everyone to get up.
“No,
and
please don
’
t fight me on this,” I begged him. I yanked on my holster and slipped my guns into their designated places. “If someone I care about is there, it will distract me. Please, Tristan.”
“Okay, but you promise you
’
re coming home to me.” His voice was firm and uncompromising.
“Yeah, because if I die, you die.” I remembered the rules of having him as my minion.
“Because I would die anyways if I lost you,” he whispered before pulling me into a passionate kiss. Well I wasn
’
t ready for that. I gave him a smile as I darted out of the room.
“What
’
s going on?” Noah asked as he checked his gun.
“Bob
’
s been
sighted
at the airport. Your guys ride with me and Harris so you don
’
t get stopped by security since we
’
ve got the plates and badges.” He nodded his agreement and I swallowed loudly, knowing this next part wouldn
’
t go over as well. I faced Davis, Remington, and Jennings who were just finishing getting their shoes on. “You guys are staying.”
“What?” Remington roared, his eyes all fire and anger.
“Miles, you have no training with a gun. You have no claws or fangs. None of you do. You will walk into this and be cannon fodder and I won
’
t have my team getting hurt. Please understand. As soon as this is over, I
’
m going to set up shooting
c
lasses so you guys get certified and we
’
ve got Noah
’
s training coming. Until then you can
’
t go into the field on something this dangerous.”
“Fine by me,” Jennings agreed, holding his hands in the air before plopping back on my couch. Davis looked a little less accepting but sat down as well, nodding.
“Look, I
’
m not going to lie or placate you by saying I want you to protect Tristan and Riley in case Bob
’
s pulling something
,
” I explained to Remington when he still didn
’
t say anything. “But I
’
m not letting them go either because they aren
’
t trained for this. Trust me on this one. All the training in the world can
’
t always keep you safe, but
no
training will only get you dead.”
“Okay.” He really wasn
’
t happy about it but he got points in my book for not throwing a fit or defying me. “Just get the bastard so we can focus on training and becoming real agents.”
“Deal.” I agreed and then was racing out the kitchen door to the garage. Noah, Remus, and Jake rode with me while the others went with Cooper and Harris. Chief Monroe and Vlad hadn
’
t stayed the night. But I did call my boss as I broke every speed limit to get to O
’
Hare.
It normally took me right under twenty minutes to get to O
’
Hare. This time
I pulled up at the security gate for the private flights twelve minutes after getting the call from Havers. Harris followed me right through the gates and we drove around to where the guard told us the FBI was. I parked, hiding my car, which Bob would probably recognize, behind several black, standard government issued SUVs.
We all quickly got out and raced over to where people were congregating. “What
’
s the update?”
“He
’
s waiting in the private charter lounge,” Havers answered as he nodded to the door. “His flight was supposed to be leaving two minutes ago, but he
’
s been informed that there will be a delay.”
“We don
’
t want to take him in where there might be a crowd or he can grab hostages,” I plotted out loud in case anyone else wanted to jump in. Then it hit me. “Can we get them to say his flight is ready and grab him as he
’
s walking to his plane?”
“Yeah, we can pull that off.” Havers gave me a nod and started talking into his radio.
“What kind of glass is in that door and the surround
ing
windows?” Noah asked, nodding in the direction of the private charter exit and entrance. It took me a split second to get what he meant.
“O
’
Hare has ballistic glass.” I gave him a wide, knowing smile. Noah flashed me a fanged grin of excitement. Hunting down the bad guy was good when a trap was set. Hunting down a bad guy when civilians could get hurt in the process
?
Not fun at all.
“So
,
what?” Havers asked as he finished up his radio chatter.
“He can
’
t jump back through the glass or the door then. It would take him a couple of tries to make it before he could try to get lost in the crowd. He won
’
t pick that as an option.”
“You
’
re saying after a few tries the suspect
could
break through
bullet-proof glass
if he wanted to?” Brian
’
s eyes looked as if they were about to pop out of his head.
“Yeah, probably.” I shrugged and glanced at Noah. “I don
’
t know anyone who
’
s ever tried it, but it
’
s something to take into consideration.”
“We did at Vlad
’
s office.” I caught Noah
’
s meaning. Vlad
’
s
office
was really code for his home. “It took me six tries before I could bust down the glass. But I don
’
t have claws like this guy does.”
Brian cleared his throat and several of his team looked a little pale at the news. “Okay, so we have an undercover attendant pull the door behind him and lock it. We
’
ll make it look like there
’
s been a shift change and he just got on, letting him know his flight is ready.”
“Good. Make it fast.” Brian started talking into the radio again when I thought of another problem.