As much as I wanted to promise Megan her brother was safe, it wasn’t the smart choice. Instead, I gave her what comfort I could. “He’s on assignment. Getting to him won’t be easy.” I hid my wince at telling her a half-truth. If the bastard hunting Megan could access secured information, there was a slim chance Dev’s current assignment could be jeopardized if Megan contacted him. “I’ll have Rabbit reach out and get a heads-up to Dev,” I added, although how much help that would be was up for debate. If orders came down forcing Dev or his team into a compromised situation, it wasn’t as if Dev could refuse. Not without losing his career.
Her gaze searched mine as she bit her lower lip. “Wouldn’t it be faster to have the colonel reach out?”
Tucking her hair back behind her ear, I shook my head. “In this situation, no.”
“Because whoever he is, he knows the colonel.” She said it as if the concept had just occurred to her.
I realized then that I hadn’t shared my suspicions on just how close the threat could be. But at least she was putting the pieces together. “Yeah, so it’s better to let Rabbit work his magic than accidentally give ourselves away.” Safer too.
Her fingers tightened on my shoulder then relaxed. “Now? Can you call Rabbit now?”
Panic hovered in her dark eyes, adding fine lines around her mouth. Reminding her that it was barely four in the morning wasn’t going to work. My hands settled on her hips. “Yeah, I’ll call him now.”
She looked relieved and grateful. I rolled her under me and dropped my head to take her mouth in a gentle kiss. I didn’t rush it but took my time, indulging, until the tension-filled curves softened under me. Only then did I leave her and the bed.
I grabbed my phone from the nightstand. A glance at the screen revealed three missed calls—all from Rabbit’s burner number—in the last twenty minutes. How the hell had I missed those? On the bed, Megan shifted to her side and propped her head on one hand as she watched me. The sheet settled at her waist, leaving her luscious curves bare except for the tangle of dark hair. The sight sucker punched me. Oh yeah, that’s why I wasn’t paying attention to my phone. Turning away from temptation, I flicked a thumb over the touchscreen, noting that at some point, I must have silenced the damn phone. Fuck.
I hit the number then snagged my sweats, pulled them on, and moved out of the bedroom and into the hall. It rang once before Jinx’s voice came on, edged with urgency. “They hit us as we left the house, but we’re good.”
Biting back my anger and frustration, I stuck with the immediate concerns. “What the hell happened?”
Rabbit snapped something I couldn’t make out, but Jinx ignored him. “We were heading out, but someone forgot that your neighbors were in the midst of redoing their damn yard, and we got bogged down in all the dirt and construction. So while we were trying to figure out how to get out of there, half of the four-man team tailing us caught us bailing, and we were forced to engage. We disabled them and barely managed to ghost out on the other two. We’re in the clear for now, but we need to go to ground.”
Son of a… Reading between what Jinx wouldn’t say on the open line, I understood that, cornered in the neighbor’s torn-up yard, Rabbit and Jinx had been forced to engage in a firefight. That meant the police had to be crawling all over my neighborhood—bad news for whoever was watching the house, and worse for Rabbit and Jinx. They needed some place to lie low.
I gave Jinx the address as I hit the front room. There was no way in hell I’d let those two blow in the wind with shadows on their asses. “Make sure you don’t bring visitors along.”
“Copy.” Jinx hung up, leaving me with nothing but a dial tone.
“Bishop? What’s wrong?”
I turned to find Megan standing at the edge of the hall, dressed in nothing but my T-shirt. Overly large for her, the shirt slipped off of one shoulder, leaving it bare except for the curling ends of her tousled hair.
Unable to resist, I went back to her, wrapped an arm around her waist, and pulled her close. “Rabbit and Jinx are on their way.”
Her hands flattened against my chest, but other than pulling back to see my face, she stayed put. “What happened?”
“They tripped over the team on the house.” Her eyes widened, and her mouth opened, but before she could ask, I added, “They’re okay.”
“Good. That’s good.” She studied my face, the shock disappearing under that damn ugly fear. “Are we still safe here?”
“So long as they manage to shake their shadows, we’ll be fine.”
“They followed us to your home—”
“Or they have access to each of the team’s residences, which means they either hit the most logical one first, or someone dipped into deep pockets to post eyes on each resident.” Either way, it didn’t bode well. As much as I enjoyed having her in my arms, there were more urgent matters to address. I used a hand on her hip to nudge her back to the bedroom. “Come on, let’s get dressed. Once they get here, we’ll figure out our next steps.”
By the time Jinx and Rabbit knocked, Megan and I were both dressed but still barefoot. Heeding the sharp one-two summons, I opened the door, interrupting a heated dispute between a grim-faced Rabbit and an exasperated-looking Jinx.
“What were you thinking, woman?”
“I was thinking I wanted to make sure you didn’t get your idiotic head blown off,” Jinx snapped as she brushed by me and stormed into the house.
As they entered the house, I scanned the outside to ensure that their arrival hadn’t gained any early-morning witnesses. Everything remained quiet and dark, but the argument behind me showed no sign of ending.
“I was fucking fine,” Rabbit growled, not in his usual accent, as he all but threw a backpack on the dinette table.
“You were fucking not,” Jinx shot back.
Megan cut in, looking concerned. “Jinx, you’re bleeding.”
“No shit,” Rabbit muttered.
Jinx shot him a death glare and turned to Megan. The biting edge in Jinx’s voice disappeared, replaced with wry humor, as she said, “’Tis but a scratch.”
“Let me guess—it’s merely a flesh wound, and you plan to bleed on me.”
Jinx laughed. “Nice to find someone else with an appreciation of the greatness of Monty Python.”
Despite the worry on her face, Megan managed a grin. “Come on. There has to be a first aid kit around here, let’s get you cleaned up.”
As if corny movie quotes met the admission requirements of sisterhood, the two headed down the hall.
“That woman’s going to be the death of me,” Rabbit snarled as they disappeared into the bathroom.
Ignoring the familiar indicator of one of Rabbit’s Jinx-related rants, I demanded, “Tell me what happened.”
“I was taking Jinx out through the Mallory’s backyard, since they’re on vacation. What I didn’t realize was they decided to add a damn obstacle course back there. I tripped over a fucking pile of pavers.”
That explained the torn knee of his jeans and the gray dust he sported.
Rabbit grimaced. “Do you know how loud stone is?” He shook his head, not waiting for my response. “They tried to cut us off, but we forced a change to their plans and got out.”
Of all the stupid, dumb luck… but it failed to explain one thing. “Why the hell were you two still there?” They should have been long gone.
Rabbit shot me a look indicating that it was none of my damn business. “Because.” When I didn’t comment, he added, “They were targeting Jinx.”
Reading between the lines, I ran a hand through my hair and paced to the kitchen. “They thought she was Megan.” Not really thinking about it, I opened the fridge and stared at the scant offerings, my mind churning.
From behind me, Rabbit said, “No fucking doubt about it.” Closing the fridge, I turned to find Rabbit sprawled at the dinette table, his face grim as he studied me. “Not sure how long you can put off clueing in Delacourt, Bishop.”
Leaning against the counter, I folded my arms. I knew he was right, which left me feeling frustrated and cornered. “Did you leave any bodies?”
He shook his head.
“Then what the hell can I give her?”
“Maybe the fact she’s got a rat snugglin’ up close like?”
“I do that, and you and I both know she’ll want what we don’t have.”
“Proof,” he acknowledged grimly.
“Exactly—proof. Until we have that, we’re dead in the water.”
“I’m not feeling good about keepin’ her in the dark.”
“Yeah, neither am I,” I said, but I knew Delacourt. If I couldn’t give her something definitive to work with, she’d try attacking the problem head-on, and that approach was not going to work here. In fact, it would only make it worse.
With nothing more to say, we both fell silent. I could hear the murmurs of Megan and Jinx in the bathroom. I looked at Rabbit. “I need a favor.”
He tilted his head as he studied me. “Mon ami, you rackin’ up points.”
Yeah, I was, but I’d promised Megan. “I need you to get a message out to Dev Rouser.”
“Megan’s brother?”
I nodded. “Tell him to watch his six.”
Rabbit’s eyes narrowed. “Gettin’ a little vague there. You goin’ give me more than that?”
I checked to make sure the women were still in the bathroom. Then I shared the high points of Megan’s dream. When I was done, Rabbit let out a low whistle.
“This is not good, not good at all.” He sat up and braced his arms on his knees as he leaned forward. “Your meetin’ with Ricochet?”
I glanced at the clock by the fridge. “It’s in four and half hours.” That struck me as being four and half hours too long.
Seeming to understand, Rabbit rubbed his chin. “Any chance of movin’ that up?”
“To do that, I’d have to reach out to Wolf, and if they’re watching all of us—”
“You don’t want to give things away.”
“Right.”
Rabbit nodded. “You want me to try to tag Rico on the q.t., maybe see if he can meet you here?”
His suggestion eased the tightness in my gut. “Think you can do that?”
“Wouldn’t offer otherwise.”
“Yeah, that’d be great.”
“Right, then,” he said. “I’ll work on getting those messages out.”
“Without alerting Delacourt.”
He shot me a shit-eating grin. “I’ll do my best, but I ain’t makin’ promises, especially where her brother’s concerned. Hacking military communications channels is not for the faint of heart.”
“And why are you hacking military channels?” Jinx crossed the kitchen. When she was within reaching distance, Rabbit snagged her wrist, turning her until he could inspect the gauze pad on her upper arm. He was so focused on her wound that he missed the flash of gentleness in Jinx’s face as she watched him. It disappeared under a teasing grin as she used her free hand to ruffle his hair. “Don’t worry, Cajun man. It’s all good.”
Rabbit gave her a long look then let her go. She took the other chair while Megan came over and stood next to me.
Jinx looked between Rabbit and me. “Spill.”
Catching Jinx up took all of two minutes, and by the time I finished, she was tapping her fingers against the table, a familiar expression on her face. “What are you thinking?” I asked.
Instead of answering me, she turned to Megan. “The colonel’s calendars are electronic, right?”
“Unless she’s changed things, most of them should be,” Megan said. “But if you’re looking for personal appointments, you might be out of luck. She tends to keep those on her phone or in her head.”
“The phone might be tricky, but if we start with her work calendar, we can narrow down who’s been through the office.”
“And then do a deep dive to see who connects?” Rabbit asked. “That might actually work. Accessing her calendar is doable, and I’m betting I can finagle her phone records while I’m at it.”
Megan wrapped her arms around her stomach. “Rabbit, if you get caught…”
Rabbit flashed her a grin as he sat back, cockiness wafting around him like a noxious cologne. “Not gonna happen, sugar.”
When Megan looked as if she wanted to argue, I gave her a slight shake of my head. “Don’t bother.” She gave me a gimlet eye, so I added, “When it comes to electronics, they all give it up to Rabbit.”
While Megan didn’t looked convinced, she at least backed down.
Jinx knocked her knuckles against the tabletop, drawing everyone’s attention. “Okay, so we’re agreed? Our plan is to reschedule Ricochet, get word to Dev, and sneak into the colonel’s electronic life?” Getting a round of nods, she grinned. “Good. Now that that’s out of the way, who’s making breakfast?”