“Not a good idea,” he called after the dog. He was just going to have to kick the dog out of the bedroom once he and Arin really decided to wake up because he fully intended to execute a morning ambush on her.
King stopped just inside the bedroom and turned back to look at Jason, then circled once and lay down in a heap next to the bed—Jason’s side of the bed.
Dick.
Jason chuckled despite himself. Before he went in to settle this challenge from the GSD, he stopped to check his phone. It lay where he’d left it on the end of the kitchen counter alongside Arin’s. He snagged hers, too, and brought them both in to the bedroom to charge. Her charger was on her nightstand so he figured she rarely slept with her phone out of reach. He was pleased and more than a little proud she’d been so caught up in their night that she’d left her phone out in the kitchen area.
As he checked his notifications, he stopped short and tapped the screen to open up his secure mail app. Reading, he woke fully, coming to full alertness.
“Mmmph.” Arin stirred on the bed. “Both of you back with no issues.”
“No issues,” he answered absent-mindedly, still reading.
She sat up, pulling the sheets up with her to cover her chest. “What’s up?”
“Nothing bad.” At least he didn’t think so, but the uneasiness in his chest made him hesitant to share further. He didn’t want to let go of the comfortable mood they had going.
Arin didn’t say anything. She didn’t pry or behave as if she was entitled to know his business. He liked her way of respecting his privacy and tried to give her the same. But this—he’d need to share this sooner or later and it probably wouldn’t get easier later.
“I got a job offer.”
“Congrats.” She waited, then her fingertips brushed across his back when he didn’t turn toward her. “It’s a good thing, right?”
He sat down on the edge of the bed, set his phone on the nightstand, and leaned back against the headboard. She shifted to make room for him and also so she could face him.
“I’ve been looking for exactly this kind of contract. It’s head of private security for a candidate in a semi-democratic country in Asia. The candidate is facing the kind of opposition that might try to have him assassinated rather than await the outcome of the election. Should be a challenge.” He met her steady gaze. “I had feelers out there for a new position. I said I was going to see this through here, and I will. But this opportunity won’t wait long for me so I’m going to have to leave as soon as we complete the next objective. The election is in nine months and they’re talking about keeping me on retainer for at least a year afterward. It’ll be around-the-clock work, no vacation time but worth it.”
“You think so?” Her tone was carefully steady, as if she was still waiting for his answer even as he was giving her information.
He didn’t blame her because there was more to say. He didn’t know what, though.
“This could make my name out there.” He sat up, leaned toward her slightly. Maybe if he explained why he’d wanted this job, he’d see his way clear to what came next. He’d never shared his career aspirations with someone before, never worried about what someone else might think of his choices or what they might decide to do in turn. “You know how competitive our work can get. I’m not great at the networking shit. I don’t plan to be anonymous thug number two forever, and I’m definitely getting older than the optimal age for the kind of action we see. I should be in more leadership positions soon. Eventually, it’s going to be difficult to get new contracts. I need this kind of lead position on my resumé to plan for the long term.”
He’d been trying to make progress in a career, but he was realizing he’d only been taking it one move at a time and some moves were to adjacent positions rather than advancing. He’d gone from job to job, always building but never making something of the cumulative experience. This next job had to be different. He was going to create a real future for himself.
“Are you leaving right away?” She gave him no hint to her thoughts. Neutral tone of voice, calm expression, but the spark he’d enjoyed in her gaze was gone.
When he looked into her eyes now, it was like hitting a wall.
“I need to get there by the end of the week.”
Chapter Twenty-One
A part of her tore out of her chest and hid, burrowing deep into some compartment where she tucked away the other things she couldn’t deal with in the heat of the moment. She was going into defensive mode, combat ready. She recognized it and didn’t even try to stop herself.
“So you never planned to stay.” Arin put a choke hold on the emotions threatening to make her scream. Never. Never before had news hit her and made her want to rage like this. She didn’t even know why his news hit her this way. She’d made a conscious decision not to ask him. She’d have thought she’d be happy for him. “Me and you, this, was just the interim before you left for the next thing.”
Hadn’t she known? She’d been the one to make it clear their first time was a one-time thing. She’d made herself a liar and a fool. He hadn’t ever lied to her. Worse, he’d made her start to believe he’d be here each time she turned to look for him.
“Well,” he hesitated, unsure. “I wasn’t thinking about the next thing. I was thinking about you.”
So they were both idiots, her for hoping and him for not thinking ahead to the obvious fallout. She should’ve kept her head firmly grounded in reality. It would’ve been wiser than believing there might be a fairy-tale ending. It’d only been a few days, a week, and his leaving had only been a matter of time.
If she’d had it to do over again, would she have taken different actions?
No!
Then she better pull herself together. This didn’t need to get any messier than it had to, and she’d prefer to shake this off and get back to what she was good at: her job.
“I’ll see this next operation through.” Jason sounded totally reasonable, echoing her intent on where to take this conversation. Maybe he’d thought this through previously. She wasn’t sure. But every word out of his mouth only made her angrier. “The shipping container on Big Island was rigged, and your team doesn’t have an explosives specialist. Someone in his organization, close to the shipping operations, made that bomb. I’ll go to help you defuse any other IEDs you encounter. Once we intercept this shipment, Mr. Jones won’t be able to recover even if he manages to survive prison. This human trafficking ring should be unrecoverable. I’ll have done my part to make it up to the victims.”
Ah, yes. The original reason he’d been out at Big Island. It was why he’d been with her every step of the way since, to assuage his guilt over being any part of the human trafficking. It was noble, really.
She hadn’t realized she’d hoped so much that he’d been staying because of her. “That’s it, wrapped up in a neat package. No strings left hanging?”
He watched her, not touching her. “You tell me.”
What did he want to hear? It didn’t make any sense to tell him what she felt because it was unreasonable. She wanted him to stay when the very nature of her job meant she was constantly off the island and traveling all over the mainland, sometimes overseas. She had what he wanted, a long-term position. What was he supposed to do, stay here playing house and waiting for her to come home? It wasn’t him and she’d never ask him to give up who he was. She wasn’t sure she could continue to respect him if he did. So much of what drew her to him was the way he was a match or a complement for her, in every way.
“I’m good.” She didn’t want to hold him back. “This thing was supposed to be a few nights, no attachments and no loose ends to worry about. Easy.”
Liar, liar. She’d never liked herself for hiding behind what she was saying when the underlying truth was something completely different. She wasn’t admitting to him what this would do to her. It’d hurt like hell, but she wasn’t ever going to hang around lost, pining over someone.
His normal
ly animated face went grim. “That’s a relief.”
Ouch. Her anger drained away. She’d started this. If she came clean, tried to explain what she wanted, maybe they wouldn’t go their separate ways cold. But it would only make it harder. She’d already shared more with him than she’d ever expected to. They might try to give each other false promises or platitudes, but she didn’t want that for them either. Those were too close to lies and she hated them almost as much. This was what they both handled better: harsh, brutal honesty and a clean break.
“Fine.” She shut down, completely, withdrawing within herself and cutting him off emotionally. She’d deal with it after he was gone. “Can you go out in the living room while I get dressed, please?”
He opened his mouth to say something, thought better of it, and got off her bed without protest. He circled to the other side and grabbed the rest of his clothes. King scrambled to his feet, confused as Jason left, but Jason closed the door behind him, leaving her dog in the bedroom with her.
That could’ve gone better.
Jason sat on the sofa for a minute then rose, restless, and starting pacing. He snagged his duffel bag from where he’d tucked it between the sofa and the wall and started pulling out gear. He didn’t have much, a shoulder harness for his primary firearm and a secondary ankle holster for a smaller backup weapon. He also had a utility knife and a few other handy items small enough to stow in the pockets of his cargo pants.
She’d kicked him out, dismissed him, really. And it’d been out of more than her bedroom. He hadn’t been expecting to hear back from the potential employer so soon, and he hadn’t thought through what would happen when he did. So yeah, he handled breaking the news to her badly. But hell, it wasn’t as if they owed each other anything.
Actually, they did. They’d been watching each other’s backs since Big Island. Thinking on it now, he wasn’t sure he had many colleagues from past contracts who’d do the same for him.
So fine; he hadn’t thought ahead. He was absolutely capable of acting on lessons learned. If he considered what might happen next, it’d mostly depend on her and what mindset she was in when she walked out of her bedroom. She had a mission to get to, so she’d be all business. It was a mission run by her team.
Even if they’d let him be a part of it for last night’s operation, he wasn’t an actual member.
Her face floated in his memory, those fiery eyes going dead flat and her expression hardening into a pleasantly polite mask.
Fine, she’d said.
Then she’d nicely asked for him to get the hell out of her room.
She was going to leave him here, or tell him to head to the airport. He had places to be, after all. She didn’t need to include him on this mission regardless of his desire to make amends. She could shut him out and no one on her team would blink. Jason wasn’t a part of her world, not really.
How much did being a part of this mission matter to him? He’d already helped those people on Big Island. He’d contributed to keeping her little sister safe. Hell, he’d played the dandy to get enough evidence to arrest and prosecute the reptilian Mr. Jones. It was enough, wasn’t it?
Jason zipped up his duffel and dropped it near the door. Then he stared at his boots, sitting neat as you please next to hers. She had tiny feet, her boots dwarfed by his. She also delivered a kick with enough power to break most bones, depending where on the body she’d made contact. Agile, lethally fast, and stubborn enough not to budge even when she was inside a blast zone.
He dragged his hand through his hair. He couldn’t let her kick him out of this operation. He was sure she’d run into more IEDs and Search and Protect didn’t have the experts on hand to deal with them. He didn’t know how to convince her to let him accompany her, but he wanted her vibrant life to continue.
Grabbing his bag, he headed out the door and started running toward Search and Protect headquarters. He had to beat her there. The only way he was going to make sure she didn’t bar him from this mission was to go directly to Zu Anyanwu and offer his services for the duration of the mission.
Maybe by the time they got through this, he’d have figured out how to think ahead more than a couple of steps at a time.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Arin watched the helicopter lift off, having left them safely on the deck of the container ship.
“Your kennel master has some seriously unexpected connections.” Jason leaned toward her so he could be heard without shouting for everyone to hear.
She shrugged. Todd Miller had been in the business a long time. Like any of them, he had history. She wasn’t precisely sure how he’d pulled the favor, but she was not going to ever comment on the nature of the helicopter that’d transported three of the search and rescue handler and canine teams, plus one unwanted freelance contractor, out to this ship in international waters. Usually, the client arranged for their transport or paid for transport arranged by the Search and Protect team. Since this was a special circumstance, Miller had called in a favor rather than going through the usual channels.
Jason stood at her shoulder even if she was doing her best to freeze him out, and King seemed unperturbed by Jason’s proximity. Raul and Taz were standing a few feet away with Zu and Buck, watching the ship’s crew scramble to meet them.
“Getting on this boat shouldn’t have been this easy.” Jason had his hand on her firearm. All of them, including the dogs, were wearing protective gear for this operation. Zu had given Jason a spare set and permission to join the team for this mission.
She was currently in a steady state of pissed off. She’d been extremely hurt when she’d emerged from her bedroom to realize Jason had gone, but finding him waiting for her at Search and Protect had reignited her temper. She had to give him grudging respect for anticipating her thought process, though. It’d been well-played, the jerk.
“Too easy. Agreed.” Zu kept his gaze on the approaching ship’s crew. “They didn’t argue too much when we radioed to inform them we were boarding.”
Zu had taken the lead on talking to the ship as they’d approached. He’d been vague as to who they were, but he’d given the impression they were investigating potentially dangerous cargo that posed a risk to the ship and crew. The captain had allowed them to board based on the possibility there were explosives on the ship.
“We say as little as possible while we conduct our search.” Zu stepped forward. Arin and Raul fell in to flank him, leaving Jason to stand at Arin’s left. “Mister Landon. I appreciate you adding your expertise to our effort. Stay with Charlie team. Your call sign will be the same as previous.”
“Understood, sir.” Jason was all business. He hadn’t pushed Arin to speak to him once they’d left Search and Protect headquarters. The both of them had settled into work mode and there wasn’t room for emotional upheaval.
Beside her, King was eager and ready to work. Fine tremors passed through his body as he looked back and forth to each of them as they spoke, sensing their tension and listening to the cadence of the conversation.
“Will being out on the water mess with their scent abilities?” Jason asked quietly.
Arin huffed. “We’re not directly on the water and we’re not trying to find something in the water. He’s going to be searching for scents here on the container ship, and it is a big ship.”
The container ship stretched out in front of them, not the biggest class in the world but definitely not a small inter-island transport either. This one had forty and forty-five foot containers stacked neatly on deck, making maximum effective use of the space available, or it should have.
“Normally they’d fill every space, but there are gaps between the containers here and there.” She didn’t like it. If she could tell at a glance, the ship’s captain would have noticed too. The gaps were at regular intervals, though. “It’ll be worth asking the captain why the ship was loaded this way.”
The hold probably held many times more containers. It was gearless, meaning it didn’t have a
shipboard crane for handling its cargo. It was designed to go to ports that had pier-side container cranes, as opposed to smaller ports, which might not be equipped with them. All of that meant a reduced chance of a person getting a close and personal look at each container.
“This is going to be like searching for the veritable needle in literal stacks.” Jason’s gaze swept across the ship’s containers, out across the seas around them, and back to the crewmen who’d almost reached them.
“The dogs can do this, but we need to find them a scent to track.” They were betting one or more of the crewmen were on Mr. Jones’s payroll. It was doubtful the captain or the entire crew, but the possibility was there. Pua had run through the captain’s finances and the ship’s history, coming up with no red flags so far. So they were proceeding on the premise of one or two hostiles. They’d be ready in case it was worse.
The ship’s captain finally arrived, accompanied by two crewmen. He approached them cautiously, a firearm obviously at his side. Piracy was a real possibility when it came to sudden boardings like this. Arin couldn’t blame him. She and the rest of the team remained as passive as possible, their hands obviously empty and at their sides.
“This is very unusual.” The ship’s captain scowled. “You are sure my ship is in danger?”
“Yes, Captain.” Zu spoke for all of them. “I’m Azubuike Anyanwu. I lead this team. We will start by searching crew quarters and expand to the rest of the ship. Anything you can do to facilitate our search will expedite this process and hopefully, we’ll be off your ship as quickly as possible.”
“What is it you’re looking—?” One of the crewmen started but his companion cut him off.
The captain scowled at them both, then addressed Zu. “We have submitted to inspections willingly in the past, but I question your jurisdiction. I allowed you to board, but I am not fully convinced you are not associated with pirates.”
Fierce Justice Page 21
