by Amelia Jade
The building, to his surprise, was mostly empty. The far side held a number of pallets of something, stacked cleanly and several layers high. The vehicles they had been tailing were pulled up in a shallow arc to the left, their headlights on, serving as illumination. The rest of the warehouse appeared to be empty besides a few random boxes, a small pile of empty pallets, and other such detritus that accumulated in unused places.
In the middle of the circle of light, he could make out several figures. Half a dozen or so men stood near the vehicles, clearly just armed guards. It was the two men in the circle that caught his eye.
“That’s Baldy,” he said to Jared. “The one who kicked the door at me.”
“You’re positive?” he asked.
“Absolutely,” he replied, the pair of them speaking so lowly that they could barely hear each other. They didn’t whisper. Whispers were harsh noises that could carry a long distance, especially if anyone inside had augmented senses, including the Extremis Agents.
That had been a rude surprise. Finding that the Agency had managed to isolate certain shifter traits, and give their men enhanced versions of things. Connor had already encountered one of the men that had been given a serum that took his strength beyond anything a normal bear shifter could match. The Sentinels had yet to come across any other variations, but they knew it was coming. It was only a matter of time now.
“So who is our mystery man?” Jared mused aloud.
“Whoever he is, he’s human. Not Extremis, nor a shifter either.”
“I don’t like this,” Jared said. “Too much going on these days.”
Justin just nodded his agreement. The Agency was up to something. That much was clear. They just didn’t know what. Looking over at Jared, he frowned. The other shifter was pulling something out of the pack he always wore on his back.
“What is that?”
“A camera,” he said, letting Justin get a clear look at it. “One that should, hopefully, catch our mystery man’s face.”
“What about the flash?”
“No flash on this bad boy,” he said smugly, holding it up to the window and depressing the trigger a few times.
The camera whirred and clicked, but that was all.
“Okay, let’s go before they disperse and catch us. I want to get these back to Madison as soon as possible, so that she can start trying to figure out who it is.”
Justin didn’t argue with him. The pair returned to the edge of the roof, slipping their legs over the side and then dropping to the ground with matching dull thuds. Then they went to their vehicles, split up, and headed back to headquarters, each taking a separate route to keep its location as secret as possible.
He tossed and turned that night, with one word playing over and over in his mind.
Shay.
***
A day off.
Okay, perhaps not off completely. That never happened. But there were no scheduled missions, and he wasn’t even on call either. Connor and Josh had drawn that duty today. For Justin, that meant he could effectively do whatever he wanted with his time.
“What are you so happy about?” Jared asked, looking up from his food as Justin bounced into the breakfast room.
“Nothing,” he said too quickly, trying to hide his excitement.
“Oh no!” The big shifter said, standing from his seat with a look upon his face. “You’re far too happy for this place. You need to tell us what’s going on, so that we can make fun of you and bring you back down to our level of misery.”
Connor and Josh came up alongside him, half-surrounding Justin as he walked along the buffet line. He snagged some scrambled eggs, a big handful of bacon, some toast, and a big glass of orange juice.
“Excuse me fellas,” he said politely, forcing his way between Josh and Jared, making a beeline for one of the tables.
“He’s ignoring us,” Connor said plaintively. “That’s not fair.”
The others chuckled and walked over to the table.
“What’s got you so jaunty this morning?” Josh asked, moving his half-eaten breakfast over from the table where he had been sitting.
“I get to see you lovely fellas,” he replied, giving the three of them a sly look and a wink.
“Now we know you’re full of bullshit,” Jared said, still laughing.
“Are you going to see that girl from the coffee shop again?” Connor asked.
Justin looked up sharply.
“He is!” Connor crowed, sitting back in his chair.
Shit. Here it comes.
Justin wasn’t actually upset. It was just good-natured ribbing from his friends. They had done the same to Connor when he had first grown smitten with Madison. Fair was fair, really.
“Wait, the same one you wiped out in front of?” Josh asked. “She’s willing to see such a failure of a rider a second time?”
The whole table, including Justin, guffawed at that one.
“Don’t worry,” Justin responded. “Next time Baldy wants to get in some target practice, I’ll be sure to let him try with you, so that you can show us just how skilled you are.”
Josh rolled his eyes. “He’d never be able to hit me.”
“Depends on how many more eggs you’re going to eat,” Justin replied, leaning over to jab a finger into Josh’s stomach. The big shifter was notorious for the amount of food he ate, even if he didn’t show it.
The group howled with laughter as Josh sputtered and tried to come up with a reply.
Before he could, Justin smiled and nodded at his friends. “As a matter of fact, I am hoping to see her again today.”
“I wondered why you were up so early,” Connor said, setting off another round of laughs.
Justin was known for his desire to sleep in.
“And now,” he said, grabbing the last few pieces of bacon. “I am off. See you ladies later.” His tone turned serious. “I’ll have my phone on me if anything comes up. I’ll pick up right away.”
Jared nodded, accepting the tacit apology for his actions the day before.
With that, he was off. To see Shay. His bear howled with delight at the thought.
Yes!
***
The drive was swift, and he pulled up at her hotel less than twenty minutes after leaving. The guest parking was full, but that was the benefit of having a bike. He drove up onto the concrete sidewalk and parked it out of the way of any walking pedestrians. Then, taking a deep breath to try and calm his nerves, he headed to the bank of elevators inside. Shay was on the sixth floor, room 606.
Knock.
Knock.
He stepped back from the door and waited for her to answer.
Nothing happened.
He had missed her. Damn. Shay must have left early to continue her search for her father. Where would she go at such an hour, he wondered?
Stepping forward, he raised his fist to try one more time, but before he could make contact, the door swung open to reveal Shay finishing pulling her top down. He caught a swift glimpse of soft pale skin on her stomach before the red material dropped down, concealing her from him.
“Justin?” she asked, looking confused.
Shit. Should he not have come? Was this a breach of etiquette? Fuck fuck fuck! He hadn’t meant to throw her off. Why else would she give him her hotel room?
“Yep, the one and only,” he replied, his brain thinking fast, trying to come up with something better than “I wanted to see you” as his reason for being there.
“I can see that now,” she said with a little smile, looking up at him. “I’m just surprised to see you here.”
He frowned. “You gave me your hotel room…I thought...” He looked down the hallway, at a loss for words. “Should I not be here?” he asked.
Shay giggled softly. “I just figured you would call ahead or something.”
Now he was thoroughly confused. “You don’t have a phone though…”
“You can call the hotel and have them connect to my room you
know.”
Flames erupted across his face as he realized his mistake. The heat was so intense he was surprised his skin wasn’t just falling off in pieces, melting away from the burning embarrassment.
“Right,” he said at last. “I did not think of that. Clearly.”
He could see Shay trying not to laugh at him as he made a complete fool of himself.
“I, uh, I can go then,” he said, taking a half-step back toward the elevators. “I didn’t meant to intrude on you. I just thought... after last night and running out, that maybe we could...” he took a breath. “Yeah, sorry. This was inappropriate.” He turned to go.
What the hell was I thinking, coming here like this? Of course she wanted me to phone ahead. Then she could have told me she already had plans, instead of me making this awkward as all hell!
“Wait,” Shay called after him. “Justin?”
“Yeah?” he said, spinning back around.
“I’m going out to look for my father again, at another place.”
He saw something flash behind her eyes. Something troubling and almost fearful.
“Where?” he asked, stepping back to the doorway.
“Downtown,” she said slowly. “If you aren’t busy, maybe you could come with me?”
The way Shay phrased it let him know immediately that there was a twofold request there. One that she was willing to voice was her desire to see him again. He felt that matching burn inside of him. That initial ache when you meet someone knew, where all you want to do is spend every waking and sleeping second with them, talking to them, getting to know them and more.
It was the undercurrent of her tone that left him unsettled. Unless he missed his guess, she was asking him to come along so that she would feel safer. Justin was positive he hadn’t sensed anything like that the night before when he had last seen her. What had happened in that timeframe? It was also clear to him that she didn’t want to talk about it. Again, Justin wasn’t sure how he knew this, but he did, and he had to go with his gut on it. Shay would tell him when she was ready.
Inside, his bear recognized the basic thought behind all of this, and it started to growl its displeasure. Shay was scared. Must protect. The basic instinct to protect one that he cared about was a big part of him. If he was around, Shay would never need to fear.
“I can do that,” he said, looking deep into those greenish-blue eyes as he nodded solemnly, letting Shay know that he would be there for her in all ways. As a friend, companion, and if necessary, protector.
His bear growled a silent challenge to all comers, daring them to even look at Shay wrong.
“Where are we going?” he asked lightly, trying to change the subject.
“I want to go ask around here,” she said, handing him a photograph with a grateful smile. “Maybe he frequented a shop there or something. Someone has to recognize him.”
He took the picture, glancing down at it as Shay talked.
It took every bit of willpower in his body to not react to what he saw in the photo. He tried to play it off by pretending to study the picture deeply, but in reality, he was suddenly regretting agreeing to help her.
In the foreground were two people. One was a slightly above-average-height male with long hair down to his shoulders, and a big, bushy beard. He had a smile on his face and looked genuinely happy. There was another much cleaner-cut man standing next to him. The pair were giving the cameraman a thumbs up. Justin didn’t recognize either of them, or the building in the immediate background.
But behind that, farther down the street they were standing on, was a building he did recognize. A squat concrete building, much shorter than any of its neighbors. It was painted an off-white color. It was a building Justin knew it intimately. Every Sentinel was familiar with it.
After all, knowing the home base of your enemy was critical.
He was going into the lair of the beast.
“Is everything okay?” Shay asked, looking at him oddly.
“Yep,” he said tightly, knowing she would see right through that. He just hoped that, after he had given her a break by not asking what had her so afraid, that she would do the same to him now.
Shay’s eyes narrowed slightly, but then she relaxed as he stood his ground. “Okay,” she said, giving him a nod similar to the one he had given her just a few moments ago.
Secrets. Everyone has their secrets.
Justin hated that he had to keep so much from Shay, but he hadn’t been cleared to tell her yet by either Madison or Jared. Until one or both of them said he could tell her, he would have to keep her in the dark about his true purpose in King City. He was fairly sure that in the end she would be okay with the reasoning, but he still didn’t like it.
“At some point,” he said as they waited in the elevator a few minutes later, “I may have to take off. Like I did yesterday. I hope not, because I’m tired of feeling like I’m running away from you, but I need to warn you it might happen.”
Shay looked at him. “Just promise me something?” she asked, and he could see the humor in the look she was giving him.
“And what’s that?” he asked.
“Give me a hug before you go this time?”
He laughed. “I can certainly do that,” he assured her. Without thinking, he stepped closer, putting his arm around her as they both shared a happy moment.
Justin latched on to that moment as Shay tilted her head slightly to rest it against his shoulder. If he didn’t, he knew his nerves about being so close to the Agency headquarters would get the better of him.
Right then, Shay needed him to be strong. For her, he would always be strong.
He had to be.
Chapter Seven
Shay
Sunlight streamed down the boulevard as they walked along it. The east-west facing street was a tunnel of brightness as the rising sun cast its rays down upon it, forcing both of them to pull their sunglasses down across their face. The heat battered at them, and it wasn’t long before Shay regretted the dark-red shirt she had pulled on that morning. A white shirt would have been so much cooler.
Buildings rose up around them, modern-day megaliths that were designed to impress and awe. Around them humans surged and flowed along the paths, on their way to any of a thousand destinations to conduct business of one sort or another. She saw bicyclists in collared shirts, businessmen exiting fancy cars wearing expensive suits, and city workers covered in grime as they removed the previous days’ refuse from the streets. All of them blended together to create the vibrant atmosphere that was the core of any major city.
King City wasn’t the biggest place that Shay had ever visited. On tour as a driver, she had been to a number of the megacities around the world. But it wasn’t a small town either, sporting a population of well over a million people. It had the size to be called a city, and the bustle to go with it.
The press of bodies forced her and Justin to stay close. In the heart of the city center those around them were less impressed by his size than the more tourist-inclined area by the harbor. Because of that there was less of a space around them. Her arm brushed against his numerous times, and each time she shivered in delight from the heat that exploded across her skin.
It wasn’t until she saw his shoulders straighten when they touched that she realized he was profoundly uncomfortable with something.
“Hey,” she said, reaching out and taking his hand without thinking, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
Justin stumbled as he came to a halt. He glanced down between them before slowly bending his arm. As his hand, and therefore her hand, came with it, a look of wonder passed over his face. Then his eyes moved from their fingers to her lips.
“Uh, hi,” he said, a lopsided grin settling on his mouth.
She saw him relax somewhat, though there was still an underlying tension to him that hadn’t been there before.
“Everything okay?” she asked, pulling him along as she resumed walking.
“Yeah,” he said
just a bit too quickly.
Shay frowned. “Okay mister secret agent,” she teased. “If you won’t tell me what’s up, then tell me something else.”
A ghost of the smile returned to Justin’s face. “What would you like me to tell you?” he asked without hesitation.
“Who are you?” she asked as they resumed walking.
She could see the building in the background of her father’s picture, the first one he had ever sent her from King City. She knew that, because in the other pictures he had shaven his beard and cut his hair in a style similar to the other man in the photo. Clean-shaven and close-cropped hair. She kind of liked it; it made him look more professional. She had brought both pictures with her in the wild hope that someone might recognize him.
A snarl pulled at her lip as she pictured anyone trying to threaten her with Justin at her side.
Good luck.
“Who am I?” he said, repeating the question as he gathered his thoughts. “That’s a difficult question to answer.”
Shay said nothing. He hadn’t been trying to avoid the question, but instead elaborated on it, so that she could understand there were different angles to what he was going to say.
“I’m an orphan, for starters,” he said. “My family died when I was younger, leaving me to fend for myself without any support.”
“I’m sorry,” she said with heartfelt sorrow, unable to fathom how hard that must have been for him.
He smiled and squeezed her hand, much to Shay’s delight as it clued her in that they were still holding hands. It felt so natural that she was surprised that she had forgotten about it already.
“Thank you. It’s been hard, but these days I have my team, and they’re the closest thing to a family I’ve had since.” He laughed. “Hell, they may actually understand me even better.”
Shay shook her head. “What do you mean?”
“I’m a bit of an oddity,” he told her with a wink.
“Yeah, I knew that already,” she teased, her smile becoming a full grin as he laughed loudly.
