Cuckoo (Kindred Book 3)

by Scarlett Finn

  The time for serious discussion was over. She wanted to return to their ease, so she kept joking. “There was a lack of sleep involved, alcohol, too, I’m sure. He definitely took advantage of me when I was at my weakest.”

  “Ah, now it all makes sense.”

  The knock at the door caused Tuck to let her go, giving her clearance to answer it. Zara went over to open the door to Brodie, who moved to come inside, but she didn’t budge out of his way, keeping him in the hallway. “Newcomers must submit to a strip search.”

  He groaned. “I knew you were in this kind of mood. I just knew it. I should know better than to fuck you on an empty stomach.”

  “Maybe you should’ve let me swallow,” she said, walking her fingers up his torso.

  Grabbing her wrist, he spun her around and marched her into the room, slamming the door behind himself. “I paid the room for the rest of the week,” he said, keeping her arm loosely twisted up her back all the way over to the couch. “I told him we were gonna party, there might be noise, music, banging—”

  “Banging?” she asked, elevating her chin in hope.

  “Yes,” he said, squeezing tighter and wrapping his other arm around her waist. “You’re in for a wild ride this week, baby. Any time we need cover, we’re calling on you to do more of that screaming.”

  “You’re calling her for that,” Tuck said, turning away from them. “The mark hasn’t lifted his head, you got in and out clean.

  Brodie lowered his lips into her hair. “What did I tell you, baby? We’re pros and we’re in for the long haul.”

  While the men setup the audio equipment to monitor the bugs Brodie had planted, she laid herself down on the bed. She must have fallen asleep because the next thing she became aware of was the light glowing through her eyelids. She yawned and stretched, dropping a hand onto the torso of the man lying beside her.

  “Wrong guy,” a voice beside her muttered. A strong hand took her wrist to shunt her hand back over to her own side. As soon as he released her, she sat up in a flash.

  Tuck was the one lying beside her, fully clothed but still asleep. He rolled over, putting his back to her and continuing to snooze. Whipping her attention around, she saw Brodie on guard duty with one hand on the back of the couch so he could check out the sleeping pair.

  “Why didn’t you move me?” she whispered, grabbing her pillow and schlepping across the room to sink onto the couch on her side. Putting her head in his lap, she hugged her pillow for warmth, drawing her knees up around it.

  “Because when your mouth is that close to my dick I get distracted,” he said but stroked her hair away from her face while she slipped into slumber.

  “What’s the plan today?” she asked on another yawn.

  “Swift and I will keep watch. Tracking Kahlil’s movements will give us more information, and he might lead us to the other players.”

  It beat sitting around and waiting for attack. Brodie needed to be doing something practical that didn’t involve him thinking too hard about what he did or didn’t know about his parents’ death.

  “Did Wren and Falcon find out anything more from the data at base?” she asked. They’d gone through most of it before facial recognition had brought them here. But if Grant knew something about Future’s Hope, they needed to know it too. That answer would weigh heavily on their ultimate decision of how to deal with Kahlil.

  “Wren took a commercial flight back west this morning,” Brodie said.

  Her eyes were still closed, but she presumed he was still watching Kahlil. “That’s a shame,” she said, because Thad was a fun guy to be around and he always injected a bit of humor into tense situations. With guys like Brodie, Zave, and even Tuck, she was often left smiling alone.

  “He asked if you wanted to go with him. Something you should tell me?”

  She smiled. “Bess invited me to visit.”

  “What did you say?”

  “I didn’t commit to anything. I had other things on my mind.”

  “Do me a favor,” he said, coiling his fingers in her hair. “Check with me before you jet off. I want to check Zave’s calendar to see what he’s got going on before I let you go over there alone. There are certain times that his place is just plain off-limits, hear me?”

  Rolling to her back, she opened her eyes. “Are you ever going to tell me what it is he does that makes you say these cryptic things?”

  “You know me, baby,” he said, sliding his hand down to her breast so he could toy with her nipple through the sheer material she wore. “Cryptic keeps you on your toes. I like that.”

  A loud bear yawn from the bed made her sit up in time to see Tuck get up and stretch to the ceiling. “What’s the update?” he asked, opening his arms to each side. The ripple of the muscles in his arms reminded her of Brodie, and she recalled the first time she’d laid eyes on Tuck, when he happened to be shirtless.

  Brodie’s fingertips crossed her face to press her opposite cheekbone until she was facing him. “What?” she asked, but he just glared and went to his sight.

  “What we got?” Tuck asked, rubbing the stubble on his jaw.

  Brodie settled back, bringing his hands up to the back of his head in a relaxed pose. “Guy just started jerking off. We’re good.”

  Shocked and interested, she hadn’t considered what would happen if their subject got intimate with himself or others. “Seriously?” she asked, clambering onto Brodie’s lap to peek through the sight.

  “Least he’s up, we might get some action,” Tuck said.

  “This takes invasion of privacy to a whole new level,” she said, knowing that she should be more demure but intent on the movement of the bedclothes over Kahlil’s lap. As disgusting as it was to watch, it was useful. His ability to intimidate dwindled with every jerk of his fist.

  Brodie’s hands held her hips, they slid around to her abdomen and up under her top to cup her breasts. She grabbed his arms to try to tug them away. “What?” he asked, countering her strength without breaking a sweat.

  His hot, entitled hands shouldn’t be touching her in intimate places during this spectacle. “Don’t stimulate me while I’m watching… this,” she protested.

  “You’re the one choosing to watch,” Brodie muttered. “You want the full stereo experience?”

  He tapped a button on the laptop, and Kahlil’s pants and grunts echoed into the room. That enhancement was more than she could stomach. The foul performance made her close the laptop to cut off the audio. Flopping back on him, his hands pressed into her breasts as she tipped her head to look at him.

  He’d succeeded in his goal of grossing her out, so she took a turn at doing the same to him. “Want me to blow you and we’ll see who finishes first?”

  His face distorted in disgust and his hands disappeared from inside her top. “Ok, that’s just wrong.”

  Tuck laughed and ran his hands through his hair. “I’m gonna jump in the shower, then I’ll go out for coffee.” He pointed at Brodie. “You ok for a bit, Bud?”

  Brodie waved him away then opened up the laptop and logged it in. “I’m good.”

  Tuck grabbed some things from their supplies bag and went into the bathroom. The shower went on ten seconds later. It was on for less than two minutes, and two minutes after that he was bidding them goodbye. She was still curled in Brodie’s lap. They hadn’t even spoken to each other.

  “He’s quick,” she said after the room door closed.

  “Speed is required for necessities,” he said, holding her body when he leaned forward to check their subject again. “If you can’t be quick, you don’t shower.”

  “Do you want to shower?” she asked, stroking his shoulder and nuzzling closer to his neck, but he smelled clean and given what they’d done last night, she was surprised.

  He explained before she asked. “I showered before Tuck got into bed with you. I’ll get naked when there’s someone on watch.”

  “I can be on watch,” she said.

  “Yeah,
but if I’m naked you’ll be watching the wrong thing. We’re not doing surveillance on my dick.” She wouldn’t mind that job, and when his lip curled, she knew he was aware of her thoughts. Pushing her onto the couch, he got up. “I’m gonna wash my face. You keep watch while I do that.”

  He was humoring her, giving her a chance to steer the car while he still worked the pedals, but she would pay her dues and do grunt work. It took time to work through the ranks, to prove she was capable of protecting these formidable men.

  “You won’t be naked?” she called over the couch when he walked toward the bathroom.

  “No, I won’t,” he said, and she was glad to be amusing him. “When I am, you’re distracted, and you need to focus.”

  Pointing at the window before he went into the bathroom, she followed his silent instruction and turned to peek through the sight. She’d missed Kahlil’s climax but was completely ok with that. On the desk beside her was a notebook with notations in it and the computer with a program open, the background was black, and there were a bunch of options along with the main audio visualizer.

  She leaned forward, expecting to see Kahlil getting ready for the day. But what she saw was Kahlil walking toward his front door. Grabbing up the headphones, she plugged them in and hit record just before he opened the door.

  One of the guys in the hallway shoved Kahlil inside, and the other came in to close the door. “Did you get it?” the first goon asked and she squinted to peer closer. These were the guys from the parking garage.

  “You can tell your master to go fuck himself,” Kahlil spat out, and for a man wearing nothing but underwear, he showed a surprising amount of gumption.

  This pair had been on Kahlil’s protective detail when she’d met them. Seeing that they were on opposing sides now corroborated Kahlil’s story that he’d been cast out by his former employer.

  The goon didn’t appreciate being disrespected, and he threw his fist into Kahlil’s face making her yelp and Kahlil fall on his ass. “Get dressed. We’re going on a trip,” he barked.

  Throwing the headphones from her ears, she scrambled off the couch and ran to the bathroom. This wasn’t news that could wait. Bursting through the door, she saw that Brodie was bent over the sink splashing water on his face. It ran down his neck and onto his bare chest when he stood to clock her reflection to the left of his.

  “He’s leaving,” she said, holding the door in one hand and the frame in the other.

  He snagged the towel from the rail and rubbed his face as he came out. She walked backward in front of him as he dried off and moved into the room. “Two guys showed up, said they’re taking him on a trip. They’re the guys from the parking garage. The ones that attacked us. Except they’re not protecting him anymore.” Brodie bent to pull a tee shirt from the supplies bag. He pulled it on then went over to grab his jacket from the desk.

  “Why do you think that?” he asked, bending over the back of the couch to look through the sight. “He’s getting dressed.”

  “The bigger guy punched him in the face,” she said.

  Brodie leaped over the couch and began to take Maverick apart. He pulled out the case and put all the pieces inside but left the case and took a handgun from the same bag.

  “What are you going to do?” she asked.

  “I’m gonna follow them,” he said, standing up and checking the clip of his gun before digging it into the waistband at the back of his jeans.

  “Is that smart?” she asked, again walking backward in front of him as he came around the couch with the door in his sights. “You haven’t slept. There’s three of them. And if they have a vehicle—”

  “They will. Kahlil’s vehicle is the silver coupe parked down the street. But they’ll probably have their own transportation. My bike is parked around the corner. I’ll tail them.”

  Pushing her aside, he opened the door but paused long enough to tip her chin up with a curled finger to kiss her. “Stay here. Swift will be back in a minute.”

  “Be careful,” she said, but he was already out of the room.

  Closing the door, she paused then rushed over to the window, but there was nothing to aid her view now. The original scope they’d used was still in the bag. Rooting around until she found it, she picked it out and propped it on the tripod they’d used for Maverick. Kahlil was putting on his watch and picking up a cellphone. He lifted the cellphone to his mouth, and she put on the headphones to listen to what he was saying.

  “Possible final recording,” Kahlil said into the device. “GPS activated. TTX poison secreted in timepiece. If I get close enough, I will eliminate the enemy.”

  Enemy. Poison. Damn, she wished that Brodie had stuck around long enough to hear those facts. Kahlil tucked the phone into his side pocket then touched the watch on his wrist. Zara stood up with the scope and tried to see if Brodie was on the street, but she couldn’t see him.

  Kahlil went through his apartment to the door where his chaperones were waiting. When the door closed, she lost her view, so dropped the scope to the couch, and grabbed her cellphone. Ringing Brodie, she closed her eyes and begged for him to answer. He didn’t. Kahlil was packing a deadly toxin. A gun wouldn’t keep Brodie safe from an attack like that.

  Prevention was out, so the next option was cure. Hanging up on Brodie’s line, she pressed Thad’s speed dial. It went to voicemail, but at least he had voicemail. He was probably still on a plane, but she needed him working as soon as he landed. This situation needed a hasty response.

  She waited for the beep. “It’s Swallow, nothing to worry about, but I need an antidote for TTX poison on hand.” Didn’t that sound ridiculous, keeping her voice breezy and telling him not to worry while asking for a cure to a deadly poison that she’d never heard of before. “Can you put something together for us on the down low? Call me back.”

  She hung up and tried to see any of the players through the window. She spotted the trio of men from the apartment emerge onto the street. Kahlil was bundled into the back of a black car near the building entrance. One of the goons got in the front, the other pushed in beside him.

  The car was moving a breath later and as the sound of the car engine faded, the engine of a motorbike revved as it shot past the hotel. He gunned the engine when toying with her, but as she flopped onto the couch, she didn’t feel like smiling.

  Brodie was out there following people who could kill him in any number of ways. He might be lucky and get a bullet through and through, or he could die a painful death all alone languishing in the effects of a toxic substance. All she could do was sit here and wait for coffee and for Tuck.

  She wished that she’d been the one to go for the drinks. Pushing the balls of her fists into her eyes, she cursed herself for not taking Tuck’s place. The two men should be together, looking out for each other. Her cellphone chirped, and she sat upright to snatch it to her ear. “Rave?”

  “Having some trouble locating your boyfriend, are you?” Cuckoo drawled down the line.

  Like she wasn’t having a bad enough day, now she had to deal with the ex-girlfriend too. “We’re just fine,” she said and sighed. “What do you want?”

  “I had an interesting meeting last night.”

  “If you’ve called to tell me about how Rave just couldn’t stay away, it’s fine, I know all about it, ok?”

  “I doubt that,” Cuckoo said with her accent so thick even Zara had to admit it was sexy. “But I wasn’t talking about our mutual lover.”

  Past for Cuckoo, present for her, but Zara wasn’t in the mood to rise to the bait. “What are you talking about?”

  “I want you to come in. Meet with me.”

  “Meet with you?” Zara asked, surprised by Cuckoo’s stern tone. “At CI?”

  “Why not? It’s a safe space for you, if you’re afraid of me.”

  Narrowing her eyes in a glare, Zara was glad of the opportunity to vent her current frustration. “I’m not afraid. Just don’t see why I should take the time out my life fo
r that place or for you when I’m no longer on payroll.”

  Cuckoo returned to doing the sexy thing. “Trust me, you want to come to this meeting.”

  It was probably engrained in Cuckoo to flirt and seduce, she used her allure to her advantage. Shame for her that Zara was immune. “I don’t think I do,” Zara said, glancing at the door, wishing one of the men would come back so they could get on with tracing Kahlil. “I’m busy today, getting my nails done, you know.”

  “Be here at noon. The future of the world may depend on it.”

  The line died before she could get in another word. She threw the phone down on the couch and shot to her feet. “Damnit!” she shouted in the same second there was a knock at the door.

  Hurrying over, she pulled it open and grabbed hold of Tuck to pull him inside. “Something wrong?” he asked her.

  She took the tray of coffee and the bag of food away from him. “You have to go after Raven.”

  “Where did he go?” Tuck asked, switching from jovial to serious in a heartbeat.

  “Kahlil went out,” she said, stepping aside to let him rush across the room. “Two guys came and took him, said they were going on a trip.”

  Tuck began to pack everything up, and she fizzed with the need for him to hurry up. “Will you please go after him, you’ll have him on GPS, right?”

  “I have him,” he said. Taking his phone from his pocket, he typed on it while the laptop they’d been using for audio surveillance shutdown. “We can’t leave evidence here. I’m not leaving the kit and I have to take you home first.”

  “I can pack everything away,” she said.

  He stood straight. “You have to stage the place. The room’s still ours, and we might need to come back if Kahlil does.”

  “I will,” she said, witnessing his conflict.

  “What about Caine? What if he’s lurking?”

  She didn’t know he knew about that, but it was probable that the men had spoken into the night while she slept. “Caine approaches me at night. I will deal with this place and go back to the manor, I swear to you.”

  “Ok,” he said, grabbing up the bag with Maverick in it. He’d leave her alone but wouldn’t risk abandoning Brodie’s first love. If she wasn’t so worried about her love, she might laugh at his innate priorities.