by MC Lee
“Shit,” Jack muttered.
“You said it,” Sean said wryly. “I told him everything was in hand. Make it so.”
“Yes, sir,” Jack said.
Sean stood up, and Jack rose dutifully.
“You’d better contact Leo,” Sean said. “He seemed to think you were about to face a firing squad. I had to threaten him to get him to leave. Come see me out.”
Jack followed him out, noting the way Evan’s tense stance relaxed marginally when he saw them both. He was probably worried, not without reason, about what Sean planned to do.
“Jack needs to make up his missed training session,” Sean said. “It will help focus his mind. I think a ten-mile run should do it.”
The obscenity didn’t quite escape past Jack’s lips, even if it was evident on his face.
“Maybe bump that up to fifteen miles,” Sean said, as if he’d heard the silent profanity. He turned just as Jack plastered on his most innocent expression. “Report in tomorrow night. Usual time. Now, get over here.”
Jack stepped forward warily, and Sean reached out to gather him into a brief hug. “Behave yourself,” he said. “The outcome will be very different if I have to come back.”
He relaxed his hold, and Jack nodded, murmuring his good-byes. Sean shook Evan’s hand before picking up his briefcase and coat and walking out the door without a backward glance.
“You heard the man,” Evan said. “Go get your running gear on.”
Jack knew better than to complain. Compared to what Leo had endured, he was getting off lightly, and he knew it.
Chapter Sixteen
JACK DOUBTED the run had been anything close to fifteen miles, and the pace had been so leisurely he’d barely broken a sweat. But Sean was right, and an hour later, his head felt much clearer and most of the tension had drained out of him.
After a quick shower, Jack helped Evan clear away the dishes and the Thai food containers, and then he escaped into his bedroom and pulled up his timetable before contacting Leo.
“You okay?” Jack couldn’t tell if Leo was anxious or angry.
“I’m fine,” he said.
“Did Sean—”
“He gave me a lecture. Nothing more.”
Leo leaned forward and studied Jack closely. When he was satisfied, he gave a quick nod. “He was pretty mad.”
“You think?” Jack said sarcastically. “He basically told me I was a shit operative. A disgrace to the Center—”
“He did not,” Leo cut in, laughing.
Jack grinned. “I was paraphrasing. He wasn’t very happy with me. That’s for sure.”
Leo sighed. “We’d better sort our schedules out. Martin hacked the school’s system, so I’ve got Anderson’s timetable. I already know Freya’s. It didn’t take much tweaking to arrange things so we cover them both.”
“Roger that,” Jack said. “You want to shoot me an e-mail and let me know which classes and extracurricular courses I have to transfer into?”
Leo tapped his keyboard. “On its way.”
Seconds later Jack scanned the new timetable Leo had sent. “Shit! Why do I have to join the choir?”
Leo’s grin was unrepentant. “Because I’m the senior operative and I’m not going anywhere near it. Besides, you heard what Martin said. This assignment will be closed out in less than a week. You’ll probably only have one practice, two at most.”
“You’d better be right,” Jack grumbled. Leo ignored his scowl and hid his amusement behind a mask of fake sympathy.
“Sean wants me to find out how much Anderson knows about me,” Jack said. “You want to help me with that?”
“Sure. What do you have in mind?”
Jack smothered a yawn. “I don’t know yet. I’ll tell you as soon as I figure it out. Listen. I want to say this. Thanks for trying to manage things with Martin. It means a lot that you tried to save my ass.”
“Did you expect anything different?” Leo asked.
“I know I dumped you in it—”
“We’ve already covered that, Jack,” Leo sighed.
“Just… thanks, man.”
“I’ll always have your back,” Leo said.
“Me too,” Jack said. “See you tomorrow?”
“Yeah.”
Jack didn’t know how Leo managed to make the simple word sound like a promise.
He signed off and scanned the schedules in front of him. He was pretty sure Leo would have spotted the pattern that immediately leapt out at him: Ryan Anderson had ensured he was in every class and every extracurricular activity Leo was in.
IT WAS easy enough to transfer into the few classes he didn’t already share with either Freya or Ryan, and she was thrilled when he told her he was going to join the choir.
“What made you change your mind?” she said, her eyes shining.
Jack shrugged. “My brother said the same thing you did about the importance of extracurricular stuff. I figure the more I get involved, the better my college applications will look.”
“I wish you’d tell Leo,” she said, suddenly sounding serious. “College is so competitive these days. He needs everything he can to give him an edge.”
“I don’t know him well enough to give him advice,” Jack said. “But he was talking about joining the debate team.” He and Leo had already decided Jack couldn’t change every class and activity in order to cover Freya’s schedule. Even the most clueless person would see that as suspicious.
Freya clapped her hands together. “You’re a good influence, Jack. I know he won’t be sorry.”
By the end of the day, both Jack and Leo had rearranged their schedules so that one or other of them was always within a few yards of Freya Moore and Ryan Anderson. Jack still hadn’t come up with the best way of figuring out how much Anderson knew about him, but he decided it couldn’t hurt to start with an ordinary conversation. When he walked into his geography lesson, he made a point of sitting next to Anderson.
Anderson looked momentarily surprised, although he covered it quickly. His eyes darted around the room, no doubt looking for Leo. But Leo had transferred out so he could shadow Freya in her art class. Jack wondered how long it would take Anderson to attempt the same transfer in order to tail Leo.
It was weird to start a conversation with somebody Jack was sure was an operative, and one who might know he was too. He decided on a friendly but cautious approach.
“How’s your knee? That was a pretty bad fall you took yesterday.”
Anderson sent him a sidelong look. “Better. Thanks.”
“Pity about the camera,” Jack continued. “Freya had a really good picture of you. We’re on the yearbook committee. It would have looked great on the club page.”
“Yeah. Sucks,” Anderson said.
He wasn’t exactly giving much away. Jack tried again. “You looked good on the track. Have you been running long?”
“Just a couple of months,” Anderson said. “You and Freya have gotten close very quickly.”
It was a pretty blunt statement, not one Jack would have thought a trained operative would put out there so readily. He wondered briefly whether they had all misread the situation—whether Ryan was just a lovestruck teen whose jealous streak was showing.
“She’s a lot of fun,” he said, choosing his words carefully. “Is she a friend of yours?”
Anderson slid another unreadable look his way. “Something like that.”
Jack didn’t know how anybody could be “something like” friends. “What brought you to Bayfield Heights?” he asked.
“My dad’s job,” Anderson said quickly. “The bank transferred him here.”
It sounded plausible enough, except that Jack had used the same line himself a number of times in creating his backstories. His suspicions deepened. He knew Martin had been doing some digging into Anderson’s story; it seemed like a good time to compare notes.
He didn’t get a chance to poke around any further before the teacher walked into the room. After clas
s Anderson took off so quickly Jack barely registered the movement. He wasn’t particularly worried. Anderson was heading to a history class, one that Leo, Freya, and Jack were all part of.
FREYA HAD saved Jack a seat, and he smiled as he slid in beside her. Anderson, who had kept his distance, hung around in the doorway until Leo walked in and then followed him to the back of the classroom and sat down beside him.
Jack watched out of the corner of his eye as Leo turned a smile on Anderson. He was intrigued to see them bend their heads close together, looking almost conspiratorial as they talked quietly, making Jack wonder what the intense conversation was all about.
“You want to come to my place after school some day?”
Jack turned his attention back to Freya. A slight blush colored her cheeks, and she looked away quickly.
“We could work on some yearbook layout ideas. I mean, you don’t have to if you don’t want to. We could always—”
“I’d love to,” Jack said.
The smile that lit her face was sweet and relieved. “Great. There’s a fantastic burrito place on the way to my house. We could grab some food if you want. Unless you have to get home to your brother?”
“I think Evan will survive a night without me,” Jack said, smiling.
“It’s a da—” She winced, cutting off the word before it was out of her mouth.
“It’s a date,” Jack said, finishing the sentence for her. Her blush deepened, but she looked pleased.
At the end of class, Jack watched as Ryan Anderson rushed out. At a nod from Leo, Jack excused himself to Freya and hurried out of the room, just in time to see Anderson walk out of the building. He shadowed Anderson all the way to his house, waiting for ten minutes after he went in before phoning Leo.
“He went straight home. You want me to hold position?”
“I don’t think that will be necessary,” Leo said. “Look around. Tell me what you see.”
Jack looked up and down the street. “I don’t see… okay. Got it.”
Sitting in his car, parked a few blocks from Anderson’s house, Jack caught a glimpse of Evan.
“Martin wants you over here tonight,” Leo continued. “I think he squared it with Evan, but you should double-check.”
“Roger that,” Jack breathed. “See you soon.”
He disconnected the call and then pressed one of the preset keys on his phone. A moment later, Evan picked up.
“I’m on your six,” Jack said. “Is it okay if I go over to Leo’s tonight?”
Evan didn’t turn his head, though Jack got the distinct impression he’d already spotted him in the rearview mirror.
“Martin already called it through,” Evan said. “Good with me. I’m going to be late tonight. For obvious reasons. Eat at Martin’s.”
“You want me to come by later and take a turn watching Anderson?”
“Negative,” Evan said. “Get a ride home from Martin.”
“Okay. See you later.”
It took thirty minutes to walk to Leo’s apartment. Jack hadn’t been followed out of school, and he didn’t spot anybody tailing him now. It was beginning to look as if his cover story hadn’t been compromised. Leo hadn’t lied when he’d told Martin that Freya had taken the photograph of Anderson. There was a good chance he hadn’t put two and two together after all.
Leo opened the door to Jack’s knock. He slid an arm around Jack’s waist and pressed a soft kiss to his mouth before stepping aside to let him in.
“Hey, Martin.” Jack waved as Martin walked out of the kitchen carrying a steaming bowl of pasta, which he placed on the dining room table.
“I hope you’re hungry,” Martin said. “Come sit down. We’ll do a little work over dinner.”
Jack sat down opposite Leo and helped himself to pasta and a hunk of bread.
“Take some of the salad too,” Martin said, pushing the bowl toward Jack.
Leo snorted and rolled his eyes, not looking the least bit repentant when Martin caught him.
“Call me a mother hen and I’ll send you to your room without any supper,” Martin growled.
Leo looked instantly angelic. “I was just going to say you like to serve a well-balanced meal.”
“If you think that look fools me after all these years….”
Leo grinned. “You’re the best mom a guy could ask for.”
Martin quirked an eyebrow. “That ice is getting dangerously thin, son.”
“Maybe we should talk about something else?”
“Good plan.” Martin turned to Jack. “Did you get anywhere with Ryan today?”
Jack shook his head. “Not really. He didn’t give anything away when I spoke to him in class.” He looked across the table at Leo. “You seemed to be really tight with him in history class.”
Leo nodded. “Yeah. It was weird. He’s pretty much avoided me since I arrived, except to spy on me when he thought I wasn’t looking. But today he made a point of sitting next to me.”
“What did he want to talk about?” Jack asked.
Leo shrugged. “You and Freya mostly.”
Martin looked between the two of them. “As in jealous of Jack? Interested in Freya?”
“He was definitely asking those kinds of questions,” Leo confirmed. “Was Freya attracted to Jack? Did he seem keen on her? That kind of thing.”
“But?”
Jack glanced at Martin. He hadn’t heard any hesitation in Leo’s voice, but Martin clearly had.
Leo smiled at his foster father. “But I wasn’t getting the jealousy vibe. He just seemed genuinely interested in whether they would hook up.” He shrugged. “But I might have misread the signs. I don’t have any experience with the jealous boyfriend thing.”
Jack wasn’t quite sure how to interpret the weird sense of gratification that Leo’s statement triggered. Leo had once told him that he’d cared for some of the previous people with whom he’d had a relationship—even those who were supposed to be targets. It had stirred up feelings of jealousy and possessiveness Jack hadn’t known he was capable of. That Leo hadn’t experienced those feelings for anybody else meant something to Jack.
“Your instincts are usually pretty good,” Martin said. “If you weren’t sensing jealousy, I’d go with that. Do you think you can draw him out any further without arousing suspicion?”
“I’ll give it a try,” Leo said. “Did the Center’s research turn anything up?”
Martin picked up the pasta bowl and held it out to Jack, who nodded his thanks as he filled his plate again. “His story checks out. His father’s a banker. They moved here three months ago due to a work transfer. All his credentials and paperwork are in order.”
“But?” Leo prompted. This time Jack easily heard the hesitancy.
“But I’d expect to find that if he were an operative. Just as your cover stories would check out perfectly if anybody went digging. The Center’s going to do some more work to break down the facts. If there’s something wrong, we’ll soon find out. In the meantime, you both need to stay vigilant. If we’re stepping up our action, it stands to reason whoever Anderson works for will be doing the same. You’ve got both Freya and Anderson covered during the day?”
“Yes, sir,” Leo replied. “Every class and extracurricular activity. And we’re swapping off on following them home after school.”
“That’s good work, boys,” Martin said. “Jack, what time does Evan want you home tonight?”
“He didn’t say,” Jack replied. “He just told me to get a ride with you.”
“Okay. That makes sense. I’m taking over surveillance of Anderson’s house in a couple of hours. I’ll drop you home on the way.”
“You want a coffee, Martin?” Leo asked.
Martin stood up and stretched. “Thanks. I’ve got some work to do. Can I leave you boys to clean up here?”
“Yes, sir,” Jack said hurriedly. “Thanks for dinner.”
“Anytime, son,” Martin said, smiling kindly. He turned to walk toward his be
droom, absently squeezing Leo’s shoulder as he passed. Jack didn’t think Leo was aware of the small smile that curved his lips. Whatever had happened between them had already been forgiven and forgotten. Their close family bond was evident in so many ways. When Jack thought about his own relationship with Sean, he was surprised to find similarities.
He helped Leo tidy up and load the dishwasher, and when Leo took Martin a cup of coffee, he threw himself onto the couch and picked up the remote. He was flicking idly through the channels when Leo sat down beside him.
“There’s a Jurassic Park marathon on channel fifty-six,” Leo said.
Jack tuned in the station, laughing when Leo reached out to tug him up against his side. He settled himself more comfortably and sighed contentedly. He’d missed this, almost as much as he missed their more energetic expressions of affection. They hadn’t spent a lot of time together, and they’d both been sent on separate assignments that had lasted days or weeks, but after years of living alone, it had been scarily easy to fall into the habit of having Leo around.
Maybe in deference to Martin in the next room, maybe because he was still hurting, Leo seemed happy to just sit together, his arm wrapped casually around Jack’s shoulder. Every now and then he brushed a kiss against Jack’s temple, his lips warm and soft. Each kiss sent a spike of lust straight to Jack’s groin, but he ignored it in favor of just being near Leo, feeling the heat of his body, the smell of soap and aftershave tickling at his nose.
He was so completely relaxed that he didn’t notice Martin walk out of his room, and he was startled to find that two hours had passed in the blink of an eye. Usually he would have tensed and pulled away from Leo, still nervous about displaying their relationship in front of anybody else. But this time, feeling comfortable and lazy, he stayed where he was.
Martin disappeared into the kitchen, and a few minutes later he returned with a plastic bag.
“Take some of this food home to Evan,” he said. “He’ll probably be starving.”
“Is it already time?” Leo asked.
“I’m going to take over from him for a couple of hours,” Martin said. “Jack, you want that ride?”
