Page 47 of Spies Like Us

Anders frowns. “I guess it couldn’t hurt.” He pulls a card from his pocket and holds it over the reader. Sure enough, the two doors click open. Miller pulls a gun and a flashlight out of his backpack and goes through them first. I feel so naked without my own weapon, but I trust that they know what they are doing. Heck, from what I understand, Miller’s skills are on par with mine. I just itch to have security in my palm.

I follow behind them, goosebumps breaking out over my skin. Although I have my jacket on, it’s cold down here, and I’m really not wearing much.

Anders and I follow behind Miller. All is quiet down here, but it gives me a creepy feeling. We travel quite a distance. One thing I notice about this tunnel is it’s a little wider than the one from the library. They definitely could have fit large wine barrels down here.

Miller stops suddenly, and Anders and I struggle not to run into his back. I hear him curse quietly. We both step to either side of him so we can see what he’s looking at. It’s another small alcove, similar to the one Lathan and I hid in, with the missing wine barrels inside. Anders takes Miller’s flashlight from him and walks over to look at them. The lids are resting against the side of the barrels. He points the light inside them, and this time, he’s the one who curses quietly. “They are empty. Where could all the wine have gone?” He keeps moving a little farther down the tunnel, but he doesn’t get very far. “Fuck, come here.”

His voice sounds urgent, and Miller and I don’t hesitate. He’s standing at the end, peering into the room with the cells. I guess he remembered the cameras are there and doesn’t want to get caught. It’s no longer shrouded in darkness. This room has lights set between each of the cells, and they are dimly lit, providing enough light so we can see three of the cells are now occupied.

“Holy crap,” I mutter, taking in the three occupants of the cells. They have IVs running into their arms, and catheter bags hanging off the beds at the end. “They are drugged. I wonder if they will stay like that until the auction, or if it was just while they were transported.

Miller, who has been quiet this whole time, chimes in. “Are we guessing that wine wasn’t what was in those barrels, and that they are actually transporting them like that?”

“I think it’s a pretty safe guess,” Anders mutters angrily. “I can’t believe they were below my nose, and I didn’t even notice. Matthew was yapping the whole time, and I was too busy listening to him to notice anything was off about the barrels.”

We back up, knowing we can’t do anything about the prisoners for now. If we do, it will tip off the ring that someone is on to them.

I trip over something and almost fall, but Miller catches my arm and steadies me. A feeling of dread washes over me. The last time I tripped over something in a tunnel, it was Bishop’s body. Anders shines the light at the ground, and I heave out a sigh of relief when it’s just a big cushion. There’s a large pile of them between two of the barrels.

“I guess that’s why you didn’t notice anything off. They were well padded to stop them from rolling around in there,” I say, hoping it will reassure Anders a little. He must be kicking himself—not that he could have done anything without blowing our cover.

“Come on, let’s get out of here. We need to insert your tracker and get home. We don’t want to arrive at the same time as James. That would be awkward as fuck.” Miller, who is still holding my arm, gives it a little tug before releasing it and letting Anders lead the way now that he has the light. He tucked his gun into the waistband of his pants and is walking next to me. Our hands brush occasionally, but he doesn’t seem perturbed by it, so I don’t move.

We make sure the double doors are secured behind us before we quickly move through the storeroom and back to the street. Anders’s car is the only one left in the lot, and we jump in and head back to the governor’s mansion without any more words. This case is weighing on all of us, and leaving those teens there doesn’t help. We just have to make sure we do everything we can to stop them from going any further.

Chapter 21

RYLAND

We’ve only been home about half an hour when Anders’s truck pulls around the back of the house. I feel the rush of excitement I always feel when I haven’t seen Miller for a few hours. It’s more intense now because he’ll have Mac with him. I wonder what kind of mood he’ll be in. He always gets so riled up anytime he has to spend time with her. He becomes wonderfully bratty, and I have to take him to task in such decadent ways. My body is practically humming with anticipation.

A chuckle has me turning my attention from the door to my brother. “Settle down. They will be here momentarily.”

I flip him off, and we fall into silence, only the sound of Lathan’s fingers on his keyboard breaking the quiet.

“I set up Anders’s things in the kitchen. Percy sent trackers for everyone with instructions that we can’t avoid it anymore.” Dayton appears from the direction of the kitchen and takes a seat on the couch next to my brother.

“Isn’t it going to look a little suspicious if we’re all wearing bandages?” Lathan mutters absently.

“No, we can say we all got new tattoos. It would be good to put one over the scar to hide it anyway. I’ll take care of it when the incision heals up,” Dayton offers as Anders opens the back door and steps inside, followed by my boyfriend and Mac. They look tense, and I can tell by the set of Miller’s jaw that something is wrong. This isn’t a fight between Mac and Miller, though, because Anders looks upset as well. He’s usually so even-keeled that it takes a lot to rile him up.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, looking between them as Miller drops his backpack on the coffee table. It’s one he keeps here at our place. He said he doesn’t feel comfortable leaving his gun at Serenity House for anyone to discover. I wonder if Mac has one hidden there.

“We poked around downstairs. The storeroom does lead into the tunnels. We followed it and discovered some of the cells are now occupied,” Anders tells us before heading to the kitchen and returning with some beers. He holds one out to Mac, who shakes her head.

“And we worked out how they got them down there,” she adds as Miller also shakes his head for the proffered beer. Anders puts the two spare ones on the coffee table.

“Yeah, we know,” Max tells them, grabbing Mac as she passes him and pulling her onto his lap. She struggles for a moment, but with a whispered word from him, she relaxes back into his body. I know they are both struggling with his involvement with Stella. They should really talk about it, but they are dancing around their feelings.

I have to admit, I was surprised by Lathan’s balls when he brought up the subject this afternoon. He’s usually not so open with how he feels, but he wasn’t wrong. We have all reacted to Mac, and throwing our cards on the table and clearing the air between us was definitely needed. Miller is the only one who is being stubborn. I think I fucked some sense into him after his little tantrum. He admitted he’s attracted to her and that he would at least try. He also admitted he was being stubborn because she’s nothing like he expected and everything he could want in a woman—everything we both want—and that’s intimidating to him. He thought he had her pegged due to her Princess Kensington persona, and he doesn’t want to let his heart get involved only for her to destroy it. He might not survive it.

Miller has had a long struggle with self-worth and confidence. His mental health could be better, but Sadie helped him admit he needed support. If a relationship between Mac and Miller doesn’t work out, he’s worried he would lose the woman who has become a mother to him. Once he was pliant and well fucked, lying in my arms, I helpfully pointed out that Sadie was not the kind of person to pick sides. She would still love him, even if things between us and Mac didn’t work out.

“We found the sex club today. All the blackmail material is kept in an office down there. We also saw the prisoners, but you know we can’t do anything about them without blowing our mission,” Max says.

“We know,” Miller replies flatly. “Doesn’t mean we didn’t want to. Can we do this tracker thing so Mac and I can go please?” I can tell leaving the prisoners there bothered him. Hell, it bothered all of us, but timing is everything.

“It’s all set up in the kitchen,” Dayton tells Anders, who places his beer on the coffee table and waves for Miller to join him. I stand up. I want to hold my boyfriend’s hand while Anders inserts the chip. I’m hoping we might get a quiet moment to talk before they leave.

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