Page 11 of Kept By The Agents

It was my turn to give him a suspicious look. "Why are you agreeing so easily?" I asked, echoing his question back at him.

"Because that was already the plan," Suave answered instead. "He'll be able to give us the best intel."

"You won't hurt him, will you? Boris is in his sixties, and no match for you."

Brandon gave me a dark look as he stood. "We don't hurt old men."

"Thank you," I whispered. Guilt pushed me toward apologizing, but I managed to hold the words back. I hadn't meant to make him angry or insult his honor, or whatever. It was just important to me that Boris wasn't harmed. Even if he had turned my name over to the Raleka, I couldn't blame him. Especially if I had inadvertently put him on their radar. Who knew what kind of horrors they threatened to inflict upon him.

"She's with you Suave," Brandon said before walking away. He stopped at one of the mattresses, bent to remove his boots, then laid down.

"Come on, Kitty Cat," Suave said, smiling as he used my old nickname. "Let's get some sleep. You can help us come up with a plan in the morning."

His last statement had me snapping my jaw shut. I'd been about to argue, but if they were going to allow me to help plan out going to see Boris, I wasn't going to ruin it. Eyeing the mattresses, I asked, "Which one is mine?"

"Middle," Suave said.

I toed off my sneakers and climbed onto the bed. Despite the rustic accommodations, the mattress was comfortable enough. I gasped when the mattress dipped and a burly arm wrapped around me, pulling me back into a granite chest.

"Only three beds, Cat," Suave said with a yawn. "You either sleep with me, or Weaver."

Because Brandon doesn't want to sleep with me.

I mentally berated myself for the thought. Why would I care if that grumpy asshole wanted me sleeping next to him or not? I didn't. Or so I told myself. Besides, I didn't know the other two. I didn't want to sleep next to any of them, and Suave was the most familiar.

The light flicked off overhead, plunging the room into darkness. Despite how tired I was, I laid there for a long time thinking about Elena and Boris. Then I moved on to worrying about myself. As Suave started snoring in my ear, my mind finally went over all the hurt and heartache he'd caused me over the years. Where would I be today if he'd married me ten years ago? Shaking my head, I pushed those thoughts away and laid quietly in the dark.

CHAPTER 6

Brando

Iwas awake long before the sun came up. Weaver was already at his makeshift desk, typing away at the computer. The fact that I'd gotten any sleep surprised me and I was sure he'd gotten even less than me. I didn't interrupt him, though. Not when he was busy trying to help us gather intel.

I laid there, listening to Suave snoring while I thought over the events from the evening. Weaver would work his magic and find out whatever he could. And with Boykov also looking into the Raleka it was only a matter of time. Now that the SVR was working with us we had a good chance of bringing the Raleka down.

Knowing that Catalina was in danger didn't sit well with me. She shouldn't have been going after this organization by herself. It wasn't safe. We'd do everything possible to wrap this mission up as quickly as we could. They'd been making mistakes, and now it was time to act. I wasn't about to wait for Semyon and his band of shit heads to bring the fight to us. We were going on the offensive. In order to do that, I needed information.

The early morning light was streaming through the window and I turned my head. Cat's face was softened in sleep and it struck me again how beautiful she was. More than that, she was feisty. Exactly the kind I liked. She had a curvy, sexy body that I was having a hard time not noticing. I knew Suave hadn't told us the whole story regarding her, he would once he was ready, but it was easy to see that they meant something to each other.

He had his arm wrapped around her, holding her close while they slept. I'd never seen him sleep with a woman. Sure he fucked them, but they never made it to his bed. He always slept alone.

None of us had been in a relationship in so long that I'd almost forgotten what it was like. The urge was there, but I hadn't found a woman I'd been interested in. We were so damn busy it left little time for anyone else. Women were temporary blips in our life and for a long time that had been fine, even preferred. Now we were all getting older and starting to think about what would happen once we retired.

We still had plenty of good years left with the CIA, but time was moving faster year by year. I still remembered getting my promotion. The day my supervisor had sat me down and told me I was getting my own team, and better yet, that I got to handpick them. It had been one of the best days of my life. I'd been the youngest team leader out there at the time, but the higher ups had seen my potential.

For weeks, I'd combed through all the special agents' files. Read about each man and woman who was available for field work. No one had interested me. My first line supervisor, Raikes, had been pissed when he'd found out I'd started looking at colleges to see if I could find who I was looking for.

Suave had just graduated from his university, but Weaver still had two years left when I approached them. Both had dropped everything and taken me up on the offer to join the CIA. I'd kept a close eye on them while they'd completed the academy together. They went in knowing they'd be on the same team, so they'd been roommates and partners during exercises. They'd bonded closely thanks to their time at the academy and it hadn't taken long before the three of us had become the best of friends as well as teammates. Now we were brothers.

"It's too fucking early for that much thinking."

I realized I was still staring at Suave and Cat, even though my mind was in the past. The feel of my stare must have woken him. He'd always been a light sleeper despite his snoring.

"It never stops," I muttered with a flash of a grin.

"We getting up?" He asked with a yawn. Shifting he looked over his shoulder to where Weaver was bent over his laptop, muttering to himself.

"You may as well sleep a little longer," I started to say, but Cat's sigh cut me off.

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