Page 19 of Kept By The Agents

Brandon's gorgeous brown eyes met mine. Silence fell over the house while I waited to see what my fate would be. "Pack your shit into one bag. We'll have to leave most of your clothes. You'll need to carry your own bag and keep up with us, so pack light."

My breath wheezed out of me as he turned and went back into the bedroom. They were taking me with them. Maybe it was selfish, but I was relieved. There was a time where I thought I could gather the information needed and find someone to help me. I knew now that wasn't the case. I needed these men.

I poked my head into the bedroom. "Brandon?"

He looked up from where he was packing up all sorts of weapons. His dark brow arched in question.

"Thanks. You won't regret this."

His chuckle was deep and came easily. I smiled at him, ready to play nice, at least for a while since they weren't leaving me behind. "I already do regret it, Princess."

The smile disappeared off my face and I put my hands on my hips, narrowing my eyes on him as he went back to packing up. It was plain to see he was going to end up getting on my nerves, a lot. He could join Suave in my dog house for all I cared. I'd let them help me, but we'd see what the future held. I had no plans of abandoning Elena and her family. As they got closer to the Raleka, I hoped I'd be able to pinpoint Elena's location. That was all I needed to give her family in order for them to have a fighting chance of getting her back.

These three hunks could help me locate her and then they could do whatever they needed to after that. I didn't even care about breaking the story. The money, the fame, none of it mattered to me. I just wanted to help get Elena home.

CHAPTER 9

Suave

Iwatched our surroundings closely as we moved away from the safehouse. Weaver had only identified the one man watching the place, but that didn't mean shit. The entirety of the Raleka operation could be breathing down our necks at any moment. I wasn't willing to get caught out in the open. Especially not when Catalina was with us.

We couldn't stay. We'd been made and that meant it was time to move. As usual, Brando was on top of it and had already secured us a new place. His contact list was a thing of legends. He knew people everywhere. And I was grateful for it. That meant he got to deal with all of them. It worked best for us all that way.

I got along with most everyone. I wasn't like Weaver, someone who stuck to himself, but that didn't mean I wanted to be in charge of keeping track of who were friends, who owed us what, and everything else Brando kept lodged up in his head. I'd be hard pressed to guess a country that he didn't have contacts in.

It wasn't like we didn't earn their loyalty and respect, though. Our team had one of the highest mission, and success, rates within the CIA. We'd worked with various military forces, other federal branches, as well as just about every military and police force in at least six different countries. We were busy. It came at a heavy price, too.

A quick look at Weaver's face and I saw the exhaustion etched there. Brando was running his hand through his dark hair, scowling down at his phone as he arranged to have everything we'd need once we got to the new safe house. I could read his agitation in every movement. We were all on edge and it wasn't going to dissipate until the Raleka was dismantled and we were back home in the states.

Maybe then we'd take a vacation. God knew we were due one. A quick look over at Cat had me imagining how good she'd look in a bikini. One of those numbers that left her plump ass bare. Red. Water dripping down…

I snapped out of the fantasy and cleared my throat, but didn't look away from her. At one point in my life I thought I'd go to sleep and wake up next to that beautiful face every day. I'd fucked that up. Now here I was in a dirty shit scape section of this city, hunting human traffickers, and walking a bit bow legged thanks to the hard-on I was sporting.

Cat looked worried and I could read more than a little guilt in her expression. She was in a pair of jeans and a sweater. It wasn't freezing cold here yet, but it was chilly enough that we were all wearing jackets. Not only did it keep us warmer, but it helped hide our weapons. No one was around to see us for the moment. At least that we knew. We were walking down a back alley, Weaver leading the way to our new place. He'd keep us off the main roads as much as possible.

Despite the setbacks having Cat here was causing, I wouldn't have it any other way. Over the years I'd considered heading home and explaining myself to her. It'd never happened. I had a feeling fate was tossing us together, forcing the reunion I'd put off for far too long.

"You alright?" I asked, falling into step next to her.

"Of course," she replied, letting a blank mask slip into place, hiding her feelings.

Neat trick. It was new. She'd always been as easy to read as an open book. Bright, cheerful, a smile permanently lodged on her face. I knew I'd played a huge role in the way everything had turned out for her. She was still angry with me, and for good reason. I opened my mouth to apologize, then snapped it shut when her beautiful chocolate eyes fell on me. This wasn't the time. My guilt would have to take a backseat to the mission at hand.

It was a cop out, but it was what I was going with. She gave me a questioning look. "We'll be there soon." Like I fucking knew how long it was going to take. I'd just had to say something and that was what had popped out. It could have been worse. At least I hadn't commented on her ass. The woman had a world class butt. I'd woken up to it pressed back against my hard-on this morning and had nearly wept for joy. Too bad the woman it was connected to wasn't likely to ever forgive me for what I'd done to her.

It had nearly destroyed me to let her go this morning. I'd wanted nothing more than to run my hands over all those sexy curves of hers. She'd been beautiful when we were younger, but now she was drop-dead gorgeous. Time had been incredibly kind to her.

"Okay." She gave me a look, as though she knew that hadn't been what I was going to say.

Shaking my head at my inability to function normally around her, I caught up with Brando. "You're going to go bald before thirty-five if you keep that up," I warned him.

He glanced over at me and chuckled while dropping his hand away from his head. "I doubt I'll be losing all my hair in two weeks."

"Fucking shame we're stuck in this hell hole for your birthday." I looked around, scanning the tops of roofs for any possible threats. "I was planning on taking us all to Amsterdam."

"Weren't you banned from Amsterdam?"

"No, that was a misunderstanding," I explained. "I wasn't officially barred from the city."

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