Page 31 of Kept By The Agents

When I turned my focus back to the bedroom, I met Weaver's panicked gaze. "Get up. We want to go over the plan before we leave. Don't wake her."

I left him there to figure out how to disentangle himself from Cat's embrace. It was on the tip of my tongue to reassure him that he didn't need to feel bad about being half naked in bed with my ex. Something kept me from saying anything. A small hint of jealousy. Not at Weaver. Just at the situation. Cat was still very much pissed at me. She'd hardly spoken to me at dinner the night before, but had laughed along with the other two.

It was going to take time, and probably some groveling on my part, before she'd forgive me. If she ever forgave me. I just wasn't ready to start the conversation we needed to have. It killed me to have her angry at me and right now she was containing it. She was being civil.

"You planning on clearing the air?"

I glared over at Brando as I squatted down to choose the weapons I'd be taking today. My lucky rifle was going to have to stay behind. I couldn't hide it under my jacket and there was no way to start trouble quicker than to go into the city streets with weapons. Everyone would be up our asses. Law enforcement. Russia's military. Crime organizations would take it as a threat. Not to mention every low level scumbag trying to make a name for himself. No. We needed to be as incognito as possible. I just hated leaving it behind. It had been on every assignment with me. Other men had lucky rabbit's feet. I had Betsy. The guys busted my balls about naming her, but she'd saved my ass on my very first mission and ever since I'd had her nearby.

"None of your business."

"Yeah. It is. We have to live with both of you." He arched a brow my way.

I gave him a patronizing grin. "If you think dredging up old wounds is going to make her easier to live with, I guarantee you, you're wrong."

"No, but it'll make things easier in the long run."

"How?" I asked with a laugh. "It'll make her hate me even more. Shit, she'll probably tell us to fuck off and leave."

"Over my dead body," he muttered.

My lips curved into a grin. "Knew it."

"What?" he asked, rising from his own squat, as he stared me down.

"Nothing, Brando." I bit back my grin before it grew bigger. The three of us were tip toeing around each other and it was all because of Cat. I had a feeling it wasn't going to take long before the other two caught feelings for her. Who wouldn't?

I didn't bother to press my luck. Pushing Brando resulted in him digging in his heels. He was as stubborn as a mule. If he wanted Cat, then he'd have to come to that conclusion on his own. When he was ready, he'd bring it up to me.

He left the room without responding. Once he was back out in the hallway he snapped something at Weaver, who was just coming out of the room.

"What's his problem?" Weaver asked me as he came into the weapons room.

"Woke up in the wrong bed," I replied.

Weaver's brows drew together in confusion. He looked even more lost when I started laughing. "He wants us downstairs in five minutes."

"No problem." I stood and tucked my pistols and a large knife into various holsters. "See you down there."

Brando was already making breakfast by the time I came down the stairs. I contemplated needling him more, but decided against it. He was in a foul mood this morning and I didn't want him taking it out on me all day. I was the one who was going to be stuck with him after all.

As soon as Weaver came down the stairs, he started. "Anything from last night?"

"The alarm woke…me…up around two," Weaver replied. He noted the way Brando's shoulders tensed and hurried to explain. "It was nothing. Some guy leaning against the house to smoke his cigarette."

"You sure that's all it was?" I asked. Moving again in such a short time wasn't ideal and I wanted to avoid it, but not if it meant the safety of the team, or Cat was in jeopardy.

"Yeah. I watched the footage backward and forward. If he was scoping the place out, he was doing a shit job of it."

Brando nodded and stirred the eggs in the pan before flipping some sausage links. "We'll see what we can find out today. Main priority for you is watching over Cat and looking through that drive."

"I've already done some work on that. Haven't found anything useful since the Raleka switch up their tactics so frequently, but I'll tell you one thing, Boris was good at his job."

"Too bad his cover was blown," I remarked.

"Yeah. He would have had us moving on the Raleka within days of getting here if it hadn't been," Weaver stated. "He was keeping a close eye on everything they did. Once his cover was blown they swapped locations and changed up how they were moving their victims out of the country. He didn't have enough time to figure out what their new MO was."

"It's no wonder he took such an interest in them if they took his daughter," Brando replied. He filled plates with the eggs and sausage and brought them over to us before sitting. "He was probably searching for her."

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