Page 107 of Agony

“I will,” Stone promised, then dropped his hand and stepped away.

“Don’t get dead,” he whispered, and received a sexy smirk in return.

When the big former soldier left his office, it seemed too quiet.

Slowly, he shoved to his feet, lifted his mug, and made his way back to his chair that faced his garden.

And he dreamed about a day where he could buy a house in the country and live out his days.

“Are you okay?” the young voice of Azrael filled the silence and the boy crept closer and into the second leather chair next to his. Thin and small, Azrael pulled his legs into the chair and wrapped his arms around them.

“How much did you hear?” Dave said. The boy had a knack for getting into places he shouldn’t be and this wasn’t the first conversation Azrael had overheard.

“Most of it. I was napping.” The teenager pointed to the corner in the large room where bookshelves reached the ceiling and he’d created a nook for reading.

Azrael had a habit of parking there during the day and he should have checked before speaking.

Dave ran a tired hand over his chin and took a swallow of his cold coffee.

“I need you to put aside what you heard and stay here.”

“I can help,” Azrael insisted.

“I don’t doubt your skills,” he placated, knowing that the boy was not ready for a mission of this magnitude. “These are black ops, military assassins.”

“And they report to the current Secretary of Defense. I got that part.”

Dave smiled and patted Azrael’s arm before he went back to gazing out at the garden. The boy huffed and sat back in the chair.

Pulling out his cell phone from the breast pocket of his blazer, Dave shot a text to Real.

He may need an intervention if Azrael didn’t stay put.

A hood had been pulled over Fisher’s head and he, along with Justice and Steel, were hauled into the back of a van-type vehicle.

Justice sat next to him with his arm lodged tightly against his. He’d known it was Justice because the man had pressed his thigh against his and left it there.

Putting down his weapon had been one of the hardest things he’d done, but Fisher hadn’t wanted Justice to be hit by gunfire.

If he’d been alone, he would have already been out the back window, but both Justice and Steel were in his way and there was no way he was leaving Justice to take a bullet.

Their captors didn’t speak and he didn’t know how many there were, maybe five?

When the vehicle stopped some ten minutes later, they were taken inside a building. The air felt cooler there. A metal door clanged shut and he suspected they were inside a warehouse.

Something sticky squelched beneath the soles of his boots and he wondered if this was the end.

He was shoved into a room and pushed down into a hard metal chair. Next to him, a chair scraped and then he heard Justice clear his throat.

At least they were together.

An hour ticked by before someone new entered the room. The man’s boots were a slow thud on the floor.

When his hood was yanked off, Fisher blinked against the overhead bright lights.

“What the hell?” Justice said and Fisher jerked his gaze to his partner. Other than ruffled hair, Justice was no worse for wear.

Fisher swept his gaze around the room and spotted two cameras in the ceiling corners and he wondered who else was watching the show.

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