Page 12 of Nikolai (Kansas City Reapers)

“Maddy, you being on social media, or communicating with people you know and love, poses a tremendous risk. It’s not hard to find someone online these days. The important thing here is to keep you safe. The most efficient way to keep you safe is to keep you hidden. You’d be surprised at how easy it is to give information to the bad guys unintentionally.” His voice was calm and understanding, which I appreciated. I would have pushed him off had he shown me pity. Thankfully, he didn’t.

“Still doesn’t mean I have to like it,” I whined petulantly, kicking absentmindedly at the leg of the table beside me.

“No one said you did, darlin’. We just demand obedience.”

“I’m not big on following orders.”

“Ha, you’re going to have a tough time in this house, then, darlin’.” His chuckle was louder, ringing outthrough the room as he lifted his glass to his lips, draining the last of the amber contents.

“Because you’re all military guys?” I asked, picking up my empty plate and carrying it to the dishwasher to be washed.

He paused for a moment, making me glance back over at him as he stood from his seat as well. He hesitated for a moment, a full-on grin gracing his face to the point that two sharp dimples appeared.

“Sure… we’ll go with that.”

With that, he exited the room, carrying his empty glass with him and leaving me to wonder what on Earth he could have meant.

Chapter 4

Nikolai

She was a pill,this Madison Ayers girl who had become our houseguest yesterday. I’d known it would be difficult to bring a stranger in and give her protection under the current circumstances — both hers and our own — but I had no idea just how difficult it would be. She was headstrong and feisty, especially if what Deacon had to say about their chat last night was at all true.

“Niko, we really need to sit her down and get her story again. I want to see if there’s any new information I can give to Quinn.” Jax’s words rang true as he sat, typing away on what looked to be ten computers all at one time. In truth, I had no idea how Jax did what he did. The room was full of so many gadgets, monitors, and screens that I couldn’t even begin to make heads or tails of it. But it was his inner sanctum, and he used his powers to keep us safe, so I was all for it.

Each of us had our specialties; Sully’s was heavyweapons and explosives, Carrick’s was undercover work, Deacon had his… skills, and Jax’s was computers. He was a whiz, truth be told; a true savant of his time. For me, it was about leadership and decision-making. I was good at it. So good at it, in fact, that the military had offered to push me up the ladder and boost my career. But that wasn’t what I wanted. Not after… Well, I didn’t need to think about all the reasons why I chose to get out of the military.

“Niko?” Jax’s voice pulled me from my musings. I shook my head to clear it, patting him on the shoulder.

“Yes, sorry. Why don’t you go tell her to come down here, and we can begin,” I muttered, still working to put the demons of my past back into their mental cage, kept deep in the recesses of my mind.

“No way, dude. You do the talking, I do the click-clacks and hacky-hacks. That’s how this works.” Jax chuckled, sitting back in his computer chair as it reclined.

“I could do it! I could bake her a nice little treat, maybe some brownies. Chocolate always makes a hard situation better,” Sully piped up from the corner where I hadn’t even realized he was sitting. How I could miss a brute of a man like Sullivan Ward I did not know, but I most definitely had.

“This is not the time for treats, Sully. Plus, we need to talk to her now, not in half an hour when brownies are done.” I knew I was being petulant, but I wasn’t looking forward to confronting Ms. Sass again. It brought out a side of me that I couldn’t allow. Not right now.

“My God, man. The fact that you think brownies takea mere thirty minutes to prepare and bake tells me so much,” he grumbled in shock.

“Seems to me they take about that long, yeah. Mix the contents of the box with a few things, throw it all in the oven… pretty quick and simple, if you ask me.” Deacon’s slow Southern drawl sounded from the doorway to Jax’s cave, his mischievous grin splitting his face.

“Deacon, please go tell Maddy to come down here. We need to go over her statement again, now that she’s freshly rested. If we’re lucky, we’ll be able to discern more information that’s tucked away in that memory of hers,” I instructed with a snap of my fingers.

“First, don’t snap at me. And second, I met my word quota for the week, talking to her last night. It’s in my contract that I only have to have one conversation per week with women.”

“Jesus Christ, can none of you stand up to her? She’s a woman. A tiny young woman who we need to speak to, and —”

“I’ll have you know I can pack quite a punch for such a — how did you word it? Oh yes, a tiny young woman. To think, the lot of you are all scared of someone like me… I guess that’s the telling thing, now isn’t it?” Maddy’s voice rang from the doorway that Deacon had vacated to allow her entry — that smug smirk plastered on his face so perfectly it took everything in me not to punch it off him. Smug bastard.

“Ms. Ayers, good morning!” I greeted her with only apartiallyforced smile.

“Please, do not call me that,” she groaned. “Maddy.Just call me Maddy.” She walked into the room, skirting around where Deacon stood. Her eyes scanned the room, more than a little awe written on her face as she took in the countless monitors, whiteboards, and books that lined the entire room.

“Jesus, what is this place? It looks like a tornado hit a Radio Shack and it all landed here!”

“Welcome to my tech cave!” Jax announced, his arms flung wide as he showed off his most prized possession — or one of his major prized possessions, at the very least.

“What is it all for?” she asked with a look of either disdain or confusion. I could not tell which.

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