Page 32 of Midnight Escape

“Hello, sweet cheeks.”

A stunned and nearly unconscious Cowboy slid down the wall to rest on the floor. Danny didn’t see the motion but heard the crack of a fist hitting a jaw. By the bewildered looks of his team, they’d also missed it. Cowboy would learn not to mess with Jane with her brother around. The quick movements went unnoticed. Internally, he shook his head in satisfaction. He looked forward to having these two on the team.

“Great shot,” John said.

Jane looked up at him, nodded then smiled.

Danny glanced at the wide eyes of his team and her approval. They’d worked with tough women before, so he shouldn’t have assumed her brother was the one to knock out Cowboy.

Putting his arm over his sister’s shoulders, they turned and moved toward the locker rooms. Danny looked down at Cowboy again and spun back to AJ. He stated, not asked, “We’re calling it a day.” With that, he turned back to Cowboy, who peeked through half-lidded eyes and then jumped agilely to his feet.

“When are you going to learn?” Danny grumbled in frustration. He needed to get home, not caught up in Cowboy’s way to welcome new team members.

“Never.” A broad grin accompanied that statement. “I could tell when she was shooting that girl has got a lot of rage in her.”

As he’d guessed, Cowboy had faked going down and knew she’d thrown the punch. Danny pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. “No,” he said and reinforced it with stronger ones, “No. No. Absolutely not. We will not have another agent-to-agent relationship on this team.”

Checking the movement of his jaw, Cowboy managed to laugh. “Oh, hell no. I like my dick too much to have her brother slice it off while I’m sleeping.”

“I doubt he’d wait until you slept.”

Whistling, and as if nothing had happened, Cowboy walked to the locker room. “Don’t leave without me. You promised to let me meet your charge.”

A small frenzy rode its way through him. He’d put off Cowboy meeting Moira for these past two months. At some point, Cowboy would just show up if he kept saying no, so best he do it on his terms.

After Danny provided an abbreviated debrief to AJ and showered, Cowboy had cleaned both of their gear, prepping them for no-notice ops. Leaving HQ, Cowboy sat beside Danny in Danny’s truck, prattling on about the bar and women. Danny’s brain was too tired to process what he said, until he hit on something that floated in his mind also.

“Why do you think two of Arthur’s black ops are joining us?”

“We could ask them,” Danny offered as a solution Cowboy ignored.

“Do you think they’re spying on us?” He whispered the question like they were being bugged.

It couldn’t be the money because although HIS agents were highly paid, black ops had to make a crapload more. Even though they had Russian accents and generic names, he wouldn’t peg them for spies. Besides, why would Arthur offer up two of his assets when a bug or two would get him everything the twins could uncover? No, he guessed something happened that made them want to leave the darkness, and Arthur valued their abilities and wanted them working for the good guys. At least he hoped.

Moira hadn’t answered Danny’s earlier call, so he could warn her he’d be bringing home company. Women liked it when men warned them, didn’t they? He figured she was lost in painting because she didn’t take her phone upstairs with her. She’d explained it disrupted her creative muse. Whatever that was.

When they arrived at his home, neither men had spoken since the two black ops entered their mind. Admittedly, Danny’s had switched to Moira and his brother. He didn’t like the images in his mind. Mostly that a threat still existed and he couldn’t find it.

Due to the late hour, the house was dark. He wished she’d kept a light on for him.

He and Cowboy tried to remain quiet as they entered, but they were far from it. In the kitchen, packs were dropped, and Cowboy perused the contents of the refrigerator for their late dinner. Since Moira usually cooked enough for an army, they’d bypassed the fast food places on the way.

“Son of a bitch,” Danny yelled while he crumbled a sheet of paper, wanting to rip it apart, piece by piece, erasing it along with the situation that went with it. Instead, he tossed it across the room with all his strength from his old pitcher hand. “She’s gone.”

Cowboy pulled his head from the freezer and looked at him quizzically. “What’d you mean gone? Like to a party? To the store?”

“Don’t act like you don’t know what the fuck ‘gone’ means.” He’d used the F word way too often today. He tried to avoid using the word—Reagan’s swear jar or not.

Before Cowboy could respond, Danny hit a speed-dial button and held the phone to his ear. When her voice mail came on, pressure on his chest hit him hard. “Hey, Moira, just checking in. Call me.” He paused and dialed another number. While waiting for the answer, he asked—to no one in particular, “Why hadn’t she called me before she left?”

Cowboy, of course, had to respond. “Dude, she knew you were busy. Maybe she thought she shouldn’t.”

“But I’ve explain—”

“Franks, I’m glad you called.” Mark Kelly’s voice sounded weak to Danny’s ears. His pulse pounded so loud his ears ached.

“Kelly, what’s going on? Where’s Moira?”

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