Page 21 of GAF Factor

Again, his eyes looked to the door.

“Who are you waiting for, Shawn?”

“No one,” he answered a little too quickly. “Look, I learned my lesson, okay? It’s done and over with.”

I stood, buttoning my jacket. “Oh, it’s nowhere near done, Shawn. I want answers, and you’re going to give them to me.”

I slowly walked toward him, my steps measured and calculating, but before I reached him, there was a knock at the door. His eyes widened and I could practically smell the fear rolling off him. “Expecting someone?”

IRIS quirked an eyebrow at me, then walked over to the door, peering through the window. “IKE—” He dove to the side just as gunfire erupted inside. I pulled my gun from my holster, rushing to drag IRIS out of the way, but he was already army crawling into the living room.

“I fucking told you this was a bad idea!”

“You said not to beat him up,” I snapped. “Does it look like that happened?”

Two men breached the door and strode inside. I popped up, firing two shots as IRIS pulled something from his pocket.

“I’ll go around back?—”

While I was attempting to formulate a plan, IRIS pulled the pin on a grenade and tossed it around the corner. I ducked just as it exploded, sending shrapnel around the room. I slowly raised my head, peering into the doorway.

“What the fuck was that?”

“While you were looking for a way out, I cleared the path for us,” he said, getting to his feet and brushing off the remnants of the wall that was splattered on him.

“With a fucking grenade?”

He cocked a grin at me. “Come on, you know you liked it. Man, I never get to do that with Thumper. It’s alwaysIRIS, don’t blow that up. IRIS, we’re trying to dismantle that bomb.OrIRIS, we only want to talk to them.I should have joined Max’s team. At least they’d let me have fun with explosives.”

“Didn’t Cash hire you because you’re an EOD expert?”

“Yeah, so?”

“So…dismantle.”

He rolled his eyes dramatically. “If I wanted to dismantle bombs, I wouldn’t have become an EOD expert.”

I rolled that around in my head, but no matter how many times I said it, it didn’t make sense. Not that it mattered. I swung my gaze around to Shawn, but he was no longer there. I hurried through the house, searching for any sign of him, but the only thing I found was his wheelchair by an open back door.

“Looks like he was faking how injured he still is,” IRIS said.

I stepped outside, looking around. No, those men weren’t here for us. “I have a feeling someone else wanted to have a word with him.”

He groaned. “We’re not going to another state, are we?”

6

EVA

I stoodat the head of the table, surrounded by the team leaders. They all looked equally confused as to why they were here. This wasn’t easy, but I would not let Cash’s company fall to pieces. Even if he never came back, what he built would live on. There were good men and women who worked here, and they deserved the best.

“I think you all heard by now about what happened between Cash and Fox. I—” I really didn’t know what to say. Their boss lost his mind and now needed a replacement?

Thankfully, Lock got to his feet, taking over for me. “We all heard, Eva. We’re behind you, no matter what you need.”

I nodded in gratitude. “Thank you. I appreciate that very much.” I took a deep breath and forged ahead. “Well, we can’t let the company fail. Everyone needs a job and there’s so much to get done to get back on track. So, I’m appointing Lock as temporary CEO.”

“What?” Eli and Thumper both shouted.

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