Page 63 of Bossy Baby

Lance lowered his hands although he did keep them away from his body. “I ran my monthly check for anything regarding our names.”

“You came across something,” Mac guessed.

“There’d been a rumor you’d been spotted in a town up in Colorado. They had your description. Your old handler even flew there to check it out.”

Mac frowned. He hadn’t left town since he’d first laid eyes on his boy.

“I knew it wasn’t you,” Lance said. “But two men were killed.”

“How?”

Lance lifted an eyebrow.

That told Mac what he needed to know. Was he being set up? Or was it something else? “What did you find out?”

“Your old handler believes it was you. That you’re alive and back at work. Freelance. He called his superiors. They sent a team of six to take you out.”

Except Mac hadn’t been there.

“Who was it?”

Lance shrugged. “Young guy. Just starting out. Thought you were dead, so he decided to use your reputation as his own. Looked damn close to you in appearance.”

Fucker—whether this guy realized it or not, he’d just screwed up Mac’s world.

Mac nodded toward Lance. “He do that?”

Lance snorted. “No. I decided to let him keep pretending to be you. He has your old handler running around chasing him. The team got too close to him, so I had to take them out. The ones alive will have a story to tell. Making it known that the guy isn’t one to be messed with.”

“You should have called me.” Mac might not want to step back in his old life but this was his mess.

“I was curious about this kid,” Lance admitted. “How he knew some things. What his end goal is.”

Mac would prefer the guy just went away. For good.

“What did you find out?”

“Same commander in service. Same path as you until about a year ago. He stopped reporting in. Changed his appearance. He’s working for someone, but I just don’t know who. Yet.”

“Why me?”

Lance smirked. “You were the best. If he was going to use someone’s reputation, who better?”

Mac rubbed the back of his head. “This fucks things up for me.”

“It doesn’t have to. I’ve got enough on him that if he does become a nuisance, I can bury him. Right now, I’m more worried about where he’s getting his jobs.”

That was a concern. “How’d you fuck up?”

“My identity is blown.”

“Shit.” If Lance’s cover was gone, then he’d need to start over. That was months, almost a year, of work. “The team they’d sent after you were good. Professionals. I was careless. My handler knows I’m alive.”

“God damn it,” Mac muttered. “What do you need?”

“A safe place to regroup.”

Mac looked around the kitchen. He owed his new life to Lance. For Lance showing Mac that he had a way out of the life. Still, he didn’t want Hayley in danger.

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