Page 288 of The Black Trilogy

“Yeah, and he doesn’t think Java’s a type of coffee.”

“It is a type of coffee.”

“That’s beside the point.”

“Nothing’s more important than a good, smooth espresso.”

Nothing more than having the old Mack back, anyway. The last guy had come dangerously close to a body bag after what he put her through, and I was as confident as I could be that Luke wouldn’t do the same. Just to be on the safe side, I’d done a full background check when I got back to the States. Apart from a couple of speeding tickets, a caution for urinating against the wall of the local cinema when he was seventeen, and a tendency to answer back to his geography teacher, his history came back clear.

We finished dinner with dessert—pineapple upside-down cake for me and orange sorbet for Mack.

“I thought you always had chocolate something-or-other?” I said.

“Luke’s been buying me so many boxes of the stuff I’m going to have to ask him to slow down.”

Yes, they worked well together. Mack’s eyes lit up every time she talked about him, and while she may not have admitted it, even to herself, I knew she’d fallen in love.

At least somebody was happy.

CHAPTER 50

WHEN WE GOT back after lunch, Mack disappeared with Luke for the afternoon, partly to look at the sights of Richmond and partly, I suspected, to look at each other.

Blackwood offered flexible hours for senior employees. People could work whenever they wanted as long as they got the job done. For some projects, like the Syria incident, we stayed in the office twenty-four seven, but everyone needed downtime. If Mack wanted to take a few days off and her schedule allowed it, that was up to her.

I went back to the surveillance room and found Tia watching video feeds from a shopping centre beside Jorge, who appeared to be her new best friend.

“Oh no, lady. You need to put those back!”

“Shoplifter?” I raised an eyebrow at Jorge.

“No.” He rolled his eyes. “She just doesn’t think a woman with a butt that size should be wearing leggings.”

A couple of the other guys sniggered. Clearly Tia was their entertainment for the day. As she seemed to be enjoying herself, I left her to it, telling Jorge to call me if she got too annoying.

Nick rolled in just after lunch with bloodshot eyes and two days’ worth of stubble. Although judging by the looks he got from the ladies as he strolled through the office, that hadn’t diminished his sex appeal.

“How are you feeling?”

“Coffee.”

Sloane heard his answer as we walked past her desk. “On it,” she said, dashing off.

“You look terrible.”

“Thanks. Believe it or not, this is an improvement on earlier this morning.”

“Where were you?”

“In the boathouse. I don’t suppose you know how I got there?”

“Not a clue, but I suspect beer was involved. Why did you bother coming in?”

“I have a video conference at four. I’m hoping Mack can do some fancy computer magic to make me look more human.”

“Bad luck—Mack’s out for the day. You’ll have to try an hour of sleep instead.”

I steered Nick over to the black leather couch in the corner and shoved my jacket aside so he could lie down. With Tia occupied too, that left me the afternoon to get on with some work. I’d received a request from the DEA the day before. Well, more of a re-request. We’d actually had the job on the books for a while, but it blew hot and cold, and we’d never managed to make much headway with it. For almost two years now, bad batches of cocaine had been turning up in New York and the surrounding areas, including Richmond.

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