Page 36 of Fallout

His chest squeezed, and he rubbed at his breastbone where the grief he felt for Caleb lived. Where he carried memories of his brother in his heart. Tucked away. Caleb would’ve been Destiny’s biggest fan.

Jasper threaded through the office and spotted Simon, and his brother, Peter, standing beside his chair. Both of them stared intently at Simon’s computer screen.

Jasper asked, “Someone breached your network?”

Peter straightened. “He’s narrowing it down.” The twin who was an operative walked to a metal cabinet against the wall and flipped the door latch. “You have your gun?”

Jasper patted his hip.

Peter handed him a radio with the earpiece connected by a wire. “Channel three. Whoever hacked us is in the building, and we’re gonna go find them.” He looked almost gleeful, but this was the part of the job he’d decided to settle on.

Peter had a woman in his life, and Jasper had heard they were setting a date to get married in the summer.

Blake, Liam, Gage. Even River, though Jasper probably wouldn’t go to that wedding since he was allergic to dogs. His friends had all found someone, they’d fallen in love. One by one, he’d seen them go head over heels.

He’d thought it wouldn’t happen for him because Destiny left. Then, she’d been back and wanted nothing to do with him.

Now, there was a baby to consider.

A lot of conversations about what she had planned, what she wanted. What he wanted. It wasn’t the type of situation they could simply jump into, even if part of him didn’t mind doing that at all. Why not help her? But if he didn’t tread carefully, she’d believe his attention was about sympathy for her predicament. She wouldn’t know it was because he’d been half in love with her for months.

Every new thing he learned about her convinced him she was amazing. Finding out she was pregnant changed nothing.

Simon said, “The training center.”

“Come on.” Peter led him to the stairway, and they hustled it up the stairs. “Destiny okay?”

“She’s in Clare’s office.” And he wouldn’t have left her if she wasn’t all right. Peter had a woman in his life, so he knew. “How many people are in this building?”

“The Cold Case team was in a meeting, that’s how I happened to be here. But there aren’t many others. Reception. Maybe one or two more.”

“And the apartments upstairs?”

“Three are occupied. The guy in seven isn’t going anywhere. Your confidential informant and Destiny are the only ones staying overnight aside from the security guard.”

Better not to ask about the guy in seven, or he’d end up having to sign one of those NDAs. “Is the building security guard up here?”

Peter shook his head. “He stays downstairs on the surveillance cameras. His job is the doors.”

Whatever that meant. “All right. Then let’s find this hacker.”

Peter went first into what was a gym. Weight machines and cardio machines along one wall. A fighting ring, and a huge expansive area with two inches of mat on the floor. “Don’t walk on that with your shoes unless you have to.”

“Got it.” Jasper didn’t see anyone in the room besides them.

“Go right. I’ll go left and check the locker rooms. You get storage.”

They split up. Peter disappeared into a room on the left side. Jasper swept over to the corner and a door marked Storage. Instead of cleaning supplies and towels, he found gear that could be used to storm a building. He even spotted some nunchucks, whatever that was about.

Maybe they would be useful later. Clare had asked him to train Destiny. Since he planned to spend a whole lot of time with her for the foreseeable future, they could work on some things. He could teach her how to protect herself.

Knowing now what she’d been through, he should have suggested it before. Every woman should know how to defend herself—same with every man. No one wanted to be vulnerable. That didn’t mean turning into the aggressor in a situation. It just meant you had skills that could save your life.

He spotted a door at the back of the closet and opened that. Inside were mop buckets and cleaning supplies.

His radio crackled to life, and Peter said, “Nothing in the locker rooms. Jasper?”

“Storage is clear.”

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