Page 52 of Theirs to Take

“I just left the Taproom,” he said. It was a place that every guy from base knew well. The Taproom was practically their second home, and he knew that Ranger would know where to find him. “I’m about two blocks south of there in an alley, trying not to do something stupid like get myself killed.”

“How many guys are following you?” Ranger asked.

“I’m guessing about two, but don’t know for sure. And unless I’m willing to let them catch up with me, I’m betting that you’re going to have to settle for my guess here, man,” Luke said. He knew what his friend’s question would be before he even asked it. Ranger like to deal with the known—how many and what he was dealing with would be his next questions, and Luke didn’t want to find out those answers on his own. It was why he called Ranger in the first place.

“Fine,” Ranger said. “I’ll be there in five minutes, just lay low and try not to get yourself killed in the meantime,” he grumbled.

“No promises, man,” Luke teased. “Just hurry. And Ranger, don’t tell anyone about this. I need to figure out what’s going on before going to command with this.” Hell, he didn’t even know what “This” even was. Why would anyone be tailing him? The question was, were they watching him the whole time that he was sitting in the Taproom, or had they just picked up his trail and decided to track him down? But he was getting ahead of himself here. First, he’d have to figure out who was following him, and then, he’d let his mind wander as to what theywanted from him. Why was it that every time something like this happened, his brain immediately went to him being chased down by spies or some crazy scenario like that?

“I think he went down here,” a man loudly whispered at the street corner that led back to the alley. He was hidden in one of the back corners, but he knew that if they wanted to find him, all they had to do was put a bit of effort into it. There wasn’t anywhere for him to truly hide and all he seemed capable of doing was closing his eyes and saying a little prayer that Ranger would hurry the hell up.

“It’s a dead-end,” the other guy whispered back. “What kind of moron would block himself off down a dead-end alley?” If he wasn’t being hunted down for no reason, Luke would find their whole dialogue about him being a moron funny—but nothing about this was funny.

“I don’t know much about the guy, but from what the boss has told us, he’s not a rocket scientist,” the first guy said. At least he wasn’t calling Luke a moron like the second guy had. Still, the rocket scientist statement stung a bit.

“What does the boss want with him, anyway?” the second guy asked. “I mean, do we have any idea why we’ve been trailing this guy for days now?” Days? They had been tracking him for fucking days and he hadn’t even noticed it. Well, that made him definitely feel like a moron. How had he not noticed them following him around?

“No clue,” the first guy admitted. “All I know is that the boss called me tonight and said it was time to bring him in. Apparently, this guy has connections that can get the boss back his family, and he wants answers now.”

Who the hell was this “Boss” person that they were talking about and what did Luke know about his family? He racked his brain trying to figure it out when a government issued vehicle, which looked more like a damn tank, showed up in the alley. Heheard the two guys cursing and Luke was pretty sure that they had taken off when Ranger showed up to collect him.

He ran down the alley, trying to stay in the shadows, and jumped into the front seat of the vehicle. “You couldn’t have brought something a little less inconspicuous?” Luke grumbled.

“It was either this or my bike, and that thing makes a shit ton of noise,” Ranger defended.

“Yeah, and this tank is so quiet,” Luke joked.

“By the way, you’re welcome that I came to save your ass. I saw the two guys standing in the corner. I’m assuming that they were the ones on your tail,” Ranger said.

“Yeah,” Luke said. “I overheard them talking about me. They said that their boss wanted them to bring me in because I apparently know something about where his family is and how he can get them back.”

“His family?” Ranger asked. “You have any idea what they were talking about?”

“Not a clue,” Luke admitted. “But I plan on finding out. I think that we need to take this to command. I’m being followed. This wasn’t just a chance thing. They want to bring me in to talk to their boss, and I can’t let that happen.”

“Agreed,” Ranger said. “I’ll go with you to talk to the Commander. He actually likes me, and I’ll smooth things over for you to pave the way. You’ll need his help and going in there alone doesn’t always end well for you,” Ranger taunted.

“Fine,” Luke said. “I’ll take all the help that I can get at this point. Thanks, Ranger—for everything.”

Present Day

Luke wasn’t sure how the hell he was going to tell his new boss and his best friend that he was going to have to take a leave of absence, but he had no choice. As the law firm's new head of security, he couldn’t bring his troubles to their doorstep, but that was exactly what he was doing by just showing up to work. He wasn’t sure that Alex or Rod would understand, but he had no choice but to be straight with them and let the chips fall where they may.

He decided to just bite the bullet and head upstairs to Alex’s office and hope like hell that Rod was there, and that Alex’s cute new assistant would let him in to see both of them. He rode the elevator up to the top floor of the building and stepped off of the elevator almost running into the exact sexy assistant that he was just thinking about.

Ruby Grace was the exact opposite of his type. She was the kind of woman that he’d usually look right past if he was out scoping women, but he wasn’t. For some reason, Ruby turned him completely inside out and that wasn’t going to change any time soon. Her red hair and blue eyes were a complete turn-on for him and honestly, Luke never saw himself with someone like her, not that it mattered now. He was going to have to leave town, his job, and even sexy, little Ruby behind.

“Hey, Ruby,” Luke breathed, “you heading out?”

“No, just running to the restroom,” she said. “Can I help you?”

“Um, sure,” he said, thinking about all of the ways he’d like to ask her to help him out—most of them completely inappropriate. “I need to talk to Alex, is he in?” he asked.

“Yep,” she said. “If you give me just a minute to run to the bathroom, I’ll let him know that you’re here,” she said.

“All right,” he agreed.

Alex stuck his head out of his office and smiled over at Luke. “Hey, man,” he said, “come on back.”

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