Page 31 of Soldier, Tailor, Spy

Pulling the blanket over them, he made sure she was comfortable, not caring how his dick softened or slipped from her any more than she did. When she finally looked up at him, the soft moon beams cascading over them through the blinds on the window, she gave him a small smile, almost tentative, shy. So unlike his Maggie.

“What are you thinking about?” he murmured, not wanting to break the spell woven around them.

“How lucky I am. How I almost lost you.” She rubbed her chin across his chest, almost as if she wished to burrow within him to make sure their situation was real and not some means of torture or worse, a dream. He would know, because he’d thought the same thing many times. “How I can’t believe we’re here, after all those years of being apart. We’re finally together, Alex.”

“Ah.” Alex nodded. “I’ve felt the same way over the last few years. “Doesn’t get any better than this, does it?”

“No.” She gave her head a little shake. “It doesn’t.” She shivered, easing under the covers a bit more. It might not be winter, but the nights were still cold, and his Maggie loved the heat. She said sleeping next to him was like having a private heater. Alex took it as a compliment.

“I was thinking we should go back to the island again,” Alex said, staring down at his wife.

She hummed in approval. “I’d like that too. It’s been quiet with work lately, minus the whole thing with O’Malley. We should try to get away while we can.”

O’Malley was a whole other can of worms he didn’t think he wanted to open. Even on his shittiest of days, he didn’t take his anger or frustration out on anyone, unlike how Jake had done to them. The worst part, it’d only been those members of the team who were in relationships that took the brunt of Jake’s ire. Which made the whole situation worse. Not having him at the base for four years changed the dynamics of the team. If Alex was forced to say as much, he’d say for the better. Having Jake back, bringing all of his baggage with him, Alex didn’t like it.

Of course, not all of it was Jake’s fault, per se. “We should. I have a feeling if we don’t, things with Oscar’s death will hamper any time off.”

Maggie sighed. “Doesn’t it seem a little convenient to you?” She propped her hands under her chin. “The way it all went down? I’m not saying Jake is involved. I think it’s deeper.”

If Alex took the time to mill it over, he suppose he’d come to the same conclusion. “It was a little weird how Oscar joined up with Thomas, even though Duncan was a temporary partner for him to begin with. Maybe we’re paranoid old coots who always see the bad in a situation.” He shrugged.

“Or we’re way too perceptive for our own good,” Maggie suggested. “If it looks too good or too clean to be true...”

“Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck...” Alex sighed.

She was right. It usually meant they had a duck in their yard, and Oscar probably wasn’t who he said he was, but that didn’t answer the question of why someone killed him. “So why kill Oscar?”

Maggie yawned. “Not sure. We should figure it out in the morning.”

Alex chuckled. “Sounds good to me.” He wrapped his arms around his wife and as he drifted off, he couldn’t quite clear the thought of Oscar actually being the bad guy out of his mind. No matter how many times he tried to laugh it off, there was always another reason or clue forcing him to take the situation seriously. As the weight of sleep pressed down on Alex, he promised himself he’d say something to Asher in the morning, because they couldn’t be the only one of the same thought process.

The crash of glass had Alex sitting up in a flash. He’d trained himself to be a light sleeper because of the bounty on his head for all those years. Tonight, was no different, except he had Maggie by his side. He couldn’t pinpoint where noise came from or why it woke him up, only that it was loud enough to bring him out of his sleep. He glanced over at Maggie, who pressed her finger to her lips as she slipped her gun out of the secret compartment built into the headboard of their king sized bed. Alex did the same, retrieving his weapon from the bedside box where he always kept his gun. At one point, he thought about getting a dog, but they were too loud and wouldn’t give Maggie or him the element of surprise.

He slipped from his bed, crossing toward the door on silent footfalls while Maggie did the same. Whoever stepped through the door would soon learn to regret it. The staircase creaked under the pressure of feet climbing toward them. Alex readied himself. Maggie would take the first one to come through the door, leaving him to grab anyone after him. By their whispered conversations, he could tell they weren’t trained professionals, and they weren’t American. Russian if he had to guess.

Instead of his heart pounding in his chest because of the rush of adrenaline, it slowed, allowing him to focus, stay in the moment, and survive. The door came down with one solid placed kick, but so did the man seconds later when Maggie put a bullet in the side of his head, splattering brain matter on the wall where Alexhadbeen standing.Damn the little minx and her artwork.The next asshole that charged in headlong, as if his partner hadn’t had his head blown apart, went straight for Alex and he welcomed it. There were three men. If they could at least take one of them, Alex and Maggie could question them at the base.

Alex lowered his weapon, crouching into a fighting stance. The man smirked, but followed suit as Maggie put another bullet into the third man’s head after wrestling him to the ground. God, she was a hellcat, and he fucking loved her. Alex’s head snapped back as the asshole in front of him sucker punched him. He licked the blood from the corner of his lip, then motioned for the guy to come at him again. It would be fun to torture the asshole, but as it was, they needed to hurry before the neighbors became suspicious and called the police prior him alerting Asher.

The man circled Alex, flinching every so often, trying to bait Alex in. He didn’t fall for it. He took his time and when the guy feinted with his left, Alex came in with a left, absorbing the wild punch into his shoulder. The guy’s head snapped back. Blood flowed from his nose. They probably had a good five more minutes before it was too late, and they would lose their window. He didn’t give the would be assailant the chance to catch his balance after the first punch. Each blow was measured, hitting him at the exact point to inflict maximum damage without putting the bastard into a coma.

“Already called Asher,” Maggie yelled from across the room while dressing. “He’ll be here in fifteen.”

“We don’t have that long.” Alex hit the guy again, then took two more to the body. He absently wondered if Maggie would kiss his boo-boos away in the morning, because he was sure he cracked a rib or two.

“AJ is monitoring the radio traffic, delaying the calls to police. We’re safe.” Or at least they hoped so.

It was better to end the fight quickly than continue to go round and round, hoping someone didn’t phone in the disturbance. When he saw the opening, he took the shot, knocking the guy out with a clean upper cut. His gigantic body fell to the floor of their bedroom, his eyes closed while Alex panted for breath over him. “Clear.”

“Go get dressed and cleaned up a little. I’ll meet Asher downstairs,” Maggie said, after checking the man’s pulse.

Alex shook his head, more exhausted from fighting than fucking his wife. “No. We don’t know if there are more waiting downstairs or if these three were the only morons stupid enough to break into our home.” It was just like old times and not in a good way, either. This would make the third such occasion Asher had to swoop in and clean up after him. More determined this time, though.

Alex grabbed a set of clothes and put them on in front of Maggie. He figured his face and body were a mess, but he could clean that up later. For now, they needed to make a sweep of the house. He slipped his feet into a pair of shoes he left in his bedroom, specifically for moments like these, then waited as Maggie did the same. When they were ready, they headed downstairs into their great room, the combination living room and kitchen. The area was empty. They split off at the stairs; her going to check the bathroom while he went to inspect the back door/yard to figure out how their would-be assailants got in.

Three minutes later, Asher, along with the base vehicles, pulled up and skidded to a halt in front of his residence. Asher stepped inside the house first when Alex let him in, followed by Noah. The others set up a perimeter around his home to check where he hadn’t, on the off chance someone was still lurking.

“What happened?” Asher asked, giving him a once over.

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