Page 32 of Soldier, Tailor, Spy

“Three Russians broke into our place,” Maggie stated, “and no, that’s not the beginning of a joke.”

“How bad?” Asher pressed. Alex’s no-nonsense boss didn’t care about them yet. He needed to make sure all attackers were dealt with before he could relax. Come to think of it, all of them were built the same.

“Two are dead upstairs. One is knocked out so we can question him at a later date,” Alex answered, feeling the weight of the fight and the bleed off of adrenaline all at once. “I’m getting too old for this.”

Asher chuckled. “You and me both.”

By the time they finally stepped out of the townhouse, the sun was creeping up on the horizon. Their neighbors would be up and about soon, which meant questions and lookie-loos, something he’d never been a fan of. He got into his truck while Maggie climbed in beside him and waited for Asher and the guys to pull away.

“Guess our vacation is out of the question,” Maggie quipped as he started the truck and backed out.

“We should have left last night,” Alex agreed, following Asher back to the base for debriefing. “Oh well, guess there’s always next year.”

Maggie grinned. “I’m going to hold you to it this time.”

He snorted. Yeah, him too.

The Cove, Asher’s residence...

After a long night, Asher returned to his house on the cove. Rae was still sleeping, as was his battle buddy, Knox. Finally, after several months of the little shit waking up at odd hours, never giving Rae a moment’s peace—Asher always believed Knox knew what he was doing—the boy slept almost a complete twelve hours a night. The difference he’d seen in Rae and his son was astounding and he wouldn’t be fuckingthatup because he came home at four in the morning. Or because he’d be leaving in less than four hours.

He went up to their bedroom to shower and change first, then he’d put on coffee. What a fucking shit show of a night. It wasn’t often they had two incidences involving their people, less so in almost the same manner. In fact, it was downright strange. Add in the fact Hannah was also taken, and Murray was beside himself with worry, fucked with Asher’s head. Putting in the call to Santiago also didn’t go well, but the guy was on it, and Asher knew beyond anything, whoever took Hannah would soon regret it.

If Asher wasn’t beyond exhausted by the time he made that call, he probably would have been more worried about the different scenarios playing out in front of him. Especially after seeing the damage done to Alex and Maggie's home after three men broke in. Or the fact Bexley killed three men with her bare hands, and left one in a coma for who knew how long.

Asher yawned, cracking his jaw as he pulled his shirt off. Being inside a building with the smell of copper permeating the area felt like it seeped into everything. His skin, his clothes, his hair. It was one of the grosser things when dealing with dead bodies. Leaving his clothes in a pile by the door to take to the incinerator at the base, he crossed to the control panel on the shower. He wanted it hot, hard and fast, kind of how he enjoyed fucking Rae, come to think of it.

The creak of the door caught his attention as he stepped into the spray. Speaking of which, there she stood, wearing one of his shirts, looking freshly fucked and rumpled, but he knew damn well it was the look of a woman who slept all night. After she’d stabilized Bronx and fixed up her shoulder, she’d taken Knox home with her, knowing Asher wouldn’t be able to leave for hours and, luckily, she had to.

“You’re just getting in,” she said with a bit of sleep in her voice.

“Yeah.” He turned to face the spray so the hard, hot water would massage away some of the knots in his shoulders away. It helped, but not the other hardness between his thighs. “Fucking sucks is what it is.”

“Tell me about it.” They’d only found out a few weeks ago, she was two months pregnant, not something they’d planned on or been prepared for, but they were happy. He wanted to crow about it from the rooftops, but now with how shit was hitting the fan, he was glad they hadn’t.

“After everything settled down with Bronx and they’d been debriefed, Alex and Maggie called a little after midnight.” He blew out a breath. “They were ambushed in their bedroom. Three unknown assailants, all with Russian accents.”

Rae frowned as she scratched the back of her head. “Not too on the nose, are they?” She closed the door behind her, then came closer to the shower. “I’m assuming since you didn’t call for me, they were fine?”

Asher watched her as she pulled his shirt from her body. Though she was only a few weeks, he was sure he saw the first signs of a small swell, giving him the first glimpse of his new baby growing within her. “Yeah, they were fine. A little beat up.” He shrugged. “But you know how Alex can be.”

She chuckled, opening the shower door. “Of course, he can’t not get into a fight.” She joined him then, wrapping herself around him from behind. “I hate sleeping alone. We’ve never done that before.”

No. They hadn’t. When they were at the base, he could always find her in either her office or their shared quarters. Now, since they moved out to the point, he only saw her when he was at work with her or at home once he left the base for the day. Strange how things changed, but also remained the same. “I don’t like it either.” He tugged her around to face him. “How are you feeling this morning?”

“Pretty good. No upset stomach, which is a pleasant change,” she replied. With Knox, it seemed like Rae was always sick. She’d basically subsided off of candy, spicy food—that still made her sick—and chocolate milk. This time around, everything was different. “Why? Did you have something in mind?”

Asher lifted her up onto the warmed walls of the shower, then lowered her onto his straining length. “Yep, sure did.”

When they exited the shower sometime later, Knox’s muffled babbling came from the monitor in their room. He was talking away, carrying on a conversation with himself, as though he knew mommy and daddy needed a little alone time. While Rae attended to their son, he went down to the kitchen to begin breakfast. Even though he planned on sleeping a few hours, it would have to wait. There was too much shit going on for him to take a break.

In the kitchen, he glanced at his phone, grateful no one else got into a tussle. He already had a team on Hannah’s trail, led by Murray, with Santiago in the shadows. He was sure they’d find her, but there was always a chance they might not. The surviving member of the team who attacked Bexley in the tunnel was in the hospital wing, in a coma, and the bastard from Alex and Maggie's townhouse was lying in a cell. They were waiting for him to wake up from getting his ass beat.

Asher made the coffee and started putting their breakfast together, then turned on the television for some local news just to see what was happening around the area, also to see if anything at Maggie and Alex’s townhouse caused a stir, or if the assault in the promenade caught the eye of anyone. When he was satisfied neither set of his people made the news, he sat down and began eating. Rae’s food was being kept warm in the oven while she finished up breastfeeding their son, then changing him.

The days were getting long again, tourists would return, and he wanted whatever the fuck was going on around his team to die off quickly, so he could concentrate on Oscar’s case and return to his low-profile life.

Speaking of which, he thought about everything Thomas and AJ had told him regarding what they found at the burnt-out remains of his house with Ginger and the thumb drive. From what Drew could ascertain from Kiyoshi, Oscar had been undercover for years, so why had the FBI given him to Thomas, of all people? Sure, he’d worked the cartels and sex trafficking avenues over the years, but lately Thomas was slowing down, spending more time with Bexley and her team along with AJ and Scotty—his partners—rather than running ops for the FBI.

---