Page 45 of Assassin's Game
We made quick work of transferring Sullivan into the rear of the van. Remi had the driver over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry, moving toward us, when Titus put up his hand.
“He’s too clean to drop on the side of the road,” Mikaela’s teammate pointed out, jerking his chin toward the driver. “No one’s gonna believe he bailed from a car without scrapes or bruises. Drop him.”
Remi’s eyes narrowed. We knew what was necessary as well as Titus did, but Titus wasn’t our leader. Giving Remi orders wasn’t going to fly if he didn’t want it to fly.
Without taking his attention from the other man, Remi dropped his burden off his back. The soggy ground lessened the driver’s impact, not that I didn’t wince. Deadweight always hit hard.
Titus shrugged. “It’s a start.”
Remi stepped aside, waved a hand at the driver. “You do the honors.”
Titus hesitated. I could see the moment he realized what he’d done, what Remi was telling him. We might be working as a team tonight, but we weren’t teammates; Titus had no more authority to give Remi orders than Remi had to give them to him. A slight smile tugged at his lips, and he acknowledged Remi’s point with a nod before reaching down to grab the driver’s collar with gloved hands.
Remi left Titus to work over the driver while he retrieved our substitute for the back seat. I turned to see Mikaela at the open back doors of the van. As I approached, I saw she was checking over Sullivan again.
“Breathing okay?” I asked.
It wasn’t like we were doctors with a complete medical history—administering sedatives to people you wanted to keep alive could be tricky business. Taking their well-being for granted wasn’t happening.
“He’s fine,” she said without looking at me, her hands running over the man’s restraints in a way that made me want to growl. “We’ll make it back to the warehouse before he wakes up.”
I cleared my throat. “Good thing you already had a place for us to go.”
She turned her head just enough that I caught a flash of lightning reflecting off her iris, then back to Sullivan. “Yeah, good thing.”
Was she even listening to me?
“What’s up?” This wasn’t nerves over the op—she’d been fine while we were waiting for Sullivan. This was something else.
Her hands tightened on Sullivan’s ankle, then let go. She stepped back. “We should have heard from Rhys or Monty by now. Strict rule: we split up; we keep in touch.”
“Maybe the storm is fucking with the signal. Georgia isn’t exactly New York, especially not out here.” I was already rounding the van to check the phone we’d set up for the rest of Mikaela’s team to contact as needed.
Remi passed me with a well-wrapped bundle over his shoulder. “Everything okay?”
“Checking for anything from team two,” I said. As I fiddled with the phone attached to the dash for convenience, I heard Titus return the driver to the back of the van. Next step: adding the controls we needed for remote control of the car, and the small container of shock-sensitive chemicals that would make certain the car ignited when it hit the ground beneath the overpass.
The cell showed no calls or texts. “Nothing here. Not on your phone either, Ti?” I yelled back to the other man.
“Titus.” The man bared his teeth at me as he joined us. His hair was once again back in a bun, keeping the long, wet strands out of his face.
“Is your entire team picky about their names? What about Maris?” I added a hint of wicked to my grin, knowing my eyes were hidden beneath the shadows of my cap. “Does she have a nickname? Sweetie, maybe?” Mikaela’s sister was their soft underbelly if there was one; the woman didn’t have a mean bone in her body that I’d observed—unlike her sister.
Mikaela closed the doors at the back, rounded the side of the van. “Maris might seem sweet, but don’t get her riled. She’ll make you a eunuch in a heartbeat.”
“Just ask Rhys,” Titus added, joining us as we climbed into our seats.
“She made him a eunuch?” I teased.
Titus snorted, opening and closing his fists as if the punches he’d thrown had made them ache. “She’s tried.”
“But she didn’t succeed. Not very effective.”
Mikaela mumbled under her breath, something I couldn’t quite catch. “What was that?”
She turned my way, and I could see the amusement clearly as lightning lit up the sky, revealing her eyes. “She wouldn’t want to permanently damage anything that might be useful later.”
“Oh. Ooooh.” My smirk probably matched Mikaela’s as I got her drift.
