Page 66 of All Twisted Up
“I was just teasing,” Raven said, flashing me a big smile. “When any one of you are in danger, you know we’re here for you. I know you’d all stand in front of Miguel out in the field.” He glanced fondly at Miguel who’d followed us.
“Thank you, guys.” I waved at the set of couches. “Have a seat.”
“I could stand here and look at the gorgeous view forever.”
I glanced over at Miguel who was looking through the French doors leading to the deck out back. The ocean view in the distance was spectacular, though, not quite as good as the one from the deck itself. He turned away from it and smiled at me as he walked over and sat on the couch beside his new husband.
“Where’s your protectee?” Miguel asked.
“In the bedroom talking to his brother and sisters.” I sat on the couch facing them. “It was nice of Candy to give him a secure phone so he could do that. The separation from his family is killing him.”
Miguel nodded as Raven looked pensive. “Well, hopefully it won’t be for long,” Raven said.
“I hope not.”
“Candy filled us in on what’s been going on,” Miguel said. “You guys have really been through it,huh?”
I nodded. “It’s been hard on him.”
The two men exchanged a glance, as if having a silent conversation, before they looked back at me with a knowing gaze.
“Hard on him but not on you, Hampstead?” Miguel asked. “From what I understand, this kind of job isn’t run of the mill for you. It seems like you’ve been in a few tough scrapes over the last few days while having to keep your protectee safe.”
No, it was far from run of the mill for me. I’d gotten close to Joshua damned fast, to the point of sleeping with him, and though, it had seemed natural that it would happen to us in such close quarters at the time, it was still not the way things should’ve gone. But that’s not what Miguel was talking about. He was talking about the near-death component.
“The danger is something we all deal with on the job and you know it. As far as our current living situation—” I glanced over in the direction of the bedroom doors and smiled before returning to my thoughts. “You know I live alone, so this is definitely different,” I said, hoping they’d accept my dismissal on the subject, and leave it at that. I breathed out a sigh of relief when Marvin came charging down the hallway and ran right over to Miguel. He immediately jumped into his lap and lifted his face to rub at the whiskers under his chin.
I had to chuckle. Miguel had been over to my apartment a few times since we all switched off houses when we wanted to get together to watch football or play cards, and from the very first, Marvin had fallen in love with him. I’d actually been jealous of my cat’s love for my buddy until Miguel explained that he had a cat of his own called Stanley. He dismissed the attention as Marvin scent marked him, probably just to piss Stanley off. It was equivalent to the cat version of the middle finger.
Joshua walked into the room and stopped short. “Oh…hi. I must have missed the doorbell.”
I waved him into the room as we all stood up. “These are the two members of my team who you haven’t met. Joshua Calder, this is Miguel Huerta, and Raven Mathis.”
“It’s so nice to meet you,” Joshua said, smiling broadly as he walked over to shake their hands.
“Nice to meet you, Joshua,” Raven said. “We were just saying hi to Marvin.” We all looked down at the cat who was currently curled up in the spot where Miguel’s ass had rested only moments before.
I laughed as Miguel leaned down and transferred Marvin back to his lap as he retook his seat. Joshua settled onto the couch beside me; the temptation to reach over and take his handwas almost overwhelming. “Miguel was just saying that Candy brought them up to date on what’s been happening.”
Joshua nodded and turned to look at them. “He told you about the cartel and everything?”
“Yes,” Raven replied. “It must be scary for you.”
Joshua nodded. “It’s been terrible.”
He glanced over at me and if I hadn’t been sitting, the look of devotion in his expression would have knocked me on my ass. I cleared my throat and dragged my gaze back to Raven and Miguel who were watching the two of us with interest. I had no idea what they’d seen pass between us, but I really wished they’d stop staring like that. It was time to change the subject.
“So, you know Judy came over with Candy this morning to explain what she’d found?”
“Yes, he called us to come over to”—Miguel looked at Joshua before clearing his throat— “enhance your protection.”
I didn’t know what word he was going to use, but whatever it was, he’d thought better of it. “I take it she shared what she’s learned about the burner phones when we conducted the operation in Gomez’ apartment?” I wanted to clarify that they had the whole picture.
Both men nodded. “Yeah, and I can believe it,” Miguel said. “I’m not sure about Turley because I don’t know the first thing about him, but the other guys said he’d been highhanded with the way he’d made a big deal about our team being backup. Sibley was the one who got killed but it could just as easily have been one of us, assuming Agent Sibley was killed by one of the cartel. And I haven’t trusted the DEA as far as I can throw them ever since the operation in the Caymans. You know whatwe went through with the DEA and SAC Bannister during that operation.”
“What happened?” Joshua asked.
I turned my attention to him. “The DEA was very difficult to work with overall. There was a learning curve with their Special Agent in Charge, Hope Bannister…a learning curve on her end, not ours. I honestly don’t think she trusted our suggestions about how we wanted to conduct the operation. In the end it came off like clockwork and she was okay by the time it was all over. We took down some seriously bad people, including a drug cartel leader and an international smuggling ring. Before we were brought into the operation, it’s our understanding that she was initially hostile to one of the agents in our office along with the men and women he works with.”
