Page 27 of Embedded
I scowled playfully at her as Chase reached out for Nicole and threw his whole weight unexpectedly in her direction. I managed to hold on to him. “What about me?”
“I love ya, Uncle Paul,” she raised her chin the way she often did when she wanted me to take her seriously, “but I’ve dug into your head about my ideas and got all I needed. And, well, she’s fresh meat.” She grinned when Nicole laughed. “Ms. Winter would have a whole different perspective to offer, plus she’s a woman, so that just adds the cherry on top.”
“Hell, yeah, it does.” Nicole high-fived her. “You can call me Nicole.”
Chase threw himself toward Nicole again. I put him down, and he made a beeline for her. His crawl was comical with his big diaper making a swooshing noise as he went. Without a second thought, she gathered him up in her arms and placed him on her hip. Instantly, he settled. How does she do that?
“First, and most importantly, I need to get this little guy some food,” Nicole smiled.
“I can help with that.” They both left for the kitchen, and I followed. I was totally in awe of Nicole. The woman probably didn’t even realize what a natural she was with my boy.
Chase got tired after he ate a bit of food, and they managed to get him to drink some juice. He began to yawn and got quiet again. The girls took him off for a nap.
I headed to meet up with my team to fix a small problem on the drone. It had been transported from Texas.
I hit the top of the stairs when Dr. Bash caught me mid step. “Hey, Paul, I know this mission was a hard one on you. Would you like to set up a session?”
“Nope.”
He licked his lips. I knew it was hard coming into a house like ours, but Bash wasn’t Doc Roberts, and my assigned doctor was Ivy. I didn’t have to take suggestions from him, even though Doc Roberts encouraged us to.
“I’m really not the enemy here. I’m only trying to offer help.”
I rolled my wrist and checked the time. I was sure I acted like a jerk, but I had so many things on my mind, and letting Dr. Bash inside my head wasn’t going to help. “I appreciate it, but now isn’t the time.”
“Tomorrow, then?” he pushed.
“No.”
“The next day?”
I shook my head. “With all due respect, there’s a way to approach us, and this isn’t the way.” I continued down the stairs, leaving him to figure it out.
“You know, I’d actually consider working here.” Chili looked around our tech shop, admiring all the new technology the safehouse has to offer. “Now that you’re gone, the job doesn’t seem to run as smoothly as it once did. I wish you were back.”
I glanced at West, who had his headphones on and his nose deep into some blueprints. My team knew about my past, but it wasn’t something I talked about freely. They knew I’d been undercover in Mexico for ten years and that I’d done so for the sake of the house. My alias was never shared, nor would it be. I had hoped the name Eric Noah would die when I left Mexico, but truth be told, he’s still very much alive inside me, and that proved to be a whole other problem I had to deal with. Bottom line was the team didn’t dig, and I didn’t offer any more than I had to.
“That was another life,” I grunted and went back to soldering two tiny pieces of metal.
“Yeah, I see that you’ve tucked that life away behind a sleeve of ink.” He pointed to my tattooed arm where it had been necessary to cover up the past.
“It’s a work in progress.”
Chili pulled out a chair and rolled it over to be closer. “Do you miss it?” I didn’t answer. “Come on, Paul, it’s me. I won’t tell a soul.”
I finished and turned off the gun then removed my gloves and glasses. “Some of it, I do.” I held the drone. “It fits perfectly.”
“Like?” he dug, and I couldn’t help but wonder if Doc Roberts asked him to try to pry some of my feelings from me.
I pressed my hands against the table and opened that part of my head I normally kept tightly shut.
“I miss doing my job without all the boundaries. If someone fucked up, I dealt with them. No questions asked.” I ran my fingers through my short hair. “You know, Chili, parts of me kinda miss the uncertainty Castillo brought to every day. Sure, there was a lot more action there than being stuck here.” I shook my head as I realized my words came out wrong, but I knew Chili understood what I meant. “I’m glad he’s gone, but life’s sure thrown a lot at me since.”
“You got a son out of it.”
“I did but lost his mother along the way,” I sighed deeply and instantly felt that horrible tug and pull that came with thoughts of Talya. I cleaned my hands with a rag. “I don’t know, things are different. Then there’s –” I shot him a look when someone knocked on the frosted glass door.
I glanced at Chili and thought it was strange. The wives all knew that if the light wasn’t on outside, they could come in without knocking.
