Page 73 of The Last Strike

Reed dared a glance in her direction. “How so?” he asked casually.

She shrugged. “In some ways he seems the polar opposite of his brother, but I’m sure they’re actually very alike.”

“Deacon has a warmer personality,” Reed said. “But trust me, he can be just as dangerous as James.”

He dared another glance. Rachel was looking straight at him. “How did you come to work for Thomas Security?”

Reed was about to give her the usual answer: he applied for the job, passed multiple interviews, and was hired. Instead, after a moment, he decided to give her the truth. He wanted to see her reaction to it; he wanted to see if she’d still think the same of him when she knew his past.

“Before I worked for Thomas Security my official job was a fighter: MMA. But I also had a side gig,” he said, clearing his throat. “I used to run one of the most successful thief rings. We robbed the wealthy. I could tell you we gave it to the poor, but we didn’t.”

Her eyebrows lifted but she said nothing else.

“Anyway, one day I planned to rob a rich businessman. He had recently upgraded his security detail, which was information I didn’t have. I managed to get inside, but soon I came face to face with James Thomas and his weapon. I managed to disarm him, and if he hadn’t had backup, I might’ve killed him. Ultimately, I ended up cuffed to the very desk I’d planned to rob. James was impressed I even got inside the house, let alone managed to disarm him.” Reed chuckled. “While he had me cuffed, he convinced me to do something better with my life. He offered me a job, and I’ve been working for him since.”

Rachel bit her lip. “That is quite some story,” she said, sounding like she might chuckle too. “I suppose it’s how most computer hackers get hired, right? They get caught inside a hard-to-crack database and governments hire them because they’re so good.”

“Not dissimilar,” Reed agreed. “One could probably argue I would be a liability to James and his security operations, but when you have someone like Samuel who also has a team of people monitoring all staff, that eliminates the risk.”

“How are you monitored?” she asked, and Reed knew he was walking the line of what he could tell her.

“Everything is monitored. Given my senior responsibility in the company, especially now on this case, every line of communication is monitored. My location—every minute of the day—is monitored,” Reed said.

Rachel paused. “So they’ve read the text messages we’ve been sending?”

Reed tried to gauge whether she was annoyed by that. He was so used to being monitored that he’d forgotten about how it pertained to his day-to-day life. He hadn’t thought to tell her. “They don’t have someone sitting there reading every message. It’s more that every communication from our device is scanned for certain words or phrases that would raise red flags,” he said. It was the truth, but it might also be stretching it a bit. At the level he was in at the company, Reed thought Samuel—or his team—were likely reading every single message he received. He didn’t know for sure, and he didn’t care to ask.

She nodded slowly, but her face gave away nothing.

“I should’ve told you,” he said. “I honestly didn’t think about it. I’m so used to it, but I can see how it would feel like an invasion of privacy.”

She turned to him. “It was hardly like they were X-rated messages,” she said, and Reed smirked. He wouldn’t have minded if they had been. “But it still feels ... weird.”

Reed nodded. He understood, but if anything was going to happen between them, Rachel would have to be okay with this, because it wasn’t going to change. That was part of the baggage that came with dating a guy like him.

Reed turned onto the street her apartment was on, disappointed they’d arrived so quickly despite the numerous detours, but also relieved they’d arrived safely.

He drove into the underground parking garage, spotting another Thomas Security car idling quietly. They had arrived ahead of them and scoped the garage and the apartment.

“Apartment secure.”

“Copy,” Reed responded.

Rachel turned to look at him, but there were no questions in her eyes. She was accustomed to these protocols now.

“Wait here,” he said as he got out of the car and went to open her door. She stood and he used his body to shield her as they made their way toward the elevator.

It was waiting for them at the basement, and they rode it up to the eleventh floor. Their eyes met in the mirrored walls, but neither said a word. As much as Reed wanted this to develop, for the next few days, at least, he needed to focus. After that, once they’d eliminated Khalil, things could progress. But, he also didn’t want to be cold and give Rachel the wrong message.

He walked her to the apartment door, entered before her, and scoped the apartment once more. When he was confident it was secure, he walked back to her.

“All good,” he said with a smile, which she returned. Reed searched for the right words, toeing the line with what he could tell her and what he couldn’t. “Tonight didn’t count as dinner. I’d still like to take you out sometime soon,” he said.

Her eyes lightened and she nodded. His gaze dropped to her soft lips. “Just give me some time to sort some things out for Asher. And then I’d love to take you out for dinner.”

She smiled, but he saw the uncertainty in her eyes. “I’d love that. But do you really think anything is going to change soon? This war could go on for years. I’m not sure Asher will be giving you time off anytime soon. Maybe this is just too difficult with your line of work.”

Reed shook his head gently. “This war isn’t going to go on for years,” he said with a certainty that made Rachel look up. Her eyebrows narrowed.

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