4
Finn didn’t expect that Drew would need much training, more like an introductory course on how working for Hercules Security differed from working for Lawson & Greer. The biggest difference, of course, was that most missions wouldn’t take Drew into an active warzone, although there were always exceptions.
For example, the first mission involving their current client, Senator Ellen Paxton. Geo Kensei had been one of the Hercules Security reps assigned as her bodyguard back when she was a Congresswoman. Geo had accompanied her for what should have been a routine diplomatic visit, but civil war broke out in the host country and derailed the whole thing. Geo’s partner had been killed, but Geo had gotten the senator out safely, and now she worked exclusively with Hercules Security for personal protection. In fact, Herc had picked up a fair bit of new business thanks to her recommendations.
Finn and Drew had been sent to DC to serve as her temporary bodyguards while her regulars took leave. It was an easy gig, one that would introduce Drew to what to expect during a typical security detail without much risk of anything going south.
Senator Paxton lived just over the Maryland state line. Her home was located in an upscale neighborhood attached to a small town that catered to the politicians who wanted a more quiet and remote place to settle down away from DC. Finn and Drew hadn’t seen much of the area. They were pulling the night shift, which was considered the easy detail, so their view consisted of the grounds of the Paxtons’ McMansion and the interior of the three-car garage from their surveillance van.
About the most exciting thing that had happened so far was the night a possum meandered onto the Paxtons’ lawn, and Finn and Drew had spent a good fifteen minutes watching it and placing bets on which way it would go. But Ellen Paxton was a model client—she treated her mercs with respect—and Finn thought Drew needed an introduction to the tedium that was bodyguard work, anyway.
“Think we’ll see that possum tonight?” Finn swiveled away from the monitors long enough to wink at Drew.
Drew smiled, slow and hot. “Want to make a bet about it? Winner gets to pick what we do when we get back to the hotel.”
Finn leered at Drew in return. “You’re on,” he said, feeling a familiar ember of arousal kindling in his belly.
Any thought that they might fuck it out of their systems in a matter of days was long gone. If anything, Finn wanted Drew even more now that they had developed a familiarity with each other’s likes and dislikes. No one since Joe had sparked and sustained such potent chemistry with him, and he was enjoying every minute.
“I say no,” he added. “I’m willing to bet someone called an exterminator or animal control on Mr. Possum by now. I can’t see folks in an area like this tolerating something as pedestrian as a possum on their property.”
“Now, now, do I hear a bit of judgement in your tone, Mr. Finnegan?” Drew asked. “For shame. One of the fine people in this development could be one of D-Day’s cousins. Maybe they trapped and ate Mr. Possum. Or rescued him from the dangers of a suburban lifestyle. But I’ll say yeah, we’ll see him. They’re crafty critters, you know, and I suspect the fruit trees around here are particularly tasty, what with everyone having gardeners.”
“It’s a bet.” Finn held out his hand and gave Drew a challenging look.
“So I better get to scanning, hadn’t I?” Packed as it was with electronics, the interior of the van was pretty confined. As Drew slid his hand into Finn’s, he suddenly tightened his grip, pulling Finn half out of his seat. Drew leaned forward at the same time and pressed his lips against Finn’s in a hard kiss.
As much as Finn wanted to part his lips and surrender, maybe even straddle Drew’s lap, he couldn’t. They were still on the clock, so he tried to satisfy himself with a little taste to tide him over until their shift ended.
“I reckon you better,” he said, sounding breathless as he pulled back.
Drew gave Finn’s hand a final squeeze and released it. “I want to win, and I have just the forfeit I want in mind, too,” he said, his blue eyes gleaming. “But I’m not going to tell you what it is. You’ll just have to hope I win.”
“I think we’ll both win whether the possum shows up or not.”
Finn had never been less interested in staring at monitors, but he was a professional with a job to do, and so he focused on the video feed from the front of the house and the street view, while Drew monitored the back and sides of the house.
Time slowed to a crawl, though they kept each other awake by talking about the movies Drew wanted to see now that he had the chance to catch up on the things he’d missed while in the field. At just around two o’clock in the morning, Drew sucked in a startled breath.
“Finn… there’s movement at the back, and it isn’t Mr. Possum. I think we have an intruder creeping along at the property line, moving low and slow.”
Finn tensed as he swiveled around and checked the monitor. Drew was right. “Call it in,” he ordered, a surge of adrenaline bringing him fully alert at once. He drew his gun as he stood. “I’ll check it out, see if the guy runs when he realizes he’s been seen.”
“On it.” Drew’s voice was as crisp and professional as anyone Finn had ever worked with, and Finn knew Drew had been in far more intense situations than this. He quietly opened the sliding door and stepped out into the garage.
There was a door at the rear of the big room that led out into the backyard, and he awarded Drew points when the door’s alarm was silently disarmed as Finn approached, a light beside it blinking from red to green. He opened the door and then nodded, knowing Drew would catch it on the monitors, before he slipped out into the dark, quiet night.
The Paxtons’ yard was a bit larger than most of the others in the neighborhood, but like them it was bordered by a high privacy wall and meticulously landscaped. The intruder had to have come over the wall where it abutted a neighbor’s yard. It was possible the person was just some teenager sneaking out of his girlfriend’s or boyfriend’s house, but Finn had to treat the situation as one with deadly intent. The lives of the senator and her family depended on Finn’s judgement.
Having trained with a former Mossad agent in stealth, Finn knew how to move across grass in virtual silence. He doubted the intruder had any night vision equipment, but he couldn’t bet on it, so he kept as many of the bushes and trees between himself and his quarry as possible while he moved up behind. Whoever he was pursuing wasn’t anywhere in Finn’s league when it came to stalking, and Finn actually heard the man curse quietly as he stumbled over something in the dark.
Now that Finn’s eyes had adapted, he caught the movement of the intruder no more than ten feet in front of him. He crossed the distance in three long strides and pressed his gun against the back of the man’s head.
“Stop where you are and surrender, or I’ll shoot,” he said.
The intruder let out a startled breath and started to turn. Despite his warning, Finn didn’t want to blow away some kid, but he couldn’t take a chance that the guy was about to attack, either. So he flipped the safety and turned his hand, smacking the butt of his gun against the intruder’s head.
As Finn had intended, the guy dropped like a rock, knocked out cold. He was just starting to bend over to check his quarry when he felt something small and cold pressed against the back of his own skull. Somehow someone had gotten the drop on him, and now the tables were turned.
