10
Drew watched as a group of young men jogged past his position, wearing shorts and tank tops that revealed toned muscles and skin glistening with sweat. Working as a bodyguard might not be as exciting as being in the middle of a free-fire zone, but not having to worry that everyone who approached might be a suicide bomber was a nice change. The eye candy available on a university campus wasn’t bad, either. Of course, they were far too young, not a one of them probably over twenty-two, but he had no interest in them beyond their pleasant addition to the local scenery. It wasn’t just that they were too young and innocent for him, either. The truth was that Finn was just about all Drew could handle.
He smiled as he glanced toward the entrance to the McKimmon Conference Center, where the Summit on Ecological Sustainability was being held. He could see Finn talking animatedly with one of the university staff, probably a professor judging by the tweedy appearance of the guy. At Finn’s shoulder Joe hovered watchfully, as though he were present as much to guard Finn as anyone else. Not that Drew was surprised at all, given the way he knew Joe felt about Finn. He just wished he could crack through the shell of iron-clad professionalism Joe had chosen to erect around himself whenever Drew was around. It was true that Joe was the quiet sort, who rarely spoke unless he had something important to say, but he was virtually silent whenever Drew was around. According to Finn, Joe had decided to be completely professional when it came to their interactions, and so far he had been, which was both a relief and a challenge in Drew’s eyes. Not that he wanted to make Joe angry, especially since he had a pretty good idea that if Joe gave Finn an ultimatum to choose between the two of them, Drew would be on the losing end. But the real reason Drew took it as a challenge was that Joe was incredibly hot, and he really did have thesexy innocentaura down to a science.
Drew found himself attracted to Joe much in the same way he’d been attracted to Finn right from the start, and if he were completely honest, Joe pushed a lot of his buttons. He’d had more than one fantasy about seeing Joe and Finn together, and about being between the two of them in bed. He was sure the results would be explosive—although at the moment, he knew Joe would probably rather slit Drew’s throat than go to bed with him.
Joe looked up, as though he felt Drew’s gaze, and even at the distance of a dozen yards, Drew could see the smoldering look Joe was giving him. No doubt it was because Joe thought Drew was looking at Finn, and maybe even wondering if he should have taken Finn up on his offer to have Drew removed from the team. He wondered if Joe knew that Finn had made a similar offer to him, offering to have Drew removed without prejudice if Drew thought interacting with Joe was going to be too stressful. Yet Drew was the kind of man who enjoyed a challenge, and he thought that getting Joe Morrissey to not only like him, but to consider him as a lover, might be the biggest challenge of his life.
Drew smiled at Joe before glancing away, looking across the walkway at where Tyson stood, watching over the groups of passing students, ever alert for danger. Dead-eye was an excellent partner, and once he got over ragging Drew for being Army instead of Navy, they’d settled into a good working relationship. Their skills meshed well. Drew was able to see the big picture in a situation, and Tyson was used to a smaller focus, which made sense for a man who was a crack sniper; he had to be aware of the most minute details in a situation. It meant that they could cover the entire gamut in surveillance, and on the two missions they’d had leading up to the current one, they’d managed to foil both an attempted robbery and a murder.
“Status check,” Joe’s deep voice came over the communications circuit. The earpieces they’d been issued by Pixel were state-of-the-art, making Joe sound almost like he was standing right next to him.
“Baker one, check,” Tyson replied. He was the lead of their two-man team, designatedBakerfor the mission.
“Baker two, check,” Drew said. He listened as Thunder and Tailor acknowledged as team “Charlie”. Six men might not seem like a lot to many people, even with ]Pixel occupying a van at the curb full of equipment to monitor the sensors they’d placed throughout the conference center. However, six trained killers was probably more than anyone would be comfortable with hanging around a bunch of scientists and diplomats. Normal campus security was stationed around the facility as well, their job to police the badges of attendees and deal with the more mundane matters like people who were lost or who had misplaced their cellphones. It was up to Drew and his teammates to make sure that no one smuggled in bombs or guns, and that none of the protesters already ringing the building did anything stupid. That was why the team wasn’t attired in business suits or casual clothing that would help them blend in with the students. All of them were outfitted in black tactical gear complete with bulletproof vests emblazoned with SECURITY, and while their guns weren’t full-on assault rifles—those had been rejected by the conference organizers as being a bit too much for the situation—each man carried a fully loaded semiautomatic pistol and extra magazines, along with a taser. There were assault rifles in the van with Pixel, as well as tranquilizer guns, tear gas grenades, and a small trauma rig in case things got nasty.
Tyson walked over to join him. “Heads up, looks like the boss men are coming over.”
Drew glanced over to see Finn and Joe approaching. “Probably last minute orders. I bet the conference delegates are on their way from the hotel.”
“Curtain’s about to go up,” Finn said when he reached them. Although he retained a professional demeanor, his expression grew softer when he looked at Drew. “Campus security is standing by, and Pixel’s running an automated scan for any threats that pop up online.”
“Sounds good,” Tyson said.
Drew couldn’t help but smile a bit at Finn. “We’re ready, boss.” He looked over Finn’s shoulder at Joe. “I mean, bosses.”
Joe gave no reaction whatsoever to Drew’s slight jibe, and Drew figured that he didn’t want to face Joe at poker. About the only tell Joe had shown was a tendency to mutter in Russian when he was particularly annoyed—and it probably would have really pissed him off to know that Drew spoke the language, and had understood every time Joe had called him a “bastard” under his breath.
“Thunder and Tailor are monitoring the protestors,” Finn said. “I want you two to keep an eye on the arrivals. Make sure no unauthorized personnel approaches the delegates’ cars.”
“On it,” Drew said. “We’ve got this. Right, Dead-eye?”
“Easy peasy,” Tyson replied, giving a thumbs up. “Come on, partner. Between the two of us I bet we’ll scare off everyone, including the delegates.”
Drew chuckled and then with a last, lingering look at Finn, followed in Tyson’s wake. It was going to be a long and no doubt tiring day, but at least at the end of it he could look forward to an evening with Finn. That alone made any tedium worth it.
