Xander’s intuition screamed at him that something was wrong, and he didn’t breathe until Carli stopped at the theatre.
He jumped out of the car, taking in the sign for “Canada’s Best Dancer.” He looked down the street and saw a flash of shiny auburn hair.
“Harper!” Xander shouted.
Harper, laughing at something the woman next to her said, her face washed in surprise when she looked up and met Xander’s gaze. He waved at her, striding towards her. With a little goodbye wave to the people she was with, she started walking toward Xander.
He smiled. She was safe.
A squeal of the brakes made Harper jump.
Xander’s heart leapt into his throat at the grating sound of a van door being shoved open.
Harper screamed, dropping her smoothie cup. Two men jumped from the van, grabbed her, tossing her in the van.
Xander couldn’t swallow, couldn’t breathe, but a quick blast of a horn shook him out of it. Carli had pulled into traffic, chasing the blue van.
The world spun, Xander slumped against a light pole, dialling Ares.
CHAPTER TWENTY - LOGAN
Theadrenalinerushofgoing on a job for Axis Management felt like reaching a summit, but sometimes, even better than the adrenaline rush was the relief after rescuing a person or guiding someone safely through a hostile environment or even delivering an object to save a country from going to war, even if the rest of the world didn’t know.
That was what kept Logan invested in Team Stealth. Despite his parting words to Xander, he couldn’t imagine leaving.
But this last job in Mexico, left him feeling gutted. This time the intel was good. They crashed in on the sale. And if they didn’t find the aircraft itself, they did find out where it was going to land after the guys who were doing the selling dropped their papers and ran. Not that they got far. Quinn had cursed as he picked up a paper that had fallen on the ground. “The Martin Group’s stamp.”They sent a report back to Axis Management, to Meg and then a few phone calls later, Nick had the private aircraft intercepted at the airport. The Bandit Brothers hauled ass out of there for their pick up.
“Why would Dorian Martin send this technology after us? I want to shoot the bastard myself.” Logan broke the silence once they were back on home soil.
“It’s not our job to figure it out.” Gabe clapped him on the back.
“Does it bother you?” Logan asked Quinn.
“You know it does,” Quinn replied. His friend’s blue stare darkened. “But it’s a job, and we all knew the risks signing up.”
Logan had never factored in the risk of one of Xander’s adversaries trying to kill them with invisible technology. His blood boiled. Until now, he hadn’t confronted the senselessness of Jordan’s death. But with it staring him in the face, there was no denying it.
“Better to know than to wonder whose fuck-up it was,” Gabe said with a pointed stare at Quinn. “I plan to take on as many jobs as I can, and now I know it wasn’t Erik’s fault, it makes it easier for me.”
“It was still his job to recon,” Quinn said.
“Hard to recon when you can’t see it,” Gabe snapped.
Logan stared across the roof of the SUV at his friend’s stony expression. Gabe was hurting over his betrayal by Ivy, and he was going to bury himself in the work. “Seeing the physical proof of Xander’s theory, I had a moment there. But the only thing we can do for Jordan is to honour him.”
The guys clasped each other’s arms, then Quinn got into the SUV. “How are things with you and Harper?”
“I ran my mouth before leaving on the job. She walked out because she doesn’t want to come between Xander and me.” He smiled. “But she said she would wear my collar.”
“Okay,” Quinn said.
“What?” Logan shot his best friend a glance.
“I think Harper is looking for security, and Xander’s been her security blanket for a long time. I don’t think she knows what she wants, but she’s made it clear she doesn’t want you two fighting over her. Can’t you share her?”
“I always thought I would have no problem sharing a woman, but now that it’s here, I don’t know, man. Xander doesn’t want to share, and he won’t even tell her how he feels.”
“You’ve got to figure it out before you break Harper’s heart,” Quinn said.
