Rose had been asleep when he left the house. Would seeing him armed to the teeth in what was supposed to be the safe place where he was asking her to stay freak her out? Possibly, he admitted. He nodded to the operator, who had just started divesting himself of his weapons, and turned away.
“Hold the elevator for ya?”
“Sorry, bro, no can do.” He could see the operator emptying the bullets out of his gun and putting them in separate boxes to go through the scanner, but he didn’t know him well enough to hold the damn elevator. “You might be a while, and I’m on a time crunch.”
“Okay, sorry.”
“Hah.” He stepped into the elevator and punched the button for the war-room floor. As the doors slid shut, he winced when the security guard picked up his phone. His hinky radar was moving. The dude was up to something for sure. He almost sent the elevator back to the main floor, but he had an important call to take. Tex wouldn’t be pleased if he kept him waiting too long. “Move it, elevator, because if I’m not in the war-room before the call comes in, I’m gonna be pissed.”
He pushed the door and ran down the hallway just as the red bulb over the door leading into Trev’s private quarters started flashing. Putting on a burst of speed, his hand landed on the war-room door, opening it just enough to prevent it from locking as the deadbolt clicked.
“Shit.” Trev spun on his chair with the muzzle of his Sig Saur pointed directly at him. “What’s happening?”
“New dude coming through security.”
“I’m gonna kill him.” Trev lowered his weapon and got to his feet. He turned the key in the door, released the deadbolt, shut it, and locked it behind him again, as protocol dictated. “Dalton is going to lose his fucking mind.”
“I won’t be far behind him.” Holy hell, he’d even help Dalton beat the fucker. Every operator was briefed on protocols for entering the building. They didn't deserve to be here if they couldn’t manage that simple task. If FNG, aka Fucking New Guy, wasn’t paying attention, that was on him. “Did you and Tex find anything?”
“Oh boy, did we ever?” Trev rolled his chair back under his desk. “Let me ping Tex. Because of that, it looks like it’s just gonna be you and me for this call.”
Caleb winced. Thank fuck he’d managed to make it in here. Because if he missed this call…
Fucking New Guy’s ass is mine when we are done here.
“Boss, yeah, nope.” Trev answered his phone. He scratched his jaw and winced. “I can’t override it, them’s the rules. Sorry. Yeah, still not doing it. You gotta wait until the lockdown is lifted.” He punched end on the call. “Nem is thrilled, as you can imagine.”
“I’ll bet. Where did he get stuck?”
“His house.” He wriggled the mouse and hit call on the secure app they used for conference calls.
House, shit.
“Rose is on her own at mine; she won’t know what’s going on.”
“Crap…”
“What happened?” Tex’s face filled the screen. “Do you need to go?”
“Can’t, we’re locked down because one of our FNG’s tried to test the security at the front door,” Trev told him. “Until that’s cleared, then all doors on the premises are locked. The windows are, too.”
“That’s—um?—”
“Over the top?” Trev asked wryly. “This is Dalton Knight we are talking about, and he has a family to protect these days. You know that, right?”
“She was asleep when I left.” He wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince himself or them. Hopefully, Rose was still sleeping. If she wasn’t, then any progress they’d made last night was toast. “As soon as lockdown is lifted, I’ll go over and make sure she’s okay.”
“Okay, because I can hack into…”
“Do not hack my damn microwave.” He still hadn’t recovered from the last time. “I threw that damn Bluetooth fucker out and got an old school one and only plug it in when I want to use it.” He regretted his decision not to have a phone installed in his apartment.
Stupid move, Hunt. Stupid move.
“Spoilsport,” Tex muttered.
“You almost gave me a damn heart attack, asshole.” If he wasn’t so grateful for Tex and his mad skills, he’d hate the man for the prank he’d pulled last April Fool’s Day. “As soon as the red lights stop swirling, I’ll run over and make sure she’s okay. Until then, let’s get down to business.” He was aware that, normally, Trev or Dalton would run the call, but Dalton was trapped in his house, and Trev could just back off for once. Rose was his to protect, which gave him point position on this one. “What did you find on Janek?”
“He’s a real charmer.”
