He was the only one who could, after all.Jamie’s family wasn’t anyone else’s problem except his own.
They finished breakfast quickly after that, and Jamie paid for their food using the RealIdent chip buried in the bioware embedded in his left hand and wrist.His account was debited, and they left the café without a backward glance.They weren’t even halfway down the block on their way home when someone called out his name.
“Jamie!Jamie Callahan, right?”
Jamie didn’t stop.Beside him, Kyle slipped his hand beneath his hoodie in possible preparation for needing to draw his gun.Jamie shook his head minutely at Kyle and got an eye roll in return.Kyle dropped his hand back down to his side, so Jamie considered it a win.
The reporter caught up to them, slim tablet in hand, its voice recorder app running on the screen.He kept it angled in Jamie’s direction.“Got a minute to talk about your father’s decision to run for the presidency?”
“No comment,” Jamie replied blandly, looking straight ahead as he quickened his stride.
“You know, you’re a hard man to track down.Your father’s been telling the media you’re deployed, yet here you are.”
Jamie didn’t say anything, and thankfully, Kyle followed his lead, though the scowl on the sniper’s face was a sure sign Kyle was thinking unpleasant thoughts about the reporter.Jamie felt the same way, even if he didn’t show it.Jamie knew how this game was played, had known how to play it since his parents first paraded him before the cameras as a very young child.
You did not engage the press unless it was on your own terms.
Getting sandbagged in the street wasn’t on Jamie’s terms, so Adam Dixon wasn’t getting jack shit from him.
Adam kept up with them all the way back to their residential skyscraper, trying to get Jamie to talk, but he’d said the only thing he was going to say outside the restaurant.Nothing more would be forthcoming.Adam could try to goad a quote out of Jamie all he liked; he wasn’t getting anything but silence.
They were meters away from the entrance to the building when Kyle broke away to access the biolock and get them inside.Jamie half hoped the reporter would try to follow them into the building—Jamie would be within his rights to throw the guy out on his ass if he did—but apparently, Adam understood the law when it came to trespassing.
“Fantastic conversation,” Adam said with an oily smile.He rapidly took a couple of photos of them as the clear plas-glass doors closed nearly on his toes.“We’ll have to do it again someday.”
“Can I shoot him?”Kyle asked as he waved off the security guard manning the front desk in the lobby.
“No,” Jamie retorted as they headed for their floor’s private, dedicated elevator and stepped inside.“Do you know how much paperwork that would entail, not to mention the headache it would give me?We have two more days of libo left, and I have no plans to be doing paperwork.”
“I hope those plans involve doing me.”
“They won’t if you shoot the reporter.”
“I was joking.”Jamie gave him a long, long look as the elevator ascended at a fast rate.Kyle rolled his eyes.“Okay.I wasmostlyjoking.”
“Sure you were.”
“If it’s a choice between testing out my new sniper rifle and getting fucked by you, we both know what I’m going to choose.”
Jamie arched an eyebrow.“Your rifle?”
“How is it you became a captain with such shitty decision-making skills?”
“Excellent NCOs.”
Kyle burst out laughing as the elevator slowed to a halt and opened up onto the penthouse level.He grabbed Jamie by the hand and hauled him out of the elevator, a wicked smile on his face.“Good answer.”
04
ONLY EASY DAY WAS YESTERDAY
Midweek found Alpha Team preparing for an early morning briefing.Word of a new mission had come down Tuesday night, interrupting their regulatory three days off between missions.The change in orders meant the entire team was already sitting around the conference table when Nazari arrived at 0700 sharp on Wednesday.Joining him was the MDF Deputy Director Ranisha Stirling and a third man Kyle didn’t recognize as everyone stood up to salute.
“At ease,” Nazari said to the room at large.
“Sir,” the group chorused in greeting.“Ma’am.”
“Take a seat.We have a long morning ahead of us,” Stirling replied.
