“Yes, sir?” Sean asked, looking down the table at thedirector.
“Reach out to Adrian Wolcott. Let him know you want to take him up on that offer for avisit.”
“I’ll calltomorrow.”
“Calltoday.”
Sean shook his head. “Adrian will be too focused on his wife to care about anything else right now. Tomorrow will give us a better chance at catching him in an agreeable mood. I’ll make the call under the guise of asking after her health and responding to his earlier offer for avisit.”
“Fine. Report inafterward.”
“Yes,sir.”
Nazari got to his feet and nodded a dismissal. “Find something to do thatisn’there.”
The director was the first one out of the room. Despite his exhaustion, Sean had half a mind to make his way down to his office in the intelligence division to start his after-action report. Elena could use that information to help plan their upcoming mission in LasVegas.
Alexei nudged Sean in the arm, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at the door. “We go. Doctor’sorder.”
“I have work to do,” Seanprotested.
“Don’t even think about disobeying my girl. She’ll find out and read you the riot act,” Donovan warned from the other side of thetable.
“Go home, Sean,” Jamie said without looking away from his terminal. “You took a couple of hard hits in New Miami and regen regimes are exhausting, even with Gracie to counteract the side-effects. The mission will keep untiltomorrow.”
Sean wanted to argue, because they were already on a short timetable, but he opted not to. Being under medical orders to take it easy gave him an excuse to go home and sleep the rest of the day andnightaway.
Annabelle patted him on the shoulder as she stood up, flashing him a quick smile. “Welcome totheteam.”
“Thanks,” Seanmuttered.
Alexei got to his feet, looking across the table at Kyle. “See you back atapartment?”
No one missed the way Kyle’s eyes darted briefly over to where Jamie sat, talking quietly with Katie. “Yeah,” he said, lying through histeeth.
Sean stood up, dragging the file with the mission briefing off the table’s computer and into his personal tablet Elena had delivered to him in Medical. He’d lost the tablet full of dummy data to Antonovich’s people while being held in New Miami. This particular one only ever traveled with him between headquarters andhishome.
He swiped through the options on the screen, frowning down at it when he realized he had several notifications and a missed call from his mother. The time stamp was from last night when his comms were burned out. Not that he ever answered any calls or messages from his family while in the field. Their communications were rerouted for him to deal with whenever he returned from his various missions. His lengthier absences had always been an issue with his parents and brothers, a problem that could only be explained away by a busy, mediocre job for so long before Sean earned a reputation within the family as beingunreachable.
Sean biolocked the tablet; he’d deal with his parents later. For the moment, he let Alexei hustle him out of the conference room and lead him to the subterranean garage, bypassing the intelligence division completely on the way down. Apparently, Alexei was intent on following Gracie’sorders.
The car Alexei drove was more of a sportier model than the one Sean owned and had left at his apartment the other day. He’d taken a cab to the airport on the agency’s credit. Come to think of it, he needed to send in an expense report to get reimbursed. Jamie wasn’t the only one billing the government for thesemissions.
Sean got in the front passenger seat and buckled up while Alexei started the engine. He took in the car with a few quick glances; mostly clean, with nothing of note left inside. It could’ve belonged to anyone, that’s how little personalityithad.
“Like music?” Alexei asked as he pulled out of the spot and headed fortheexit.
“You’re the driver,”Seansaid.
“Is fine. Whateveryouwant.”
Sean shrugged and tapped at the control panel embedded in the dash, choosing a stream station at random. The rock music that spilled through the speakers filled the silence as Alexei drove them off base. The music wasn’t loud enough to drown out the growling of his stomachthough.
“Not feed you in Medical?” Alexei asked with a slightfrown.
“Had an IV and anutrientbar.”
Alexei snorted. “Isnotfood.”
