She smiled, flashing a dimple in her left cheek. “Jax put me in charge of B-squad.”
“Congrats.” Tace nodded. He’d helped to train her, and she was a good choice.
She passed him and patted his arm. “Later.”
Tace took a deep breath. “Later,” he repeated, moving into the war rooms.
Jax Mercury was waiting for him in the back room, feet up on a monstrous coffee table. “You’re late,” he said.
“Sorry.” Tace dropped into a plush leather chair they’d scavenged from a law office near Malibu. “Couldn’t sleep and then finally dropped off an hour ago.” To have a fucking wet dream about Sami Steel. Hell. He hadn’t had a wet dream since he was fourteen years old and discovered how much girls liked a Texas accent. He admired her, enjoyed working with her, and needed to stop the nonsense now. He was way too volatile to be around a woman like Sami, but he had to break things off with Barbara, too. It wasn’t fair to her. “Where is everyone?”
Jax eyed the sun streaming through the window. “I’ve changed the time for our status meeting. You and I are taking a different meeting now.”
“Copy that.” Tace leaned back in the chair and studied the man known far and wide for creating the seven full blocks of Vanguard territory. An ex-Delta Force member, Jax had returned to East Central Los Angeles where he’d grown up in a gang to create a haven for survivors after Scorpius had descended upon them all. “Am I supposed to be the good ole boy or the badass enforcer for this one?”
Jax reached for a chipped mug in front of him. “Neither. I just want you to watch and listen.”
“All right.” Tace rubbed the scruff along his jaw, not really giving a damn about a meeting. There was a time he’d been a curious person, but he couldn’t remember why. Even so, he could manage small talk and pretend to be normal. “You still mad at Raze?”
“Yep.”
Wonderful. Jax had been furious upon discovering that Raze Shadow, one of his top soldiers, had been working with the Mercenaries, a group of dangerous vigilantes in control of the Santa Barbara area. Of course, they had kidnapped Raze’s sister and were blackmailing him. Even though Jax had been angry, he’d put himself in danger to rescue the woman.
Apparently, Jax didn’t forgive quickly.
Heavy boot steps sounded outside, and Damon Winter strode into the room, a steaming mug in his hand.
Tace straightened in his chair. He hadn’t been expecting this meeting.
Damon nodded over the mug. “Thanks for directing me toward the kitchen while we waited for Tace. This is my third cup. We’re out of coffee in Merc territory.”
“Now that’s a shame,” Jax drawled, dropping his feet to the floor. His brown eyes narrowed. “Didn’t know you were roughing it.”
Damon settled into a chair. “It has been a trial.”
Tace cataloged the man. He was about thirty years old, long and lanky, with dark brown eyes and skin. He’d flashed an LAPD badge the last time they’d met, so he no doubt had some decent training. Unfortunately, he’d also aligned himself with the Mercenaries. “You’re fairly brave to just show up in our territory,” Tace observed.
Damon shrugged. “You didn’t kill me the last time I was here, and if there’s a chance for Vanguard and the Mercenaries to form an alliance, that’d be good for both groups.”
“Then the Mercs probably shouldn’t kidnap women,” Tace drawled, letting his accent free.
Damon sighed. “Maureen Shadow is currently safe at Vanguard, so let’s just let bygones be bygones. She was treated well with us. In fact—”
“No.” Jax crossed his arms.
Tace remained stoic.
“Listen. Maureen’s specialty is food development, and we control all of the research facilities and greenhouses,” Damon said. “Greyson would’ve come himself to request her being stationed in our territory, but you’ve banned our leader from Vanguard.”
“If I let Greyson Storm set one foot in Vanguard territory, Raze Shadow will rip off his head and reach down to remove his heart.” Jax spoke evenly, but his Hispanic accent slipped out at the end. “Then Raze would most likely shove it up Storm’s ass.”
Now that was quite an image. Tace bit back a snort. “Besides, we don’tstationcivilians anywhere.”
“Maureen Shadow is more than a civilian. She’s probably the best food developer in the remaining world,” Damon said. “Shouldn’t we ask her if she’d like to continue her work?”
“No,” Jax said.
Tace didn’t react. While Jax might be pissed at Raze, he was willing to protect the soldier’s sister. Jax had been shot full of vitamin B when he’d contracted the bacteria, thus retaining his humanity because the injection counteracted the effects of Scorpius somehow. They’d been out of B when Tace had gotten sick. Or maybe he’d always had sociopathic tendencies, and now they were finally free. Who knew?
