“Maybe.” Jax turned toward Tace. “Are you focused enough for this?”
“Yep.” Tace grabbed a black cowboy hat off a rack near the door.
Sami shook her head. “Do not let him wear the hat. We’ll look like idiots.”
Tace ran his finger along the brim of the hat. “This is my natural look.”
It might have been at one time, but the new Tace Justice? She took a good look at him. The brim hung low over his blue eyes and cast part of his face in shadow. Fine lines and rugged features were visible and yet his expression remained veiled. Tingles exploded in her abdomen. He did look good in the hat. “Maybe it will fit our purposes for them to think you’re a moron.” She pivoted on her heel and headed for the vestibule, using every ounce of her strength to sound normal.
He chuckled low behind her, and the sound shivered down her spine. Her temper stirred, and she wanted nothing more than to get in his face and tell him to knock it off. But Jax was already frowning, and the last thing she needed was to be treated like somebody’s woman instead of a fellow soldier. Both Jax and Raze were committed to women, and they had turned all alpha protective over them.
Sami refused to be hidden safely behind Vanguard walls. She had a job to do, and she was damn good at it. Finally, she kind of belonged, even though she’d never use her true skills again.
Damon waited by the door, his gaze curious.
Shit. She’d almost forgotten about the whole LAPD issue. She should’ve figured she’d one day meet up with a real former LAPD member. “Damon,” she said.
He nodded. “You didn’t tell me your name last time I was here.”
When they’d tied him to a chair and threatened to torture him. She smiled. “Sami.”
“Nice to meet you.” He cocked his head to the side as if trying to force himself to remember her. “LAPD, right?”
“I was.” She kept her voice pleasant, her mind scrambling. What if he asked her a specific question?
A little blond girl ran in from the soup kitchen.
“Lena,” Sami said, crouching so they were eye to eye, relief filling her at the interruption. “How are you?”
The girl smiled, and her pretty black eyes sparkled. Yet once again, she didn’t talk. Instead, she reached into her pocket and drew out a crackedSkey from a keyboard to drop into Sami’s palm.
Sami smiled. “Sfor Sami.”
Lena grabbed three more letters,X,U, andG, to hand over. Sami’s lips trembled, and she formed them into a line.
“What do theX,U, andGstand for?” Damon asked, craning his neck.
“Dunno.” Sami forced a smile for the girl, who had been giving gifts with odd meanings to Vanguard members for months. The computer keys were a clue Sami couldn’t let anybody in on.
Lena nodded and moved toward Damon.
He smiled. “Do you have a letter for me?”
The girl shook her head and reached in her jumper pocket to hand over half of a shiny toy sheriff’s star.
Damon paused and took the gift. “How did you know I was a cop?”
“Lena, there you are.” April Snyder, the girl’s pseudo-guardian, rushed to the doorway. “You have to stop taking off like that.” She pushed curly brown hair away from her classically lovely face.
“Well, hello,” Damon said, straightening, his gaze sharpening.
“Um, hi.” April reached to tuck Lena against her, her eyes wide on Damon. “Jax? We need to talk about, ah, my mission.”
Damon’s head jerked back. “You have a mission, pretty thing?”
April’s mouth gaped, and then her posture straightened. She met his gaze directly. “I surely do.”
Damon’s grin was slow and somehow nearly sweet.
