Wolfe looked up from his seat, three extra-large pizzas spread over the desks that formed a hub in the middle of the room. “Yeah.”
Angus Force munched on a piece of pepperoni at the adjacent desk, his boots up on the side. While Wolfe could be considered the muscle of the group, Angus was a strategic genius and the leader. His hair was black, his eyes green, and his jaw unshaven. “Just got home and it sounds like we have a case concerning one of us.”
“I’m not one of you.” Nonetheless, Jethro strode out of the vestibule into the depressing space and reached for a piece of plain cheese. The last thing he wanted to do was get the team into a fight with his brother. Lifewas too short.
“Humph,” Wolfe said, scratchingRoscoe’s ears.
Jethro drew out an empty chair and sat. “Listen. I appreciate your interest, but half the team is out of town.” While Mal and Pippa were relaxing in a cabin somewhere on a mountain, Raider and Brigid, their most buttoned-down agent and their computer expert, were up north visiting her father. The group had worked through the holidays on a case, and once the office had closed, they’d taken off for some late vacation time. “I can handle this.”
Wolfeshrugged. “No.”
There wasn’t time or energy to deal with the stubborn ass. Jethro kept his stoic expression in place. The cheap, seventies-style overhead lights buzzed loudly, crackling through the air. He looked at the peeling walls beneath wildlife photographs before glancing at the concrete floor. “I thought you all were moving to a better building within HDD.”
“Haven’t had time,” Wolfe said.
Angus snorted. “I like the autonomy we have in this place, you know?”
Jethro could understand that. Angus Force operated under his own rules, and that’d be tough at one of the main HDD centers. Even so, a body had once been found in the office, so Jethro had thought Force would move everyone. Guess not. “Where are your women?” It was rare to see the two men after hours without the women they loved.
“At my place,” Angus said. “It’s poker night, and while Millie is back in town, they’re still missing a few of their friends. Have you heard from Serena?”
“No,” Jethro said. “I’ve only received one email, but I am going to track her down. I don’t like how abruptly she left.” Plus, he wanted more information on her intriguing replacement. “Where has Millie been?”
Millicent was their Q in a world of intrigue. She could make a battery out of anything, but the woman had more secrets in her eyes than Jethro did.
“On walkabout was all she’d say,” Wolfe supplied, his tone casual but his eyes sharp. “Right now, we’re not pushing her.”
That was certainly not Wolfe’s style, so Millie must not have given him a choice. Jethro absently rubbed the healed bullet wounds in his thigh. Wounds he wouldn’t have survived if Wolfe hadn’t carried him over his shoulder across a mountain while being fired upon. That was enough saving for one lifetime, and Jethro wouldn’t put his friend in more danger. Especially when he was soon to be a father. “How isDana feeling?”
“She finally stopped puking and is happier now that she’s twenty weeks along,” Wolfe said, snatching another piece of pizza. “Although she got bored working for Deep Ops and started taking on freelance assignments again.” His brows drew down. “She was safer here than she is as an investigative journalist.”
Jethro finished his pizza. “Writers write, chap. Like it or not.” He’d never thought Dana would want to change careers, but it had been nice for Wolfe to dream fora month or so.
“I’d ask about your girlfriends, but we’d have to go alphabetically, and we don’t have that much time,”Wolfe drawled.
Jethro rolled his eyes. “I do not have alove interest.”
“You should get one and stop tomcatting around,” Wolfe advised wisely. “It’s a lot more fun. Love’s cool, man.”
Jethro couldn’t help but grin. Wolfe did have a way of putting things. “I’m not a long-term type of guy, but it’s nice you two are, and I’m happy for you.” No woman deserved to be stuck with his screwed-up head. Plus, his gene pool resulted in more sociopaths than good people, so there was that to consider.
“Tell us about your brother,” Angus said, tipping back his beer bottle.
Roscoe whined.
“No,” Angus said mildly, keeping the bottle out of the dog’s reach. “Your drinking career is over.”
Jethro shook his head. “No. The matter is personal, and I don’t require your assistance.”
Wolfe reached for his beer. “A dead body turned up in DC, which makes this matternotpersonal.”
“True,” Jethro acknowledged, reminding himself that Wolfe was about to be a father and Angus would probably soon be planning his own wedding. He couldn’t put them in his brother’s crosshairs. “Yet, as you pointed out, the body showed up inDC, and that’s the locals’ jurisdiction, not the feds’. In other words, you all don’t have any involvement in investigating this murder.” It was fairly clean-cut really.
“The locals have called me for a consult, thinking this killing might turn serial,” Angus said reasonably. “You’re a part of this team, and thus weare involved.”
Jethro exhaled slowly, tamping down any twinge of anger. He didn’t have a temper, so it should’ve been easier than it felt. “I appreciate your application of the transitive property there, but no jurisdiction means no jurisdiction, regardless of an attempt to pick your impressive brain.”
Irritation crossed Wolfe’s face, which was a clear indication that he might punch next.
