“It was FUBAR from the beginning. I can’t even imagine having your mother sell you out,” Eden said with a shake of her head. The former CIA officer was his partner most of the time, and they worked well together. They came from similar backgrounds and understood each other. She also didn’t take crap off anyone, including him.
“The question is how long has this been going on?” Luc shook head. “The label told me that there had been problems for months. Press kept finding out where she was, things like that. Seems that her mother wanted more money for Raquel’s next album.”
“I take back everything I thought about Rachel/Raquel. Well, most of it,” Eden said with a smile.
“You two definitely earned your time off this coming week. Just make sure to file your reports by Friday.”
“Gotcha,” Eden said as they walked out. He held the door open for her, and they stepped into the outer office.
“That was fast,” Junie said, smiling at them. The petite woman was the executive assistant to Luc, and she ran the office. Well, she ran all of the Pacific offices. Dillon was actually a massive company, with the primary offices in Miami. When their boss, Conner Dillon, had fallen for a woman who lived on Oahu, he had decided to open an office on the island. It made sense since it was a good staging ground for any jobs they had in the Asian theater.
Junie had been a fixture since Ian was hired. Ian knew she had a connection to Conner from his time at the FBI and that she was an only child with both of her parents gone. Luc followed them out.
“Junie, I told you to go home,” Luc said. He must have heard her voice.
“Meow.”
Ian looked down. Junie also brought her cats Harold and Maude in to work a lot, and for some reason Maude always had to sit in front of Luc and meow.
“She has a crush on you,” Junie said with a laugh.
It wasn’t the first time she’d remarked on Maude’s weird fascination with Luc. Harold hissed at Luc.
“All of you, go home. Remember to write up your reports by Friday. Otherwise, I don’t want to see or hear from you.”
“You heard the dictator. Get out of here,” she said. “After the week you two had, you definitely deserve your time off.”
“Junie, it’s after nine. Go home,” Luc said, then turned and went into his office, shutting the door quietly behind him.
She rolled her eyes. “He’s annoying.”
“Have a good weekend, Junie,” Eden said.
“You two have a great week. Make sure you take the week to rest. We only have two weeks until the Pan-Pacific Business Council and we will be busy.”
He nodded to Junie, then followed Eden out of the office. As they were walking down the hallway, Eden of course had to bring up Sam.
“She’s saved you tons of times in the last few months. Seems like she contacts you more than she contacts me. Or anyone else for that matter.”
“Jealous?”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re still mad I won’t give you her real name.”
Not mad but irritated. Sam and Eden had both worked at the CIA together. Both Eden and her twin El refused to tell Ian Sam’s real name. She’s the one who gave herself the Sam nickname. For years, they had sparred online. There was a lot of rivalry between MI-6 and the CIA—spy shit. She also had another nickname—The Barracuda. And yes, he was the one who gave her the name. Unfortunately, that hadn’t irritated her. In fact, she had mentioned that the name delighted her.
“No, I’m not.”
The smirk she sent his way told Ian she didn’t believe him.
“Do we have anything we need to go over?”
“Got a hot date?”
She gave him a wide smile. “Just a night in with Kap. You can come over if you want.”
Kaplan Hanson was Eden’s partner and a member of TFH Team Bravo, their search and rescue team.
“No, thanks for inviting the third wheel over, but I have plans.”
