“Very good,” Teddy replied. “Greystone has a saying?—”
“Fight fire with fire,” Caroline added.
“That must be combatti il fuoco con il fuoco,” Sydney said.
Teddy nodded. “Good job.”
A hint of a smile brightened her eyes.
“Tank said something about getting killed,” Sydney said.
“I said, ‘If I don’t do this, we’llallget killed,’” Teddy clarified.
“I’m going to the restaurant because Sin’s meeting some guy who sells high-powered rifles on the black market,” Teddy reminded them. “I need a break in the case. Something—anything—beyond our getting ambushed every damn time we leave here. It’s only a matter of time before they find this place and figure out a way to get in…or blow it up. Don’t forget, they’re explosives experts.”
“Ohgod,” Caroline murmured. “He’s right.”
Silence while the group digested his bitter words.
“When I get back, I’m uploading the pics of the dead terrorist,” Teddy said.
“I’m coming with you,” Sydney volunteered.
All eyes on her.
“You were told to stand down,” Greystone said. “A direct order.”
Caroline chuckled. “Yeah, so when does my sistereverdo what she’s told?”
“I hope never,” Teddy replied. “Did you see the rules and regs on Tucker’s wall? It states, ‘NO FIREARMS IN TUCKER TOWN DURING PAINTBALL DRILLS.’ If Sydney hadn’t been armed?—”
“I can’t stay here like a prisoner,” Sydney said. “I get the risks of leaving, but we don’t have confirmation that King A, or anyone else in his organization, has eyes on me. I’m never gonna stop hunting him. He’s an apex predator.”
“Sydney’s with me,” Teddy said, his mind made up.
“We’ll weapon-up and watch each other’s backs,” Sydney said.
After Teddy cleared away their dinner dishes, Sydney started washing them.
Teddy didn’t like that Sydney was disobeying a direct order and leaving the Black Site, but her reasoning made sense. She was a woman of action. Being forced to hide wasn’t Sydney.
The more he learned about her, the more he liked. His gut told him they had the beginnings of something special, something real, and something long-lasting.
Carrera entered the kitchen. “Slash is awake if anyone wants to see her.”
“You two go,” Teddy said. “Sydney and I will swing by after we’re done.”
Once Greystone and Caroline left, Teddy and Sydney cleaned up the dinner dishes. They worked in a comfortable silence, neither feeling the need to talk. But he was keenly aware she was there, and he stole several glances in her direction. While her beauty shone through, the determination in her eyes held his attention.
“Are you afraid?” he asked, breaking the silence.
Sydney added a soap pod, started up the dishwasher. Then, she leaned against her backside against the counter and studied his face.
There was something so incredibly hot about her checking him out. Only, this time, he could see her thinking. While her gaze drilled into his, he stood there, appreciating so many things about her.
She was different. She wasn’t attached to her phone. She never took any selfies—for obvious reasons—and she was the most understated badass he’d ever met. She’d saved Slash, saved them all. Even though the event had triggered her PTSD, she wasn’t backing down.
“I’ve been afraid since I was ten,” she said. “My lifechanged that day. The Sydney I used to be died when Bree did.” Then, her expression hardened, the anger taking root around her eyes. “Back then, I was just trying to get through the night without a night terror. My sleepovers were me and Car in the family room. I never stayed at anyone’s house, never had a friend stay over. For a kid, I became very situationally aware, although back then, I didn’t know that’s what I was doing. We stopped going out to dinner because I’d have a panic attack for no reason. But the single biggest event in my life was when my dad took me to the firing range and showed me how to use a gun.”
