Page 71 of Harper’s Renegades

Mouse nodded. “Yeah, that about sums it up. I was in Dubai when I heard about it and started looking for you right away. Thank God I knew how to track you and your flight patterns, so I knew you’d made it out of there in time. I would have been here sooner, but my ride has stamina like you wouldn’t believe, and he wouldn’t fly until he was satisfied. Besides, I knew you were safe and out of there, so I didn’t need to intercept you when you stopped for fuel.”

“Who did he send?” Magnus demanded. “Are they still looking for us?”

“The Conductor and his crew,” Mouse answered, stopping in his pacing to look Magnus in the eye. “He’s not fucking around.”

“Fuck,” Magnus swore, shooting to his feet and walking to the window, running his hands over his head. “We can’t go to Russia with him coming after us. I’ll have to call Dax back and tell her it’s no good. It puts Harper in too much danger.”

While I loved that he was worried about me, nothing about this was going to get any better if we didn’t end this. I tapped Ghost’s arm, and he released me, allowing me to walk over to Magnus and wrap my arms around his middle.

“We have to go,” I pointed out. “This needs to end, and that can only happen if we do what we promised to do. You said this job gives Dax the supplies she needs to win this, right?”

Magnus turned to face me and raised his hands to cup my cheeks. “Doll, while we might be ahead, for now, the Conductor is incredibly skilled and will hunt us down no matter what. If we do the Russia job, we’ll be sitting in one place too long.”

“Look, we know where to look for the asset. How hard can it be to grab it and go? I know you were worried about me and having been taken that one time, but I don’t think that’s going to be an issue. You three have a normal way of doing things… how you move, how you plan, how you go to ground. What if acting completely out of character might work best in this situation? Throw them off their game,” I reasoned.

Magnus just stared at me for a few moments, then looked past me at his brothers. “What is your vote?”

I heard someone coughing as if they were gagging on something, but the way Magnus was holding my face, I couldn’t turn to look. There was the sound of a few quick thumps, followed by more hacking and then a gasp.

“Bro, you almost killed Mouse,” Ghost commented. “I think you caught him off guard when you asked for an opinion. He hasn’t seen that side of you.”

There was some wheezing then clearing of someone’s throat, presumably Mouse. “I didn’t believe the man had it in him to ask someone’s opinion on anything, let alone an issue like this. He’s mister do-what-you’re-told-or-get-shot.”

“Welcome to life with Harper in it,” Jaxson said, humor lacing his voice.

Magnus simply shook his head and herded me back to the couch, where Ghost snatched me back up. “Back off, Mag. You got your cuddles. Now it’s my turn.”

“Well?” Magnus asked, hands on his hips as he stood staring down at his brothers. “Do you think we should keep the job or say to hell with it and get moving before they find us?”

Jaxson rubbed his chin as he thought, while Ghost shoved his face in my hair, nuzzling until his lips found the back of my neck. I shivered as he nipped at the skin there, humming with delight at my reaction.

“I say we go with angel’s logic and end this,” Ghost muttered. “If we keep moving and doing nothing we normally would, it will be harder to locate us.”

Jaxson nodded in agreement. “They both make a really good point, Mag. Our job is to keep Harper safe, but, on the other hand, she’s in this life for good now. We can’t keep her hidden away or on the run our whole lives. Better to finish this war and be the ones on top of the food chain instead of running from those who are.”

“Then we leave tomorrow,” Magnus announced. “I was going to wait, but the longer we stay here, the faster they find us. If we can keep on the move, then at least we have a head start. Mouse, you coming with us?”

“Does the job need my skills?” he asked, gathering his long hair into a man bun.

The triplets seemed to think this over, but I didn’t see how we’d need a con artist to get a girl out of Russia.

“To be honest, this job is different for us,” Magnus admitted. “We are there to smuggle a person out at the request of a family member.”

“Say what now?” Mouse retorted, looking incredibly confused.

“Look, I can’t say more than that, but we really don’t know what we’re going to need to get someone out of the country and back to the States alive. We’re going to need to sneak into Russia. I can’t just fly in, not with the Conductor looking for us,” Magnus explained. “Who knows, it could be helpful to have someone who can sweet-talk just about anyone into doing anything they like.”

Mouse rolled his eyes. “That is not what I do, and you know it.”

“Perhaps, but you’re still good at it,” Jaxson reasoned. “What else do you have going on now? Didn’t you say you wanted to make it known you’re Team Dax?”

Mouse groaned and flopped on the chaise dramatically. “I never should have talked that idiot into helping us during that job in Naples. Now you think I can bat my pretty lashes and make anyone do what I want?”

“Well, can you?” I asked, curious.

Rolling his head to look at me, Mouse frowned. “Oh, you are a sneaky bitch, aren’t you?”

“Hey!” All three of my men growled.