Chapter 19

Chapter

Nineteen

PATCH

T racking MadOg took us from the desert of Nevada towards Texas. A small town settled somewhere between Hill Country and the Gulf of Mexico. Hours of research and two satellite hacks later, I knew not a hell of a lot about Juniper, Texas.

The town had a population of 2,145 people as of the last census. Over the course of five years, three Silicon Valley companies relocated to Juniper, bringing with them a huge infusion of cash to promote the population boom.

Combined investments added three new subdivisions to a town that had all of one main road—Main Street—with a barber, a grocer, a beauty salon, a veterinarian and the town doctor, who worked out of the same building as the mayor. The doctor and the vet took turns serving as the medical examiner.

It was like something straight out of a movie, or maybe a CW teen romance show. Even as I dunked on the idea mentally, I knew damn well I'd absolutely watch it. The town only had one school, and most of the high school age kids took a bus to a town forty minutes away for classes.

If the middle of nowhere had a name, Juniper would be it. The place made me itch. I didn't sleep that much even when the guys got cranky about it. Real rest proved elusive, not with the dark dreams that kept haunting me.

When it wasn't shadows grabbing for me to drag me under it was attacks from actual monsters, like a giant alligator crushing the engine and beginning to tear into the vehicle I was in.

McQuade helped, but even his presence couldn't drive them away. We had too much to do and I needed to know more about Juniper, the MadOg operations there. While I'd only linked one of the companies to MadOg, I suspected all of them were but I couldn't find the link to prove it.

All I had was my gut instinct. It was that gut that tied itself up into knots as McQuade, Locke, and Remington worked out their plan to surveil the town and its inhabitants. We'd save the new company campuses for after they got a look at the town.

With only one car, they couldn't arrive in town separately. They'd debated it, the pros and the cons. Pros, they could gather different information with different approaches.

Cons? They would be separated and it would be harder for all three to return here in case of an emergency. That led to another debate, did all three go or did one of them stay here?

Eventually, the argument circled back to the beginning. They all noticed different things and had different specialties. That meant for the most efficient manner of information gathering, all of them would go.

It was early afternoon when they left. The truck was parked at a rest stop about ten miles out of the town. The new subdivisions were another five miles south and two miles east. The company campuses were solidly on the other side of town.

I double-checked their comm connections and nodded at the weapons the guys had left me secured within easy reach.

"Be safe," Remington ordered before he gripped my chin, tilted my head back and kissed me solidly. It robbed me of all breath. His flirty wink made me happy that I was seated.

No sooner did he back away than Locke took his place. He gripped the arms of my office chair and swooped in for a kiss that was all teeth and tongue. My hammering heart seemed to triple its pace.

Where Remy's kiss had been as sweet as the tea he drank, there was the solid bitterness of coffee and the hazelnut creamer that Locke preferred to flavor his kiss.

Heat flushed through me and scorched my face. I probably looked like a boiled lobster as I turned my attention to McQuade who'd watched as both men kissed me.

"I'll be with you boys in a minute," he said as Remy and Locke seemed ready to wait. They eyed each other, then him before Locke focused on me. I waved them off. McQuade wanting a moment of privacy was fine with me.

Frankly, I craved it myself. Having all of them watching me as they each delivered their kisses unlocked a whole new kink. Now was definitely not the time to give into that particular desire. It definitely wasn't the place.

McQuade didn't move until Locke and Remy vanished around the divider that separated my office from the other living spaces. Once they were gone, he closed the distance between us and reached for my hand.

With one light tug, he pulled me up and plucked the headset off me with his free hand. The wild heat from earlier still scorched my face. When I stumbled a half-step, McQuade steadied me even as I caught myself with a hand pressed to his chest.

"Sugar Bear," he said, his voice dipping into that low growl that made me shiver. I couldn't look anywhere else but him. The magnetism in his gaze kept me in place even more firmly than his hands.

My throat went dry and the slam of my heart grew even louder in my ears. "John?"

Where his voice held command, mine was far less certain. I'd grown so used to their presence even as it baffled me to lean into trusting others. But I'd meant it when I told Locke that I trusted him.

Somewhere along the way, I'd discovered a real trust for them and their motives. They asked me for nothing, other than a list of targets. They never had to come and look for me, yet they had. The guys had other work, jobs they did and rather than hurry this along, they'd put the rest of their lives on hold for me.

Digging my fingers into McQuade's chest, I used the steady thump of his heart to slow my own. He said nothing, his gaze riveted on mine. It was like we were falling into each other, this slowly decaying orbit with one or both of us at the center.

Collision was imminent. I could feel the stroke of his gaze over me when he glanced at my lips. Despite the lingering caress of his attention, he still didn't move. Need splintered inside of me. I fisted both hands into his shirt. I wasn't sure whether I dragged him down to me or pushed up to meet him. Maybe I did both. His mouth crashed into mine.

The ferocity in his kiss left me dazed. He slid an arm around my waist and lifted me. No more stress on my neck tilting it back to gaze up at him. The softness of his beard alternately teased my skin and rasped against it too.

Thrusting my tongue against his, I savored the delightful tease of dueling with him. Every move I made, McQuade mirrored. If I bit at his lip, he nibbled mine. If I swept my tongue in to taste him, he devoured me. I wanted to pull the tie from his hair, so I could sink my hands into the thickness of it.

"Sugar Bear," he growled against my mouth. Desire pulled taut in my belly even as shivers cascaded over my skin.

"That name is growing on me," I whispered in response. I felt more than saw his smile.

"Is that so?"

"Hmm-hmm." Another kiss. "You need to go."

"Yes," he agreed, kissing me again. "I do."

"Be safe?" It was as much a request as an order.

"You too," he retorted. Another biting kiss and then he put me on my feet. Thankfully, I didn't embarrass myself by stumbling on weak legs or falling on my ass. "Sugar Bear." He winked.

I ran a finger against my mouth, still tasting him, as he went to follow the guys. Still trembling, I dropped back into my chair and retrieved the headset he'd plucked off. The sound of the car starting filled the interior, then they dropped the ramp and drove out.

The external doors were already closing, sealing with a hiss. One finger stroke brought up all exterior cameras. We were still in the clear. The SUV appeared briefly as it drove away.

Blowing out a breath, I concentrated on getting my pulse under control. No more distractions. I needed to get ahead of them. Small town or not, it had some cameras. Not everything was wired—rude on their part. The guys had some equipment to drop for me depending on the availability.

Headset on, I took a sip of coffee before punching in the code to connect to their comms.

"Patch online."

"We're receiving you clearly, luv," Remy said, a smile in his voice. It was odd how comforting I found the sound. The familiarity of it settled in my bones.

"Want us to pick you up some souvenirs while we're in town?" Locke asked.

"Hmm, not sure this place even has a gift shop."

"Just means we need to be creative," Locke said, there was no mistaking the suggestiveness in his voice. "I can be quite creative when required."

I snorted.

"Focus," McQuade said with a rumble. "Let Sugar Bear work."

"You tell him, Sugar Lips," I retaliated. "Though, we can multi-task, you know."

Silence greeted my statement and I had to suppress another smile. Having all three of them on line might be normal, but having them on the same line was definitely new.

A snort of laughter finally echoed down the line as McQuade said, "So that's how it is?"

I grinned. "Yes, that's exactly how it is."

"We'll check in with you once we get to town," Remy said, amusement salting each word.

"Understood, Patch out." I cut the line. They could initiate the next contact. For now, I worked on getting into whatever systems Juniper had that were connected to the net.

Funnily enough, the cafe and the grocery store had the easiest to access systems. What security they had in place was utterly pitiful. Then again, their information wasn't precisely top secret either.

The grocery store had three cameras. Unsurprisingly, two focused on the entrances located in front and back. The third on the grocery till itself. Not much appeared to be going on in the building. So I set that to one side, then brought up the cafe.

Interesting… the cafe had six cameras, including one pointed at their oversized walk in cold pantry and the freezers.

Had problems with employees taking food? Maybe the boss was just big on the overkill. I could appreciate it. Even better, one of their cameras pointed out onto Main Street. It gave me a better view of the sleepy little town.

Foot traffic appeared heavy, and there were four men meeting just outside what was the mayor's office. What I wouldn't give for some zoom and enhance. The fact they had cameras at all was amazing.

Beggars could not be choosers. The pixelization made identifying the men tricky, but I screen captured as much of them as I could, then brought up a program to try and clean it up. It could extrapolate data based on what features were clear.

Not perfect, but I had a photo of the mayor online as well as the other town personnel. It would take some time to see if any of these guys were him. The more information I could gather before the guys got there, the better.

Once I had the cafe camera feeds locked down, I took a good look at their town hall building. It seemed distinctly odd that they didn't have any cameras for me to hijack. Stranger still that there was better security and overwatch on the cafe than the mayor or sheriff's office.

What about their local jail? Wouldn't they need something there? I was still puzzling over that when my comm beeped and I clicked in to connect with the guys.

"Talk to me…"