Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

Irish sat at the table, trying to keep his gaze on the screen in front of them and not the woman two seats away. He wanted to sit next to her, but the moment they’d walked in, Eveline had pulled Cass aside.

What they’d talked about, he had no idea, only that Eveline kept glancing at him as though he was their main topic of conversation.

“Any idea how many times Javier has come across the border?” Ox asked, drawing Irish’s attention back to the here and now.

Deal and Hound were watching the house, and the moment anyone had left, they’d call it in. So far everything else had been quiet .

Cass tapped away at her keyboard, her glasses perched on the end of her nose.

Fuck, she had the sexy assistant vibe going with her short-sleeved button-down blouse and slim black skirt. It’d taken everything in him not to drag her back to her bed when she’d walked out wearing those clothes.

Irish had reminded her it was a Sunday, and everyone would be dressed casually. She’d thrown him a look and had informed him it didn’t matter because she was going to the office, and this was the way she dressed.

At least when they got back to her place, he’d be able to slowly peel them off her. In the meantime, Irish would just have to keep his focus on the meeting and not what he wanted to do with Cass after it.

“From what I can see, this is his first time in California in two years,” Cass said.

“I’m calling bullshit,” Fox said. “With how much heroin and cocaine comes from the Ramirez cartel that trawls this city, this guy would’ve come in more than once. Ramirez wouldn’t trust anyone to oversee the shipments but this guy.”

Irish tended to agree with Fox. No way would Ramirez not send Javier to sort shit out, not to mention oversee things. “Any way we can find out if this guy has any aliases? He’d know he’d be on a watchlist, and every time he enters the country, it would be noted. How he’s not stopped at the border is surprising.”

“I’m checking, but so far I can’t find anything,” Cass said, the frustration evident in her voice.

“And that’s not suspicious at all,” Irish said, his mind trying to connect the dots.

She peered over her the top of her glasses at him. “I’m just getting started. I will find out how many names this fucker has. Believe me.”

He chuckled. “Never had any doubt, Alastriona .”

Cass held his stare for a moment longer before her eyes dropped back to the computer screen. “Right.”

“What we need to do is keep eyes on Javier. Follow him wherever he goes,” Ox said. “Now that he’s here, it’s imperative we know exactly where he is. We’ll need to come up with a plan to make sure Cass is nowhere near this guy’s radar.”

Irish would love if the guy came near his woman. He’d have great pleasure in putting a bullet through the middle of his forehead. One less asshole in the world.

“Cass is in the room, and she’s fine,” she said without missing a beat at the keyboard. “I’m wearing a tracker. My house has a state-of-the-art security system. And I’m pretty sure when I’m here, no one is getting through the front door to me.”

Nothing Cass said wasn’t true, but even with all the precautions and plans, shit happened. Irish had seen it enough times while on missions and in the last year with this team.

“I know all of that, Cass,” Ox said patiently. “But if you think for one second that we’re not going to take this threat seriously, then you’re much mistaken. Even with all your security, they still found out where you lived. Were able to follow you undetected to the beach. We don’t know if they deliberately let you see them on the way back. If they were able to get past Irish, then these fuckers are good.”

Every word Ox said was a punch to Irish’s gut. He still didn’t know how he’d been followed. He recalled their trip. The way he’d been super careful on the way up. They hadn’t been followed—of that he was damn sure.

Yet, they’d found them.

How had that happened?

How?

The question rolled around his brain like a marble escaping the bag.

What was he missing ?

What would he do if Irish wanted to track someone but not follow them?

Put a tracker on the car.

“Fuck, we need to check our cars.”

Why wasn’t that the first thing he’d thought of?

“Why?” Growler asked.

“Because I fucking checked my mirrors the whole way to the beach. I’m careful. I took note of everything, and I didn’t pick up on anything to indicate that anything was out of the ordinary. It took me all of ten minutes into the drive home to notice we had a tail. These guys are fucking amateurs. They didn’t do anything to hide the fact that they were following us. They’ve put a tracker on our cars.”

“There’s no way they could’ve done that. It would’ve been picked up on my home security system,” Cass said.

“But they could’ve done it here,” Fox said. “Where are your cars parked?”

“Mine’s here. We used it to get here today.” Irish dug into his pocket and pulled out his keys.

“Let me check it, then we’ll go to Cass’s place to check her car.” Fox threw a nod to Jag.

As much as Irish wanted to do it himself, he needed to be beside Cass. He tossed his keys to Fox.

Fox and Jag headed out of the conference room .

“This is so fucked up, it’s not even funny,” he muttered.

“We knew things were going to get dicey the moment we found out Cass’s family connection. It’s just happened sooner than we thought it was going to,” Angel said.

“Doesn’t make it any easier to deal with. We need to have a plan,” Irish demanded. “No, we need more than one because shit happens, and everything goes out the window.”

“And we will,” Ox said. “Deal and Hound will stay on the house. Fox and Jag will rotate out with them. That place will be covered at all times, and the second there’s movement, as you know, we’ll be informed. Everyone here will do what they have to do. Let’s take a breather and come back here in an hour to start planning.”

Irish nodded, and there was a shuffle of feet as everyone left. He’d heard Ox’s words, but having them sink in and believing them were two different things.

Now that they knew for sure that Ramirez had located Cass and his right-hand man was in town, the walls were closing in.

His head spun. This was getting out of control. He wanted to grab Cass and run as far away as possible. So far out of her uncle’s reach that he wouldn’t be able to find her.

That wasn’t possible because Cass wouldn’t like that. She wasn’t someone who ran. She’d survived fuck knew what the CIA had done to her. Irish fully believed the missing two years the CIA were doing something to her. Nothing else made sense.

Whatever they’d done, it wouldn’t have been pleasant. It didn’t matter that she’d been a child at the time. To get their end goal, they would’ve done whatever was necessary, no matter how wrong it had been.

He wanted to go to the two agents who acted as her parents and demand answers, like him with his former missions as a Delta, they wouldn’t spill the beans. Wouldn’t give their “daughter” what she needed to heal. Wouldn’t give him the information so he could help her heal.

A light brush of fingers across the top of his hand halted his thoughts. Irish lifted his gaze and locked eyes with Cass.

“Whatever you’re thinking, stop. I’m fine.” Her smile was soft and sweet, but a hint of fear and worry lurked in her deep brown gaze.

He longed to pull her into his arms and hold her. Feel the warmth of her body seep into the coldest parts of his soul .

Perhaps he could persuade her to run away with him. To leave everything behind.

He moved his chair back and tugged Cass until she sat on his lap. Irish held her close, burying his face in her neck. “We could leave. Just you and me. Go somewhere where we can’t be found. Where no one can touch you, and you’ll always be safe.”

This was as close as it got to him bearing his greatest fear out loud. His fear that Ramirez was going to get his hands on her, and he’d never see her again. When he’d given up his career, it had hurt deeply. Losing Cass… that would be a pain he would never recover from.

For so long Irish had tried to keep his distance, but it was as though his soul had known Cass was his and only his. It’d just taken him a while to catch up, and now that he had, he wasn’t taking a step back.

“Dylan.” Her hand cupped his cheek. “I want that, too, but it’s not possible, no matter how much we want it to be so.”

Cass pressed her lips to his, and he allowed himself to fall into the kiss. Into having her in his arms.

Their lips danced together, and when she opened beneath him, he invaded her mouth, taking the kiss from sweet to hard and hot. Irish poured everything he was feeling—anxiety, fear, anger and finally, love.

He could acknowledge to himself that he loved Cass.

If he was a better man, he’d walk away. With everything going on in her life, Cass didn’t need him or his baggage weighing her down.

He wasn’t a better man. He was a selfish man.

Irish wanted it all.