CHAPTER TWELVE

D uck.

Boof.

Oomph.

“Dude, you’re getting soft.” Ben laughed as he pitched another gloved punch into Oliver’s gut. Oli threw a counterpunch, which was a total decoy as his leg kicked out, and Ben went down.

He dropped on top of Ben.

“What was that?” Oli grinned.

As Ben thrust his body around, he knew he had about zero-point-three seconds before the powerful vampire was up again, so he launched to his feet first. They were far too well-matched to ever beat each other.

Frustrating as hell, but a lot of fun.

He needed the physical challenge right now to take the edge off his constant need to fuck Piper.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Ari walking toward them with purpose. The vampire stopped at the edge of the ring. Without a word, both Ben and Oliver walked to meet him, their bodies alert.

“We have a location,” the ancient vampire said. “Prep for a flight to California in an hour.”

Oliver nodded.

“Briefing in twenty,” Ari added, and as he walked away, they undid their gloves and climbed under the ropes.

“Feels like the good old days.” Ben grinned as they made their way to the showers.

Oliver grinned back, then cast his friend a look. “Wish we had more of the senior crew here. Not that you’re not strong and stuff, but I feel like we may be walking into a shit storm after Italy.”

Ben nodded, ignoring the jibe. “I agree. Let me speak to Craig.”

After their showers and a quick pack of the bags, they all met back in the Operations Room.

Craig, Ari, Travis, and Darren were seated around the table.

Ari looked up as he and Ben joined them.

“Okay, so we have two possible options. Either Dr. Evil flew into a private airfield in Los Angeles or Pennsylvania,” Darren said.

Oliver noticed the prince was missing and Craig must have noticed him looking around.

“Brayden is heading back to Maine, so I’m meeting Lance in Pennsylvania to have a sniff around. Alex is going to meet us there as he’s close by. Travis tells us he’ll be finished his job by the time we fly in,” Craig said.

“Makes sense.” Oliver nodded, glancing at the data on the screen.

“We need more muscle. After what we saw in Italy, if we come up against that again, we could lose time.” Ben glanced at the commander.

Ari shook his head. “Shouldn’t have taken those fucking jobs. I wasn’t expecting any leads. Not like this.”

“Shit happens,” Craig said. “I can send Kurt your way. We have enough SLC’s back home now Brayden is on his way.”

Ben glanced at Oliver, who nodded.

“Get him to meet us in LA.” He turned to Travis. “You booking accommodation?”

“Adding another room,” Travis said, tapping away.

All eyes turned to Ari.

“Let us know what you need, Commander. The rest of you, BAU check-ins.” He referred to their Business-as-Usual protocol. “Wheel’s up in twenty.”

Craig stood and pulled on his Moretti black jacket; the same one Ben was wearing. There was a lot of pride in that uniform for all vampires, whether they donned one or not.

Oliver had always been happy in his unmarked black gear while working for Ari. No assassin put a logo on their clothing.

“If you can send the data to my team so they have all the latest intel, that would be great,” Craig said, shaking Ari’s hand. “And thanks for having us all recently. It’s great combining our knowledge and collaborating.”

“Ditto. I’m looking forward to seeing the Maine castle when we visit soon.”

Oliver shot a glance at Ben who was watching his old boss. He knew the two were incredibly close and wondered what his friend thought of Ari visiting the royal family once again.

“Yeah, it’s a little fancier than Italy so I think you’ll be impressed.” Craig grinned. “Brianna will be pleased to hear Sage is visiting.”

“In the meantime, let’s see if we can catch these evil fuckers.” Ari glanced around the room.

“I’ll call Kurt on the way to the plane,” Craig said to Ben as he began walking out the door. “Stay the fuck out of trouble.”

Ben grinned.

“Jesus,” Craig muttered, and disappeared around the corner.

“He secretly loves me.”

Ari and Oliver shared a knowing smile and shook their heads.

“Let’s go, lover boy.” Oliver laughed and the two of them grabbed their bags and began to walk out.

“Oli,” Ari called.

He turned.

“Sage has chosen to remain in her family’s life for now. Remind me how you left things with Piper?”

Oliver froze.

“Left things?” he asked, his voice a little too high.

Ari’s eyes narrowed.

Fuck.

“When you wiped her memory,” Ari clarified.

Shit, shit, shit.

“Yeah, just dropped her home and removed what I could while leaving some of you in there, so she didn’t question too much. You know, while Sage was transitioning.”

Ari nodded. “She hasn’t come snooping again?” Ari asked.

“No.”

The ancient vampire nodded again while continuing to hold Oli’s stare. “Check in once you arrive.”

“Yup.”

Oliver turned and followed Ben out the door and down the hall. When they were near the front door at the other end of the mansion, Ben finally turned to him.

“What the hell was that about?”

“Nothing.”

Oliver ran his hand over his hair. Ben opened the door, and they stepped out into the cool night air.

“Seriously, man. Ari knew you were lying through your teeth. You need to start talking.”

Fuck.