Chapter 37

chapter

thirty-seven

Gage awoke the next morning feeling restless.

He hadn’t been able to sleep much—he’d only gotten a couple of hours of shut-eye at the most. But he was used to surviving on little to no rest. It was part of his training.

Thoughts of his conversation with Nia had kept him up for most of the night.

He tried to put himself in her shoes. To imagine what she’d gone through with Mario.

Every time he thought about it, a surge of anger rushed through him.

Guys like Mario gave men a bad name.

It wasn’t even that Gage wanted a relationship with Nia. He’d resigned himself to being single. With the job he did, it was better if he remained unattached. But every once in a while he imagined what it would be like to settle down and have a normal life.

His friend Jonah Gray had done it. He’d left the Shadow Agency, and now he worked on an idyllic island off the coast of North Carolina. And he was engaged. And he seemed happy.

Was it even possible to have that kind of life while still working for the agency?

Gage had heard rumors that Larchmont didn’t want to let people go.

But Jonah had somehow gotten out, so it must be possible.

Gage turned over again, unsure where these thoughts were even coming from.

He loved his job. Loved the adrenaline rush when he tracked down bad guys.

At least he used to.

Right now, he wasn’t sure—and being unsure bothered him.

Realizing he wasn’t going to sleep, he stood from the couch. The place had only two bedrooms, but Austin had taken one and Nia the other, which was fine.

Gage took a quick shower and threw on some fresh clothes.

By the time he got out, Nia was sitting in a chair reading from the Bible left on a table in the hotel room.

When she looked up at him and smiled, his whole world seemed to stop.

Okay, so maybe he was lying if he said there was nothing between them. That he didn’t feel anything. Because he clearly did.

But it was better if he didn’t get close to anyone. That motto had kept him alive and thriving for a long time. His life was a small sacrifice to make for the safety of his country.

That mindset had been drilled into him when he went through training for Project Elevate.

His black-ops missions had been intense. Failure would lead to the government denying his affiliation with them.

Then the program had imploded.

He and his teammates had been forced to try to blend in with society—a challenge in itself considering all they’d been through.

Then Larchmont, a former superior in the military, had formed the Shadow Agency and had given them all purpose again.

“Good morning.” Nia closed the Bible and curled her legs underneath her, turning to give her full attention to him. “I’m sorry you had to sleep on the couch. If we’re here again tonight, I can switch out with you.”

He waved her off and sat in the chair next to her. “I was fine. I’ve slept in much worse places.”

She studied his face as if she wanted to ask more questions. “I’m sure you have a lot of stories you could tell from your military days.”

“I do. But none that you’d want to hear.”

“But what if I did?”

He shrugged. “Maybe I should have said, none that I’m allowed to share.”

Her eyebrows rose, but she nodded. “I understand.” She paused before asking, “So what’s the plan for today?”

He plucked a room service menu from a nearby table. “ First, we order breakfast. I can’t start my day without it. Well, I can, but I’m a bear to live with. While we eat, we can talk about what we’ll do today. I’ll get Austin up if you want to go ahead and order something. Just put it on the tab. My boss owes me one, so I’m going to let him pay for it.”

A small smile feathered across her face. “Will do then.”

He rose and went to get Austin.

Not because he really needed to wake up his friend.

But because he needed to get away from Nia . . . especially since he realized just how attracted he was to the woman.

Nia took another spoonful of her yogurt and fruit parfait as she prepared a plan for the day.

She’d always been a planner. That quality had helped her to get to where she was. She set goals. Made practical lists on how to reach those goals.

When the original plan didn’t work, she’d learned to pivot.

That was what she needed to do now also.

She gave the men a minute to eat their bacon and eggs. When she neared the end of her parfait, she grabbed a small notepad and complimentary pen so she could write a few things down.

“Do either of you have any thoughts on how to figure all of this out?” she started.

Maybe she shouldn’t take charge of the situation. Maybe she should leave that to Gage since this seemed to be more in his wheelhouse. But she’d always been a go-getter, and this situation wasn’t going to change that.

“I think we can rule out Brittany and Darius.” Gage picked up his last piece of bacon. “I’m not sure how the shooting last night ties in with all of this. But we can rest assured that Darius isn’t going to be able to tell us anything. While I was waiting for breakfast, I called the hospital. He’s still in ICU and not allowed visitors.”

“Good to know,” Nia said. “When we spoke to Brittany last night, I didn’t get the impression she knew anything either.”

Gage shoved his plate aside before picking up his coffee. “I think we need to look for Cormac. However, that’s going to be easier said than done. I’m sure the police have tried to track his cell phone.”

“For all we know the police could have found him already,” Austin said.

“That’s true,” Gage conceded. “It hasn’t been on the news because I checked. But that doesn’t mean anything.”

“My gut tells me he hasn’t been found,” Nia said. “I’m just basing that on the way he disappeared last night. He’s a smart man. Rob wouldn’t have hired him if he wasn’t. And without the resources of the police department, I don’t know how we’ll find him.”

“I agree that it’s going to be challenging. We don’t want to run all over town without purpose, just hoping that we’ll find him.”

“Agreed,” Nia said, jotting down his name. “I also think we should talk to Hector Backus. Maybe he knows something.”

“That’s a great idea,” Gage said. “I’m going to assume his office probably opens at eight or nine. So as soon as you’re ready, I say we go and see if he’ll talk. Let’s keep the element of surprise by not calling him first.”

“That sounds good to me.” Nia rose.

Austin ate another piece of his bacon. He’d ordered double meat and was taking his time with his meal. “I’ll keep searching the security videos until I find something. But in the meantime, if you need something from me, let me know and I’ll be there.”

It seemed weird, but Nia was so thankful she was able to team up with these two guys. There was no way she’d be able to find this information by herself, nor would she want to. She might be good with computers and business deals. But guns and tracking down bad guys?

Not at all.

Maybe if they combined all their skills, they could figure out what was going on here.