Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
But all that happy chatter came to a sharp halt when they reached the top floor. Alexei was nearly cackling with his amusement because he knew exactly why their voices had gone dead in their throats.
Gabriel Prescott and Justin Mallory.
His uncles.
A pair of panthers staring them down in the kitchen.
Gabriel had changed into his almost ubiquitous dark slacks and black collared shirt. It was open at the throat, showing a hint of the old tattoos that echoed from a past life. His hard face was completely expressionless and unwelcoming.
Justin was still barefoot in jeans and a T-shirt. He looked friendly and harmless except for the smirk on his lips that said he was going to play with his victims before eating them.
As a solo, each man was impressive, but together, they sort of radiated power and control. Pride swelled in Alexei’s chest. From the moment he’d met them years ago, he’d wanted to be them when he was older. No one would bully them. No one would dare question their skills.
It had taken him a few years of training to realize that he would never be them. They were Gabriel and Justin, Reaper and Chameleon. The best he could ever be was Alexei, but he was determined to be a pretty awesome version of Alexei.
“Charlie, Kairo,” Alexei started with a dramatic wave of his arm. “These are my uncles, Gabriel Prescott and Justin Mallory.”
“Charlie motherfucking Sands,” Justin greeted as he slipped from the stool at the island. “I really thought you had more sense in your head than to hook up with a man who would become a cat burglar.”
“Hey!” Soren cried. “I’m at least a world-class cat burglar.”
Alexei pressed a kiss to Soren’s chin as his lover wrapped his arms around his shoulders from behind. “I know you are, doudou,” he cooed.
“I’m sorry, you know me?” Charlie asked, sounding thoroughly stunned. “I mean, I know you. Er…I recognize your name. Your work in Moscow is the stuff of legends.”
“Moscow, huh?” Gabriel said in an ominous tone.
Justin twisted toward his husband and flashed him a wide grin. “Ah, don’t be like that, G Love. You know there had to be a good reason for me not to be allowed in Eastern Europe.” He turned his attention to Charlie. “Bert Case has talked about you. Said you ran a great team. He liked to reach out to me after I left the Company to do a job here and there off the books.”
“Whoa,” Kairo murmured. “Are you telling me this guy is Chameleon?”
Justin gave his husband a huge smug look as he rocked back and forth on his bare feet. “You hear that? Chameleon. They’ve heard of me.”
Gabriel’s lips twitched as though he were struggling not to laugh at Justin. “Yes, darling. You’re very scary.”
“Then that would make you the fucking Reaper,” Kairo continued in a soft and slightly horrified voice. Gabriel’s chin lifted a little while Justin’s shoulders slumped. He looked like a child who’d been told there was no Santa Claus.
“What the hell have you gotten yourself into, Soren?” Charlie demanded. Both newcomers looked significantly paler than when they’d first arrived. They looked from Gabriel to Justin, but their eyes finally settled on Alexei as he remained in Soren’s arms.
“Ha! This isn’t me. He got himself into this mess. He was lucky enough to get some professional help,” Alexei offered.
Soren’s arms tightened around Alexei. “It’s the truth. I fell into the middle of a real hornet’s nest. I was lucky that Alexei decided that I was too cute to kill, and then convinced his uncles to not kill me either.”
“The jury is still out on that,” Justin mumbled.
“Shall we go over the situation, or would you like to catch up on some sleep?” Gabriel inquired.
Kairo and Charlie exchanged a look before Charlie turned his attention to Gabriel. “I don’t think sleep is going to be coming anytime soon. Might as well get some work done. Coffee fresh?”
Gabriel nodded and turned to pull down more mugs. They settled around the kitchen table with the coffee in hand. He and Soren went over everything they’d seen and experienced from the moment they’d crossed paths at Gabor Kalman’s house. Kairo quickly pulled out a tablet and started typing away.
“He was a nasty piece of work. Arms dealer with ties largely in the Eastern bloc and Middle East. Though it’s rumored he did work with North Korea as well,” Kairo read off.
“Which gives us a hell of a lot of options when it comes to who wants this hard drive,” Gabriel muttered.
“And none of them good,” Charlie added. He narrowed his eyes on Soren. “You said you’ve already been approached by Sheila.”
“Yeah, and she’s still a big fan of mine,” Soren replied, his words thick with sarcasm. “She had MI6 with her, and we had a run-in with the SVR in Paris.”