12. Dax #2
“See, you guys are already well on your way to making Marco wish he’d picked anyone else but me to fuck with,” I said with a grin.
This seemed to give the confirmation they needed to feel comfortable with what I was asking of them.
Cam called Dante, Wes reached out to Magnus, and the others started to brainstorm what other connections might come in handy.
As I listened in, I couldn’t help but smile as they worked together as a unit.
Cam wasn’t the odd man out, Wes wasn’t the computer nerd, and the Phantom Saints acted as if the other two men had been part of the team forever.
Picasso got up and rummaged through the desk that was in the corner, returning with a pad of paper and pen.
When the knock at the door came, everyone froze, reminding us we were still in a room with a dead body and a bomb.
I uncurled myself and padded to the door, picking up my gun from the side table.
Popping up on my tiptoes, I saw the familiar blue jackets with FBI written on them and two men in something that looked like you should wear in outer space.
Pulling the door open, I leaned against it, smiling at the men and women standing there. “Who’s here for the bomb, and who’s here for the dead body?”
They all stared at me for a moment, probably surprised to see someone so calm after sharing space with the items I’d just listed.
“My apologies, come on in, don’t mind the mess.
Someone tried to blow us up, so I was forced to shoot him.
Headshots make an awful mess. I’m pretty sure we’ll be charged a cleaning fee unless you guys also clean up with your investigations?
” I asked as I pulled the door open wide.
“The bomb is on the food cart in a bed of lettuce, and I’m pretty sure I don’t need to point out the dead guy. ”
Finally, one of the men shook himself out of whatever shock he was in and greeted me. “I’m SSA Park. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions while my team deals with things? Might be best if we stepped outside the room while the bomb techs are securing the device.”
“If that will make you feel better, sure.” I turned to look over my shoulder at the guys who were now all standing watching the agents file into the room. “Hey, guys, he wants to talk out here.”
Cam paused to talk to one of the bomb techs, but the rest joined me in the small hallway.
Cognac came to stand behind me, letting a hand rest on my hip as if he was making sure this man knew I was off-limits.
Somehow, I didn’t think that was going to be a problem with the way he was eyeing Sprocket.
“You had questions for me and my husbands?” I asked, adding an inflection on the word ‘husbands.’
Agent Park cleared his throat and pulled out a small notepad. “Can you tell me what happened?”
Frowning, I cocked my head. “Didn’t we go over that when we called to tell you what happened?”
“Agent Black did give us some details, but we’d like to hear it from those involved,” Agent Park explained.
“Okay, now I’m confused. Agent Black, one of my other husbands, was one of the people involved.
We ordered dinner, the man brought it up, set the table, then tried to blow us the fuck up.
Did you just think we had an agent somewhere close by we called for help?
He’s a victim as much as we are,” I informed the man, my irritation at his assumptions bordering on anger.
“Agent Black,” Agent Park greeted as Cam joined us, reaching out a hand.
Cam shook it, smiled, then gave me a wink. “My wife isn’t causing too much trouble, is she?”
“No, not at all. It seems there was a misunderstanding about your involvement in this situation,” Agent Park said. “It wasn’t made clear that you were one of the targets of the attack. We’d have been here faster, but we believed you were here acting as their handler.”
“Easy mistake to be made. Our union is new, and since I’m being transferred to another organization, they didn’t have me submit any paperwork,” Cam shared, reaching out to take my hand in his. “Do you have any further questions? I’d be happy to tell you anything that might be helpful.”
“If you want to tell me why this guy was targeting you or who might be behind this, it will give us a place to start,” Agent Park said.
“Some of that information is classified, but it’s safe to say that the power shift in New York is the main catalyst. Dax is a known supporter of the change, and my bet is some disgruntled member is lashing out.
What concerns me more is that we didn’t decide to book this room until the last minute.
We’d only been here about forty-five minutes before the attack came.
Makes me think someone is tailing us or using some other means to track us.
I’d like to have you do a sweep for bugs, trackers, and listening devices in the room, hall, and elevator. ”
“I’ll have a team head right over with the equipment,” Agent Park agreed. “So it sounds like you’re going to stay here regardless of what happened?”
“Why would we leave? We paid for the room, and if they can find us that fast, what good does moving to another location do for us?” I asked.
“Seems to me like staying here is the smarter choice after you’ve checked for those items. Might also be smart to look into the hotel security since that elevator is meant to only go to the prestige suites.
If one of the security staff recognized me and called their contact, it could explain the quick discovery. ”
Agent Park paused in the notes he was making and met my gaze. “That’s incredibly astute of you to realize. Would you say that many people know you on sight?”
“Not normally, I’ve worked diligently to keep a low digital profile, but there was an event last night that might have made a bigger splash than normal,” I offered, trying to be honest without incriminating myself more than I needed to.
“I see. Something tells me if I asked you what that event was, I wouldn’t get a straight answer,” Agent Park commented as he put away his notebook and pen.
My answer was simply to shrug, the perfect non-answer for the agent to do with as he pleased.
As long as you didn’t admit one way or the other, they couldn’t use it against you later.
This was a clean kill, and I wasn’t worried in the slightest. If he discovered about the fight night, that would make for a special type of hell to survive through.
“Make way, bomb coming through,” someone yelled behind us, and we all lined up against the wall giving them more than enough room to move.