Chapter 3
Chapter
Three
ALPHABET
Leaning back in the seat with my head resting against my interlocked fingers as I stared at the data scrolling over the screen.
I’d released a few different search bots to collect data on Mark Sinclair, the head of Amorette Black’s law firm along with, Bradley Sharpe, the sleazy uncle of Doc’s girl, as well as her adoptive father—I’d already located the last.
Hunting this way was absolutely tedious, but ultimately satisfying.
Once lined up, we could knock them all down.
In addition to Sinclair, I’d gone ahead and added every other lawyer at the firm from the partners to the associates to the legal assistants.
Couldn’t hurt to turn over every single rock to see what slithered out.
The roll of the information was almost hypnotic. A soft snore from Goblin burst the meditative silence just in time for the front door to open and let Bones and Voodoo in. After cutting a glance at my watch, I scrubbed a hand over my face. The night had flown by. Fuck.
Pushing back from the desk, I unfolded myself and stretched. I could practically hear the creak in my joints like they’d gotten stiff from how long I’d been in the same position. Rolling my head from side to side, I appreciated the crack and the release.
Goblin sat up, one ear up and the other down. It was like having doggy bedhead. He blinked at me, then at the other two then yawned before he turned in a circle and collapsed back to sleep.
God, I felt that.
“You guys are back early,” I said, barely suppressing my own half-yawn—thank you Goblin—as I picked up my coffee mug. One swallow and I grimaced, it was cold.
“Any updates?” Bones asked as he diverted into the kitchen with Voodoo and I followed them.
“Some,” I admitted, smothering another yawn as Voodoo eyed the prepared breakfast plates that Lunchbox had made before he left to relieve them.
“I have a lot of data coming in. Still sorting it. I’ve tracked Reginald Sharpe down to Vegas.
He’s rotating between three different casinos, playing his role as a whale and dropping a small fucking fortune. ”
“Losing more than he’s winning?” Voodoo popped one of the thermal lids off and grunted at the waffles and bacon that were waiting. They were still hot. Lunchbox had left less than an hour ago.
“Pretty much. He’s got steady funding paying off his debts.
Doesn’t seem to have noticed anything about his daughter or his wife from what I can see.
” I waited for Bones to get his own plate before I headed to the coffeemaker.
“Frankly, he’s a piece of shit. Drinking and gambling his way into oblivion. ”
“Not the first guy to bury his trauma in vice.” Nothing in Bones’ tone conveyed sympathy. The apartment wasn’t huge, so both men stayed in the kitchen to eat while I made coffee.
“Not the first to piss away the lives of the people around him in pursuit of his addictions either.” Voodoo’s candor held a hell of a lot more anger. “How long has he been there?”
“Three days,” I said, waiting a beat while I ground coffee to fill the portafilter. My blood would probably register more coffee beans than white blood cells at this point. “From researching previous binges. He’s going to be there a while unless his brother cuts him off.”
Which didn’t seem likely. Bradley Sharpe might hold control of all the finances, but he paid a hefty sum to keep his brother out of the way. The pathetic coward let his piece of shit sibling pay him off, selling out his wife and child.
Disgust was far too mild a word for what I felt. There were assholes in every walk of life. But this guy was a special kind of shithead.
“Tag him and keep him under surveillance. I’ll update Doc.” Bones dug into his food, eating through it steadily like a man on a mission. Probably a good thing that Lunchbox wasn’t here for that, though to be fair, he was never that fussy about whether we paid culinary homage to him.
A faint snort escaped me as I got the milk steaming. “What’s the plan for today?”
“Sleep,” Bones said, checking his watch. “We’ll spell Lunchbox out later. I want you to stay on the searches.”
“Limiting to just three of us is going to cut into your rack time,” I reminded him.
Normally, I wouldn’t argue, but we’d been burning the candle at both ends since arriving.
They hadn’t even had time to do more than a casual debrief about the target elimination they’d been on before we got Doc’s call.
“A few nights won’t kill us. We might need some down days before we return to the mission at hand.” A shrug. “We’ll make it work.”
Voodoo had finished his plate, rinsed it off, then grabbed a glass of water to down before he leaned back against the counter. “You have anything new on Sinclair?”
“I’ve begun a comprehensive dossier. I’ll know what kind of porn he downloads at home and when he’s away by the time I’m done.
I’m also pulling everything on everyone else in the firm.
Where there’s one dirty bird, there’s probably more.
” I wanted to know everything before Grace went in.
If we could find out what we needed to know without ever exposing her, I’d take it.
“One more thing—” Voodoo cut himself off as a door opened deeper in the apartment. It had the faintest of squeaks. We’d made sure the hinge did squeak whenever she opened it so we’d know she was on the move.
“Good morning, sweet boy.” Grace’s sleep-husky tones drifted toward us as I poured the steamed milk into the cup.
I’d just made a flat white. When she appeared in the doorway, the imprint of her pillow against her cheek declared she’d just gotten up.
The disheveled tumble of her dark hair combined with the t-shirt hanging off one of her shoulders and those too sexy for their own good legs softened every sour note the night of research had left behind.
“Coffee?” I held out the flat white and her drowsy expression brightened.
“Oh, thank you.” She reached for it, but I pulled it back to me and tapped my lips once.
“After you pay the toll.”
Laughter dispelled her scowl, and probably saved my life, but she slid between Bones and Voodoo to rise up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to my mouth. It was more of a sweet buss than something open, tongue swapping, and hot.
“I haven’t brushed my teeth,” she warned as she dropped back down. “Raincheck if you need more than a deposit?”
Yeah, Gracie made the whole goddamn day better. “I’ll save it to collect later,” I promised and handed her the cup.
A real smile curved her lips as she wrapped her palms around the mug. She gave me a blissful look as she took her first swallow. I swore, the warmth in her eyes was a stroke right along my cock.
“Do we get a good morning kiss?” Voodoo asked in a droll tone.
Bones watched her with this cool, almost predatory stillness to him. Cap really didn’t know what to do with Grace. She threw him off his game so damn hard and it was entertaining to watch.
Most of the time.
Pivoting while she took another sip, Grace faced Voodoo and Bones. “Maybe. Have you done something to merit a kiss?”
With a snort, Bones flicked his gaze up to me. “I’m going to log some rack time. Wake me if anything breaks. I’ll be up in five hours.”
On that, he pivoted on his heel and left the kitchen.
“Ahh,” Grace said with a long sigh. “Someone sat on that stick we keep taking out of his ass, I see.”
A snort of laughter almost escaped me.
“I can still hear you, Dollface,” Bones said from the other room.
Voodoo didn’t seem to be fairing much better. If anything, his compressed lips suggested he was barely containing his own amusement.
“Good, then maybe you can dislodge it before you have to ask Doc for medical assistance.”
That did it, I laughed and Voodoo grinned. When Bones’ only response was the closing of a door—the one that squeaked so he definitely took the bedroom we slotted for Grace. Lucky bastard. I could have been cuddled up with Grace last night, but no, I’d had to work.
“Point to me,” Grace said, almost smugly as she took another sip of coffee.
“I don’t have a stick up my ass,” Voodoo said as he grinned at her. “Does that count as worthy of earning a kiss?”
“It’ll do,” she murmured, then put a hand to his chest as he dipped his head and she pushed up on her tiptoes again. Fuck, she was so damn tiny. I kept forgetting how small she was, cause her personality was just so much more.
Like me, Voodoo only got a quick kiss.
“You should get some sleep too,” she was saying as I got the coffee going to make myself another cup.
“Yeah,” Voodoo said with a sigh. “Be good today, Firecracker?”
“I’ll think about it.”
His light groan only made me smile. Grace had been enormously patient with all of us. It wasn’t like we were here to vacation and she seemed to know that.
“Wait…” At the sudden sharpening of her voice, I glanced over at her and found Voodoo in the doorway to the kitchen. “Where’s Legend?”
I did not roll my eyes. Ever since he told her his name, that was what she used. Just reinforced my determination to never admit mine. I did not need her using it. Though she didn’t call Voodoo Bryant, so maybe there was something there.
“He took over at the warehouse,” Voodoo said easily. “He’ll be back later, when we spell him.”
Her shoulders went so rigid, I had to swallow a sigh. Well, Voodoo just drove that bus right over Lunchbox. I told him cutting out before she woke up was a bad idea.
“Almost wish you were still asleep so I could go in and wake you up,” Voodoo continued, then he blew her a kiss before he strolled out.
She didn’t say anything, just stood there staring after where they went. Once I’d finished steaming more milk, I stopped avoiding the topic. “He has a job to do, Gracie.”
“He also said I could go with him today.”
“Point of order,” I said with a wince. “He said if you were up for it when he left, we could work it out for you to go for an hour or two.”