CHAPTER 5
DAMIáN
Iam in the middle of a fantastic dream involving a beach in Puerto Rico and a very cold beer when an earthquake wakes me up. I expect to open my eyes to a crumbling ceiling, but instead, I see a tiny creature in Spider-Man pajamas hurtling toward me.
“Wake up, tío!”
All the air leaves my lungs in a whoosh as thirty pounds of hyperactive toddler drops directly onto my stomach.
“Oof. Dios mío, you are heavier than a tank, enano,” I groan, wrapping my arms around him and flipping us over until he’s pinned to the mattress.
Carlitos shrieks with laughter, wiggling as he tries to get away. “I give up!”
“Give up? You invade my territory, crush my lungs, and then surrender?” I laugh, tickling his sides while he giggles uncontrollably. “Spies never surrender, Carlitos.”
He moves his hands like Spider-Man, making web-shooting sounds, and I throw myself backward in the most dramatic way possible.
“Oh no!” I gasp. “Not the spiderwebs!”
Carlitos climbs up to stand beside me, pointing his hands right at my face. “Thwip! Thwip! You’re trapped, bad guy!”
“Bad guy surrenders! I swear!”
“Okay, that’s enough playing,” a woman’s voice says from the doorway.
I look up and see my sister, Fernanda, leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed. She’s still in her nursing scrubs, brown curls all over the place, looking equally exhausted and amused.
She points a finger at my nephew. “Carlitos, stop using your uncle as a trampoline. Go to the kitchen and help Abuela with breakfast.”
“But mamá…”
“Kitchen. Now.”
“Fine.” Carlitos jumps off the bed and runs directly to the kitchen.
Once the whirlwind in pajamas is gone, Fernanda walks into the room and sits on the edge of the bed. She glares at me with her dark brown eyes… the same eyes Dad used to have.
“So,” she says, looking at me as if she just read my thoughts from the last fifty-two hours… And she probably did.
She’s witchy that way.
“What happened? Why are you here at Mom’s?”
I stretch my arms over my head, faking ignorance. “What do you mean? Can’t a guy come visit his family just because?”
“You can, and you do. But whenever you sleep over, it’s because something happened… And it’s been two days since you got here, sleeping in a bed you can’t even fit in, Damián. So, what happened?”
I let out a long sigh, staring up at the glow-in-the-dark stars I stuck to the ceiling when I was ten. I can’t tell her the truth about what’s happening.
No fucking way.
To be honest, I am low-key more terrified of her reaction to finding out I am fake-dating the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen just to get close to Elijah West than I am of actually throwing myself into the world of trafficking… if that even makes sense.
“I just got a hard case,” I say, keeping the details to a minimum. “A really complicated one, Fer, and I’m just trying to figure out how to handle it.”
Fernanda reaches out and smooths my messy hair. I’m pretty sure she’s treating me like Carlitos right now, but it feels nice.
“You handle it the same way you have handled everything else in your life, Dami. By leaning on your family and the Harknetts.”
I roll my eyes, though I’m smiling, genuinely grateful for what she said. “It is very annoying when you sound so mature and smart.”
“I am the older sibling, baboso. It’s my job to be mature, especially since you refuse to be.” She smirks, patting my cheek. “Now get up and come eat. Mom made chilaquiles, and if you don’t hurry, Carlitos will one hundred percent eat your portion.”
Twenty minutes later, we’re all gathered around the breakfast table. My mom is happily forcing a second plate of chilaquiles onto me while Fernanda argues with Carlitos about finishing his eggs.
Hell, even the sun is pouring through the window and hitting my father’s suncatcher. It’s basically a perfect morning.
So I lean back in my chair and take a deep breath, soaking it in as much as I can, because after today, I won’t be able to come back here.
Not for a very long time.
— ¤ —
I park Chiquita in a reserved spot in front of a multi-story tower of interlocking glass and dark metal that stands over the edge of the Hudson River.
Above the entrance, molded from Damascus steel, is the agency’s name:
HARKNETT 8
Elite Security Agency
The waving curls of the folded metal have always looked beautiful to me.
In fact, that pattern is the same design we used for the infinity symbol that all of us Harknetts have tattooed on the back of our left hands.
Although mine has been, and will be temporarily covered in makeup… at least until this assignment ends.
I pass the front garden and reach the building. The bluish, floor-to-ceiling glass walls make our HQ look incredible and so damn elegant… which our clients love.
But in reality, those walls aren’t just for aesthetics; they are capable of stopping a .308 round or a small-to-medium blast.
…At Knox’s request, of course.
I walk through the main entrance and shiver at the delicious breeze the ceiling fans make. The lobby is as minimalist as it gets; it barely has two couches, a coffee table, and our receptionist’s desk.
The outer glass walls are completely bare, while the cement walls are covered with large canvas art pieces that actually soundproof the area and create a buffer in case of an explosion.
…At Logan’s request, of course.
I swing my backpack off my shoulder, pull out a huge Tupperware container, and zip it back up.
“Morning, Mrs. Evelyn,” I say to the sweet, silver-haired receptionist sitting at the front desk.
She is the only other person working with the eight of us. She was retired, lost her pension, and needed help, so we hired her.
…At my request, of course.
And now she takes care of all of us.
“Good morning, Damián.” She smiles, and her eyes immediately spot the huge Tupperware I’m carrying. Her smile widens. “Is that what I think it is?”
“If you’re thinking of my mom’s pie, you would be right.”
She stretches her arms out excitedly, and I hand over the delivery. She opens the lid and takes a deep breath. “Your mom is the best.”
“She really is.”
“Tell her thanks, and that I have the book she needs. I’ll bring both the book and the Tupperware by later tonight.”
“I’m sure she’ll love to see you.”
“Boss told me to give you a temporary card.” She leans down to a security box Knox installed to keep important deliveries safe. “He told me your clearance and biometrics were erased from the company network for your new mission. That you’ll be needing the card for now.”
“Oh, right…”
She takes out a blank white plastic card from the security box and passes it to me. “And Dami, there is a lost puppy inside, probably very scared by now. Can you send him back to the lobby, please?”
“Will do.” I take the card and flip it between my fingers.
“How long until I see you again this time?”
“A couple of months? Maybe more.” I pause. “…Keep an eye on my mom?”
“Always.”
I place my hands over the reception desk and lunge forward far enough to kiss her on the cheek. “Thank you, Mrs. Evelyn.”
Evelyn gushes her thanks as I tap my boring new civilian card against the scanner. The security doors slide open, I hit the call button, and step into the first elevator that arrives.
I’m scrolling through my texts when the doors part on the third floor.
I expect to see one of my brothers stepping in, but instead, there’s a food delivery guy with a “visitor” card hanging from his neck. The poor kid looks to be in his mid-twenties and is as lost as a tourist on the metro.
“Sir…” he whispers, his eyes tired and red. “Do you know where I am?”
Looks like I’ve found the lost puppy…
“Is that delivery for the top floor?” I ask.
He nods and looks completely defeated as he stares at the elevator command panel… and to be fair, it is a nightmare.
The building only has eight floors, but there are twenty-eight buttons…not counting the runes.
They have no numbers, no names, and they don’t go in order. Sometimes you need to press four different buttons just to reach a floor; sometimes you need to switch elevators halfway up, and other times you need a biometric key and to flip an invisible switch.
The entire place is an absolute labyrinth.
…At Alexios’s request, of course.
“How long have you been in here?”
He looks at his watch and groans. “Forty-three minutes…”
I want to laugh, but that would be way too mean. Instead, I pull out the money for the food, plus a hundred-dollar bill, and hand it to him.
“Here, take this and give me the food.”
“Thank you, sir,” he whispers with happy tears filling his eyes.
As soon as we reach the top floor, I press a silver button right in the middle of the panel and smile at the guy. “Stay right there. The elevator will take you straight back to the lobby.”
The guy smiles, relieved, as the doors close.
“Top of the morning!” says Law as he walks out of his office.
He’s wearing a dark blue, tailored three-piece suit that makes his freckles pop, and he is holding a sniper rifle like it’s an umbrella.
“Top of the morning, Mary Glockins,” I say, laughing, but Law just glares at me.
“You know… like Mary Poppins, but with a Glock?” I explain, refusing to let the joke die.
“I caught it the first time, mate. It just wasn’t half as funny as you thought it was.”
“Hahahahahaha!” Knox comes out of the conference room, laughing to the point of choking. “It was fucking hilarious, Law. Mary Glockins!”
Law’s blue eyes narrow as he shoots me a menacing look.“Look what you’ve done.”
“Ask me… calmly, if I put my name in the Goblet of Fire, and I promise I will fix this.” I try to bargain with him, but as always, he doesn’t take the bait.
He just shakes his head, smirks, and heads into the conference room.
One day, Law…
One day.
I follow him into the room and see that the rest of the team is already gathered. At the far end of the long Damascus table, Alexios is typing on three different keyboards.
How, and why? Only he knows.
Logan is at the head, reading a bunch of papers and memos.