Chapter 7
Friday afternoon, EOD headquarters
I f nothing else, the EOD was efficient. Alice Strong had her headed for the basement to start spy training less than ten minutes after Valentina suggested it. It took Gabby about a week just to turn an idea over in her head before she acted. Then she’d have to start and stop ten times.
“Valentina, take her down to meet Markus. He can take charge of her training.”
A shadow crossed Valentina’s cover girl visage. It was fleeting but noticeable. Gabby might not have martial arts training but she had EQ, and Valentina just had some sort of feeling related to Markus, and it wasn’t good. Regret, loss, unrequited love—or maybe she was just being dramatic. That’s what Gabby’s mother would say.
Somehow Valentina’s beauty was even more pronounced under the shadow of disappointment. Gabby wasn’t one of those women who looked better crying. Her chin turned into a lumpy wad, and her eyes almost disappeared. After, it took a day for the swelling to go down.
Valentina made a play to wash her hands of the whole business and make a break for it. She said, “Excellent. If Markus is in charge, can I get back to the field? I’d like to find Agent Dagger’s killer myself.”
“Stand by. Getting Agent Greene up to speed is our number one priority right now.”
Another shadow crossed Valentina’s face. Gabby was pretty sure this feeling was related to her and not Markus. There were so many dark clouds for Valentina this morning.
Turned out the man of the hour, Markus, was downstairs in the EOD gadget lab. The lab was state-of-the-art, stainless steel and sterile white. The only bold splashes of color were from the warning signs: CAUTION! STAY 10 FEET BACK! BIOHAZARD!
Gabby’s Mary Janes clicked on the concrete floor. Looking at the signs, she had a vision of that time she brought Lucas to the dentist with her. He had been three or four, and she couldn’t find a sitter. She’d been having recurring dreams about her teeth falling out that seemed about to come true, so there was no way she was skipping the appointment. He’d pushed the buttons on the hydraulic chair until the hygienist had nicked Gabby’s gums with her Captain Hook tool. While she was dribbling blood on a paper bib, the woman behind the desk put Lucas in a room with cartoons. Later she’d heard that dreams about teeth falling out represented losing control. That rang true.
“Do you have kids, Valentina?” Gabby decided to just call her by her first name. Valentina was probably twenty-five and looked good crying. It would be unfair to give her a title on top of that.
“No. Kids don’t really work with this lifestyle.”
Seemed like.
A guy at a workbench testing a motor of some type said, “I’ve got kids. Don’t know what you’re talking about, Val.”
Valentina looked flatly back at him. “Go back to your microscope, Gerry. If I had a wife, I’d think kids were no big deal too.”
Gabby gave Valentina a look of understanding. Men were idiots. Gerry’s wife was probably driving three kids through LA traffic to three different schools while getting her PhD in nuclear physics or running a day care.
When Valentina said, “Hey, Markus,” Gabby followed her eyes.
At the sight of Markus, Gabby’s ovaries overrode all of her lived experience. Markus Parks was the guy who should have been cast as James Bond—rugged good looks in a sophisticated package. More important, she knew why Regé-Jean Page had quit Bridgerton . He had taken a job at the EOD and would be training her to go on a vital mission. This was now her life.
Markus held out his hand, and Gabby nearly swooned.
Valentina said, “Gabby, this is Markus Parks. He’ll be training you.” Her loud and pointed tone said, “Get yourself together.”
In a deep, authoritative voice, he announced, “It’ll be my job to look after you during this mission. I’m not going to let one hair get out of place.”
She must have been flushed, because he held out a hand to steady her. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She waved off his concern. “This is my baseline, sort of perpetually in need of a V8.” She laughed awkwardly. Once she got used to the intense male pheromone levels in the room, she would be fine. Being around someone as attractive as Markus was like visiting Denver. It took a minute to get used to the lack of oxygen.
“Are you going to be in the office with me?” Gabby asked Markus. That would be a relief. Gabby was more than happy to let an armed protector open doors for her and make sure she didn’t die.
“No, but I’ll be with you every step of the way.” He pulled out a small, easily hidden earpiece. “I can talk to you all day long.”
Gabby nodded. It would be like when she stayed up all night talking to Jace Baxter in high school, twirling the phone cord around her finger and painting her toenails a shade of pink she thought he might like. Except it was the EOD.
He held up a brooch. “And this will be my eyes.” He stooped to attach the brooch to her crocheted sweater. His face only inches from her, his steady breathing brought her own heart rate down. While his scent did its best to bring it right back up. A hint of citrus hit her nose, probably from his body wash, but there was something raw beneath it. Markus’s pheromones smelled good.
When he flipped the brooch’s hidden camera on and turned a screen her way, Gabby could see his face in high-def. “There’s no telling what could happen out in the field. It’s important that I can see everything you see.”
From the tone of his voice, she could tell he was thinking about Darcy. Had Markus been Darcy’s eyes and ears too?
For a moment, she’d forgotten. This job had real consequences. At home all she could do was burn a pancake, forget to send Lucas with a lunch, or worst-case scenario, get a divorce. A mistake here could get her killed. No matter how much Agent Strong tried to reassure her about the safety of the mission—Darcy was dead.
Markus saw the panic in her eyes and turned off the screen and pulled a stool out for her. “It’s okay, Gabby. I’ve got you. I promise nothing bad will happen.”
Even though she knew deep down that he was promising something he couldn’t guarantee, his reassurance settled her. Markus might be a beefcake, but his eyes were kind and they crinkled with well-worn laugh lines when he smiled.
“How about the cool gadgets?” Gabby loved to distract herself with shopping. Who didn’t? “Is there a lipstick that turns into a dart gun or a compact that is really a bomb that will blast through a steel door?”
Valentina, who had zoned out scrolling through her phone up until now huffed loudly. “Gabby, you are not Jane fricking Bond. We just need you to go to the office, make the guy coffee, and keep an eye on things. End of story.”
Markus smiled. “Well, I have a few cool things.” He pulled out a decoy mobile phone. When Gabby reached for it, he held it just out of reach and tsk-tsked her. “Wait a second. It’s a Taser.”
“Oh.” She pulled back.
He demonstrated how turning the phone on activated the Taser.
“I’ll try not to get my phones mixed up,” she joked.
“And pepper spray is a self-defense staple. Do you know how to use this?”
“Yes.” The canister Markus handed her was a standard bottle of pepper spray. Just a black tube with a red button at the top.
“No need to disguise pepper spray. It’s something every woman should carry.” He handed it over. “Careful with the lid.”
Darcy had died on the job. Pepper spray didn’t seem like enough. “Pepper spray is good, but what about a real gun?”
Before Markus could answer her question about a gun, Gabby accidentally hit the button. A stream caught Markus right in the face, and he doubled over.
Valentina grabbed Gabby’s arm in a viselike grip and whispered, “Drop the weapon.”
The canister clattered to the floor, and Gabby started in with the apologies. “I’m so, so, so sorry! I didn’t mean to—” She waited for a response. “Are you okay?”
Markus shook his head. “I’ll be fine. Val, let her go.”
Valentina shrugged. “Standard procedure when a weapon is fired.”
While he tried to catch his breath, she went on. “I think you should rinse with milk. That’s what I do when I’m making guacamole and I get jalapeno on my skin.”
“I’m fine!” He held his hand up. “No milk, please.”
Markus spent the next five to ten minutes getting his eyeballs hosed out with high-pressure water in the eyewash station while she waited in shame. If she had done permanent damage… She rubbed her temples and stole a glance at the eyewash station. Hopefully, it wasn’t government-strength pepper spray, like ghost pepper spray. Ghost pepper Cheetos were practically weapons.
After what seemed like an eternity, Markus returned. “Let’s hold off on the gun. I’ll start going over some self-defense techniques on Monday.”
Thank god. That gave her the weekend to collect herself.
He looked at her Becky Buckholz baby shower ensemble and said, “You’ll need to wear something you can move in. Do you have yoga pants?”
She smiled genuinely for the first time that day. Boy did she.