A Cold Dark Promise (Cold Justice #8.5)(17)

Killion’s better half studied one of the most toxic creatures on earth—poison dart frogs.

“El cartel de Manos de Dios is done chasing her, right? The danger is over?”

Killion nodded. “She’s safe, but I’ve told her that no way is she returning to Colombia, which made her kind of mad.” Then he gave a long-suffering sigh, but Frazer wasn’t fooled. The guy adored Audrey’s feistiness and independence.

Killion played with the label around the neck of the beer bottle. “They want me to run the Farm.”

Frazer’s brows skipped high. The Farm was the CIA’s training facility at Camp Peary, Virginia.

That was a big deal.

“You gonna do it?” Killion pissed people off on a regular basis, but those who cared to look beyond the cocky, cynical veneer discovered the integrity of the man and a depth of unwavering service. Someone somewhere must have recognized that.

Killion shrugged. You’d be forgiven for believing he hadn’t given it much thought. Frazer knew better.

“The powers-that-be offered to set Audrey up in her own private lab facility but she says she wants to work in a university setting. Says it feeds her thirst for knowledge. There are enough colleges in Virginia we could make it work.” Killion shrugged again. “We haven’t figured out the future yet. I’m still on leave. I took six months off. I needed a sanity break.” Killion could talk the hind legs off an elephant, he just rarely talked about himself or his emotions—or his sanity.

Most of the time, people like Frazer and Killion pretended not to have emotions or lives outside the office. It was a miracle any of them had found a person willing to take a chance on them. They were all a little bit warped. A little bit jagged. A little bit damaged.

Alex pulled up a chair.

Speak of the devil.

The south of France suited the cybersecurity expert. His hair had lightened in the sun, his skin was tanned and he’d somehow found the time to get a haircut. Frazer ran his hand over his own skull. He also needed to get a trim before the wedding, but capturing arms dealers and rescuing little girls came first.

“Danke,” Alex said to the woman who delivered his beer. He turned to them and lowered his voice although he kept a smile fixed firmly on his lips. He raised his beer in salute. “I’m gonna drop the Deutsche because I happen to know Frazer’s language skills suck.”

“I hate speaking German,” Killion agreed. “Almost as much as I hate speaking Russian.”

“Maybe they’ll send you to Moscow,” Frazer suggested with a hopeful grin.

“Not enough frogs in Moscow,” Killion replied. “And too many fucking Russians.”

Speaking of Russians…

“You have your keyring?” Frazer checked. Alex was paranoid about electronic surveillance and always carried a mini signal jammer on his keyring. It came in useful and had stopped a domestic terrorist from blowing up a bunch of people, including Frazer, just a few weeks ago.

Alex let out a breath and some of the tension eased from the tight grasp he had around the neck of his beer bottle. “Yeah, but keep the volume down.”

Most of the tables were empty. The waitress behind the bar was noisily restocking mixers.

“When am I going to get one of those things?” Frazer indicated the keyring with a tilt of his head.

“I included one in your best man’s gift.”

Excellent.

“What about me?” Killion asked.

“Hell, no,” Alex replied.

“Why not?”

“You’ll share it with Langley,” Alex said knowingly.

Killion lowered his forehead into the crook of his elbow, which he’d propped on the table. He laughed. “We’re on the same side, you know.”

Alex grunted. “I don’t want them using my own tools against me. Anyway, they’re smart. I’m sure they can figure something out.”

Killion wasn’t pissed. He liked to wind people up to see what they did. That approach didn’t work well on Alex or Frazer. Alex became quiet and Frazer got nasty. It was a miracle they hadn’t all killed one another months ago.

“Ashley’s working on an ID of the nanny from the image you sent earlier. She make you?” asked Frazer.

Alex shook his head. “I don’t think so, but she was staring.”

“Could be your film star good looks,” Killion suggested.

Alex grinned. “Naturally. But she’s gorgeous. As in supermodel gorgeous and there was something about her eyes. Intelligence.”

“Nannies can’t be intelligent?” Killion questioned.

“Of course they can be,” Alex said patiently. He wasn’t taking the bait for an argument. “It was just a certain type of intelligence. I just keep thinking maybe she’s working for someone besides Masook.” He shrugged in a what-do-I-know manner. “Perhaps I’m paranoid.”

Frazer raised a brow. No perhaps about that.

“So, you’re eyeing the hot nanny and Frazer’s kissing another man’s woman. You guys are too fast for me.” Killion signaled for another beer.

“Saw the kiss. Very convincing,” Alex said. “Lucas will kick your ass when he finds out.”

“Randall was watching,” Killion said with a face full of mischief. “He’s probably plotting how to get rid of the body after he kills Frazer in his sleep.”