What Are You Afraid Of? (The Agency #2)(79)

He grabbed the sheet of paper from the rental agency and Executioner’s suitcase before he closed the trunk and crossed the lot to the white van waiting near the exit. He climbed directly into the back and tossed the case across the narrow space. He’d dispose of it later.

“Took you long enough,” the driver complained, starting the engine.

Hunter didn’t bother to glance in his direction. Like his other disciples, the man would grouse and complain, but in the end, he would do as he was told.

“I had some unfinished business.”

“Can we go?”

“Yes.” A shiver of anticipation curled through the pit of his stomach. “It’s time to take our game to the next level.”





Chapter Twenty


December 28, California





Griff woke early and slipped out of bed. He was careful not to wake the woman curled beneath the blankets beside him.

Standing next to the mattress he studied her tangled blond hair and pale face. After a day being forced to pace the floor, the poor woman had been unable to sleep. A fact that might have pleased him, since she’d turned to him for comfort more than once during the night. But he hated the knowledge that she was tormenting herself with guilt.

It was after five in the morning before she at last stopped her tossing and turning and fell into an exhausted slumber.

Now she was oblivious as he bent down to brush a light kiss over her curls and headed into the bathroom.

By eight o’clock he’d made coffee and was waiting for Rylan to pull into the driveway. He opened the door and, barely waiting for his friend to step across the threshold, grabbed him for a fierce hug.

Just having Rylan back in California was a huge relief.

“Thanks for coming, man.” He pulled back, leading his friend into the kitchen.

“No thanks necessary,” Rylan said, slipping off his jacket to reveal his casual shirt and jeans. The younger man studied Griff with obvious concern. “You’ve always been there for me.”

“True.” Griff forced a smile as he poured Rylan a cup of hot coffee and crossed back to hand it to him. Together they leaned against the counter. “I remember getting out of bed at three in the morning to pay off your bar tab so you didn’t get the crap beat out of you.”

Rylan chuckled, a portion of his tension subsiding at Griff ’s teasing.

“Hey, we’d just made our first big score,” he reminded Griff. “I thought we should celebrate.”

Griff arched a brow. They’d been seniors together in college since Griff had managed to finish in three years rather than the traditional four. At the time, Griff had completed a school project that created a computer program that could perform facial recognition at twice the speed as any other. Rylan had been confident that he could sell the program.

And he had.

For a ton of money.

When the first check had come in, Rylan had headed to the local hangout and gotten plastered along with half the student body.

Griff, on the other hand, had put his money in the bank and gone to bed early. His way of celebrating.

Just a wild and crazy dude.

“We?” he demanded.

Rylan tried to look innocent. “I drank several toasts in your honor. I swear.”

Griff sipped his coffee. “And the night you decided to sneak into the Rapson headquarters and got arrested? That was another three-o’clock-in-the-morning phone call.”

Rylan shrugged. “I was trying to prove to them that they had a shitty security system. If you’ll remember I managed to score us a twenty-thousand-dollar project.”

Griff ’s lips twitched. He’d been furious when Rylan had phoned from jail. They’d been in California less than a year and Rylan had been determined to get a contract from the corporation that owned more than a thousand storage units throughout the state. When they refused to believe there was anything wrong with their current system, Rylan had sneaked his way into their headquarters, telephoning the CEO of the company from his own office.

The president had predictably called the cops, who’d hauled Rylan to jail.

Thankfully, the board members of the corporation had been impressed by Rylan’s ingenuity, and not only dropped all charges against him, but also rewarded them with a hefty contract.

“Fair enough.” Griff ’s smile faded as he set aside his mug. “I just want you to know I appreciate your sacrifice. This was supposed to be your family time with Jaci and your father.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Rylan waved aside his words. “To be honest, it wasn’t that great a sacrifice. Jaci was about to start baking five dozen chocolate chip cookies, and she was giving me a look that said she was expecting me to help.”

“I thought she was cutting back on her catering business?”

Rylan grimaced. Griff understood that his friend didn’t object to Jaci working. She was an artist in the kitchen. But he had insisted that she try to slow down. She’d been burning the candle at both ends for years trying to make ends meet.

“She has,” Rylan said, his expression frustrated. “But that doesn’t stop every church, club, and local charity from calling her whenever they have a potluck dinner to raise money.”

“So you get to be her sous-chef ?”

“Sometimes I wash dishes,” Rylan said dryly. “And other times I get to keep Riff and Raff from causing complete chaos.”