A few birds darted between trees, their calls muted. Most of the birds hadn’t returned from their winter home just yet. It was so damn quiet. He could feel the eyes on him, but he couldn’t guess as to where the bastard was hiding. The trees weren’t so close that he couldn’t see a far distance, and yet his would-be attacker was lurking. He was running out of options.
“Someone give me a damn report,” he growled, his voice barely a whisper.
“It’s down to just you and Noah, boss,” Sven said in the earpiece he was wearing. “And he’s carrying his team’s flag with him.”
“Fuck,” Rowe snarled, rocking back on the balls of his feet to relieve some of the burning in the muscles of his calves. He refused to fucking lose to Noah. He’d never hear the end of it.
It had been a damned rough year for Ward Security. They’d lost some customer accounts and one damn good guard. With Andrei’s help, Rowe had expanded their ranks with some solid talent and Gidget was making some nice headway in setting up offshore servers so they could start offering clients a digital form of privacy protection.
But it had been Noah’s idea for a team outing. Something to help build a sense of camaraderie and to burn off a little stress. They pulled all the guards they could along with some of the back-office staff and divided into three teams: the Green Team led by Andrei, the Blue Team led by Rowe, and the Red Team led by Noah. Everyone had been given a paintball handgun with six shots and directed to snag another team’s flag while defending their own.
While both his and Andrei’s teams had taken the tactic of splitting up so that half defended their flag while the other half made a go at another team’s flag, the Red Team had gone rogue and apparently put their flag on the run with Noah.
It actually wasn’t a bad call, considering that Noah had years of experience as an Army Ranger. The man knew how to move fast and stay unseen. It was unlikely anyone was going to get the drop on Noah, and it freed up his entire team to go after another team’s flag, which turned out to be the unfortunate Green Team’s.
Rowe shifted his stance again, getting ready to move. He’d dart across the stream and then climb the opposite hill to get a better vantage point before turning to sweep back toward the base that his team had set up. If he didn’t locate Noah soon, they’d have to call time and declare a tie. They needed to get on the bus to ride back to Ward Security where Ian’s staff was setting up a surprise dinner for his people.
He looked over his shoulder one last time to see movement out of the corner of his eye. He wasn’t quite sure what he saw, but he didn’t question his instincts. He dove forward, firing once in the direction of the movement before darting behind the other side of the outcropping. Over the rustle of dead leaves, he heard the distinct sound of a paintball smacking against a rock.
Noah’s laugh rang out, echoing through the empty woods. “You’re getting slow, old man,” he cackled.
“If I’m so slow, you should have hit me,” Rowe called back in a teasing singsong, as he started to consider his options. They were pretty damn bad. Noah had the high ground and he couldn’t rely on the man being a horrible shot. He knew better. He was damn lucky that Noah hadn’t nailed him with the first shot.
“You willing to make a little side bet with me over the outcome of this standoff?” Noah asked.
Rowe moved slowly around his cover, trying to get a better view of the area where Noah was hiding without revealing any of himself. His voice sounded as if it was coming from the same location as before. “What kind of bet were you thinking?”
“A bet that involves toys.”
Rowe swallowed back a groan. He loved all of Noah’s ideas when they came to toys—in and out of the bedroom. Unfortunately, he wasn’t sure which one Noah was talking about at that moment. “Is this bet going to require me to have yet another meeting with our HR department about what is and isn’t a work-appropriate conversation?”
More laughter rang out from Noah and Rowe took the opportunity to get a better look at the area. He still couldn’t see his lover, but he had an idea of where he was. The tree likely protecting Noah was huge with a wide base, but there weren’t any bushes nearby. Noah’s only cover was the tree.
“But I’m your boyfriend,” Noah cried.
“And you’re my freaking employee,” Rowe grumbled.
“You’re the one who was shouting about grabbing the lube next time we sparred.”