“Damn, I have to meet with Doogan?” Elijah asked him in disgust. “Come
on, Graham. That ain’t right. I’m convinced that man has bad mojo or some shit. Every time I get around him, I get my ass shot at.”
Graham’s boss wasn’t the sanest man in the world, but he focused his insanity at the enemy rather than at any friendlies.
“You have thirty minutes to get to the airfield. I want you back this evening and I want you taking care of those cameras. You keep the outside secure; I’ll work on keeping Lyrica out of sight.”
And the ideas he had for that threatened to make his jeans damned uncomfortable.
“But Doogan gets me shot at,” Elijah muttered, repeating the earlier accusation. “I don’t like that man, Graham.”
“Damn, Elijah, what makes you think I care if you like him?” Graham glared at him, amazed at the agent’s cowardice in the face of the new assistant director of Homeland Security. “Tell him I said if he gets you shot, I’ll shoot him. How’s that?”
“Does he listen to you?” Elijah frowned back at Graham far too seriously.
“For god’s sake, are you two?” Doogan wasn’t that bad. The man was a little eccentric, but Graham knew he wasn’t actually dangerous. He just tended to get a little overly daring when he had the right agents for the job. No doubt he would consider Elijah the right man for some job that could put him in the line of fire. But hell, that was part of the job description.
Right?
Invariably, someone did get shot if they weren’t extremely careful.
Graham was always extremely careful.
It sounded as though Elijah needed to learn caution.
“I feel about two whenever I get around that bastard,” Elijah muttered. “Hell, I was almost cryin’ for my mommy last year when he hijacked my ass from FPS. And trust me, my momma wouldn’t give a shit. That should tell you how desperate I am.”
“You have twenty minutes to get to the airfield,” Graham stated blandly. “Give Doogan my regards.”
“Give Doogan your regards?” Elijah grumbled mutinously as he threw Graham another disgusted look. “I’ll give him something. My damned Glock shoved straight up his ass. That’s what I’ll give him.” Then his dark eyes narrowed. “And you’re forgetting something. Sam Bryce knows exactly who went after her last night. You think she’s not going to tell her boss?”
Sam Bryce knew better. Until he gave the word, she wouldn’t say shit if Dawg himself held a gun to her head.
Elijah turned then, opened the door, and stalked from the house as Graham continued to stare at him expectantly, intently.
The fact that the agent wasn’t happy with his current orders didn’t worry Graham. Elijah would follow the program whether he liked it or not.
The question was whether the man would keep his former commander out of the loop. The fact that Lyrica was Brogan Campbell’s future sister-in-law and that Elijah’s orders were more personal than agency related threatened Graham’s assurance that he would do as he was told.
Fuck it.
Knowing he’d been cut out of Lyrica’s protection list without so much as a notice changed all the damned rules. He wasn’t risking possible exposure to call Dawg, his cousins, his buddies, or his friends. If they didn’t like that then they could kiss his ass.
Lyrica’s safety, and her place in his bed while she was there, was more important than Dawg’s paranoia where his sister’s virginity was concerned.
Pushing his fingers restlessly through his hair at the thought, Graham moved to the door Elijah had stalked through and tested the lock. He then pulled the shades down over the windows before adjusting them to allow him to glimpse anyone moving outside, while hiding the inside away from curious eyes.
Moving through the house to adjust the rest of the shades similarly, he took his cell phone from the belt holster he wore and quickly pulled up Sam’s number.
“Hey there,” she answered, her voice soft, her tone familiar. “How’s it going?”
“As expected,” he answered. “Sis still there?”
“Still sleeping.” Amusement filled her voice. “She was up most of the night pacing the floors and cursing you.”
Graham grinned at the knowledge that Kye had no doubt cursed him loudly.
“Sorry about that. She may be staying there a while longer.”