God took a sip of his wine and nodded to Day to do the same. One, he wasn’t sure if Ex and Meridian were there for the same reason as them and didn’t want to tip them off. And second, because he’d be darned if he was gonna let that expensive bottle of red go to waste.
God had to hold in his groan at how delicious it tasted, having not felt this alive in months. He’d had little time with his spouse, he’d hardly been able to eat since his appetite had declined, and his energy levels had plummeted off the charts. But, for the first time in a while, he could savor the flavor of something. Their task force had just caught a major break... and he wanted to enjoy it for just a moment.
The waiter brought their cocktails and appetizers, and Ex didn’t hesitate to dive in. “I’ll return in a moment to get your main courses, gentlemen.”
Ex glanced at God. “Are you ordering entrees? I’d recommend the duck breast. I heard it’s one of their award-winning dishes.”
“Is that so?” God muttered.
“Yep. So how long y’all been together?” Ex leaned forward as if they were all on a double date, new friends, getting to know each other. “I’ve been wanting to ask you. Has it been difficult working togeth—”?
“Ex,” Meridian said in a warning tone.
“Yeah. Let’s just order.” Ex picked up the menu, his gray eyes roaming over the paper.
“All right, enough,” God huffed. “What are you two doing here?”
“We’re trying to have a nice evening. And this place had great Yelp reviews, didn’t it, Mere?” Ex answered with all seriousness.
“Bullshit,” God growled.
Ex’s blank expression never faltered. But Meridian’s dark eyes bored into him as if he could hurt him with his glare.
“So rude,” Meridian said darkly.
God would’ve flipped him off but the waiter chose that time to come back and refill their wine. He wasn’t buying their crap. Ex and Meridian were acting too calm and this place was too posh for their meeting to be a coincidence. But he decided to let it go and ate a few bites of the escargot tarts, the puffy pastry melting in his mouth. He turned to check on the DA when he heard heavy coughing, then gagging coming from that direction. He didn’t want to draw Ex and Meridian’s attention as he kept an eye on what was happening. The DA had his hand to his throat as he hacked and spit back onto his plate of garganelli pasta. The woman with him hurried to his side but quickly became disgusted when the DA began to foam at the mouth, his thick jowls shaking from the coughing fits.
What the fuck? More of the customers began standing and gravitating towards the fuss when someone yelled if there was a doctor in the house. The DA didn’t appear to be choking on food, so why was he...? God turned and saw that Ex and Meridian hadn’t reacted. Every head in that restaurant was faced in the opposite direction as more staff and management ran to the man practically dying in the middle of the dining room.
“The grouper sounds good,” Ex said casually.
God wiped his mouth then tossed his napkin onto the table. “Did you do this?”
“Do what?” Ex frowned. He took a long swig of his beer from the bottle, ignoring the chilled glass. “We’ve been sitting here with two of Atlanta’s finest, enjoying cocktails and appetizers. What could we possibly have to do with a dirty city official asphyxiating on the other side of the restaurant, detective?”
That was when God saw it—the assassins in them. A new generation of stealthy, intelligent, ruthless soldiers. They sat calmly with their expensive drinks in their hands and their gazes on each other. They wore cold, unsympathetic expressions on the outside, but the way they watched each other told God that they were still communicating. He could only stare in disbelief. This was what the government had put together to protect the world.
And they were... spectacular, he hated to admit.
This whole interaction since they’d sat at their table had been one big diversion. The two of them operating just how Ford had described. A distraction then an extraction. Sirens could be heard close by, and Ex and Meridian both stood at the same time and began to button their suit coats.
“This place is a little too rowdy for our liking. We were hoping for a quiet night out,” Ex said. “If you will excuse us. Please enjoy the rest of your meal, it's on us.”
“You don’t see us reaching for our fucking wallets do you?” Day grumbled.
“So rude,” Meridian gritted.
Day scoffed. “We’re rude? We’re not the ones that just poisoned a man in the middle of dinner. Who does that? We were starting to have a nice time and you two had to go and ruin it.”