whoever had the day off had an hour alone in the house. He still had forty minutes until he needed to head into the office.
But maybe he should go with Noelle. He could take a train from Genedyne to the McKay-Taggart building.
“Let’s head out if we’re stopping somewhere to pick up breakfast.” Kyle put his mug in the sink. “I’m getting to sit in on some fun meetings today, and I’m supposed to cover a dinner date tonight. I might end up at Jessica’s, so you should pick Noelle up. I’ll leave the car and take an Uber back here because I don’t want Jessica’s driver to know we’ve switched locations.”
“I’ll come in with you.” He should take a shower. Big Tag had a famously sensitive nose, and he could smell sex on a dude from five miles away. And he did not stint on the sarcasm.
“I’ll be fine. Kyle is an excellent driver, and he’s learned how to make small talk.” Noelle took a long swig of coffee before her mug joined Kyle’s.
“I have to talk about stupid shit or she starts in on her relationships. All of them,” Kyle admitted. “I know a lot about her feelings. So we talk about dogs and TV shows I pretend I watch so I don’t have to know more about her feelings.”
Kyle was an asshole. “Fine. Take care of her. Text me when she’s safe in the lab.”
God, he hoped she would be safe in the lab.
Noelle kissed him again and then walked off, her cane in her right hand. Stretchy sex seemed to have done wonders for her.
It sure had done wonders for him. Noelle made her way out to the garage, and Kyle glanced back as he walked after her.
“Dude, take a shower. You smell like sex.” Kyle shook his head and the door closed.
He was surrounded by assholes. He found his phone and texted Theo, who promised to pick him up in half an hour and made fun of him for his nonfunctional car. Hutch was making his way to the bathroom when the phone trilled.
Michael. Hutch slid his thumb across the screen. “Hey, Mike. You heading out?”
Michael had been assigned to watch the house overnight.
“I thought I might follow them to work. Just in case. What’s going on? I don’t buy the story about testing Kyle,” Michael said over the line.
Big Tag was slipping. “It’s probably coming from the bodyguard unit. You know Fisher is always trying new things out.”
“And when I ask Fisher about it, what do you think he’ll say?” Michael asked.
Hutch sighed. “Please don’t.”
“All right. This is one of those things I shouldn’t ask about so I won’t. But I don’t feel right tailing one of our own,” Michael admitted. “He left the house last night.”
Hutch stopped. “He turned my security system off?”
“He must have because I watched him go for a jog. That was all he did. He ran around the block for almost an hour, made a phone call and talked for about twenty minutes, and then slipped back in the house.”
Hutch fisted his hand, anger and fear curling in his gut. “I’m going to check the logs on the system. If he left us vulnerable, I’ll kill him myself.”
What the fuck had he been thinking? And who did he call at that time of night? It might be time to take a hard look at Kyle’s phone and computer and his presence on the web. He hadn’t because he rather thought Tag was being paranoid, but now he had to consider the fact that Kyle was putting Noelle in danger.
“You’re worried about him?” Michael asked. “You don’t have to tell me anything. I’m only trying to figure out how to handle this detail. I’m supposed to hand the reins over to Boomer this afternoon.”
Boomer wasn’t good at blending in, and sometimes he got distracted by food trucks. Or ice cream trucks. But he would be useful if Hutch decided to snipe Kyle. “I think you should bring in Jamal. He knows how to not be seen, and he won’t talk.”
For a six-and-a-half-foot heavily muscled Black dude, Jamal moved like a ghost, could oddly blend in when he needed to, and was absolutely one of the most solid guys McKay-Taggart had hired in the last couple of years.
“I’ll talk to him, and I’ll talk to Wade as well. We can watch Kyle for a few days, rotating shifts. Damn, I like him. I really like his brother. If he’s doing something he