Mind of Danger (Body of Danger #3) - Sidney Bristol Page 0,33

up with one arm. Torres yanked the door open, and they dove out, squeezing through the door almost as one into the bright sunshine of a Seattle afternoon, the crisp air almost burning her lungs.

“Freeze!”

“Hands up!”

She blinked at the three police cars and armed officers aiming weapons at her.

Elias practically tackled her and Torres to the ground. She found his arm and squeezed him, not caring one bit about road rash, bruises or any of it.

They’d made it out, thanks to him. The guy who always had her back no matter what she asked of him.

God, she loved this man.

THURSDAY. FBI OFFICES, Seattle, Washington.

Elias paced the small room. The FBI had quickly brought all of them to this building and kept them separated the entire time. Obviously the FBI didn’t want them corroborating their stories.

So far he had spoken to Rusty, an FBI agent who’d worked with Aegis Group a number of times. From the way Rusty talked, this was his operation they’d stumbled into it. The questions he asked Elias sounded more like he’d just been confirming things he already knew.

Now what?

He checked the clock.

It was late.

Had a doctor seen Jo? Had they gotten her to eat?

Lunch had been gas station food.

God, he hoped someone was looking out for her.

Elias reached the far wall and turned as the door opened and Zain stepped in.

Oh, shit.

Elias stopped with a good eight feet of space between them while Zain closed the door. He was dressed casually in jeans and a dark T-shirt. His left arm, a high-tech prosthetic, flashed a line of red and green lights down to his fingertips.

That was new.

A festive alteration?

“Sit.” Zain didn’t exactly snap the word, but there was emphasis behind it. From the deep lines around his mouth and the hard stare, it was easy to discern that he wasn’t happy.

Elias crossed to the desk, pushed against the wall and pulled out the flimsy, plastic chair for himself, leaving the rolling desk chair for Zain, who remained standing.

They stayed like that for several moments, Zain studying Elias while Elias stared at the floor.

“What were you thinking? Seriously?” Zain finally said.

“Just... I don’t know. She called, it was a simple favor that snowballed...”

Zain yanked the desk chair out and sat down almost knee to knee with Elias. “That’s not what I’m talking about. Why didn’t you fucking call me the moment you realized it wasn’t a simple favor? Come on, man. You know better than this. We’re a God damn team, but we can’t be there to support you if you don’t say a fucking thing.”

Elias stared at Zain, unsure what to say. Elias opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

This was not what he’d expected.

“For fuck’s sake, Elias...” Zain leaned back and massaged his temple. “You are, hands-down, our best sales person. But more than that, you always seem to know how to handle clients. I need for you to talk to yourself like a client.”

“Um, okay.” Elias shifted in his seat.

“What would you say to someone who hired us?” Zain leaned forward, his prosthetic elbow on his knee.

“Well, I’d say our people will handle this. That it’s our job.”

“Okay, so if you’re part of this team, why is it any different? When has it been different?”

Elias glanced away.

“My one bit of feedback is that you seem to still consider yourself apart from our team. I wish I’d have been your first call instead of having to track your ass down. My wife’s not too happy about having to pause our holiday Star Wars marathon, I’ll have you know.”

He winced. “Sorry.”

“I’m not the one you’ll have to apologize to for that one.” Zain chuckled and leaned back again, crossing his arms over his chest. “Look, man, I can’t pretend to know or understand what you’ve been through. I’ve obviously got my own baggage. But I need you to get on board with one thing, or this isn’t going to work. At Aegis Group, we are a team. If we’re in hot water, we call each other. If you fucked up and got into something you shouldn’t, we’ll worry about that after the situation has been handled. But we are a team first.”

“Yeah, but—”

“No, buts, dude. It’s that way if you’re an in-the-field guy or if you’re a behind-the-scenes guy. We don’t differentiate. We are all a team and we can’t have one of our people going off on their own. Don’t you think we’ve all lost enough already?”

A lump lodged itself in Elias’ throat, making