and I’ll sign off.”
Damn, she knows I went on that run, but a Guardian is nothing if his body is weak. It takes effort to keep my body in peak physical condition.
“Two weeks!” My shout makes her medical assistant tremble. A tray of instruments clatters to the floor, and the poor guy ducks his head. He’s been doing a piss-poor job of ignoring our heated conversation.
Doc Summers gives me a look-what-you-did-now expression highlighted with an exaggerated lifting of her eyebrows. She folds her arms over her chest and taps her foot.
I’m well over a foot taller than her diminutive frame, but damn if she doesn’t look down her nose at me. Any second and she’ll be reading me the riot act. I sit my ass down and come at her from a different angle.
“My team is a man down. They need me.”
“Alpha team is on duty at the Facility. They’re not missing you.”
“They’re not looking for Moira?”
“Relax. They just returned. Bravo team is out.”
“Did they find her?” I already know the answer, but I can’t help asking.
Skye Summers is the Guardian’s lead medical physician, privy to our most classified missions. If they found Moira, she’d know.
“They have a lead.” Her reply, like many things, is predicated by hesitation.
“What the fuck?” Back on my feet, my fingers clench, but there’s no enemy to throttle. “A lead?” My voice rises in pitch, revealing how deeply invested I am in Guardian HRS’s current mission.
Moira is my responsibility. I’m the one who will rescue her. A low growl rumbles in the back of my throat. Doc Summers takes a step back. Her head cants to the side and she takes a long, hard look at me.
I say nothing; this possessiveness isn’t new. It’s been growing over the past year as I’ve watched Moira recover at the Facility. Her story isn’t the worst; that probably belongs to Forest Summers and the diminutive woman standing in front of me, but Moira’s been through hell. She doesn’t deserve the shitty hand she’s been dealt.
“Bravo just reported in. If you stop arguing with me about getting off medical hold, I can tell you what I know.”
“If they have a lead…”
“No positive ID, but Mitzy’s confident.”
Our lead technical engineer, Mitzy, is sharp as a tack. I’ve never met a person smarter than her.
“If Mitzy’s confident, that means something.” Hope stirs within me. “Are there any others?” I remind myself the world doesn’t revolve around bringing Moira safely home, even if my heart only cares about her.
Moira is everything.
“Unknown.” Skye places a hand on my arm. “CJ’s working with Sam to preposition assets.” CJ leads the teams and works for Sam, who is the head of the Guardians. We all work for Forest Summers and the woman standing in front of me.
“You gotta let me go on that mission.”
“You’re not operational.”
“There’s no way I’m staying here sitting on my ass. I will be on that mission.”
“I don’t want you to get your hopes up. Setting up a mission is going to take time, and I may have over spoke. You know how Mitzy can be. She doesn’t have anything tangible. It’s more of a guessing game.”
“That girl’s superpower is solving the unsolvable. What did she say?”
“Only that Moira was collateral damage. Zoe was taken to Colombia for a very specific purpose, for a very discerning client.”
“Yeah, I was there. Both times.”
Kidnappers plucked Zoe off the streets of Cancun, fulfilling a client’s specific order for a snuff film. Alpha team rescued Zoe, brought her back to the Facility, where she started putting the pieces of her life back together.
She and my best bud, Axel, are together now, gloriously happy, but not after the client demanded his order be fulfilled. Zoe was kidnapped a second time, by the same men, for the same purpose, and Moira happened to get caught up in the middle of it all.
We rescued Zoe a second time but lost Moira in the process.
“I know you were, and I’m not making light of what happened or what she must be going through.”
“If you know all that, then you know what she means to me. I love you like the sister I never had, but if you stand between me and any chance of bringing her home, we’re going to have a problem.”
“I don’t respond to threats, Griff. You know better than that.”
“Fine. I’m begging you. Don’t keep me from this.”
Her eyes narrow as she takes me in.
“You know how this works. Work with me, instead of fighting me