your life,” the man told her. Then he looked at the menu printed on the back wall.
“I’d love to have a chocolate shake and a large plate of French fries and onion rings before I head out,” he told her. “By the way, my name’s Ricky.”
Erin was speechless, absolutely speechless. She nodded at him, then took the envelope and locked it in her tiny office before turning in his order to her fry cook. She moved to the counter and made his shake.
Apparently she was going to the City of Lights with a lot of money, and a man she missed and desired. She should be smiling a lot — instead she was in shock. But it wasn’t bad shock. She was excited, really excited. She couldn’t wait to see what would come next. Maybe those aliens were going to land at any minute. She wouldn’t be surprised one little bit at this point.
Chapter Seventeen
Brackish wasn’t normally a violent man, but when his alarm sounded at 0600, he wanted to throw it through the wall. Normally, he was up and about by 0400 hours every day, but in the last thirty-six hours he’d slept exactly one hundred eighty minutes. He was tired, he was cranky, and he was clueless.
He threw off his blankets and let out a curse when his feet hit the cold floor. He wasn’t cranky from a lack of sleep, but because he’d been stumped. Brackish wasn’t a man who ever got stumped. He wasn’t admitting it had happened to him to a single soul. He’d searched and searched, and he’d come up empty. He had zero clue what his mission was in Paris, and he didn’t like the feeling. He hadn’t been outwitted in a long time — and to have it happen by a seventy-something-year-old man and Chad, freaking Chad of all people, wasn’t sitting well in his gut.
Brackish showered in two minutes, dressed in three, and was in the kitchen eight minutes from the time he’d risen. He was pushing down his second cup of coffee when Eyes sauntered in, looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Brackish wanted to slug him.
“Hello, brother. It’s a glorious morning. What are you doing up so early? Weren’t you working until about four?” Eyes asked with a wink.
“You’re so damn amusing,” Brackish replied, taking an almost violent bite out of his bagel.
“I know. I get that a lot,” Eyes said as he poured coffee and heated a Hot Pocket. Eyes rarely ate breakfast food. He lived on a diet of whatever was fast and cheesy. “Want me to call an Uber, Lyft, or pull out the moped?” he continued, ridiculously cheery. It was disgusting.
Brackish wasn’t even sure if Erin was going to show. If he was confident about that, he was sure his mood would hugely improve — being stumped and all.
“What I really need is for you to shut the hell up and get the car ready,” Brackish said.
Eyes laughed, not at all offended by Brackish’s foul mood. “Since I have an easy day I guess I can chauffeur your ugly ass to the airport. It must be rough, flying off in a private jet with a hot woman.” He paused as he laughed. “While you’re joining the mile-high club should I do your laundry, pick up some items for you at the store, or clean your room?”
“Okay,” Brackish said with a slight smile. “I guess this is a great mission, and I could stop being such a douche about it. You can stop with the sarcasm.”
“I live to serve you,” Eyes said as he bit into his Hot Pocket then started pulling cool air into his mouth as he danced around. Brackish managed to chuckle.
“Now that definitely cheered me up. When are you going to learn the cheese is hot?” Brackish mocked. Then he sobered again. “I can’t figure out what my mission is. I honestly can’t tell you when that last happened.”
“Sounds like you’re impotent,” Eyes said, taking a smaller bite this time, cheese squirting out of the side of the ridiculously good pastry.
“I should know better than to share with you,” Brackish said while downing the rest of his coffee and pouring another cup.
“I can’t wait to find out what it is,” Eyes said. “I need to know how Joseph and Chad outsmarted you. I didn’t think that was possible.”
“Me neither,” Brackish muttered.
“Well, let’s get this show on the road,” Eyes told him.
They continued with their banter as they walked the hallway to the garage and