Page 55 of Kyle

We stepped out into another hallway and I repeated the processes, waiting for my fingerprints to be logged.

“The information we deal with could be catastrophic if it fell into the wrong hands. And the clients Zane meets with in the office require a certain level of privacy and protection.”

“Who does he meet with, the president?” She giggled.

Damn, I liked that sound. And after I waited for the feeling to finish ricocheting through me, I thought about her comment. She’d hit the nail on the head with her off-handed remark. Not only did Zane meet with the president, Tom Anderson was a close friend of his. I wondered what Anaya’s reaction to Erin Anderson-Doyle would be. My teammate Colin’s wife was the president’s daughter.

Guess I’ll find out soon enough. Erin was in the building along with all the other women.

I pushed open the door, entering Z Corps’ inner sanctum, and Anaya stopped walking.

“Holy shit,” she muttered.

I followed her gaze around the room. Several doors opened to private offices and a large command room was enclosed in smart glass. This room housed all the surveillance monitors and was supervised twenty-four seven. In the middle was a maze of cubicles with high-tech work stations. Zane had spared no expense. All clean lines with gray walls and chrome accents. The space was enormous and impressive. It was also bustling with people.

All of whom stopped what they were doing to face us.

Zane straightened from the table he was bent over and started in our direction. I could feel the waves of nervousness coming from Anaya but she made no move.

“Anaya Baker. Nice to meet you, I’m Zane Lewis.”

“Nice to meet you face-to-face,” she greeted.

Zane took in her bruised face, and like the master of disguise he was, he showed no hint of emotion. But I knew Zane; he was seething that someone had hit her, and most especially the reason behind why she’d been struck.

My boss shifted toward the room and made the introductions. “Meet the Red Team, that’s Lincoln Parker, Colin Doyle, Jaxon Cain, Leo Gillonardo, and Jasmin Parker.” Each person gave Anaya a lift of their chin as their name was called.

Jasmin studied Anaya, her eyes squinted, and deep frown lines formed.

“What the fuck?” Jas growled and stepped closer. Anaya flinched at her aggressive approach and Jasmin’s very pissed-off eyes swung to mine. “Serious as shit, Kyle, I hope you gutted the fucker that did that. I hear you went easy on the douchebag, I’ll be totally disappointed in you.”

“I didn’t go easy,” I confirmed.

With a nod of approval, Jasmin went back to looking at Anaya and immediately changed directions.

“You shoulda sold ‘em out and saved your face,” Jas said.

Here we go…

Anaya’s body went solid, her shoulders went back, and anger flashed. She was pissed and unlike all the men in the room, she wasn’t trying to hide her feelings.

“Sold them out?” Anaya spat out the words like they tasted like shit.

“Yeah. I heard that’s what the asshole who was slappin’ you around wanted. All you had to do was give two names and he would’ve stopped.”

Anaya sucked in a breath and my temper flared. I knew Jas was testing Anaya, but she’d gone too far. I promised Anaya she’d be safe and Jasmin was making me a liar. I understood her need to feel out Anaya but I would not allow her to push any further.

“Jas,” I growled.

“What? I’m just sayin’.”

No, she wasn’t just saying anything. Jasmin had almost died protecting the identity of her team. She was putting Anaya through unnecessary bullshit and I was done.

But before I could speak, Anaya did.

“What kind of person do you think I am?”

Jasmin shrugged like it was all the same to her. “Most people would talk.”