Page 18 of Her Chosen Protector

Max ignored him. He gave Asher one more hard look.

“Serious, Lieutenant, I won’t put the team in danger. If it’s a problem, I’ll be the first to bench myself.”

Max’s lip ticked up into a half-smile. Which was really saying something. Then he dropped his hand on Asher’s shoulder. “I know I can count on you, Ash. I need you, but only if you can perform.”

He gave a head tilt toward the computers, and Ash continued over to look over Kane’s shoulder.

Shit, the kid really was good. Besides the floorplans, he had the electrical and the security system. But Ash saw immediately what Rafa meant about security sucking. Yeah, the gates might be reinforced steel all along the perimeter, but it didn’t go deep enough into the foundation. Anyone with a little bit of C-4 and a willingness to crawl could easily break in.

All he had to do was point on the screen and Kane nodded.

“Let’s just hope that the secret police force is lazy.”

“What? What are you seeing?” the kid asked.

“We need to call your aunt,” Asher said without answering his question. “We need to find out what the situation is like on the inside.”

Raiden and Nic came in carrying some food that they passed out to everyone assembled around the room.

“Kid, call from your phone,” Asher said. “Then we’ll arrange something more secure.”

He dialed and set his phone down on the table and put it on speaker.

A strong, self-assured woman’s voice answered. She had an American accent. “Rafael, are they there?”

“How’s my aunt?”

“Who’s this?” Asher asked.

“I’m Eden York. Your aunt is doing pretty good, don’t worry. Her throat is swollen, so she’s writing things down for me.”

“We can’t talk on this line,” Rafa said without giving anything away. “Somebody else is going to give you some instructions, okay?”

“Yes,” came her immediate reply.

“Ma’am, I need you to work with someone who has a phone that isn’t being tracked. When you find that person, call back this number. We’ll take it from there.”

“Won’t they track it once they call Rafael’s phone?”

“We’ll take care of things,” Asher assured her.

“Okay. Give me a few minutes, and it will be done.” She hung up. Asher liked her. No fuss, no muss, just down to business.

Raiden and Nic came back with a second load of empanadas and succulent shrimp wrapped in corn pancakes. Now that his head wasn’t hurting as much and his stomach had calmed down, Asher was starving, and he was ready for more. Raiden must have read his mind, or heard his stomach growling, because he shoved a plate into Asher’s hands.

“Eat.”

Raiden then pushed another glass of ice water his way. “Drink.”

“Yes, Mom.”

Leo snickered up until the point that Raiden crouched down to check his knee and started whispering to him. At that point, all humor left Leo’s face. Asher knew what was coming. Max strolled over to where the two of them were talking, and then he called Kane over. Yep, Leo had just been benched, and he was hating life.

Leo was not someone who stayed behind the scenes and did coordination, he was the jump-out-of-the-seat-early action dude, which is what got him in this predicament in the first place. Now he was going to have to stay behind and man the fort.

He got up from the couch and attempted to walk without a limp to the table. He did a pretty good job but fooled no one. He sat down between Asher and Rafa, and Kane stood behind the three of them. Rafa started pointing out things to him on his computer. Leo mustered up some fake enthusiasm.

Rafa’s phone rang. Asher answered it. “Answer the next call that comes in.” Then hung up.