Page 3 of Captive Beta
“It still feels like you’re walking into a trap.” Jorge leans against the library wall, staring at Mathew, Riley and the others. “Their security system feels too basic, but they’ve got way too many guards. That makes no sense. And their finances feel too correct. No matter where we look, it feels too normal, especially for a job that they’ve hired you for. You don’t get simple jobs, you get the complicated ones.”
Jorge’s worried pheromones drift through the room and the moment they reach Mathew, he goes all rigid, his fists balling as he glares at Jorge.
This has been happening for days now and it’s getting exhausting. I wish I was like Caleb and that I could do my own thing when they’re like this, but I can’t. I can’t walk away when they’re being this bad-tempered with each other.
I have this deep need to stay close and try to soothe them when it gets too much. Probably not a good habit to get into, but it is what it is.
Mathew lets out a frustrated sound. “What else are we supposed to do? We’ve tried everything we can, but we can’t find anything actually wrong. It’s just a feeling, we have nothing to back it up.” His voice is cold as he gives Jorge a level look.
“Even the guys who went over to take a look at the place couldn’t find anything that pointed to a flaw in our information. Sometimes things are strange, that’s just the nature of our work.” He lets out a long breath. “Has that never happened to you? That you get a client who gives you a task that seems easy, and it turns out to actually be easy.”
Before Jorge can say anything, make some prickly comment, Riley sends out her pheromones, trying to calm the two. “It’s not an easy mission, at least, not easy in a suspicious way. This is a biotechnological research facility that deals with flowers and other plants. They don’t need lots of cameras because their test subjects can’t run away or escape. They just need enough security to make sure unwelcome guests don’t get in. And from what we know, the company generally doesn’t deal with our kind of people. So they probably don’t think they need very high security.”
She lets out an exasperated sigh. “Again, they work with plants, not illegal drugs, not with people, they work with plants. Things that famously do not move on their own.”
I appreciate that Riley can keep a clear head with the other two around. But I guess part of that is that she’s used to doing missions, so she knows what the priorities are and focuses on that. And once she has her focus on something, it’s hard to get her to snap out of it. For good and for bad.
Riley looks over everything they’ve got in front of them on the table. “We’re used to questionable companies. We’re used to people who know they might get robbed at any time and need to protect their ‘products’ at any cost. From what we know, this company simply isn’t like that. It feels weird because it’s a different type of company.”
Jorge scoffs. “What if it’s like the three guys from Hubert’s pack? What if information is purposefully being kept from us?”
Mathew shoots him a look. “We’ll deal with that if that’s the case. If things get too dangerous, we’ll be out of there in a flash.” His face softens. “You know I don’t put myself in unnecessary danger. If things get bad, we’re out of there, mission over. No ‘wait and see’, if it gets too dangerous, we’re out.”
I slowly get up from the couch, making my way over to Jorge. “What if we do our own thing tomorrow evening?” I surround him in warm pheromones. “There’s a romcom on that I really would like to see on the big screen. What if we watch that and then have an evening snack somewhere after? It means we’re not waiting here, but we’ll be doing something ourselves, keep our mind off things.”
This will be the first time I’ll have to wait for Mathew and Riley to return from a mission and even though I know they’ll be fine, I don’t think I can sit around waiting at home.
Jorge wraps his arms around me and I catch him glancing at Mathew, who gives him an encouraging nod, then Jorge looks down at me, his eyes warm and he gives me a soft kiss. “That actually sounds like a good idea.” He nuzzles my hair. “What about Caleb?”
I laugh. “I think he’d be really glad to have the evening off. Get all of us out of the house so he can make all the noise he wants without any of us bothering him or complaining about it.”
That makes the others laugh too, easing the mood.
“Hey! I heard that.” Caleb is standing in the doorway, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist, drops of water sliding down his body, making me hot instantly. “You’re not wrong, but you could have worded that better.” He gives me a look, winking.
I grin back. “But that’s my charm.”
“Not disagreeing with that.” He turns around. “Now, I’ll get dressed and check the cars. Making sure you won’t get stranded on your way in or out.”
That’s his way of dealing with things. Stay practical. Make sure everything he’s got control over will work out.
I guess that’s because that’s what he’s used to. Control what you can, hope the rest doesn’t mess things up.
I wish my brain worked like that too, but I can only try to distract myself until an uncomfortable situation is over and then deal with the fallout later.
My pheromones spike as I walk into the room where Mathew and Riley are changing.
Fuuuuck…
Mathew looks good all geared up. Sure, he looks good in his suits. He looks good in anything. But watching him get ready for the mission is doing things to my body that we really don’t have time for right now.
“Vera…” Derrick grumbles as he helps Riley adjust some straps that hold her weapons. “We’re trying to keep as many pheromones off everyone as possible. If you perfume like that, that would defeat the whole purpose of using pheromone masking products.”
“I know. I know.” Before I can say more, Mathew reaches out, grabs my jaw and gives me a hard kiss as he pulls me tightly against him, making me wrap my legs around his waist.
A happy sound rumbles in his chest and he lets me sense his eager pheromones. I’m clearly not the only one who’s turned on right now.
“Mathew…” Derrick sighs. “You know what, I’ll check in with Timothy and the teams and when I get back, we need to get ready to leave.”
