Edge of Reason (EDGE Security Series Book 2) (9 page)

A grin lit Rhys’s face as he left the kitchen, and Cat had to follow that smile. In the living room, Dani stood with part of a deck of cards in one hand and the other part all over the room. A bulletin board had been set up on a chair. “Show me again,” Dani demanded.

“You’ve created a monster, Rhys,” Jake said with a laugh. He lazed on the couch watching his girlfriend. “We’re going to have a mess of cards in here until she figures it out.”

Rhys laughed and took the cards Dani offered him. “The trick is to hold them lightly. You’re not throwing them, they’re flying out of your hands when you flick your wrist.” He threw a card in a quick motion and it thunked into the bulletin board edgewise and stuck there, quivering slightly.

“Holy crap,” Cat said. “Should we call you Gambit instead?”

Rhys scowled while Jake laughed. “It was close,” Jake said. “But Lucky had already stuck.”

She spent the next few minutes alongside Dani, trying to get a card even close to the board.
 

“Let me show you,” Rhys said and stepped in behind her, placing one arm alongside hers, the front of his body almost, but not quite, touching her back. She bit her lip as tension tightened her muscles.
 

“Relax,” Rhys said in her ear. She fought the shiver that raced through her at the sound of his low voice so close. She swallowed, conscious of Jake and Dani in the room. She went to flick the card just to get it done, but Rhys’s hand enclosed hers, stopping her.
 

“Easy,” he said, his voice lower still. She glanced at him. That was a mistake. His eyes glowed with amusement. Her heart skipped a beat. He looked down at their joined hands and her gaze followed.
 

“Like this,” he said. He curled their combined hands toward them and then snapped them out.
 

The card shot from her fingers and straight to the board. It didn’t stick, but it had flown true. All thought of Rhys standing too close vanished. “Cool!” She immediately took another card.
 

Rhys stepped away from her, a small smile on his face as he watched her fling two more cards. “Addictive, isn’t it?”

Jake groaned. “Seriously, Lucky. Now you’ve got both of them making a mess.”

Rhys just laughed. “I think the gumbo’s ready. Let’s eat.”

After a few more cards, only one of which flew straight, Cat filed into the kitchen after the others and filled her dish with rice, then layered the rich gumbo on top. No one spoke much through the first bowls, but eventually Cat’s curiosity got the better of her.
 

“Your grandmother taught you well,” Cat said. “Did she live in New Orleans with you?”
 

Rhys averted his gaze. “Yes.”

He didn’t elaborate and Cat could tell by his face that the woman had meant a lot to him. “You must miss her.”

Jake stood up. “I’m getting a beer. Any takers?”

“I’d love one,” Dani said, standing too. “Cat?”

Cat wasn’t fooled. Jake and Dani were trying to redirect the conversation. She arched an eyebrow at them. “I’m on call and so is Rhys.” Dani shook her head at Cat as she and Jake went into the kitchen.
 

Cat turned to Rhys. “I’m sorry if I’m prying. It’s just that your grandmother seems to have had a big influence on you. She must have been a wonderful woman.”

Rhys’s lips twisted in a half-smile. “She was. And my life isn’t a secret, I just don’t talk about it much.” He shrugged. “I was raised by my grand-mère. When she died, I was on my own until I joined the Navy at seventeen.”

Cat couldn’t comprehend such a life. Her family was big, boisterous, and too much in her business at times, but she couldn’t imagine being without them.
 

His word choice struck her. “What do you mean, on your own?”

Rhys toyed with his spoon. “Foster care sucks when you’re sixteen. I spent that year on the street instead.”

She frowned, trying to picture the confident, skilled operator before her as a street kid.
 

“Stop it,” Rhys said.

She sat back. “What?”

“Stop pitying me,” he said. “I love my life and I turned out fine. I don’t need anyone to look down on me.” He grabbed his bowl and followed Jake and Dani into the kitchen.

“Nice work, Cat,” she muttered. “Alienate him, just as he’s beginning to trust you.” She stood too. She’d have to talk to him.
 

Her phone vibrated from her back pocket. She checked it: a text from E.D.G.E. Her team had been called in.

“Rhys?” she called.

“I got the message,” he said, coming back to the table with his phone in hand. “Let me get my stuff. You can drive.”

Cat gripped the steering wheel too hard as she drove back to E.D.G.E. HQ. Rhys sat silent and still beside her. The awkwardness was her fault. She couldn’t let it continue.

“I’m sorry,” Cat said. “I—”

“Don’t worry about it,” Rhys said. “It’s nothing.”

But it wasn’t—she could tell by the tone of his voice and the way he stared straight ahead. She took a breath and tried again.

“I’ve got a big family. Three older brothers, one helo pilot, one doctor, and one lawyer. Two of them in the military. My Dad’s a retired Colonel—”

“Why are you telling me this? To rub in the fact that you’ve got a family?”

“And a busybody, stay-at-home mom.”

Rhys snorted. “You really suck at making people feel better about their lives.”

She blew out a long breath. “I’m telling you so you realize that yes, I did feel sorry for you. I come from a crazy family. But we love and mostly support each other.”

“Mostly?”

She waved a hand. “Long story and not the point.”

He arched an eyebrow. “There is one?”

“There would be if you’d let me finish.”

“Please,” he said. “I’m your captive audience.” He waved at the car. “Literally.”

She sighed. “I’m making a mess of this, but I wanted to let you know why I felt sorry for you.” She shook her head. “Not you, but your situation. I can’t imagine not having my family behind me. So while I have no understanding of what you went through, I am here if you need anything. The team and I are your family now.”
 

The silence from Rhys made her gut tighten. Had she blown it again? Maybe she should have just let it drop. “Did I go too far?”

“No. It’s good.” Rhys’s voice came out gruff. “We’re good.” Then he gave her a smile. “Thank god you didn’t become a counsellor though. You suck at it.”

She laughed.
 

They drove in silence for a bit before she spoke again. “What was it like?” she asked quietly. “When I was sixteen, my biggest worry was being too tall to get a date. It seems self-indulgent now.”

He didn’t say anything for a moment. When he started to speak, it was slow—as if he weighed his words before choosing them.

“I slept in the backroom of a pool hall. The owner liked my cooking, so I’d help out on weekends, cooking or hustling the customers.”

She raised her eyebrows in question.

“I’m very good at poker and pool,” he answered. “I gave the owner eighty percent of my winnings.”

“Eighty?”

“Room and board. It was crappy, but better than joining a gang.” His lips twisted and he stared straight ahead.
 

She gripped the steering wheel, thinking about what he’d been through as a teenager. The silence soothed her for a moment before she spoke again, needing to lighten the air between them. “Just so you know, after tasting that gumbo, you might be the official chef of the team. Dani and Jake have tried hosting all of us over the holidays and their cooking is only one step above poisoning.”

He looked at her quizzically. “I thought you said you had a big family?”

She realized her mistake too late. “I do,” she said in a light tone. “Sometimes it’s just easier to spend the holidays here.”

“How come?”

Why had she started this heart to heart? But if he’d shared with her, then she felt she had to share in return.

She sighed softly. “Expectations. I’ve let my family down. My father and brothers think I’ve sold out by working at a civilian company after all the hard work I put into my Army career.”

“And your mother?”
 

Cat could feel her face heat. “My mom wants to know why I’m not married.”
Or even dating.

Rhys laughed. And laughed some more. She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel while he muffled more chuckles. “You done now?”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s just so…” He laughed again.

“Enough, Rhys. Don’t make me regret telling you.”
 

He sobered. “I’m sorry, Cat.” His hand reached out and patted her knee. Tingles shot through her body and she stiffened. He withdrew his hand.

“I’m sorry,” he said again. “I didn’t mean to offend you. It’s just so crazy. I honestly can’t imagine how your family could be disappointed with you. You’re an amazing woman.”

Cat was glad of the darkness as her face heated again. “Thanks. Maybe you should come for the next family dinner and tell them that.” She swallowed hard. Had she really just invited him to meet her family? She stopped herself from squirming in her seat. “I meant that as a joke. Well…not a joke. Of course, you could come for dinner. I meant that I wasn’t asking you because I like you. I mean I like you as a friend, just not…oh, crap.” If she could bang her head on the steering wheel and still drive safely she would.

Rhys laughed again. “You seriously suck at people skills, don’t you?”

She sighed. “It’s my worst trait. And it’s why…”

“Why what?”

She’d already made a fool of herself, so why not tell him everything? He’d figure it out sooner or later. “It’s why I don’t have many dates,” she said. Or any, if she was honest. But Rhys didn’t need to know that. “I’m a bit too direct for most men. My mother thinks I need to soften myself somehow.”

“It’s not your directness, chère,” he said softly. “It’s because you’ve been dating losers.”
 

She couldn’t really argue with that. Liam had definitely been a loser, and so had her long-term boyfriends before that. She gave a little self-deprecating laugh. “You might be right. I probably just need to stay away from men in general.”

“Not all men, chère. Not all.”

She didn’t touch that, and just focused on driving to the briefing. She needed her head in the game, not distraction from the tall, gorgeous, smooth-as-silk man beside her. Besides, he wasn’t offering her anything.
 

Was he?
 

Cat sat at the conference table less than twenty minutes later. Rhys took a seat across from her, while Blackwell worked on a laptop. Behind him on the virtual screen were the same photos of the senator’s son, Dr. Hutchins, and the other missing man, Dr. Botman. Marc and Zach came in within minutes.

“What do we have, sir?” she asked.

“This hit the internet two hours ago.”

A few quick hand movements and Blackwell replaced the photos with a grainy video. Cat grimaced, since she knew where this would lead. Men dressed in black turbans, fatigues, and combat boots held rifles and crowded around a prisoner. Dr. Botman knelt on the ground, his hands tied behind his back, one eye swollen and his gray beard darkened with blood. He swayed with his eyes closed, as if unaware of what was happening. One man stood in front of the others, beside Botman.

Blackwell stopped the video and pointed to the man Cat had noticed. “That is Jameel Ichanga, one of Abubakar Shekau’s lieutenants. He runs the Boko Haram in this region.” He flicked his fingers and the video played again.
 

Ichanga began to speak in broken English. “The West and its people are evil. Allah says we must kill infidels…” The man continued on for two minutes about the evils of the West, while the prisoner continued to sway where he knelt. Cat’s stomach twisted at what was coming. “Allahu Akbar,” the man said. Another man behind the prisoner drew a glittering machete. Ichanga nodded at him.
 

Cat forced herself to watch as the man swung the machete and took the prisoner’s head.
 

She took a deep cleansing breath, let it out, and forced the anger into a calm focus.
 

“Dr. Hutchins?” Cat asked.

Blackwell nodded. “As far as we know, the senator’s son is still alive and being held at Ichanga’s base of operations. We need to extract him before the press gets hold of this news.”

“Is there a particular reason, sir?” Rhys asked.

Blackwell grimaced as if he tasted something sour. “Apparently, the senator—a Democrat—is against sending more troops overseas, and this incident would make his stance hypocritical. He wants us to save his son, but he doesn’t want anyone to know anything about it.”

“I’m fine with working under the radar,” Rhys said, “but that’s rather cold on the senator’s part.”

“It doesn’t matter why we’re getting him out,” Cat said. “Just that we do.”

Rhys nodded. “Agreed.”

Blackwell continued his brief. “We’ve arranged transport tomorrow morning at 0500 hours to Germany, and from there to a new staging area in Niger. A base more equipped to handle our needs.”

“The drone airbase near Diffa and Lake Chad?” Cat asked.
 

Blackwell enlarged the map of Niger and pointed to a location north of where the Yobe River became the border between Niger and Nigeria. “Yes, it’s right across the border from the heart of the Boko Haram’s territory. You’ll have full access to weapons and supplies. The base CO knows you’re coming and will brief you on what intel they have.”
 

She straightened her fingers, which had clenched into fists. “Is Colonel Harris still working with the drones there?” She’d spent a few weeks stationed at this particular base the previous year for a mission. Colonel Harris had had a hate-on for her from the start.
 

She felt the focus of her team and Blackwell’s gaze as he answered. “Actually, he’s the base CO now. Is there a problem, Valkyrie?”

Crap. This would make things awkward, but she had a mission and would work around Harris and his old-fashioned prejudices. “No, sir. I’ve had a few run-ins with him, that’s all. Nothing I can’t handle.”