“How? Only the colonel knew, and he’s not talking.”
He took another drag of his cigarette. The colonel was being resilient. It wasn’t surprising. The man was a decorated war hero. He would most likely take his secrets to the grave, but everyone had a breaking point. He bet Payton was that breaking point. Though that woman was an airhead. The colonel wouldn’t spill his guts over that witless woman.
“I asked how, Wallace?” Jonas shook his arm, his body rattled and sent ash from his cigarette flying. Some landing on his shirt.
Wallace whipped his head around and slammed his right fist into Jonas’s face. “Don’t touch me.”
Jonas groaned as he touched his bleeding lip. Little shit. He was dusting the ash off his sleeve when his cell phone rang.
“Did you get the Intel I require?” his boss said as a way of greeting. Always to the point.
“No, he’s playing silent.”
“Break some bones; that always gets results,” his boss snapped then started grumbling about idiots and rent-a-cops.
He didn’t blink at his boss’s rants. The guy had a short fuse. It reminded him of a spoiled child when he didn’t get his way. Wailing and crying. Woe is me. Stupid high rank officials. Always thought the sun shone out of their ass.
“We’ll get it,” he defended. “I have a buddy that can get me a list of staff members—”
“Don’t bother,” his boss cut him off. “They won’t have the access Nick does. We need his codes.”
He was clueless as to why his boss needed codes or some location, and his boss wasn’t the giving type, so he never asked. “Jonas and I will check his house.” Maybe they’d get lucky and the colonel had left the codes or clues behind. The man couldn’t keep everything in his head. Even he needed to write stuff down from time to time.
“What should we do about the daughter?” Jonas asked.
“She’s a waste of time. She’s clueless as to what the old man was involved in.” Stupid dumb bitch. It had been a waste to ask her questions.
“Don’t underestimate her.” Their boss argued. “But leave her out of this for now. Get in the house, get results. Or else.”
“On it.” He hung up and took a final drag from his cigarette before flicking it out of the window.
Chapter 4
“We should have told Payton we were leaving,” Colin said, getting out of the car they’d parked in front of Nick’s house.
Alex stared at the house in front of him not bothering to answer. It had been a dick move leaving without a word, but the less Payton knew, the better. “If someone was trying to kill Nick, the further away from it she is, the better.”
“So you’re doing this to protect her?” Colin gave him a look that Alex didn’t like.
“Of course. Nick would expect me to keep his daughter safe.”
“Uh huh,” Colin chuckled not believing him.
“What?” he asked, going on the defensive. Colin couldn’t know how he felt about Payton. He’d gone out of his way since they were teenagers to keep his distance from her. He never brought her up in conversation. He barely treated her like she existed. It was another dick move, but it was the only thing he could think of to help keep his distance from her. If she hated him, she wouldn’t be attracted to him.
“Dude, come on, it’s me you’re talking to.” Colin stood there, waiting for him to say something.
“What’s your point?” Alex kept his focus on the house as they walked up so he didn’t have to look at Colin and give himself away. Colin would have made a hell of a Delta if he’d applied. The man was ruthless, cunning, and too damn perceptive for his own good.
“You’ve always been sweet on her,” Colin said as a fact.
“That’s not true.” He hadn’t allowed himself.
“You cover it up well by being a dick to her, but I saw through your bullshit even back when we were kids. You’ve always had the hots for her. Not that I can blame you. She is a looker.”
“Watch it,” Alex growled, finally turning to look at him, his fists balling at his side.
“Well, if you’re willing to let a fine woman like that go to waste, maybe I’ll take a shot. She did always like me better.” Colin elbowed him in the ribs.