I raised my middle finger in his direction, earning a chuckle from my agents, but my gaze never left Sloane.
“The girls came by for lunch and I mentioned how I hadn’t seen where you worked.” She fiddled with the hem of her sweater. “If you’re too busy, we can come back later.”
“Stay.” I climbed through the ropes and jumped off the platform. Swiping a towel from the bench, I wiped the sweat from my face, then closed the distance between us. Not giving a damn where we were or who saw, I stole a chaste kiss when I reached her. “The team was just helping me work something out.”
“With their fists?”
Waverly joined us. “Sometimes you have to blow off a little steam.”
Sloane reached out, linking our fingers together. “What happened?” My girl was intuitive.
“Let me get changed and I’ll explain everything.” Isqueezed her hand, then turned for the locker room when Lanie threw a wrench in my plan.
“So that’s it? Sloane shows up and the rest of us lose the opportunity to take down the great Duncan Palmer?”
Reversing course, I called out as I heaved myself back into the ring, “Give me ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes for what?”
Waverly answered before I could, “Just watch, my soon-to-be sister. And try not to drool.”
It took seventeen minutes instead of the projected ten because Lanie was scrappy as fuck. Being physically smaller than the rest of the team didn’t mean she was the weakest. Quite the opposite. She used her stature to her advantage, giving me the heftiest run for my money. But in the end, they all failed to bring me down.
We gathered in the conference room once the five of us were showered and changed. Everyone was seated around the large wooden table, including Nelson, Sammy, and Jett, who’d arrived after school let out. The only two people missing from our ragtag group were Finn and Shayne, though I knew Waverly would bring them both up to speed.
“Not that we don’t enjoy an extra training session,” Noah started.
“Or getting our asses handed to us,” Keaton continued.
“But what the hell happened to bring it on?” Koen finished.
I looked around at the different faces in the room. What started as a simple friendship between Waverly and I had grown into an unlikely family. We expanded over the years,with each addition making our unit stronger, more cohesive. They all meant something to me, none more than the woman by my side.
Cradling her cheek in my palm, I spoke only to her, even though everyone else was clearly listening. I gentled my words, giving her the truth, while controlling the delivery of the narrative. It was the only way to lessen the sting of what we had discovered.
“You were shot?” she whispered.
“Yeah, Sunshine. Right here.” I laid my hand over the spot.
“Who would do this?”
“That’s what we have to figure out. Nelson.”
“Sir?” He sat forward.
“When you were pulling the records, was there any mention of evidence being stored somewhere?”
“Yes. Anything having to do with the investigation was handed over to Director Ashland at his request. Well, he would have been deputy director then.”
“What are you thinking, Duncan?” Waverly eyed me from across the table.
“We need that bullet.”
“You honestly believe we’ll be able to get anything from an almost nine-year-old bullet?”
“Technology has only gotten better, RAC Mitchell,” Nelson interjected.
She dipped her head. “I’ll make the call.”