“Yes. Should I make enough for all of us? Where’s Remi?”
“School. And if you don’t mind, I’ll cook dinner.”
That sounded fair, so Brannigan set about getting salmon defrosting in the microwave. Since that would take a few minutes, he took the Brussels sprouts to the table to chop and prep with every intention of subtly pumping these two for information. “You look tired, Aiden.”
Aiden accepted the coffee from Ivan with a hum of pleasure and didn’t answer until he’d swallowed a mouthful with a happy sigh. “Well, Wednesday was sort of a shitstorm—”
Brannigan nodded, as that was a universal truth in any business. Wednesday was always a shitstorm.
“—and Thursday was in some sort of competition with Wednesday, and I was high on ginseng and coffee when I met you. I’m frankly surprised I’m awake right now. What did I miss?”
“Not much,” Ivan assured him with a shrug. He pulled out a chair to join them at the table. “We’ve been buying supplies most of the morning. After I took Remi to school, I did some surveillance. No one’s figured out where Brannigan is yet.”
He was relieved to hear it. “Well, you did miss a bit. Kyou and I agreed to date last night.”
Aiden swallowed more coffee, staring at him hard over the rim. “I’m sorry, I can’t hear out of my left eye like I used to. I thought you said you and Kyou are now dating.”
Clearly, the man had been too out of it to hear them either arguing or having sex this morning. “You heard correctly.”
“Fucking finally.” Aiden sat back, a man wholly satisfied with life. Then he snapped his fingers at Ivan. “Pay up.”
Brannigan paused mid-slice and looked between the two of them. What was this?
Ivan protested with spread hands. “Milij, bet was that he’d seduce, not start dating.”
With a question on his face, Aiden looked at Brannigan, eyebrows arched.
“This morning,” Brannigan said, well able to decipher that expression.
Satisfied, Aiden aimed a pointed smile at his husband. “Pay up.”
Disgruntled (but not really, there was a smile lurking under the frown), Ivan pulled out his wallet and slapped twenty dollars in front of his smirking husband. “Why did I bet against you?”
“I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe you’re a glutton for punishment. You should know better by now.” Sensing Brannigan’s curiosity, Aiden slid the money toward himself and explained, “I could tell by the way you looked at Kyou that you were itching to get your hands on him. I bet Ivan you’d seduce him within forty-eight hours. Thank you for not disappointing me.”
Brannigan snorted, shaking his head. Was he really that obvious? The answer didn’t bother him much. “You’re welcome. I guess.” He went back to slicing up Brussels sprouts. “Ivan, you said you have most of the supplies? Then are we waiting on anything?”
“Just on Kyou’s hacking, I think. You’ve warned people off from being in Roxbury tomorrow?”
“Yeah, spent the morning doing that.” Brannigan spared him a glance. “Still think last night’s plan will work?”
“Absolutely.”
Kyou stood from his chair and made his way toward them, Brannigan’s phone now lax at his side. Phone call was apparently over. “I’ve got my end ready to go. I just have to push a button, basically. And you two did not bet on us.”
Ivan shrugged, no defense on his lips. “You should not be so obvious.”
“Says the man that didn’t think it would happen,” Kyou shot back. He did, however, close in on Brannigan’s side and let his hand graze the back of Brannigan’s unstyled hair.
“Njet,” Ivan said, mischief dancing in those grey eyes. “We all knew it would happen. I just thought it would take longer than two days.”
Kyou sighed, apparently done with this conversation. “When the other two get back, let’s walk through—”
The garage door opened again, admitting Ari and Carter. Neither of them had anything in their hands, so Brannigan assumed they’d left it all in the car.
“Speak of the devil.” Kyou turned towards them but didn’t remove his hand from Brannigan’s shoulder. “Got everything?”
“We did,” Ari confirmed. He glanced about the table, taking them all in. “We’re all here, good. So, good news is, we have all the ordnance we could possibly need.”
Brannigan winced. Whenever someone started with ‘good news is,’ it meant there was bad news to report as well. “Do I want to ask what the bad news is?”
“We may have swung by Roxbury and caught sight of Ghostshot talking to one of the O’Conners.” Carter grimaced. “I’ve seen the man once, so pretty sure it was him.”
Brannigan’s voice was a touch faint. “So, bad news is that the assassin after me is in the city. Fantastic.”
13
Kyou
Kyou sat at the table, his hand in Brannigan’s, feeling a little nauseous. Probably stress. He wasn’t sure if he could actually eat the lunch that was now baking in the oven. The idea of someone as good as Ghostshot coming after Brannigan twisted his guts into an origami knot.
What helped him remain calm was the very capable men sitting at the table with him. Ivan had that gleam in his eye promising mayhem, Carter was level-headed as always, Ari was already planning how to deal with Ghostshot. There was nothing that this team couldn’t accomplish. They’d proven that in the almost two years they’d been together. Kyou looked at them and reminded himself to breathe.
Brannigan’s fingers were tight on his as the businessman asked, “If Ghostshot is already here, does that mean the timetable for taking down the O’Conners just moved up?”
“That’s the most sensible approach to this,” Carter agreed, stroking at his chin idly. You could practically see the wheels turning in his mind as he considered time and logistics. “After all, if the source of the hit dies, Ghostshot will drop it. No gain for him.”
“Are we prepped enough to take on the O’Conners tonight?” Brannigan’s brows were creased in a growing frown.
“Njet, not really,” Ivan said, but there was a bright, impish grin on his face. “But that just makes it more fun.”
Kyou shot him a quelling look. It bounced right off, like it had hit a force field. “Fun level aside, how much is left to do to make this feasible? Is this something where we can really buckle down, focus, and be ready by nightfall?”
Carter frowned but didn’t immediately answer.
With a look at his fiancé, Ari offered, “I can buy us a bit more time. I have an idea of where Ghostshot would set up or at least start looking for Brannigan.”
Brannigan’s eyes threatened to bug right out of his head. “You want to assassinate the assassin?”
“It’s like the ultimate version of tag,” Ari explained, and his smile was eerily reminiscent of Ivan’s when contemplating something he really, really shouldn’t do but would enjoy regardless. “Sniping the sniper. Great fun.”
Ivan bounced in his seat, practically luminescent. “Ooh, ooh, can I play too? I promise to share!”