“You don’t have to ask me twice,” he states, before gently teasing my mouth open with his tongue and softly caressing my tongue with his, exploring my mouth like it has been weeks, months, years since our last kiss. I sigh into his mouth as we pull back and just breathe each other in.
I feel safe again. With Brax by my side, I’m not afraid of anything. I’m not scared of Harry Brimstone and what he might do with Brightlight, or even of the stranger who broke into my home and tried to kill me. Right now, in this room, I have everything I ever need.
5
Elle has been in a general ward for just over three days now. The doctors are amazed at her recovery, and how well she is doing with her breathing rehab, and are talking about releasing her at the end of the week. Just two days and I can have Elle home with me.
While she has her therapy session this morning, I’m heading home to make sure the apartment is ready for her and to meet up with Shay and Devon. While I’m grabbing some coffees, I feel my phone buzz on my hip.
I pull it up to my ear. “Brax.”
“Brax, it’s me. How’s Elle doing?”
“Hey, boss. She’s really good. Looking at being discharged in a few days.”
“That’s good news. How are things between you two?”
“Really good. We’ve still got to talk about things, but we’re good, I think. I was gonna call you, actually. I’ve taken down the bugs in the apartment. We don’t need them anymore,” I state.
“Brax,” he says, his voice full of warning.
“No. There is no discussion on this. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere. There is no need for HQ to listen in anymore!” I’m being defiant now.
He pauses for a moment. “Okay, but you have to stay alert, Brax. And I’m glad she’s on the mend. I really am. Now for the reason I’m calling. I don’t know if you’re going to like what I’m about to tell you.”
“Go on…”
“I called to tell you that I had to let Gibbons go. He tried to hack into some secure information I had set up to catch him out. We traced some calls between him and Harry Brimstone starting a few months ago with the last one being last Saturday.”
“I f**king knew it!”
“Yeah, you picked it. I don’t know how much information he forwarded onto Harry, but I couldn’t take the risk anymore. You understand?” he drawls.
This changes things. “Of course, although I’m surprised you didn’t put him out on his ass when we first worked it out.”
“Yeah, well there is always a reason why we do things, Brax. I wanted to make sure he was compromised, then build up some evidence against him as leverage,” he explains.
“So where to from here?” Suddenly, I have a bad feeling about all of this. We have another person to worry about.
“I’ve put a trace on his calls and emails. When, and if, he contacts Brimstone again, we’ll know about it, but I want you to brief Shay about these latest developments. Gibbons received a fairly good incentive to cross me, and he might become desperate now that he’s lost access to his bargaining tools.”
“Devon’s sticking around for a while. I think he should go with Shay too.”
“That’s your call, Brax. You know whether he’s worth anything to us.”
“Yeah, he is, and I’ll back him 100%.”
“Good, because it’s on you.”
“Would Gibbons come after Elle himself?” I hope like hell he is smart enough to know how idiotic that would be.
“I don’t know, Brax. I haven’t worked out his angle, yet. Right now he’s motivated by money, but I want Shay and Devon to stay on Brimstone. It means they’ll have to go to LA, but with Elle in the hospital right now and you not leaving her side, I think it is now or never,” he explains.
“I agree. It’s not like Elle and I will be going anywhere over the next week or two, apart from visits to the hospital for check-ups.”
“Okay. Has there been any movement in or around the apartment?”
“Nope, but I’m not going to risk it. Whoever the shooter was, he failed, so I know he’ll be back. I just don’t know when or how. I need to stay one step ahead.” I’m determined to hunt down the f**ker.
“And I’ll help in any way I can. As far as I’m concerned, the job is on-going so keep me updated,” he says before ending the call.
I park my car and head inside the building. Shay and Devon have done an awesome job of cleaning the place up.
When I walk through the door, Shay and Devon are sitting in the living room. Devon has been crashing on Elle’s couch since we arrived, but he’ll be moving to Shay’s place when Elle is discharged. I nod my head at them as I walk in, putting the coffees down on the table in front of them.
“The boss just called. Gibbons has been cut loose,” I state as I take a seat on the couch.
“Fucking hell! Where is he now? Do we know?” Shay asks, his frown deepening.
“Nope. HQ are tracking his movements and calls, but the boss wanted us to know in case he shows his face around here. He’s a bit of a loose cannon right now, apparently. He was paid a lot of money to provide information about the job to Brimstone, and now he can’t do that anymore, so the money has dried up. We have no way of knowing what he’s going to do,” I tell them.
“What’s this Harry Brimstone capable of?” Devon asks as he picks up one of the cardboard coffee cups.
“Brimstone wants Brightlight all to himself. He’s got balls and knows that the only way to get Elle’s share in the company is to enact the incapacitation clause of the constitution.”
Shay interrupts me. “We need him to slip up before they come after her again.”
“Yup. That’s why the boss wants you two to go to LA. You need to work on getting someone close to Harry to flip.” It’s definitely not the most ideal situation, but it is something we need to do.
“Okay,” they both reply without hesitation.
“Fly out when?” Devon asks us.
“Tomorrow. The sooner the better. But no flying. You have to drive. It’s untraceable.”
Shay stands up and walks over to the kitchen counter where my laptop is kept. “I’ll work out the quickest route to get there. We’ll try to get in and out as quick as possible. I’m not sure about leaving you behind without backup though, Brax.”