Agent I1: Tristan [01] The D.I.R.E. Agency (22 page)
Read Agent I1: Tristan [01] The D.I.R.E. Agency Online
Authors: Joni Hahn
Tags: #Romance, #Science Fiction, #Suspense, #Adult
Aidan shook his head as he watched the doctor look over the copper and gold armbands on each of his forearms. “I’ll live.”
Tristan stood by Aidan and compared his single armband to the armbands covering both of Aidan’s forearms. “So, his system is based on the same idea but is tied into his central nervous system?”
Robinson nodded his blond head as he studied the display screen on Aidan’s left arm. “The gold in his blood helps the conductivity. The copper disburses the charge evenly.”
“So, what can he do what exactly – besides shock people?” Tristan snickered.
Aidan glared at him. “Asshole. I’m beginning to re-think saving your life all those years ago.”
“It was only because you saved my life that I agreed to help with Rachel in the first place.”
“And aren’t you glad I did?”
A contented grin appeared on his face. “Yep. She’s everything to me.”
“She’d better be.”
At first, Aidan had had a hard time adjusting to Tristan and his sister. He’d thought no man good enough for Rachel. She had a heart of gold and a giving nature like no one he knew.
However, he’d seen a change in her over the last few days. Finding out her father wasn’t her father at all, and their mother had set her up to marry the biggest asshole on the planet, had changed her.
Thank God Tristan had been there for her through it all. Aidan knew he could never choose a better man for her.
“Tristan,” Robinson said, “Aidan can power up anything that takes an electrical charge, big or small. He can also fry it.” He looked up at Aidan with a knowing grin. “One day, he’ll figure out he can shoot lightning bolts from his gloves, but don’t tell him I said that.”
Aidan gave Tristan a fist bump. “Hell yeah...”
Aidan held up his hands, each finger wrapped in thin, metal rings, the tips covered with titanium diodes. The black aluminum-titanium covering his hands contained
veins
that fed energy from his solid hydrogen cell through the high-voltage coil, to his fingertips. While his body could perform any of the functions Robinson mentioned, his gloves increased his powers a hundredfold.
“Monroe.” Mitchell turned around a laptop to face Aidan. “Here’s a photo of Cassandra Naylor. Is that her?”
Aidan stared at a photo of the blonde beauty. Why couldn’t his enemy’s daughter look like Quasimodo? No, Robert Naylor’s daughter had to be a fresh-faced beauty with eyes a vivid shade of violet-blue, and a mole below the corner of her left eye.
Aidan had a thing for women with a beauty mark on their face.
She had long legs like Rachel, her skin pale rather than tanned.
Too bad she was a Naylor. Her name alone destroyed any beauty she possessed.
“That’s her.”
Glancing back at the computer, Robinson turned to shut a compartment on Aidan’s armband. “Nice.”
Mitchell turned around the laptop. “She’ll be back, but I want her when and where we choose, not at her leisure.”
Robinson extended Aidan’s arms in front of him. “Flex your fingers and your wrists. Everything feel okay? Frequency too high?”
Aidan shook his head. “Other than the fact that I’m shocking everyone I touch, I’m fine. I knocked Cassandra Naylor to the floor.”
“Not to mention your sister.” Tristan glowered at him. “And me.”
Robinson opened the computer screen on Aidan’s right armband. “You’re not shocking me now, Aidan. You have to learn to control your blood flow during intense situations. I don’t want to lower the frequency. You’ll need the power.”
“Remember that during sex.” Tristan gave him a knowing grin.
Aidan stared at Tristan before shaking his head. Anger bubbled in his veins, teasing him to take it on. “Don’t even tell me that. I don’t want to kill you, after all.”
Laughing, Tristan sidestepped Aidan when Robinson motioned for him to take Aidan’s place on the bed. “Hey, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Donning his shirt again, Aidan plopped down in a chair and sat back on two legs. He wouldn’t mind testing out that theory on Cassandra Naylor. With a spitfire like that, things were bound to get intense in bed.
“Speaking of Cassandra Naylor…”
Mitchell gave him a raised brow. “Were we?”
Tristan and Robinson grinned as he replaced the Tesla-derived coil in Tristan’s armband.
Aidan glared at them. “We have Dar’s belongings, right?”
Mitchell said, “We’ve gone through his phone. He doesn’t save his calls or text messages.”
“Why don’t we send her a text from his phone, asking her to meet him somewhere?”
“The trick would be to sound like him,” Tristan said. “If she thought someone else had his phone, all bets would be off.” He looked down at the open compartment on his armband. “I’m sure she’s already suspicious that he hasn’t contacted her.”
Sighing, Aidan let the chair legs hit the floor. “I majored in asshole in high school. Where’s that phone, Mitchell?”
Tristan smiled at him. “I thought that was a natural talent.”
He pressed the power button on the smartphone. “For a quiet man, you sure have been zinging out one-liners since you got engaged.”
Tristan raised his brows. “Intense situations, remember?”
Aidan lowered the phone to glare at Tristan. “I swear, Jacobs…”
“Bring it, man.” Tristan watched Robinson work. “It would take you and every army on earth to keep me away from Rachel.”
He couldn’t find fault in Tristan, knowing how much he loved her. The fact that he worked for D.I.R.E. gnawed at his gut, but considering who her father was, Aidan felt comfortable knowing Tristan would be around to look after her.
Mitchell came to study Robinson’s work. “Tristan, I take it Rachel’s finally resting?”
Tristan nodded. “Yeah, she finally accepted a sleeping pill from one of the doctors. She’s sleeping in the room next door. I offered to take her home for a while, but she knew I needed to stay close.”
Pressing the voice-texting app, Aidan held up Dar’s phone to his mouth. “Meet me at Willie’s Bar at two o’clock. Alone.”
Staring at the phone, he waited for a response. When none came after three minutes, he stared at Mitchell, then Tristan. “She’s suspicious.”
Mitchell crossed his arms over his chest. “If she’s smart, she would be.”
Ding.
Call me
.
Aidan spoke into the phone. “Can’t. Not safe.”
Mitchell and Tristan stared at him.
Ding.
Wear the shirt I bought you for your birthday
.
Aidan winced.
Tristan hopped down from the bed. “What did she say?”
“Wear the shirt I bought you for your birthday.”
Mitchell gave a cocked brow. “She’s definitely Bobby’s daughter.”
Aidan held up the phone to his mouth again. “I didn’t bring it.”
“Okay, Tristan,” Robinson said, “I want you to cloak and teleport separately.”
While Tristan tested his powers, Aidan waited for Cassandra to respond. What if the shirt was one of Dar’s favorites? What if she didn’t even buy him a shirt for his birthday?
Dammit. This was a bad idea.
Ding.
C u there
.
Luv u
.
He pulled back his head. Luv u? For some reason, he never pictured the Naylor family using the L word. Didn’t they walk around with loaded guns and cigarettes hanging out of their mouths, like in the movies?
Her use of those words made him see Cassandra Naylor in a different light. She was a woman that loved her brother, just like Rachel loved him. Hell, she was Rachel’s
sister
. They had to be alike to some extent.
He shook his head as if to clear it. Hell, what was he saying? She was an experienced agent. Had been sired by
the
Robert Naylor, for gripes sake.
The Naylors were the enemy.
He needed to keep her on that side of the line.
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