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Like Peters had to worry about anyone standing in front of him. Seth had seen the other militia members step aside the moment Peters and Richardson entered the cafeteria. “Good idea.”
He and Teagan followed Peters from the headquarters building to the cafeteria. Once Peters had taken his seat, Jillian hurried to his table carrying a tray loaded with choice selections of food and beverages.
From the table filled with the rest of Seth’s teammates, Marsh watched the interaction between Jillian and Peters, eyes glittering with fury.
While he and Teagan went through the food line to make their selections, Seth kept tabs on the pair as well. Like Marsh, he didn’t like what he saw. As Peters spoke to the girl, he found excuses to touch Jillian. Each stroke or hold led to flinches and loss of color on Jillian’s face. When Peters clamped a hand around the girl’s wrist, Marsh surged to his feet.
“Trouble,” he murmured to Teagan, and left his tray to intercept his teammate. Although he understood how Marsh felt, they needed to be careful about how they dealt with the militia leader. They couldn’t afford to make an enemy of Peters and Richardson.
Seth reached the pair first with Marsh two steps behind. “Jillian, do you mind giving me a minute with Mr. Peters?”
“No, sir.”
Peters frowned. “Now see here,” he began as Marsh nudged Jillian back toward the team’s table.
“You mentioned a busy day tomorrow, Mr. Peters,” Seth said, shifting to block the soldier’s view of Jillian and Marsh. “Are you planning to leave the camp for any reason?”
The leader’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”
He waited a beat, then said, “If you leave the premises, we need to create security plans to keep you safe while you travel, plus another set of plans for every place you visit.” He leaned closer and dropped his voice. “Our job is to keep you safe, Mr. Peters. If you leave camp, we need to know the locations in order to determine if we need the full team or not. You brought us into The Brotherhood for this purpose. Help us do our jobs to the best of our ability, sir. Your life might depend on it.”
Peters looked thoughtful. “Fair enough, Dixon. I should have given you my agenda for tomorrow. I’ll remedy that immediately after my meal. No worries, though. I intend to stay in Haven.”
“Thank you, sir.” Seth turned to see Teagan at the table with their teammates. She’d finished selecting food for him and set his meal in front of the empty chair beside hers. Marsh and Jillian were nowhere in sight.
Excellent. At least Seth had distracted Peters from his dogged pursuit of Jillian. Disgust filled him. She was just a kid, and anyone with eyes knew she didn’t want to be the object of Peters’ interest.
He dropped into the chair beside Teagan. “Thanks for taking care of dinner for me.”
“No problem. How did you distract him?”
“Asked him if he was leaving the compound tomorrow so his security detail would be prepared for every contingency.”
“Nice.”
“Where did Marsh go with Jillian?”
“Outside. He’s having dinner with her in case Peters looks for her.”
“Good. I don’t know how long the distraction will hold.” He leaned close to Teagan, his mouth brushing her ear as though whispering sweet nothings. “She needs to stay out of sight as much as possible until we can get her out of here.”
She glanced at him, her mouth curving into a sultry smile that hit him in the gut. Holy smoke. She was dangerous to any man who was the object of her attention. “If she’s willing to leave,” she whispered, her lips brushing against his jaw. “If she’s an adult, we can’t force her to go.”
For a few seconds, his temper spiked, thinking of the other men who might be the recipient of Teagan’s smile. Then he mentally kicked his own backside and yanked himself back on task. No matter what happened between him and Teagan, she had a job to do with Artemis. He couldn’t interfere because he wanted those smiles for himself. This was her job, and from what he’d seen, she was excellent at her work. He didn’t have the right to interfere with the methods Artemis used to complete their missions.
But he wanted to interfere. Bad.
Head in the game, Dixon, he reminded himself. This wasn’t the time to get lost in his own head. They were in the middle of the enemy camp and he’d made more than one person angry today.
Seth kissed Teagan briefly. “We’ll have to be persuasive.” Jillian’s life might depend on it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
AFTER THEY FINISHEDtheir meal, Teagan and Seth led the rest of the team from the cafeteria. She scanned the area as they approached the center of the compound.
Teagan nudged Seth with her elbow and inclined her head toward the bench nestled beneath the shadows of a large oak tree where Marsh and Jillian sat, whispering.
“Spread out and walk through camp,” Seth said to Knight, Bowen, Noah, and Violet. “Teagan and I will walk the perimeter in a few minutes. Note problems we should address tomorrow morning with the guards and enforcers.”