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He cupped her face between his palms. “I need you, babe. Yes, I want a family but family is how we choose to define it. In the meantime, we’ll be the favorite aunt and uncle to my nieces and nephews.” Seth smiled. “We can spoil them and send them home.”
She stared. “You have nieces and nephews?”
“So many. My brothers have four kids each. It’s total chaos at Christmas and a ton of fun.”
“Sounds exciting.”
“Oh, it is. Nothing beats hearing the kids squeal with excitement as they rip paper from boxes.” He brushed Teagan’s mouth with his, then forced himself to release her. “Go. Sleep well, love. If you need me, come to me.”
Soon, she closed the door behind her, and Seth spent several minutes talking himself out of knocking on her door to ask for her company a while longer. He was such a sap. If his friends knew how gone he was on Teagan, they’d tease him mercilessly.
He snorted. Who was he kidding? They already knew the truth. He couldn’t hide how he felt about the love of his life. His reprieve from the team’s teasing would end when this mission was over.
Seth turned out the lights in the sitting room and walked to the French doors leading to the balcony. Standing to the side of the frame, he peered out to the street below. Even at this late hour, traffic continued to move along Washington Street.
An hour into his shift, his phone vibrated. Seth glanced at the readout. Zane. He read the message and gripped the phone sotight the plastic creaked. The Fortress tech and communications expert had located footage from traffic cams around Crockett Park showing Russ King and Bruno Salitto near that location around the time of the murder. Not definitive proof but a good sign of who killed Pico. Now all he had to do was find the proof to put those two behind bars.
Seth frowned. Had to find them first. If he was right about King and Salitto being on the other assassination team, they were somewhere close.
He considered the best way to handle King and his team. After discarding several options, his best choice came down to one idea. He didn’t like the option. It was risky. At the moment, though, he couldn’t think of another way to do this. Once he had the name of the target and time of the hit, Seth would talk to Iona. For his plan to work, he’d have to have Artemis’ help.
Two hours later, he received a text from an unknown number.William Martin 2 pm Capital Hotel.
Seth stared, a ball of ice forming in his stomach. Peters and Richardson were going after President Martin? Why? Did that mean Ivan Reynolds was the second target?
He blew out a breath and sent a text to Maddox and Burnett.Tell the feds Martin is one target.
Seconds later, Maddox called. “When and where?” he demanded.
“Capital Hotel, 2:00 p.m. tomorrow.”
“How did you get the information?”
“Text from an unknown number. Probably a burner phone.”
A growl from the Fortress CEO. “Could be a setup.”
“Can’t take the chance it’s not. Unless I’m totally off base, Peters will have a secondary assassin in place, ready to complete the job if we fail.”
“Is this supposed to be an indoor or outdoor event?”
“No clue.” He sighed. “I should have looked it up online. Sorry.”
“We’ll figure it out. Whichever it is, we’ll have Martin’s people change the location and tighten security further. How do you want to handle this?”
“I’m working on a plan. I need Artemis to pull it off, though.”
“I’m listening.”
Seth laid out the plan in as much detail as he had. “Now that I know the target, I’ll contact Iona.”
Maddox was silent a beat, then sighed. “I’m afraid you’re right. Peters and Richardson most likely have a smaller team in place to either finish the job or take your team out.”
“They’ll be able to claim the second team were heroes, killing the assassins and protecting innocent lives while ridding themselves of a dangerous loose end.”
“Will you need Phantom?”
“I think so.”