Page 5 of Maximus (Gold Team #4)

“Seriously, brother, you slept in the car?” Brooks chuckled.

“We’re headed to Tifton, Georgia,” I said instead of confirming what I’d just explained to him. “I need you to find us a hotel. Two rooms with an adjoining door.”

“Copy that.”

“Why the hell aren’t you just bringing her up here? Zane secured a safehouse.”

Now that was the million dollar question, the one I’d pondered for hours last night.

Because she’s trying her best to be a good mother.

A safehouse was the easiest and smartest choice, but I couldn’t force her to do it.

I mean, physically I could, but the raw determination I saw when she told me she wasn’t going to lie to her boss or her boys, that hit me square in the gut.

I’d expected the lies to roll off her tongue easily.

I’d expected her to not care that she was being dishonest with her boss—people call out sick when they’re really not all of the time.

But Eva had been adamant she wouldn’t do it.

“Because she has two boys. And I’m sure you’ve read the report from Tex so you know what they’ve been through. Eva doesn’t want them scared again. This way, the kids get a vacation, and they’ll have no clue they’re really on the run.”

“It’s unlike you to care what the client thinks.”

I remained silent because there was nothing to say. Brooks was correct. In the past, I’d never allowed a client to dictate how I was going to protect them. It was my way, period.

“Fine,” Brooks sighed. “You’ve gone quiet, I know what that means. I’ll look into hotels and get back to you.”

“Thanks.”

I disconnected the SUV’s Bluetooth and music filled the cab.

But I wasn’t paying attention to what was playing on the radio.

All of my attention was on the car in front of me.

I could see both Liam and Elijah sitting in the back seat.

Watching Eva buckle little Elijah into his booster seat hadn’t been the first time I’d witnessed her with her son, but it had been the first time I’d been close enough to see the boy smile at his mom.

Both kids had looked happy and were letting Eva know it. I couldn’t make out the words, but Liam’s mouth had been moving a mile a minute.

This was the right decision. I still didn’t like what Eva had done to Bubba and Zoey, but her children shouldn’t suffer for her crimes. They’d been victims, too .

My thoughts drifted to when I was Liam’s age. That was right about the time I’d realized the hell I was living in wasn’t normal. I understood what was going on around me.

I’d realized love meant pain.

No child should have to endure the horrors Liam and Elijah had.

The music cut off and ringing filled the SUV, pulling me from my morose memories.

“Tex,” I answered. “Any news?”

“Yeah. The guy’s a total tool. I easily tracked him. Chris Peters. He’s from California, not Idaho. He’s got some arrests, nothing major. And there’s nothing in his past that makes him qualified to carry out a hit. Which is troubling.”

Troubling didn’t begin to cover it for a variety of reasons. Chris Peters accepted a contract kill either because he was in desperate need of twenty-K or he had a taste to carry out a murder.

“How’d someone get a lock on Eva?”

When Tex didn’t want someone to be found, they weren’t. It was that simple. Yet, someone knew where Eva and the boys were.

“Because I fucked up.”

“Come again?”

“I thought because Jay Dawkins was taken care of, so was the danger. She didn’t want to change the boys’ names, she was adamant.

It’s not hard to track an Eva, Liam, and Elijah.

She also wanted to be settled some place new so Elijah would be ready to start school on time.

I shouldn’t have let her talk me into it.

I should’ve given them all new names and they should’ve been kept in a safehouse longer. But—”

“You don’t have to explain it to me, Tex. I get it.”

And boy did I. They were on a vacation instead of safely tucked away because Eva had talked me into it.

Shit .

“Is there any way she’s playing you?” I asked.

“No. Eva wants those boys safe. But she allows her guilt to rule her emotions. She didn’t want to explain to Liam and Elijah why they had new names, why her name was changed.

She just wanted them to have a normal life.

She’s refused every bit of help I’ve offered since being in Florida.

That little house she lives in, she pays for.

She’s tried to pay me back for the car I bought her.

Five thousand dollars. She doesn’t have that kind of money, not working in a grocery store supporting two kids on her own, but she’s offered.

Fuck, Max, five grand is nothing to me, but that’s five months’ worth of rent for her.

Eva fucked up, she knows it, and I would’ve never helped her after what she did if I didn’t know she had no other options. ”

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“A lot.”

Tex’s honesty shocked the shit out of me. I continued to scan the road in front of me. Eva and the boys were one car length up ahead, cruising along.

“I can’t protect her if you’re keeping shit from me.”

“You don’t need to know what I’m not sharing for you to keep her safe.”

“You’re wrong. I need to know everything.”

“Then ask her. I’ve given you what you need to know, what’s important to the case.

If you want to know more about her, ask her.

She had no problem sharing everything with me.

Spilled her guts with very little prompting.

I think once you get her talking, you’ll find you have a lot in common with her. ”

That’s what I was afraid of.

“Did she tell you that motherfucker burned Liam?”

“Yep. He has six burn marks on his arm.”

I couldn’t think of that while driving. My anger was always too close to the surface, the past always simmering, making itself known.

“What happened to Jay?”

“He’s not an issue,” Tex replied curtly.

“That’s not what I asked,” I sighed.

“It’s the only answer you’re gonna get.”

“Why are you being so sketchy? You deal with facts and solutions. Vague and elusive isn’t your normal MO.”

“I’m always elusive.” Tex muttered a few curse words before he explained, “Jay is not a threat, mainly because he’s not breathing.

His operation was bullshit and easy to dismantle.

The only person he was truly a threat to was Eva and those kids.

He used the boys to control her. She was his ace, when he lost her, he was nothing.

That’s why he took the boys from her. He knew she’d do anything to get them back.

Jay set up the meeting with Bubba’s brother.

Did you know she’d already contacted the police?

Eva was prepared to work with them, but then Jay hurt Liam and Eva took matters into her own hands. ”

Tex wasn’t telling me anything that I didn’t already know from reading his report. Though I was pleased to know he had Jay taken out—it would save me the trouble of hunting down the asshole myself. Though I have to admit, it would have been satisfying.

Nothing that Tex had said eased the knot in my stomach. We needed more intel on who hired Chris Peters to kill Eva.

“Where are you tracking down Peters?”

“I have a team in place. They moved in when you and Eva left her house this morning.”

“A team? Jesus. Are they in her house waiting?”

“Yes, three men are in her house, one is waiting at the airport. Peters took a flight to Florida this morning. I want to see what he does, who he contacts, and lastly if he goes directly to her house or if it takes him a while to find her. ”

“Christ, Tex, that’s her home. Her kids live there. She’d go through the fucking roof if she knew a team was in there.”

“Then don’t tell her. And you know they wouldn’t be in there unless that’s where I need them to be. All of this should be over in a few days, maybe less.”

Thank God for that .

“Keep me informed. Brooks is lining up our hotel and I’ll have the rest of our trip plotted out by this evening.”

“Copy that.”

Tex was gone, the music was back on, and my mind was racing.

Christ, Tex and his secrets. Eva and her unwillingness to cooperate.

Between the two of them, they were making this mission damn harder than it should’ve been.

But the fuck of it was, I’d given in to Eva.

She’d come up with the cover story, the one we were going to use when I just happen to see them at the museum.

The truth would’ve been easier, however her need to keep the danger she was in a secret was tangible.

I felt the desperation rolling off of her.

Damn, but the woman was trying her best to give her boys normal after all they’d been through.

I couldn’t tell her no. Just like I couldn’t stop wondering what it would’ve been like if my mother, after all the ways she’d fucked up, had tried to make it right.

If it would’ve made a difference. Would the outcome of my childhood been different? Would I have forgiven her?

There was no sense in going down that road. My mother hadn’t changed, she didn’t protect me, she forever altered my life and made me into the man I was.

“Hey, Max!”

I turned and feigned surprise when Eva called my name from across the museum parking lot .

“Eva,” I greeted, mostly annoyed we were playing this charade.

“Boys. This is my friend from work, Max Brown. Max, these are my boys, Liam and Elijah.”

Eva gently placed her hand on each of the boys’ shoulders when she mock-introduced them to me.

“Elijah.” I tipped my head to the younger of the two, then slid my gaze to Liam.

I hid my flinch when I looked at Eva’s older son.

Guarded. Untrusting. Angry.

For a moment, I wondered if that was what I’d looked like at his age. The time of my awakening, when I coldly discovered what kind of people I lived with. When I learned how cruel life really was.

The kid couldn’t hide it. Not only did it break my heart, it pissed me right the fuck off.

“Liam. Nice to meet you.”

He didn’t answer, he just moved closer to Eva. A wholly protective maneuver.

Jesus Almighty—this kid !