Page 25 of The Primary Pest (Iphicles Security #1)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Dmytro

Ajax Fairchild. I will splatter your brains all over your boat. Soon you’ll be at the bottom of the sea, staring up with sightless eyes.

“I contacted Iphicles again like we discussed,” Bartosz informed Dmytro stiffly once they were alone. “Dmytro’s stalker knows we’re at sea! How did he get that information?”

“Someone is tracing our every move,” Dmytro said furiously.

“Zhenya is tearing his hair out.” Bartosz glared at him. “We have to admit the possibility that the boy himself is leaving a trail.”

“No.” Dmytro refused to believe it. Ajax hadn’t given the threat much credibility at first, now he was genuinely scared. “He thinks it’s one of ours.”

“Impossible.” Bartosz shook his head. “Zhenya’s got his best men on this. He loves the boy. We should have never taken on this job, brother. It stinks to high hell.”

Angrily, Dmytro turned back to his work. Truth was, the whole operation was beginning to stink to him too.

They’d anchored off the coast of Catalina.

Peter slept in his cabin, and Chet took watch.

While Bartosz listened to transmissions from Iphicles operatives, Dmytro backtraced the emails he could, and tech at Iphicles HQ looked into the ones he couldn’t.

They were flagging suspicious IP addresses, but it was unlikely anyone as sophisticated as Ajax’s stalker seemed to be would leave so obvious a trail.

He would use burner accounts. A Tor browser.

He was a needle in a warehouse full of hay and they weren’t going to catch him easily.

It was time-consuming, tedious work, but someone had to do it. It kept him from dwelling too much on Ajax, who slept in his cabin alone, and their pursuer, who might be anywhere at all.

Bartosz asked, “Are you reading these comments? Our boy is the most loved and hated man on the internet right now.”

Dmytro nodded curtly. “The sheer number will make finding our threat writer next to impossible, unless he uses the same words as in the emails.”

“Zhenya’s guys created a filter for unusual turns of phrase. If he commented, Ajax’s most ardent admirer might stand out.”

“Still gets us nowhere. Ajax said his stalker was skilled. We’ll only catch him if he makes a mistake. The decoy was supposed to be the key.”

“Doesn’t sound like he’s fooled, though, does it?”

“I hate waiting.” He ran his fingers through his untidy hair. “Floating in limbo while a thousand people line up to take their shot at our client on the web and one waits in the shadows to do it for real.”

“It would be easier if you spent less time mooning over him and more time doing your job.”

Dmytro could only remain silent. He was ashamed of himself. He’d never let his feelings for a client—an attraction especially—alter his performance at work.

Bartosz sat back. “You’ve wanted him from the first minute you laid eyes on him. At least admit that.”

“I’ll admit no such thing.” He’d thought Ajax was an attractive pain in the ass. It was only after getting to know him that he’d been drawn to him. He took out his phone and looked for a message from Liv. Nothing. He’d missed their goodnights again.

“Shit,” he muttered before typing that he was safe and she should kiss the girls for him. He sent texts to each girl to read in the morning.

“Miss the girls?”

Dmytro glanced up. “Of course.”

“I don’t expect it will be long now. The decoy is an excellent agent who can handle himself, and he has Zhenya to watch over him.”

“I know.”

“So why do you look like a boiled cabbage? Because of the boy?”

“He’s not a boy .” Dmytro laid his phone down. “He’s a bright, sensitive man. Highly intelligent and lonely, and—”

“Listen to yourself, Mitya.” Bartosz removed his earbuds and placed them on the worktable.

Dmytro sighed. “When I took this job, I was prepared to look after a spoiled rich boy with nothing to recommend him.”

“And now?”

“If anything happens to him…” He didn’t know what he would do.

His feelings for Ajax had grown deep and real.

He hadn’t felt like that since Yulia. He’d thought she was the love of his life.

Despite being bi, or even predominantly gay, he’d loved his wife with his whole heart.

She’d added happiness, and warmth, and stability to his life.

Their time together had been rich with laughter and love and the children they both longed for.

He was starting to want similar things with Ajax.

Apparently, he couldn’t hide his feelings for shit.

Bartosz threw a pen at him. “Are you out of your mind?”

“I don’t know, am I?” Dmytro shook his head. “It’s impossible. I can’t feel this. I can’t be the man who falls for a client.”

“Right? Because you know it would be too dangerous for all of us. Your emotional attachment compromises our safety.” Bartosz reminded him, “You got a brand-new life at Iphicles.”

Dmytro pushed away from his workstation. “Do you think I don’t know that?”

“Are you willing to destroy your second chance?” Bartosz asked gently. “What would Yulia say if she knew you risked the safety of her children’s father?”

Dmytro stood. “Someday someone will kill you for the liberties you take, Bartosz.”

“They’ll have to catch me.”

“Then God help you. You’re slow as a fat toad.” He and Bartosz went back a long way—they were brothers-in-arms—but he couldn’t bear to be near him just then.

Bertosz called after him, “You don’t have to be fast if you’re crafty.”

Dmytro kept any further thoughts to himself.