Page 5 of The Ranger (Black Hawke Security #5)

COLE

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C lang.

I release the weights and climb off the machine, grabbing my towel and wiping my forehead. I’ve already been running at the local park before heading to the BHS offices to do a one-hour workout when Josh walks in the door.

“You’re early,” he mumbles, ripping off his sweatshirt to reveal a black muscle tee underneath much like mine.

“Heading to QuantumCore today, remember.” I lift my water bottle and drain it. “Don’t know when I’ll get in for a workout this week so needed to sweat out all the beer I drank at Trina’s birthday.”

Josh lets out a short snigger and does a few stretches on the wall.

“I’ll be done in forty minutes. We’ll go over the brief before you head out.”

“Roger that. I’ll go iron my suit.”

Christ, a suit.

I’ve spent my life in fatigues and sweatpants. Knowing I’ve got to wear a shirt and tie for the week is not that appealing. It could be longer, depending on how long it takes to find out if QuantumCore—a cutting-edge quantum chip manufacturer—has a threat inside their organization.

I’ll be undercover as their Senior Process Engineering Manager, on the ground with my eyes and ears open while accessing sensitive information and the team.

Back at Black Hawke Security, our tech experts, led by Thomas, will be working in the background to see if they can track the potential perpetrator.

Or it could be a false alarm.

The number of stop/starts in the private security sector by executives concerned about espionage is insane. Los Angeles is ripe due to its concentration of tech start-ups and aerospace firms. Then again, between rival competition and foreign enemies, the threat of IP theft and hacking is very real.

It’s a far cry from my background as an Army Ranger, but I’m happy to remain on US soil, no longer concerned my parents will receive the letter I wrote them should something happen.

I tore that shit up the day I retired from the army.

Josh chose me for this assignment as I’m a bit of a tech geek, following the world of quantum and AI, although I wouldn’t claim to be an expert.

Given I’m going to become a father in the next few weeks, I was happy to step away from the sometimes-dangerous/sometimes monotonous bodyguard roles I’d been doing.

I definitely wasn’t taking on any of the black ops work. Josh and Aidan are recruiting new team members to pick up where they've mostly stepped away from.

After ironing my blue shirt and slipping on the dark gray pants and matching jacket, I pocket my phone and smart key for the Maserati and head down to the meeting room.

“Morning, Cole. Wow, don’t you look fancy.” Penny grins from reception as I pass. She takes a sip of her coffee, and I wink at her.

“If you play your cards right, Penny, you could be my future wife.”

She blushes.

And my job here is done.

“Scarlett would claw my eyes out; we both know that,” Penny calls as I keep walking.

See, this is my concern. Everyone has connected us romantically because of the baby and already consider me the failed should-be husband.

I grit my teeth, slide my sunglasses onto the top of my head and walk into the meeting room where Aidan, Josh and Thomas are waiting. Josh is tapping away on his laptop, while Aidan finishes a phone call.

Aidan lets out a whistle.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m wearing a tie. Let’s move on.” I plonk down into the chair and lean my forearms on the table.

“Really, I thought you were going on your first date.” Aidan grins like an idiot.

“Ha, fucking ha. You’ve seen Scarlett’s waistline, right? I’m not a virgin.”

“Dead man walking, I think is what she called you last week.” Thomas chuckles.

Keep laughing boys, I had my face in her pussy two nights ago.

“Dr. Nathan Whitaker has a Ph.D. in quantum engineering and is the CEO of QuantumCore. He is expecting you in forty minutes,” Josh says, breaking the banter.

Forty minutes? Jesus, I thought I had at least another hour.

“Does he think I have a time machine? LA traffic, Josh. LA traffic.”

“Then let’s make this brief.” Josh slides his finger across his touchscreen laptop, ignoring my concerns.

When Josh gets focused, nothing and no one, except maybe his wife, can distract him. He’s a Navy SEAL, so I’m not surprised. I worked with the teams a few times, and know just how meticulous, tenacious and sharp they are.

Much like the Marines and other special forces, including Rangers like myself.

Now I continue to work with a wide range of highly trained military experts. BHS only recruits the very best, and if that makes me one of them, I’m proud as fuck.

“You’ll meet with him under the guise of a job interview. Your name will be Cole Reynolds.”

I grin, and immediately Aidan rolls his eyes. “Settle down. He means more Deadpool Reynolds, than The Proposal Reynolds.”

“I’m impressed that you know so many Ryan Reynolds movies.” Thomas laughs.

“Man-crush?” I lift a cheeky brow, and Aidan gives me the bird.

“Moving on. We don’t have time to fuck around,” Josh says, swiping his screen faster, then glances back at me. “You’re the ideal person for this client given your interest in this industry, but I do have one concern.”

I pause, unsure where he’s going with this.

“Scarlett,” Josh says.

Ah.

She’s less than a month from giving birth, but I’m not going deep undercover on this job, and we haven’t had any indication that she could go into labor early.

That she’s told me.

“It’s fine, but yeah, if she goes into labor, I’m not missing the birth of my kid.”

Aidan and Josh share a glance.

“We’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.” Aidan picks up a pen and twirls it around his fingers. “Having just watched my twins arrive into the world, I get how big a deal it is. Family first, always.”

Briar recently gave birth to a little boy and girl who are damn near identical. Aidan took a couple of weeks off while photos of Amelia and Lucas circulated the office.

I lean forward. “Hey, do you think Scarlett is having two? The doc keeps saying no, but I’ve heard stories about how two babies can suddenly appear. She’s as big as a house.”

I’ll be honest, when I was driving into her the other night, I did have a moment where I was like, there has to be two in there .

Fortunately, my cock took back control.

Josh pushes his chair back. “Keep that thought to yourself or we’ll be attending your funeral before your baby’s christening.”

He’s right, and I glance nervously at the door.

Josh slides a satchel across the large boardroom table, and I catch it. Inside are a tablet, notepad and pens, a pair of reading glasses, and a bunch of other shit I guess a corporate guy would have on him.

“These are my weapons?”

“Yeah.” Josh laughs, then looks at Thomas, handing him the floor.

“Alrighty, 007. That pen in your hand is a camera, so you can take photos of whatever and whoever,” Thomas says. “Press the end for five seconds, and it’ll connect to your phone; then you can forward the images to our team.”

Cool.

He continues with his demonstration, and I glance at my watch, keeping an eye on the time.

“Am I taking The Panther?” I ask, standing and straightening my pants.

“Naming your car is weird,” Aidan taunts.

“No, it’s not. Josh has a name for his. What is it again?”

We all glance at him, and he stares at me blankly.

“No, I don’t.”

“Yes, you do.”

This time his gaze looks a little deadlier, but good ol’ me, I don’t let it go.

“You told me.”

“Oh, this has got to be good. What is it Josh? Let me guess: Fabio?” Aidan roars.

Josh suddenly tosses his bottle of water at the Marine, who snatches it out of the air. “You need to stop watching romance movies before you grow a vagina.”

“I’m out.” Thomas waves as he clutches his laptop to his chest and races out of the room. The guy is half Josh’s size, and I daresay has been collateral damage in one of their playful brawls before.

“Car, yes or no?” I say, grabbing the satchel.

Josh nods as the bottle goes flying back in his direction, and Aidan compares his face to a part of the female anatomy.

I leave them to destroy the room.

“Might want to give them ten minutes before you go in there,” I say to Penny, and she just nods.

It’s just another day at the BHS office.

“Hey man.” I lift my chin at a couple of the guys walking up the stairs as I go down.

“You going to a funeral?” Liam, a former air force pilot, asks.

“Funny guy. I’m going undercover.” I smirk and push through the door, heading to my car.

I don’t really call it the Panther.

Well, only to irritate Scarlett...and now Aidan.

Before I head to my fake job interview, I have a phone call to make. We haven’t spoken since the night we slept together, and I need to hear her voice.

Climbing behind the wheel, I start the engine, enjoying the roar and powerful vibration.

Pulling out into traffic, I press the call button and listen while it rings.

“What?”