Page 60 of Wicked Intention

When they arrived, there were three more men in the camp. Zo recognized one of them—JT Griffin. He was crouched in front of a medical kit. Idly, he glanced up from what he was doing, did a double-take, and stood. She half expected him to come over, but his focus shifted to the two men on the other side of the clearing. Both were tall. One was Asian-American, and the other African-American. They looked tough.

While Mazz and Pruitt stayed with her and Finn, Lurch approached those other two and started to talk to them.

Although no one was wearing insignia, Zo guessed one of them was the captain who had summoned Finn to Florida. The other guy could be anyone. Before today, she’d only met three members of the team—Ryder had come to visit with his wife, and later, JT and Kyle had stayed as well. All of them had started out suspicious of her and protective of Finn, and while she appreciated how much they cared about him, it had made the beginning of their stay uncomfortable. Griff had been particularly obnoxious.

She’d forgiven him a long time ago, but the memory had her turning a glare on him. JT caught it, and both eyebrows went up.

Lurch headed back toward where they were, stopping briefly to converse with Griff before continuing to them. “Captain wants to talk to you,” he told Finn.

Her lover cast a glance at her. “I’ll be fine on my own.”

“Griff will stay with her,” Lurch told him. “Mazz, Pru, and I are going back out on patrol.”

Finn watched the guys leave, but he didn’t move until JT was beside her. “A couple of Ramos’ men are chasing her,” he said, waiting for his friend’s nod before walking away. Zo noticed that Griff became more alert, and considering how intense the man was, it said something.

“I saw your glare. What did I do to piss you off?” Griff asked when Finn was out of earshot.

“I was remembering the first time we met.”

JT ran a hand over the stubble on his chin. “I thought we were past that.”

“We are. You were horrible, though.”

“Do I need to apologize again?” JT gave her a sideways look and tugged on the brim of his black baseball cap.

“No.” Zo changed the subject. “What does the captain want with Finn?”

“Don’t know.”

“Don’t know or can’t say?” she countered.

Griff shrugged, and it told her that if he might not be aware of the exact topic of conversation, he at least had a good idea. She thought about pressing but decided to leave it alone. There were things the men couldn’t talk about, and she understood that. No questions about what they were doing here either, although she was curious.

“You look like shit,” Griff said, interrupting her thoughts. “When was the last time you slept?”

“What time is it now?”

“1410.”

Zo did the math to translate it to real-time, then did more math to figure out how long she’d been awake. “About thirty-two hours.”

“Does Stony know?”

“That I’m tired, yes. How many hours it’s been since I slept? We haven’t discussed it.”

“Why is Ramos interested in you?” Griff asked.

“Don’t know.” Special Forces had secrets, and so did the Paladin League.

She shifted her gaze from JT to Finn. He remained in conversation with the two men. His face was expressionless, and his body appeared relaxed, but Zo knew her guy, and he was irritated. With a frown, she took a step forward, but Griff caught her arm. She looked up at him in question.

“My orders are to keep you here,” he explained.

“So Finn doesn’t have backup.”

JT’s lips twitched, but he didn’t actually smile. “You think an ex-Special Forces soldier needs backup from an archaeologist?”

“Why doesn’t Captain”— she probably shouldn’t use his name—“Big Dog want me with Finn?”