Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 147789 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147789 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
“Not gonna happen,” Kreed replied, moving toward the water cart placed by the door. He grabbed two iced bottles of water. “We have to give him a job.”
“It’s too risky. His face is too well known,” Brown said, stretching his arms over his head. Evidently he hadn’t been the only one bored out of his mind with Connors. From the look on Brown’s face, he’d had enough too. Kreed placed one of the water bottles in front of Aaron, still never really looking his way. Since they’d arrived at the FBI building, with the exception of the little show downstairs, Kreed had basically ignored Aaron, so the food and water gesture took him by surprise. Maybe the guy wasn’t half bad after all. Aaron picked up the pizza and took a bite then opened the water bottle as Kreed kept talking.
“Besides, he’s got security attached to him. So if we’re busy keeping an eye on Stuart and Mitch is secretly watching us and his security’s over there watching him watch us… Something’s gonna fuck up.”
When no one responded, Kreed hooked a thumb toward Aaron as he took a big gulp of water. “We need to decide what we’re gonna do and wrap up this meeting. I need to feed him before he starts eating his arm.”
“We just ate pizza,” Connors protested loudly.
“That’s just a snack for him. You should see him eat.”
“Where do you put it?” Brown looked over at him incredulously.
“Focus,” Aaron said, his mouth full of pizza. He didn’t normally like to talk with food in his mouth, but extreme times called for extreme measures.
“Send Mitch to Dallas to guard Colt and Jace. It’ll keep him busy. Plus, if something goes wrong, he’s in close proximity to Redemption Apostle Tabernacle. Midlothian’s about thirty minutes from Dallas,” Kreed said, reaching for his jacket.
“That would keep him busy. What story are you telling him?” Brown questioned.
“I’ll keep it vague, but he’s persistent,” Kreed responded.
“Yeah, but he usually uses me to gather his information,” Aaron explained. Eagerness to leave had Aaron quickly displaying the job listings posted on the church’s website on the mounted monitor. Kreed had been right; it was one of those massive, mega complexes that sprawled out over several acres. The church was enormous and just happened to have a permanent job opening in the IT department.
Typing quickly, Aaron split the screen. He’d had more than enough time during the hours of Connors’s ramblings to build a proper undercover background specific to the job’s requirements. He’d also done a quick mockup of a fake Texas driver’s license. His new name was Josiah Smith of Krum, Texas. He had a master’s degree in computer science from New Found Faith University. Linking himself to a strict fundamentalist college had been cause for giving himself a mental high five.
“If you agree with all this, I can load this information, get it in the required databases, and apply for the job tonight,” Aaron offered, pulling the cords from the electrical outlets. He really wanted to get the hell out of Dodge.
“It’s great. Looks good,” Brown praised, reading the screen.
“You can’t look like you…or at least not like you do right now,” Connors said, staring up at the screen before turning back to eye Aaron. “Those church boys are clean-cut. I don’t think they have multi-colored hair. You would stand out like a sore thumb.”
“Yeah, you need to look like Connors,” Kreed added, giving a chuckle.
“No offense, I’m not doing that.” Aaron removed everything off the screen, frustrated with the turn of this conversation. He should have just uploaded the information on his own. It was far easier to ask forgiveness than permission—technically, the anthem of his entire life. Besides, he’d combed through his picture files to find a photo from his brother’s wedding where his hair was styled reasonably well.
“Yeah, you are. I’ll get him cleaned up tomorrow morning. I’m sure the hotel has a salon. Can you add a new picture in the morning before you send all this out?” Kreed asked.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m not cutting my hair or looking like him.” Aaron didn’t look up as he began packing his shit up.
“Yeah, kid, you will.”
Great. The most annoying side of Kreed Sinacola’s personality was coming out to play—the one where he had all the answers and would just wait for everyone else to catch up. The air around him changed, and he glanced over to see Kreed’s booted feet extremely close by. Aaron slowly lifted his gaze to meet Kreed’s, where the man now stood, towering over him. The deputy marshal’s dark stare bore intensely through him and the smirk on those full lips was about as close to a freaking you’ll-do-whatever-I-ask grin as you could get.
Goose bumps prickled along his skin and his body tightened in response. Desperation made Aaron want to kiss that smirk right off Kreed’s face, feel the plumpness of his beautiful lips. For a second, Aaron completely lost himself and would have agreed to do anything Kreed wanted him to do in order to stay lost in that intense and sultry gaze. Brown coughed on the other side of the room and broke the spell Kreed held over him. Aaron quickly looked away, hoping no one else in the room heard the pounding of his heart.
Aaron shook his head to clear his thoughts as he continued packing his equipment away. Damn it to hell! Aaron couldn’t believe he’d let Kreed get to him. It wouldn’t happen again. He took a deep breath and straightened before turning, this time scowling at that handsome face that mocked him, letting Kreed know he wouldn’t win this argument or any other, for that matter. Aaron slammed his laptop shut. Not too hard, but enough to get everyone’s attention.
“Why are you mad? It’s hair. It’ll grow back,” Connors stated, confused.
“I’m starving and your scraps just piss me off. I’m out.” Aaron shoved his laptop into the bag, slung the strap over his shoulder then spun on his heels and started moving toward the door, not waiting for Kreed. The guy could go jump in an ice-covered river for all he cared. He should have never been in this position in the first place. Today had gone from bad to worse. Now, he was the asshole going undercover. How had he even let that happen?