Page 120 of Unexpected Redemption

As soon as he hangs up, I announce, “Boss is on his way. Klein, try not to give yourself a heart attack while we wait.”

He stands, immediately launching into jumping jacks.

Mia’s face crumples like she’s ill just watching him.“What the fuck are you doing?”

“I have to get the adrenaline out, tiger.”

“Too weak for burpees, Klein?” I taunt.

He flips me off as his arms go flying up beside his head.

“Too bad Boss is on his way, or we could do that in a more exciting way than exercise,” Mia purrs at him without attempting to be covert.

The CIA has left the girl.

“No, we couldn’t. Tomer’s here today.”

All right. That’s it.

“Mia, I made Lettie come on your desk the other day. Fuck in the lair again, and I’ll make her squirt all over your chair.”

Klein stops his jumping jacks to double over in laughter.

“Well, excuse the fuck out of my French, Tomer.” Mia puffs out her chest. “That type of threat isunacceptable. It sounds like a challenge. And one you won’t win.”

“Mia, I’ve been a Dom for longer than you’ve been hacking. Don’t start with me. This is a war you can’t win. I don’t even think you’d survive the first wave attack.”

What the hell is happening to me?

Not only am I being playful, I’m exposing some of my most guarded secrets, talking about kink like it’s the weather.

“Welp, I’m so fucking glad you finally said it.” Klein flops into his chair, barely out of breath. “Pretending we didn’t know was getting uncomfortable as fuck. We’re all freaks here.”

Mia chimes in, “Let’s have T-shirts made. And get a freak flag to hang on the door.”

“The door? Why not in front of the building next to the US flag?” I joke along, tumbling entirely off my rocker. “And then, we’ll have field trips to Home Depot for supplies.”

Boss barges in, thankfully saving me from engaging in this conversation any further.

“Talk to me,” he barks out as he grabs a chair.

I clear my throat, shaking off the insanity blanketing me. “Uh. I’ll show you. Main screen.” I tip my head at the primary monitor in the middle of the wall console.

Boss reads aloud. “You’ve gotten close but can’t yet see the wax through the feathers. When the labyrinth was built, the architect lived inside Crete. Minos wouldn’t have trusted an outsider. You’re hung up on the wrong man. If you intend to help us stop him, you’ll need to figure out who you’re working with. Otherwise, I can’t trust you.”

“And he signed it,the Architect,”I add when Boss goes silent.

Mia offers her take. “Whoever is on the other end of this email is Daedalus. And he isn’t Yuri.”

Boss nods along. “Right. Because he’s not in the mafia anymore. He’s on the outside. Whereas the architect is still inside Crete.” He stands, heading over to the board, surveyingthe vast array of shit we’ve scribbled on it over the last few weeks.

While rolling out my neck, I surmise, “After Yuri was questioned by Shep, he must have relayed information back to the real architect to let him know we were close but not there yet. My money is on Daedalus being?—”

“Alexei,” Big Al finishes my sentence with certainty, spinning around to face us. “It has to be.”

“I agree.”

Klein bolts out of his chair, his hands running through his hair. This poor guy is barely hanging on. “We still don’t know who the fuck he is, and he won’t help us until we figure it out.”

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