Page 3 of Just the Wrong Twin

“Close doesn’t count,” Pierce said softly and sat down beside the other guy, watching.

Nate urged the woman to the carpet and indicated that she had to crawl through the door. She did so, but she was slow. He wanted to give her a shove, but she was pretending to be hurt to add to the challenge. She got through the doorway and he was following when he saw a reflection in the window glass.

The guy from across the hall.

Nate twisted and fired, but he’d used all of his shots. The paint gun just clicked. He rolled into the main room, and the other guy’s shot hit the carpet in a smear of orange paint. Nate tackled him then, the two of them tumbling over each other and hitting the wall. Nate flipped the guy, grabbed his paint gun and shot him in the back with his own weapon. He added a second tap in the back of the guy’s head, just for insurance.

“Hot shot,” the woman said with a laugh. “You won’t forget that in a while, Sam.”

The last attacker stood up, wincing as he ran his hand over the back of his head and his fingers were smeared with orange paint. He then gave the woman a hand. He nodded to Nate. “Good job.”

Pierce and the other guy in the smaller room gave Nate a round of applause. Two more people came to the door and clapped, too. Nate realized from the green splotches on their black clothes that they were the challengers he’d defeated, although now they were unmasked. They were all older than Nate and fit: he guessed that they had served with Pierce at some point in the older man’s military career. He assessed them in the order they’d confronted him. The first guy was shorter and Asian; the second guy was blond, really big and ripped; the woman had curly ginger hair and a twinkle in her eyes; the third guy—Sam—was tall but sleek, with dark hair and blue eyes.

“I’m glad you were interested, Nate. Welcome aboard.” Pierce stepped closer, offering his hand.

Nate had to shake with the Hook, but Pierce didn’t seem troubled by that.

“Simon Ferguson,” said the other guy from the small office, his voice gruff. “But call me Troll.” He gave the Hook a good shake. He had brown hair and dark eyes and the watchfulness that Nate associated with SEALs and pilots.

Nate couldn’t help but grin because the nickname suited him in a way. “Hey, Troll. Good to meet you.”

“Left or right-handed?” Troll asked, looking down at the Hook.

“Formerly right, now left.”

The big guy’s brows lifted. “Impressive.”

“Imperative,” Nate said firmly.

“You know about Silver Fox Security, of course,” Pierce said.

“Bodyguards and security to the rich and famous,” Nate agreed.

“More than that. We’ll probably get into some covert ops, too, given my connections.”

That was music to Nate’s ears. “I hoped so when I applied. It sounds great.”

Pierce gestured to the others. “Meet Jimmy Wong, Jared Peters, Regan Winslow and Sam O’Leary.” Nate shook hands with each of them in turn. “And our damsel in distress was Lisa MacAvoy, also known as Mack. I’m collecting the best.”

And Nate had made the cut.

Hot damn.

“How soon can you start?” Pierce asked.

“Yesterday,” Nate said with such enthusiasm that they all laughed. “And by the way, this place needs better locks.”

Pierce smiled. “I wondered whether that rumor was true. Good. We can put that experience to good use.”

Nate was thrilled. This was his dream come true and he was going to hold on tight.

One

June 6, 2020 - New York City

It was a perfect day for a wedding.

Sonia was so excited that she might have been the bride.

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