Page 5 of Act of Passion

“Get the fuck off me, Tut,” snapped the surly wolf-shifter, using a nickname Malik barely tolerated. He was born in ancient Egypt and had been alive for thousands of years. The men enjoyed teasing him because of it. They didn’t know the half of it. If they did, they’d never let him live itdown.

He wouldn’t have minded the nickname so much but he’d never really cared for Tutankhamun. He’d found the boy king to be spoiled. But it could have been worse. The guys could have decided to call him Amenhotep, or Akhenaten, as the pharaoh later referred to himself. That pharaoh had been so full of himself that one would have thought him an actualgod.

Hewasn’t.

Not by a longshot.

Malik wouldknow.

Malik rolled off Duke and groaned, the smell of burning flesh filling his nose. Lifting his arm, he saw just how much of his flesh was burnt. He lifted his head partially and spotted Striker meandering over to them. The man still had a rocket launcher over his shoulder, which meant the Scot had delayed escaping the warehouse to grab thething.

“I wish I had a camera. That compromising position you were both in was Asshole of the Week worthy,” said Striker, his Scottish accent thicker than normal, indicating he was workedup.

The Asshole of the Week Award was one no one really wanted to be the recipient of. While it wasn’t official, it was an award all the men had won at least once. It basically commemorated anything exceedingly stupid or funny that the operatives did. Often the men tried to find creative ways to set up situations in hopes they could catch another operative in a situation that was award worthy. Not that anyone needed help doing somethingstupid.

“Son of a bitch!” shouted Duke as he came off the ground with a huge snarl. “Thathurt!”

“You smell like a roasted pig,” said Rurik with a grin before turning and firing at the row of vehicles aswell.

Malik sprang to his feet and did the same, ignoring the bite of pain in his arm. He didn’t need to look to be told the flesh was burnt away and pieces of his shirt were stuck to him. It wasn’t his first brush with fire. It wouldn’t be his last. The arm would heal within an hour. The shirt was pretty muchtoast.

He shot at the bad guys, taking three out insuccession.

Boomer lifted his weapon and doubled-tapped it in the direction of the vehicles. Another bad guy fell to theground.

Rurik sprayed gunfire in the direction of the dicks who had nearly blown them all tobits.

Boomer snorted. “Romanov, you missedone.”

“My count has to be like fifty,” said Striker proudly. “To your one,kitty.”

“I took out that guard team at the point of entrance when we first got here,” returnedBoomer.

The two then launched into an argument over who had killed more enemycombatants.

Malik glanced at Duke and shook his head. “They make metired.”

“Join the fucking club, Tut,” saidDuke.

Striker fired a rocket at the vehicles, blowing up one and starting a chain reaction. He flashed a smile. “I win, yetagain.”

Duke watched as the last bad guy fell. “Corbin is going to be pissed. He says we need to learn to be more low-key.”

Malik noticed the giant plume of black smoke rolling high into the air from the burning warehouse. It would more than likely be seen from miles and miles away. “Oh, this is totally low-key.”

Boomer grinned. “Yeah, I’m sure this is no way signaling to more asshole dick arms dealers to head thisway.”

“At this rate, we’ll be here all night,” snarled Duke. “I fucking hate arms dealers. Also, I do smell like barbeque.Dammit!”

Chapter Two

Brooke Larner staredout the window of the white limo that had picked up her and her best friend at the airport. The limo had a full bar in it and snacks even. As if riding in a limo wasn’t enough of a treat all by itself. She’d never been in one before. There had been a lot of firsts for her as oflate.

The last three weeks had been something of a whirlwind. The two women had obtained master’s degrees and were now on the trip of theirlifetimes.

It was as if she were living a fairytale.

She turned and touched her best friend’s leg as the resort they were set to stay at appeared on the horizon. “Look. That’sit.”

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