Page 19 of In the Nick of Time
They, meaning April and the rest of the SPAM administrative staff, claimed not to know who was behind the agents’ disappearances. The jury was out on that truth as far as Dougwas concerned. SPAM and the agency liked to play their cards close. Doug and Nick—Agent Sedgewick—had been sent in with little information. Which was why they were visiting with Wizard today.
Doug wasn’t a big fan of Wizard. His oversized ego didn’t match his real-life accomplishments. But everywhere he went, Wizard knew people, made connections. Things happened around him. Wizard and Doug had worked together once when they’d both been on the “super” track instead of the SPAM track. To this day, Doug suspected—but had no proof—that Wizard had purposefully messed up the op they were on together. His misinformation had ultimately led to Doug quitting Long Shot.
For the entirety of his superhero career, Doug had firmly believed that he was on the right side. Doing the right thing. Being the right superhero. But now he knew there were no sides. There were nuances, grays, off-whites. The Right Thing was not an absolute.
Would he kill again if he had to? Yes. But he couldn’t be a gun for hire anymore, blindly accepting jobs. He’d learned the hard way that there were very few situations where an innocent wasn’t somehow involved or might easily take an unwanted hit. Doug couldn’t carry the guilt any longer; it was too heavy.
“How about these?” Nick asked for the hundredth time.
“They’re fine,” Doug said without looking at him. “Just like all the rest of them.”
“I’ll take these ones, then.”
Doug waited. Nick also waited, his hand stretched out palm up.
“What?”
This time, Doug glanced at Nick and saw his face reflected in a pair ofMen in Blackmirrored sunglasses Nick had picked out. Doug resisted rolling his eyes.
“I’m not paying for these myself.”
Because apparently nothing was going to make Nick Sedgewick hurry the fuck up, Doug opened up his wallet and plucked out the black card again.
“Thanks,Dad,” Nick said with a smirk. A sexy smirk.
“So, what’s the plan today?”Nick asked in a much cheerier tone as they swung out of the hotel’s lobby and onto the sidewalk, narrowly avoiding a hawker who tried to press a brochure with a scantily clad woman on the front into Doug’s hand.
“The plan is to act like tourists. Meet with an acquaintance. Then we’ll go back to the club tonight.”
“Cool, clubbing again. I can hardly wait.” Sarcasm dripped from his words. “What exactly doesmeet with anacquaintancemean? I don’t identify as poly—I’m fine with people who do, don’t get me wrong, I just like to have my man all to myself.”
Doug re-ran what Nick had said through his head and decided to ignore the whole thing. Although it was nice to know Nick was a one-guy guy. Hold it. Was it nice? Why was he thinking it was? Doug shook his head to drive the thought away.
There was no set plan for them to follow, which was not Doug’s usual assignment. In the past, he would’ve been called in at the last second to take out a bad guy and that was that. Boom. Since transferring, he’d managed to stay in the office for the most part, focusing on logistics and basic training.
Until Nick Sedgewick.
Now, however, SPAM needed Doug and Nick to find and stop whoever wasdisappearingSPAM agents.
So here he was, walking down the Strip in Vegas with a mirrored-sunglasses-wearing baby SPAM agent, trying to drawthe attention of a bad guy. Or bad guys, he supposed. Never assume.
“First, we’re meeting?—”
“With an acquaintance. Got it.”
Vegas on a bright and hot afternoon was incredibly packed with tourists gawking and looking this way and that, trying to take in everything they could see all at once. Sprained necks were what they would get. They were just passing by the currently quiet Bellagio fountain when a ruckus began ahead of them.
A man sprinted toward them with three people close behind him, and Doug automatically stepped to the side to let them pass by. The runner hip-checked Doug hard into his bum leg. Shit. Spiraling his arms, he felt himself teeter off the curb and directly into the path of an oncoming Humvee.
This was it. This was how he was going to die.
But he didn’t die.
A man was racing toward him. Doug started to step to the side, but Nick grabbed his arm and pulled him into the crowd instead of away from it. The runner, whose eyes were wild and wide, raced past and disappeared down the street and into the crowd with several people racing after him. On the street, a Humvee gunned its engine and roared past them.
Doug stared at Nick. His expressive eyes were hidden behind the mirrored glasses.
“What just happened?” Doug demanded.
