Page 40 of Double the Dilemma

“I say we do some recon,” Rogue said quietly. “Find out where she is, who she’s with, and what kind of trouble it’s going to be to grab her or take her out.”

“I agree,” Savage said. He looked at Simba. “Any objections?”

Simba glanced at his men, who all shook their heads. “When do we head out?” he asked.

“It’s been a long day, so I say we head out in the morning. Let her see as clearly as possible what’s going on.” Savage gave an anticipatory smile. “Maybe she’ll take another crap shot and we’ll be able to grab her.”

“Only problem with going in during the day is that we’re not going to be able to keep Karissa out of it,” Razor warned.

“You got a problem with her coming?” Warg asked, arching a brow.

Razor sighed. “Any answer I give, I’m going to come off sounding like a prick. I know she can take care of herself, but making herself a target doesn’t sit well with me either.”

“A friendly piece of advice,” Copper said quietly, tone serious. “Xena is a lot smarter and faster than you think. She handled herself in a lot of hairy situations that most would run screaming from. Hell, I’ve seen huge ass SEALs turn tail and run from some of the shit she’s handled. If she wants to go, don’t stop her, or you’re only going to make it harder on the both of you. And if her being there brings this bitch out of hiding, all the better.”

“I doubt you would be saying that if you had a woman of your own,” Razor said tightly. “No man worth his balls would be happy to put his woman in danger.”

“Depends on the man,” Copper returned with a shrug. “I’d like to think I’d be smart enough to know that any woman in my life that could handle herself would trust me at her back. The thing about a team is you protect each other, no questions asked. Doesn’t matter who is front or behind. You have their six, and they have yours.”

“Xena’s already a target, whether you include her or not,” Taz added seriously, his usual joking tone absent as he waved away the grumbles that sounded around the room. “Think about it: she’s notmaking herselfa target, she’sbeena target since before you ever met her. Including her doesn’tput herin danger; the danger wasalready there. She’s the expert on this bitch. She knows all her habits, her preferences, her tells, her history. Intel like that is invaluable. It seems to me, you’ve got yourself stuck by seeing her as only one thing: a woman. Makes your caveman brain kick in, to want to wrap her up and protect her from the world, doesn’t it? But I’m telling you, man, Xena’s no little woman. You need to stop seeing her as a liability, and start seeing her for what she truly is: an asset and a weapon”.

Razor stared at him and then groaned and wiped a hand over his face. “Fine, I see your point,” he grumbled.

“Xena tell you how she got her name?” Tiger asked. Out of everyone, he seemed to be the quietest, but Razor knew he was no less lethal. His eyes had an intensity to them that few would understand.

He shook his head. “We haven’t talked much about her time with you at all.”

“Ask her,” Tiger said with a nod. “Her name is well deserved, and while I understand your worry, maybe it will put your mind at ease.” Razor nodded, making a mental note to talk to Karissa about it. Truth be told, he was curious about how she ended up with the team.

“Alright then, that’s the plan,” Savage announced briskly. “You all have beds for the night?”

“Your Old Ladies got us all set up,” Simba said with an appreciative nod.

“Good. What we have is at your disposal if you need it. Including the club whores,” he added with a smirk. He gave Taz a sidelong glance. “Though I think you’ve already made the acquaintance of a couple of them.”

Taz grinned wickedly. “Hospitality rating is at least an eight out of ten,” he joked. “Gonna have to meet them all before we leave, though, to give you my final evaluation.”

“There’s a reason we only let him out in public for special occasions,” Jag remarked drily.

Taz ignored him and said, “You guys have a gym in this place?”

“Downstairs,” Rogue replied. “I’ll show you.”

“He’s really taking you down there to murder you,” Jax mock whispered. “Doesn’t want the competition or the girls making any more comments about you.” Everyone laughed except for Rogue, who glared holes into Jax.

“Man, you’re going to have some fun with those two,” Taz laughed. “How long until they go off to college?”

“Not soon enough,” Rogue huffed. “But as much as they’re loud and joking, be careful what you say. They and my Old Lady have been through way too fucking much, and anything that sets them back, you’ll answer to me.” He pinned them all with a lethal glare. “Mercenaries or not, I’ll beat your asses until there’s nothing left.”

“We don’t mess with kids or women, brother,” Simba said calmly. “Seems to me, those girls are strong enough to tell us if we overstep. But if we do, and they ain’t comfortable telling us, then you let me know and we’ll handle it. Believe it or not, we’re not monsters.” Rogue nodded, though he still didn’t look convinced.

Savage leaned forward. “We really don’t know anything about you. Where you’re based, what you do. We’re running on trust here, but if anything is going to come back to us because of you being here, I want to know about it.” He gave Razor a hard look. “And if any of that isn’t something Karissa should know, it won’t leave this room.” Razor nodded his agreement.

Simba was quiet for a moment until finally he said, “No one will be after us, and nothing will come back on you by us being here. We’re out of commission as a team, and we’re far too set in our ways to get normal jobs. We’re stationed out of New Mexico at the moment, but we travel as needed.” He glanced at his men, who gave subtle nods for him to continue, making Razor lean forward. “We mainly work as guns for hire, since we’re extremely good at what we do. Kill the sick fucks that need killing, and rescue the people that need rescuing. Our last job was taking out a skin dealer in our hometown. Thought he could move in and we’d just allow it.”

“Fuckers,” Rogue snarled in a low breath.

“And no one would know it was you?” Savage asked skeptically.

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