“You tipped off whoever was after it. That’s why she showed up early to nab it. Chronicles went from LA to that rinky-dink bookstore in Fort Collins, where Nathan and Avery tried to find it. That bookstore owner sold it to an average-looking woman with no distinguishing characteristics and a fake name. An actual person at least, but she vanished into thin air. With nothing more to go on that that, we’re back to square one.”
Not necessarily. “Nathan and Noah can’t help?” Nathan knew things about an object by touching it, and Noah could read the past.
“They’re busy on other things. Aidan has this. Or should I say, had this.” Jack fumed.
Gavin knew trying to convince Jack to let him redeem himself wouldn’t fly. Not now. “Want me to pack my things and leave?” It hurt to say, but he was tired. Life hadn’t turned out the way Gavin had expected. And Bend, Oregon, hadn’t given him much more than a cold in the eleven months he’d been working at the PowerUp! gym. His fresh start had turned into one more dead end.
“What for?”
“I think that’s obvious. I screwed up the case.”
“We’ll fix it,” Jack said, his voice gruff with irritation or resignation; Gavin couldn’t tell which. “I want you here, where I can keep an eye on you.”
“I’m not a kid to be watched over.” Gavin’s anger flared out of nowhere, pushing aside his despair. “I don’t need you to coddle me, for Christ’s sake. If you can’t treat me the way you do everybody else, I’m fucking leaving.”
Jack said nothing, but Gavin had a feeling he’d surprised the big man.
After a moment of silence, Gavin stood and turned to the door, fully prepared to pack up his belongings and move out.
“Hold on, hothead.”
Gavin turned to see Jack’s lip curled in what passed for a grin on his face. “Go work off some steam. You’re off desk duty as of now and on a strict physical regimen. See Kitty tomorrow morning for details. Don’t be late.”
Gavin didn’t understand his boss’s change in mood. One minute the guy looked like he wanted to strangle him; the next he offered what Gavin had been after for months. A chance to be a real part of the team, a chance to do field ops. With nothing better to do, he nodded and left, wondering about this change in circumstance.
On his way out of the building, he ran into Aidan Marshall, telepath and all-around pain in Gavin’s ass. The guy could read minds, and he had a bad habit of finishing Gavin’s sentences. The tall blond usually sneered instead of spoke, but he always got the job done. Gavin knew the others considered Aidan one of their top go-getters. Before the PWP disbanded, he’d had a sterling reputation as a fierce agent and badass who didn’t take no for an answer.
Unfortunately, he was also built like a god and had killer good looks. Way out of Gavin’s league, which made Gavin’s hostility that much stronger.
“Well, well.” Aidan smirked. “Lost anything else today, cupcake?”
Gavin glared and thought about telling the bigger man to kiss his own—
“No sense in kissing my own ass when so many others are angling to do it.”
Aidan never screwed with the others. Only Gavin had that privilege. Hell. He hated that he couldn’t insult the bastard without Aidan cutting him off. “You’re such an asshole.”
“And yet men love me.”
Aidan also made no secret of the fact he was gay. Gavin had never hidden his own sexuality, but he didn’t share facets of his life with the others. Not that they’d ever invited him to. He’d had all of one date in the time he’d been in Bend, and it had ended with a slap on the back and a promise of a phone call that hadn’t been forthcoming. Good riddance.
“Yeah. If they say they’ll call and won’t, don’t cry over it. Move on with your life. I mean, you’re cute enough that you should be able to get a handjob at least. So what’s the problem, sweetness?”
Gavin shoved Aidan out of his way, ignored Aidan’s laughter, and hurried to his car, not in the mood to deal with anyone else today. Aidan was enough to spoil an already dragging mood.
AIDAN WATCHED THE cute but clueless CPA leave the hallway for the stairs. Another reason why the PWP had no doubt closed its doors. Despite talk that someone higher up had used the agency for other means than approved governmental reasons, Aidan thought the problem lay in their screening process. Years ago, the PWP had taken anyone with a hint of psychic ability and experimented on them. Hello? He could have told them what a problem that would create.
Men and women like most of those on the PowerUp! team were assets. His boss had invited a select few of them to join him when the program shut down. Now they worked at the gym as a front to the real work that kept them happy and busy. Or at least, the work that kept Aidan happy and busy.
He wondered about Gavin Caldwell, one of the PWP’s many mistakes. A guy like Caldwell looked good on paper. He had a high IQ, was easy to train and get along with, and had psychic ability. The power to levitate, also known as transvection, would be great at parties, but seriously, what did Jack see in the guy besides a head for numbers?
Caldwell had a history of screwing up in the field. They’d pulled him in after he’d nearly gotten himself and a fellow agent killed two years ago. Ever since, he’d done time behind a desk, where he flourished. The paper pusher could manipulate numbers like magic. So why did he think he should work missions? Hell, why would he want to?
Aidan shook his head and continued toward Jack’s office. After he knocked and heard Jack’s answer to enter, he pushed through the door and took a seat across from the big man, as he liked to think of him. Unlike the other psychics who at least tried to shield themselves around him—shields he could overcome with a surge of power—Jack was unreadable. Strangely enough, Aidan got the impression his boss did little to shield himself. The guy had a natural wall around his mind that always tempted Aidan to prod, when Aidan knew better than to go in uninvited.
When an inexperienced agent like Caldwell left himself open, though, he took full advantage. And yeah, he admitted he got a kick out of aggravating the cute little geek.
Caldwell’s cheeks turned a rosy red, which made his blue eyes that much brighter. Truth to tell, the guy fit Aidan’s type to a T. He had a smaller, more compact frame that was slender yet toned. Caldwell didn’t seem to have any fat on him, and the few times Aidan had noticed him in the shower, he’d been impressed with Caldwell’s tight ass and surprisingly large cock.
An answering response tingled through Aidan’s groin, and he frowned, disliking the arousal he always felt around the team’s screwup.
“What did you find?” Jack asked, his voice gravelly.
Now Jack was a man Aidan could see many a top bottoming for. Unfortunately for Bend’s gay community, Jack was as straight as they came. From what Aidan knew, his boss had seen a few women during their time in Oregon, but no one steady. Unlike Avery, part of the latest pair of agents to hook up, Jack didn’t appear to be bisexual either.
“Still waiting, Marshall.”
Aidan sighed. “Sorry, boss. I ran into Caldwell on my way in, so give me a minute.”
Jack didn’t comment.
“Okay. We know the book appeared in the States in Philly, then moved west through Wisconsin and Washington. From there it hit California, where I was going to pick it up before the super CPA fucked everything up.”