Page 23 of Security and Submission
Feeling unusually chipper as he went into work, Zeus got right down to business in his office. He could do some things from home, but Black Fox’s server was more powerful than his at home, and they had access to some files he couldn’t pull up at home.
It didn’t take him long to get immersed, but his head came up the second a figure appeared in his door frame. Ever since Drew had been hit on the back of the head in the office—conveniently when it had only been the two of them in the office, and Zeus had stepped out to go help Noelle, perfectly setting him up to appear responsible for the attack—he’d been on high alert. Even during the weekdays, when at least half the team was always around.
Lincoln stood there, silver hair gleaming in contrast to the pitch black of his suit and tie.
“Morning, Zeus.”
“Good morning.” Zeus frowned. “Did we have a meeting scheduled?” Lincoln didn’t just pop by to chat. Jensen was the only one who did that, and those visits were sporadic.
“No, no meeting.” Lincoln waved his hand, stepping inside and closing the door. His voice lowered. “I just wanted to let you know that Noelle was at MacLeod’s event last night with Marshall. The others already know, and I didn’t want you to be blindsided.”
The way he’d been blindsided during an office meeting when he’d found out that Noelle had been cheating on him. Drew had been surveilling Devlin’s and gotten footage of them together. He’d ambushed Zeus at the meeting, apparently hoping to get some kind of reaction to see whether Zeus knew and was part of Devlin’s schemes.
Unfortunately for him, Zeus had barely reacted at all. At least externally. He wasn’t really the type to get emotional in the middle of people he didn’t fully trust. Especially when they didn’t trust him, either.
“Thanks for the heads-up.” He appreciated Lincoln’s faith in him. Sometimes, it made things more difficult, though. On days when he wanted to say ‘fuck it’ and quit because why bother working with a team that didn’t trust him, he couldn’t… because Lincoln still did.
“No problem.” Lincoln opened the door again and tilted his head to the side. “How’s your neighbor doing?”
“Good. She should be out of the hospital on Monday, hopefully.”
“Glad to hear it. Alright, I’ll see you in the meeting in fifteen.”
Zeus nodded and got back to work, wrapping things up in time for the meeting. He braced himself as he moved down the hall, rolling his shoulders back. Yeah, things with the team had been better this week, but they still weren’t right.
“Hey, Nutmeg,” Jensen said as Zeus walked in. A paper airplane headed straight for his face, and Zeus snatched it out of the air before it hit. “Welcome to the party.”
“Thanks,” Zeus replied dryly as he took the empty seat to the right of David. He didn’t mind Jensen’s antics, recognizing them for what they were—cautious acceptance of him on the team. The fact that he did it during a team meeting was interesting.
“Nutmeg,” Claudia mused, looking up from her phone and studying Zeus, her dark eyes contemplative. “No, I’m not sure that suits you.”
“I’m not sure any of them really do,” Jensen joked. “He’s too icy to be spicy.”
That made Claudia and David snort. Across the table from Zeus, Mason appeared to be more focused on the cupcake he was eating than on the conversation, but Zeus was sure the profiler was taking in every nuance of their interactions. Shrugging at Jensen’s comment, Zeus leaned forward to take one of the cupcakes from the box on the table—from Cupcakes and Crumbs, of course.
Mason’s girlfriend, who was also David’s sister, made incredibly good baked goods, but her cupcakes were something special. Zeus was never sad to see them at a meeting.
In fact, the only one who didn’t have a cupcake in front of them was Drew. Ever since he’d been taken down at the office, he’d been on what seemed to be a personal mission to sculpt himself into pure muscle. Sitting back in his chair right now, arms crossed over his chest, his gaze was unfocused, as if he was lost in his own head.
Unlike Mason, Drew might actually be fully lost in thought and not paying attention to what was going on around him. Zeus had noticed he never fully let his guard down at the office anymore unless the whole team was in the room. He sympathized. He didn’t think he’d be able to relax if someone had gotten the drop on him here, either.
“Okay, let’s get things started,” David said, drawing everyone’s attention. Lincoln sat on his other side, listening but letting David take the lead. “The senator wants to do a visit to Naomi’s women’s shelter. Obviously, this isn’t the kind of thing that can really be publicized since there are women at risk there, so this is not a public event. Violence against women is an issue the senator feels strongly about, and she wants to see the shelter without putting anyone in danger.”
“Are they going to be taking photos?” Jensen asked, frowning.
“Yes, but only with staff who have agreed, and we’ll be going over the photos to make sure there’s nothing in them that would help anyone identify the location of the shelter,” David replied.
“Naomi’s already agreed,” Drew said. Unlike a few minutes ago, his expression was now tightly focused, and he was sitting up in his chair. “She’s excited to meet the senator, and she’s used to being the face of the shelter.”
Zeus couldn’t help but frown. That sounded kind of dangerous to him. Women who went to the shelter usually had husbands who weren’t willing to let them go. Being the face of it would give those men a place to aim their anger. On the other hand, he supposed most of the men couldn’t be sure which shelter their wife ended up at.
Still. No wonder Drew looked tense.
“Zeus has finished the deep dives, so everyone on the senator’s staff who will be coming with her is trustworthy,” David said, glancing at Zeus and nodding his thanks. Something about that simple acknowledgment felt like more. Maybe because it showed that David was putting his trust in Zeus’ assessments. “They are going to keep the number of people for the visit as low as possible, and that’s part of why we’ll be there instead of the regular security team. Naomi stressed that she wanted us, not people she didn’t know, and the senator agreed to the stipulation.”
“Makes sense,” Claudia said. “There’s nothing like a bunch of men showing up to a shelter full of domestic violence victims to make the occupants feel safe. This way, Naomi can reassure them that she knows you all personally.”
“Exactly. Also, we’re going to be dressing as inconspicuously and non-threateningly as possible,” David said firmly. “No visible weapons. Wear loose clothing.” He glanced at Drew, whose black shirt looked practically molded to his muscles. “Whatever you can think of that will make you look less intimidating.”
