Code Blue

Lexi vs. Prep Time

“You were literally in the same room as Daniel Stafford?” Evan whispered, despite the fact that we were alone in his apartment that was checked for bugs and listening devices twice a day.

Holding in a laugh, I nodded as I kicked off my shoes and dropped my purse to the floor, plopping down on the couch beside him, folding my legs beneath me to get more comfortable. “Should I be concerned that you sound almost jealous?”

As I always did after every interaction I had with Max, I’d come to recount last night’s events to Evan, happy that I could add a little more excitement to the details.

“I’m not jealous,” he insisted, crossing his legs and turning to face me, grabbing his laptop from the coffee table and opening it on his crossed legs to begin taking notes, “just in awe, I guess. I don’t do undercover work on your level, so I’ve never been that close to a criminal mastermind. What’s it like?”

“I don’t know, normal?” I shrugged, settling myself back against the arm of the couch. “He was charming and charismatic, as I expected, but not as intimidating as I imagined.”

Keeping his eyes focused on his computer screen, Evan nodded and typed furiously. “And the dynamic between him and Max?”

“Tense,” I replied, unsure if that was the right word to describe the mood of the room the previous night, “I get the sense that Daniel is definitely trying to groom Max to take over and Max is resisting.”

“I suppose that’s good. It means that Max probably knows a lot about the inside workings of his father’s illegal operations.”

“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing,” I nodded, glad we were on the same page as I remembered a detail from the conversation I’d had with Max on our date. “Did you know he had sisters?”

Humming in response, he typed for a few moments longer before turning his laptop to face me, the screen displaying two black women I assumed were supermodels, purely based on the fact that they were gorgeous and I’d willingly by any article of clothing they wore. “Anabelle and Krista. 27 and 25. Both married to men who work for their father. Anabelle has a three-year-old son, Matt.”

“Wow,” I blinked in surprise. “Why didn’t I know any of this?”

“Because you don’t do you research apparently,” he stated plainly, lifting his gaze to meet mine, “But to be honest, they’re not that crucial to the operation.”

That made no sense, seeing as I was currently undercover trying to get close to Daniel Stafford’s child because we assumed he could lead us to his father. “Why not? They’re part of the family. They might know things.”

“Maybe,” Evan shrugged, not sounding convinced, “My guess is that they know general information, but nothing specific enough to be useful.”

Perhaps the environment Max was in was easier to infiltrate than the lives of two married women, but that didn’t mean they should be discounted in knowledge. Still, Evan seemed to know something I didn’t. “Why do you say that?”

“Because,” he began, choosing his words carefully as though he knew I wouldn’t like what he was about to say, “Daniel Stafford is a traditionalist, which means he never had any intention of passing the family business off to his daughters.”

It took me all of three seconds to realize the implication. “So he’s sexist?”

“Pretty much, yeah,” he replied, sounding relieved that I had been the one to say it, not him.

“Good,” I nodded, crossing my arms over my chest and huffing, “well, I’m officially back to disliking him.”

“Glad I could help,” Evan stretched his lips into a quick smile.

“I guess that further explains the tension then,” I continued, “Max is his only son, which makes him the only person who he wants to take over, so if Max refuses, then he has nowhere left to turn. Who’s his second in command? Who would run operations if Daniel was gone?”

Turning his computer to face him, he clicked and typed a couple times and then showed me the screen again, this time displaying a man in his forties with snow white hair and a mouth that looked like it had never smiled in its life. “Jason Soloff, VP of Stafford Incorporated.”

“He’s been VP for a while?” I asked.

“20 years,” Evan nodded, bringing his laptop back to its normal position. “Why? What are you thinking?”

“That you don’t wait two decades to be the person in charge only to have it taken away from you by someone who left their teens a few years ago,” I replied, the wheels in my head turning as I decided I needed to find out more about how Jason felt about Daniel’s plans for Max.

“So Jason wouldn’t be too happy with the idea of Max taking over,” Evan said, understanding my thought process, “You think we can use that to our advantage?”

“It’s worth a shot,” I shrugged, “If he thinks Max is finally getting on board and agreeing to step up, he might do something stupid out of desperation, in an effort to stake his claim to the entire syndicate.”

The threat of losing power had made people do outrageous things in the past, so maybe it could for this situation as well.

“Well,” he sighed, “this ball will be the perfect opportunity for you to really get a handle on both the family dynamic and the ones Stafford has with the men who work for him, because they’ll all be there as well.”

I hadn’t really thought about that. In fact, I hadn’t really thought about the ball at all, seeing as it had been less than twenty-four hours since I even found out it was happening. “Yeah, it must be a pretty big deal, seeing as Daniel personally dropped by just to make sure Max was going to be there. Maybe he’s planning on naming Max as his successor?”

It made sense: an upscale environment where the entire family and all of Daniel’s associates would be present would be the ideal place to announce that his son would be the new ringleader. Such a proclamation would surely turn the ball into a real celebration.

“But you said Max hasn’t officially agreed yet?” Evan pointed out.

“True,” I nodded, “but maybe Daniel thinks he can convince him by then.”

Seeing as he had the kind of charisma that could make a blind man see, I wouldn’t put it past him to win Max over as well.

“Do you think it’ll work?” he asked, “Is Max persuadable?”

“Hard to tell,” I admitted, thinking that was the question of the hour. “He’s not really open to the idea at the moment, but this is his family we’re talking about, so I also don’t think he could easily just walk away.”

It was strange to think that for me, it was such a simple choice: between good and evil, right and wrong. But for Max, this was a monumental decision which could either alienate him from his family forever or make him more powerful than he ever dreamed. Neither option seemed to fit Max as a person, but perhaps I was underestimating him; it was entirely possible that he was just as sinister as his father and I was just blinded by his cocky flirtation.

“Then your mission for this ball is to figure out exactly where Max stands,” he shot be a pointed stare to let me know this was important and I better not f**k it up.

“Will do, boss,” I grinned, with more confidence than I felt. I knew what was at stake, but I was about to be placed in a high pressure situation with absolutely no prior experience or backup and was expected to come out with a positive result. There was a lot of my future at the agency riding on what happened at this charity ball and I couldn’t afford for anything to go wrong.

“Oh, and Lexi?” he said, to pull my focus towards him.

“Yes?”

He stared at me hard as he spoke. “Don’t have too much fun.”

“I would never,” I gasped mockingly, placing my hand on my chest for full dramatic effect.

“I’m serious,” he replied, his gaze remaining stony to corroborate his words, “I told you I would pull you off this mission if I think you’re getting too emotionally attached.”

“Chill, Evan,” I rolled my eyes, “I’m fine.”

“If you say so.”

He sounded unconvinced, and rightfully so, because the truth was that I did feel things for Max, things I knew I shouldn’t feel. Things I couldn’t feel. Because feeling that way about him would likely get me killed. Still, I felt as though I needed to assure him that I had everything under control. “I can handle myself.”

If he didn’t believe me, he didn’t bother questioning me further, instead changing the subject. “Are you and Max arriving at this shindig together?”

“He has to be there early to help destress his mother, so he’s sending a car to come get me,” I replied casually, as though getting picked up by a limo to take me to an extravagant party at a mansion was an everyday occurrence. Though I supposed to Max, it might as well be.

“Okay, perfect,” he nodded, “That means we can get you properly armed before you go.”

My eyes widened in excitement as I repeated his words. “You’re letting me go in armed?”

“I don’t think we have a choice,” he crinkled his nose, apparently not too happy with the idea, “My guess is that half the people there will be carrying and we can’t send you in completely at a disadvantage. So we’ll have to find a creative way to hide your gun, but that means you’re gonna have to keep Max from getting too handsy.”

Creative way to hide my gun meant it would most likely be strapped uncomfortably to my body somewhere beneath my dress, but I didn’t care, because this would be the first time I’d be carrying a weapon in the field and that was beyond exciting. “Not a problem.”

“Alright, then your next concern is Max’s mother, Claudia.” He spun the laptop around in his lap again to show me a picture of a woman who looked like the reincarnation of Audrey Hepburn.

“Concern?” I lifted my eyebrows, wondering why he shuddered slightly when he said her name.

“Make no mistake,” he warned, his eyes stern, “she might be warm and loving and willing to go the ends of the earth for her children, but she’s just as clever and cunning as Daniel. She’s his real second in command: the one who makes him and the family look good to the public while he does all his dirty deals.”

“Gotcha. So not as nice as she seems?” I guess it made sense that a crime lord’s wife wasn’t exactly June Cleaver.

“Actually, all of our intel indicates that she’s perfectly lovely,” he admitted, “just very loyal to her family. So the good news is that it probably won’t be too hard to get on her good side – which you need to do quickly because if she likes you, then you’re more than likely to be invited back to Stafford family events. The bad news is that if she ever finds out your reasons for dating Max, she’ll probably kill you herself.”

“So no pressure then,” I replied breezily, not wanting the mood of this entire conversation to be tarnished by talk of my possible death, “This is really taking meeting the boyfriend’s family to a whole new level.”

That was meant to be a joke, but I’d forgotten that I hadn’t yet told Evan about my recent change in relationship status and his eyebrows lifted upwards in surprise. “Boyfriend.”

“Yeah,” I smiled sheepishly, realizing I should have mentioned it sooner, “Max asked me to be his girlfriend.”

“I guess that’s a good thing,” he said slowly, processing the idea, “It means he trusts you. And that you’ll probably hang out with his family more.”

“Hopefully.”

“Just…,” he paused, inhaling sharply and exhaling through his nose, “be careful, okay?”

“I told you, I’m all good,” I assured him for the millionth time.

“You keep saying that, but I am concerned,” he replied, fixing me with a gaze that clearly stated he didn’t believe me in the slightest, “Now that you guys are exclusive, you’ll be spending more time together and I’m afraid that you’re going to dive in so deep that you won’t be able to distinguish what’s real from what isn’t. Falling for him is dangerous because in this case, there’s no way for you to have a happy ending.”

“I know,” I sighed, figuring I should appreciate that he was looking out for me, “I promise, I’ll be careful.”

“Good,” he nodded, temporarily satisfied, “If you want, you can tell Max to send the car here. It’ll be easier if you get ready when I’m around so that I can make sure everything’s okay with the gun.”

“Okay…,” I agreed, a bit surprised by the suggestion, “you don’t mind him knowing where you live?”

Max thought I had a brother, so saying that I was getting ready at Evan’s place wouldn’t be suspicious, but it did seem a little early to be including him in the operation on this level. Asking Max to send the car here meant that Max would have a record of Evan’s address, which was in no way going to work out as a good thing.

Evan, on the other hand, remained completely nonchalant. “The agency has an apartment in the next complex over rented out as well, so we’ll direct them there, and if they ever come back in search of me, all they’re gonna find is some empty boxes and a ten-year-old bag of Lays.”

“Alright, sounds good,” I laughed, unfolding my legs from beneath me and swinging my feet to the floor to restart the blood flow to the lower half of my body. Pausing before I rose to my feet, I fixed him with an earnest stare. “Hey, Evan? Thanks.”

“For what?” he furrowed his brow in confusion.

I smiled softly. “For always having my back.”

“It’s my job,” he blinked.

My grin widened. “And you do it magnificently.”

Rolling his eyes, he shifted his body to press his back against the couch cushions and returned his gaze to his computer. “Go finish your homework.”

Letting out a soft laugh, I pushed myself to my feet and leaned down to grab my shoes and my purse before heading to the door, calling out over my shoulder as I stepped into the hallway. “Yes, sir.”

He didn’t laugh, but as I pulled the door shut, I swear I saw the corners of his lips turn up into a smile.