“Un-fucking-believable.” Calvin shook his head before joining Ethan. “What have we got?”

  “Let’s find out.” Ethan removed his knife from his belt and inspected the edges of the lid before slowly inserting the blade underneath one corner. The lid wasn’t wired, simply an outer casing. Carefully he removed it and cursed under his breath. The explosive was nestled inside a shitload of C-4. He removed his smartphone to snap a few pictures of it just in case. His phone would send the images to his desk interface where he could analyze them later for more information on who put this together.

  “It has antihandling measures. A mercury tilt switch. I need to lower the temperature. It’ll take a few seconds,” Ethan said, grabbing his kit containing dry ice. “You need to go.”

  “Fuck. Okay. How long do you have?”

  “Four minutes and thirteen seconds.”

  Calvin relayed the information to Sloane before turning to Ethan. “Get it done and be safe.” Calvin kissed his cheek before running off.

  As quickly as he could without compromising himself, Ethan removed the dry ice rocks with his tweezers and one by one placed them on the tilt switch, watching as the temperature steadily dropped. With each degree, seconds ticked by.

  “Come on.” As soon as it hit the temperature he needed, he used his knife to lift the clock, revealing the wires underneath. He was familiar with this device. Carefully he snipped the blue wire, and the clock turned off. With a sigh, he tapped his earpiece when he heard a faint beep.

  Calvin’s voice came over his earpiece. “Ethan, what’s your status?”

  “The device has been disarmed.” He quickly walked down the wall of servers, listening to the beep. Something was wrong.

  “That’s great. We’ll send in Disposal.”

  “Wait.” Ethan rounded the corner. He scanned every server, and then he saw it. One of the servers had a disconnected wire. The light was flashing to indicate the loss of connection. Someone had tampered with it. “Shit.”

  “Ethan?”

  “There’s another device.” Ethan pulled out the shelf and inspected the box. It was identical to the other one. He slipped his knife under the lid and gently pulled it off.

  “How much time?”

  Ethan took off around the corner and grabbed his bag. He removed the dry ice and hurried back to the second box. There was no time for him to take a picture. Hell, he was lucky if he had time to disarm it. The two devices had been set to go off at completely different times, with this one meant to explode first.

  “Ethan,” Calvin demanded.

  “Forty-three seconds.” Ethan plucked the dry ice rocks from his container and dropped them one by one on the tilt switch.

  “Ethan, you need to get out of there. That’s not enough time.”

  “Is the building clear?” Come on. Hurry up. He willed the dry ice to work faster, but the clock seemed determined to beat him.

  “Negative.”

  “I can do this.” Ethan added another piece of dry ice. That was it. He couldn’t add any more, or he’d risk the stability of the switch. It wasn’t enough.

  “Please, you can’t do this to me again.”

  Calvin’s frantic plea was followed by Maddock’s growl.

  “Hobbs, you get your ass out of there right now. That’s an order.”

  Ethan considered ignoring his sergeant, but he knew better. There was no time. He dropped his equipment and broke into a run, rounding the servers and bolting out of the room. He sped down the hall, skidding when he reached the corner and almost running into the wall when he turned. Shit. Shit. Shit. He ran as fast as he could. When the bomb exploded, the force of it blew through the corridor until it hit him in the back, propelling him forward. Then everything went black.

  With a groan, Ethan stirred. His ears were ringing. The muffled sounds grew louder until he realized they were voices, one laced with fear. Air rushed into his burning lungs, and he gasped. Everything was murky and gray around him. His eyes stung, and his muscles protested his every movement. At least nothing was broken. Pushing himself to his feet, he leaned against the wall for support, coughing at the smoke that burned his lungs. Giving himself a quick once-over, he was grateful to find no puncture wounds or blood. When he could manage it, he tapped his earpiece, his voice hoarse.

  “Cal? I’m okay.”

  “Oh thank God!”

  Calvin’s voice came on the line, and Ethan got himself moving. The corridor was filling with smoke, and the sprinklers were going off. By the time he made it down to the lobby, he was soaked. His hair was plastered to his brow, and the water had made a streaky, muddy mess of his face despite how many times he tried to wipe it.

  Downstairs, Calvin ran into his arms. He hugged Ethan tight, and Ethan held him, the rest of his team rushing over to make sure he was okay. The disposal team arrived and headed to what was left of the twenty-third floor. Ethan was lucky the bomb hadn’t been powerful enough to take out the whole floor, or it would have taken him with it. If he’d known there was a second device from the beginning, he would have been able to disarm both in time.

  Maddock approached and motioned toward the ambulance. “Get yourself checked out. Everyone else, let’s clear this mess and start asking questions. Cael, start on the surveillance feeds. Dex, Letty, Rosa, start with the employees. Sloane, coordinate with Seb and Taylor. I want to find out who would want to blow this place up.” Maddock looked to Ethan. “What kind of threat are we talking about here? Professional?”

  Ethan shook his head. Anyone could have put those bombs together. He removed his phone and pressed his thumb to the screen, signing him into Themis. A few taps and he showed Sarge the device, along with a diagram and the materials needed to construct it.

  “All right. Get yourself checked out and start on your report. I want to know everything about this device, along with a list of places that have sold supplies in the last six months, and I want it all cross-referenced with potential suspects. Calvin, I want you cross-referencing suspects with any and all personnel in this building. Intel’s already started the algorithms. Oh, and Hobbs, I want to see you in my office after this.”

  Damn it. Ethan nodded and headed for the ambulance waiting by the curb. He really didn’t need it, but it was better than facing Sloane, who looked pissed at him, though not nearly as pissed as Calvin was going to be. And now he had to face Maddock. Great.

  After the EMT told Ethan what he already knew—that he was fine and lucky—Ethan went back to his truck. He climbed in and went to the medical station to grab some wipes for his face. His pulse was finally steadying and his adrenaline dropping. It always took him some time after an incident to calm down, and that was without a device going off mere feet away from him. He hoped this wasn’t about to become a thing.

  Ethan cleaned himself up as best he could and changed into a clean uniform, balling up the one covered in debris, dust, and grime. Once he’d stuffed it into one of the black laundry bags, he clipped his thigh rig back into place. Damn it, he’d lost his Packbot and both EOD X-ray kits in the explosion. On the bright side, he’d made it out in one piece. That made two close calls in one year. He cringed at the impending argument with his best friend.

  Feeling somewhat better despite not having been able to prevent the last device from going off, he took a seat on the bench. Even though he’d been cleared by the EMT’s, Maddock wouldn’t let him drive the truck back to HQ. With a sigh, he removed his tablet from his tac pants. He might as well get a head start on his reports. As Themis logged him in, Ethan took a moment to observe the chaos outside the truck’s ballistic window. Lights flashed from the dozens of service vehicles, and THIRDS and HPF tape was everywhere, a couple of strips flapping in the crisp air like streamers at a Fourth of July picnic. Human and Therian service people ran around, momentarily united by the greater good of helping their citizens.

  Ethan was on the fourth page of his report when the back door opened and his partner climbed up. Calvin took a seat on the bench and Ethan opened his mouth to speak, when his partner narrowed his eyes. Ethan promptly shut his mouth. Cal was pissed. Whether at him or someone else, he’d soon find out. If it was with someone else, Calvin would go off on a rant. If it was with him, his partner would stew in his anger and explode later. Calvin buckled up and stared at the floor, his arms crossed over his chest. Damn. It was with Ethan.

  Locating his backbone, Ethan turned in his seat and put his hand to Calvin’s shoulder.

  “Don’t,” Calvin replied. He was seething.

  Got it. Ethan turned back to his tablet and put it away. At that moment the rest of their team was returning, including their sergeant. Recon agents arrived to take over the investigation. Any and all information they collected would be sent in to Maddock, who’d review it and pass it on to Intel for more algorithms. Defense was done here for the moment.

  While Maddock drove them through the barricade toward HQ, Ethan occasionally glanced in Calvin’s direction. His partner was a statue. He didn’t move from his spot and barely even blinked. His team discussed the information they’d collected after questioning employees. After a recent downsizing resulting in the loss of over two dozen jobs, there were a lot of disgruntled employees. A few had been having financial problems long before losing their only income. The decision had come from the company’s executives, which meant those who’d lost their livelihoods were just numbers to be cut off the payroll. The floor the devices had been planted on also happened to be where the offices of said executives were. Ethan had been doing this job long enough to have seen it all before. Now it was a matter of narrowing down the list of suspects.

  Traffic was a nightmare, and it seemed to take forever to get back to HQ. Maddock hadn’t even put the BearCat in its parking space before Calvin was jumping out. Ethan was almost grateful he was heading straight to the sarge’s office. Calvin needed time on his own to cool off. Maybe by then he wouldn’t look at Ethan with his big blue eyes filled with anger and disappointment. Ethan hated disappointing Calvin most of all. He’d known there wasn’t enough time to disarm the bomb, yet he’d pushed his luck. It had been a stupid move, and now he had to answer for it. In his position, a few seconds meant the difference between walking away or having his name end up on a plaque on THIRDS headquarters’ wall of fallen agents.

  The team headed upstairs, with Dex and Sloane getting off on the fifteenth floor to get some lunch and Dex’s third cappuccino that day. By now he was normally on his fifth. Ethan hoped Dex didn’t find out Sloane had convinced Debbie the barista to make Dex’s every other cappuccino caffeine free. He could imagine the pandemonium it would cause.

  Ethan reached Maddock’s office in Unit Alpha. His sergeant had somehow beaten him to it. He was typing away at his desk’s interface. Finishing up, he tapped the surface before raising his head to study Ethan, his lips pursed. Ethan knew that look. It was the Sergeant Maddock “What’s the best way to make you suffer without physically strangling you” expression. Usually Dex was the one at the end of that look.

  “I was going to chew you out, but I decided against it.”

  Ethan cocked his head to one side. Oh? Okay. That sounds good to me. Wait. Ethan narrowed his eyes. There was a catch. He could see it in Maddock’s eyes. Oh boy. Was he going to be on equipment duty for the foreseeable future? Surely what he’d done couldn’t be worse than any of the dozens of harebrained schemes Dex had involved himself in over the last year and a half. Okay, maybe it was a tad worse.

  “I’m not going to chew you out because your boyfriend is going to do it for me.” A smug smile spread across Maddock’s face. “And that will be much, much worse.”

  Ethan wrinkled his nose. Yeah, it would be. Cal was going to—Wait, boyfriend? Ethan’s expression must have said it all, because the sarge sat back in his chair with a sigh. He laced his fingers over his stomach and shook his head.

  “Which part are you more surprised about—the word boyfriend or the fact I know about you two?”

  Ethan held up two fingers together. Both. Definitely both.

  “So, you’re not there yet on the first one, okay. That’s none of my business. But the second one is. Did you really think I wouldn’t notice? That I don’t know what goes on with my team?” A deep frown came onto Maddock’s face. “Eight thousand agents in HQ, and you boys gotta date each other. I blame Dex.”

  Ethan arched an eyebrow at him.

  “If there’s crazy going on, that boy’s never far from it. It spreads. But damn, I love him. Even if he’s turned my team into some big hippie lovefest. Can I offer you some advice? From a guy who’s got two sons with emotionally stunted boyfriends? The longer you try to ignore it, the more you’ll hurt him. Things have changed. You can’t go back to the way things were. And you sure as hell can’t let it impede your performance, or Sparks will have your asses.”

  Ethan nodded his agreement. He knew that. He put a hand to his chest and patted it.

  “Okay, so you’re trying. Calvin knows you’re trying. He needs more than that. You both do.”

  The door to Maddock’s office opened, and Sparks hurried in looking flustered. “Tony, we need to discuss—” Sparks stopped short when she noticed Ethan standing there. “My apologies, I didn’t know you were busy.”

  “It’s fine. We’re done here,” Maddock replied with a smile before turning his attention back to Ethan and giving him a pointed look. “Remember what I told you. And don’t forget those reports. I want them ASAP. Close the door behind you.”

  Ethan nodded. He gave Sparks a nod in greeting before leaving and closing the door. He’d never seen the lieutenant flustered before. It was a strange sight. When he reached his office, Calvin was nowhere to be found. Where was his partner? Ethan tapped away at his desk and pressed his hand to the security panel, logging him in. Entering his security clearance, he searched for his partner’s earpiece signal. He was in Dex and Sloane’s office. Maybe he should stop by and check on Calvin. He was about to get up when Dex ran in.

  “Hide me!” Dex dropped to his knees by Ethan’s feet and crawled under his desk.

  Okay. Just another day at the office. Ethan arched an eyebrow at Dex. What have you done now?

  “I may or may not have Photoshopped Ash’s face onto an image of Aslan and sent it out to the whole of Unit Alpha with this morning’s PR memo. They really should have known better than to give me access to their template, so technically it’s their fault.”

  How have I not seen this? Ethan swiftly tapped his desk and opened the memo sitting unread in his inbox. The moment he saw the photo of Ash’s growly face on the CGI lion body, Ethan burst into laughter. It was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen.

  “Daley, you little sack of shit! Get out here so I can kick your ass!”

  Ethan swiped his hand across his desk and got rid of the memo just as Ash stepped into the office. It took everything Ethan had not to laugh in Ash’s reddened face. The guy was practically spitting fire.

  “Have you seen Daley?”

  Ethan shook his head, his lips pressed tightly together. Don’t laugh. Don’t laugh. Ash narrowed his eyes, and Ethan couldn’t hold it in anymore. He held his hands up in apology but couldn’t get himself to stop laughing. It especially didn’t help that Ash had the same expression on his face now that he did in the image.

  “Fuck you.” Ash spun on his heels and marched off, bellowing down the corridor as he searched for Dex, leaving casualties in his wake. Poor Herrera. Ash was never going to forget or forgive him for taking a piss on his fern. Ethan held his palm out, and Dex slapped him five. He was so going to print out the memo. Something told him there would be plenty of copies circulating the department. Dex inched closer to Ethan, his voice a whisper.

  “Is he gone?”

  Ethan listened carefully. From the sounds of it, Ash had left Unit Alpha. He was most likely heading to the canteen. That’s where Ethan would check if he was looking for Dex. He gave Dex a nod and was going to roll away from his desk so he could get out, when the chair got snagged on something. Dex tried to push at Ethan’s knees and seemed to forget how low the desk was. He hit his head, cursing up a storm as he fell forward, his hands gripping hold of Ethan’s thighs and his face landing on the chair between Ethan’s legs.

  Sloane and Calvin chose that exact moment to walk in.

  “It’s not what it looks like,” Dex said, trying to push Ethan away.

  It did not look good. Oh my God, stop moving. You’re making it look worse! Ethan felt his face go up in flames. Why did every encounter with Dex end up with someone in a compromising position?

  “I don’t even have words.” Sloane shook his head, clearly at a loss.

  “I fell!” Dex squawked.

  Ethan finally got his chair unstuck, and Dex hit the carpet face-first. He scrambled to his feet and ran over to Sloane. With his most charming smile, he took Sloane’s hand in his.

  “Babe. Darling. Snookums. I can explain.”

  Sloane eyed him dubiously. “You know, if this is your way of saying you want a foursome, I gotta say I’m not really the sharing type.”

  “It was an accident.”

  “Awful lot of ‘accidents’ lately.”

  At Dex’s unimpressed expression, Sloane held his hands up.

  “Just saying.”

  “Not funny,” Dex muttered.

  Sloane smiled and gave Dex’s ear a tug. “It is a little.” He chuckled at his boyfriend’s pout and pulled at his arm. “Come on. Let’s go home before Ash finds you and we have another Running of the Agents on our hands. Your dad’s still pissed about having to replace the water cooler near the Archive Room. It also didn’t help he was standing there when it exploded. I would have thought the water would have missed him, like the parting of the Red Sea, on account of how pissed he was, but nope. Soaked him completely.”

  “Okay, that one wasn’t my fault. How was I supposed to know Ash was having a bad day?”

  Calvin took a seat behind his desk with a scoff. “That’s like saying I didn’t know cats had claws.”