Jeremy stepped out of the shower and leaned against the glass. Exhausted didn't even come close to describing how he felt. He was in a lot of pain, but at least he was clean. He'd done his best to keep his stitches dry, but they were wet. No help for it. He'd leave the bandage off and let it air out for a bit.

Sitting down on the toilet, he finished drying off and leaned back, breathing hard. He felt like he'd just run a 5k marathon. Getting shot sucked balls.

How the fuck was he going to hunt Eckard when he felt like he'd been run over by a mack truck and had issues taking a damn shower?

Kade was going to laugh his ass off.

Snorting at the thought, he reached for his clothes with his bad arm and cussed a blue streak when pain vibrated through his entire shoulder.

"You good in there?" Conner asked from outside the door.

Why was he hanging around outside the door?

"I'm fine," he said gruffly. "Just overextended the shoulder."

"I got some shit to show you when you're done. Come downstairs. I've got it laid out on the dining room table."

Jeremy listened to Conner's footsteps recede before he stood and got dressed. He was a little quicker despite the pain for fear Conner would burst through the door again. He borrowed some basketball shorts and a t-shirt from Conner's chest of drawers because he had no clothes here. Conner said he'd get everything today from the hotel. He also said in no uncertain terms that Jeremy wasn't stepping a foot outside the fortress until he declared it safe.

It irritated the hell out of Jeremy, but he'd agreed. His aunt's words kept haunting him. He hated breaking promises to her if he could help it. While he didn't like the whole babysitter situation, he really didn't need to go to the hotel, so he'd let Conner win the argument.

He finished getting dressed and then headed downstairs to see whatever Conner had for him.

The man was standing at the table glowering.

"Why do you look like you want to strangle whatever you're looking at?"

"Because I do."

Jeremy came closer and saw exactly what he was looking at. A photo of Eckard driving through a toll booth.

"Where is he?"

"Holland tunnel."

"The fuck?"

"He's not trying to be subtle."

"Are the police monitoring this? Is that how you got the image?"

"No. I have a friend who hacked the system and got it for me. I already forwarded it to Kade."

"Does this mean its safe for me to go out?"

"No." Conner turned his onyx eyes to me. "All it means is he's not here, not that he didn't hire someone to take you out."

"He wouldn't do that. He wants that honor all to himself."

"Then why is he there instead of here?"

"He knows us as well as we do him."

"Which means?"

"Which means he knows I'll go to Kade. That he'll have us both in his sites. We were the two who took him down so he's saving us for his own personal enjoyment."

Conner took out his phone and made a call.

"It's me. I need you to watch my brothers until I can get there. It'll be late tonight when I arrive with the cargo. Can you do that?"

He listened and nodded.

"I'll have the goods for you tomorrow morning."

Conner listened intently before hanging up.

"So I'm cargo?" Jeremy wasn't sure how he felt about that.

"Yes," he said before dialing someone else. It took him three tries before they picked up. "What the hell took you so long?"

Some very angry screeching came out of the other end of the phone, angry Spanish screeching.

"Sorry, beautiful. I'm just in a mood."

Calmer, but her voice was still high. Curiosity and another emotion Jeremy didn't want to identify rolled through his gut.

"No, I'm fine. I figured you heard already about the job and the danger. Is Abbey any way involved in the case?" He listened intently. "Yes, I would appreciate it if she called me. I need to understand the situation and what she needs. Fucking police are useless."

He was either talking to someone in law enforcement or the district attorney's office. Probably the latter given the police comment.

"Do me a favor, Jules. Don't do anything to stick your neck out this time. Eckard is dangerous and he'll kill anyone who gets in his way. I'd hate to have to beat that beautiful ass of yours black and blue for doing something stupid."

More angry screeching, but Conner grinned. Who was he talking to?

"Ah, you'd beat my ass first, would you?"

He pulled the phone away and grimaced, before pulling it back to his ear. "Yeah, I got it. Just keep yourself out of harms way, okay? I don't want to attend any more funerals."

He looked stricken for a moment at what she'd said before his face took on its normal cold expression.

"I'm always careful. It's you I'm worried about." He paused, listening. "What the fuck you mean they suspended you for thirty days without pay? Who do I need to murder?"

The line was quieter, this time, but Conner's expression turned more furious by the second. Jeremy would not want to be whoever he was going to hunt down.

"No, I agree with you. Shame the DA didn't. I'll talk to you when I hit the city. Stay inside and take care, baby girl."

Then he hung up and turned back to the photos laid out on the table.

"Who was that?" Jeremy asked despite himself.

"A friend who thinks its her job to keep me in line."

"Is that possible?"

Conner snorted. "I didn't used to think so, but that woman is...she's something else."

She sounded like someone special to Conner and it ate a hole in his gut. He should be happy but he wasn't.

"Your girlfriend?"

Conner glanced at him. "No. I don't do relationships. She's a friend."

"A friend with benefits?"

"Why are you asking?"

"Just curious."

Conner arched a brow. Even Jeremy didn't believe his own bullshit right that second.

"A man can have a female friend without it being more."

"Can you?"

"Of course I can. I'm not that much of a dog."

It was Jeremy's turn to snort.

"Jules is none of your business anyway." Conner gestured to the photos laid out across the table. "I have a plan mapped out for our drive out of the city. We're catching a plan later this evening."

"Don't we need to be in the city to catch the plane?"

"Yeah, but I want them to think we're driving in case anyone is watching."

"But we're coming back to catch the plane?"

Conner nodded. "I have another complex that has an underground tunnel that leads to an exit we can take. Anyone watching will see us drive in, but they wont see us leave via the tunnel."

Well.

"That's smart and a little scary you feel the need to have these kinds of things set up."

Conner shrugged. "I'm paid to be smart and have these kinds of things set up. It's why Kade keeps bugging me to come work for him and Viktor. They want me to become a full partner."

"Why wouldn't you?"

"I don't like rules."

Now that Jeremy could believe. "He offered me a job a while back too, but I'm not ready to leave the Bureau."

"I get that." Conner looked out of the windows, his face pensive. "It's hard to leave the only thing you know, the only thing that gives you purpose."

"Is that how you felt about the Marines?"

The man glanced at him, but didn't say anything.

"Kade said you signed up for another tour when your brother decided to form KSI instead."

"Kade talks too much."

The cold coming off Conner could have frozen Elsa and Jeremy backed off. If Conner didn't want to talk about his military career that was fine with him. He understood those memories might be hard for him and he didn't want to cause him pain.

Conner's phone rang and he glanced down at it. A frown formed in the crease of his brow and he started to shove it back into his pocket, but changed his mind at the last second.

"What?"

"No, I don't have time for a meeting today...even if it's important...no...what the fuck did you just say to me?"

Jeremy actually took a step away from him. His tone and his body language changed all at once. They became lethal, hard, and it scared him. He faced serial killers down on the regular, but none of them seemed as dangerous as the man standing in front of him in that moment.

"I'll arrange someone to take care of it."

He disconnected the call and took several deep breaths. Whatever that phone call was, it threw him.

"Everything good?"

"No." He swiped his phone a few times and then waited. "Jules, I need a favor. I wouldn't ask if I was in a spot to take care of this, but you're the only person I trust right now who isn't in the sights of a pissed off killer coming after the Kincaids."

That was all Jeremy heard as Conner turned and took the stairs two at a time.

What the hell could be wrong that required him to call the one one woman he'd just ordered to stay inside and out of trouble?

He had a feeling he wasn't going to find out, but it was for the best. Even if the thought of Conner with said woman didn't sit well with him.

Not one little bit.