Mac (Riders of Apollo #8)

Chapter Three: Evangeline White

So, maybe I shouldn't have offered to go with him. But I did and watching his brain short circuit was very amusing for me and now I'm following him to a warehouse in the middle of the woods. I would be convinced that he's driving us out here to kill me but he knows that he wouldn't win the fight between us. 

He's not brave enough either. 

The place is dark and kind of creepy when we pull up, which seems to rev Mac up more. "Fuckers!" He shouts and storms inside, I pull my gun from the holster and follow behind him. If he's not going to have the insight to prepare a weapon, then I'm going to have to do it for him. He flips the breaker switch as I keep close to his back, my eyes flicking over every inch of the place I can see for a threat.

I start down the aisles, Mac now following me as we check over the product and each entrance and exit. "It's clear." I put my gun back and watch as he glares at the wall. "What's wrong?" 

"They weren't supposed to leave until I got here, this is a quarter of our stock and if someone got their hands on it... it would be on me." 

"At least we got here before that happened. You can deal with them later." I try and reassure him, feeling his temper rising subconsciously. Obviously, it's not working so I place my hand on his shoulder, his tensed muscle hard against my palm. It's my turn to get worked up now but I manage to keep a damper on it as he relaxes, his head falling forward and his body losing its tension.

I take my hand off of him, if only to maintain my own sanity, and follow him to the back room. There's are so many camera feeds displayed on the screen, all of them in full colour with audio and everything. This is high tech stuff. "Wow, I'm impressed." 

"It was Riley's idea, we just had the basic package before." 

"Well she is my daughter so I'm not surprised. You have expensive merchandise, I couldn't imagine it being looked over by a few cameras." 

"We used more men instead. I didn't want to keep risking their lives so I asked to upgrade the system, Riley suggested the full thing." I tilt my head with a smile from behind him, noticing that he doesn't fall over his words when he's talking about his job. Something I can tell he treasures and enjoys, even if he can't rely on the others to feel the same. 

"So, how long is our shift?" I ask, looking over a few pieces of paperwork left on the table behind us. I don't hear him move, one second he's sat on the chair, the next he's looming behind me and moving the papers away from me. I just smile innocently, forgoing telling him that I have a photographic memory and I already know what's on the paper. 

"Six hours." 

"You don't do twelve hour shifts?" Every other place I've visited used twelve hour shifts so they didn't have to worry so much about the changeover.

"They get tired, I need them ready to fight and shoot without rubbing sleep out of their eyes. I need them aware and twelve hour shifts just bore them." 

"You know your men, I'm impressed by your skills." I avoid commenting on the soft blush that has flooded his cheeks and how he has completely shut down on me again, returning to the babble that he's been using since the minute we met. "Can you..." I trail off and he looks at me with those big, curious eyes and I sigh, "can you tell me about Riley? I haven't seen her since she got inducted into MI6, except when she was unconscious and I-I just want to know how she's been, I guess."

"You haven't asked Riley?" He seems genuinely surprised at that and I chuckle softly.

"I've tried but she just gives me facts, tells me that she did this mission, then that. But she doesn't tell me how she is, is she happy? Or-or stressed?"