Ignite (Unbreakable Bonds 7)

It was nearly two in the morning. No one had driven down the street since they’d parked more than ten minutes earlier. The lights in most of the homes were out as if the residents had gone to bed already. There were a couple of faint lights for the night owls, but overall, the neighborhood was quiet.

There was no more waiting. They needed to get their hands on Cates. From what Gidget could tell, David Johnson was in the wind. They couldn’t find a residence, car, or even a driver’s license record under his new name. Unless they caught him walking out of Clayborne Security, they were unlikely to spot him, and Rowe had no desire to camp outside Clayborne.

Cates was their key to getting the truth of what happened at the Afghanistan ambush and exactly what Erik and his men got their hands on.

“How much time?” Noah asked.

“Two minutes and then I’m knocking on the front door,” Rowe said.

Noah nodded. “See you in three, then.” He reached for the door handle, but Rowe grabbed the back of his neck, pulling him across the console for a hard, soul-searing kiss that had Noah melting into him. Rowe never wanted to lose this. It didn’t matter how much time passed, the heat between them never faded. He would never get enough of Noah. He didn’t want to face a day where he couldn’t reach across and pull him into his arms.

“Be careful,” Rowe growled before releasing Noah. The younger man winked at him before he silently slid out of the car.

Rowe looked over his shoulder to find JB looking at him expectantly. “You got one of those for me?” he asked.

“Go!” Rowe barked, but the single word was strangled behind a surprised laugh.

JB snickered as he jumped out of the truck and silently closed the door behind him. Fuck. He was really starting to like the guy, and he didn’t want to. It was so much easier to be swallowed up by irrational jealousy. But the more time he spent with the guy, the more obvious it became that JB was a good man with a soft heart and a weird sense of humor. No wonder he and Noah got along so well.

Looking down at his watch, Rowe started his mental countdown while watching Noah and JB walk down the sidewalk. They cut up Cates’s driveway, their heads low so they wouldn’t be seen easily out the first-floor windows. Noah paused and pulled something out of his pocket, handing it over to JB before directing him over to the garage. Noah then grabbed something else out of his pocket, and Rowe realized they were putting on black latex gloves. With a smirk, Rowe leaned over to the glove compartment and grabbed a pair for himself. There was no need to leave any prints behind for the cops to find if something did happen to go wrong.

Rowe hated the way his heart sped up when Noah disappeared around the back of the house. Noah had years of experience as an Army Airborne Ranger and a couple of years’ experience working at Ward Security. The man knew his shit. He knew how to handle a weapon, and he knew how to maneuver through a volatile situation. But the fast thump of his heart said that he only wanted to keep Noah safe and rational thought didn’t fucking matter.

He looked down at his watch to find that his two minutes were nearly up. Grabbing the keys from the ignition, he shoved them into his pocket and quietly climbed out of the vehicle. He kept his hands loose at his sides as he slowly walked down the sidewalk and up to the front of the house. His steps slowed just a little bit as he looked over the old concrete stairs to the front porch. There were no signs of any kind of early warning systems or booby traps.

Lifting his gaze to the house, he could see that the front windows were covered by heavy curtains that blocked out the sun as well as the prying eyes of neighbors. It was a pretty safe guess that Joseph Cates wasn’t close to his neighbors. The entire house had a very unwelcoming feel to it. But that didn’t stop Rowe from climbing the stairs.

At the door, he paused again and looked around. He was a little stunned to find that there was no mini camera at the door or placed around the small front porch with protective roof. Those little cameras were relatively cheap and could be accessed through an app on your phone. Practically everyone had them now. His bad feeling kept getting worse.

With a deep breath, Rowe skipped the doorbell and pounded on the old wood door, rattling the glass in the frame. He felt like he hammered the door loud enough that the entire neighborhood heard him. At the very least, Noah and JB did from the backyard. He held his breath and waited, straining in the silence to hear any kind of movement within the house, but there was nothing. No creak of the floorboards or footsteps on the stairs. Rowe waited a few seconds and then repeated the knocking, but there was no answer. He waited a few more seconds and knocked on the door again.