A Quartet of Desire

Chapter 25: December 24th

*Ryan's POV*

The past twenty days had been hell.

Neither Sean nor I anticipated this job taking us so long to find the head of the Russians. Though, thinking back on it, we should've known it would take time. It had taken almost two full years back when we were in high school to clear the problem well enough that our Mam could come home with Justin. In retrospect, we should be thrilled that we tracked down everyone that we had in less than a month.

It still wasn't good enough.

Neither Sean nor I properly slept for the past three weeks as we hyper focused on rooting out every single connection to the Russians. It took over a week until we finally got the name of their leader. Getting his name was only half of the equation. Tracking him down took another week and a half. Had it not been for Justin's online work, this job surely would have taken at least double the time to complete.

Having Justin work on the security footage, online presence, and virtual tracking gave us ample reason to constantly touch base with him. We knew our Mam brought them to Justin and Maria without needing to be told. It would have been the safest place for them, and it would also allow our worried minds a bit of peace knowing they were in good hands.

Although we couldn't ask him directly about the girls, we always made sure to ask if everything was alright with their base. He kept his responses short and coded. After a week of Claire and Saoirse being up there, Justin dropped a hint of how things were really going.

We were getting ready to hang up after our evening check in with him when Justin got our attention. "Oh, by the way... You know that hot sauce you ordered to be delivered here wasn't all that spicy."

Sean had looked over to me, his eyes wide with surprise. Coding Saoirse as a hot sauce seemed like the perfect cover to discuss her, and we were both surprised how easy Justin was able to make it sound as though we were discussing condiments. When on the phone, we never knew who was able to hack in and analyze the conversation, which was why it was so important to be careful with the information shared. We always needed to be on our guard with what was said, though that night Sean seemed willing to push for more details in the conversation.

After hesitating for a moment, he asked, "You didn't think so? I thought it was hella spicy."

"Nah," Justin replied. "I mean, it took a moment to get used to, but I really wouldn't say it's spicy."

"What would you say it is then?" Sean asked after a second of silence.

Justin chuckled, "I'd say it's a very pleasant condiment that would pair very well with your refined pallet."

I had choked on my own spit and tried not to laugh when I heard that, but Sean had paid no attention to my reaction. He simply nodded his head quietly in thought and replied that he supposed he was wrong on his first impression of it.

A tinge of jealousy tugged at my gut when Justin had hung up the phone after that. Sean had been given the opportunity to hear directly how Saoirse was, while Justin gave me nothing on Claire other than the base was fine and secure. I had put my frustration into our work, only sleeping for a few short hours that night. The next day, I broke down and called Justin again before breakfast.

He picked up instantly, concern laced in his voice, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I replied, pausing for a beat. During serious work, it was unusual for us to touch base any less than six hours apart, especially through a phone call. Information was generally shared via text or email unless it was a more serious matter. "I just... wanted to make sure that everything at your base was fine."