Hollywood stood by the window of his central London hotel room, staring down at the river Thames and the embankment, slowly sipping a neat bourbon. As views went, this one didn’t completely suck, and he wondered how much the Guardians were paying for his and Kellen’s hotel rooms.
Five stars, prime location, and unlimited mini-bar and room service, it was probably setting the company back a pretty penny for the junior suites they were staying in.
The team was heading out on Monday and would leave most of their gear behind in storage at the Guardians’ offices.
When they came back, assuming they came back, the company would rent each of them an apartment, so they would have a permanent base for whenever they were in London, but there hadn’t been much time available to sort that out yet. In the meantime, Hollywood had been happy to ‘make do’ with having someone else clean his room every day, and not having to cook a meal.
Evan and Logan were already based in London, so it had been easy for them to be relocated into apartments provided by the company. Yuri and Kris had been moved into a building already owned by their previous employer, Gregor Diminov.
While it would have been nice to have a place of his own for the last few days, it wasn’t really essential, not with them shipping out on Monday.
The knocking on the door had him stepping away from the window. Only one person had come knocking since he’d moved in here, and he had no doubt who would be on the other side of the door.
He glanced through the peep-hole to confirm his suspicions, and then slid the chain off the door before pulling it open.
“Missing me already?” He smiled as he turned back into the room, allowing Kellen to follow him in, or have the door slam shut in his face.
“Yeah, you know it.” Kellen’s laugh was unmistakable. “Cos you just know being with you for ten hours a day is never enough.”
“Well, I didn’t take you as the lonesome type.” Hollywood shrugged. “I guessed that you could find yourself some female company easily enough if that’s what you were looking for. Especially with that Texas drawl you’ve got going on. British chicks love an American accent.”
Kellen eased his large frame down onto the sofa as Hollywood opened the mini-bar.
“Drink?” He waved his hand at the various bottles. “I have everything except bourbon.”
“A beer will do just fine.” Kellen shrugged, propping his feet up on the coffee table. “What’s with you and the bourbon? You’re not known for hitting the hard stuff.”
“It’s just one miniature bottle.” He pointed out. “I’m using it as a stress reliever.”
Hollywood handed his friend a beer before topping up his own glass with what was left in the small bottle, and then sitting down in the armchair across from Kellen.
He watched his long-time friend looking around the room for a full minute before his patience ebbed away, and he realised Kellen was playing him.
“Ok, so you’re gonna make me ask, I can tell, so I’ll put us both out of our misery.” Hollywood smirked. “What’s on your mind, buddy? You’re not usually prone to fits of neighbourly visiting.”
Kellen turned his steel grey eyes on Hollywood with a slight smile.
“Perceptive as usual, Mr. Hillwood.” Kellen downed his beer before putting his bottle down on a coaster on the table and sitting back. “I like Hannah.”
Hollywood wasn’t exactly sure he’d heard Kellen correctly, thinking if he had, his friend was heading for a shit-load of trouble.
“Ok, now say that again, and try not to make it sound like it did the first time.” He suggested.
Kellen chuckled, his eyes sparkling in undisguised humour.
“I said that I liked Hannah.” He repeated. “I did not say I had the hots for her, nor did I say that I wanted to get in her panties. Well, I’m not saying I wouldn’t go there if Danny wasn’t on the scene, but then what guy wouldn’t?”
Hollywood had to admit that Kellen had a point. Hannah was one hot little mama, even if she was half his size. But he had a serious moral issue with going after married women, so while he had looked, and noted how pretty the little blonde, blue-eyed pixie was, his admiration for Hannah was more with regard to her intelligence and capability, than it was for her sexy little body.
“I feel the same way.” Hollywood agreed. “I think she’s awesome, in a totally platonic friend/colleague kind of way. So, where are you going with this?”
“Logan.” Kellen said simply.
“Aah.” Hollywood nodded. “He really got under her skin today. I’ve never seen Hannah get upset like that about anything. She’s always so cool and collected. But he pushed her buttons, big-time. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s off the team by tomorrow.”
“D’you think?” Kellen frowned. “I was kinda starting to like the guy, but the way he went off about that Russian chick was ridiculous. Hannah was right. We don’t know the facts behind why the woman does what she does. She could be trapped in that situation because her brother totally controls her. Logan just jumped straight to the conclusion that she was a money-grabbing, power-hungry whore, who was pure evil for being involved in her brother’s business.”
“Which she still might turn out to be.” Hollywood pointed out. “We don’t know who she is yet. Logan might be right on the money.”
“He might, yeah. But if he goes in with a closed mind, and starts treating the woman like shit, well, I agree with Hannah. He could fuck up this whole operation within thirty seconds, simply by scowling at Nikita Federova.” Kellen shook his head in exasperation. “I’ve spent the last ten years trying to avoid getting killed while working for Uncle Sam. I don’t want to get snuffed out now, just when I’m starting to earn some real money, doing something I choose to do because I consider it worthwhile.”
“I confess that the same thought has passed through my mind a few times today.” Hollywood admitted. “But then, I keep rationalising that Logan wouldn’t have stayed alive as long as he has, working in special ops, no less, without being able to keep his shit together.”
“I thought of that, too.” Kellen nodded. “I also reckoned there was no way JT would have hired the guy unless he came with a stellar recommendation from the military. I mean, why would he, when Alpha Company has the pick of the best former military personnel in the country?”
“So, maybe Logan was just having an off day?” Hollywood suggested. “Maybe when we go into the office tomorrow he’ll have calmed down and be back to the laid-back guy we’ve seen over the last few days.”
“Yeah, and maybe Danny will find out that Hannah was reduced to tears today and will take the guy’s fucking head off.” Kellen snorted.
“Hannah was crying?” Hollywood was astounded. “You saw her with your own eyes?”
“Well, technically, I didn’t see her.” Kellen admitted. “I was in the small office next to the conference room, taking advantage of the peace and quiet to go over the material Hannah loaded onto the tablets. I think she’d locked herself in the conference room out of the way, and I could hear her sniffing and talking to herself through the air conditioning vents. She was calling herself all kinds of names for being some kind of pussy, berating herself for ‘having a pity-party for one’. She was muttering about how pissed she was at Logan, and then she said something about JT not trusting her after all she’d done for the company, and treating her like a first-tier employee.”
“Seriously? But she’s a director of Alpha Company, isn’t she?” Hollywood frowned. “She’s the go-to person for everything, and has been at the heart of every operation they’ve ever gotten involved in.”
“Well, I was talking to Evan this afternoon, not about what I heard, but just general office gossip, and he reckoned that only the guys are directors of Alpha Company, not the wives.” Kellen clarified. “Hannah and Ellen work for Alpha Company, but they’re not directors. Nor are they directors of the Guardians, but, of course, that could be for security reasons. I guess it’s a bit like Candy being an employee of Stalwart, whereas Tuck is the owner.”
“But that’s different.” Hollywood pointed out. “Tuck owns one hundred per-cent of Stalwart. Alpha Company has eight directors already. Would it have hurt them to add Hannah to the list?”
“From the tone of her mumbling, I don’t think it ever occurred to Hannah that JT thought she was less than his equal.” Kellen reached over to the mini-bar and pulled out another beer. “Possibly this is the first time he’s treated her differently.”
“Maybe she was challenging him about Logan being part of the team, and he pulled rank?” Hollywood shrugged. “Who knows?”
“Well, like I said before, I sure hope that Danny doesn’t find out how upset Hannah was today, or I wouldn’t want to be in either Logan’s or JT’s shoes tomorrow.” Kellen said thoughtfully. “Just listening to how upset she was made me want to punch one of them. Admittedly, I have a soft spot for Hannah after all the help she’s given us in the past, but I’m not the man who worships the ground she walks on. God only knows how Danny will react.”
Hollywood watched Kellen retreat to the kitchen and sighed. Ten years ago, he would have been happy to have a ringside seat to a little fist-fight, just to liven up an otherwise boring day. Not so much now.
This new business had kinda taken the wacky out of him and kicked it into touch, especially when he realised he would be one of the older, make that ‘senior’ members of the new Guardians team.
He sure as hell didn’t want to see all their preparation flushed away, just because of a clash of personalities or a misunderstanding.
Tomorrow was going to be a very interesting day.