Page 7 of Love and Chaos

The sun had finished setting on the horizon, and the shadows were winning the war against the traffic lights. Dark spots deepened, creating ample hiding places for bad people with lethal weapons. Not that Ed had a problem with that. He had plenty of experience being a scary man with lots of explosive weapons. It didn’t matter that he was supposed to be “retired.”

Pfft…who actually retires from having fun?

That was a bunch of bullshit. As long as he could creep, sneak, and sculpt C-4 into a bunny, he wasn’t going to stop.

Except he had a serious boyfriend now who didn’t like him being shot at. For Max, he was trying to focus on safer pursuits. He’d spent the past several months splitting his time between assisting Max with his expeditions around Gaoxing and working with the kingdom’s royal guard to improve their training techniques.

Charlie, on the other hand, was retired. His “former” boss was much older and determined to make up for lost years with Will. Not that Ed could blame him. If Charlie was calling together the team for an emergency, this had to be some serious shit.

At last, he reached the turnoff for the port, far from the bright lights and elegance of the center of the royal city. This was a dimly lit, dingy affair. The boat slips were mostly empty, and the vessels he saw were old rotting fishing boats.

Except for the single luxury yacht at the end of the pier that had two burly men in black turtlenecks pacing outside it. Yeah, that didn’t look suspicious at all.

Ed killed the lights on his truck and pulled it quickly into a hidden parking spot as far as he could get from the yacht. He watched the guards and, so far, they showed no sign of noticing that he’d parked at the marina. The tall lamps that dotted the dock were intermittently lit, with most being dark, creating wonderful blind spots.

He grabbed his phone to check one last time if there were any messages from Max when he caught a hint of movement out of the corner of his eye. Just as he was reaching for the knife he kept at his side, Charlie’s smiling face appeared in the driver’s side window, nearly stopping Ed’s heart.

“What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to get killed?” Ed snarled in a harsh whisper as he shoved his door open.

Charlie rolled his eyes. “I’m too fast for you to kill me.” He was dressed all in black with a black knit hat pulled low on his head to cover his ears and hide his mostly white hair. Charlie might be getting up there in years, but the man was still spry as hell.

“Whatever, old man.” Ed climbed out of the car and silently closed the door. “What are we looking at? Is the rest of the team here? How many men? Do we have eyes on the asset?” Ed rattled off the important questions with practiced ease. It might have been several months since the last mission, but he’d been working with Charlie, Kairo, West, and Soren for most of his life. They had a rhythm.

Charlie just grinned at him, not speaking.

Ed arched one eyebrow. Something was off. “What’s with the look?”

“Happy birthday, man.”

“Huh? Nah!” Ed laughed and rocked backward into the truck. “Are you shitting me? You called me here for a surprise birthday party?”

“Nope. Even better. Birthday mission.”

“What?” he chuckled. None of this was making sense, but at least he didn’t need to worry about this being a life-and-death situation.

Charlie slung an arm across Ed’s massive shoulders and walked him to the trunk to face the yacht at the end of the docks. “We thought we’d set up a fun adventure mission for you for laughs. There are thirty men on the ship holding a kidnapped princess hostage. You need to sneak on, incapacitate the kidnappers, and rescue the princess before they can capture you. My job is to confiscate any of your lethal weapons.” As he finished speaking, Charlie held out his hand.

“And did you do the same for the kidnappers, or are you sending me in there with a slingshot while they’ve all got Glocks?” Ed demanded even as he slapped his Smith & Wesson into Charlie’s hand.

“You’re all being given paintball guns.” Ed’s head whipped around when he heard Will’s voice. Charlie’s boyfriend smirked as he walked past the trunk of his SUV to him. “You’ve got red pellets, and the other team has blue.”

“Good to see you, Doc. You here to take part in the fun?”

Will rolled his eyes. “No, I’m here in case there’s an accident. You’re also being given a red marker to use in place of a knife. While everyone is supposed to take the exercise seriously, please remember to hold back a little. No broken bones, concussions, or injuries that would require more than two stitches.”

Ed made a finger gun and pointed it at Will. “Got it. Two-stitch limit. I’ll see what I can do.” He turned his focus to Charlie. “Any other details on who I’m facing?”

Charlie shrugged. “It’s an interesting mix. Jin’s head of royal security loaned us some volunteers who were interested in testing their skills. Mostly newer recruits. A year or two under their belts.”

Will grunted and glared at Charlie. “There are also some hard-core veterans on that boat. Be careful.”

“I was getting to that part,” Charlie argued, and Will gave him a look. Charlie turned his grin to Ed. “You’ve got an hour. Have fun. And happy birthday.”

“Yes, happy birthday, Edison. This makes no sense to me, but I really hope you enjoy yourself.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I will.” This was the perfect gift for his birthday. A little something to get the blood pumping. There wasn’t much more fun in the world than sneaking and fighting. Maybe blowing stuff up. And, well, sex with his boyfriend beat out all other things.

Thoughts of Max had him pulling out his cell phone and glancing at the screen. Still no calls or texts from Max. Having him here was the only thing that could have made this adventure better.