Page 1 of Run

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Monday 10 a.m.

Benson Security

Westminster, London

Elle Roberts was bored. And that was never a good thing. Usually, she loved team meetings, as it was like one big dysfunctional family forced to socialize together every week. They’d bicker about someone eating more than their fair share of the snacks. Or tease each other about something stupid they’d done. Or poke their noses into each other’s business, offering unwanted advice. But today, the meeting was all about the run-of-the-mill operations they had going on. And none of it interested her.

If she had to do one more background check on a prospective employee for a generic financial company, she would jump into the Thames. For weeks, all they’d dealt with was Instagram influencers who felt they needed personal protection from their hordes of fans because they werelike, so popular and totally misunderstood(a direct quote from the last lipstick guru who wanted a bodyguard), businesses that thought they were so important someone might steal their ideas (spoiler: they weren’t, and no one wanted anything they had), and people who needed security systems installed bythe best.

Dull. Dull. Dull. Dull. Dull…

Where were the flying bullets? The international travel? The life-or-death situations? And, best of all, the call for her to hack her way into places very few people could enter? There was no getting past it—the glory days of Benson Security seemed to be over. Maybe it was time to move on…

“We boring you, Elle?” her boss, Callum McKay, barked, making her jump in her seat. Although, his tone wasn’t a sign he was annoyed with her, it was just a sign that he was a grumpy-arsed Scotsman.

“Not you,” she said honestly. “The jobs. They’re mind-numbing. I’m fed up with background-checking boring people and combing through crappy private networks for bugs. Can’t we infiltrate an oppressive regime somewhere and bring down a dictator? Or even negotiate for a hostage or two? Surely someone, somewhere, has been kidnapped and needs our help.”

Callum stared at her like she’d grown two heads. Meanwhile, Ryan Granger, the ex-soldier and native Londoner she considered a younger brother—despite him being marginally older—pointed at her. “What she said,” he told their boss before reaching for the last Danish pastry on the meeting room table.

“I’m with Elle.” Megan Raast nodded. “I haven’t shot at anyone in months.”

The Scottish bombshell had been Benson Security’s first trainee—which had only happened because she was too dangerous on her own not to train her. Megan seemed to think that a bad temper, an inability to feel fear, and questionable ethics were a good substitute for the military training the rest of the team had. Well, notallof the team. Elle’s expertise lay in computer hacking, coding, and her encyclopedic knowledge of theStar Warsuniverse. Oh, and Julia, their office manager, was hell on wheels with a whiteboard.

Dimitri, Megan’s American husband, cocked an eyebrow at his wife. “You shot at me last week.”

Megan waved a hand. “That doesn’t count. I wasn’t really aiming for you.”

“You barely missed my leg,” the former army ranger pointed out.

“Exactly.” Megan tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder. “Ididn’thit you.”

Dimitri’s grin summed up their marriage—crazy did it for him.

Callum, who stood at the end of the table because sitting meant he couldn’t pace when something annoyed him, pinched the bridge of his nose. It was his go-to move when their lack of professionalism frustrated him. Even after countless operations together, he still wished his team would behave like the SAS soldiers he used to command.

It was a foolish wish. While his old commandos had worked like a well-oiled machine, his Benson Security team worked like a cobbled-together MacGyver project. Although, to be fair, much like MacGyver’s improvisations, the team got the job done. And hardly ever blew things up while doing it.

“I like the jobs we’ve been doing,” Julia Barone, their office manager, said.

It was still strange to hear shy Julia talk during a meeting without being forced. It was even stranger to see her sitting at the table with everyone else instead of hiding behind one of the huge plants she’d positioned throughout the building. But then, she did have her husband at her side, and Joe wouldn’t let anything, or anyone, intimidate his wife. Ever. There were days when watching Joe and Julia together was just too cute for Elle to bear.

“That’s because you’re up to your eyeballs in schedules and paperwork, baby.” The former Marine’s eyes lit up when he looked at his wife. “It’s your happy place.” His eyes cooled as he turned to the rest of them. “I, on the other hand, wouldn’t mind seeing some action for a change.”

“For a change?” Callum exploded.

Honestly, it was a miracle he’d lasted that long. And it was a welcome sound. It had been weeks since his temper had gotten the better of him during a meeting, which was another sure sign that things were far too quiet.

“Come on.” Ryan looked around for more food. “Nothing interesting has happened since we helped Rachel out with her problem.”

“Nicely understated. I like.” Elle grinned at him. “Although, I don’t like that sorting Rachel’s problem meant she left us. Meetings aren’t the same without her.”

Rachel Ford-Talbot had once been a partner in Benson Security but was now CEO of her family’s pharmaceutical company. It didn’t stop her poking her nose into her former business, but it wasn’t the same as watching her ongoing power struggle with Callum.

“It’s like Mum and Dad got divorced, and she doesn’t live with us anymore,” Ryan said.

“I miss their fights,” Elle said wistfully.